SAMPE Journal - January/February 2017 - 2

Global

President's Message

Prof. Luigi Torre, PhD
Material Engineering Center, University of Perugia, Italy
luigi.torre@unipg.it

Dear Friends,
Let me first wish you all a happy New Year.
At the end of this 2016 many important things have happened that will surely influence the economy and the
politics of the world. It's not my intention to comment or discuss with you about the future of the politics in the
world. I just want to state that our society has always been able to face any change and we have this positive
attitude because we are aware of our strengths and of our members' capabilities.
We are a global society, and four years ago, we decided to change the society to stress its "global mission". We
did it because we were convinced that the development and the progress, of technology and in particular of
advanced materials can be sped up if there are interchanges between people of different countries. If you can
establish global network of contacts people and companies, business, problem solving and growing is easier
and effective. Therefore, we will continue to operate keeping in mind our global mission and try to offer the best
to our members in the world-the best conferences, the best trade shows, and the best services.
2016 was a good year for SAMPE changes to. I hope that those of you who had the chance to participate in one
of the SAMPE events have appreciated the opportunity and the networking possibilities. But now, for 2017, we
have new challenges; I will try to list what I think will be the most relevant.
Membership: Although our society is healthy in terms of membership, in the recent years we are observing
a negative trend in the number of members. Membership is the only thing that is not growing in the majority
of SAMPE Chapters. We as global officers are analyzing the reasons for this and looking for actions to
take. We are working to make SAMPE more attractive, to convince people to keep their membership and
consider it as valuable as it is. I also ask all of you to help us, proposing new ideas and let us know what
else, you think, could be done to convince you colleagues to become member, because we are persuaded
that, above all, membership is our strength.
Competition: The general offer of conferences, trade shows and tutorials from several societies in the world,
is growing as the use of advanced materials is growing. This has also generated new societies specialized in
this offer, which can be considered as potential competitors of SAMPE. I think that SAMPE has an advantage
over the other societies which lays in its name, experience and in the quality of its members. This may be not
enough if we stop to be active and if we stop to look for novelties and do not enlarge our vision.
Growth: This is another important challenge, I do not mean only growing by size but also growing in the
offer and to adapt our society to the evolution of materials and applications.
New People and New Energies: SAMPE always needs new people and new energies. New people bring in
new ideas and energy, which moves the world. I have seen those SAMPE Chapters that are more open to
new entries are those that perform better.
So, as usual, alot of work to do. Happy New Year!

SAMPE Journal, Volume 53, No. 1, January/February 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of SAMPE Journal - January/February 2017