The 36th Annual RGSAM will be held on November 9, 2026

Embassy Suites, 1000 Woodward Pl. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87102

Symposium Registration – Coming soon!

Abstract Submission – click Here!

The Rio Grande Symposium on Advanced Materials (RGSAM) is a general technical meeting of materials researchers in the Rio Grande geographic region. It is an outgrowth of the Joint Technical Meetings of the New Mexico Section of the American Ceramic Society and the New Mexico Section of the Materials Research Society initiated in 1989. These meetings, sub-titled “Ceramics and Advanced Materials: Symposia and Poster Session,” proved to be quite popular among materials researchers in the Rio Grande geographic region. Attendance typically ranged between 75 and 150 people presenting 30 to 50 presentations, which were frequently used as a local warm-up for national meetings. An important aspect of this symposium is that it has been, and continues to be a venue for presentations by students from regional universities. In 1997, the Albuquerque Chapter of ASM International joined with the NM Section of the American Ceramics Society to host the meeting which began its new name, “The Rio Grande Regional Symposium on Advanced Materials.” Reflecting the multidisciplinary nature of materials research presented at RGSAM, other societies soon joined to host the symposium. The New Mexico Chapter of the American Vacuum Society organized the RGSAM in 2013, followed by the Central New Mexico Local Section of the American Chemical Society in 2015. In 2018, the Albuquerque Chapter of ASM organized. This meeting hopes to reach out to a broad base of support among local materials societies and will be a focal point for the exchange of technical information in the Rio Grande geographic region well into the 21st century.

Kreidl Lecture

At the core of this meeting is the Kreidl Memorial Lecture, honoring the career achievements of Norbert Kreidl, a remarkable and indefatigable glass scientist who spent his final years as a consultant based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The Kreidl Lecture has featured several prominent ceramists and glass scientists.

Kreidl Lecturer: Seth Co-Sullivan

Title: Quantum Dots, Holograms, and Nanowires: Case Studies in Deep Tech Entrepreneurship

Abstract: Innovations in material science and hardware often benefit from the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the United States, yet the challenges of succeeded in a marketplace designed around software companies can often seem a major barrier.  This talk will use several case-studies to explore how Deep Tech innovations can be taken to market, highlighting the decision points and strengths and weaknesses of various approaches.  In particular, we will explore 1) QD Vision bringing quantum dots to market in TVs leveraging the venture capital ecosystem, 2) Luminit bringing holographic light shaping diffusers to market in lighting, leveraging government grant programs, and 3) NS Nanotech bringing nanowire LEDs to market in augmented reality leveraging the angel investor community.  We will highlight the technologies, but focus on the commercialization differences that the technology brings about, and how this can help carve out a path to market. 

Speaker Biography:

Seth is co-founder, board member, Chief Executive Officer, and President of NS Nanotech, Inc. a spin-out of University of Michigan and McGill University.  NS Nanotech is a world-leader in nanowire microLEDs for displays and disinfection.  From 2016-2019 he was Chief Technology Officer of Luminit LLC, where his team launched the world’s first volume holographic combiner product for augmented reality displays.  From 2004-2016, Seth was co-founder, member of the Board of Directors, and Chief Technology Officer of QD Vision, which was acquired by Samsung.  He also currently advises several start-up companies in their early technology development phases. Coe-Sullivan received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Sc.B from Brown University. He has received numerous awards for technology and innovation in the fields of displays, quantum dots, and environmental health and safety, including the MIT Tech Review’s TR25 Award, the SEMI Award for North America, the Presidential Green Chemistry Award, and SID’s Peter Brody Award.  In 2023 he was named a Fellow of the Society for Information Display.  Seth is currently Chairman of the Los Angeles Chapter of SID, Regional VP for the West Coast Region, and co-chair of the 2025-2026 Special Topic on Sustainable Displays.

Prior Kreidl Lecturers:

1992 William D. Kingery, University of Arizona

1993

Delbert E. Day, University of Missouri – Rolla

1994

Arthur H. Heuer, Case Western Reserve University

1995

Don L. Kendall, University of New Mexico

1996

David A. Payne, University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign

1997

Joseph H. Simmons, University of Florida

1998

Robert E. Newnham, Penn State University

1999

Anthony F. Giamei, United Technologies Research Center

2000

Gary Messing, Penn State University

2001

Anthony G. Evans, Princeton University

2002

Zhigang Suo, Princeton University

2003

Nathan S. Lewis, California Institute of Technology

2004

Subra Suresh, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2005

Robert O. Ritchie, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

2006

David R. Clarke, University of California at Santa Barbara

2007

Steve Brueck, University of New Mexico

2008

John Parise, SUNY Stony Brook

2009

Kurt Sickafus, Los Alamos National Laboratory

2010

Richard LeSar, Iowa State University

2011

Uzi Landman, Georgia Institute of Technology

2012

Carlo Pantano, Penn State University

2013

Harry Atwater, California Institute of Technology

2014

Diana Farkas, Virginia Tech

2015

Michael J. Cima, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2016

Ray Baughman, University of Texas at Dallas

2017

Carol Handwerker, Purdue University

2018

Paul S. Weiss, University of California, Los Angeles

2019

Mark C. Hersam, Northwestern University

2020, 2021 Cancelled due to Covid-19 2022 Rajendra K. Bordia, Clemson University

2023

Ramana G. Reddy, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa

2024

Daniel B Miracle, Air Force Research Laboratory

2025 Thomas N. Ackerson, Blue Origin 2026 Seth Co-Sullivan