Events

MN ASM 2026 Symposium

Materials Characterization of Coatings, Substrates and Surfaces Symposium

This event will feature invited speakers from CharFac, as well as a tour of the facility.

Please see the ASM website for more details and the link to register:

https://chapter.mnasm.org/index.php/jevents/eventdetail/137/-/mn-asm-2026-symposium

Analytical Microscopy in the Earth & Planetary Sciences

The Geological Society of London is pleased to announce a brand new 2-day hybrid conference! Held on February 26th-27th 2026. Analytical Microscopy in the Earth and Planetary Sciences (AMEPS) will highlight & discuss recent developments and opportunities for the use of analytical microscopy across the geosciences, including the use of optical, electron, and X-ray microscopy, as well as the tools and platforms for processing data within research, industry, and museums or collections.

Session topics include, but are not limited to, new methods and developments, chemical & structural analysis across space and time, digital twins and big data, 2D vs 3D vs 4D techniques, digital methods in geoscience exploration, automated mineralogy, XCT/XRM, the use of EBSD in geological history reconstructions, synchrotron techniques in analytical microscopy, and the intersection of SEM/TEM/FIB-SEM. If you take part in any form of analytical microscopy or just have an interest in what's happening in the community, then this is the conference for you!

Virtual attendance for students is completely free! Registration and abstract submissions open soon, and any questions can be emailed to [email protected].

We hope to see you there!

https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/events/analytical-microscopy-in-the-earth-planetary-sciences-ameps/

[CANCELLED] 2026 IPRIME Mid-Year Workshop

This event has been cancelled. Please contact [email protected] with any questions.

Dear IPRIME Colleagues,

I am excited to invite you to attend the IPRIME (Industrial Partnership for Research in Interfacial and Materials Engineering) mid-year workshop. IPRIME workshops bring together experts from both industry and academia on focused topics of mutual interest. All events will be located on the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus. Registration is required by Friday, Jan. 16.

Plastic Film Circularity: Ambition, Reality, and Opportunity

Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026
2 p.m.-Local facility tours (optional)

Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026
Health Sciences Education Center (HSEC)
526 Delaware Street SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
8:30 a.m. Registration and light breakfast
9 a.m.-Session begins
3 p.m.-Workshop concludes

Register now

This workshop aims to move beyond why we must act and focuses on what challenges persist and how we can collectively succeed. The goal is to identify and map the hurdles being faced today within plastic films, and collaboratively outline the reseach, development, and innovation needed to overcome them. Topics include:

view from across the plastics value chain
technical experts panel: feedstocks, processing, and performance
lightening pitches from startups

The full agenda and speaker details will be updated on the IPRIME Mid-Year Workshop web page as they become available.

Sponsored by IPRIME, M-SPIRE, and the Center for Sustainable Polymers (CSP), the intent of the workshop is to convene technical leaders from across the value chain, from material suppliers and converters to consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands and academic researchers.

Workshop attendance is included in your organization's IPRIME membership. Please distribute this to other interested colleagues in your organization so we can continue to bring together experts from both industry and academia around this topic of mutual interest.

If you are not an IPRIME member or M-SPIRE partner, please contact [email protected] or Chris Ellison at [email protected] to inquire about membership or attendance as an invited guest.

For more information, visit the IPRIME website.

CharFac Seminar: "The D8 Discover Microdiffractometer: A tool to study the structure and morphology of thin-film, bulk, and powder crystals"

In this talk Dr. Javier Garcia-Barriocanal will present a collection of results obtained using the Bruker D8 Discover microdiffractometer. This instrument combines a 2D X-ray detector and a X-ray point source that significantly increases the detection limit of crystalline thin films and particles. We will also highlight the application of RSLab software, an in-house development tool that takes full advantage of large collections of data and allows its representation in the three dimensions of the reciprocal space.

Please use the following google form link to register:

https://forms.gle/u3JoykMuQJr8fzEv7

Symposium: New Glacios Cryo-TEM and Aquilos Cryo-FIB in CharFac

Single-particle analysis (SPA) through cryo-EM now delivers near-atomic 3D structures of proteins and complexes under near-native conditions, though without cellular context. Cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) fills this gap by visualizing proteins in their functional environments, revealing interactions that are crucial for cell biology.

The Characterization Facility (CharFac) at University of Minnesota offers SPA, microED and cryo-ET capabilities and the ability to work with soft samples with the Thermo Scientific Glacios 2 Cryo-TEM and Thermo Scientific Aquilos 2 Cryo-FIB. Join this symposium to learn how your research can be empowered with the latest cryo-EM techniques!

Registration Link: https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=LXJ9toqqd0ehaevremo7Z6RXakzebylKrlO5-jhzk8FUMzZFUDZaR1E0MkRFV0EzNDE4RFBLQVZZMC4u&origin=QRCode&route=shorturl

Flyer attached with symposium overview and schedule.

CharFac Seminar: EPMA

Please join us for a CharFac seminar "From Electrons to Mars: Using Electron Probe Microanalysis (EPMA) to Reveal Billions of Years of History at CharFac"

Presented by Dr. Jennifer Mitchell

Please register using the following link: https://forms.gle/n2L1PyoAoKLvazWR8

Nanomechanical Testing Workshop

Bruker is pleased to co-host a two-day nanomechanical testing workshop in collaboration with the University of Minnesota on September 18-19, 2025.

Please see the attached flyer.

Registration link.

CharFac Academic User Meeting 2025

There will be an introduction from CharFac followed by a series of talks by CharFac users and staff in the morning, with lunch and a poster session by CharFac staff in the afternoon.

The current agenda can be found here.

Please be sure to register using the following google form: https://forms.gle/tpLwKwZwikfkqivf9

Lunch will be provided to those who register by August 20th.

Seminar - CharFac's New Confocal Raman: Horiba LabRAM Odyssey

The Horiba LabRAM Odyssey is a fully integrated, high-resolution confocal Raman microscope designed for advanced 2D and 3D Raman imaging. This talk will introduce its advanced optical imaging functions, including Video Mosaic, NavMap, and ViewSharp, as well as its Raman measurement capabilities, such as single-spot analysis and Raman mapping. Comparisons with IR spectroscopy and our Witec Raman system will also be presented. Presented by Dr. Bing Luo.

Please register using the following google form link:

https://forms.gle/PrRHfuhDB4u4xXBz9

Seminar: Using ion beams to advance fusion materials research

Please join us for a seminar presented by Dr. Y.Q. Wang from Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Further details can be found on the abstract linked here.

SPMConnect 2025

Please see the following CharFac co-authored article from the March 2025 issue of Microscopy and Analysis:

Click here to read.

More details can be found on the SPMConnect website here.