The Story of IAAM – A Journey to Achieving Global Excellence

With the emergence of the technological era, every sector is undergoing a massive evolution with smarter and more efficient ways to carry out activities. At the heart of these technological developments are advanced materials. Over the past few years, the process of inventing advanced materials has become extremely popular, with experts realizing the value of these materials.

What Are Advanced Materials

Materials that are synthesized and enhanced to exhibit greater strength, density, hardness or superior thermal, electrical, optical or chemical properties, compared to traditional materials are known as advanced materials. Basically, material scientists work on either optimizing the existing properties or introducing new properties to a material to make it perform better and match the requirement of its application.

The study of materials has been working on enhancing materials since 1960 and these materials have considerably helped save lives and improve the quality of life for humans. Today, right from nanomaterials to biomaterials, multiple businesses have invested in the research of advanced materials to help improve their product and/or service.

Similarly, in an attempt to stimulate and expand the field of advanced materials, the International Association of Advanced Materials (IAAM) was born. Since its inception, the organization has come a long way, having overcome multiple challenges and hurdles, to build a community that focuses on bringing the advancement of materials to global excellence. On the occasion of its 10th anniversary, here’s a reflection upon their journey and how with the contribution of multiple institutes, industries and academia, IAAM reached the position it is at today.

History of IAAM and its Major Goals

IAAM was founded in 2010 by a group of material scientists and students, led by Dr. Ashutosh Tiwari. IAAM was created as a non-profit organization, to provide a research and education forum for advanced material science, engineering and technology. The goal was to focus on the creation of a sustainable world, with the help of advanced materials. IAAM has also encouraged young researchers and students to join the cause.

Efforts to Promote Advanced Materials: The Never-Ending Growth

IAAM has come a long way since its inception, and every year an effort to improve and increase the services is made. To date, multiple meetings, seminars, conferences and exhibitions have been conducted. Here are a couple of prominent efforts taken by IAAM to help advanced materials achieve global excellence:

Creating a global network: IAAM Members

The IAAM membership was founded to take the organization one step closer to its goal of achieving global excellence. Here, they encourage all material scientists who aim to promote advanced materials science to collaborate with us by becoming a member of the association. By becoming a global member of IAAM, researchers can avail a plethora of knowledge and infrastructure to aid researchers.

IAAM has come a long way and has undoubtedly achieved a lot in these past 10 years. In the upcoming years, the organization is all set to launch new publications and events to help promote and expand advanced materials to reach global excellence!

IAAM Congress: The Advanced Materials Hub

In the IAAM Congress, a research and education forum is provided to enhance the development of this rapidly expanding field of advanced materials. In 2011, the premier Advanced Materials Congress (AMC) assembly was held in China covering the fields of materials science, engineering and technology. The congress series was met with an overwhelming response from participants that included 1200 delegates from 36 different countries. Since IAAM held its first AMC, it has gone on to organize 27 more such conference assemblies that have been a resounding success, with over 15,000 delegates from over 100 countries and distinguished speakers from all across the globe. On the occasion of AMC’s silver jubilee, IAAM hopes to host many more in the future.

Also known as the ‘Knowledge Experience at Sea’, the IAAM Congress is a combination of thematic sessions and symposia in three different formats:

Advanced Materials Congress: A flagship conference, this event focuses on the field of materials science, engineering and technology.

Baltic Conference Series: Setting sail across the Baltic sea, this conference discusses the recent trends in translational research, innovations and technology.

World Congress Series: An international carnival, this series is conducted to promote science, engineering and technology.

Consortium

With an aim to get all the professionals and experts together to discuss the challenges and their solutions as well as the upcoming opportunities in the advanced materials niche, IAAM conducts a consortium during the Congress.  The major aim of this international consortium is to bridge academia and industry.

Using this as a platform, high-ranking delegates will get the opportunity to share their work and build a network of talented resources with an abundance of knowledge.

Not-For-Profit Open Access Publications

In the quest to spread knowledge on advanced materials and give researchers a chance to showcase their findings, IAAM has launched two journals in collaboration with VBRI Press.

• Advanced Materials Letters
• Advanced Materials Proceedings 

Almost a decade after its establishment today, it is one of the oldest publishing houses with not-for-profit initiatives. With these initiatives, the organization has made sure that the community of materials science regularly gets to know about all the advances and progress made in the science world.

The Cover photo of the December 2019 issue of Advanced Materials Letters: Researcher of the year 2019, Prof. Enge Wang, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and President Emeritus of Peking University, China, for his contribution towards the nanotechnology research and innovations.

Research & Education

Nearly 6 years after forming IAAM, a huge step undertaken by the founder of the organization was to collaborate with the Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), This institute focuses on translational research and innovations in the sphere of education, health, energy and environment for the well being of society. Additionally, IAM providing consultancy and training in industrial R&D, infrastructure development and technology transfer.  Hence, by collaborating with IAM, the organization was able to directly impact the level of skills and knowledge available at existing infrastructure, related to advanced materials.

Awards and Honours

To appreciate scientists for all their efforts and successes, IAAM launched prestigious awards that are given out to those specialized experts who truly helped advanced materials take the next step towards global excellence. Here is a list of the awards hosted and a few notable winners:

1. Advanced Materials Laureate

With this award, pioneers of the industry, who have made outstanding contributions to the advancement of materials are honored. Advanced Materials Laureate is considered one of the highest honors for a researcher working in a diverse background to promote materials research and its applications at a global standard. The Advanced Material Laureate is awarded to prominent researchers like Prof. Enge Wang, Prof. Luis M. Liz-Marzán, Prof. Zhong Lin Wang, Prof. Anthony P.F. Turner, etc.

Prof. Z.L. Wang (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA), Prof. Luis M. Liz-Marzán  (Scientific Director, CIC biomaGUNE, Spain) and Prof. Enge Wang (Vice President, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China) receiving the Advanced Materials Laureate Award 2016, 2017 and 2018 respectively.

2. Researcher of the Year

IAAM recognized the contribution of scientists towards the advancement of materials for global excellence with the ‘Researcher of the year’ award every year. Prof. Zhong Lin (Z. L.) Wang from Georgia Tech., USA, Prof. T. Venkatesan from Nano Core Research Center at National University of Singapore and Prof Enge Wang from Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and President Emeritus of Peking University, China was honored with this Researcher of the Year 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively.

The Advanced Materials Letters’ Cover photo is dedicated to the “Researcher of the Year”.

3. Advanced Materials Awards

The Advanced Materials Award appreciates the hard work and relentlessness of far-reaching contributors across the world, who have been involved in research for 15 years or more preceding the year of the award. This award has been given to research legends like Prof. Robert Hurt, Prof. Manuel Ibarra, Prof. Cristiana Di Valentin, Prof. Liberato Manna and Prof. Iwona Jasiuk.

Prof. Robert Hurt (Brown University, USA), Prof. Manuel Ibarra (University of Zaragoza, Spain) and Prof. Cristiana Di Valentin (University of Milano Bicocca, Italy) receiving the Advanced Materials Award.

4. IAAM Medals

The IAAM medals are awarded to researchers who fostered and enriched the development of Materials Science and Technology, with the help of their research in physical, chemical, biological, engineering, medical, mathematical, earth, atmosphere, ocean and planetary sciences. Some of the notable researchers who have been recipients of this award are Prof. Vladimir Parfenyuk, Prof. Claus Feldmann, Prof. Norman Munroe, Prof. Liangchi Zhang, and Prof. Arkady Zhukov.

Prof. Vladimir Parfenyuk (Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia), Prof. Norman Munroe (Florida International University, USA) and Prof. Liangchi Zhang (University of New South Wales, Australia) receiving the IAAM Medal.

5. IAAM Scientist Medals

The IAAM Scientist Medals are awarded to those outstanding researchers who made breakthroughs in the field of physical, chemical, biological, engineering, medical, mathematical, earth, atmosphere, ocean, and planetary services. The recipients of these medals include Prof. Zeev Zalevsky, Prof. Marc Brunel, Dr. Ilan Shalish and Dr. Anna Maria Coclite.

Prof. Zeev Zalevsky (Bar Ilan University, Israel). Prof. Marc Brunel (University of Rouen, France) and Prof. Anna Maria Coclite (Graz University of Technology, Austria) receiving the IAAM Scientist Medal.

6. IAAM Young Scientist Medals

Honored during the assembly of Advanced Materials Congress, conducted by IAAM, the IAAM Young Scientist Medals are given to young researchers who have conducted excellent research in the materials science, engineering & technology. The young researchers include Dr. Arun Arjunan, Dr. Sandra Afflerbach, Dr. Katie Sizeland Dr. Yasushi Kanai, and Dr. Olga Shimoni.

Dr. Sandra Afflerbach (University of Siegen, Germany), Dr. Yasushi Kanai (Osaka University, Japan) and Dr. Katie Sizeland (Australian Synchrotron, Australia) receiving the IAAM Young Scientist Medal.

The Future of IAAM

After dominating the sea with the IAAM congress and the World Wide Web with not-for-profit open access publications, IAAM aims to leave no stone unturned in their mission to achieve global excellence for advanced materials. For the future, they hope to use the resources on land by building the campuses in universities and colleges where they can promote the importance of advanced materials and utilize their knowledge and experience in quicken the rise of advanced materials.