Electron-Probe Microanalysis 2016

EPMA 2016 Topical Conference Summary

The Microanalysis Society welcomes you to the Electron-probe Microanalysis 2016 Topical Conference EPMA 2016, which will be held May 16-19, 2016 at the University of Wisconsin, Madison WI campus. EPMA 2016 is dedicated to quantitative microanalysis using wavelength-dispersive (WDS) and energy-dispersive (EDS) spectrometry on the electron microprobe and scanning electron microscopes. The TC will have user meetings on the first day, followed by three full meeting days, and will include tutorials, invited presentations, lab demo sessions, and group problem solving sessions where everyone from students to experts in the field can discuss quantitative microanalysis and become a better analyst.

The EPMA 2016 TC will include a tutorial, presentation of wavelength-dispersive (WDS) and energy-dispersive (EDS) spectrometry, quantitative analysis, and other aspects of EPMA presented in invited and contributed presentations. A plenary structure will be used to enhance group discussion and participation, with problem-solving sessions, laboratory presentations including both instrumentation and methodologies, and group interaction during coffee breaks, meals, and a conference banquet. Evening sessions will concentrate on software tools and problem solving.

MAS Early career scholars (ECS) will be identified by coordination with MAS Affiliated Regional Societies (ARES) and International Union of Microbeam Analysis Society (IUMAS) societies. ECS travel and lodging will be supported by an NSF grant for domestic ECS, and by a combination of EPMA 2016 funds and co-sponsorship for international ECS to the extent possible.  ECS and student attendees will be identified by communication with university departments, announcement via the MAS web site, listservers, advertisements, social media, and other avenues.

Meeting facilities include a large auditorium and adjacent space for plenary meeting, breaks, and meals, all located in the UW Materials Science building. Costs will be minimized by using educational facilities, and running the TC ourselves without the obligation or need of a meeting service.

Travel options include Madison MSN as well as the Chicago airports ORD and MDW. See Travel information below.

Lodging is available on campus and at nearby hotels. See Lodging information below.

EPMA 2016 information will be made available using these pages on the MAS web site, direct email and advertising campaigns, listservers, presentations at M&M 2015 and other meetings, and by word of mouth. The repurposed IUMAS Facebook page and other social media will be used to provide information and interaction before, during, and after the EPMA 2016.

The Lehigh Microscopy School is scheduled for June 2016. Both EPMA 2016 and EBSD 2016 are excellent educational opportunities and it is recommended to also consider attending one of the LMS courses.

 

EPMA 2016 Scientific Program

EPMA 2016 Registration is Now Open

  • EPMA 2016 registration is closed.
  • The registration levels are $100 for students and Early Career Scholars, and $325 for all other attendees. You can use either PayPal (preferred) or by check.
  • What is covered by registration:
    Conference attendance and program guide, coffee breaks, lunch (Tu, We, Th), user meetings, Monday reception, and Thursday reception and banquet — all are covered by registration.
  • What is not covered by registration:
    Dinner on Mo, Tu, We is not provided.
    Travel and lodging, you are responsible for making these arrangements and paying for them.

 

EPMA 2016 User Meetings — Registration Now Open

 

EPMA 2016 Information for Authors and Two-page Paper Submission

  • All attendees, ECS awardees, and sponsors who will deliver either a platform or poster presentation must submit a two-page paper using the same format as for Microscopy & Microanalysis (two pages with text only on the first page, text and/or graphics on the second page.
  • You MUST use the MS Word template format.
  • Important: You will write the paper in MS Word, but save it as a pdf document. You will submit the pdf version to us for inclusion in the program document. Make sure that all fonts are embedded in the pdf document and preview it to make sure it is readable. The maximum size of the pdf is 10 mb.
  • Please name your pdf file as follows: Lastname_Firstname_EPMA2016.pdf, so that we can identify your paper without having to open the document.
  • Please submit your abstract: closed.
    Poster presenters submit a two-page abstract.
  • Information for posters presenters:
    The poster boards are 4′ x 6′ and are oriented in landscape mode, so your poster will need to fit this layout.
    The poster session is on Tues. May 17, 2016, and posters will be available during the full meeting    .

 

Meeting Location and Venue

The EPMA 2016 Topical Conference will be held on the University of Wisconsin Madison campus in Madison Wisconsin. All plenary technical meetings, breaks, and group meals will be in the Mechanical Engineering Building. For an interactive campus map go here.

Scientific and Technical Program

The topical conference will run four days, with user meetings run by our sponsors on Monday May 16, and three days of technical sessions on May 17-19. The technical sessions will include a tutorial, invited and contributed presentations, group discussion, problem solving sessions, and laboratory demonstration sessions. The topical conference also will have group meals and coffee breaks, and a conference banquet on Thursday evening.

The following list will evolve as we continue to plan for the meeting.

User Meetings (Monday morning and afternoon)

  • User group meetings will be organized in cooperation with the EPMA 2016 sponsors.
  • Advance registration is required, further information will be provided when we have the contact information.
  • Excellent opportunity to meet other scientists who use instrumentation, representatives from companies.
  • Find out about product capabilities.

General Electron-probe Microanalysis and Scanning Electron Microscopy

  • A tutorial and summary of EPMA and SEM using WDS and EDS spectrometers.
  • Microanalysis standards: Selection of primary calibration standards for quantitative analysis runs. Standards for WDS vs. EDS analysis. Development of current and future standard materials.
  • Database approach to microanalysis: WDS and EDS spectral libraries, standard compositions, mineral databases.
  • Instrument quality control: Alignment, calibration and standardization as part of a laboratory QC program.
  • Microprobe operating systems: Instrumental and software capabilities for microanalysis
  • SEM EDS analysis systems: Capabilities of EDS analysis systems for the SEM.

Problem Solving and Experts Discussion for EPMA and SEM EDS

  • How to approach an analytical problem: Steps to identify the nature of microanalysis and how to analyze suites of materials.
  • Expert advice based on collective knowledge: Everything from sample preparation methods to analytical strategies.
  • Microanalysis forums and listservers: Where to interact with the microanalysis community.
  • Microanalysis literature: Important books, papers, and other documents central to microanalysis.
  • Experts in the instrumentation vendor community: Laboratory demonstrations by the experts in the instrumentation community.

Frontiers of EPMA

  • WDS techniques: Sample preparation, setup preparation, determination of the appropriate analytical conditions.
  • WDS peak interference correction: How important is it? Application to complex matrices (e.g. REE analysis, transition metals).
  • High resolution analysis in FE-EPMA and SEM, challenge and solutions for low voltage analysis.

EDS analysis

  • Good use of EDS: standard-based vs. standardless, EDS simulations.
  • Combined EDS-WDS analysis.
  • Attainable precision and accuracy using WDS, EDS/SDD, or X-ray mapping and line-scans: major vs. minor vs. trace elements.

Quantitative Microanalysis

  • Matrix correction: ZAF vs. Phi-Rho-Z, mass absorption coefficients, examples of applications.
  • Trace element analysis and WDS background methods (two-points, linear, exponential, mean atomic number correction, multipoint background correction), importance of accurate background for trace element analysis, determining the optimum conditions for precise and accurate trace element analysis.
  • Analysis of beam sensitive materials (glass, alkali-rich, hydrated and carbonated phases…): speed vs. dose vs. size.
  • Thin film and micro- to nano-phase analysis: inclusion, particles, layers… Best strategies and choice of analysis conditions
  • Quantitative X-ray element mapping.
  • Software tools for microanalysis. Monte Carlo, CalcZAF, and other tools.
    How good is the agreement between simulation data and experimentally measured data?

Invited Speakers

The following experts in EPMA will be giving invited talks at EPMA 2016.
  • Australia
    • Colin MacRae, CSIRO, Melbourne, Australia
    • Karsten Goemann, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania
  • France
    • Aurelien Moy, Université de Montpellier
  • Spain
    • Xavier Llovet, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
  • United Kingdom
    • Peter Statham, Oxford Instruments
  • United States
    • John Donovan, University of Oregon
    • Edward Vicenzi, Smithsonian Conservation
    • Mike Jercinovic, University of Massachusetts
    • Dale Newbury, NIST
    • Nicholas Ritchie, NIST

Early Career Scholar Support

We want to thank the National Science Foundation for generous support of MAS Early Career Scholars attending EPMA 2016 and EBSD 2016. NSF funds have been awarded to ECS awardees and have also been used to produce the EPMA 2016 program guide with abstracts.

The MAS Early Career Scholar (ECS) is the MAS-branded category for young scientists at the undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral level, and early career professionals within 2 years of their terminal degree. Support for ECS attendees will be funded by an NSF grant (submitted).

Please note: The NSF funds available for ECS financial support can only be used for awardees in the USA. We welcome attendees from outside the USA and the $100 registration is our effort to make the meeting affordable. If you are interested in attending EPMA2016 and you are outside of the USA, you should pursue funding sources in your university or industry.

Early Career Scholar awardees will receive financial reimbursement for travel and lodging costs up to a limit established by the EPMA2016 planning committee.

UPDATE 3/29/2016: The abstract submission requirement has been removed. The only requirement is an email of support from your advisor or supervisor confirming that all costs above that provided by the ECS award will be covered by your institution. We will accumulate candidate emails on a weekly basis and award support until funds have been fully committed.

ECS candidates can be proposed by an advisor or supervisor, and from MAS Affiliated Regional Societies (ARES).

Priority will be given to ECS candidates who have a financial commitment from their advisor or supervisor to cover all costs not reimbursed by EPMA2016. This allows us to extend the support for ECS and enable more young scientists to attend the TC.

MAS Council has provided funds in a co-sponsor relationship with the Australian AMAS and European EMAS councils at their meetings in 2015. One ECS awardee will attend EPMA2016 and EBSD2016 from each IUMAS society.

Further information regarding ECS financial support and an example email to use for proposing a candidate is located here.

Travel Information

The preferred airport is the Madison Dane County Regional Airport (MSN). You can also fly to the Chicago ORD and MDW airports and take a bus to Madison, see information below.

The following information for travel to Madison, WI is current as of early 2015.

Madison Dane County Regional Airport (MSN)

  • Madison’s Dane County Regional Airport is served by 4 airlines:
  • Delta and Delta Connection (DL), Frontier (FR), United Express (UE), and American Eagle (AE). If possible, many avoid flying through Chicago O’Hare as it is extremely congested and it is common to miss a connecting flight and be routed by bus to Madison, arriving late.
  • Cities that have direct flights to Madison MSN (with the airline abbreviated) are:
  • Atlanta ATL (DL), Chicago ORD (AE,UE), Dallas-Fort Worth (AE), Denver (Fr, UE), Detroit (Delta), Minneapolis (Delta), New York LGA (DL), Newark (UE), Orlando (FR), Salt Lake City (SLC) DL, and Washington DCA (Delta).
  • For more information see http://www.msnairport.com/flight_travel/where.aspx

Bus and Shuttle Service

There is a public bus which serves the MSN airport, however, it requires transferring to get to the downtown campus area. Several of the hotels we have arrangements with offer shuttle service from the MSN airport.

For more information see http://www.msnairport.com/parking_transportation/ground_transportation.aspx

Other Airports

Note: all times listed in this section are driving times from these regionally-located airports.

Several large airports are within 2-2.5 hours and one option would be to fly direct to one of them, and then rent a car or take a bus to get to Madison. The main airports offer roundtrip/return bus service to Madison.

Milwaukee

  • Milwaukee, WI (MKE) is 1.5 hours from Madison, is larger than Madison, and has many more connections from other cities. It is served by Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, Delta, Frontier, Southwest, United Airlines, and US Airways. These airlines offer non-stop flights from 29 US cities. There is a bus (Badger Bus) which offers 8 trips daily from MKE to Madison (drop off in center of campus, several blocks from hotels).

For more information see http://www.mitchellairport.com/airline-information/cities-served-nonstop

Chicago

  • Chicago O’Hare (ORD): 2.25-2.5 hours. Bus service to/from Madison offered by Coach USA/Van Galder, with 12 trips daily.
  • Chicago Midway (MDW) in center of Chicago (services by Southwest and Frontier): 2.5-3 hours depending on traffic. Also with bus service between Madison by Coach USA/Van Galder, with 8 trips daily.

International Travelers

International travelers will probably enter or connect through Minneapolis (MSP), Detroit (DTW) or Chicago (ORD).

 

Lodging Information

New! Two hotels added with good rates, see bottom of list.
The following is a list of local lodging with information for attendees.

  • Wisconsin Union Hotel (also called Union South Hotel)
    Located 1308 W. Dayton St, 3 blocks from conference site.
    Rate: $135/night, 30 rooms being held until 30 days prior to EPMA 2016. Includes free parking; each room has refrigerator, microwave and Keurig. Most rooms have 2 queen beds, some with 1 king bed. Use the group code “EPMA” to request a blocked room for EPMA 2016. Phone 608-263-2600.
    Web link: http://www.union.wisc.edu/wuhotel.htm
  • University of Wisconsin Extension Conference Housing (Lowell Center)
    Lowell Center, 610 Langdon Street, 1.1 mile northeast from meeting site.
    There are Standard rooms ($94 per night) and Deluxe rooms ($119 per night), see web site for further information. Hotel style conference lodging, free parking (but tell them when you make reservation), continental breakfast supplied.
    The hold on these rooms expires on APRIL 16 so reserve early if you want to stay here.
    Use booking code EPMA16 to get our conference rate, if you are arriving May 15 be sure to enter the correct number of nights
    Web link for EPMA2016: http://bit.ly/epma1616may
    When you use this link you should see EPMA2016 on the lower left of the web page.
    Alternatively, call toll free 866-301-1753. There are 40 rooms being held. Located on Lake Mendota, and the banquet will be held here.
  • DoubleTree Hotel
    525 W. Johnson St (0.8 mile east) 800-222-TREE or 608-251-5511 or online.
    15 rooms have been reserved at a reduced rate of $148 for the conference. This includes a full hot breakfast buffet and free parking. Use group code GEO. Reservations must be received by 4/15/16.
    Web link: Doubletree Madison
  • Hampton Inn & Suites Madison/Downtown
    Brand new hotel, opened Oct 31, 2013.
    440 W. Johnson St. Madison, WI 53703 (0.9 mile east). (608) 255-0360
    15 rooms at a reduced rate of $144/night are being reserved. Includes hot and continental breakfast. Parking is $12/day.
    Web link:http://hamptoninn.hilton.com/en/hp/groups/personalized/M/MSNBJHX-EPM-20160516/index.jhtml?WT.mc_id=POG
  • Memorial Union Guestrooms
    Memorial Union, 800 Langdon Street, 0.9 mile northeast from meeting site, next to Banquet site.
    Limited number of rooms. Standard: one ($90) Suite tel: (3 beds) $120; Lakeview ($109 for up to 2) and suite ($102 for up to 2). Private bath, cable, internet. Free parking. No breakfast supplied.
    Call 608-265-3000 to reserve. Only 6 rooms potentially available.
    Web link: http://www.union.wisc.edu/muguestrooms.htm
  • Wyndham Garden Fitchburg Madison Fitchburg
    2969 Cahill Main
    Fitchburg, WI 53711
    608-274-7200
    Special $82/night rate (ref: Cameca rate). Good until May 6.
    Six miles south of campus.
  • Hotel Red
    1501 Monroe Street
    Madison, WI 53711
    608-819-8228
    4 blocks from conference site
    Government Rate Discount only
  • (Dorms are not available due to construction, use the Lowell Center facility)

 

EPMA 2016 Attendees

For EPMA 2016 the meeting themes include Advanced EPMA, EDS and WDS Quantitative Analysis, Simulation, FE-EPMA, Instrumentation Advances, and Standards. These thematic topics should appeal to the following general groups.

  • EPMA facility managers and scientists
  • Students performing EPMA and SEM-EDS
  • Industry personnel using EPMA and SEM-EDS
  • Vendor community (EPMA, SEM-EDS, Standards)

 EPMA 2016 Sponsorship

We are actively contacting sponsors for EPMA 2016. We are very interested in highlighting the technology and solutions provided by the vendor community and establishing a venue in which TC attendees can find out about products. TC Sponsorship is a coordinated effort to bring these communities together.

An information letter with full details for prospective sponsors in pdf form is located here.

Sponsorship is available at the following levels:

  • Platinum $3200
    Includes Gold level plus 1 additional registration for the topical conference and the opportunity to demonstrate instrumentation using remote or video presentations.
  • Gold $1600
    Includes Silver level plus meal sponsorship signage.
  • Silver $800
    Includes an exhibit table, 1 registration for the topical conference, the pre-meeting attendee list, and logo placement on the slide displayed during breaks.

We will provide additional details regarding logo placement and attendee list, presentation of product information and participation in laboratory demonstrations, and other benefits to the sponsor.

EPMA 2016 Sponsors

Please check back as we continue our fundraising program to add sponsors!

National Science Foundation

  • National Science Foundation NSF has provided support for EPMA 2016 Early Career Scholar awardees and the EPMA 2016 program guide

Platinum Level

  • Cameca Instruments
  • JEOL USA, Inc.
  • Oxford Instruments
  • Thermo Fisher Scientific

Silver Level

  • Gatan, Inc.
  • ibss Group, Inc.
  • Mager Scientific
  • Probe Software, Inc.
  • SPI Supplies, Inc.

EPMA 2016 Planning Committee

Paul Carpenter, John Armstrong, John Fournelle, Raynald Gauvin, Dan Kremser, Heather Lowers, Julien Allaz, Kat Crispin, Nicholas Ritchie, and Anette von der Handt. Please thank these individuals when you get a chance!