UM hosts the 2018 MAS TC on EBSD

The latest Microanalysis Society Topical Conference on Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) took place this May 23–25 at the University of Michigan. The organizers, Steve Niezgoda (OSU), Marc DeGraef (CMU), Elena Miranda (CSUN), Andrew Cross (Wash U – St Louis), Bobby Kerns (UM) and Emmanuelle Marquis (UM) ensured a comprehensive program with speakers including Katharina Marquardt (University Bayreuth, Germany), John Wheeler (University of Liverpool, UK), Maurine Montagnat (Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement, France), Angus Wilkinson (Oxford University, UK) and Ralf Hielscher (Chemnitz Technische Universität, Germany) to cover the range of new applications and analyses methods relevant to EBSD.

The meeting brought together a total of over 170 participants internationally including post-docs, researchers, vendors and over 70 graduate students. The conference featured three days of lectures and animated conversation on EBSD applications and developments within materials, geo-, and planetary sciences, engineering, and industry. The dynamic conference format combined interactive live demonstrations from vendors using equipment at the Michigan Center for Materials Characterization to showcase the latest EBSD hardware and software with poster and plenary sessions.

Along with a workshop and presentation on sample preparation and data analysis, Day 1 provided lab demonstrations on a flexible sign-up basis. Students and others seeking even more hands-on insights on EBSD methods were also treated to tutorials in geoscience and engineering materials within the (MC)2 laboratory space. The theme of Day 2 was “EBSD for Characterization of Microstructure Evolution” and also featured a poster session with over forty presenters. Winners of the best poster student awards are Penny Weiser (U Cambridge) for Geological Sciences and Tian Liu (U Alabama) for Materials Sciences. Day 3 emphasized advances in EBSD technology and data analysis, such as Bayesian approaches on how to most effectively use data mining approaches to assist in analyzing materials.

Represented vendors throughout the duration of the conference included BLG Vantage, Bluequartz, Buelher, Bruker, Cambridge Press, EDAX, EXpressLO LLC, E.A. Fischione, Gatan, Hitachi, JEOL, Leica Microsystems, Mager Scientific, NanoMEGAS, Oxford Instruments, TESCAN, Thermo Scientific, and ZEISS Microscopy.