Culture and Society
PUBLISHED
Not every scientific breakthrough starts in the laboratory. It may only take one conversation to change the direction of someone’s research. It may only take one accidental bump at cocktail hour to meet a new collaborator. It may only take one poster presentation to find your next employer.
Pittcon is the kind of scientific event where you come for the conference but stay for the connections. No matter where you are in your career, Pittcon has something for you. It is a fantastic event that brings together scientists from all around the globe to listen to talks, participate in workshops, investigate expo booths, and network at various social events, including the famous Pittcon Party.
It’s good to be able to connect with people of the same age and people doing similar topics to you.
Chloe Miller
We have been attending Pittcon for the last few years, and in that time we’ve talked to a lot of people who have shared their thoughts on why the event is so special.
“I like attending all of the student sessions and the talks mainly. A lot of the talks that go on are from PhD students, people at the same point in their journey as me or starting out. It’s good to be able to connect with people of the same age and people doing similar topics to you,” Chloe Miller, PhD student from the University of Brighton, UK, told IFLScience during Pittcon 2026 in San Antonio, Texas.
When asked what she believes is the most significant thing Pittcon offers, Miller had a clear message:
“It’s being able to meet new people and take some time to be able to talk to them, to work out things in grant proposals and put them together, and actually start interdisciplinary work across the world and not just UK-based.”
Pittcon is not just for students.
Helen Evans-Lemmo, an instrumentation specialist from Ego Pharmaceuticals, arrived at her first-ever Pittcon in 2020 in Chicago. She had traveled all the way from Melbourne, Australia, and while extremely jet-lagged and wandering around the floor of Pittcon, she saw a booth with sample preparation robots.
What initially caught her eye was some koala toys they had on the booth, but then she made an important discovery – she may have crossed the Pacific ocean to visit the event, but the company was actually based only 20 minutes away from where she worked in Australia.
This realization aside, Evans-Lemmo didn’t think any more of this booth until the company reached out some time later with an offer to use a demo unit. She decided it was so useful that she needed to purchase it. The instrument has revolutionized the way the pharmaceutical lab prepares samples.
The lab has now automated the liquid extraction of petroleum jelly and liquid paraffin, with the workflows seeing a 75 percent reduction in solvent use. The analyst time has also decreased from four hours to 10 minutes. This is now an incredibly sustainable process. In fact, it is so sustainable that Evans-Lemmo presented this information in two white papers at Pittcon 2025, when we met her.
“And it is wonderful that Australian companies can drive it together. But it really is changing the world of science, and I am so proud of that. And Pittcon was the start of it. So, that’s why I am back again,” Evans-Lemmo told IFLScience.
Evans-Lemmo isn’t the only one who keeps coming back. Many people who attend Pittcon return year after year. This is true for vendors showcasing new products as well as students and other professionals. Take Alex Cocolas, a synthetic organic chemist who recently graduated from Duquesne University. He first joined Pittcon as a student volunteer while he was a graduate student and has now become a committee member for the nonprofit.
“Pittcon is important. One of my fundamental beliefs is that science is all about outreach and communication. And so, I think there is a huge collaborative property that science has and, inherently, with all conferences, that is the breeding ground between chemical communications and scientific communication,” Cocolas told IFLScience at Pittcon 2026.
“So, the conference is able to capture that and give enough areas so people can come together and spread and share ideas.”
Cocolas’ experience is a reminder that conferences are not just about what happens over a few days, but the communities that grow around them.
Overall, in-person conferences are critical, even in this digital age. They offer people a chance to meet face to face and share ideas and opportunities in ways that are impossible to achieve online alone.
As someone who has been to Pittcon previously, I can attest that these conferences will always have a place in many scientists’ hearts. It is a place to meet new people, hear their stories, and share experiences. At the same event, you can find yourself reconnecting with someone you bonded with at the last Pittcon over a badly attempted line dance, a tray of food, and a science question shouted across the strobe-lit dancefloor.
Pittcon registrations open on October 13, 2026. Find out more here.
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