Yan Zhang, Messel Travel Bursar reports from TechConnect Conference and Expo.
I attended the TechConnect Conference and Expo 2011, which took place 13-16 June 2011 in Boston, USA. The novel research presented at the conference from universities, research institutes and industries has broadened my view over my research area.
During the sessions about nanocomposites, which are my main research interests, there was a great opportunity to overview the upfront research progresses, and discuss problems with others. My presentation titled ‘Layered nanocomposites of plate-like particles and polymers’ was scheduled in the ‘Novel nanocomposites’ session and it turned out to be interesting to a relatively large number of audiences. It added value to our university’s fame and raised my own confidence in public presentation.
The original devices, technology inventions and new products exhibited in the conference added to my knowledge and I discoved that some of them could be more effective than what I currently use. For example, I found a new particle size measurement technique, which can compensate the functions of the equipments that I use.
The networking activities also provided a platform for people from different background to communicate and connect. This is useful for me since I had the chance to build links with more people and my career may benefit from this due to possible future collaborations.
Finally, the enthusiasm and the active dynamics during the conference were very impressive. These are very important to add to my international experiences.
Many thanks to SCI for the Messel Travel Bursary, which enabled me to attend TechConnect Conference.
Yan Zhang
University College London
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