On Friday, April 22, a workshop on "The Future of Materials Characterization at Georgia Tech" will be held at the Evergreen Marriott Conference Resort.  This workshop is open to the broad materials community at Georgia Tech, with "characterization" taken in a general sense (i.e., optical, electrical, chemical, biological, structural, mechanical, ...). 

Hosted by the Materials Council, Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics, and the Office of the Executive Vice President for Research, the workshop will propose a major initiative to develop a sustainable infrastructure that will propel Georgia Tech into a national and global leadership position in state-of-the-art materials characterization.  It will engage a broad cross-section of the Georgia Tech community involved in materials research to address critical issues associated with materials characterization.  Among the key issues to be discussed in this workshop are:

• Identification of cutting-edge materials characterization tools that are likely to have the most significant, universal, and long-lasting impact on materials research at Georgia Tech
• Development of a sustainable financial model that provides necessary support for the acquisition, maintenance, and development of state-of-the-art characterization tools, while at the same time enabling affordable access to such equipment by a broad cross-section of the Georgia Tech materials community
• Construction and/or retrofitting of a centralized building or buildings specifically designed for optimal use of advanced materials characterization equipment, and for the optimal location of associated technical personnel           
• Establishment of a management infrastructure that provides for effective and transparent operation of state-of-the-art materials characterization equipment and facilities  

Interested participants are urged to indicate their attendance by responding via e-mail to Kourtnie Robin (kourtnie.robin@ece.gatech.edu) before April 4.