Preface

I am pleased to introduce this special issue of papers based on presentations delivered at the North American Thermal Analysis Society, NATAS, annual conference convened September 19–21, 2005. The last three NATAS conferences have each attracted nearly 200 technical presentations of which approximately 20% are from outside of North America. You will find a rich assortment of papers in this special issue, covering a wide range of thermal topics submitted by authors from nine countries. This collection provides an interesting snapshot of research and developments in thermal sciences being conducted here in North America as well as around the globe and is testimony that NATAS is indeed increasingly becoming international in scope.

The success of the annual NATAS conference is the product of the talented volunteers who serve the Society. The Conference Committee along with the session chairs did an outstanding job in assembling a well rounded program and recruiting the excellent papers that are contained in this special edition. And I wish to acknowledge the authors and the reviewers that enabled this issue to be expeditiously assembled. Special accolades to Sophie Korda of JTAC who coordinated the review process. NATAS is also indebted to the vendors for their financial support as well as the many fine papers detailing advances in instrumentation and analysis; they are integral to the NATAS conference. It is these collective contributions of many that resulted in a successful NATAS05, and these volunteers are deserving of a standing ovation.

I and my fellow NATAS associates extend a warm invitation to our colleagues in North America and all parts of the world to attend a NATAS conference. The Society web page provides details on upcoming conferences, the venues, dates, and registration information. In particular, I want to announce that the 2007 annual conference will be hosted at the campus of Michigan State University. It is not too early to mark your calendars now to attend NATAS07. Look for future details at the Society webpage at www.natasinfo.org I hope to see you then. In the meantime, I trust that you will enjoy reading this special issue of papers from NATAS 2005.

Cordially, Michael J. Rich, Michigan State University