The Materials Science & Technology (MS&T) 2011 Conference & Exhibition took place at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio from October 16 to 20, 2011. The city, named after explorer Christopher Columbus, was founded in 1812 at the confluence of the Scioto and Olentangv rivers, and assumed the functions of state capital in 1816. Modern Columbus has emerged as a technologically sophisticated city. It is home to the world's largest private research and development foundation, the Battelle Memorial Institute and Chemical Abstracts Service, and to the nation's largest campus, the Ohio State University. The Greater Columbus Convention Center is a state-of-the-art facility conveniently located in downtown Columbus. It features 410 000 square feet of exhibition space, 3 ballrooms, and 65 meeting rooms. The attendees enjoyed the spacious and state-of-the-art convention center as well as the amenities throughout the week.
The meeting committee of the MS&T 2011 Conference included the chair David K. Matlock (Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado), and members George G. Wicks (Savannah River National Laboratory, Savannah River Site, South Carolina), Christopher Berndt (Swinburne University of Technology, Australia), and Kevin Hemker (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland). The conference was successfully organized, with a total of more than 3200 attendees. The meeting committee did an admirable job of assembling the rich scientific program, the large-scale exhibition, and enjoyable social programs.
The MS&T 2011 Conference was the leading forum addressing structure, properties, processing, and performance across the materials community. The conference featured the 113th Annual Meeting of the American Ceramic Society (ACerS), the Steel Properties & Applications Conference of the Association for Iron and Steel Technology (AIST), the 98th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Metals (ASM), the Fall Meeting of The Minerals Metals and Materials Society (TMS), and NACE International (previously the National Association of Corrosion Engineers). These organizing societies provided the MS&T 2011 Conference with 71 symposia organized into 11 themes: (1) Biomaterials (3 symposia), (2) Ceramics and Glass Materials (9 symposia), (3) Electronic and Magnetic Materials (5 symposia), (4) Environmental and Energy Issues (5 symposia), (5) Fundamental and Characterization (12 symposia), (6) Iron and Steel (4 symposia), (7) Materials Performance (9 symposia), (8) Materials–Environment Interactions (5 symposia), (9) Nanotechnology (4 symposia), (10) Processing and Product Manufacturing (10 symposia), and (11) Special Topics (5 topics). Over 2000 presentations covered both parallel oral sessions and poster presentations.
The conference plenary session, entitled “Grasping excellence: opportunities for science and engineering research, education and workforce development in the United States,” took place on Monday, October 17, 2011. Four prominent speakers from the U.S. Government and Industries gave their expert views on the following topics: “Innovation ecosystems: where do we go from here?” (Subra Suresh, Director of U.S. National Science Foundation), “Taking a scientific approach to learning and teaching STEM” (Carl E. Wieman, Associate Director for Science, Office of Science and Technology Policy, the White House), “Responding to increasing energy, environmental, health and national security challenges—investment, policy and talent issues” (Jeffrey Wadsworth, President and CEO of Battelle Memorial Institute), and “Challenges in aerospace and defense” (Alton D. Romig, Jr., Vice President and General Manager of Advanced Development Program, The Skunk Works, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics).
A number of memorable plenary talks took place at the meeting. The ACerS lectures included the Frontiers of Science and Society—Rustum Roy Lecture “Reinventing manufacturing to answer new global challenges and market opportunity” by Deborah Wince-Smith (President and CEO of the Council on Competitiveness), the ACerS/NICE Arthur L. Friedberg Memorial Lecture “Processing dielectric oxides-new opportunities and challenges” by Clive A. Randall (Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania), the Eward Orton Jr. Memorial Lecture “Lessons learned after 40 years of sintering technical ceramics” by Gary L. Messing (Pennsylvania State University), and Basic Science Division's Robert B. Sosman Award and Lecture “Interface-structure dependent microstructural evolution in ceramics” by Suk-Joong L. Kang (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology).
Seven short courses were offered during the meeting. These courses included: “Modern Statistics, Data Analysis, and Specimen/Structural Reliability Modeling” (Jeffrey Fong and Stephen W. Freiman), “Achieving your goal through effective communication” (Larry Wagner), “Materials Enabled Design” (Michael Pfeifer), “Microstructures 101 and Beyond” (Frauke Hogue), “Fundamental of Glass Science and Technology, Fractography Lab” (Arun. K. Varshneya), “Sintering of Ceramics” (Mohamed N. Rahaman), and “Thermal Spray Technologies” (Christopher Berndt).
A series of student activities were also scheduled to ensure that young people have opportunities to learn leadership skills, to learn about career development, to mingle with other well-established scientists and with each other, and to be recognized among their peers. These activities included student speaking contest, student service project, undergraduate student poster contest, student networking mixer, AIST student plant tour, AIST Foundation Student Recruiting Reception, ACerS PCSA student tour of Owens Corning Science and Technology Center, as well as Material Advantage putting contests, Material Advantage mug drop contest, student career connection, and student awards ceremony.
The large-scale exhibition is an important part of the MS&T Conference that compliments the scientific program. At the MS&T 2011 Conference, more than 120 international exhibitors displayed their latest products and services. Exhibitors included analytical equipment manufacturers, materials producers, book and journal publishers, database and software producers, scientific societies, scientific consultants, and sponsoring companies. The International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD) also had an exhibit booth featuring the latest PDF products and services (Figure 1). The exhibition hall was a popular place to meet old friends and colleagues and to meet new people. The poster session also took place at the exhibition hall.
(Color online) Scott Misture at the International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD) booth at the MS&T 2011 Conference.
Other conference events included the welcome reception, the ACerS Annual Membership Meeting, the ACerS Honors and Awards Banquet and Afterglow, ASM Reception, ASM Leadership Luncheon, ASM Awards Dinner, ASM President's Reception, Women in Materials Science and Engineering Reception, MS&T Plenary Speaker Reception, AIST Foundation University–Industry Relations Roundtable, and ACTA Materialia Luncheon. There were refreshment breaks during the morning and afternoon technical sessions throughout the week. The exhibitors also held a happy hour reception. Member lounges were also available for ACerS, AIST, ASM, and TMS societies in the Convention Center. Each morning coffee was available for authors and session chairs of the program of the day. Various universities, including Alfred University, Purdue University, Drexel University, Michigan Technological University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Illinois, and North Carolina State University, also held alumni receptions.
The attendees are invited to attend the MS&T 2012 Conference and Exhibition to be held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from October 7 to 11 2012.
