2009 MRS Fall Meeting Communicates Cross-Disciplinary Research on Materials
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2009 MRS Fall Meeting Communicates Cross-Disciplinary Research on Materials www.mrs.org/F09 The 2009 Materials Research Society (MRS) Fall Meeting, chaired by Kristi Anseth (University of Colorado), Li-Chyong Chen (National Taiwan University), Peter Gumbsch (University of Karlsruhe), and Ji-Cheng Zhao (The Ohio State University), was held in Boston on November 30–December 4. Through 50 symposia, symposium organizers from around the world offered coverage of developments in the areas of energy and environment; information processing and sensing; materials across the macro- to nanoscales; nanoscience and technology; and health and biological materials. The Meeting—receiving over 6000 attendees—included oral and poster presentations, award talks, an international equipment and resource exhibit, information on government funding, and special outreach or educational opportunities,
including tutorials, professional development for women in materials science and engineering, and how to improve on giving oral presentations. This year, the Meeting was preceded by the National Science Foundation-sponsored multidisciplinary workshop on third-generation solar technologies (see page 245). Energy and the Environment Many believe that research toward reducing dependence on fossil fuels with renewable energy sources and nuclear energy will begin to pay off within the next decade or two. The energy produced from renewable resources is primarily electrical energy; therefore, solving the problem of electrical energy storage is a critical issue in the transition to a renewable energy economy. Improved electrical energy storage systems, such as electro-
Tobin Marks Presents Von Hippel Address Tobin Marks of Northwestern University presented the Von Hippel Award talk on molecule-based organic and hybrid organic/inorganic electronics. Chemists are exceptionally skilled at designing and constructing individual molecules with the goal of imbuing them with rationally tailored chemical, electronic, optical, and magnetic properties, said Marks. However, the task of rationally assembling such special molecules into organized, supramolecular structures with precise, nanometer-level organizational control, in order to effect specific functions, presents a daunting challenge. Soft or hard matter suitable for unconventional types of electronic circuitry represents a case in point, and in principal offers new capabilities not readily achievable with silicon electronics. By “unconventional” is meant circuitry that can span large areas; can be mechanically flexible and/or optically transparent; can be created by large-scale, high-throughput fabrication techniques; and has molecular-level properties tunability. Through the process of preparing, characterizing, and fabricating prototype devices with such materials, many new things can be learned about the electronic and electrical properties of materials, and the interfaces between them. Marks briefly overviewed recent progress in two interconnected efforts: organic semiconductors for π-electron comp
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