QMA 2019

QMA-2019

A map of the local area.

NEW: QMA 2019 Program now online!

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Introduction

The Microanalysis Society 2019 Topical Conference on Quantitative Microanalysis (QMA 2019) will be held June 24-27, 2019 in Minneapolis, MN, at the University of Minnesota campus. QMA 2019 will follow a plenary structure format with presentations at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced level, with discussion appropriate for students, technical and professional personnel, scientists, and representatives from the vendor communities.

The QMA 2019 TC will include tutorials, 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.

Brochures

Particulars

Where & When

Tate Hall at the East Bank campus of the University of Minnesota

Monday, 24-June-2019 8:30 AM to Thursday, 27-June-2019 5:30 PM

Contacts 

  • General questions: Heather Lowers (hlowers678@hotmail.com)
  • Local organizing/accommodations:   Anette von der Handt (avdhandt-at-umn.edu)
  • Program: Julien Allaz (julien.allaz-at-erdw.ethz.ch)
  • Vendor liason: Anette von der Handt (avdhandt-at-umn.edu)
  • Early Career Scholars:  Paul Carpenter (paul.carpenter.epma-at-gmail.com)

Registration

Register to attend (link expired)

Present your research

Abstract template: here
Submit an abstract here for consideration for a contributed talk or poster

  • Submission: Deadline for contributed talks: 15-May-2019
  • Deadline for contributed posters: 1-June-2019
  • Rolling acceptance – submit early to ensure a spot

Lodging 

The deadline for reserving dorm rooms has passed. Rooms are still available at local hotels.

Local hotels near the East Bank campus

Take note that there is a very large car show the weekend before the conference.  You may want to book your hotel early, particularly if you want to get to Minneapolis early, to ensure a reservation.

Click image for a map of local hotels

  • Radisson Hotel – Roseville
    2540 N. Cleveland Ave., Rosevill, Mn, 55113
    QMA Rate: $119 (vs $165 on website)
    Cut-off for QMA rate: June 3, 2019
    To make a reservation, call: 800-333-3333 or 651-636-4567 and mention QMA-2019.
    The hotel has offered a shuttle between the hotel and campus.
  • Residence Inn by Marriott Downtown at the Depot
    425 South Second Street, Minneapolis, MN 55401
    QMA Rate: Studio or one bedroom suites for $169/ night for 6/22-27/19.
    Cut-off for the QMA rate: May 24, 2019
    To make a reservation call: (612) 340-1300 or 1 (866) 211-4612 and mention QMA 2019 or, better yet, use this link.
  • More hotel options coming soon.

Student Support

All ECS (student support awards) have been made. No funds remain.

Costs

Professional registration:  $350 until 31-Mar-2019, $400 thereafter
Student registration: $100

Dining Nearby

Breakfast

Click image for more options

Recommendation:

Lunch

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Recommendations:

  • Kafe 421, 421 14th Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414
  • Purple Onion Cafe, 1301 University Ave SE #1, Minneapolis, MN 55414
  • Afro Deli & Grill, 720 Washington Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414
  • Korea Restaurant, 211 SE Oak St, Minneapolis, MN 55414
  • Punch Pizza, 802 Washington Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414
Dinner

Click image for more options

Recommendations:

  • Kafe 421, 421 14th Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414
  • Purple Onion Cafe, 1301 University Ave SE #1, Minneapolis, MN 55414
  • Afro Deli & Grill, 720 Washington Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414
  • Korea Restaurant, 211 SE Oak St, Minneapolis, MN 55414
  • Punch Pizza, 802 Washington Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414

A little further afield:

Corporate Sponsors

Platinum

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.

Oxford Instruments America, Inc.

CAMECA Instruments Inc.

JEOL

Bruker

Gold

Probe Software

Silver

Electron Microscopy Sciences

TESCAN USA

ibss Group

Hitachi

EDAX Inc.

Scientific and Technical Program

The topical conference will offer three days of conferences and discussions, from basic to more advanced topics. Whenever possible, each topic should be focused on applications with examples from both geological and engineering sciences. The following key topics are suggested:

1) General EPMA

  • Matrix correction: ZAF vs. φ(ρ z), mass absorption coefficients, with examples of applications (e.g., light element analysis, Si in heavy matrix).
  • Standards and standard database: Assessing the current state and determining the need for the future, the making or collecting of standard materials.
  • Instrument quality control, calibration and standardization: How much and how often (WDS vs EDS/SDD).

2) WDS and quantitative microanalysis

  • WDS techniques: Sample preparation, setup preparation, determination of the appropriate analytical conditions.
  • Peak interference correction: procedure and importance, application to complex matrixes (e.g. REE analysis, transition metals, trace elements).
  • Experimentally measured calibration curves: How to use them to refine our choice of correction procedures.
  • High-resolution analysis in FE-EPMA and SEM, challenges and solutions for low voltage analysis.

3) EDS analysis

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

4) Quantitative analysis

  • Trace element analysis and WDS background methods (two-points, linear, exponential, mean atomic number correction, multipoint background correction); the 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

5) Hardware and software development for quantitative microanalysis

  • Penelope, Monte Carlo and other simulations (interaction volume, secondary fluorescence): How good is the agreement between simulation data and experimentally measured data?
  • New hardware developments such as heating stages, cold stages, detector electronics for the electron microprobe and SEMs. Also SXES, xCLent, hybrid X-ray focusing optics etc.

Schedule

Our invited speakers are:

  • Ben Buse (University of Bristol, UK): field emission EPMA.
  • John Donovan (Probe Software, USA): quantitative compositional X-ray mapping.
  • Karsten Goemann (University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia): Fine tuning SEM for quantitative analysis and combined EDS-WDS
  • Mike Jercinovic (University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA), Trace element analysis
  • Colin MacRae (CSIRO Mineral Resources, Clayton, Australia): Cathodoluminescence
  • Michael Megnasson (NIST, USA): Standards based SEM-EDS analysis
  • Aurelien Moy (University of Wisconsin): Thin films and and quantitative measurements of non-traditional X-ray lines.
  • William Nachlas (Syracuse University, USA): Standards and reference materials
  • Cathy Johnson, (Mager Scientific, Inc.): Sample Preparation

Travel information

Minneapolis

Minneapolis is the county seat of Hennepin County, and the larger of the Twin Cities, the 16th-largest metropolitan area in the United States. As of 2016, Minneapolis is the largest city in the state of Minnesota and 46th-largest in the United States, with an estimated population of 413,651. The Twin Cities metropolitan area consists of Minneapolis, its neighbor Saint Paul, and suburbs which altogether contain about 3.5 million people, and is the second-largest economic center in the Midwest.

Minneapolis-St. Paul and the University of Minnesota

Travel to Minneapolis

Arrival by planes, trains and automobiles
  • Minneapolis/St. Paul is centrally located in the US and has an international airport (MSP). Nineteen different airlines fly out of MSP and serve 155 destinations, including 126 domestic and 29 international markets. Internationally, direct connections exist to Amsterdam, London Heathrow, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt, Reykjavík-Keflavík and Tokyo–Haneda for example.
  • The airport is 10 miles from both Minneapolis and St. Paul. Light rail (METRO Blue line) connects the airport to Minneapolis downtown and also to the campus. The proposed meeting location is 5 minutes on foot from the light rail and bus stop (the fare is $2.50). Lyft fares to campus are ~$21, supershuttle and taxi ~$45. St Paul downtown has an Amtrak railway station that is connected through the light rail to downtown Minneapolis and the meeting place. The Megabus connects Minneapolis to Madison, WI, Chicago and Milwaukee with fares starting at $1.

Getting around town

  • The twin cities have a well-functioning, reliable public transport network with numerous bus lines and light rail lines (one stopping on campus) and tickets are $2.25 for 2.5 hours. The Nice Ride bike share program is another alternative to get around, and Minneapolis generally ranks among the top 3 bike-friendly cities. All buses and light rails are equipped with bike racks. Minneapolis has a walkable score of 69.

At the UMN east bank campus

  • There is a light rail station less than 5 minutes away from Tate Hall as well as many bus lines connecting to downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis, as well as the airport and the Mall of America. There are multiple parking ramps and surface parking lots close-by. Parking passes can be arranged for $8 per day.

The QMA-2019 Organizing Committee

  • Heather Lowers of the US Geological Survey
  • Allaz Julien of the Department of Earth Sciences at ETH Zurich 
  • Abigail Lindstrom of the National Institute of Standards and Technology  
  • Paul Carpenter of the Washington University of St. Louis
  • Anette von der Handt of the University of Minnesota
  • Emma Bullock of the Carnegie Institute of Washington
  • Nicholas Ritchie of the National Institute of Standards and Technology 
  • John Fournelle of the University of Wisconsin, Madison
  • Owen Neill of the University of Michigan
  • Julie Chouinard of the University of Oregon

Contact Us with Questions