This year's ASA, SSSA, and CSSSA International Annual Meeting "Visions for a Sustainable Planet" is in Cincinnati, OH October 21-24, 2012 so a good near local opportunity for some of you to attend. Some of the session/symposia you may want to consider submitting abstracts to are below, but there are many more (https://www.acsmeetings.org/): Symposium: Urban Agriculture (Organizer: Sally Brown, University of Washington.) Summary: In cities across the country, a growing number of people are interested in growing their own food. Urban agriculture has many benefits including teaching people about plants and soils. This session will address the range of challenges associated with growing food in urban environments Session: Beneficial Re-Use of Wastes and Environmental Implications of Waste Recycling (Organizer: Chan Penn, Oklahoma State University). Summary: A consequence of the increasing consumption of goods is exponential production of agricultural, industrial, and municipal wastes. There is a consensus that recycling should be a major aspect of waste management. Solid and liquid waste can potentially be utilized to improve soil quality, remediate impacted sites, or prevent environmental degradation. In addition, because of the potential contamination of water and soil resources, the fate of pollutants that may be associated with these wastes must also be considered. This session will examine (1) beneficial re-use of wastes, (2) speciation issues of the pollutants within the waste, and (3) interactions between the waste components and the soil and water systems during the recycling process. Laboratory scale and field studies are welcome. Examples of contributions include, but are not limited to, wastewater re-use, soil application of organic wastes, recycled materials in contact with natural media (e.g. road construction materials, bridge pillars), wastes for constructing synthetic soils, and industrial wastes utilized for improving environmental quality. Session: Not for Export: Contaminant Issues In Agricultural Drainage (Organizer: Sharon Papiernick, USDA-ARS). The continued expansion of agricultural drainage has strong implications for agricultural management to protect water quality. In this topical session, we will review recent developments to assess and reduce contaminant transport via drainage. The session will include discussion of changes in local hydrology effected by artificial drainage and the export of a variety of potential contaminants (nutrients, pathogens, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, salts, etc.) from agricultural land. Trade-offs and risks/benefits of agricultural drainage will be discussed. This session will be useful to those interested in reducing contaminant transport to improve water quality and preserve agricultural productivity. Symposium: Studies On Bioaccessibility and Bioavailability of Soil Metals Impacting Human Health: Organizer: Kirk Scheckel, USEPA-ORD, Summary: To improve risk assessment and decision making for metal contaminated sites with respect to human health, precise and predictive measures of bioavailability are needed. The goal of this symposium is to highlight research efforts that explore relationships of in-vivo animal studies with validated in-vitro bioaccessibility models to understand soil-metal bioavailability to human receptors. Session: Transport and Mobility of Mineral, Biological, and Engineered Colloids Through Porous Media: Implications for Environmental Fate (Organizer: Mark Chappell, USACE-ERDC) Summary: The session describes processes controlling movement of natural soil/sediment colloids as well as engineered materials through porous media. Session: Application of Advanced Spectro-/Micro-Scopic Methods and Technologies for Investigating the Environmental Fate of Natural and Anthropogenic Solid-Phase Materials. (Organizer: Mark Chappell, USACE-ERDC) Summary: This session discusses advanced methods and technologies for determining in-situ characterization of materials, and its constituent components. Advanced technologies include (but certainly not limited to) x-ray absorption and fluorescence, small angle x-ray and neutron, dynamic light scattering and diffusive wave spectroscopy, solid-state NMR, IR spectromicroscopy, etc. Technologies discussed focus on characterizing chemical, structural, and dynamical properties of solid-phase materials, with particular application toward understanding environmental fate. Linda S. Lee Ecological Science & Engineering Interdisciplinary Graduate Program, Program Head http://www.purdue.edu/ese/<http://www.purdue.edu/dp/ese/> Professor, Environmental Chemistry, http://www.agry.purdue.edu/staffbio/lslbio.htm Associate Head, Purdue University, Department of Agronomy Crop Soil & Environmental Sciences 915 W. State Street, 3-363 Lilly Hall West Lafayette, IN 47907-2054 Office: (765) 494-8612; Cell (765) 414-3086 Fax (765) 496-2926