Members of the International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD), the world center for quality diffraction and related data, met on March 10–14, 2025 for their Annual Spring Meetings. The event was held as a hybrid meeting, with many members traveling to ICDD Headquarters in Newtown Square, PA, USA, while others attended through the Zoom platform. ICDD members were active in continuing their mission of exchanging ideas and information related to the identification of materials by holding various committee and subcommittee meetings to discuss the future of the Powder Diffraction File^™ and its impact on the scientific community.

Spring Meetings began on Monday March 10, with committees of the board of directors gathering to discuss various ICDD-related topics such as membership, awards, marketing, and finance. The committees sent recommendations to the board of directors such as new candidates for active membership and recipients for the 2025 ICDD awards.

A plenary session was held on Tuesday morning and begun with welcoming remarks from ICDD’s Executive Director, Tom Blanton. The first plenary presentation was given remotely by Dr. Harry Westfahl Jr., Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS), Brazil, Science and Innovation at the Sirius Light Source. Dr. Joel Reid, Canadian Light Source (CLS), Canada, was the second speaker presenting the talk The Canadian Light Source (CLS): Finding Solutions with Synchrotron Techniques. The third Plenary Speaker, Dr. Saul Lapidus, Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, USA, spoke on Opening the Door to Synchrotrons and High-quality Powder Diffraction: A Journey of Increasing Access. The final plenary presentation was the Hanawalt Award Lecture by Dr. Andy Fitch, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), France, ID22 – The High-Resolution Powder-Diffraction Beamline at ESRF. All four speakers received an appreciation award for extending their time and expertise to the membership (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

From left to right: Executive Director, Tom Blanton; plenary speakers Joel Reid, Andy Fitch, Harry Westfahl Jr., Saul Lapidus and Chair, Robert Dinnebier.

On Tuesday afternoon, the group took a bus trip to New Jersey to visit the Adventure Aquarium for a fun event that included technical posters, dinner, and sharks! At the end of the evening, five Best Poster awards were announced, with two being designated Best Student Posters.

1. I. BEST POSTER AWARDS

The Secrets of the Sand II – Mineralogy of Coastal Sands and Dunes at Indiana Dunes National Park, presented by Timothy Fawcett, ICDD, USA and co-authored by M. Rost, ICDD, USA and J. Lyza, Alfred University, USA (Figure 2).

Figure 2.

From left to right: Tom Blanton stands with Best Poster Award Winners, Tim Fawcett, Jessica Lyza, and Megan Rost.

Lead-Free Double Halide Perovskites: A Mechanochemical Approach for Synthesizing Light Harvesting Materials, presented by Fabio Furlan Ferreira, Federal University of ABC, Brazil and co-authored by F.R. Praxedes and K. Kariny Ferreira Barbosa, Federal University of ABC, Brazil (Figure 3).

Figure 3.

From left to right: Tom Blanton and Best Poster Award Winner, Fabio Furlan Ferreira.

Crystal Structures of Large-Volume Commercial Pharmaceuticals – 2025, presented by James Kaduk, North Central College, USA and co-authored by A. Dosen and T. Blanton, ICDD, USA (Figure 4).

1. II. BEST STUDENT POSTER AWARDS (FIGURE 5)

Figure 4.

Tom Blanton and Best Poster Award Winner, Jim Kaduk, stand in front of the shark tank at the Adventure Aquarium.

Figure 5.

Best Student Poster Award Winners, Iva Milisavljevic (far left) and Santiago Pioli (far right) pose with Tom Blanton (center).

Optimizing TiNb₂O₇: Impact of Particle Size, Defects, And Crystallinity on Accelerated Lithiation, presented by Iva Milisavljevic, Alfred University, USA and co-authored by S. Misture, Alfred University, USA; C.J. Sturgill, S.C. Wechsler, Md.A. Al Muhit, H.C. zur Loye and M. Stefik, University of South Carolina, USA.

Preparation, Structural Characterization of Perovskite Oxides La_0.6Sr_0.4Fe_0.8Cu_0.2O_3-δ and Ba_0.5Sr_0.5Fe_0.8Cu_0.2O_3-δ as Oxygen Electrodes of a Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell for Green Hydrogen Production presented by Santiago Pioli, Universidad de la República, Uruguay and co-authored by L. Suescun, Universidad de la República, Uruguay; P. Winiarz and K. Swierczek, AGH University of Krakow, Poland.

Thirteen technical subcommittees met on Wednesday. The technical subcommittees were divided into three categories: materials, characterization methods, and tools and ICDD activities. Active members belonging to a subcommittee were eligible to vote on topics of concern that affect the Powder Diffraction File (PDF^®), which are then brought to the technical committee for further consideration. A new subcommittee on artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) was established at the 2025 meeting, with Technical Committee Chair, Charlene Greenwood of Keele University, UK, acting as interim chair.

Thursday was the final day of meetings beginning with a presentation on New Features by ICDD staff members, Justin Blanton, engineering and design manager, and Steffen Weber, senior software programmer. Justin and Steffen offered the membership an exciting demonstration of the upcoming 2026 versions of The Powder Diffraction File and JADE^®.

Following the new features demonstration was the technical committee meeting chaired by Charlene Greenwood, Keele University, UK and featuring Keynote Speaker, Dr. David Coccarelli from Quadridox, Inc., USA, who presented remotely on Applications of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in Coherent Scatter Imaging: A Task-Specific Approach. After the keynote presentation, reports were given from ICDD’s technical co-chairs, who shared current news and events from their region of the world, as well as technical subcommittee chairs who reported on their subcommittees’ activities throughout the year.

Spring Meetings concluded on Thursday afternoon with the annual meeting of members, led by ICDD Chair, Robert Dinnebier, Max-Planck Institute, Germany. Tom Blanton reported on ICDD Headquarters’ activities of the past year and Jim Kaduk, Poly Crystallography, Inc., USA, gave his final presentation as ICDD’s Treasurer (Figure 6). Jim has been a member of the ICDD board of directors in various roles from 1995 to 2025: Director-at-Large, Chair of the Technical Committee, Chair of the Board, Past Chair, and as the corporation’s Treasurer since 2015. We thank Jim for his tireless service and dedication and welcome his successor Bryan Wheaton of Corning, Inc., USA as the new Treasurer of ICDD.

Figure 6.

Jim Kaduk gives his last report as ICDD Treasurer.

ICDD awards were also announced during the annual meeting of members, led by Award Committee Chair, Greg McCarthy, USA. The 2025 Distinguished Fellow Award was presented to Mark Rodriguez, Sandia National Laboratories, USA in recognition of his extensive contributions to the materials analysis community and ICDD (Figure 7). ICDD Member, Frank Rotella, USA, was unable to attend the meetings, but was named an ICDD Fellow for his role as acting Chair of the Grant-in-Aid Committee. Andy Fitch, ESRF, France, was named the 2025 Hanawalt Award Recipient (Figure 8) and presented his Hanawalt Award Lecture earlier in the week during the plenary session. The McMurdie Award had two recipients: Cyrus Crowder, Emeritus, ICDD, USA (Figure 9), who was able to receive his award in person, and Ihor Zavaliy, National Academy of Sciences, Ukraine, who was able to join the meeting remotely to accept his award. The Distinguished Grantee Award was presented remotely to Igor Zanin of the Tauron Expertise Center in Slovenia. Igor thanked the membership through Zoom for recognizing his work with the Grant-in-Aid program. For a complete listing of the past and present ICDD Award winners, please visit: https://www.icdd.com/icdd-awards-and-scholarships/.

Figure 7.

Distinguished Fellow, Mark Rodriguez (left) receives his award from Robert Dinnebier (right).

Figure 8.

Hanawalt Award Winner, Andy Fitch (right) receives his award from Robert Dinnebier (left).

Figure 9.

Cyrus Crowder (left) receives the McMurdie Award from Robert Dinnebier (right).

ICDD’s Annual Spring Meetings continue to be a relevant and essential event that strengthens the tenacity and focus of the membership. We hope to have as many members as possible join the 2026 Spring Meetings, which will be held on March 16–20, 2026.