Events Calendar

Registration is now open (https://z.umn.edu/IPRIME2026) for the IPRIME Annual Meeting, attracting several hundred participants and offering a lively scientific exchange between our member companies and the faculty and students involved in IPRIME’s research programs.

What can you expect at the 2026 Annual Meeting? 

• AI/ML in formulation and materials characterization workshop. (Organizers: Prof. Lynn Walker and Prof. Chris Ellison). We plan to have an exciting slate of speakers from IPRIME member companies, University of Minnesota (UMN) faculty, and invited guests covering a pressing and complex topic relevant to our membership base.

• Program Reviews: IPRIME’s six programs have organized a review of their research portfolios. These will feature talks from IPRIME researchers, providing ample opportunity to establish new connections or strengthen existing partnerships across our community.

• Poster Session & Reception: Our best and brightest graduate students and postdocs at UMN will be featured during the Wednesday evening poster session. This is an excellent opportunity to dive deep into recent research while networking with the next generation of talented engineers and scientists.

This course provides coating engineers, scientists, and researchers with an understanding of the principles of liquid-applied coating processes and solidification phenomena that are central to the development of high-performance, precision coatings used in a variety of industries.

Course topics include slot coating, curtain and slide coating, and multilayer coating; solidification phenomena, such as drying and stress development; and fundamental topics important to liquid applied-coating processes, such as wetting and rheology. The course draws on decades of research in the Coating Process Fundamentals Program.


 

Plastic film circularity: ambition, reality, and opportunity

Brought to you by M-SPIRE, IPRIME, and CSP, our intent is to convene technical leaders from across the value chain – from material suppliers and converters to CPG brands and academic researchers. 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 you face today within plastic films and collaboratively outline a roadmap for the R&D and innovation needed to overcome them.

The Precision Coating and Drying online short course provides coating engineers, scientists and researchers with an understanding of the principles of premetered coating processes and solidification phenomena that are central to developing high-performance, precision coatings used in a variety of industries.

This online course includes selected content from the longer in-person Coating Process Fundamentals Short Course, to be held in May 2026. Prerecorded and closed captioned lecture videos are available for the duration of the course dates, allowing participants to go through the course at their own pace. Course notes are available for download and questions can be asked during Zoom office hours. 

The Annual Meeting is an ideal opportunity to network with other IPRIME member companies and guests to make key connections between academic and industrial partners in a precompetitive venue, and to meet the next generation of talented engineers and scientists.   

What can you expect at the 2025 Annual Meeting? 

• Workshop: This year’s workshop is on Circularity and Waste Reduction of Materials. We have an exciting slate of speakers from IPRIME member companies, University of Minnesota (UMN) faculty, and invited guests covering this pressing and complex topic.

• Program Reviews: IPRIME’s six programs have organized a review of their research portfolios. These will feature talks from IPRIME researchers, providing ample opportunity to establish new connections or strengthen existing partnerships across our community.

• Poster Session: Our best and brightest graduate students and postdocs at UMN will be featured during the Wednesday evening poster session. This is an excellent opportunity to dive deep into recent research while networking with the next generation of talented engineers and scientists.

Materials Design Challenges for Biomedical Applications

This year’s workshop will focus on materials challenges in biomedical applications and how fundamental materials research can contribute to enhancing efficacy and functionality of devices, delivery systems and therapeutics. 

IPRIME workshops bring together experts from both industry and academia on focused topics of mutual interest. This workshop is free and open to IPRIME member companies, invited guests, and University of Minnesota faculty, students, and staff.