Members of the International Centre for Diffraction Data met during the week of 11 March 2019 for the Annual Spring Meeting. Task groups got right to work during the preceding weekend, finding ways to improve the Powder Diffraction File™ for its users.

The Tuesday morning Plenary Session featured four speakers. Dr. Alan Coelho, Coelho Software, Australia, spoke about TOPAS – A Program for Analysing X-ray Diffraction Data. Cora Lind-Kovacs, University of Toledo, USA, talked about Elucidating the Structure of Negative Thermal Expansion Materials Using Powder Diffraction. Andrew McDonald, Laurentian University-Harquail School of Earth Sciences, Canada, gave a talk entitled Mining for Success: Applications of Powder X-Ray Diffraction to Mineral Exploration and Mineral Processing. Matteo Leoni, University di Trento, Italy, shared his work on Diffraction and Modern Machine Learning. To view a short biography and abstract from each plenary speaker, please visit – http://www.icdd.com/index.php/plenary-schedule/ (Photo 1).

Photo 1. 2019 Spring Meeting Plenary Speakers with Executive Director Tom Blanton. L to R: Andrew McDonald, Cora Lind-Kovacs, Matteo Leoni, Alan Coelho, Tom Blanton.

Following a very interesting Plenary Session and lunch at ICDD Headquarters, members, staff, and guests traveled to the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia, PA. Everyone was able to see one of the world's greatest collections of racing sports cars. Assembled over 50 years by Dr. Frederick Simeone, a retired Neurosurgeon from Philadelphia, the Museum contains over 65 historically significant cars including Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Bugatti, Mercedes, Jaguar, Bentley, Porsche, Aston Martin, Corvette, and Ford.

While enjoying cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, attendees were able to view 28 posters, presented by members, guests, and staff. Attendees voted on their favorite poster, and the posters receiving the most votes were on display at ICDD Headquarters for the remainder of the week. The four best posters were - Analyses of Green Pigments from Japanese 17th Century Sugito Door Paintings presented by Timothy G. Fawcett, Emeritus, International Centre for Diffraction Data, USA; Multivariate Statistical Analysis of Micro-XRF Spectral Images from a Bruker M4 Tornado System presented by Mark Rodriguez, Sandia National Laboratories, USA; Identification Of Superstructures In Transition Metal Bi-Metallic Nanocatalysts via Nanobeam Electron Diffraction presented by Alina Bruma, National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA; Identifying Minerals Using PDF^® Products presented by Megan Rost, International Centre for Diffraction Data, USA. To view all the abstracts from the presented posters during the session, please visit – http://www.icdd.com/index.php/social-event-and-poster-session/ (Photos 2–5).

Photo 2. L to R: Tom Blanton, Timothy G. Fawcett.

Photo 3. L to R: Tom Blanton, Mark Rodriguez.

Photo 4. L to R: Tom Blanton, Alina Bruma.

Photo 5. L to R: Tom Blanton, Megan Rost.

Wednesday was a busy day for all who attended. Throughout the day, 15 committees and subcommittees met. The committees and subcommittees shared ideas, presented their latest research, and gathered any motions they wanted to present during the Technical Committee Meeting the following day.

On Thursday morning, Mark Rodriguez led the Technical Committee Meeting. ICDD's Regional Co-chairs shared current news and events from their area of the world. The meeting concluded with the Subcommittee Chairs giving a brief report of their meeting and proposing their motions to be carried to the ICDD Board of Directors.

The week concluded with the Annual Meeting of Members, Thursday afternoon. Tom Blanton, Executive Director at ICDD, shared the activities that have been going on at ICDD Headquarters over the past year. Jim Kaduk, ICDD's Treasurer, gave a report on the financial outlook of the organization.

During the Annual Meeting, the following awards were announced:

Hanawalt Award: Presented every three years, the Hanawalt Award recognizes distinguished, work in the field of powder diffraction. In order to be eligible for consideration, the work must have been published within the past five years. Matteo Leoni presented the Hanawalt Award to I. Cev Noyan, Columbia University, New York, USA, honoring his contributions in Advancing the Accuracy of Characterization by PXRD of Nanocrystalline Materials. The Hanawalt Award presentation and lecture will take place during the Plenary Session at the 2019 Denver X-ray Conference at the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center, Lombard, Illinois, USA on 7 August 2019 (Photo 6).

Photo 6. Matteo Leoni presenting the Hanawalt Award to I. Cev Noyan.

Fellow: The ICDD Board of Directors may give the designation of Fellow to individuals who have given their time and talents beyond that normally associated with membership. Matteo Leoni presented two Fellow Awards during the Annual Meeting: first, to Chris Gilmore, University of Glasgow, Scotland, honoring his contributions to ICDD, in particular, his leadership as Chair of the X-ray Diffraction Methods Subcommittee; second, to T.N. Guru Row, Indian Institute of Science, India, honoring his contributions to ICDD, in particular, his leadership as Regional Co-chair for India (Photos 7 and 8).

Photo 7. Presentation of the Fellow Award to Chris Gilmore (L) by Matteo Leoni (R).

Photo 8. Presentation of the Fellow Award to T.N. Guru Row (L) by Matteo Leoni (R).

Distinguished Fellow: Certain members who have given long and meritorious service to ICDD and are currently recognized as Fellows may be granted the title of Distinguished Fellow. Matteo Leoni presented the Distinguished Fellow Award during the Annual Meeting to David Rendle, Cranfield University, United Kingdom, honoring his long and meritorious service to the ICDD since 1990! David watched his Distinguished Fellow Award announcement over the live video stream from his home. Tom Blanton was able to call him on the conference speakerphone so David could say a few words (Photo 9).

Photo 9. Matteo Leoni presenting the Distinguished Fellow Award to David Rendle.

Distinguished Grantee: Also presented during the Annual Meeting was the 2019 Distinguished Grantee Award to Leonid Vasylechko from Lviv Polytechnic National University, Ukraine. Honoring his meritorious service to the ICDD Grant Program, supplying over 720 new, experimental, powder diffraction patterns of complex oxides and intermetallics. Grant-in-Aid Committee Chair, Graciela de Delgado, presented the award and read words of gratitude in his honor (Photo 10).

Photo 10. Graciela de Delgado presenting the Distinguished Grantee Award.

To view the past, and current, winners of the mentioned awards, please visit - http://www.icdd.com/index.php/icdd-awards-and-scholarships/.

Spring Meeting week at ICDD is always enjoyed by all who attend, and this year was no exception! Mark your calendar with the 2020 Spring Meetings dates, 23–27 March 2020. We hope to see everyone again next year!