NESM Kicks off 2012 with a Success

The student poster presentation at the Spring Symposium

Dear Fellow Microscopists,

We have all the ingredients for making 2012 a very productive and memorable year for the NESM community: a super-enthusiastic board, an active membership, new information technology tools, and great momentum to kick off 2012. Part of this momentum comes from two very successful and well-attended NESM meetings: the Fall Symposium at Gordon College saying good-bye to 2011 and the February Meeting at Saint-Gobain welcoming 2012, which were attended by 38 and 44 members, respectively. Last but not least, we have our new president-elect for 2013, Dr. Ming Zheng, who is very dynamic and dedicated. Congratulations Ming!

One of our top goals this year is to reach out to a larger community in New England and to find new ways to increase our membership. NESM needs fresh blood. What better way is there than attracting more student members! We lowered our fees for student members and updated our society bylaws to expand the definition of a student member to: “current bona-fide students AND those two (2) or fewer years post-school.” In addition, we are planning to invite student presenters to our future meetings.

Our next meeting is the largest of the four meetings we organize every year: the Woods Hole Symposium. This year it will be held on May 3^rd and 4^th, so make sure to mark these dates on your calendar. On Thursday May 3^rd, there will be an afternoon of short workshops. This short workshop format has proven to be a big hit among our members, as witnessed during the Fall Meeting at Harvard. Hence, we decided to offer short workshops at the Woods Hole meeting as well. The speaker presentations, poster session, and vendor tables will be on Friday May 4^th. You can find information about all these workshops and events in the next few pages.

Thanks to our new website, a new Wiki, resources such as EventBrite, PayPal and Doodle, and new NESM accounts on Facebook and Twitter, scheduling events, spreading the news, paying membership dues, and registering for meetings have become simpler and more efficient. These new tools were designed and launched in large part by NESM secretary Blair Rossetti and have made the NESM Board’s tasks easier as well. We meet every 6-8 weeks to plan each one of our four annual meetings and make policy decisions. We also discuss and decide on the presenter and venue selections. We are trying to keep a balance between biology and materials, as well as between light and electron/ion microscopy. However, we still need your help and guidance: we welcome your feedback, speaker recommendations, venue suggestions, constructive criticism, and fresh new ideas. Please do not hold back, we would like to hear from you.

Chris Rieken, one of our board members, has moved to West Coast. I would like to say farewell to Chris and thank him for all his past contributions to our society. I would like to welcome our two new board members, George Bell and Trevor Wardill. Next, I would like to thank last year’s Interim President Richard Schalek for handing over the society in such a great health. Finally, on behalf of the NESM Board, I would like to thank you, our loyal members, and you, our corporate sponsors, for your continuous support and suggestions. These events would be neither possible nor meaningful without you! Please keep supporting NESM. I hope to see you at the Woods Hole Meeting on May 3^rd and 4^th.

Sincerely,
Fettah Kosar
2012 NESM President