From the TSS Programming Desk

摘要

Besides the ITSC, the Programming Team is also engaged in organizing regional "mini-events" and workshops. These focus on specific industries, technologies, or applications and address a more industrial and practically oriented audience. The events provide networking platforms for periods when there is no ITSC in North America. The series started in this specific context with the Cold Spray Workshop in Akron, Ohio, in September 2004. Spearheaded by Al Kay from ASB Industries, this event was an overwhelming success and was attended by more than 130 participants from all over the world. In October 2004, this was followed by a workshop on "Sensors & Controls" in Montreal, Canada. Organized under the leadership of Christian Moreau from the National Research Council Canada, this event was also a big success with more than 100 attendees. During the first half of 2005, the team and especially Event Chairman Mitch Dorfman from Sulzer Metco were busy preparing for the first Combustion Turbine Coatings Symposium, which took place in October 2005 in Houston, Texas. With 35 keynotes and papers and more than 150 attendees, the event was the largest yet. Based on the success and apparent strong market demand for such events, the team continues to identify relevant topics for future regional workshops. Currently we are strategizing about a 2006 late fall event and the overall 2007 regional programming. The team is very open to productive suggestions and volunteers who wish to contribute by taking the lead in organizing an event and taking advantage of the opportunity to proactively involve their companies as sponsors or contributors.