05/19 -
Pittsburgh to Host This Year’s Largest Technical Event for Materials Science and Engineering, MS&T'05
PITTSBURGH, PA, USA (May 19, 2005)…Five leading materials-related societies in the U.S. have joined forces to create Materials Science & Technology 2005 (MS&T'05), the year's largest technical event, to be held September 25-28 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, PA. More than 8,000 materials scientists and engineers are expected to attend to learn about the latest developments in materials research and applications.
MS&T'05 is organized and sponsored by the American Ceramic Society (ACerS) in Columbus, Ohio; the American Welding Society (AWS) in Miami, Florida; the Association for Iron and Steel Technology (AIST) in Warrendale, Pennsylvania; The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) also in Warrendale; and ASM International (The Materials Information Society) in Cleveland, Ohio.
"This is going to be the largest American event dedicated to the scientists, engineers, executives, managers and technicians who work with materials science and engineering," said Mark Blankenau, Severstal NA, Inc., AIST liaison to the MS&T Conference Planning Committee. "With more than 40 sessions over four days, MS&T is going to be so big that it will be a challenge for attendees to see all the presentations they want to see."
The confluence of five societies in Pittsburgh reflects the interdisciplinary nature of materials science and engineering. "It's not just about metals anymore," said Srinath Viswanathan of Sandia National Laboratories, representing ASM. "When you talk about designing and manufacturing an automobile or an airplane, you're not just talking about aluminum and steel. You're talking about metals and plastics and composites. You're talking about welding and joining, coatings and corrosion. By bringing all of these perspectives together at one meeting, all of us will benefit from the synergy of new ideas."
"Cross fertilization is the buzzword," said Jim Foley of Los Alamos National Laboratory, representing TMS. "Wherever you go at MS&T, you're going to learn something about materials that you didn't know before. When you get back to the office and can tell your boss that you talked with 30 different people in the materials field and learned something -- that's impressive."
"I think that a joint super-conference representing all of materials science and technology is a fantastic idea," said Brian Damkroger of Sandia National Laboratory, representing AWS. "At a time when travel budgets are tightening, it's easier to get management approval to attend one all-inclusive event as opposed to a number of focused, topical meetings."
From materials for fuel cells, hydrogen storage and the "hydrogen economy" to the latest advances in nanomaterials and MEMS (micro-electronic mechanical systems), MS&T provides a single event to keep abreast of the latest advances in materials. "We come from different backgrounds, different industries, but we speak the same language of materials," said Vijay Jain of Southwest Research Institute, representing ACerS. "This is an excellent move for the entire materials community, and I'm very excited about the learning and networking that will take place."
To provide additional opportunities to learn and network, the ASM Heat Treating Society Conference & Exposition, North America's largest heat treating event, will be co-located with MS&T at the convention center. For more information about MS&T, visit www.matscitech.org.
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