Preface: 5th San Luis Pan-American Conference on Surfaces, Interfaces and Catalysis

The following Special Issue of Topics in Catalysis contains contributions from the participants of the Fifth San Luis Conference on Surfaces, Interfaces and Catalysis, a PanAmerican Advanced Studies Institute that took place in Sao Pedro, Brazil from April 9th to April 19th, 2010. This was the fifth in a series of symposia targeted to unite Latin American and US and European scientists in the areas of surface science and catalysis. The symposium was organized by Professor Francisco Zaera of the University of California, Riverside and Professor Pedro Nascente of the Federal University of Sao Carlos, Brazil. The original San Luis conference was organized in August of 1994 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the founding of the city of San Luis, Argentina. That conference, which was financed primarily by the State of San Luis with supporting funds from the Argentinean National Government, was aimed at bringing together theoreticians and experimentalists working in the area of surface chemistry, primarily in connection with catalysis, to facilitate international communication, and to expose students working in Argentina to leading international scientists. The conference was a great success, more than fulfilling the expectations of the organizers. It featured attendees from many nations, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Mexico as well as from Argentina, itself. The quality of the work presented there is reflected in the publication of the conference papers in the leading international journal Langmuir. Several new collaborative research projects were also started between Argentinean universities and foreign institutions. Encouraged by that success, a Second San Luis Symposium was organized in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in April of 2000. No local moneys were available that time, and funding came primarily from the US National Science Foundation. Again, the results were significantly better than expected. There was a substantial increase in international participation, with people attending from the United States, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Japan. New collaborations were established, and the proceedings were published in The Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical. A few changes were implemented, including a following Summer School on Surface Science. Fellowships were given to a few US graduate students with the intent to foster collaborations with people early in their professional careers. The Third San Luis Summer School and Symposium on Surfaces, Interfaces and Catalysis was held in Merida, Venezuela in 2004 with 70 attendees and about 40 students from fourteen countries in Europe and north and south America, 40 oral presentations, and almost 50 poster presentations, the proceedings of the conference were again published in The Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical. Finally, the Fourth San Luis Summer School and Symposium on Surfaces, Interfaces and Catalysis was held in Cuernavaca, Mexico in 2007 with 120 attendees from fifteen countries (United States, Canada, Japan, Israel, United Kingdom, Denmark, Spain, Germany, France, Mexico, Columbia, Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Venezuela). There were a total of 39 oral presentations and 93 posters, D. A. Chen Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA