[Image above] ACerS leaders prepare to welcome the incoming 2022–23 Board of Directors during the Annual Business Meeting on October 10. From left: ACerS executive director Mark Mecklenborg, ACerS outgoing president Beth Dickey, ACerS incoming president Sanjay Mathur, and ACerS outgoing treasurer Steve Houseman. Credit: ACerS
Following last year’s challenges with pandemic-related travel restrictions, the 2022 Materials Science & Technology technical meeting and exhibition, held October 9–12 in Pittsburgh, Pa., saw a resurgence in attendance.
MS&T is an annual event cohosted by The American Ceramic Society; The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS); and the Association for Iron & Steel Technology (AIST). This year, more than 3,000 people converged in the Steel City for the conference, including more than 730 students and more than 1,100 exhibit-only attendees.
In addition to renewed attendance, this year welcomed a new collaboration between the MS&T partners and commercial exhibition firm Event Partners. Event Partners sold and managed the full exhibition at MS&T22, as well as co-located two commercial exhibitions within the conference: The Advanced Materials Show and the first-ever Nanotechnology Show.
“Being able to welcome so many people–including international members!—to an in-person conference after two years of mostly virtually meetings was a gratifying way to wrap up ACerS 2022 conference schedule,” says Mark Mecklenborg, ACerS executive director. “The energy was especially noticeable during our student events and in the co-located Advanced Materials Show and Nanotechnology Show exhibitions during MS&T22. We look forward to continuing this success at MS&T2023 in Columbus, Ohio.”
Below are highlights from ACerS 124th Annual Meeting at MS&T22.
Embracing the global nature of ACerS
In the past few years, ACerS international members faced challenges attending the Annual Meeting due to pandemic-related travel restrictions. Fortunately, attendance from outside the United States witnessed a boost this year as countries around the world continue to ease their travel requirements, with 53 countries outside the U.S. represented.
ACerS newly seated president Sanjay Mathur highlighted the importance of ACerS international members throughout his time at the conference. As director of the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Cologne in Germany, he personally knows the challenges that international members may face engaging with the Society.
During his term as president, Mathur plans to “refocus and reframe” the role of international members within ACerS, with talent pool, topical diversity, and global partners serving as guiding topics for future initiatives.
“I think 2023 is going to be a turning point,” he said during the Annual Business Meeting on Monday, Oct. 10.
This year already witnessed a notable expansion of ACerS globally with the first-ever Pan American Ceramics Congress and Ferroelectrics Meeting of Americas, held July 24–28 in Panama City, Panama.
Glass features in several award lectures as IYOG winds down
This year witnessed countless thoughtful and informative presentations on glass in honor of it being the United Nations International Year of Glass. With just over two months left in 2022, IYOG activities are winding down—but not before several distinguished speakers gave their glass-themed award lectures during ACerS Annual Meeting.
Monday morning kicked off with the Arthur L. Friedberg Ceramic Engineering Tutorial and Lecture by Rutgers University Distinguished Professor Lisa Klein. She shared how her introduction to glass involved studying glass in moon rocks before going on to explain her experience synthesizing glasses via sol-gel processing.
On Tuesday morning, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute associate dean for research and graduate programs Liping Huang delivered the Cooper Session Distinguished Lecture on how new approaches to glass formation can uncover previously “hidden” glasses. That afternoon, Mathur delivered the Edward Orton Jr. Memorial Lecture on ceramic and glass particles for precision drug delivery.
In addition to the glass-focused lectures, other award talks covered emerging ceramics of interest. Drexel Distinguished University and Charles T. And Ruth M. Bach Professor Yury Gogotsi delivered the Frontiers of Science and Society Rustum Roy Lecture on MXenes, while Missouri Science and Technology Curators’ Professor of Ceramic Engineering William G. Fahrenholtz discussed ultrahigh-temperature ceramics during the Robert B. Sosman Lecture.
Student engagement shows signs of recovery following pandemic-related slowdowns
Student engagement was an oft-quoted example of the pandemic’s effects, with professors citing difficulties encouraging camaraderie among students without in-person activities. Fortunately, numerous activities and competitions during ACerS Annual Meeting provided students a chance to meet face to face. View a full list of student award winners at this link.
Visit the ACerS Flickr page for more photos from ACerS Annual Meeting at MS&T22. Pictures from the Awards Banquet will be available soon. Next year, ACerS 125th Annual Meeting at MS&T23 will take place in Columbus, Ohio, from October 1–5. We look forward to seeing you then!