WASHINGTON – GW Department of Chemistry graduate student Billy W. Acon is one of only 36 students nationwide invited to participate in the 50^th Annual Meeting of Nobel Laureates. To be held June 26 to 30, the meeting will bring graduate students from North America, Europe, Africa and Asia together in Lindau, Germany to hear lectures and participate in small group discussions with Nobel Prize winners.

"I was ecstatic when I heard of my opportunity to sit down and chit-chat with 66 Nobel laureates, some of the most influential people and greatest minds of our times in the areas of biology, chemistry and physics," said Acon, who is working on a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry. "The meeting will certainly play a major role in fine tuning my graduate studies and shaping my future goals."

Acon came to GW in September 1998 after earning his B.S. in chemistry from Widener University in Pennsylvania. To date, he has contributed to six published research papers and presented research at key chemistry conferences in New Orleans, Louisiana; Vancouver, Canada; and Orlando, Florida. His awards at the graduate level include the Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Travel Award and the Best Poster Award for fundamental research in atomic spectroscopy presented at the 2000 Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry.

Each year since 1951, Nobel Prize winners in Chemistry, Physics, or Physiology and Medicine have met in Lindau to discuss issues of importance in their fields with students from around the world. Scientists from each discipline have met every three years; but this year, to commemorate the 50^th anniversary, all three disciplines will be combined. Members of the Swedish royal family are expected to attend part of this year’s meeting.

This is the first year that a significant number of U.S. students will attend the Nobel laureate meeting. The Department of Energy (DOE) is sponsoring the U.S. student participants, who were nominated by their research directors and are currently conducting research with funding from DOE. Acon was nominated by his research director Akbar Montaser, GW professor of chemistry.

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