Studying surfaces—their textures, their roughness, their behavior—can yield a world of information in a broad range of fields, including anthropology, archeology, biomedical sciences, food science, forensics, and manufacturing. The 2nd Surface Metrology Seminar for the Americas, to be held at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) Oct. 15-16, 2012, will bring together renowned experts in surface metrology to teach practitioners from the United States and Europe how to use the field's latest tools and technologies.
"This seminar is probably the best educational event organized for practitioners in this field," said Christopher Brown, professor of mechanical engineering and director of WPI's Surface Metrology Laboratory. "Its objective is to help professionals in a broad range of areas learn new techniques that can raise the level of the surface metrology they practice."
The seminar will include two days of tutorials delivered by prominent surface metrologists from such institutions as the National Physical Laboratory in the United Kingdom, the Functional Surfaces Research Group at Halmstad and Chalmers Universities in Sweden, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, the Laboratory of Tribology and Dynamics of Systems at the University of Lyon in France, Rochester Institute of Technology, and General Motors.
Topics will include surface texture characterization, the fundamentals of optical measurement systems, the future of 3D multi-scale characterization, surface metrology and the study of ancient Maya blood-letting and obsidian blades, quantifying surfaces on powder metal parts, and calibration of areal surface topography measuring instruments.
