Electron Microscopy Society of America

Electron Microscopy Society of America is a professional organization dedicated to advancing transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and related techniques. The society brings together practitioners from academic institutions, national laboratories, and industrial firms such as Bell Labs, IBM, Intel, General Electric to promote instrumentation, methodology, and applications across materials science, biology, and nanotechnology. Members include researchers associated with Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley and federal facilities like Argonne National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory.

History

The society traces roots to early electron optics developments spearheaded by figures and institutions connected to Ernest O. Lawrence's circle and laboratories such as Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and Cavendish Laboratory, and it grew alongside milestones like the invention of the transmission electron microscope at Siemens and Zeiss. During the mid-20th century the society interacted with programs at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and university groups at Columbia University and University of Cambridge as electron microscopy advanced alongside work by researchers at Bell Labs and IBM Research. Postwar expansion linked the society to emerging nanoscience centers at California Institute of Technology and Stanford University and collaborations with industrial microscopy groups at Hitachi and JEOL. Over decades the society paralleled major projects at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and international collaborations involving European Molecular Biology Laboratory and Max Planck Society.

Mission and Activities

The society's mission emphasizes training, standards, and dissemination, coordinating with academic departments at Yale University, Princeton University, University of Chicago, University of Oxford and national centers such as National Institutes of Health and National Institute of Standards and Technology. It supports methodological development relevant to work at CERN, NASA, DARPA-funded programs, and industrial partners like Toyota and General Motors. Activities include educational workshops that draw faculty from University of Pennsylvania, Cornell University, Johns Hopkins University, and University of Michigan as well as instrument developers from Thermo Fisher Scientific and FEI Company. The society coordinates standards with professional organizations including American Chemical Society, American Physical Society, Materials Research Society, and international bodies like International Union of Pure and Applied Physics.

Membership and Governance

Membership comprises scientists and technologists from institutions such as University of California, Los Angeles, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Ohio State University, and corporate laboratories including 3M, DuPont, Siemens Healthineers. Governance involves an elected council with officers often holding appointments at Princeton University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern University, and research staff from Argonne National Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory. Committees coordinate with representatives from National Science Foundation, European Research Council, Wellcome Trust, and professional societies like Royal Microscopical Society and Japanese Society of Microscopy to steward training, ethics, and instrumentation standards.

Publications and Conferences

The society produces meeting proceedings and educational materials that complement journals and outlets affiliated with Nature Publishing Group, Science (journal), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and specialized periodicals connected to Journal of Microscopy, Ultramicroscopy, Micron (journal). Conferences attract presenters from Imperial College London, ETH Zurich, University of Tokyo, Seoul National University, and laboratories including Riken, Institute of Physics (IOP). Annual meetings often feature keynote lecturers with ties to Niels Bohr Institute, Max Planck Institute for Metallurgy, Weizmann Institute of Science, Kavli Institute for Nanoscience, and corporate symposia hosted by Philips and Samsung.

Awards and Recognition

The society recognizes achievements with awards that have honored contributors from universities such as Brown University, Duke University, University of California, San Diego, McGill University, and national laboratories including Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Awardees frequently hold fellowships or prizes administered by organizations like Royal Society, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, and international prizes connected to L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science and Wolf Prize. The society's distinctions have been conferred on scientists associated with landmark work at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, Hamburg University (DESY), University of Hamburg, and institutions engaged in collaborative microscopy initiatives such as European Synchrotron Radiation Facility.

Category:Scientific societies based in the United States