Sustainability Events, Summits & Forums

Materials Needs for Energy Sustainability by 2050—Practical Solutions to Tackle Climate Change

2018 MRS Fall Meeting
Our ability to achieve an energy-efficient, low-emissions future will depend on significant materials advances over the coming decades. The MRS Focus on Sustainability Subcommittee, MRS Energy & Sustainability and the organizers of Symposia BI01, ET14 and NM04 convened top experts to discuss the role of materials science and broader socioeconomic aspects in developing practical solutions to tackle climate change.

Moderator: Mark Miodownik, University College London
Panelists: Edda S.P. Aradóttir, Reykjavik Energy, Lisa Dickson, Arup, Klaus Lackner, Arizona State University

Life Cycle Analysis from an Industrial Perspective: Tutorial

2018 MRS Fall Meeting
Environmental issues keep steadily increasing, thus there is a strong urge to discuss how materials scientists could more rapidly respond to the worldwide concerns. To ensure the success of such synergistic efforts, a close dialogue with society is needed to establish guidelines for policymakers. This tutorial incorporated both the societal and the engineering aspects of life cycle analysis (LCA) in order to explore communications pathways between companies and materials researchers that further elevates the profile and challenges of sustainability, representing a societal necessity and a viable and critical topic for research.

Instructors: Jean-Pierre Birat, IF STEELMAN / IRT-M2P and Alan Rae, IncubatorWorks.

Materials Needs for Energy Sustainability by 2050—100% Replacement of Fossil Fuels by Sustainable Alternatives 

2018 MRS Spring Meeting
Fossil fuels have been our primary energy source for over 200 years. Although the benefits to human society of harnessing fossil fuel for energy have long been touted, its pervasive and extensive costs are now at a critical point.  This panel event, co-organized by  MRS Energy & Sustainability and the MRS Focus on Sustainability Subcommittee, will convene top experts to discuss fossil fuel replacement from laboratory concepts to demonstrated technology and the challenges to achieving 100% replacement of fossil fuels by sustainable alternatives.

Moderator: Sydney Kaufman, Office of Senator Tom Begich, Alaska State Senate
Panelists: Ying Shirley Meng, University of California, San Diego, Venkatesh Narayanamurti, Harvard University, Arno F. Stassen, Sol Voltaics, Martin Winter, MEET, University of Münster and HI MS, Forschungszentrum Jülich

Interactive Workshop: Designing Sustainability into Materials Research

2018 MRS Spring Meeting
Many sustainability initiatives are focused on the development of technologies that minimize carbon footprint and energy use. In this interactive workshop, you will learn to expand the definition of sustainability to include aspects that limit sustainable materials development, as opposed to sustainable technology development. These aspects include materials availability, reuse, recycling and recovery. Additional aspects include environmental and human health effects, such as carcinogenicity and acute water toxicity, which can be used to screen for safer materials selection choices both in research activities and in manufacturing and production. The workshop will entail various modes of learning including presentations, videos, team discussions, and direct data access to information sources that can facilitate sustainable materials development in your own research activities. This workshop is offered at MRS Spring and Fall Meetings and is appropriate for materials researchers of all career stages, including faculty and industry researchers, but we encourage students and early career professionals to attend.

Instructors: Alan Rae, IncubatorWorks, and Julie M. Schoenung, University of California, Irvine

Real-Life Challenges and Opportunities in Sustainable Product Design Seminar

2018 MRS Spring Meeting
Many sustainability efforts focus on improving resource efficiency by creating materials and devices that are less energy, water and material intensive. But to be commercially viable and have a global impact, researchers need to balance adverse short-term impacts with potential long-term gains. In this session, attendees learn how to incorporate sustainability principles into research in a more comprehensive way while considering the real-world application of these principles to product design and manufacturing. This seminar is offered at MRS Spring and Fall Meetings and is aimed at materials researchers of all career stages, from students and postdocs to faculty and industry researchers.

Instructors have included Alan Rae, IncubatorWorks, Tatiana Vakhitova, Granta Design, Ltd., and Mike Ashby, Granta Design, Ltd.

Materials Needs for Energy Sustainability by 2050—The Role of the Circular Materials Economy

2017 MRS Fall Meeting
Our ability to achieve an energy-efficient, low-emissions future will depend on significant materials advances over the coming decades. This panel event, co-organized by MRS Energy & Sustainability and the MRS Focus on Sustainability Subcommittee, convened top experts to discuss the role of the circular economy in bringing about this vision, including related materials science challenges and socioeconomic and policy factors.

Moderator: Jonathan Cullen, University of Cambridge
Panelists: Carolyn Duran, Intel Corporation, Linda Gaines, Argonne National Laboratory, Thomas E. Graedel, Yale University, M. Stanley Whittingham, Binghamton University, The State University of New York

Materials Needs for Energy Sustainability by 2050

2017 MRS Spring Meeting
Our ability to achieve an energy-efficient, low-emissions future will depend on achieving significant materials advances over the coming decades. This panel event, co-organized by  MRS Energy & Sustainability and the MRS Focus on Sustainability Subcommittee, convened top experts to discuss the fundamental materials R&D needed and the geopolitical and international supply-chain implications of possible pathways to realize this vision.

Moderator: Sabrina Sartori, University of Oslo
Panelists: Russell R. Chianelli, The University of Texas at El Paso, George Crabtree, University of Illinois at Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory, Cherry Murray, Harvard University, Ellen D. Williams, University of Maryland

Frontiers of Materials Research—National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Town Hall Meeting

Erik Svedberg, Senior Program Officer
National Materials and Manufacturing Board, National Academies 

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are seeking community input for a study on the future of materials research (MR).  Frontiers of Materials Research: A Decadal Survey will look at defining the frontiers of materials research ranging from traditional materials science and engineering to condensed-matter physics. 

Members of the study committee conducted a town hall during the 2017 MRS Fall Meeting to discuss future directions for materials research in the United States in the context of worldwide efforts. The National Academies will issue a report in 2018.

MRS Focus on Sustainability Webinar Series

Raising Awareness: Sustainability as an Opportunity for the Materials Research Community

2014 MRS Fall Meeting  
The Materials Research Society (MRS) created a one-day Focus-on-Sustainability program of activities at its 2014 MRS Fall Meeting & Exhibit in Boston, designed to raise the awareness of the nexus between materials, materials research, and sustainable practice. The program provided for opportunities for stakeholders to interact in a variety of ways to build a community of practice –galvanizing action towards, and bolstering participation in, research and education focusing on sustainability and the key role that materials play.

Sustainability Forum—Building Teams to Tackle Complex Problems

2012 MRS Fall Meeting  
This forum examined the most pressing materials challenges in sustainable development with the goal of generating serious interactions among scientists, engineers, industrial ecologists, economists and other practitioners in this diverse arena. Attendees heard success stories from leading experts, learned best practices, addressed complex challenges and used an interdisciplinary approach to build teams. 
This forum is available for viewing free from MRS OnDemand.

Forum—The Many Facets of Sustainable Development

2012 MRS Spring Meeting
Although the field of materials science and engineering is inherently multidisciplinary, new approaches to sustainable development will require more extensive collaborations with researchers even further outside the boundaries of the current field. The goal of this forum was to encourage a holistic approach toward the science and engineering of sustainable development. Through keynote presentations and case-study panel discussions, the forum covered broad aspects of the field of sustainable development from viewpoints outside of materials science, including industrial ecologists, resource experts, social scientists, economists, and venture capitalists. Representatives from the National Science Foundation (NSF) briefly discussed sustainability-related initiatives at the agency and were on hand during the day to answer questions. 
This forum was recorded and is available for free viewing.

2011 World Materials Summit

The 2011 World Materials Summit provided a forum for the world’s key decision makers and energy experts to focus on the materials research needs for our emerging energy economy. This Summit marked the third in a series of international summits sponsored between the Materials Research Society (MRS), the European Materials Research Society (E-MRS) and the Chinese Materials Research Society (C-MRS). As with the prior Summits held in Lisbon, Portugal and Suzhou, China, this was an invitation-only gathering of world renowned technical experts and policymakers, assembled to assess and document the global research and innovation needs, develop policies, and outline the future of advanced energy materials.

Materials Research Enabling Clean Energy and Sustainable Development (PDF)
The role of materials science and engineering in meeting energy and sustainable development challenges is the focus of Materials Research Enabling Clean Energy and Sustainable Development, a publication released as the outcome of a collaborative event organized by three materials research societies—the Materials Research Society (MRS), the European Materials Research Society (E-MRS) and the Chinese Materials Research Society (C-MRS). Available online and as PDF download.

Energy outlook: A perspective from the new generation of materials researchers
An MRS Bulletin editorial written by students who attended the World Materials Summit

2011 World Materials Summit addresses energy, sustainability and water 
February 2012 MRS Bulletin report covering the 2011 World Materials Summit