Advanced Materials Characterization Workshop 2009

3^rd Advanced Materials Characterization Workshop 2009

Date: June 3 and 4, 2009
Venue: Engineering Sciences Building, Room 190
1101 West Springfield Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801

The 2009 Advanced Materials Characterization Workshop at the FS-MRL was an enormous success, reaching its maximum seating capacity of 192 registered attendees. This included 121 local attendees with researchers from 16 different departments from our local campus, and 71 external attendees from 12 universities and research institutions across the nation, in addition to representatives from 31 companies. The workshop vendors’ exhibit area included 29 corporate sponsors, most with new instruments available for on-site demonstration. The workshop consisted of 8 tutorial lectures given by the FS-MRL staff and 6 invited presentations given by industrial scientists, all covering major analytical techniques and metrology.

Based on the quality-control survey forms this is the feedback from the workshop attendees:

93% rated the scientific and technical quality of the staff presentations as “excellent” (53%) or “good” (40%)
81% rated the length of the presentations as “good” as opposed to too short or too long
91% rate the overall organization of the workshop as “excellent” (66%) or “good” (25%)

Some written comments from attendees:

“Good coverage of the state-of-the-art characterization techniques”. “And the lectures are very practical as well”.
“Great tutorials, engaging presenters. Good size – not too big, not too small. Vendors were diverse and good to talk to”.
“Broad introduction to available techniques with their strengths and weaknesses, and suggested applications”.
“Presenters proved themselves to be experts”.
“A great workshop – thanks!”
“Please have more workshops of this type!”

Survey forms specific for the vendors present in the show demonstrated that:

Nearly all vendors considered the space for vendors adequate considering the size and cost of the show.
89% indicated that the price paid for sponsorship is adequate.
89% of the sponsors considered their overall experience in the workshop excellent (61%) or good (28%).

Some written comments from the vendors:

“Great opportunity to gain exposure”
“Good variety of subjects”
“Nice job. I’m sure a lot of work went into the organization of this workshop and it showed”.
“Very well run, I look forward to next year”.

Thank you all that attended and sponsored this workshop, helping to make this event a great success. We are looking forward to seeing you again next year.