The Materials and Nanosciences Society (MNS Soc) proudly represents undergraduate students in the Materials and Nanosciences program. With a voting seat on the SciSoc Board of Directors, we make sure that students voices are heard in important decisions. We host a wide range of events, from professional networking and social gatherings with faculty to engaging hands-on lab experiences.
The Fall 2024 Executive Team, a group of dedicated individuals committed to creating a vibrant community within MNS Soc, is showcased here in the University of Waterloo’s Science & Teaching Complex.
Figure Caption: President: Nayla Qureshi, Vice President Internal: Daniel Wang, Vice President of Finance: Sahar Khan, Vice President for Advocacy: Mylena Hail, Secretary: Genevive Bertin, Lab Events Coordinator: Joe Hao, 2+2 Program Coordinator: Wendy Guo, Ambrose Wang, Zhiyu Zhao, Social Media Coordinator: Mya Wong & Ava Holden, Librarian: Jeremy Hoare, Jeremias Damiano, Mechanic: Boom Hemmondharop, First Year Representative: Thomas Schmidt-Bellach, Aneka Mulgund, Davis Trottier)
Event Highlights for 2024
As we look forward to the year ahead, we’re excited to share some highlights from our events from Winter, Spring, and Fall 2024! Each term is packed with opportunities for networking, learning, and engaging with fellow students and faculty. Let’s dive into what took place this year and how our MNS alumni have paved the path to success to our club!
The Materials and Nanosciences Society was invited to the Waterloo Nanotechnology Conference that took place on March 9, 2024. This event provided an excellent opportunity for our executive team to connect with researchers in our field and hear insights from industry professionals.
Each term, MNS Soc hosts a collaborative Student-Prof Night event. In Winter 2024, we teamed up with FemPhys to host at the Graduate House on April 3rd. Professors from both the Departments of Chemistry and Physics joined us for an evening filled with games and engaging conversations. It was a fantastic way to foster connections with faculty and peers outside the classroom!
The highlight of the Winter 2024 term was our Ferrofluid Lab event. Ferrofluid is a unique liquid that contains tiny magnetic particles, which respond to magnetic fields. Nayla Qureshi (Winter 2024 - Vice President Internal) and Joe Hao (Winter 2024 - Vice President of Finance) worked alongside our academic advisor, Professor Rick Marta, to design a non-toxic synthesis procedure, ensuring that students could safely take their creations home after the lab event.
We are incredibly grateful for the support of the Department of Chemistry and would like to extend special thanks to Rick Marta, Julie Goll, Stacey Lavery, Sue Stathopulos, and Vivek Maheshwari for their valuable contributions in making this event a success. If you missed it, we will be running this event once again in the Fall term.
MNS 
Soc organized a fantastic BOND-fire event at Columbia Lake for all the Faculty of Science clubs. A huge thank you to the UW Aviation Society, PhysClub, BSA, BUGS, Watrox, FemPhys, BMSA, UW Astro, SBSA, and PsychSoc for being such wonderful partners! It brought together the Science community to enjoy good company and create lasting memories!
We wrapped up the Spring 2024 term by hosting our Bismuth Crystallization event, where participants had the chance to explore the fascinating world of crystal growth. A special thanks to Sue Stathopulos for allowing us to use her lab.
We’d like to give an honorable mention to Wendy Guo (Spring 2024 - Events Coordinator) for her efforts in connecting with our 2+2 Program students from Beijing Jiaotong University. To welcome them, we decided to host the Bismuth Lab Event for the second time this term. It was a valuable opportunity to network and connect the 2+2 community with domestic students.
MNS Soc kicked things off Fall 2024 with a game night to welcome our first-year students and help them connect with upper-year students and the executive team. It was a fun way to break the ice and foster new friendships within the community.
The MNS 10 Seminar, which is run by the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Physics & Astronomy, features presentations from professors and grad students on various materials science topics, allowing students to connect with researchers, graduate students, and other speakers, some of which happen to be MNS alumni! If you’re interested in presenting and connecting to our students as an alumni, please reach out to Patricia.
As the MNS Society president, one of my main goals was to get MNS Soc re-involved with the MNS 10 Seminar course. In the past, we played a role in organizing it, but over time that connection faded. I really wanted to change that and shift the sessions from biweekly to weekly to help more students participate and hear from professors/grad students in various fields. MNS 10 is such a great opportunity for first year students to hear about opportunities and fields related to our program.
Nayla has worked closely with our program advisor, Rick Marta, to line up speakers and organize research lab visits from both the Faculty of Science and Faculty of Engineering. MNS 10 has had an amazing turn out, with students of all years attending. We would like to thank all the speakers for the Fall 2024 term: Nayla Qureshi & Bastian Perez, Rick Marta, Alexander Li, Saikiran Khamgaonkar, Vivek Maheshwari, Azharuddin Mohammed, Kevin Musselman, Jean Duhamel, Hamed Shahsavan and Jim Martin.
MNS Soc has teamed up with Nanotechnology Engineering Society (NESS). Student and professors form both faculties got a chance to network each other.
