The Ninth African Materials Research Society (A-MRS) conference will be held in Gabarone Botswana, on December 10-14, 2017, with student centered pre-conference short courses to be held on December 8-9th. It is anticipated that about 500 scientists and students from around the world will attend the conference. The A-MRS was formed in 2000 with support from NSF and the South African National Research Foundation. The NSF/DMR was instrumental in the initial creation of A-MRS. Initial workshops were mostly supported by DMR. Funds from the NSF support the participation of mostly students and young scientists from the US, some leading senior international scientists and about a dozen African students. The Conference will help to unify the rapidly growing materials research community in Africa, and to couple this community to the materials research community in the US and elsewhere outside Africa. Themes for the workshop are chosen to meet African priorities and the interest as well as needs of the global materials community. In addition to basic and applied science and engineering, attention will be taken to address issues of shared instrumentation, STEM education, technology innovation, and networking to grow new partnerships. The facts that A-MRS is now capable of raising support from diverse sources is a sign that materials research is gaining appropriate recognition in Africa, with growing regional participation.
The Ninth African Materials Research Society (A-MRS) conference will be held in Gabarone, Botswana, on December 10-14, 2017, with student centered pre-conference short courses to be held on December 8-9th. It is anticipated that about 500 scientists and students from around the world will attend the conference. The Conference will help to unify the rapidly growing materials research community in Africa, and to couple this community to the materials research community in the US and elsewhere outside Africa. Themes for the workshop include Materials for Energy, Materials for Health, Nanoscience/Nanotechnology, Computational Materials Science, Agriculture/Environment, Materials for Mining/Construction, Materials for Water, and Education/Networking. These are chosen to meet African priorities and the interest as well as the needs of the global materials community. In addition to basic and applied science and engineering, attention will be given to address issues of shared instrumentation, STEM education, technology innovation, and networking to grow new partnerships.
