Materials Day looks at material research’s impact on society

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State Materials Research Institute (MRI) will hold its marquee annual event, Materials Day, on Oct. 20-21 on the University Park campus. This year’s theme is "Materials Impacting Society" and interested parties can register at the event site.  

Each year, Materials Day gathers experts in materials research at Penn State and beyond for two days of peering into the future to discover up-and-coming trends in materials science and and recognize outstanding researchers through an awards ceremony. This year’s event will include breakout sessions and topics that will address a perennial issue in university research: Researchers translating their discoveries in the lab to a point that they can be transitioned into the marketplace where they can benefit society. 

Event highlights include:  

• Opening address by Clive Randall, MRI director. 

• Two keynote addresses:  

  • John Mauro, Penn State professor of materials science and engineering, will present “Historical Perspective and Trends in Glass Research.”  

  • Daniel Hays, Penn State professor of biomedical engineering and chair of Penn State’s biomedical engineering department, will present “Key Roles of Materials in Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine.” 

• A special session on the passing of the CHIPS and Science Act and the role that universities such as Penn State will play in growing the American semiconductor supply chain.  

• Breakout sessions covering a variety of materials research topics. 

• Lunch provided each day, including a “Working Lunch” on Oct. 21 that will include breakout sessions to develop requests for proposal in Seed Project funding from the Institutes. The panelists from the morning’s breakout sessions will lead discussion on and offer fine tuning of the proposals.  All are welcome to attend and provide input. 

• Morning coffee networking sessions each day. 

• Two poster sessions: Both sets of posters will be available as an in-person session and a brief pre-recorded version. There also will be two 30-minute opportunities for virtual attendees to meet and engage with the two sets of poster presenters. 

• Award ceremony for the poster sessions and the Rustum and Della Roy Innovation in Materials Research Award.  

The Millennium Café, MRI’s weekly series of talks and exchanging ideas, will hold special previews of Materials Day on Oct. 4 and Oct. 11. The talks will be led by the chairs of each of the Materials Day breakout sessions, which will include representation from all of Penn State’s research institutes.  

More information, including how to register, can be found at mri.psu.edu/MaterialsDay. Materials Day is organized and produced by the Penn State Materials Research Institute.