ASM International (The Materials Information Society) is offering this fourth annual program intended for high school juniors and seniors.  The objective of the program is to introduce students to challenging careers in science and technology.

Our target audience includes students who show an interest and strength in math and sciences.  The purpose of this presentation is to offer the motivated and interested students an opportunity to attend the first materials camp offered in Minnesota (Materials camps have been presented across the country since 2000).  It will be held for 4 days, June 15-18, 2010 on the campus of the University of Minnesota.  The student will be responsible for transportation to and from campus.  All meals/snacks, materials, classroom oriented expenses, field trip expenses and transportation will be covered by the societies.

We would like to extend this opportunity to your students and school.  Students interested in the materials camp would be required to submit a short application and essay expressing their interest.  These applications will then be screened in order to select the attendees for the camp.  The camp would be divided into small groups.  Each group will have an engineer and materials scientist as a leader and mentor.

A project for each group will be unique and represent a common product in society.  The groups will be introduced to the engineering requirements (performance, service life, manufacturing factors, cost…) of the component.  The material properties will be also included (mechanical and chemical properties, resistance to wear and corrosion, the effect of secondary operations such as heat treating or plating, etc.).  Investigations, including tests and laboratory procedures, will help to identify what factors contributed to the failure of the component(s).  All of this will be done at a basic or fundamental level, with the objective of showing the students that there are frequently more than one factor contributing to the failure of a product or component.

We believe that this Materials Camp will benefit all who attend, and will be especially valuable for those who are selected to attend the materials camp.  We are planning publicity for this event in the local media and selections will come from various twin city and outstate area schools.  For more information or to schedule a presentation for your school/students, E-mail:

    Minnesota Chapter of ASM International
    Visit us on the web at:
    www.mnasm.org/camp