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1. Ultrasonics Symposium Overview
The 2012 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS) was held at the International Congress Center in Dresden, Germany from October 7th to 10th. The IUS conference is the reference meeting in the field of ultrasonics, providing a unique forum for presentation of the latest advances in medical ultrasound, physical acoustics, nondestructive testing, microacoustics, sensors and actuators and new materials. This meeting held additional historical significance for the IUS because Dresden is the first city from the former Eastern Bloc group to organize and host the IUS.

Before the conference, the Ultracom Meeting was held on Saturday, October 6th and the AdCom meeting on Sunday, October 7th. Twelve short courses were offered on Sunday October 7th with a total attendance of 294. The technical program and the venue attracted a very large number of registrants (1215) and industrial exhibitors (29). Both numbers mark all-time records in IUS participation.

Welcome address from the Symposium’s General Chair, Manfred Weihnacht	Plenary presentation by Dr. Wolfgang Ahnert

The Welcome address was delivered by the Symposium’s General Chair, Manfred Weihnacht, Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research of Dresden (IFW Dresden), Germany. Awards and recognitions were presented during the opening session of the conference. The opening of the meeting was completed by a plenary presentation by Dr. Wolfgang Ahnert, founder of Acoustic Design Ahnert (ADA). His presentation entitled “Structural Highlights in Dresden and Their Room Acoustic Specialties” described the sophisticated modeling and simulation techniques used to predict and refine sound propagation in architectural design. In particular, Dr. Ahnert familiarized attendees with the painstaking work performed after the unification of Germany to rebuild Dresden’s Frauenkirche that had been destroyed in 1945. Careful attention was given to the full restoration of the architectural and acoustical splendor of this 18th century monument. It was a wonderfully informative plenary that provided an initial introduction to this famous and historic baroque church. Conference attendees were later able to discover the Fauenkirche for themselves during the Welcome Event.

Welcome reception	Katherine W. Ferrara at the welcome reception

Dresden’s Frauenkirche

The conference’s technical program was very dynamic. Six oral sessions ran in parallel throughout the meeting with 21 invited speakers (including 3 clinical session speakers) who provided perspective on important aspects throughout the whole cross-section of ultrasonics disciplines, including new materials and sensors, emerging applications and devices and how medical ultrasound technology is used in clinical practice today. More than 500 posters were presented during the conference. In all, more than 850 papers were presented at the meeting.

Poster session

The Welcome Reception on Monday, October 8th was held at the Hilton Dresden Hotel. Following the reception, the beautifully restored Frauenkirche work of architecture was opened to conference attendees for both visual and acoustical admiration. For a few sublime minutes conference attendees enjoyed listening to a special concert. Pieces by Bach, Purcell and Vejvanovsky were performed on the powerful organ with a trumpet accompaniment.

Women in Ultrasonics breakfast

The Women in Ultrasonics group
met at 7am on Tuesday 9th of October. In all, 29 people attended the breakfast including Jackie
Hines, Society President, and
Jian-yu Lu, UFFC President-Elect.

The technical program on Tuesday was topped off with the President’s Reception hosted by Jackie Hines
at the Congress Center Restaurant and the Banquet Dinner in the Large Hall of the Conference Center. At the dinner, the Student Paper Competition Winners were awarded and International Music was presented by “Das Blaue Einhorn”.

President’s Reception: Jackie Hines and Ton van der Steen	International Music was presented at the banquet by “Das Blaue Einhorn”	Banquet Dinner

 

Student Paper Competition

Professor Ludwig Schultz demonstrates magnetic levitation

The conference was closed with refreshments and a Closing Ceremony on Wednesday, October 10th. Professor Ludwig Schultz, Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden and TU Dresden, Institute of Materials Science, Germany, presented “Riding on Magnetic Fields – The Miraculous World of Superconductors”. He explained the principles behind magnetic levitation and explained how SupraTrans projects, based on suspension by magnetic fields, could offer an attractive solution for urban transportation. The lively presentation
was completed by a very entertaining demonstration showing how miniature, levitated trains could be firmly held in unlikely configurations (underneath or along the side of the track) while whizzing about a track cooled by liquid nitrogen.

The next meeting is the 60th Anniversary of the IEEE-UFFC Joint UFFC Symposium with EFTF and PFM. It will be held from July 21st to 25th at the Prague Convention Center. The General Chair is Ahmad Safari, Rutgers University, USA.
http://www.ewh.ieee.org/conf/uffc/2013/

 

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