Newswise — March 26, 2012 – Warrendale, PA – Materials science and engineering professionals from around the world turned out in record numbers at the 141st Annual Meeting of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) in Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida, making this conference the highest attended since the start of the millennium.

Attendees of TMS2012 representing industry, academia, and government laboratories totaled 4,339, surpassing the previous millennium high of 4,253 set at the TMS 2007 Annual Meeting & Exhibition also held in Orlando. This premier global gathering featured over 3,000 technical presentations including oral offerings and poster displays, as well as 108 exhibitors.

The Materials Innovation @ TMS initiative took center stage at the conference as it launched the Society’s commitment to the Materials Genome Initiative announced by President Barack Obama in June 2011 to accelerate materials development and implementation. The U.S. government has budgeted $100 million for FY 2012 for the initiative, which will fund computational tools, software, new methods for materials characterization, and the establishment of open databases to speed production of advance materials.

The new TMS journal, Integrating Materials and Manufacturing Innovation (IMMI), was introduced at the conference as an Open Access journal co-published by TMS and Springer. The first issue is expected this spring at on the SpringerOpen web site.

TMS2012 also marked the first-ever conference mobile application for smartphone users, which was designed as a green option to printed materials.

The 142nd TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition is set for March 3-7, 2013 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas. Symposia proposals are being accepted through the end of the month.

About TMSTMS is the professional organization encompassing the entire range of materials science and engineering, from minerals processing and primary metals production to basic research and the advanced applications of materials. Included among its professional and student members are metallurgical and materials engineers, scientists, researchers, educators and administrators from more than 70 countries on six continents. For more information on TMS, visit our Web site.