InterPore2020: Message from the InterPore Executive Committee

The InterPore Executive Committee has been closely monitoring the development of the COVID-19 pandemic. While many countries are beginning to slowly re-open and the situation in China appears to be under control, it remains to be seen what circumstances will be like in September. Due to all of the unknowns, a task force on e-conferencing has been initiated to develop alternatives to the traditional in-person-only meeting. Right now, the task force is identifying and investigating the many platforms for virtual conferences, and will be presenting their recommendations to the Executive Committee soon.

One option the task force is considering for this year is a hybrid conference which would include opportunities for both virtual and in-person presentations. A decision will be made and communicated with all of you in the May 29th edition of the newsletter. Please withhold any decisions concerning attending InterPore2020 until then if possible. Should we proceed with a portion of the meeting to be held in-person, we will re-open the abstract submission and all participants will be given the choice of either a physical or virtual presentation.

This task force is chaired by Oleg Iliev, Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics (ITWM), Germany. Members are:

• Inga Berre, Bergen University, Norway
• Sorin POP, Universiteit Hasselt, Belgium
• Sridhar Ranganathan, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, USA
• Marco Sauermoser, PoreLab, Norway
• Matthijs de Winter, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
• Neerja Zambare, Montana State University, USA

The Task Force is expected to make its recommendations about the choice of the e-conferencing software to the Executive Committee by the end of May.

We sincerely thank you for your patience and understanding, and look forward to a successful meeting with you!