July 26, 2019|Lisa McDonald
07-26 GFMAT-Bio image01

[Image above] Credit: ACerS


Attendees had the chance to experience not one but two conferences this past week. The 2nd Global Forum on Advanced Materials and Technologies for Sustainable Development (GFMAT-2) and the 4th International Conference on Innovations in Biomaterials, Biomanufacturing and Biotechnologies (Bio-4) took place in tandem July 21–26 in Toronto, Canada.

More than 360 people, including 50 students, from 31 countries traveled to Toronto to attend GFMAT-2 and Bio-4. This year marks the first time the two conferences were held jointly.

The combined conference opened Sunday night with a welcome reception, and began in earnest Monday morning with plenaries given by five distinguished scientists from around the world—Serena Best (University of Cambridge, U.K.), Mrityunjay Singh (Ohio Aerospace Institute, U.S.), Xingdong Zhang (Sichuan University, China), Claude Delmas (Bordeaux Institute of Condensed-Matter Chemistry, France), and Robert Pilliar (University of Toronto, Canada). After each plenary, conference organizing chair Tatsuki Ohji presented the speakers with commemorative ceramic plates.

Tatsuki Ohji, left, presents the first plenary speaker Serena Best with a commemorative ceramic plate. Credit: ACerS

On Tuesday, a symposium was held in honor of Delbert E. Day, a luminary in the field of glass for healthcare applications. The symposium provided researchers a forum in which to discuss work similar and related to research conducted by Day, and to talk about how their personal relationships with Day have influenced them far beyond just research.

“Things I learned from Delbert Day—it had very little to do with glass,” Steven Jung, Day’s previous student and now chief technology officer at Mo-Sci, says during his presentation. He says what impacted him most was learning the importance of the written and spoken word, and becoming involved with professional societies and local communities. Credit: ACerS
“The welcome Delbert gave me at that meeting made me really excited to be a part of the Society,” Julian Jones, professor at Imperial College London, describes his first time meeting Day at the 2008 International Conference and Exposition on Advanced Ceramics and Composites (ICACC). Credit: ACerS

In addition to the plenaries and Day symposium, numerous technical sessions provided looks into a wide array of topics, including eco-materials, innovative processing, and energy storage on the GFMAT side, and biomaterials for medical devices and dentistry on the Bio side.

On Tuesday night, about 50 people presented at the poster session, hosted by the Global Graduate Researcher Network. During the Thursday night conference dinner, three students were awarded the Student Poster Awards sponsored by Mo-Sci: Andrey Tikhonov (Lomonosov Moscow State University), Natsuki Okajima (National Institute of Technology, Toyama College), and Ilknur Eryilmaz (Institut national de la recherche scientifique INRS).

Delbert Day, left, and his son, Ted Day, at the symposium in honor of Day. Credit: ACerS
About 50 people presented posters during the poster session on Tuesday night. Credit: ACerS
ACerS staff help people check in during GFMAT-2/Bio-4. Credit: ACerS
Attendees enjoy the coffee each day during the mid-morning break between technical sessions. Credit: ACerS
ACerS president Sylvia Johnson, far left, welcomes new members during the new member reception on Monday night. Credit: ACerS

To view more photos, visit our Flickr.

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