Fiber Society will probe advanced materials at Cornell event Oct. 11-13

The Fiber Society will hold its annual meeting and technical conference, with a symposium on advanced materials and processes for fibers and fibrous structures, at Cornell, Oct. 11-13. This international gathering of professionals dedicated to research in science, technology and engineering of fibers will be hosted by the Department of Textiles and Apparel in Cornell's College of Human Ecology. It is free and open to the public.

The Fiber Society is a nonprofit professional and scientific association focused on advancing scientific knowledge pertaining to fibers, fiber-based products and fibrous materials. Keynote speakers at this year's conference will include: Professor Howard Greisler of Loyola University, a leading researcher in the vascular application of fibrous materials; Nobel Laureate Robert C. Richardson, Cornell senior vice provost of research and the F.R. Newman Professor of Physics; and Nobel laureate and chemist Roald Hoffmann, the Frank H.T. Rhodes Professor in Humane Letters at Cornell.

The meeting will feature 59 scientific papers and more than 40 posters. Participants from more than 20 countries are expected. Sessions will focus on fiber-reinforced composites, biomaterials, advances in fiber formation, advanced materials, and the interface of materials, technology and apparel design, mass customization and body scanning technology. Specific papers and posters will address civil and structural applications of composites, industrial materials, "green" composites, electrospinning, newly developed fibers, mathematical modeling, nanostructures and "smart" materials that are sensitive to environmental stimuli.

"The conference should be useful to professionals and students interested in the latest research and applications pertaining to state-of-the-art fibers," said Kay Obendorf, professor of textiles and apparel at Cornell. Obendorf and the Fiber Society vice president will co-chair the conference with Anil Netravali, also a Cornell professor of textiles and apparel. Obendorf will begin a one-year term as president of the organization in January 2005.

The meeting is sponsored by U.S. Surgical, a subsidiary of Tyco Healthcare; Cornell's Department of Textiles and Apparel; Cornell Center for Materials Research; Cornell Bioengineering Program; North Carolina State University College of Textiles; and Albany International.

For more information and to register for the conference, see http://fs.tx.ncsu.edu/Upcoming_Home.html.