The XXIII International Materials Research Congress (IMRC) 2014, to be held August 17–21, 2014, in Cancun, Mexico, is a joint meeting of the Sociedad Mexicana de Materiales (SMM) and the Materials Research Society (MRS). The Meeting Chairs are Heberto Balmori Ramirez of Instituto Politécnico Nacional (Mexico), Marcela R. Beltrán of Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Kenneth Adrian Dawson of University College Dublin (Ireland), and Nagarajan Valanoor of the University of New South Wales (Australia); and the Chair of the Congress is Armando Salinas Rodriguez of Cinvestav (Mexico).
The Congress will feature 30 symposia covering nanoscience and nanotechnology, bio and bioinspired materials, materials for energy, fundamental materials science, materials characterization, materials for specific applications, magnetic and electronic materials, and a symposium on strategies for academy–industry relationships. Oral and poster presentations will be given as well as tutorials, and there will be an equipment exhibition.
Mihail C. Roco, founding chair of the US National Science and Technology Council’s subcommittee on Nanoscale Science, Engineering and Technology (NSET), will open the technical program with his plenary address on the future of nanotechnology. He will outline several current priorities such as nanoelectronics for 2020 and beyond, sustainable nanomanufacturing, nanotechnology for solar energy, nanotechnology knowledge infrastructure, and nanosensors. According to Roco, global nanotechnology labor and markets are estimated to double every three years, reaching over a $3 trillion market encompassing 6 million jobs by 2020.
The featured speaker during the Science Luncheon will be Douglas Osheroff, the J.G. Jackson and C.J. Wood Professor of Physics at Stanford Univer-sity. In 1996, Osheroff was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics with David M. Lee and Robert C. Richardson for their discovery of superfluidity in helium-3. Working from the premise that scientific advances are seldom made by individuals alone, Osheroff will talk about research strategies that can substantially increase the probability of one’s making a discovery. He will illustrate some of these strategies in the context of a number of well-known discoveries, including the work he did as a graduate student, for which he shared the Nobel Prize.
For additional information on the Congress, access www.mrs-mexico.org.mx/imrc2014.
