Alexander H. King, former Purdue MSE Head

Alexander H. King, Director of the Critical Materials Institute, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Innovation Hub at Ames Laboratory, will deliver the TMS/ASM Joint Distinguished Lecture in Materials and Society, part of the Tuesday morning all-conference plenary session planned for Materials Science & Technology 2017 (MS&T17).

His presentation, “What Do We Need and How Will We Get It?” will focus on meeting an increased need for materials as the number of global consumers grows, expanding demand for goods, energy, and other resources.

“Through most of the four decades of my professional career I have had no concern about obtaining any material I needed: just write a purchase order and the stuff shows up,” said King. “The rare earth crisis refocused attention on our materials supplies and sources as we realized that (to quote the Rolling Stones) you can’t always get what you want. As we looked into the rare earth problems, we realized that there are some underlying trends that may indicate what the future of materials supply is going to look like.”

His presentation will examine trends that will affect the demand and supply of materials, discuss options for meeting changing materials needs, identify emerging challenges and research opportunities, and explore promising research approaches.

The takeaway for manufacturers and designers is to be aware of what goes into your products, said King. For researchers, it will be to see all of the opportunities that emerge from this changing global landscape.

To hear King’s presentation, as well as talks delivered in 70 symposia on a variety of materials science and engineering topics, register for MS&T17, to be held October 8-12, 2017 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The deadline to register for the meeting at the discounted rate is September 2, 2017.

MS&T17 is organized jointly by TMS, the American Ceramic Society, ASM International, and the Association for Iron & Steel Technology, with programming by NACE International.

Read more about plans for the MS&T17 conference in “Materials Manufacturing Topics Highlight MS&T17” in the August issue of JOM.