Summary of Student Experience

Over fifty students from the United States, Europe and Asia were present at ISIE 2001. Among the highlights of the student experience were:

Student poster competition: One of the most visible activities was the student poster competition, which was held during the poster session on Monday night. Eleven student posters were entered in the competition, which proved to be a great way to showcase outstanding student research efforts in Industrial Ecology from around the globe. The recipients of the ISIE 2001 "Outstanding Student Poster Presentation Award" were David Gard from the University of Michigan and Anders Stromman from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Student meetings: There were two informal student meetings held during the conference to provide students with an opportunity to network, to share research experiences and to start building an ISIE student community. The first meeting was held over lunch on Tuesday and the second was held during the bus ride to dinner on Tuesday evening. Perhaps the most significant development from these meetings was the decision to form an official ISIE Student Chapter to formalize the student role in the ISIE and to provide an official venue for students to contribute to the goals of the Society. Other key developments included:

• The decision to build an online database of student contact information and research interests, which will be linked to the official ISIE website. The database will allow students from around the world to identify others with similar interests and to share research information.
• The decision to start an ISIE student listserv to facilitate ongoing student discussions and distribution of information. Over forty students signed up for the initial mailing list.
• The identification of several student volunteers to make regular contributions to the ISIE quarterly newsletter.
• Student volunteer efforts: Students also played a big part in keeping the conference running smoothly by volunteering to help with technical problems during the conference presentations and to coordinate luggage storage and retrieval on the final day of the conference.