Student Bursary Program for M&M 2022

As you are making plans to attend the M&M 2022 Annual Meeting in Portland, OR (Jul. 31- Aug. 4) please don't forget about MSA's student bursary program. Its purpose is to encourage students to attend the meeting by helping to defray some of the costs while allowing them to meet and interact with the established microscopy community. 

The student bursaries will be paid $15 an hour to work for ~20 hours during the meeting or pre-meeting events. The jobs involve such things as providing support in the different symposia, staffing the volunteer office, and helping with vendor tutorial sign-up or in the outreach booth. 

Once the program has been finalized, each registered bursary will be contacted and given the chance to choose the times and activities they would like to help with. 

If anyone would like to participate in the bursary program, please check the box "I wish to apply for a student bursary" in section 2 of the registration form when meeting registration opens. Applicants for the bursaries must be members of MSA or MAS and enrolled as students at a recognized educational institution. Participants are responsible for their registration fees and travel expenses.

For those of you who may not be students, but would still like to assist with the meetings, volunteers are also needed to fill the above-mentioned jobs. 

If anyone has any questions about the bursary/volunteer program or would like to participate, contact Iwei Chu: [email protected] (please do not reply to the email associated with this post). Bursary space is limited, so sign-up early. 

See everyone in Portland!

Iwei Chu

Student Bursary/Volunteer Coordinator

Microscopy Society of America

Spring into action and renew your MSA membership for 2022!

Time is winding down to renew your membership before the grace period ends. Don't let your membership lapse at the end of the month! Keep your membership active to maintain access to exclusive member benefits including peer networking, discounts on educational materials, savings on the annual Microscopy & Microanalysis conference, participation in Society activities, and so much more. Renew today!

Submit an Article to Microscopy Today

The Editors of Microscopy Today (MTO) encourage and greatly appreciate submission of articles from microscope users as well as microscope manufacturers and suppliers. Of particular interest are summaries of in-depth articles published in peer reviewed journals and articles that describe new equipment and applications. Microscopy Today is open access and there are no charges for publishing in MTO. All articles are available free to our subscription list of over 18,000 microscopists and through our collaboration with Cambridge University Press over 8,000 libraries worldwide. For further information email the Editor-in-Chief at [email protected] or visit

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/microscopy-today.

Microscopy Today Innovation Awards: Deadline: March 21, 2022

Each year Microscopy Today presents ten awards to organizations or individuals who have launched or published innovations in microscopy or microanalysis. Winning products and methods are selected based on their usefulness to the microscopy community. The entries most likely to win are those that provide better, faster, easier, or entirely new methods of analysis using a microscope or microanalytical instrument. Learn more.

Microscopy innovator receives ORNL’s top science honor

Miaofang Chi, a scientist in the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, received the 2021 Director’s Award for Outstanding Individual Accomplishment in Science and Technology for contributions to understanding the behavior of energy materials through the development and application of innovative microscopy methods. Chi also won this award in 2015. Read more. Photo Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Microscopy director propagates new discoveries and new scientists

Gang "Greg" Ning, associate research professor and director of the Huck’s Microscopy Core Facility, brings more than 30 years of research experience to his work, greatly benefiting Penn State’s capacities in this field. Additionally, Ning served as elected Leader of Diagnostic & Biomedical Microscopy Focused Interest Group (DBM-FIG) inside the Microscopy Society of America, from 2017 to 2019. Read more.

Photo Credit: Penn State

The Technologists’ Forum is free to join and provides a community for those who work in the technical areas of microscopy sample preparation and imaging or anyone interested in expanding their skills. Join us at the annual Tech Forum member’s meeting at M&M 2022 to learn more about our events and how to become more involved.

Tech Forum 2022 M&M Meeting Updates

During the annual meeting, the Tech Forum will join forces with the B07 [3D Volume Electron Microscopy in Biology Research] and B10 [Development, Challenges and Biomedical Applications of Tissue Clearing, Expansion Microscopy and Volumetric Imaging] session organizers to provide the techniques portion of the research presentations. These sessions include:

• X31 - 3D SEM Techniques [B07 complimentary session]
• X32 - Tissue Clearing Tips & Techniques [B10 complimentary session]

In addition, we will have the X30 - Image Data Analysis Software Review and a Tech Forum booth with software and equipment demos at the M&M MegaBooth. For more information please see the Tech Forum session descriptions or final conference program.

Certified Electron Microscopy Technologist [CEMT]

The Microscopy Society of America (MSA) provides the only certification of technologists in biological transmission electron microscopy available in the US. Certification can be important in determining job classification, salary level, and potential for advancement or promotion. Individuals with the requisite educational and/or occupational qualifications can attain certification by completing an application and passing both written and practical examinations.

The next registration deadline is August 16, 2022. For additional information and registration materials, go to the CEMT Certification Program link.

‘A Day in the Life of a Microscopist’ Webinar

The Microscopy Society of America (MSA) Student Council (StC) plans to hold an online webinar 'A Day in the Life of a Microscopist' in April 2022. We want to learn about what type of institutions you are interested in. Click here to answer a brief questionnaire.

Renew here: https://portal.microscopy.org/

StC Appointed Position Applications Are Open!

The Call for Applications for the Appointed Positions (Social Chair and Regional Liaisons) will remain open until all positions are filled. There are only a few roles left, so please contact [email protected] for updated information on which positions are not yet filled!

The application and role descriptions can be accessed on the MSA Student Council website, Responsibilities page. If you are interested in getting involved but aren’t sure if you’re ready for a full position, keep an eye on our communications for information about committees!

Call for Applications

Application for Appointed Positions

Regional Updates

Region III

Did you know that some materials can switch from being a conductor to an insulator under certain conditions? Previous research suggested that materials capable of performing this quantum “flip” could only remain stable under ultra-cold temperatures (i.e., -100°F). Recently, Suk Hyan Sung, a graduate student at the University of Michigan, and co-authors developed a semiconductor material made of single-atom tantalum sulfide layers that performs this switch from conductor to insulator and remains stable at room temperature (and up to 170°F!). Discovery of materials with this exotic quantum property will help improve the power and energy-efficiency of our electronic devices. To learn more about this research, please check out Sung et al. (2021) in Nature Communications - “Two-dimensional charge order stabilized in clean

polytype heterostructures.” https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-27947-5

Region X

Save the Date for MC 2023 in Darmstadt/Germany

The German Society for Electron Microscopy (DGE) announced the Microscopy Conference 2023 in Darmstadt/Germany from February 26 to March 2, 2023. The conference welcomes Material Science, Life Sciences, and Instrumentation and Methods contributions. It will be held wholly in English. Please check the online program for details of the different sessions. The abstract submission deadline is July 31, 2022.

www.microscopy-conference.de

Online Programme

Local Affiliated Societies News

by Ru-ching Hsia, LAS Director

MSA members across the country have also established 25 local affiliated societies (LAS). These LAS hold regular meetings, social events and publish newsletters to provide regional networking and outreach opportunities for the local microscopy community. Please join a local society or renew your membership in 2022. Find out more about your local microscopy society and their activities in the LAS community page at http://microscopy.org/communities/local.cfm.

New Tour Speaker List

MSA provides LAS support with Tour Speakers, Grants-in-Aid and Special Meeting grants. Details can be found at http://www.microscopy.org/communities/programs.cfm. A group of new Tour Speakers are now available. Please find the information at https://www.microscopy.org/communities/speakers.cfm.

LAS Quarterly Business Meetings

Our second meeting in 2022 will be held virtually on June 9^th, Thursday 1 -2 PM EST. https://carnegiescience.zoom.us/j/91026266719

We share ideas for event organization, fund raising and tips on publishing newsletters and boosting membership during these meetings. All are welcome.

Updating LAS Webpage

If you have new officers taking over the leadership in your society in the new year, please let me know so we can update the LAS directory in the MSA webpage.

LAS Activities

Texas Society for Microscopy (TSM) will be hosting 56^th annual meeting at Baylor University, Waco, TX, from March 24^th to 26^th 2022. Find meeting details at https://texas.microscopy.org/events/annual-tsm-meeting/.

If you are interested to start an Affiliated Society in your region or have any questions and concerns, please feel free to contact me at [email protected].

Ru-ching Hsia

MSA FIGs are groups of MSA members who have organized, with the approval of MSA Council, to promote a specific discipline relevant to microscopy or microanalysis. Each FIG must have a minimum of 10 members to remain active. All MSA members are eligible and encouraged to participate in the existing FIGs. There is an annual fee of $15 per FIG joined. Learn more about FIGs here.

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