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Conference Overview The 2009 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference was held at the Hilton Disney World Hotel in Orlando Florida from October 25 to 31, 2009. There were 1785 registered attendees from 47 countries and more than 1500 papers submitted. Throughout the meeting there were 7 Short Courses and 8 specialized workshops which ranged from Nuclear Technology in the Well Logging Industry to Nuclear Techniques Applied to Cultural Heritage. This attendance is the largest ever for a US conference, even more remarkable considering the general worries about the economy and the fact that the Room Temperature Semiconductor Detector meeting was not held this year. We had the entire hotel for the duration of the meeting and this proved to be part of the key to what I believe was a highly successful meeting. Needless to say, none of this could even remotely have been possible without the incredible work of the Organizing Committee members who were able to make a massive effort to ensure that every thing worked as planned. The Program Chairs, topic conveners and session chairs assembled a strong program with the help of many reviewers. With over 1500 papers to be reviewed, this was indeed a major undertaking, especially given time constraints and very busy reviewers. As a result of support from both industrial and governmental organizations, we were able to provide grants to several hundred student and thus to enable them to attend the meeting and to make contacts with the worldwide community represented at Orlando. Our industrial exhibitors also found this to be a very useful meeting and remarked on the numbers of valuable contacts they made. The Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Section of IEEE and the headquarters staff of IEEE were always there to answer questions and to offer suggestions. Finally, I would like to thank all of the attendees of the Conference. As you go through this CD of the Conference Record, I hope you will be able to re-visit some of the papers and talks which you may have missed during the conference. The Conference and the Conference Record are truly your work and it is only through your participation that we have been able to make this meeting the premier radiation instrumentation meeting in the world. Richard C. Lanza |