PACIFIC POLYMER FEDERATION NEWSLETTER No. 12 July, 2002

Editor: Pitt Supaphol

Supawan Tantayanon (Chulalongkom University,Bangkok,Thailand), President, James E. McGrath (Virginia Polytecnic Institute& State University, USA.) Vice President, Vipavee P.Hoven (Chulalongkom University, Bangkok, Thailand), Secretary, Pranee Phinyocheep (Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand), Treasurer

Members of the Council: Ezio Rizzardo (Australia), Kazuyuki Horie (Japan), Hardy Chan (Singapore), Wayne D.Cook (Australia), Tisato Kajiyama (Japan), Yu-Der Lee (Taiwan), Francoise Winnik (Canada), Sung Chul Kim (Korea), James.E.McGrath (U.S.A.), Franco Rabagliati (Chile), Chee-Cheong Ho (Malaysia), William H. Daly (U.S.A.), Fosong Wang (China), Takeshi Ogawa (Mexico) Tim Lodge (U.S.A.), Louis Man Lay Leung (China), Ramiro Guerrero (Mexico), Dang Van Luyen (Vietnam), M. Sugandi-Ratulangi (Indonesia), David Officer (New Zealand)

President's Message: Supawan Tantayanon

The former Pacific Polymer Conferences (7 total) were all very successful. They offered timely and highly practical technical information and knowledge on various aspects of Polymer Science and Technology. Such event provides a stimulating environment for individual scientist to professionally and socially mingle with hundreds of colleagues from the Pacific Pasin polymer network. The 8th Pacific Polymer Conference (PPC-8) will be held during November 24-27 2003, in Bangkok, Thailand.

Thailand, despite of being a small country of approximately 61 millions population, is full of graceful places, ancient traditions and exotic flavors of unique cultures blend together with modern life styles of the 21th Century. Thailand is located at the heart of the South East region of Asia. Bangkok is the capital and the largest city with a population of about 10 million inhabitants. The PPC-8 will be held at one of Bangkok's fantastic and modern convention facilities.

PPC-8 will be jointly organized by the Polymer Society of Thailand and three well-known local institutions: Chulalongkom University, Mahidol University and Rajamangala Institute of Technology. I can assure you that you will once again be very impressed at what we will have prepared for you for PPC-8.

There are many more challenges to meet, many opportunities to seize, and a lot more to learn from each other. Together we can build a unique and powerful Pacific Polymer Community based on

cooperative effort weaving together new knowledge, common interests, new values and dreams.

On behalf of the PPF, I cordially invite all of you to participate in PPC-8. I look forward to welcoming you to Bangkok, Thailand in November 2003.

Sincerely yours

Supawan Tantayanon, President of PPF

Minutes of PPF Council Meeting, December 4, 2001

Oaxaca, Mexico

Attendees: T. Ogawa, G. Burillo, R. Ramio, T. Lodge, W.H. Daly, J.E. McGrath, T. Kajiyama, K. Horie, F. Rabagliati, E. Kumacheva, D.J. Liaw, W. Cook, D.J.T. Hill.

Guests: A. Abe, K. Shida, X. Mao, C. Linaya, J. Nakamatsu.

Welcoming Remarks: T. Ogawa, President of PPF Council, welcomed all the attendees and guests of the meeting at 19:00 and outlined the agenda. The Council Members and guests, then introduced themselves in turn. It was noted that the Council Members from Vietnam, Malaysia and New Zealand apologized for not being at this meeting. The first announcement for PPC-8 was presented.

Approval of Minutes .The minutes of the previous PPF Council meeting which was held on December 8,1999, in Guangzhou, China, was approved.

Report on PPC-7: T. Ogawa reported that the atrocity of September 11had significantly changed the situation of this event. Cancellations had been received due to the fear of possible terrorism and anthrax, with people hesitating to come to Mexico through the USA even if their journey involved only a stay of a few hours in a US airport for a connections. Very unfortunately, many participants had to give up their participation due to the recently imposed visa restriction, even though the organizers of PPF-7 had tried their best to help them on issued visa. There were 386 participants registered before September 11, but only about 320 partticipated at the conference. However, nearly 400 papers were presented. Consqently the cancellations had not damaged the conference significantly.

Report on PPC-8: S.Tantayanon noted that PPC-8 would be held in

Bangkok in November, 2003. The conference will be be organized by the Polymer Society of Thailand and oo-organized by Chulalongkom University, Mahidol University and Rajamangara Institute of Technology. She introduced Bangkok as the fascinating city and full of graceful places as well as ancient tradition and culture.

PPC-9 and PPC-10: J.E. McGrath and W. Daly together announced that in the USA part of PPF would be ready to organize PPC-9 in Hawaii in 2005. D.J. Liaw expressed the interest of the Polymer Society of Taipei in organizing PPC-10. T. Kajiyama also expressed that the Polymer Society of Japan would like to hold PPC-10. Many members raised that next conference should return to the founding member countries as suggested in the previous meeting. After deliberation, the meeting unanimously agreed to hold PPC-9 in Hawaii in 2005 and the next host for PPC-10 would be discussed again in Beijing.

President Election: S.Tantayanon and J.E. McGrath were unanimously elected as the President and Vice-President of PPF, respectively. Their turn would begin in January 1, 2002 and terminate in December 31, 2003

Next Council Meeting: The next Council Meeting was suggested to be held in July, 2002 in Beijing during the IUPAC World Polymer Congress 2002. The Polymer Division, Chinese Chemical Society would host the meeting.

Others:The question on whether it was an agreement that the PPC organizer should provide the honorarium for the invited lecturers nominated from each society, had been raised. The meeting understood that there was no such agreement and it should be up to each organizer to handle.

Closing: T. Ogawa adjourned the meeting at 20:00; the minutes were recorded by Pitt Supaphol.