The 2022 CAMP Annual Technical Meeting was held recently in Clayton, NY for the first in-person gathering of scientists, industry leaders, state economic development representatives and students since the start of the COVID pandemic in 2019.
The well-attended meeting focused on four research areas for which the Center for Advanced Materials Processing at Clarkson University is recognized. CAMP is a New York State-funded Center of Advanced Technology, one of 15 CATs that make it their mission to assist industry with technological challenges. This year, CAMP’s themes revolved around four focal research areas with presentations by Clarkson faculty and their industry collaborators. They were materials and sustainability; nanomaterials for advanced applications; materials processing and manufacturing; and advanced materials for structural applications.
The first talk of the program, presented by Prof. Susan Powers, Director of the Institute for a Sustainable Environment at Clarkson University, set the tone for many of the subsequent talks presented during the two-day program. The emphasis was on sustainability and innovative technologies to offset the environmental damage to our planet and heal our fragile climate. Attendees were impressed with the high level of expertise and comprehensive approach to find solutions to these challenging global and other technical problems.
The program also offered a well-received SBIR/STTR funding panel. The discussion was led by Patty Rechberger, Innovation Fund Manager at FuzeHub and was directed towards companies and budding entrepreneurs interested in that particular federal funding program which is highly competitive and encourages domestic small businesses to engage in Federal Research/Research and Development with the potential for commercialization.
The high point of the meeting was a cordial and celebratory farewell dinner to the outgoing President of Clarkson University and keynote speaker, Dr. Tony Collins. Collins spoke about the changing face of higher education and new approaches to alleviate the growing crisis in preparing the country’s future workforce. With 19 years at the helm of Clarkson University, Dr. Collins has emerged as a strong leader in advancing academic excellence while tirelessly promoting economic development in New York State; he never once missed a single CAMP Meeting.
The CAMP team is already thinking about next year’s meeting. Dates and location will be published soon on the Center’s website. A complete lineup of talks from this year’s meeting are also available on the page.
