During the 50th Denver X-ray Conference held in August 2001, Ting Huang, Editor-in-Chief of Powder Diffraction, asked me my opinion about including a special topics section in an upcoming issue of the Powder Diffraction journal. I enthusiastically told Ting that I thought it was an excellent idea. His response was “Good. How about being the editor?” So much for expressing enthusiasm!
Ting was very convincing and I agreed to take on the task. The first order of business was to decide on a topic. Looking at the program for the 2002 Denver X-ray Conference revealed that a workshop on X-ray optics was being proposed. George Havrilla (Los Alamos National Laboratory) was an organizer of the workshop and I talked with him about the possibility of tying in the Powder Diffraction special topics section with the optics workshop. George thought the idea was good, as long as he did not have to be responsible for the journal activities. Obviously he was a step ahead of me!
In the meantime an X-ray Optics Group, a task group of the ICDD (International Centre for Diffraction Data), had been established. The objective of this group is to educate end-users regarding the various types of X-ray optics that are available and how to obtain optimal performance from these systems. This task group is chaired by Zaid Al-Mosheky (Osmic), Jim Cline (NIST), and Scott Misture (Alfred University), and additional members are Lutz Bruegemann (Bruker), Holz Thomas (Fraunhofer), Carsten Michaelsen (GKSS), Licai Jiang (Osmic), Paul Shield (XOS), Berry Beumer (XOS), and Keith Bowen (Bede). I talked to Zaid and he agreed to work with the X-ray Optics Group to select topics for the Powder Diffraction journal. I like this delegation process!
Before long it was January 2002 and everything looked like smooth sailing. Authors would write their articles, the task group members and I would review the articles, send the final copies to Shannon Mattaboni, the Managing Editor of Powder Diffraction, and await the publication of the special optics section in the June 2002 issue of Powder Diffraction. The January deadline moved to February, then March and finally early April. I had now experienced the reality of journal publication where deadlines, perceived and real, have a way of taking on a life of their own. What did I get myself into?
Fortunately, Ting Huang and Shannon Mattaboni were very understanding regarding the delays in submission of the manuscripts. The final result is that we were able to put together a group of articles that accomplished the original intent of this special section—provide users of X-ray diffraction a reference that allows them to gain a better understanding of X-ray optics. It is this enhanced understanding that offers diffractionists the opportunity to expand their capabilities in materials characterization!
This special optics section for Powder Diffraction was my first time to be involved in helping to put together a journal. This opportunity was a great experience for me and I thank Ting Huang for giving me the chance to be associated with this publication. A big thanks also goes to Zaid Al-Mosheky for his efforts in coordinating the topics for this special optics section and for contacting the authors. Finally, thank you to the authors who contributed their time to put these articles together. The deadline has passed; my persistent phone calls and e-mails will stop now!
Note from the Editor-in-Chief:
Dr. Tom Blanton is a Research Associate at Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, New York, and has been involved in the field of X-ray powder diffraction for over 20 years. He is also an Associate Lecturer at the University of Rochester, Department of Mechanical Engineering. In addition to conventional XRD techniques, his interests include the use of pole-figure analysis, in-situ high-temperature XRD, and synchrotron radiation for materials characterization. Tom is an International Centre for Diffraction Data Fellow and is active with the ICDD educational programs, most recently completing a successful Grants-in-Aid workshop held in Lviv, Ukraine.
Ting C. Huang
Editor-in-Chief
