Earlier this month, the American Crystallographic Association convened Special Interest Group (SIG) officers, new leaders, and members of Council for a focused discussion on the future of SIG engagement and the long-term strength of the Association.
Each quarter, we feature a new collection of book reviews covering a wide range of topics—some thought-provoking, some purely for enjoyment, and all well worth your time. This small but mighty selection is designed to spark curiosity and may even inspire your next visit to the library or bookstore. We are grateful to Jeanette S. Ferrara, MFA, who contributed all of this quarter’s reviews.
The American Crystallographic Association is pleased to share news from our publishing partnership with AIP Publishing: Structural Dynamics is entering a new chapter with the appointment of Mark Wilson as Editor-in-Chief.
The American Crystallographic Association is deeply grateful to Virginia Pett, who is concluding her service as ACA Historian. Virginia’s dedication, care, and steady leadership have played a vital role in preserving the history of our Association and ensuring that ACA’s legacy remains accessible to current and future generations.
Earlier this month, we hosted a We’re Listening session to discuss the results of the Future Meetings Survey. The conversation was thoughtful and productive, and it gave us valuable context beyond the survey data alone.
And just like that, we are at the start of December, and I’m writing my last President’s Column for RefleXions. I find it hard to believe how quickly the year went by. It has been an honour to serve you all as President during our 75th Anniversary year. This year has been one of ups and downs, challenges and opportunities, and was highlighted by our Annual Meeting in Lombard.
We are pleased to share that the American Crystallographic Association (ACA) has been invited to participate in a new national initiative — REV UP, led by the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) and funded by the AIP Venture Fund.
Applications for the 2026 ACA Summer Course will open in December 2025, and we encourage anyone passionate about crystallography to apply.
We wanted to share a quick update about our presence on the platform X. While the ACA account will remain available, it won’t be actively monitored moving forward. Over the past year, many in the scientific community have moved away from X, and we’ve seen engagement there drop off significantly. Because of this, it’s no longer the best place for us to connect with you.
The beginning of September is always something I look forward to. While it is a soft goodbye to summer, sitting under a tree on a warm fall afternoon with the leaves changing colors and reading something interesting has been something I’ve enjoyed for many years. Perhaps it will be the e-version of RefleXions for me this year :). And of course, for those of us in the academic sector, it is the start of the new fall academic term, with our campuses abuzz with new and returning students. I wish you all the best on the start of autumn, a new semester, and new or ongoing scientific pursuits.
We’re pleased to announce the American Association to Advance Powder Diffraction (AAAPD), a grassroots organization that was formed to be a voice for the powder diffraction community to ensure a bright future for this field.
The 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded jointly to John Clarke (UC Berkeley), Michel H. Devoret (Yale/UC Santa Barbara), and John M. Martinis (UC Santa Barbara) “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunneling and energy quantization in an electric circuit."
The 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Richard Robson, Susumu Kitagawa, and Omar M. Yaghi for the development of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) — remarkable crystalline materials that are transforming how we capture, store, and use molecules.
The crystallographic community mourns the loss of Dr. Benno P. Schoenborn, who passed away on September 23, 2025, in Phoenix, Arizona.
The ACA community mourns the loss of Dr. David Duchamp, who passed away peacefully at home with his family on August 15, 2025, at the age of 85.
We are at a pivotal moment for U.S. structural science. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has announced that, effective January 1, 2026, it will withdraw from the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) and dissolve the U.S. National Committee for Crystallography (USNC/Cr). This action ends a long tradition of national representation and threatens the continuity of U.S. engagement with the global crystallography community.
