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Graduate Research Polymer Conference at UMass

The Sixth National Graduate Research Polymer Conference was held at the University of Massachusetts on June 15-17, 2005. The polymer faculty at UMass did a great job planning the event, publicizing the meeting, building an exceptionally strong program, arranging lodging, and involving industrial and government participation. Much credit should go to Conference Chairmen, Shaw Ling Hsu and Greg Tew, and their team including Anita Hassenfratz and Jim Capistram. Ken Carter was the official POLY representative.

The statistics were impressive: about 200 abstracts received by the conference, almost 300 attendees, and 90 oral and 90 posters from about 35 schools and 70 departments. There were also representatives from 16 industrial companies and government labs, who participated in the meeting as well as carried out recruiting.

The technical program lasted two and a half days and consisted of 10 oral and 2 poster sessions. The papers were grouped by 10 topics: Polyelectrolytes and Colloids, Nanostructured Materials, Polymer Synthesis, Polymer Crystallization, Adhesives and Coatings, Biomaterials, Polymers for Electronics and Optical Applications, Processing and Dynamics, Environmentally Appropriate Polymers, Blends and Composites. As in previous years, the stars of the show were the students. The quality of the presentations was high in general, which boded well for the future of polymer science and engineering.

In response to students' interest in the current job situation, the organizers arranged to have a Career Fair in the evening of June 15 where students could interview and gather information from 16 participating organizations. In the evening on June 16 the organizers gathered a panel of distinguished polymer scientists from academia, industry, and government labs to give their perspectives and to provide advice on career opportunities. There was an enthusiastic and extended Q/A sessions after the panel discussion. Both events were highly successful with excellent turnout and beneficial to all parties involved. Many students considered the panel discussion and the Q/A session to be the more valuable part of the conference.

In addition to the formal program, the participants had ample opportunities to network and to socialize. The group meals, in particular, were useful to bring people together.

In summary, this was a very successful meeting. Kudos is due our colleagues at Amherst for their hard work. This meeting was sponsored by POLY, and cosponsored by PMSE, NSF, NIST, and UMass at Amherst and supported by 15 industrial companies.

Reported by H. N. Cheng