CSD Communications is a way to share small molecule crystal structures directly in the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) without requiring an associated scientific publication.
Applications for the 2026 ACA Summer Course will open in December 2025, and we encourage anyone passionate about crystallography to apply.
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.
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.
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 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 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."
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.
The American Crystallographic Association proudly recognizes three outstanding scientists whose work is advancing the frontiers of structural science:
The U.S. crystallographic community is undergoing a critical transformation. Since 2018, when the National Science Foundation (NSF) designated crystallography a “mature” field and ceased direct support for the U.S. National Committee for Crystallography (USNC/Cr), the committee has been sustained by private donations, a single NIST grant, and careful budgeting. This patchwork funding model, however, has proven unsustainable. For example, NAS is paid for its services and has not kept pace with basic USNC/Cr management responsibilities, such as updating committee appointments, maintaining its public website or interacting with IUCr.
The ACA is proud to celebrate a major milestone in the career of Dr. James Kaduk, who has been elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)—one of the highest distinctions in the scientific community.
To Our Members and the Scientific Community: As the leadership of the American Crystallographic Association (ACA), we remain steadfast in our commitment to the core values that define our organization: scientific excellence, integrity, inclusivity, and the free exchange of knowledge. In light of ongoing changes and challenges, we reaffirm our dedication to fostering an environment where science thrives, diverse perspectives are valued, and the highest standards of research and collaboration are upheld.
