MAS Past President’s Message: Sayonara

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Dear MAS Members,

On August 8, 2018, I passed the MAS presidency to Rhonda Stroud and became one of Past Presidents. I am still in transition process, so that I have not yet felt relief from the heavy pressure being the President. Soon, I will enjoy the relief feeling!

The previous President, Tom Kelly has created new dynamics in the society and I wanted to maintain the dynamics during my presidency. If you notice some of recent MAS activities, I think my primary mission as the MAS President was successfully accomplished. Although I expressed “my” primary mission, I have been strongly supported by various MAS members, especially the executive council members and committee chairs including committee members. Without their dedicated supports, nothing has been completed. I would like to express my sincere acknowledgement to the individuals who supported the society managements (and me!).

In addition, I would like to thank the Presidents of our sister societies: Mike Marko, Ian Anderson, Bob Price and Paul Kotula (MSA), Ric Wuhrer (AMAS), Mike Matthews (EMAS), and Ed Vicenzi (IUMAS). It was great to contribute to the M&M organization together with MSA. We had successful M&M meetings. As I described in the previous Presidential Messages, I was invited to the AMAS 2017 meeting (Brisbane, Australia) and to the EMAS 2017 meeting (Konstanz, Germany) as the President exchange program among the sister MAS societies. It was wonderful experiences to attend to those meetings organized by our sister societies. Furthermore, I was also invited to the EAMC3 (The 3rd East-Asia Microscopy Conference) meeting as one of the key note speakers in November, 2017 (Busan, Korea). This invitation is partially due to the MAS Presidency. It was great to bridge sister societies. Good and strong relationship with the sister societies should be continued.

During my presidency, we had two major events: the MAS 50th Anniversary and launching the MAS Fellow Program. More details of those events can be found in the links above. Prior to the events, I contacted the Previous MAS Presidents and the Legend class of MAS Fellows. It was wonderful for me to exchange e-mails with whom I just knew by name from textbooks and scientific articles when I was a student! I never forget this wonderful experience, which is a gift to me for my MAS presidency!

Now, the situation of MAS is very healthy: over 550 members (the highest in 21st century) and decent finance. New challenge would be to keep this high membership and activities, which is one of the fundamental missions to make the society stronger towards the 75th anniversary and beyond. I have no doubt that the New President Rhonda Stroud and the council members will lead us to the next stage of the society!

Finally, I would like to finish this message by citing a phrase from an old Japanese song:

“Sayonara (Good Bye)” is not a word for farewell but a long-term promise to see you again!

Thank you very much for your tremendous contributions and kind supports to MAS and “Sayonara!”

Masashi Watanabe
Past President

UM hosts the 2018 MAS TC on EBSD

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EBSD 2018 TC

Katharina Marquardt presents at EBSD-2018

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.

MAS Director Emma Bullock heads up the Smithsonian Science Education Academy for Teachers

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In early August, 2017, a group of 21 teachers from around the US took part in the Smithsonian Science Education Academy for Teachers (SSEATs) on Earth’s History and Global Change. This program is designed to introduce K-12 teachers to world-class scientists, strategies for science education, and provide resources to take science back to their classrooms. MAS Director Emma Bullock was the Science Coordinator for the week, and accompanied the teachers as they explored how our earth formed, what happens during mass extinctions, and how humans have changed the environment around them.

During the course of the week, the teachers visited the National Museum of Natural History, the National Air and Space Museum, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and the Carnegie Institution for Science. Early in the week, Dr. Bullock introduced the teachers to meteorites, and explored what they can tell us about the origins of our Solar System, and other planetary bodies. This was followed by a tour of the U.S. national meteorite collection, where the teachers had the opportunity to hold pieces of the moon and Mars in their hands. At Carnegie, the teachers interacted with more world-class scientists, and had the opportunity to get hands-on with a mass spectrometer to age-date some zircon crystals. The group also learned how to perform geochemical analysis using a field-emission JEOL scanning electron microscope equipped with an Oxford EDS system.