Dear MAS Members,

It is my pleasure to serve the Microbeam Analysis Society this year in the role of President. The MAS is rich in tradition and consists of member scientists, like you, who are passionate about the field and future of microbeam analysis. First, I would like to thank our outgoing President, Paul Carpenter, for his excellent leadership this past year. As President, Paul played a critical role in leading initial discussions within MAS Council as well as with MSA Council and the joint MAS/MSA Merger Committee regarding the possible merger of the Microbeam Analysis Society and the Microscopy Society of America. Simultaneously, he worked to advance the visibility of MAS and to serve our membership by identifying and arranging for additional MAS sponsored Topical Conferences.

M&M2004. Microscopy and Microanalysis 2004, held last August in Savannah, GA, was a great success. The Savannah site was beautiful, complete with river, historic homes, and Spanish moss. The Program Chair, Ian Anderson, and his committee, including Bob Price, Ernie Hall, Elliot Clark, Paul Kotula, and John Henry Scott, put together a fantastic scientific program with 17 tutorials and over 750 invited and contributed platform and poster presentations. The bus and ferry transportation worked better than we had anticipated. I extend a special thanks to Sara Miller, who served both as Local Arrangements Chair and MSA President, for the exceptional southern hospitality.

UPCOMING MEETINGS. The 15th Annual Goldschmidt Conference will be held in Moscow, Idaho, May 20-25, 2005. In addition to supporting the travel of students to this MAS Topical Conference, MAS is sponsoring several of the symposia including those entitled “Advances in in-situ microanalysis of trace elements”, “Isotopic ratio measurement using microbeam methods: where do we stand and where are we going?”, “Nearly nano-compositional imaging at the sub-micrometer scale using ion beam mass spectrometry to study earth and planetary issues”, “Recent advances in electron microbeam induced X-ray microanalysis: instrumentation, hyperspectral data handling, and applications to geochemistry”, and “Recent developments in microbeam cathodoluminescence with applications to mineralogy”.

I look forward to seeing you at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2005, which will be held at the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu, HI from July 31st until August 4th. The Hawaii location will draw scientists from Pacific Rim nations. In addition to MAS, MSA and IMS, co-sponsors of this meeting include The Australian Microscopy and Microanalysis Society, the Australia Microbeam Analysis Society, Microscopy New Zealand, and the Committee of Asia-Pacific Societies for Microscopy. The Program Committee, headed by Bob Price, Paul Kotula, and John Henry Scott, has assembled a comprehensive scientific program. Please see the meeting website for complete details: http://mm2005.microscopy.org.

ELECTIONS. This past fall we held an election for a new President-elect, a Treasurer, and two Directors. We welcome Raynald Gauvin (President-elect), Harvey Freeman (Treasurer), Dan Kremser (Director), and Lou Germinario (Director) to MAS Council. MAS Council thanks Masashi Watanabe and Jerry Delaney for running for the Director positions. Both candidates had significant support from the MAS membership.

SUSPENSION OF MAS/MSA MERGER DISCUSSIONS. In recent years, the Microbeam Analysis Society (MAS) and the Microscopy Society of America (MSA) have considered merging. Last spring, a joint MAS/MSA Merger Committee was established to address the feasibility of creating a merged society. Through a series of productive conference calls, the committee identified several possible governing structures as well as possible names for a merged society. A survey of the MAS and MSA memberships regarding these possible governing structures and society names was conducted in August at the M&M 2004 meeting in Savannah and again in late October via the web. In February 2005, the MSA Council voted “to suspend further discussion about a merger for the time being.”

MAS PLANS. The MAS Council and the Long Range Planning Committee are considering new initiatives for MAS including expanding our Topical Conference Program and co-sponsoring technical meetings with other groups/societies. These initiatives will be conveyed to the membership via MicroNews and our website, www.microbeamanalysis.org.

I look forward to working with you in the coming year to preserve and carry forward the great traditions of MAS. Do not hesitate to contact me or other members of MAS Council to share ideas, offer suggestions, or voice concerns.

Sincerely,