Current TMS News

Building a Professional Network from Home

Find yourself working from home? Try some of these ideas for staying connected with your TMS colleagues.

• Seek Out New Contacts in the TMS Membership Directory: There are plenty of TMS members you’ve probably never met—find the ones who share your technical interests in the TMS Membership Directory (open to members only). You can search the directory by interest area to find individuals who might be able to share insight on a technical problem or you can search by location to build a network of colleagues close to home.
• Search Your LinkedIn Contacts: Look at who you’ve already connected with on LinkedIn—including individuals you've met at previous conferences and events—and take a few moments to send a quick greeting. Not comfortable sending a one-on-one message? Open up a discussion to ask how your colleagues are handling their adjusted work situations or some other relevant topic. Connect with TMS on LinkedIn.
• But What Do I Say? The particulars are up to you, but a good general approach might be to begin with a friendly greeting, followed by a brief explanation of how you know (or know about) the individual. For example: “It was nice to meet you at TMS2020” or “I read your article on additive manufacturing in JOM.” Keep the message concise and be sure to conclude with any follow-up action you’d like to take, such as “Could we schedule a few minutes to speak by phone? I would appreciate your opinion on this topic.” Try this article from LinkedIn for further guidance.
• A Note on Follow-Up: Please recognize that the person you are reaching out to may be very busy at the moment. If you haven’t received a response in 7-10 days, it’s okay to send a brief, polite follow-up message, but it’s important not to be pushy. If your follow-up message doesn’t receive a response, then this just wasn’t the right time to grow this particular connection. Don’t let it discourage you.
• Organize a Virtual Networking Session: There are many tools you can use to bring your TMS colleagues together. Choose your preferred method—Google Hangout, Skype, Facetime, etc.—and invite several of your TMS colleagues to get together for a brainstorming session, to share ideas for how to work productively from home, and more.

No matter what you choose—remember that a key part of being a TMS member is the relationships and the connections that you build with other members. Take this time to strengthen those connections and to learn from your TMS community.

Deadlines Extended for TMS Awards and Scholarships

Recognizing that many of our members have experienced disruptions to their usual schedules in recent weeks, TMS has extended two key deadlines to offer some extra time to gather application and nomination materials.

Student Scholarship Application Deadline Extended from March 15 to April 17
Multiple scholarships are available to both undergraduate and graduate students in nine different topic areas. A full description of scholarships and application details can be found on the TMS Scholarship web page.

TMS Honors and Awards Program Extends Nomination Deadline from April 1 to April 17
Recognize one of your colleagues for technical excellence, for leadership in their field, or for exceptional promise. Apply for one of our young professional awards to develop professionally and gain new experiences. This April 17 deadline extension is for ALL awards that have a normal deadline of April 1. Take advantage of this extra time to recognize a deserving colleague or apply for an award that will advance your career. View a full listing of awards on the TMS Awards website.

If you have any questions about the nomination process or application requirements, please e-mail Deborah Hixon, TMS Awards Program Administrator.

TMS Members Elected to NAE

TMS congratulates three of its members who were elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE) this year. Election to the NAE is among the highest professional distinctions for engineers and honors those who have made outstanding contributions to “engineering research, practice, or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature” and to “the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in the traditional fields of engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to engineering education.”

The following TMS members are scheduled to be formally inducted during a ceremony at the NAE’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C., on October 4, 2020. 

Paul E. Krajewski: Krajewski (pictured, top left) is the director, global research and development, at General Motors Co., in Warren, Michigan. He was elected “for development and implementation of lightweight automotive materials.” A TMS member since 1993, Krajewski is the 2013 recipient of the AIME Champion H. Matthewson Award and is a 2012 Brimacombe Medalist.

Eduard Arzt: Arzt (pictured, lower left), the chief executive officer and scientific director at INM-Leibniz Institute for New Materials of Saarland University in Saarbrücken, Germany, was elected “for research on mechanical properties and development of bio-inspired functional surfaces for medical adhesives and novel gripping systems.” A longtime member of TMS, Arzt is the 2020 recipient of the TMS Morris Cohen Award.

Chennupati Jagadish: A distinguished professor of electronic materials engineering at the Australian National University in Canberra, Jagadish (pictured, right) was elected “for contributions to nanotechnology for optoelectronic devices.” He has been a TMS member since 2013.

Krajewski is one of 87 individuals elected to join the ranks of the NAE’s U.S. membership, while Arzt and Jagadish are two of 18 new international members.

Editor’s Choice: Read Outstanding Papers from TMS Journals for Free

TMS offers a number of resources that can help our community keep up with current research throughout the field, including six journals published by TMS. Each month, a limited number of Editor’s Choice articles from these TMS journals are selected and made available to the public at no charge. (TMS members can access the full content of all of these journals by logging in to the Journals section of the TMS website at any time.)

This distinct honor is awarded to fewer than 5% of papers published in the respective journals each year. In addition to high-quality writing, these notable articles are distinguished by attributes such as outstanding science, innovative methods, impactful outputs, historical significance, and/or broad interest to the readership.

Click to read the following selections from recent issues for free:

JOM March issue
"Influence of Gas Flow Speed on Laser Plume Attenuation and Powder Bed Particle Pickup in Laser Powder Bed Fusion," Haopeng Shen, et al.

Journal of Electronic Materials March issue
"Highly Conductive Graphene Electronics by Inkjet Printing," Dongbin Zhu, et al.

"Dielectric Properties and AC Conductivity of Organic Films of Copper(II) 2,9,16,23-Tetra-tert-butyl-29H,31H- phthalocyanine," A. A. A. Darwish, et al.

"Influence of Ag Layer Location on the Performance of Cu₂ZnSnS₄ Thin Film Solar Cells," Kang Gu, et al.

"Effect of Acid Doping on Junction Characteristics of ITO/Polyaniline/N719/Ag Diode," Muhammad Reza, et al.