On Sunday night, more than 300 meeting attendees enjoyed a relaxed, informal opportunity to catch up with old acquaintances and make new ones at the 2013 Networking Meeting of the Membership. The event offered TMS members the opportunity to eat, drink, and network, against the backdrop of a slideshow presenting the highlights of TMS's 2012 activities.

"2012 was a very busy year for TMS," said Wolfgang Schneider, 2012 TMS President, to introduce the presentation. "We implemented a new strategic plan, consisting of five key goals that will guide the society's major initiatives. These goals include plans to improve our services to volunteers and young professionals. To strengthen our reach in areas like energy and the environment and in materials and manufacturing innovation. And to continue to grow in our core technology areas."

For a closer look at the society's strategic plan, click here.

This was the third annual meeting of the membership, but the first year the society employed a networking reception format. 

"We were delighted with the turn out and pleased that our members were so receptive to this new approach to providing them with important information about TMS while also giving them a chance to network with each other," said James J. Robinson, executive director of TMS.

For a more detailed look at the information presented at the Networking Meeting of the Membership, look for the 2012 TMS Annual Report to debut at www.tms.org beginning in July. The report will also be printed this fall in JOM.

Today, TMS and its publishing partner ASM International officially announce the launch of Metallurgical and Materials Transactions E: Materials for Energy Systems, a new quarterly journal on energy materials. The new journal will publish peer-reviewed, original research and review articles focused on the science of materials applied to or being investigated to address unique aspects of current and emerging energy technologies. The journal, which joins the established Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A: Physical Metallurgy and Materials Science and Metallurgical and Materials Transactions B: Process Metallurgy and Materials Processing Science publications, will begin publishing in March 2014.

By Graham Sanborn, Georgia Tech

The 2013 Materials Bowl academic trivia game ended Sunday evening with cheerful applause, as the Colorado School of Mines took home the Materials Bowl Trophy for the second year in a row.

In the semifinal round, The Colorado School of Mines beat out the Missouri University of Science and Technology, and The University of British Columbia won against the University of Central Florida. The final round was very competitive, with both schools often answering questions well before the speaker was finished. In the end, the Colorado School of Mines "Orediggers" team won the bowl against the University of British Columbia "Fab Forward" team.

Colorado School of Mines finished the competition with a joyous chant of their school fight song (which sounds remarkably similar to the Georgia Tech fight song). The winning Orediggers team members were Greg Lehnhoff (captain), Ellen Verkler, Saundra "Liz" Hunter, and Paul Wilson.

Following the final round of the Materials Bowl competition, students and professional members gathered at the Student Networking Mixer for an informal evening of dancing and socializing.

By Alex Leary, Carnegie Mellon University

The TMS Young Leaders Committee organized a poster session to preview work conducted by senior graduate students and new post-doctoral students. This event offered an opportunity for the presenting researchers to interface with potential employers from universities, industries, and national labs.  

The presented work comprised a variety of research areas from traditional metallurgical to biological applications. Research into the characterization, formability, and phase stability of magnesium alloys was particularly well represented. These alloys show promise in applications requiring lightweight structural materials and require detailed knowledge of phase formation in multicomponent compositions.

Complex alloys and composite systems drive a large portion of modern materials research based on the paradigm of linking structure to properties for different applications. Glenn Bean and Zachary Bryan from the University of Florida used computational thermodynamics to predict required structural characteristics based on desired properties. Fatama Barrie showed the potential toughening benefits of shape memory alloys embedded within an epoxy matrix.

Junchi Wu further demonstrated the role of structure through control of noble metal nanoparticles and nanowires. Zi Chen, a post-doc at Washington University in St. Louis, presented a study on biological inspired structures that show bi-stable configurations capable of input signal filtering.   

Theoretical research was also on display by Amy Wang, whose work in modeling three dimensional atomic structure based on exit waves provides the framework to measure surface roughness for high Z materials.

If you missed this event, check your schedules for talks later in the week by many participants and make sure to stop by the Technical Division Poster Contest in the Parkview and Towerview Lobbies later in the week.  

A highlight of the TMS2013 Exhibit, which opens today, is the TMS Materials Innovation (MI) Learning Center, Exhibit Booth 325. Step into this TMS showcase for a guided journey into the world of Materials Innovation @ TMS and learn how MI is transforming new materials systems, product development, and manufacturing.

At this year's MI Learning Center, you will see many new tools, databases, and resources that are laying the foundation for creating and building a Materials Innovation infrastructure among the materials science and engineering community, as well as across design engineering and product development and manufacturing communities in a variety of industries.

The Materials Innovation Learning Center is open throughout the conference during regular Exhibit hours. Visit the Center for online demonstrations of various databases and tools, including:

• Materials Cyberinfrastructure Portal
• 3D Materials Atlas
• Materials Genome Initiative (MGI) Digital Data Community

MI Online Demonstration Dates/Times:

Monday, March 4, 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Tuesday, March 5,  10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Wednesday, March 6, 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

In addition, learn about the following initiatives at the MI Learning Center:

• The TMS-led Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) Implementation Study which is producing a report that will serve as a field manual on how to implement ICME within various industrial sectors
• IMMI Journal and Material Innovation Publications
• The Orlando Materials Innovation Principles and Sign-Up Area
• Upcoming MI-related Events and Conferences
• How to join the growing Materials Innovation Coalition and Get Involved with MI @ TMS.

Materials Innovation @ TMS supports the goals of the Materials Genome Initiative (MGI) and is focused on significantly reducing the time and costs associated with materials development by building a seamless dynamic innovation structure that unifies and streamlines engineering design and manufacturing processes.

Women in Science Breakfast
7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.
Grand Hyatt Hotel, Texas Ballroom A

TMS2013 Aluminum Keynote Session: Impurities in the Aluminum Supply Chain
8:30 a.m. to 12:20 a.m.
Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, Lila Cockrell Theatre

Magnesium Technology 2013 Plenary
8:30 a.m. to Noon
Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, Room 214A

REWAS 2013 Plenary Session: Realizing Sustainability
2:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, Lila Cockrell Theatre