I wish to express my gratitude to the Light Metals Division of TMS and Boyne Smelters Limited for providing me with the opportunity to attend the TMS annual meeting at San Antonio. The Young leaders program has opened my eyes up to how the organization is run and what opportunities exist to get involved. I was able to participate in a wide cross section of meetings including the Reactive Metals, Powder, Student and Education technical committee meetings, Board of Directors meeting, Light Metals Division council meeting and luncheon.

It was (a) real pleasure to meet a large number of the very committed and experienced persons that make TMS run. The young leader luncheon and student/grad poster competitions are excellent initiatives by TMS that complemented the young leader experience well. The technical sessions and numerous informal discussions with TMS professionals from across industry and academia were also a major highlight. The TMS Aluminium Smelting Cell Retrofitting and Cell Operations short course, which included a tour of Alcoa's Rockdale plant, was simply first class.

First of all, I would like to thank the Electronic, Magnetic & Photonic Materials Division (EMPMD) for selecting me as an intern for 2006. It has been truly a great honor to be part of this class of highly motivated young professionals in the field of materials science and engineering. My experiences during TMS 2006 were highly rewarding from the very beginning. The Young Leader Committee meeting on Sunday was very informative and allowed me to find, right from the start, a place were I am sure I can contribute to TMS, at least during my first years as a young professional member. In the Young Leader and President receptions I also had the opportunity to meet with many of the senior people in TMS. Their enthusiasm and interest in the growth of the community through the participation of young members was very inspiring and helped me realize the actual meaning of the award.

I also attended the Alloy Phase Committee meeting, where I met very important and recognized researchers in my field, and through my participation in that meeting I became very motivated to actively participate in that group. The EMPMD committee meeting was also very instructive as it let me know about the inner workings of the division and helped me realize about the great number of activities for which the division is responsible, such as the coordination of symposia, publications, workshops and so forth. The thing that impressed me the most, however, was the great interest within the EMPMD to reach out to teachers and students in grades K-12 so they would become familiar with the exciting world of materials.

Another very rewarding experience was my participation as a judge in the student poster competition. Being on the other side of such competitions for a long time, I was not aware of the great responsibility and honor of being a judge. It was very rewarding to witness the wonderful work that so many talented students were presenting. It was truly very difficult to compare and rank such a great number of posters of very high quality.

Finally, I would like to encourage all young professionals in the materials community to consider applying for this internship, as it is a great opportunity to become involved with the TMS organization, develop connections with important people in the field, and as a result grow as a professional researcher in the exciting field of materials science and engineering.

It is a great honor to be chosen Young Leader Intern for the Light Metal Division in 2006. Having attended the TMS annual meeting for the past three years, it was very interesting to see the mechanics going behind the scene. The internship allowed me to participate in the Young Leader Committee, the Aluminum Committee and the Light Metal Division Council. I also attended the TMS Board of Directors meeting, which gave me a good insight of the TMS strategic plans for the future. Finally, it allowed me to network with a lot of great people from the light metal industry and the material science. Overall, the experience was really beneficial, and I would like to thank TMS and the Light Metal Division for selecting me.

I would like to express my gratitude to TMS and the Materials Processing and Manufacturing Division for selecting me as a 2006 Young Leader Intern award recipient. I believe it is very important for professional societies to provide these types of opportunities to the younger professionals as a great way to encourage active participation in the society. The Young Leaders program is an excellent modality through which young members of TMS can take an active role in the Society’s future. I applaud TMS for encouraging the Young Leader Interns to take an active role in TMS through attending the annual meetings and through joining various TMS committees. It was an honor to attend the TMS spring 2006 annual meeting as a Young Leader award recipient. I attended both the Biomaterials and Titanium Committee meetings, and I am currently assisting with the planning of the MS&T ’07 biomaterials symposium. I am looking forward to contributing to the organization of the biomaterials symposium. Due to its recent addition to TMS, I believe the continued success of the biomaterials symposia will promote the growth of the biomaterials section of TMS. I believe that the continued success of the biomaterials section will drive TMS to continue to expand its boundaries to include the new and emerging areas (of) the materials field. I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in the Young Leaders program; I am looking forward to contributing to the growth and development of TMS as a professional society, and I encourage other young members of TMS to consider applying to the Young Leaders program.

The TMS Annual Meeting in San Antonio was a great experience for the 2006 Young Leader Interns as it was our first exposure at a TMS conference in this role. The Young Leaders Committee is involved with some well planned initiatives aimed at increasing interest and involvement of the next generation of materials scientists in TMS and their own career development. I am pleased to be involved with this committee and its objectives. Attendance of the annual meeting allowed me to become more familiar with the organizations within TMS, specifically the Materials Processing & Manufacturing Division and Structural Materials Division (SMD). I also had the pleasure of joining a newly formed committee, the Product Metallurgy and Applications Committee (SMD), which is off to a great start with some planned activities for 2007. I look forward to continued involvement with TMS; the Young Leader program is a great way to jumpstart involvement with the Society.

I am honored to be selected by the Structural Materials Division as a Young Leader Intern for 2005. The internship fosters a platform in which to become involved in many aspects of the Society that includes, but is not limited to, student outreach, technical programming, and technical publication. I was impressed with TMS' approach to developing a materials community as a whole (which I only had a peripheral understanding of before), and in general, their eagerness to encourage young professional involvement. Through the internship I met with established professionals, as well as young professionals and students, which allowed me to develop a number of new and exciting collaborations. It is clear that the program can open many doors! I look forward to my continued and developing interactions with the TMS.

I am honored to be selected by the Structural Materials Division (SMD) as one of the 2006 Young Leader Interns. Coming from a condensed-matter physics background, (my) attending the 2003 TMS annual meeting was partly responsible for shifting my interest to materials science and engineering. It was a special opportunity to see behind the scenes workings of the Society and the planning for future meetings within the technical committees.

The SMD council meeting was an informative showcase of the big-picture thinking and planning of the division. It was also reassuring to see a conscious eye on future developments while keeping the division efforts suitably oriented. I was able to attend the Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Chemistry and Physics of Materials, and High Temperature Alloys committees; they represented a range of interests from basic science to industrial applications and were all very active. I felt very welcome in all three and plan to serve with both the Chemistry and Physics of Materials and High Temperature Alloys committees. For this meeting, I had organized the Point Defects in Materials symposium, and attended those talks for the majority of the meeting.

Fortunately, most of the meetings I attended as a Young Leader Intern did not conflict with the technical programming, which was a definite plus for me. In addition to the talks, it was a great pleasure to see the level of research accomplishments and presentation from graduate and undergraduate students in the poster competition, and an honor to judge competition. It was also a great chance to talk more with members of the SMD council and the Young Leaders committee. The Young Leader luncheon featured an informative talk by Nik Chawla about navigating the path of an assistant professor and provided further opportunities to talk with other young leaders. The variety of social functions--from the Young Leaders reception on Sunday to the TMS awards banquet--provided a welcome respite from the hectic schedule of the meeting along with invaluable time meeting those in the TMS administration in a social setting. The advantage of the intern program is that it provides a variety of different experiences to give both a broad and deep experience of TMS and the various roles the society plays.

I feel great honor and pleasure to be a TMS Young Leader recipient in 2006. I would (like) to express my gratitude to the Electronic, Magnetic & Photonic Materials Division (EMPMD) for selecting me. During the 2006 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition, the Young Leader program provided me to attend several committee meetings including Young Leader Business Meeting, Electronic, Magnetic & Photonic Materials Division Council, Electronic Packaging & Interconnection Materials Committee, and Lead-Free Technology Workshop and TMS-AIME Annual Awards Banquet. I also was approved to be a member to join the Alloy Phase Committee.

The Young Leader program provided me to learn professional skills in several fields, such as leadership skills, membership development and committee organization through attending various committees or social function events. This program also let me to meet my old friends, and famous scholars, professors and scientists from all over the world. These persons I only knew by reading their papers before, but now I could talk (to them) or discuss some technical/academic questions with them face to face through social activities or their public presentations during 2006 TMS. I also made some new friends from other countries. From these activities, I can truly feel that TMS soundly encourages and promotes young professionals to participate not only in the materials world but also in organizing or managing committees and (to) become a leader.

I had a wonderful and impressive memory in 2006 TMS. I deeply appreciate TMS and EMPMD for giving me this valuable opportunity. I hope TMS can continue this program for young scholars or engineers. I will also encourage my friends to apply (to) this program and attend TMS. Although 2006 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition was the prefect ending for me, I believe that (it) is just a new start for me. I am already becoming a part of TMS family and look forward to making a contribution and life-long service to TMS.

For more information on becoming a TMS Young Leader, why not join us for one of our committee meetings? Complete and submit the Young Leaders Participation Form or contact TMS Membership Department.

For information on participating in the Young Leader Intern Program, complete and submit the application form (PDF) or contact the TMS Membership Department.

Read the following comments and experiences submitted by former Young Leader Interns:

• Experiences of 2007 Interns at Annual Meeting
• Experiences of 2006 Interns at Annual Meeting
• Experiences of 2005 Interns at Annual Meeting
• Experiences of 2004 Interns at Annual Meeting
• Experiences of 2003 Interns at Annual Meeting
• Experiences of 2002 Interns at Annual Meeting
• Experiences of 2001 Interns at Annual Meeting