The 18th International Conference on Cold Fusion (ICCF-18) started today with a special meet-and-greet reception. Robert Duncan, Physics Professor and Vice-Chancellor for Research at the University of Missouri began the event with just a few welcoming remarks. He then introduced a local Columbia City Councilman from the 2nd Ward Michael Trapp who was attending the event and spoke in support of the school’s research in this area of condensed matter nuclear science (CMNS).

It seemed like less than 10 minutes, and then, everybody was free to get a plate of food and mingle.

The talent in the room was stunning. Major figures of research going back twenty-four years are all together to hash out the latest.

I went around the room introducing myself to the participants, telling them about our film we are making and asking them if they’d speak with me on camera about their work. We lined up alot of interviews, though most will be on-the-fly due to the super-tight schedule.

I chatted with Akito Takahashi and Akira Kitamura who will be presenting their work this week, both experimental and theoretical. I met Sunwon Park and Frank Gordon who organized last year’s ICCF-17.

It was a great pleasure to briefly meet Charles Beaudette, author Excess Heat: Why Cold Fusion Research Prevailed, one of the great books on the field.

I cannot name all the people I met, so forgive me for leaving most of them out.

However, it was very exciting to also meet the crew of the Martin Fleischmann Memorial Project’s (MFMP) Bob Greenyer and Robert Ellefson. Representatives of this ever-growing group are presenting their new cell design tomorrow (Monday), a design made by Ellefson, whom I had previously met at the San Jose screening of The Believers movie.

Here’s some great audio with these two passionate experimentalists and inventors.

We will be getting video of the lectures tomorrow, and lots more photos, too.