The AVS – Science & Technology Society is a non-profit professional society and a member of the American Institute of Physics (AIP). The AVS is the foremost professional organization for practitioners in the many diverse fields that depend on science and technology at low pressures and/or controlled atmospheres. The AVS is dedicated to advancing the science and technology of films and coatings, microelectronics, nanostructures, surfaces and interfaces, plasmas, vacuum, and manufacturing processes. The AVS membership includes technologists, physicists, chemists, materials scientists and engineers who conduct research in these fields and work with vacuum-related processing.
The AVS/New Mexico Chapter (AVS/NM) membership includes residents of New Mexico, Oklahoma and that part of Texas in the Mountain Time Zone. A great deal of the Chapter activity centers around the Albuquerque/Los Alamos area because of the major scientific efforts at Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Intel and the University of New Mexico.
The New Mexico Chapter was established in 1964. Although comprising only a small fraction of the national AVS membership, the AVS/NM is one of the most active of all of the local chapters. The AVS/NM is a non-profit organization with a history and continued commitment to making significant contributions to regional educational needs. The objectives of the AVS are to promote communication, stimulate research and education, provide scholarships and administer awards in fields of interest to the AVS. The AVS/NM achieves these objectives regionally by staging a variety of technical activities and a vigorous scholarship and educational outreach program.
Our local symposium draws between 100 and 200 scientists who participate in short courses, technical sessions and the vendor exhibit. The technical sessions include invited presentations by nationally recognized experts in vacuum science, surface chemistry and physics, as well as contributed presentations by Chapter members and others. Short courses are offered on a wide variety of topics. Displays of state of the art vacuum, surface analysis, plasma etching and thin film deposition equipment from approximately 30 vendors can be found at the equipment exhibit. A substantial portion of the Symposium proceeds is channeled into a scholarship program for deserving students interested in the physical sciences. Members of the Chapter also act as judges for the New Mexico and Oklahoma State Science and Engineering Fairs, the New Mexico Junior Academy of Science and Regional Science Fairs.
Important Chapter Links:
