A note from the President

Abstract

I just returned from Vienna where I enjoyed the hospitality of Bernhard Keppler and colleagues at ICBIC XIII. Along with about 900 other biological inorganic chemists, I participated in scientific sessions, met with a number of friends and collaborators, and partook of the historical and culinary attractions of one of the great cities of Europe. I know many of you can make the same claim and join me in congratulating the University of Vienna team on organizing and running a terrific conference. Perhaps the highlight of the meeting for me was a clear recognition of the continued integration of SBIC and ICBICs. Although the ICBICs predated our society by several years, one of the major goals in creating SBIC in the first place was to provide a society structure for these international conferences. Now, with the identification of the International Organizing Committee for the ICBICs as a standing SBIC committee, I believe this integration is complete. Several other highlights were also part of ICBIC XIII. I was honored to present the first SBIC Early Career Award on Friday to Yi Lu, who delivered a tour de force award lecture in the beautiful venue of the Votivkirche. The lecture and poster abstracts were published as a supplemental issue of this journal for the first time and were made available on site to the attendees. Also, I unveiled a new SBIC web site (http://www.SBIChem.org), which provides access to a number of special services designed specifically for SBIC members. This biennial celebration of our field is as strong as ever, and we have an excellent set of venues on the docket for upcoming meetings. ICBIC XIV will be held in 2009 in Nagoya, Japan, organized by Yoshi Watanabe; ICBIC XV will be held in 2011 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, organized by Chris Orvig; and, announced in Vienna, ICBIC XVI will be held in 2013 in Grenoble, France, organized by Marc Fontecave. I am looking forward to attending each of these conferences and hope you will join me.