On behalf of the Organizing Committee, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the ECASIA'09 Conference. The ECASIA biannual conferences (www.ecasia.org) was first held in Veldhoven in the Netherlands in 1985, and have been aiming to provide a platform for an exchange between scientists from industry, academia, government and suppliers of equipment for surface analysis. The meetings have focused on and intended for those using surface analytical, surface specific or surface sensitive techniques for applied purposes. In general, the applications will arise from industrial and technological problems with special consideration of developments of more useful and functional materials and techniques. Developments in techniques for characterizing surface structures on a continuously decreasing scale seem not to have lost their pace, even after five decades of intense activity. In accordance with the tradition, the scientific program of the ECASIA´09 will reflect these developments, both with respect to the plenary and invited lecturers, as well as the contributed papers. Presentations on the state-of-the-art equipment for surface analysis as well as corresponding accessories will be available in the exhibition all through out the conference.
I myself have been attending these conferences regularly since the ECASIA'95 in Montreux, and the idea of organizing one in Turkey had been brought up all along. We made an offer during the ECASIA'05 in Vienna. Our offer was accepted, and this will be the first time that an ECASIA conference takes place outside the formal borders of Europe. We had two main objectives constantly in mind while working on the organization of this meeting in Turkey; (i) to expose, the scientists from this region of the world to a high caliber meeting on surface science, (ii) to enhance the participation of young researchers of the region to this conference by making it more economical for them. As can be gathered from the charts below, I feel quite satisfied that both of our primary objectives are now accomplished. In spite of the recent global economic distress, we are now more than happy to announce that a record number, exceeding 600 participants, will be attending ECASIA'09, where more than 30% of them are from Turkey and/or neighboring countries, and again more than 30% of overall participants are students.
In addition to the Plenary Lecture of Professor Gabor A. Somorjai, we will have 19 Invited Lectures, 211 Oral Presentations within 4 parallel sessions. Furthermore, 407 Posters will be presented in 3 separate days. One of our planned invited lecturer, Prof. Dr. F. Javier Garcia de Abajo had to cancel his presentation due to unexpected health problems, and we wish him a speedy recovery. The Depth Profiling Session is dedicated to the Late Prof. Dr. Anton Zalar, a member of the International Scientific Committee of ECASIA, as well as a well-known and a beloved colleague in our community. In the following pages, you will find information about the scientific and social programs, as well as other relevant issues.
In the spirit and tradition of Turkish hospitality, I once more welcome you all to ECASIA'09 in Antalya, and wish you a fruitful meeting, and a pleasant week.
HOŞ GELDİNİZ.
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Prof. Dr. Sefik SUZER
Chair
Department of Chemistry
Bilkent University
06800 Ankara, Turkey
e-mail: ecasia09@bilkent.edu.tr
Tel: +90-312-266 49 46
Fax: +90-312-266 40 68
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