Inaugural World Forum for Materials Science and Engineering
We are excited to announce that the first ever world forum on Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) met last week in Wuhan, China to focus on sustainable development. There is no question that the field of MSE is going through unprecedented changes. With the advent of nine enabling technologies and Industry 4.0, we are facing the grandest challenge in the 21st century: sustainable development of the planet. MSE is playing a foundational and leading role in surmounting this challenge. As a consequence, there is a need for the global thought leaders of the materials community to formulate and implement a cohesive approach in both frontier research, as well as education. This is our time to lead. The societal needs and the opportunities we face as MSE leaders call for us to lead and to make an impact. To do so will require a coordinated effort and a cohesive agenda.The leadership of School of the International School of MSE at Wuhan University of Technology, University of Surrey, UCI, WPI, MIT, Georgia Tech, etc. together with other world-renowned MSE schools/departments from all five continents convened a forum similar to the World Economic Forum to discuss pressing issues and to devise a strategy that will provide the global MSE community with a blueprint for the future. The Chairs of the Forum were: Pres. Zhang of WUT, Provost E. Lavernia of UCI, Pres. M. Lu of U of Surrey, and Prof. and Academician B. Wei of NPU (X’ian). MPI founding director, Diran Apelian, chaired the Organizing Committee of the Forum.A Declaration was framed at the meeting which will be announced in mid-November. Stay tuned.
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Diran Apelian, founding Director of Metal Processing Institute, chaired the Organizing Committee of the 1st World Forum for Materials Science and Engineering.