A Tale of Two Badges: MSA & MRS

I’m just back from the second academic conference I’ve attended in the last four weeks. It was my first venture into a STEM conference, the Materials Research Society (MRS) Fall meeting in Boston. In November I attended my go-to Humanities conference, the Modernist Studies Association (MSA) in Pittsburgh. Experienced in such proximity, these conferences prompted me to reconsider their respective cultures through this year’s MSA theme–Confluence and Division. What synergies might we gain from bridging these communities?

What are they?

Founded in 1998, the MSA is an interdisciplinary, international group focused on cultural productions between 1880-1960: when the aesthetic movement we call modernism shaped literature, art, architecture, design, film, and academe. Founded in 1973, MRS is an interdisciplinary, international group devoted to “advancing materials” and “improving the quality of life.” Many MSA conference attendees come from English departments, history departments, film studies programs, and women’s studies programs. Many MRS conference attendees come from Chemistry departments, Engineering departments, Physics departments, biomedical research units, science museums, laboratories, and industry.

Ethnographic observations

Each organization’s conference behaviors might appear strange to the other. For example:

• MSA-goers often read black & white papers to one another.
• MRS-goers often present colorful posters to one another.
• MSA-goers have interactive “what are you reading” sessions.
• MRS-goers have interactive hands-on science activities.
• MSA-goers encounter a room full of editors displaying books.
• MRS-goers encounter a room full of industry reps handing out swag.

From Common Grounds to Common Ground

Both conferences have coffee breaks throughout the day, but there are other ways that MSA and MRS appear to converge.

• Poet-pediatrician William Carlos Williams’s mantra “no ideas but in things” could work for both conferences.
• MSA and MRS represent materialist disciplines.
• MSA and MRS connect to museum studies.
• Both organizations promote the arts; MSA had poetry readings and MRS had a “Science as Art” event.
• The MSA logo (on the right) and MRS Quick Reference Guide (see above) display the geometric designs of modernist aesthetics.
• Sustainability is a key issue for MSA and MRS.
• Both conferences offered opportunities for unabashed enjoyment: Camp Modernism: The Seminar (MSA) and Fun Science Stuff (MRS).

What would happen if we mixed things up?

I enjoyed each conference intellectually, socially, and aesthetically. But participating in both makes me wonder…

• What if MSA had hands-on activities and poster sessions, and MRS had writing workshops?
• What if MSA invited undergraduates to share their research, and MRS invited poets to perform their works inspired by science?
• What if MRS had more pedagogy sessions, and MSA had more on-site public outreach?

What a dynamic materials-based synergy that would be! I’ll keep both badges.  -MB