The Materials Research Society Holds Inaugural International Meeting in China with C-MRS
- PDF / 2,643,759 Bytes
- 6 Pages / 576 x 783 pts Page_size
- 47 Downloads / 213 Views
The Materials Research Society Holds Inaugural International Meeting in China with C-MRS www.mrs.org/IMRC2008
The 2008 International Materials Research Conference (2008-IMRC) was held from June 9–12, 2008, in Chongqing, China, organized jointly by the Materials Research Society (MRS) and the Chinese Materials Research Society (C-MRS). The city of Chongqing, located in Western China, is one of four large municipalities in China, with over 30 million people. The conference had the strong support of the Chongqing Science and Technology Commission (CSTC) and the Chongqing Municipal Government. Paul C.W. Chu (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, China and University of Houston, USA), Eric Garfunkel (Rutgers University, USA), Sung-su Han (LG Electronics Institute of Technology, Korea), and Yafang Han (Executive Director of C-MRS, China) chaired the conference. “Tonight, in early summer, the ‘mountain city’ is bright because of your presence, coming from different countries,” said Xiaorui Chen, director of the Department of International Cooperation of CSTC during the Welcome Reception. Conference chairs Y. Han and Garfunkel welcomed everyone to the conference, thanking those who helped initiate and organize the conference. They also addressed the recent earthquake in Sichuan province not far from Chongqing and encouraged friends to continue with contributions to the relief efforts. The following morning, during the Opening Ceremony, Garfunkel acknowledged 2008-IMRC as the first MRS meeting held outside the United States. This meeting comes at a special time in history with the confluence of two forces, globalization of science and technology and the realization that current world problems are global—such as energy demand— requiring international cooperation, with materials research at the core of this effort, he said. The focus on globalization and the energy theme woven into the conference program were reiterated by Chu and by 2008 Immediate Past President of MRS, Alan J. Hurd (Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA). Executive Vice-Mayor of Chongqing, Qifan Huang, emphasized the recent rapid growth in science and technology
in Chongqing, and the development of various materials-related industries. President of C-MRS, Boyun Huang (Central South University, China), announced that the Meeting had received close to 3000 abstracts from 49 countries. Keynote Addresses The Meeting offered five keynote presentations and nine technical sessions. In the first keynote address, Gang Wan, the Minister of Science and Technology in China, offered congratulations and a warm welcome to conference participants. He expressed a conviction that this landmark conference would have farreaching impact on both China and the United States, and he presented an optimistic view of the future of materials research in Chinese society. He cited the positive effects of biotechnology research in the realms of agriculture, forestry, and environmental protection, recalling the great success of genetically modified cotton in reducing pesticide u
Data Loading...
