2011 Materials World Summit

Materials Research Society, Warrendale PA

Investigators

Abstract

The US Materials Research Society hosts the 2011 World Materials Summit to be held in Washington DC in early October 2011. The meeting is organized jointly with the European MRS and the Chinese MRS. This summit is the third in a series of World Materials Summits on the topic of 'Materials Research Enabling Clean Energy and a Sustainable Global Environment'. The prior two World Materials Summits were held in Lisbon, Portugal in 2007 and in Suzhou, China in 2009. The 2001 Materials World Summit integrates the views of policy and science to enhance the rate of progress toward challenges in materials research and innovation that are critical for meeting global energy and climate challenges. The 2001 Summit brings together global scientific experts and policymakers with a goal of research policy alignment across international borders, expanding the previous focus on clean energy and environmental sustainability and introducing the critical roles of materials in providing clean potable water to the world. As in prior summits, an Accord document will be produced, providing a global roadmap of materials research requirements and needs for energy and environmental sustainability, as well as the impact of materials on clean water worldwide. The 2011 Materials World Summit also convenes the first ever Materials Student Congress, bringing a broad and diverse participation from students around the world. Through the summit, students as well as the broad materials sciences community becomes further aware of the many facets of the energy challenges facing the world in the next decades, as well as of the interconnected nature of the problems faced and the opportunities for materials sciences to help meet those challenges.