This proposal requests travel funding for the 13th Properties and Phase Equilibria for Product and Process Design (PPEPPD) international conference to be held in May 26-30 2013, in Iguazu Falls, Argentina. The topics of the Conference include Fundamentals of Thermodynamics and Phase Equilibria, Transport Properties, Surfaces and Interfaces, Quantum Calculations and Molecular Simulations. Processing and Applications will focus on agrochemicals and biomass, new oil and gas processing challenges, renewable energy, product and process engineering, novel reaction and separation technology, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, biological systems, food processing, materials, nanoscience and nanotechnology, and environment, sustainability and risk management.
The funds will support young research workers (approximately 12) who would otherwise not be able to attend, as well as presenters of invited lectures and members of the international organizing committee (5 individuals). No request is made for local expenses, meeting organization costs, or for non-US participants. These conferences have provided excellent forums for fruitful discussions on curriculum issues among faculty of the participating countries. In addition to the personal contacts that the U.S. participants will make with people from the other countries, it will be beneficial to U.S. interests to foster exchanges of research and teaching ideas and of personnel, and establish research collaborations between chemical engineers from the U.S. and those from the emerging centers of expertise around the world. American participation is essential for making contributions to the general knowledge base, for becoming aware of the progress made by other parts of the globe, and for fostering international collaborations. Significant efforts will be made to include both young and underrepresented faculty in the group of U.S. participants. The conferences especially encourage senior members of the profession to interact with younger scientists and graduate students.
The purpose of this grant was to pay partial travel support (i.e., just airfare) for three faculty speakers and nine young workers (graduate students and post-doctoral researchers) to attend the 2013 international conference on Properties and Phase Equilibria for Product and Process Design (PPEPPD) that was held on May 26-30 2013, in Iguazu Falls, Argentina. This conference was the thirteenth conference in the series and the first to be held in South America. One of the primary goals of PPEPPD is to provide interaction between academics, government researchers and industrial representatives worldwide on how molecular thermodynamics (experimental and computation) can benefit real world industrial product and process design. There is full agreement that this series of conferences is unique in providing the highly desirable interactions between these groups to meet this goal. The meetings are the most important gatherings for molecular thermodynamicists from all over the world. The meeting in Iguazu Falls consisted of the Prausnitz Award Lecture, one Keynote Lecture, nine invited lectures, 19 other oral presentations, 147 poster presentations, and two workshops (Properties of Non-Conventional Oil and Gas Resources and Molecular Simulations for Industrial Applications). The greater than 200 delegates came from North America, South America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, with good representation from both academia and industry. The conference venue provided excellent opportunities for both formal and informal professional interactions.
