History of CAPSM

When the 3^rd International Congress on Electron Microscopy (ICEM) was held in London in 1954, the International Federation of Societies for Electron Microscopy (IFSEM) was founded. It was agreed that IFSEM should sponsor regional conferences in Europe (EUREM) and Asia, as well as the Oceania Regional Conference (AORC). All three events are quadrennial but occur in biennially staggered intervals. The AORC and the EUREM take place in the same year.

The first AORC was held in Tokyo, Japan in 1956. The second AORC was held in Calcutta, India in 1965. Then the AORC was not held again until 1984. It was renamed as the Asia-Pacific Conference on Electron Microscopy (APEM) and restarted in Singapore in 1984.  Subsequently, the 4^th APEM Conference was held in Bangkok, Thailand in 1988, the 5^th in Beijing, China in 1992, the 6^th in Hong Kong in 1996, the 7^th in Singapore in 2000 and the 8^th APEM in Kanazawa, Japan in 2004. The 9^th APEM was held under the new name of Asia-Pacific Microscopy Conference (APMC) in Jeju, South Korea in 2008. The 10^th APMC was held in Perth, Australia in 2012. The next APMC will be held in Phuket, Thailand in 2016.

The Committee of Asia-Pacific Societies for Electron Microscopy (CAPSEM) started in 1984 at the third APEM in Singapore. The President was Prof. H. Hashimoto. The office of President was then succeeded by Prof. Kehsin Kuo (1993-96), Prof. David Ryans (1997 -2000), Prof. Makoto Shiojiri (2000-04), Prof. Mary Mah-Lee Ng (2004-2012) and Prof. ZhangZe (2013-2016).

CAPSM was founded to foster the development of all aspects of electron microscopy by supporting existing activities and stimulating new ones. The Committee supports and initiates specialised meeting, symposia and workshops.  CAPSM also assists individual researchers and regional research groups in meeting their needs such as technical staff training, while facilitating the interchange of information from past meetings.