Steve Tung, professor of mechanical engineering, served as the general chair for the 12th annual IEEE International Conference on Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular Systems, or IEEE-NEMS 2017. The conference was held at the University of California, Los Angeles on April 9-12. Jin-Woo Kim, professor of biological and agricultural engineering, was the invited session chair at the conference.

The conference featured three plenary speakers and two keynote speakers, all of them internationally recognized in their fields. Sponsors included IEEE, IEEE Nanotechnology Council, the University of Arkansas, UCLA, the Shenzhen Academy of Robotics, Lab on a Chip, American Elements, Microsystems and Nanoengineering. IOP Publishing and Springer Nature were exhibitors. The Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at the U of A also co-sponsored one of the plenary speakers.

Around 350 researchers attended the conference, mainly from the U.S. and Asia. Over four hundred papers were submitted and around 360 were presented.

"It was an honor to serve as general chair for this premiere conference," said Tung. "The venue, which was part of the UCLA campus, turned out to be ideal for a conference like this. The speakers were exemplary, and we had generous support from our sponsors. With around 350 attendees from around the world, this conference was a great opportunity to advance the field of nano and micro-technology and to gain visibility for the University of Arkansas."