THERMO International 2006 will be held in Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A. from July 30 to August 4, 2006. This major event will include the 16th Symposium on Thermophysical Properties, the 19th International Conference on Chemical Thermodynamics, and the 61st Calorimetry Conference. This is the first time that these three conferences have been held jointly at the same site and is scheduled as a one-time event. The technical program of THERMO International 2006 consists of joint sessions as well as independent sessions of the 16th Symposium on Thermophysical Properties, the 19th International Conference on Chemical Thermodynamics (ICCT 2006), and the 61st Calorimetry Conference (CalCon 2006). The program will include a keynote lecture, major award lectures, joint plenary lectures, conference-specific plenary lectures, invited lectures, oral presentations, and poster papers.

The Symposium on Thermophysical Properties is held in Boulder, Colorado every three years and rotates on an annual basis with the other major thermophysical properties conferences in Europe and Asia. The Asian conference was held in China in 2004, and the European conference will be held in Slovakia in 2005. The International Conference on Chemical Thermodynamics (ICCT) is held every two years and rotates among selected sites in North America, Europe, and Asia with the last two held in Germany and China. The Calorimetry Conference is convened annually at selected sites in either the U.S. or Canada and is always held jointly with the International Conference on Chemical Thermodynamics when ICCT is convened in either the U.S. or Canada.

Because of the overlap among areas of interest of these individual conferences, members of the organizing committees for the various conferences met and decided to hold these conferences jointly to provide opportunities for researchers and practitioners worldwide to meet and discuss a broad spectrum of scientific problems in the fields of thermodynamics and thermophysical properties for a wide variety of systems together with applications in chemistry, biology, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, physics, and other areas of science and engineering. Perhaps more important than the distinctions among the institutional labels applied to the disciplines is the continuum of activities from fundamental science, to more empirical engineering approaches to thermodynamics and thermophysical properties, and to the field practices where needs may be specific and immediate. It is hoped that THERMO International 2006 will serve all these interests and will help to build bridges among communities with much to learn from each other. We look forward to working with all member of these communities to make this a truly unique, worthwhile, and exciting experience!