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April 2018

Contents

Science News | M&M 2018 | Job Placement | FIG

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M&M 2018

M&M Meeting - Question of the Day:

WHY SHOULD I BOOK MY ROOM AT A CONFERENCE HOTEL?

It keeps your (and everyone's) meeting costs down.
It keeps your (and everyone's) meeting costs down.
It keeps your (and everyone's) meeting costs down!

How does it keep costs down ?

By generating specially-negotiated, per-night rebate and commission payments to MSA that are used to bolster the meeting's revenue, thereby allowing registration fees and exhibit booth rental fees to stay flat or increase only slightly each year.
By eliminating very large penalty payments (could be up to $500,000!) when hotel rooms aren't used, which would severely affect the meeting's bottom line. If contracted rooms go empty, M&M must still pay for them!

Some meetings *require* attendees to stay in a conference hotel or pay an additional fee at registration for staying outside the block. M&M does not want to have to consider this. Please do your part and book your room at one of our fine conference hotels!

Science News

The MSA Facebook page regularly posts science news for you

Ondrej Krivanek: The physicist who changed microscopy

From very early on, Krivanek was drawn to physics and mathematics. His father, a chemical engineer, had a passion for the chemistry of colour photography, and as Krivanek says, also had 'near-photographic memory'. Read more here.

Goodbye Kepler, hello TESS: Passing the baton in the search for distant planets

For centuries, human beings have wondered about the possibility of other Earths orbiting distant stars. Perhaps some of these alien worlds would harbor strange forms of life or have unique and telling histories or futures. But it was only in 1995 that astronomers spotted the first planets orbiting sunlike stars outside of our solar system. Read more here.

Cryo-electron microscopy reveals how protein crystals grow


	A light microscope reveals the rhombic (left) and prismatic crystal forms of glucose isomerase. Credit: Adapted from Nature

Crystallizing a protein can be a shot in the dark. No one quite knows how protein crystals form, so researchers frequently must use trial and error to find the right crystallization conditions. Now, scientists have used cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), the technique that took home the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, to watch the earliest stages of protein crystal formation (Nature 2018, DOI: 10.1038/nature25971). What they learned allowed them to generate one desired crystal form, or polymorph, selectively, which could be handy for protein structure determination or in protein drug formulation. Read more here.

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Association News

MSA Announces Class of 2018 Fellows

The Microscopy Society of America (MSA) will induct eight members of the Society as the Class of 2018 Fellows. The Class of 2018 Fellows are: Wen-An Chiou, Linn W. Hobbs, Elaine C. Humphrey, Kazuo Ishizuka, David J. Larson, Guillermo Solórzano-Naranjo, Judith C. Yang, and Jian Min Zuo. Read more here.

Cryo-EM at 2018 ACA Annual Meeting, Toronto

The cryo-EM community is excited to contribute to the annual meeting of the American Crystallographic Association (ACA) in Toronto, July 20-24, 2018. On Friday July 20, there will be a one-day workshop "Cryo-EM -A Guide to High-Resolution Structure Determination" providing a detailed overview of cryo-EM specimen preparation, image processing and building/refinement of atomic models. Please join us! Registration is now open at http://www.amercrystalassn.org/2018-meeting-homepage

Microscopy Society of America Announces 2018 Major Award Winners

The Microscopy Society of America (MSA) announced its 2018 major award winners. Seven individuals will be honored on August 6 in Baltimore at MSA's annual convention, Microscopy & Microanalysis 2018. The major awards of the Society honor distinguished scientific contributions to the field of microscopy and microanalysis by technologists and by scientists at various career stages, as well as distinguished service to the Society. Read more here.

MSA StC Student Spotlight

In the first of our series spotlighting MSA Student Success Stories, we spent some time learning more about MSA Student Member, Elliot Padgett and his area of research.

Academic background:

I got my undergraduate degree at Swarthmore College with a major in Physics and a minor in Computer Science. After graduating in 2013, I came to Cornell University to earn my PhD in Applied Physics working with Professor David Muller.

Current research focus:

I use transmission electron microscopy to study electrochemical energy materials, especially nanoparticle fuel cell catalysts. This is a great field to be in as an electron microscopist, since I get to use a wide variety of techniques, including electron tomography to study 3D morphology, EELS and XEDS spectroscopy to study composition and chemistry, and diffraction and aberration-corrected imaging to study atomic structure. Developing and deploying new characterization techniques helps us push the boundaries of the science.

MSA involvement:

Attending the annual Microscopy and Microanalysis (M&M) conference has been a great professional opportunity. There's no better way to get up to speed on the state of the field and learn who is working on what than going to M&M. It's big enough that it covers a huge range of topics, but small enough that you can get to know people in the field and have a chance to talk with people working on similar problems and techniques.

Advice to new graduate students:

Putting in effort and attention to build good collaborations can be one of the most important factors in your success and happiness as a graduate student. Modern science is typically complex and interdisciplinary, and researchers, especially in microscopy, depend on collaborators to provide samples, make measurements, and understand results. Good collaborators can inspire you and help you learn and accomplish much more than you could on your own. So avoid bad collaborators, who may be unreasonable, selfish, or unhelpful and seek out people that you get along with and have abilities that can help you achieve your research goals. And of course all collaborations go both ways, so you have to make sure that you are a good collaborator yourself.

Interesting personal note:

Outside of graduate school I enjoy making pottery, like mugs, planters, and lamps at a local community ceramics studio. This has been a hobby of mine since high school. When I got started doing microscopy in graduate school one thing I really enjoyed was the craft aspect of making TEM samples with the ultramicrotome or polishing wheel. It can be fun to use your hands and the right set of tools to make something, and the sense of satisfaction from making a really good sample can be similar to that of making a nice mug.

MSA Student Bursary Program for M&M 2018

Once again, MSA is offering the student bursary program for the Microscopy & Microanalysis 2018 meeting. Students are encouraged to attend the annual meeting with the opportunity to offset some of the meeting costs. Many Student Council officers and members started their M&M experience as student bursars, which is a great opportunity to interact with peers and assist the society throughout the conference. If you would like to participate in the student bursary program for 2018 to help offset your meeting costs send an email to Student Council at the link below. Registration will open in spring 2018.

Questions about the bursary/volunteer program or would like to participate contact:

Janet Gbur - Student Council President

Send as email subject: Student Bursary to studentcouncil@microscopy.org

Building our Student Community - Encourage Student Involvement

One of the key features of membership in MSA is the potential for leadership experience on local and national levels. Building a student community and student-centered programming is a major focus for MSA as is professional development of young scientists. Take a moment this month to renew your student membership or encourage colleagues to join and enjoy the benefits of MSA Student Membership! There are multiple ways to connect with the MSA Student Community - Like and follow Student Council on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, visit our webpage on microscopy.org/students or email us at studentcouncil@microscopy.org.

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The MSA Student Council (StC) is organizing the 2nd annual Pre-meeting Congress for Students, Postdocs and Early-career Professionals in Microscopy & Microanalysis (PMCx60), to be held on the Saturday preceding M&M 2018 in Baltimore, MD.

The PMCx60 is a one-day conference organized by and for students and early-career professionals, and offers a highly interactive forum for participants to share cutting edge research, network, and engage with peers ahead of the main meeting.

The StC is soliciting financial support from the MSA community, and welcomes corporate sponsorship and donations from individuals/organizations to help build the future of microscopy and microanalysis.

Please consider sponsoring, donating to, and attending the 2018 PMCx60 in Baltimore, MD. To learn about the benefits of being a PMCx60 sponsor, email the StC at studentcouncil@microscopy.org, or donate to the PMCx60 via the MSA donation page ( microscopy.org/donation, include "PMCx60" in the "Donation Made by:" field).

For event details visit www.microscopy.org/MandM/2018/program/congress_X60.cfm, and check out our final program from 2017 at www.microscopy.org/docs/Program_PMCRadMM2017.pdf .

Focused Interest Group Update

Andrew Vogt, FIG Director

Did you know that there are 11 FIGs that promote a specific discipline to microscopy? Click here to check them out and contact the leader to get more information. If you are interested in joining one or more of them, please complete the membership form. You can also join a FIG when renewing your MSA membership; students may join one FIG at no cost.

MSA Job Placement Services
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