Big uses for small particles will be explored at the annual Particle Technology Research Centre Conference at The University of Western Ontario July 9 and 10.
Particle technology has a wide range of practical uses including everything from making pills easier to swallow to producing fine-powder paint that has far less impact on our environment than traditional counterparts.
Amit Chakma, Western’s President and Vice-Chancellor, opens the two-day conference Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. in the Great Hall, Somerville House with a keynote lecture entitled, “Educating Global Citizens.”
During four separate student panels, approximately 30 papers, 15 posters and several video presentations will be delivered. All topics focus on research benefiting society, including powder technology, fluid dynamics and fluidization bed reactors, fuel cell/green energy and nanotechnology.
There is also a special industrial session where four senior managers representing the pharmaceutical, environmental, powder technology and nanotechnology industries will provide a current review and present the future directions of research within their sectors. A panel discussion is planned to debate the “Value of Graduate Studies in the Economic Meltdown.”
“The main objective of the conference is to present the latest advances in particle related research from both the academic community and the industrial sector,” says conference co-chair Milana Trifkovic. “We also want to create an environment to encourage interaction between graduate students and attendees from industry.”
Co-chair Mehran Andalib adds, “Another key objective is to provide our fellow students an opportunity to be exposed at a national conference. To encourage wide participation, we have also created nine awards for the presentations, all sponsored by our collaborative industrial partners.”
The conference is entirely organized by graduate students of the Particle Technology Research Centre, says Jesse Zhu, Director of the centre and advisor to the organizing committee.
The 150 participants, comprised of chemical engineering graduate students and their professors from across Ontario, as well as 20 representatives from industry, will also hear from three world-renowned keynote speakers, including Chakma, John Grace, a Canada Research Chair in Clean Energy Processes at the University of British Columbia, and Ted Knowlton, the Technical Director of Particulate Solid Research, Inc.
A detailed schedule for the entire conference can be found online at www.powders.ca/conference/