The Magnetism and Magnetic Materials (MMM) Conference series has a long history of bringing researchers together from across the globe to discuss recent developments in fundamental and applied magnetism. Due to the uncertainties related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it was decided that the full program of the 67th Annual MMM Conference would be offered virtually with a subset program created for those presenters who confirmed their in-person attendance. The in-person conference was held Monday, October 31–Friday, November 4, 2022 at the Hyatt Regency in Minneapolis, MN. For many of the in-person attendees, the 67th Annual MMM Conference was their first in-person conference since the pandemic began, so it was heartening to see so many smiling faces deep into scientific discussion, either at the morning coffee breaks or the evening bierstubes in the Exhibit Hall. The in-person attendees were treated to unseasonably warm temperatures in Minneapolis with daytime temperatures reaching above 70 °F (∼21 °C), at times exceeding the temperatures back home in sunny California. In the end, 624 registrants attended the conference in-person with another 450 virtual attendees. For those new to Minneapolis, the conference logo is inspired by the “Spoonbridge and Cherry” sculpture by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen installed at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden near the conference site (Fig. 1).
The inspiration for the MMM 2022 logo came from the “Spoonbridge and Cherry” sculpture created by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen installed at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden located near the conference site.
The inspiration for the MMM 2022 logo came from the “Spoonbridge and Cherry” sculpture created by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen installed at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden located near the conference site.
Out of a total 1193 submitted abstracts, a full virtual program was created consisting of 50 oral sessions and 30 poster sessions. It featured seven invited symposia entitled “Emerging Researcher Symposium on Artificial Spin Ice and Applications,” “Imaging Magnetic Textures at the Nanoscale,” “Metrics and Measurements of Spin-Orbit Torque MRAM,” “2D van der Waals Magnets for Practical Device Applications,” “Computing with Spintronic Oscillators,” “Recent Developments in Advanced Magnetic Tunnel Junctions,” and “Unconventional Spin-orbit Torques in Ferromagnets, Ferrimagnets, and Antiferromagnets.” The in-person conference opened on Monday, October 31, 2022 with the tutorial entitled “Towards 3D Nanomagnetism: Fundamental Aspects and Technological Applications” featuring three talks by Olivier Fruchart (SPINTEC), Peter Fischer (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), and Amalio Fernandez-Pacheco (University of Zaragoza), followed by a Halloween-themed Welcome Reception featuring traditional Minnesota State Fair treats and an extra special cake decorated with the conference logo. Additional conference highlights included two evenings sessions, one on “Magnetism in Nature and the Universe” featuring Bryan Gaensler (University of Toronto) and Roger Rennan Fu (Harvard University) and a roundtable discussion on “Advanced Magnetic Materials for Novel Computing Paradigms” by Damien Querlioz (Centre de Nanosciences et de Nanotechnologies), Christoph Adelmann (imec), and Jean Anne Incorvia (University of Texas at Austin).
Special thanks go out to Jia Yan Law, the Special Events Chair, for organizing several innovative special events including “Making a Difference in Magnetism Outside of the Laboratory,” “Creating an Effective Scientific Presentation Video,” “Meet the Experts” (with virtual and in-person sessions), an entertaining “Women in Magnetism Event,” “Student Networking Event,” “Writing Workshop,” and the “Magnetic Sensor Challenge” to enrich the in-person experience for the attendees. Michael Lee also initiated the MMM Conference podcast with interviews with notable attendees and invited speakers representing a variety of the topics covered during the conference. These episodes are available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. I remain inspired by the many innovative and beautiful submissions to the “Magnetism as Art Showcase,” which was initiated at the 2017 MMM Conference in Pittsburgh, PA. This year’s winning submission was entitled “Finding μ-cro” by Franziska Scheibel from the Technical University of Darmstadt. Finally, with funding from the IEEE Magnetics Society, we were able to provide financial support for in-person conference attendees with Student Travel and Childcare Grants, as well as new initiatives for Ukrainian scientists and the Expanded Global Participation Travel Grant to increase attendance from countries typically underrepresented at MMM conferences. Best poster awards were presented for each of the in-person poster sessions, and the best student presentation was awarded to Cheng-Hsiang Hsu, University of California Berkeley for their talk entitled “Enhanced Spin-orbit Torque in Amorphous Light Element Silicide.” I would also like to recognize the other four other finalists: Riccardo Battistelli (Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin), Xing Chen (Université Paris-Saclay), Rachel Nickel (University of Manitoba), and Yulan Chen (Cornell University) for their noteworthy accomplishments.
Based on the oral and poster presentations at the 67th Annual MMM Conference, ∼186 conference papers have been accepted for publication in AIP Advances. The team of editors was led by Connie Li (Publications Chair, Naval Research Laboratory), with Yacine Amara (University of Le Havre), Ravi L. Hadimani (Virginia Commonwealth University), Jiayan Law (University of Sevilla), Nicoleta Lupu (National Institute of R&D for Technical Physics), Manh-Huong Phan (University of South Florida), and Ciro Visone (University of Naples Federico II). Their hard work in completing their tasks in a timely manner while ensuring the highest publications standards is greatly appreciated.
The Steering Committee for MMM 2022 deserves special recognition as the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic could not have been predicted at the time that they were asked to volunteer their time and energy to the conference organization. Without their contributions, the success of this conference series would not be possible. They are Program Committee co-Chairs, Aurelie Spiesser (National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology), Jordi Sort (Universitat Automana de Barcelona), and Timothy Mewes (University of Alabama); Co-Treasurers, Chris Rea (Seagate Technology) and Jean Anne Incorvia (University of Texas at Austin); Special Events Chair, Jiayan Law (University of Sevilla); Publications Chair, Connie Li (Naval Research Lab); Exhibits and Support Chair, Joseph Davies (Quantinuum); Publicity Chair, Michael Lee (Niron Magnetics); Student Awards and Travel Chair, Brian Kirby (NIST); and AIP Publishing staff Diana Schlamadinger and Melissa Patterson. In addition, I would like to recognize the advice provided by our sponsor representatives Bill Burke (AIP Publishing) and Rudolf Schäfer (IEEE Magnetics Society) and past and future MMM conference chairs, Victorino Franco (University of Sevilla) and Barry Zink (University of Denver), respectively. Finally, but certainly not least, the team from Simply Vintage Event Management, led by Molly Bartkowski, Regina Mohr, Shelby Jenkins, and Ashley Cesare, provided incredible conference support throughout the process.
Given the success of the MMM 2022 Conference, I remain enthusiastic about the future of our conference series as a premier venue to showcase groundbreaking research related to magnetism and magnetic materials.