Pittcon Receives the Wallace H. Coulter Lectureship Award

Pittsburgh, PA - July 26, 2012 -The Program Committee is pleased to announce that The Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy (Pittcon) and the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation have signed an agreement under which the Conference will receive an endowment to undertake educational training and development in laboratory sciences with special emphasis in resource limited countries worldwide.

Pittcon has renamed its preeminent event, the plenary lecture, in honor of Wallace H. Coulter. The Wallace H. Coulter Lectureship Award recognizes an outstanding individual who has demonstrated a lifetime commitment to and made important contributions that have had a significant impact on education, practice and/or research in laboratory science.

Wallace H. Coulter, the benefactor of the Foundation, invented the Coulter Principle, an electronic method of counting and classifying microscopic particles suspended in fluid. This principle was incorporated by Mr. Coulter in an apparatus to count and classify blood cells, a process that was previously done manually. This apparatus, which came to be known as the "Coulter Counter" revolutionized the practice of clinical laboratory medicine. The CBC, the complete blood cell count, to this date is the most widely performed clinical diagnostic test. In fact, the Coulter Principle touches everyone's life in some manner from having a blood test, to painting your house, from drinking beer or a glass of wine, eating a bar of chocolate, swallowing a pill or applying cosmetics. The use of the Coulter Principle modernized industry by establishing a method for quality control and standardization for the particles used in each of these products.

Former Pittcon President, Jon Peace stated, "We were very honored to be the recipient of this grant. Mr. Coulter's passions were the application of engineering principles to scientific research and embracing the diversity of world cultures which are consistent with our mission and the international impact of the Conference. He added, "We strongly believe that this [grant] will go a long way to perpetuate quality programming at Pittcon."

The Foundation's Vice President of Technology Development, Elias Caro, commented, " We chose to make this gift to Pittcon because of its excellent educational programs and worldwide leadership, two passions that Wallace Coulter embraced during his remarkable career. We hope that this funding will jump start programs that improve laboratory science in the developing world, continuing Wallace Coulter's efforts to advance the collective knowledge.