By Graduate Student Reporter Alex Leary, Carnegie Mellon University

A panel of experts from industry, government laboratories, and academia gathered on Tuesday to discuss issues relevant to global research and development at Global R&D Trends - Implications for Materials Sciences, the Acta Materialia Materials and Society Award Special Symposium. The symposium had been organized to recognize Jeffrey Wadsworth, President and CEO of Battelle, for being named the recipient of the 2013 Acta Materialia Materials and Society Award. Wadsworth officially received his award at the TMS-AIME Honors and Awards Banquet later that evening.

In his keynote presentation, Wadsworth discussed how trends in global R&D expenditure are changing along with population growth and industrialization. Wadsworth noted, "For the first time in 2013, the total investment in Asia will exceed U.S. R&D spending. In the U.S., we spend $425B on R&D, and about three quarters comes from industry." He added, "The U.S. has traditionally led with big science projects. That's changing, and I think that's a mistake. There is lots of money. It's an argument about priorities." He put the U.S. priorities into focus by contrasting reluctance to build user facilities like the Large Hadron Collider that cost over $3B to the $7B Americans spend yearly on potato chips. 

Subra Suresh added his perspective as director of the National Science Foundation (NSF). "Our mandate is not just to support big facilities, but also to support the individual scholar," said Suresh. He considers funding of graduate students, recent post-docs, and new faculty as a top priority for the NSF and is committed to maintaining current funding levels in these areas despite uncertainty in future budgets. Suresh pointed to the success of previously funding in this area and noted, "The NSF identifies Nobel Prize winning work several decades before the prize committee does."

The NSF is leveraging ties with USAID to open up new funding opportunities for researchers overseas and created I-Corps to provide funding for projects during the critical incubation stage. Suresh also described the creation of a new Global Research Council that aims to address common issues such as peer review, research integrity, ethics, intellectual property rights, and open access to data. This type of council is the first of its kind and Suresh believes that "good science anywhere is good for science everywhere."

Craig Barrett, former Intel CEO, framed his discussion by relating some basic rules for competing in the 21st century. Regarding recent economic uncertainty, Barrett said, "every time there is a transition, there is an opportunity to win or lose market share. The same is true for countries." He emphasized that "information and money do not know national boundaries" and added, "The 21st century is the century of innovation. Those people who want to succeed need to participate in that innovation."

Barrett was candid regarding the state of American R&D. "The U.S. has slipped in its education, the federal R&D budget is half what it was 30 years ago compared to GDP, and a large portion of its work force have no marketable skills." He added, "One of the things that you see as you travel around the world is that other countries are facing these challenges and it's almost like the U.S. is in denial about this problem." 

"The government is the vehicle for big science," said Barrett, and he called for a doubling of the NSF budget.

Siegfried Hecker, Co-Director, Center for International Security and Cooperation and an emeritus director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, described the state of R&D in the nuclear industry. A recent decrease in the demand for nuclear power in the U.S. is affecting the economics of the remaining planned reactors. This decrease is further eroding the U.S. supply chain and the manufacturing base is shifting to Asia, but Hecker maintained that the U.S. must remain a leader in nuclear regulations. He remained optimistic regarding new designs for smaller modular reactors.

William Nix, Professor Emeritus, Stanford University, closed the symposium with sage advice regarding research. "It's useful to consider problems from outside your discipline. It's also been useful to look for new techniques that end up bettering and nurturing the discipline itself. This not only helps to solve these problems but advances the discipline." He cited several examples including the nanoindenter developed by Oliver and Pharr and cautioned against, "learning more and more about less and less."

At Tuesday night's TMS-AIME Honors and Awards Banquet, Hydro Aluminum's Wolfgang Schneider completed his tenure as 2012 TMS President and Carnegie Mellon University's Elizabeth Holm began her one-year term in the society's highest position of volunteer leadership. 

In his closing speech as TMS President, Schneider offered an update on the areas of innovation that he had identified in his inauguration speech the previous year. "Volunteerism, education, products and services, and information are all important to the future success of TMS and part of the strategic plan," he said. "I also set the goals of my presidential year in these areas." 

He noted that the Board of Directors as a whole has placed more emphasis on strategic issues, with board meetings now structured around the goals of the TMS 2015 Strategic Plan. 

Schneider concluded his remarks with a number-4005. "This is the number of abstracts and posters achieved for TMS2013," he said. "It has set a new record and demonstrates the recognition and importance of the TMS Annual Meeting within the materials world." 

Elizabeth Holm echoed the positive view of the society in her opening comments as 2013 TMS President. "TMS is in great shape to respond to the trends in our profession and to the needs of our members," she said. 

During her term, Holm would like to highlight the third goal of the TMS Strategic Plan: Sustain and grow our core as The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society.

"My goal for my presidency is to refocus on these sustaining members and activities, to ensure that the professional society that has served them so well since 1871 remains their destination of choice for the next 142 years."

In addition, there are two areas where she hopes to add emphasis and value: in developing programs to support young- and mid-career professional members and in focusing on issues of diversity, both geographic and demographic. 

Following the presentations by TMS leaders, the society recognized TMS members with awards for excellence in a variety of technology areas, sectors, and stages of their careers. For a complete list of TMS 2013 award winners, click here.

By Graduate Student Reporter Graham Sanborn, Georgia Tech

Julia Greer, assistant professor of materials science and mechanics at the California Institute of Technology, gave an inspiring presentation on how young academic professionals can manage the demands of family, friends, and career. The presentation, titled "A Scientist, a Parent, a Mentor . . . How to Balance it All?" was an informal discussion with a room full of young and aspiring scientists.

Greer started with an introduction about the research she is passionate about and a little background about her life. The Caltech professor has two daughters, rollerblades around campus, and still finds time to play piano and work out every day. With this background, Greer moved on to a topic that she has become interested in and researched on her own: How to balance it all? The main problem, she says, with any busy professional is that "you have to make personal sacrifices to aspire to career aspirations." And you must learn how to balance these sacrifices so that they don't interfere with your personal life and goals.

The research, advice, and personal experience that Greer has learned was condensed into a top ten list of survival strategies for managing a life-work balance. Topics and examples included finding balance by clarifying values and setting priorities (and not feeling guilty about giving something low priority), using business practices in family (weekly all-hands meeting anybody?), avoiding "martyrdom addiction" and perfectionism by learning to compromise on the low priorities and delegate, having a supportive partner and lifestyle and, most importantly, not taking yourself too seriously. 

By Graduate Student Reporter Alex Leary, Carnegie Mellon University

Maurits Van Camp, Director of Competency Platform Recycling and Extraction at Umicore, delivered a lecture entitled, "Sustainability – A Paradigm Shift for Metals" at yesterday's Extraction & Processing/Materials Processing & Manufacturing Division (EPD/MPMD) Luncheon. Van Camp emphasized the need for wide collaboration, a major theme during the TMS REWAS symposium. "You need to be good at all the steps," said Van Camp referring to the compounding efficiency losses by each step in the recycling chain, "and you need to talk to everyone."

He described the process flow for a smelting plant in Antwerp that recovers metals from electronic scrap and a recently completed $25 million battery recycling plant. Van Camp believes there are many opportunities in the collection phase and "strongly believe that sustainability, in the end, will create jobs." Regarding the challenges ahead, Van Camp stated, "How will we realize the paradigm shift? The aim is clear, the strategy is being developed, the knowledge is being created, and entrepreneurs are needed to translate the knowledge into innovative market solutions."

Umicore was recently named the world's most sustainable company by Corporate Knights.

The EPD and MPMD announced several awards at the joint division luncheon lecture. Details on the awards and award winners can be found here.

By Graduate Student Reporter Alex Leary, Carnegie Mellon University

TMS awarded the Robert Franklin Mehl Award to Professor Horst Hahn, who presented his work in tunable nanostructures on Tuesday. The Mehl Award recognizes outstanding scientific leadership and is conferred by the membership based on research in the application of materials science to metals. Professor Hahn is the Managing Director of the Institute for Nanotechnology at the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe and Director of the Research Laboratory Nanomaterials located at the Technische Universitat Darmstadt and jointly operated by Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe and Technische Universitat Darmstadt.

The printed nanostructures described by Professor Hahn employ a gating mechanism where properties such as length, conductivity, and magnetization can be reversibly controlled by an external field. He employs a type of property control, well known in semiconductors, to metals. The effect requires small dimensions where charge screening influences conduction electron and is amplified through the use of a nanoparticulate structure. Hahn avoids contact issues in the porous media by surrounding it in an electrolyte. The devices defy common limitations of electrolytic materials that typically show slow response times by operating at 10 MHz and employ inorganic materials to improve stability.

The main goal of the research shows the ability to tune responses by affecting the hole concentration through the use of an external field as opposed to compositional adjustments. The performance of an indium oxide device similar to a field effect transistor with low threshold voltages exhibited large resistivity changes.

Congratulations to Professor Hahn!

This week, a dozen students were honored for their work through student poster contests. More than 70 students participated in this year's TMS Technical Division Student Poster Contest, with two winners (one undergraduate and one graduate) selected from each of the five TMS technical divisions to receive $500 awards. In addition, two winners (one graduate and one undergraduate) were selected from the Biological Materials Student Poster Contest. From all of these entries, two posters were selected to receive an additional $500 for the Best of Show Award.

This year's winners were:

Best of Show

Undergraduate: "Correlation of Pressure to Bonding Capabilities Using Novel Heat Treatment Methods in Prototype Sn-Bi Alloys," W. Tuttle, University of Florida (Pictured, left)

Graduate: "Direct Titanium Powder Production Through the Use of Pre-Conditioned Magnesium Powder," Amin Oliazadeh, Queen's University (Pictured, right)

Electronic, Magnetic & Photonic Materials Division

Undergraduate: "Correlation of Pressure to Bonding Capabilities Using Novel Heat Treatment Methods in Prototype Sn-Bi Alloys," W. Tuttle, University of Florida

Graduate: "Effects on Microstructure and Magnetic Properties of Modified Thermomagnetic Annealing and Heat Treatments on Commercial Alnico Magnet Alloys," Haley Dillon, Ames Laboratory

Extraction & Processing Division

Undergraduate: "Porosity and Percolation in Sintered Recycled Glass for Polluted Soil Filtering," Gerardo Nazario, University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez

Graduate: "Direct Titanium Powder Production Through the Use of Pre-Conditioned Magnesium Powder," Amin Oliazadeh, Queen's University

Light Metals Division

Undergraduate: "Effects of Boron and Zinc on Impact Tests of Al-B-Zn Alloy," Marcos Corchado, University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez

Graduate: "Electronic Structure and Properties of Stacking Faults of Mg-X Alloys: A First-Principles Study," William Wang, The Pennsylvania State University

Materials Processing & Manufacturing Division

Undergraduate: "Dynamic Recrystallization of Stainless Steel 316L: A Comparison of Experimental Results to Computer Simulation," Megan Beck, Boise State University

Graduate: "3D Reconstruction of Prior Beta Grain Orientations in Friction Stir Processed Ti-6Al-4V," Adam Shiveley, United States Air Force

Structural Materials Division

Undergraduate: "Controlled Growth of Ultrathin Molecular Films," Jason Leszczewicz, Western Kentucky University

Graduate: "Effect of Alloying Elements and Spark Plasma Sintering Parameters on Nano-dispersion Formation in Nanostructured Ferritic Steels," Somayeh Pasebani, University of Idaho

Biological Materials Student Poster Contest

Graduate: "Bisphosphonate Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles Enabled Enhanced Detection of Breast Micro Calcification," Lisa Cole, University of Notre Dame

Undergraduate: "Effect of Surface Treatments on Titanium Alloys," Maria Hernandez, University of Texas Pan American

By Graduate Student Reporter Graham Sanborn, Georgia Tech

A panel of nine early- and mid-career professionals from universities, national labs, and industry held a successful forum with undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral scientists seeking professional advice at the annual TMS Student Career Forum.

The forum was led by Julia Greer, assistant professor at Caltech, and the panel consisted of: Brad Boyce from Sandia National Labs; Doug Spearot, assistant professor at the University of Arkansas; Rachael deLucas, research engineer at MIT; Kyle Brinkman, staff engineer at Savannah River National Lab; Eric Huron, manager of materials applications engineering at GE Aviation; Jennifer Carter, assistant professor at Case Western Reserve University; Amy Clarke, scientist at Los Alamos National Lab; and Gavin Garside, research scientist at ATI Wah Chang.

The forum consisted of informal personal introductions followed by an open question and answer session. The panel and students were very engaging, often getting into discussion and advice about a particular topic. The assorted panel provided diverse points of view on topics such as pursuing academic versus industry jobs, determining a job field or focus after school, job searching and interviewing tips, job environment, and the value or harm from taking time off after school. Many students found the event to be helpful and educational. The forum ended with a chance for students to have a one-on-one discussion with the panelists.

Become a Signer of The Orlando Materials Innovation Principles!

When you visit the TMS Materials Innovation Learning Center (Exhibit Booth #325), be sure to check out the The Orlando Materials Innovation Principles area and learn how your organization can join the growing coalition behind Materials Innovation, which is transforming and accelerating the way new materials are developed and designed to drive manufacturing and economic growth.

The Principles, available here, call upon the diversity of disciplines and industrial sectors vital to the U.S. manufacturing economy to work synergistically on developing a more dynamic approach to materials innovation. This includes manufacturers, suppliers, and related business entities, as well as universities, government laboratories, and professional societies.

Currently more than 38 organizations have endorsed and signed the Principles. As part of this endorsement, members of the materials and manufacturing community agree to pursue their work guided by the key tenets outlined in The Principles. During TMS2013, take some time to talk to a TMS representative at the Materials Innovation Learning Center and learn more about the Principles and how your organization can become a supporter.

The Orlando Materials Innovation Principles were developed as an outcome of the TMS Materials/Manufacturing Leaders Summit held in March 2012 in Orlando, Florida. Some 50 thought leaders in the materials and manufacturing community attended the Summit to identify approaches addressing the challenges presented by the U.S. Materials Genome Initiative to "discover, develop, manufacture, and deploy advanced materials at least twice as fast as possible as today, at a fraction of the cost."

Japan Institute of Metals Young Leader International Scholar Lecture
11:40 a.m.
Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, Room 201B

Light Metals Division Luncheon Lecture
Noon
Grand Hyatt Hotel, Texas Ballroom C

Special Plenary: Innovation in Materials & Manufacturing
2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, Lila Cockrell Theatre

Vittorio de Nora Prize for Environmental Improvements in Metallurgical Industries Lecture
4:15 p.m.
Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, Room 006C

2013 Shri Ram Arora Award Lecture
4:45 p.m.
Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, Room 214C

Young Professional Happy Hour Reception
6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Grand Hyatt Hotel, Presidio B