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Monday, April 21, 2003
 The 2003 MRS Spring Meeting got under
way in San Francisco with five tutorials conducted during the
day on various topics. Symposium Q on Unconventional approaches
to nanostructures with applications in electronics, photonics,
information storage, and sensing also got off to an early
start with two sessions held during the day covering quantum
dots and nanoparticles.
One of the tutorials held in the morning was on Tissue Engineering as part of symposium O on Materials Inspired by Biology. The primary objective of the tutorial was to introduce the materials scientist to the important roles that materials play in the engineering of new tissues and organs. Alyssa Panitch (Arizona State Univ.) gave an introduction to and overview of soft tissue engineering. She stressed that two corresponding issues need to be considered -- how the body responds to a material at the molecular and cellular levels, and how a material responds to the body including effects such as surface modification, erosion, degradation and chemical and/or mechanical failure. Panitch discussed various engineering aspects of placing a foreign body in a biological environment, and how a material can be designed for tissue engineering. She described the use of degradable materials and hydrogels. She also gave various examples of materials used in nerve regeneration. William Landis (Northeastern Ohio Univ.), focusing on hard tissues gave an exposition on tissue-engineering of mineralizing connective tissues. After a general introduction, Landis discussed vertebrate calcifying tissues and cells, methods of cell culture, choice of scaffolds for tissue engineering, and cell/scaffold construction design. As an example of an engineering calcified model, he discussed tissue engineering of the small joint in the human hand including fabrication of biodegradable polymers in the shape of the phalangeal bones of the human hand and enginnering the small joint using combinations of osteoblasts, chondrocytes, tenocytes and biodegradable polymers. He concluded his presentation by discussing analytical approaches to documenting viable constructs. Finally, David Mooney (Univ. Michigan) discussed recent research on tissue engineering and regeneration.
Symposium I on Optoelectronics of Group-IV-based Materials included a tutorial on Optical Material Crystalline Silicon in an afternoon session. Gordon Davies (King's College, London) discussed optical properties of silicon, with an emphasis on luminescence transitions occuring between different electronic states of point defects in silicon. Silicon is by far the most widely used material in electronics. Because of its indirect gap, Si is not suitable for light emitters. However, Si-based devices would be very useful in implementing optical functions in integrated circuits. Davies suggested that three questions needed to be answered -- what electronic states are available in Si, what properties of the electronic states can be measured, and what problems there are with obtaining luminescence from Si. He then went forward to elaborate each of those questions with answers. Wolfgang Jantsch (Johannes Kepler Univ., Linz, Austria) next discussed optical material crystalline silicon. He reiterated that Si optoelectronics is important beacuse all Si technology is desirable in many cases for applications such as data communication, optical data storage and information displays. Jantsch elaborated on different approaches to obtaining light from Si including Si-Ge, Si:Er, porous Si, Si nanocrystals, and silicides. He discussed one particular system in detail, Si:Er, which is a rare earth element doped single crystal Si. He suggested that further developments in the foreseeable future include industrial application in simple devices, incorporation into waveguide structures and resonators, and Er in Si-nano-crystals embedded in SiO2. John Zavada (ARO) gave a brief presentation of recent developments in the field of integration of III-V-based emitting structures with the Si platform. Other tutorials' topics included Amorphous and Polysilicon Materials and Devices for Large-Area Electronics and Challenges of Cu/Low-k Interconnects and Emerging Technologies Beyond.
One tutorial was bound to SUCCEED! The tutorial, on Evaluating, Selecting, and Using Computer- Enhanced Learning Technologies and Digital Learning Materials in Engineering Education, led by Joe Tront (Virginia Tech. Univ.) and Brandon Muramatsu (UC-Berkeley), focused on evaluating, selecting, and using digital learning media in engineering education, and was presented under the auspices of SUCCEED, an NSF-funded coalition of engineering colleges in the southeast of the United States focused on education issues for engineering. The all-day tutorial introduced attendees to a set of criteria and methods that are helpful in evaluating software and digital libraries for use in enhancing educational experiences. Noting the importance of appropriate learning techniques regardless of the media used, a portion of the session focused on good teaching practices and understanding various learning styles such as active versus reflective and visual versus verbal, and how digital media can cater to these styles. The session was highly interactive, with participants sharing ideas, examining Websites and courseware, and working in small groups to determine areas where learning could benefit from improved digital resources. Attendees suggested several resources including interactives that show the meaning of the Hall effect, databases of materials properties for plugging into problems, simple phase diagram descriptions, and processing experiences. An interesting feature to some of the on-line libraries is a peer-review process for evaluating the quality of the digital resources, although there is a need for additional reviewers in the materials field (see www.merlot.org). The afternoon session was a practical workshop to provide hands-on experience in applying criteria for selecting courseware. An important event of the day was the student mixer that was held in the evening. Students represent an important MRS constituency. The mixer allowed student attendees to interact among themselves as well as network with other MRS Members who are interested in student-related activities of the Society.
You can also sign-up to receive an e-mail each day of the meeting with news and highlights from the preceding day at: http://www.mrs.org/meetings/meetingnews_subscribe.html Please contact the Web Science Editor, Gopal Rao, if you have comments or suggestions. e-mail: rao@mrs.org HQ Contact Information: Member Services Materials Research Society 506 Keystone Drive Warrendale, PA 15086-7573 USA E-mail: info@mrs.org Telephone: 724-779-3003 Fax: 724-779-8313
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