The International Conference on Advanced Ceramics and Composites (ICACC) in Daytona Beach, Fla., never disappoints in terms of quality, size, and the unexpected. Usually, weather serves as the wildcard, but this year it was the shutdown of the United States federal government. The three-day shutdown overlapped with the first day of the conference, forcing federal employees to cancel their travel plans. The shutdown wreaked havoc on the schedule, and organizers rallied to rearrange sessions and talks. By Tuesday the government was open again, and many federal government employees resurrected plans and came to Florida.

More than 1,100 attendees came, with more than half coming from 37 countries outside the United States. The program offered about 1,000 presentations in 17 symposia, three focus sessions, two poster sessions, and two special symposia—the Global Young Investigators Forum and the Mrityunjay Singh Honorary Symposium.