STM publisher Elsevier has announced that its Materials Science Council has launched the Materials in Society Lecture Series. The inaugural lectures will be presented during the 8th International Conference on Materials for Advanced Technologies (ICMAT).
In September 2014, the Elsevier Materials Science Council was launched to help communicate the importance of materials science research, recognize researchers working under difficult conditions, and address some of the major issues facing the materials community. Led by former director of the National Science Foundation and current president of Carnegie Mellon University, Subra Suresh, the Council is developing initiatives to benefit academia, industry and society, and provide solutions to wide-reaching problems affecting researchers.
The Materials in Society Lecture Series at ICMAT is the first activity planned by the Council; and the inaugural lectures will take place on June 30, 2015 in the ICMAT plenary session. The series will highlight the impact materials science has on our everyday lives through lectures that everyone can access, understand and appreciate. Following a call for topic nominations to the materials science community, the first lectures will be given by Molly Stevens (Imperial College London), Jay Whitacre (Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh), and Bin Liu, (National University Singapore).
