I wish to express my gratitude to the Structural Materials Division (SMD), the TMS staff, and the entire society for making my experience at TMS in Orlando as a Young Leader an exceptional one. TMS meetings are always a growth opportunity with exciting technical sessions and presentations by world leaders in the field of materials science. I have always found a superb audience for my presentations, leading to challenging and informative conversations and highly productive collaborations.

Being named a 2007 Young Leaders Award Winner showed me another side to TMS. Judging the Materials Bowl, attending the Women in Science breakfast, and selecting the SMD student poster award winners provided a learning experience in the society’s many activities to excite, engage and retain a highly talented and diverse membership. The opportunities to attend the President’s Reception, interact with the Board of Directors, and attend the Young Leaders Luncheon throughout the week highlighted many opportunities to engage in leadership roles within TMS. I am looking forward to a long future with TMS, contributing in these leadership roles, and taking advantage of opportunities to provide service to the society.

By being a Young Leader at the 2007 Annual Meeting, I gained a greater appreciation of the organization of TMS. This involves not only the paid TMS office staff, but a tremendous number of professionals devoting time to committee meetings to arrange conferences, technical sessions and other programming and benefits for all members of the society. The main benefit was meeting many significant professionals from my field which will benefit my career – I would recommend it to my colleagues and peers.

This year is the fourth time of my trips to attend the TMS Annual Meeting, and, undoubtedly, it is the greatest one. Fortunately, I am selected as the Young Leader of this year. Because of the award, I learn more about the processing of the annual meeting and also have a close contact with the other excellent Young Leaders. As a Young Leader, I attend the Young Leaders committee business meeting and serve as a judge in the student poster contest. From these experiences, I realize that TMS values the opinions of the young persons very much and also offers many opportunities to the enthusiastic young researchers. I think that’s why the TMS Annual Meeting can attract more and more young researchers from all over the world.

I am thankful for the opportunity to be a TMS Young Leader for the Light Metals Division in 2007. I attended a number of events at TMS 2007 that I might not have if I was not a Young Leader, such as the TMS Banquet and the Young Leaders Luncheon. It was especially beneficial to make contact with people outside my normal circle (Light Metals). I even made a couple of new contacts that may lead to future collaborations. It was good to see the emphasis that TMS is placing on the younger generation. The TMS board members made a deliberate effort to engage with the Young Leaders.

The opportunity to be a Young Leader at the 2007 annual meeting was an eye opening experience for me. Although I’ve been involved in TMS for nine years as a student and regular member, I’ve never felt like I’ve had the ability or knowledge to get involved in the annual meetings beyond presenting papers. This award gave me the opportunity to see the inner workings of the society committee meetings, an experience which will motivate me to get more involved in the future. As a result of this experience, I would encourage all young members to not be intimidated and to use the TMS annual meetings as a way to get more involved in the various specialty committees within the society. It is really as simple as showing up to a committee meeting to see how things work and have your voice heard.

The Young Leader Award gave me the opportunity to get a deeper understanding of what TMS is, what TMS does and how TMS works. Meeting enthusiastic people at technical committee and council meetings has encouraged me to become actively involved. It will be a pleasure to contribute to TMS in this way. The behind-the-scenes view of the annual meeting has made a deep impression on me: from the outside, the annual meeting seems effortless, while behind the scenes, many people contribute to make it happen. Interactions with many professionals, inside and outside my field, has broadened my horizon and resulted in new contacts and friendships. At the same time, old friendships were renewed. The annual meeting was an amazing week packed with social events, technical events, meeting interesting people and lots of fun at the same time. I look forward to next year’s meeting!

Being granted the opportunity to be a TMS Young Leader, I feel both gratitude and a sense of accomplishment. At the 2007 annual meeting, I attended several committee meetings and was exposed to the inner workings of the society, a side of TMS which is new to me. I realize that there are so many more opportunities to contribute and to grow as a professional: promoting meetings, organizing symposia, and networking with industry leaders to name a few. From session monitoring as an undergraduate, presenting at conferences as a graduate student, and taking part in the technical committees as a professional, the commitment from TMS towards young people in the materials and metallurgical fields is outstanding. Thanks TMS!

The experience of being a Young Leader at the annual TMS meeting was enriching. Many people came up to me to congratulate me. This enabled me to meet many people and establish some good relations with them and TMS as well. It was also great to experience the division meeting as well as the technical committees; there are some very dedicated people without whom TMS would be hard pressed to exist. I plan on being more active and helping TMS grow in the years to come. Thanks again to TMS and Materials Processing & Manufacturing Division for giving me this wonderful experience.

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