Privacy Policy

Effective Date: August 26, 2026

The American Crystallographic Association (“ACA,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting the personal information entrusted to us. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we collect and use it, when it may be disclosed, and the choices available to you.

This policy applies to personal information collected through ACA-owned or ACA-managed websites, membership activities, meetings, programs, applications, correspondence, and related products and services.

1. Information We Collect

Depending on how you interact with ACA, we may collect the following categories of information:

• Name, professional title, employer, institutional affiliation, and contact information;

• Mailing address, telephone number, and email address;

• ACA membership status, membership history, and Scientific Interest Group or other volunteer affiliations;

• Account credentials and information associated with your ACA website account;

• Meeting, workshop, webinar, or event registration information;

• Abstracts, presentation information, authorship information, and professional biographies;

• Award, fellowship, grant, travel-support, nomination, or volunteer application information;

• Educational, professional, and demographic information that you voluntarily provide;

• Accessibility, dietary, or accommodation information provided in connection with an event;

• Payment and transaction information;

• Communications submitted to ACA by mail, email, website forms, telephone, or other means; and

• Technical information about your use of ACA websites, including IP address, browser type, operating system, pages visited, downloads, searches, referring pages, and similar usage information.

ACA seeks to collect only the information reasonably necessary to provide its programs, services, and activities.

2. How We Collect Information

ACA may receive personal information from:

• You, when you create an account, become or renew as a member, register for an event, submit an abstract, make a purchase or donation, complete a form, apply for an award or grant, or otherwise communicate with us;

• ACA-owned or ACA-managed websites and online platforms;

• Meeting, conference, or mobile applications used to provide an ACA program or service;

• Contracted service providers that administer registration, membership, payments, abstract submissions, publications, awards, grants, surveys, or other ACA activities;

• Individuals who nominate you for an award, provide a reference, add you as a co-author, or submit information about you with your knowledge or as part of an ACA process;

• Meeting co-sponsors, partner scientific societies, or affiliated organizations involved in a jointly administered activity; and

• Publicly available professional or institutional sources when reasonably necessary for ACA activities.

If you provide ACA with another person’s information, you should have permission or another appropriate basis to provide that information.

3. How We Use Personal Information

ACA may use personal information to:

• Establish and administer membership accounts;

• Process membership applications and renewals;

• Provide member benefits, publications, newsletters, announcements, and other requested communications;

• Administer meetings, workshops, webinars, elections, committees, awards, grants, fellowships, nominations, and volunteer activities;

• Process registrations, purchases, donations, reimbursements, and other transactions;

• Review and publish abstracts, programs, speaker information, award announcements, and other professional content;

• Respond to inquiries and provide customer or member support;

• Maintain accurate membership, participation, and transaction records;

• Conduct surveys and evaluate or improve ACA programs and services;

• Maintain the operation, security, and accessibility of ACA websites and systems;

• Detect or prevent fraud, misuse, security incidents, or other prohibited activity;

• Meet contractual, financial, tax, insurance, reporting, and legal obligations; and

• Protect the rights, property, safety, and legitimate interests of ACA, its members, event participants, and others.

ACA may use email engagement information, such as whether an email was opened or a link was selected, to evaluate and improve its communications. You may unsubscribe from optional promotional emails by using the unsubscribe link provided in the message or by contacting ACA.

4. ACA Does Not Sell or Rent Personal Information

ACA does not sell or rent member data, membership lists, email addresses, or other personal information.

ACA does not provide member contact information to outside organizations for their independent marketing or solicitation purposes.

5. Annual Meeting Opt-In

In connection with an ACA Annual Meeting, registrants may be offered the opportunity to affirmatively opt in to sharing their name and email address with identified Annual Meeting sponsors, exhibitors, or partners.

ACA shares an attendee’s name and email address with Annual Meeting sponsors, exhibitors, or partners for their own meeting-related outreach only when the attendee has expressly opted in during the registration process.

Choosing not to opt in will not affect an individual’s meeting registration or participation.

When an attendee opts in:

• The information provided is limited to the attendee’s name and email address;

• The information may be used only for communications related to the Annual Meeting or the recipient’s relevant products and services;

• The recipient is not authorized to sell, rent, transfer, or redistribute the information; and

• The attendee may withdraw permission for future disclosures by contacting ACA at [email protected].

A withdrawal request will apply to future disclosures by ACA. ACA may be unable to retrieve information that was already provided to a recipient based on the attendee’s prior consent. Attendees may contact the recipient directly to opt out of that organization’s communications.

Except for this affirmative Annual Meeting opt-in, ACA does not provide member or attendee names and email addresses to outside organizations for their independent marketing or solicitation.

6. Service Providers and Operational Disclosures

ACA may disclose limited personal information to contracted service providers when necessary for them to perform services on ACA’s behalf. These providers may include organizations that support:

• Membership and website administration;

• Meeting and event registration;

• Abstract or manuscript submission;

• Email distribution and communications;

• Payment processing and financial administration;

• Website hosting, data storage, and information technology;

• Surveys and program evaluation;

• Award, grant, and nomination administration;

• Printing, shipping, or fulfillment; and

• Security, auditing, legal, insurance, or professional services.

These operational disclosures are different from sharing information for a recipient’s independent marketing. Service providers are expected to use personal personal information only for the services they provide to ACA and to maintain appropriate confidentiality and security protections.

ACA may also disclose information:

• When required by law, regulation, subpoena, court order, or other valid legal process;

• To investigate fraud, misuse, security threats, or violations of ACA policies;

• To protect the rights, property, safety, or security of ACA or others;

• In connection with a reorganization, transfer, or other change affecting ACA’s operations, subject to appropriate protections; or

• With your direction or consent.

7. Publicly Available Program Information

Certain information submitted in connection with ACA’s scientific and professional activities may be intended for publication or public display. This may include:

• Names and institutional affiliations of authors, presenters, speakers, award recipients, officers, committee members, and volunteers;

• Abstracts, presentation titles, professional biographies, and photographs;

• Meeting schedules and scientific programs;

• Election or governance information; and

• Award, fellowship, grant, or professional-recognition announcements.

When submitting information for one of these purposes, you should understand that the information may appear on an ACA website, in a meeting program, in a publication, or in other publicly available ACA materials.

8. Aggregated and De-Identified Information

ACA may create and use statistical, aggregated, or de-identified information to understand membership trends, evaluate programs, report meeting participation, support sponsorship activities, or improve ACA services.

Aggregated or de-identified information does not identify individual members or users. ACA may provide this information to partners, sponsors, advertisers, researchers, or other organizations.

9. Payments and Ecommerce

ACA uses third-party payment processors to handle online payments. Payment-card information is submitted through the applicable payment provider and is handled in accordance with that provider’s security and privacy practices.

ACA and its payment providers use commercially reasonable safeguards designed to protect account and transaction information. However, no electronic transmission or storage system can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

10. Cookies and Website Technologies

ACA websites may use cookies and similar technologies to:

• Maintain website sessions and account logins;

• Remember user preferences;

• Support membership renewals and online transactions;

• Understand website traffic and usage;

• Improve website performance and functionality; and

• Help protect ACA systems against misuse or unauthorized access.

A cookie is a small file placed on a computer or device by a website. You may adjust your browser settings to reject or delete cookies. Disabling cookies may prevent certain ACA website features from functioning properly.

ACA may use third-party platforms or services that place their own cookies or collect technical information. The privacy practices of those services are governed by their respective privacy notices.

11. Data Retention

ACA retains personal information for as long as reasonably necessary to:

• Administer memberships and provide requested services;

• Maintain organizational, scientific, historical, and participation records;

• Complete transactions and maintain financial or tax documentation;

• Fulfill contractual, insurance, reporting, or legal obligations;

• Resolve disputes and enforce agreements; and

• Protect ACA’s legitimate operational and security interests.

Retention periods may vary depending on the type of information and the reason it was collected. When personal information is no longer reasonably required, ACA may delete it, anonymize it, or securely archive it, subject to applicable legal and organizational recordkeeping requirements.

Scientific programs, abstracts, publications, governance records, award information, and other materials of historical or professional significance may be retained permanently as part of ACA’s institutional record.

12. Data Security

ACA uses reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information against unauthorized access, use, alteration, disclosure, loss, or destruction.

These safeguards may include access controls, password protections, system monitoring, secure service providers, staff procedures, and other measures appropriate to the nature of the information maintained.

No website, electronic transmission, or information-storage system is completely secure. Although ACA works to protect personal information, ACA cannot guarantee absolute security.

13. International Users and Data Transfers

ACA is located in the United States, and its websites, records, service providers, and information systems may be located or operated in the United States or other countries.

If you provide information to ACA from outside the United States, your information may be transferred to and processed in the United States or another jurisdiction whose data-protection laws may differ from those in your country.

ACA will handle personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and any applicable legal requirements.

14. Privacy Rights and Choices

Depending on your location and applicable law, you may have the right to:

• Request information about the personal data ACA maintains about you;

• Request access to or a copy of your personal information;

• Ask ACA to correct inaccurate or incomplete information;

• Request deletion of certain personal information;

• Request that ACA restrict certain uses of your information;

• Object to certain processing or marketing communications;

• Withdraw consent when processing is based on your consent; or

• Request transfer of information in an appropriate format.

These rights may be subject to legal, contractual, archival, scientific-integrity, recordkeeping, or other permitted limitations.

To submit a request, contact ACA at [email protected]. ACA may need to verify your identity before completing a request.

You may update certain account information through the ACA member portal. You may also unsubscribe from optional email communications by using the unsubscribe link in the message.

Withdrawing consent does not affect processing that occurred before the withdrawal or information ACA must retain for legitimate operational, archival, contractual, or legal purposes.

15. Children’s Privacy

ACA websites and membership services are intended primarily for adults and professionals. ACA does not knowingly collect personal information online from children under 13 without appropriate authorization.

Some ACA educational programs or events may include participants under 18. When information about a minor is required for such a program, ACA will seek appropriate permission and use the information only to administer the program, protect participant safety, or fulfill applicable requirements.

If you believe a child has provided personal information to ACA without appropriate authorization, please contact us.

16. Links to Other Websites

ACA websites may contain links to websites or services operated by other organizations. ACA is not responsible for the privacy, security, content, products, services, or practices of those third parties.

We encourage you to review the privacy notice of each external website or service you use. This Privacy Policy applies only to information collected or controlled by ACA.

17. Changes to This Privacy Policy

ACA may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes in its practices, services, technology, or legal obligations.

Revisions will be posted on this page with an updated effective date. If ACA makes a material change affecting how personal information is used or disclosed, ACA may provide additional notice when appropriate.

18. Contact ACA

Questions, concerns, privacy requests, or requests to withdraw an Annual Meeting data-sharing preference may be directed to:

American Crystallographic Association
200 John James Audubon Parkway, Suite 102
Amherst, NY 14228 USA

Telephone: 888-591-7962
Email: [email protected]