With the assistance of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv together with the Western Science Center under NAS and MES of Ukraine, Ukrainian Crystallographic Committee and International Center for Diffraction Data, held the V School for Young Scientists “Crystal Structures: Experiment and Calculations”, which took place on September 23-24, 2016 at the Department of Inorganic Chemistry.The school got sponsorship from the International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD, USA).
The school was attended by 80 persons, representing 16 institutions from different parts of Ukraine (Vinnitsa, Dnieper, Kiev, Lutsk, Lviv, Odessa, Uzhgorod), including eight universities from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and eight institutes of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. In particular, students and postgraduate students of the Faculty of Chemistry of Lviv University participated actively in the work of the school.
The purpose of this school was to familiarize young scientists with the basics of obtaining an experimental diffraction data with the further study of appropriate software.
The school lasted two days, during which participants listened to three lectures and attended two practical sessions.
V School for Young Scientists “Crystal Structures: Experiment and Calculations” was opened by a corresponding member of NAS of Ukraine, Doctor of chemical sciences, Professor Roman Gladyshevskii, who spoke about the history of Lviv Crystallochemical School and its achievements in the world science.
Lev Akselrud, a leading researcher of the Department of Inorganic Chemistry of Lviv University, delivered a lecture on the topic: “Accounting of Crystallochemical Patterns in Determining the Structure of Matter”.
Professor Petro Zavaliy (University of Maryland, College Park, USA) shared his experience of defining and refining crystal structures from powder data.
During the second day of the school lectures and practical sessions were held by Professor Vatslav Petrichek (Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic). The lecture was devoted to the determination of the crystal structure of single-crystal diffraction data (the”Regular Structures from Single Crystals”), and during practical sessions, participants had the opportunity to read the analysis and calculation of crystal structures of chemical compounds of different classes.
Young crystallographers improved their skills in decoding and analyzing crystal structure using the software package “Jana”.
The workshop “ICDD Grant-in-Aid Workshop” was held in parallel with the V School for Young Scientists “Crystal Structures: Experiment and Calculations”, which was presented as separate lecture sessions.
Lecturers at the workshop “ICDD Grant-in-Aid Workshop” included: Roman Gladyshevskii, Pavlo Demchenko (Ivan Franko National University of Lviv), Ihor Zavaliy (Karpenko Physico-mechanical Institute of the NAS of Ukraine), Leonid Vasylechko (Lviv Polytechnic National University), Vyacheslav Baumer (State Scientific Institution “Institute for Single Crystals” of NAS of Ukraine, Kharkiv), Petro Zavaliy (University of Maryland, College Park, USA) and Professor Matteo Leoni, the President of the International Center for Diffraction Data.
In addition, videoconference was held with the main office of the International Centre for Diffraction Data, Pennsylvania (USA) with the participation of the longstanding Director of the organization, Manager of the database PDF4+ Dr. Thomas Blanton.
During the workshop, scientists got acquainted with the history of the International Centre for Diffraction Data and the role of Ukrainian scientists in the creation of the database of diffraction data. The authorities of the International Centre for Diffraction Data noted the significant contribution of Ukrainian scientists in the work of the centre as well as the interest of young scientists – participants of the school.
After hard work the participants had the opportunity to relax and enjoy excursions around Lviv.
The closing of the V School for Young Scientists “Crystal Structures: Experiment and Calculations” and of the workshop “ICDD Grant-in-Aid Workshop” was held on September 24. More than 40 participants, who have attended all lectures and successfully completed the practical assignments, received certificates.
The certificate of participation at school is an important step in the development of young scientists. Roman Gladyshevskii, the Chairperson of the organizing committee, said that the next such meeting will take place next year.