The International Thermoelectric Society is pleased to announce that Dr. Glen Slack will receive the first ITS Outstanding Achievement award co-sponsored by Komatsu at ICT 2011. Glen Slack is well known for seminal contributions to
our understanding of lattice thermal conductivity in solids, the promotion of the phonon-glass-electron-crystal concept in thermoelectrics, the minimum thermal conductivity of a
solid, and the importance of electronegativity difference in determining mobility in
compound semiconductors, and the conceptualization, synthesis, and characterization of
new thermoelectric alloys, particularly skutterudites and clathrates with low thermal conductivity due to weakly bound, rattling atoms. Dr. Slack will present a plenary lecture Thursday morning at ICT 2011 in Traverse City Michigan.

The International Thermoelectric Society is pleased to announce that Amerigon, makers of thermoelectric cooled car seats will be a co-sponsor for the ITS young investigator award beginning at ICT 2011 in Traverse City Michigan.  The award recognizes a young scientist for his/her contributions in the field of thermoelectricity with a gift of $2000 and the awardee will present a distinguished lecture at ICT 2011 in Traverse City Michigan.

Two International Thermoelectric Society (ITS) Board Director positions will be opened for election at the 30th International Conference on Thermoelectrics, to be held in Traverse City, Michigan, USA, July 17^th-21st, 2011.

The Committee has made every effort to attract candidates from a variety of geographic, technical fields, and institutions, to best serve the Mission of the International Thermoelectric Society.  The list of current Board Directors can be found here.

Board Directors are elected for a three-years term and are expected to play an active role in the International Thermoelectric Society business and promotion. The major goals (objectives) of the Society, as stated in the ITS Bylaws, are:

• TO PROMOTE the advancement of the thermoelectric industry, science and engineering;
• TO PROMOTE collection and exchange of information and education which will benefit the thermoelectric community;
• TO PROMOTE an understanding of the role thermoelectric technology may play in environmental impact and mitigating global climate change;
• TO PROMOTE systemization of measurements and cross-comparison of materials and devices;
• TO PROMOTE awareness of the larger community to thermoelectric issues and solicit wider involvement;
• TO PROMOTE various forums of exchange of information and achievements:
• TO PROMOTE a mechanism for coordinating and promoting conferences; 

Nominations were accepted until May31^st, 2011. Short biographies and information about the Nominees are posted below..

The election of the new Board Directors will be organized at the Conference in Traverse City and further details will be announced at the beginning of the conference by the ITS President and the ITS Nomination and Election Committee. 

Here are the 2011 ITS Board Candidates (in alphabetical order, with a link to each candidate's CV):

1. Lon Bell (BSST LLC, USA)
2. Harald Bottner (Fraunhofer Institute, Germany)
3. Lidong Chen (Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, China)
4. Alexandre Cuenat (National Physical Laboratory, UK)
5. Takao Mori (National Institute for Materials Science, Japan)