The Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) Annual Meeting will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, on October 17-20, 2018. This award will fund several competitive travel grant programs as well as professional development activities targeted at underrepresented groups and those that may not otherwise be able to participate in the conference. The competitive travel grant programs include: students (12), career development awards for underrepresented post-doctoral trainees and young professionals, including junior faculty (25); and National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) members interested in biomedical engineering who have not previously been BMES members (30). In addition, funding is sought for a High School Visitation program for students from Atlanta high schools that do not have enhanced Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programs and targeting underrepresented groups. The meeting will feature 19 Program Tracks with the theme "Celebrating 50 Years of Innovation: From Discovery to Implementation." Approximately 800 oral presentations, 1600 poster presentations and over 4,000 participants are anticipated. The BMES Annual Meeting serves as a primary vehicle for scientific sharing and dissemination of the latest advances in biomedical engineering, as well as a facilitator of important cross-fertilizations between the life sciences and engineering technologies, which foster a multi-disciplinary approach in the practice of Biomedical Engineering. The travel awards will afford the opportunity for young investigators and investigators from underrepresented groups to attend the Annual Meeting, be informed on the latest scientific and technological advances in Biomedical Engineering, and help support BMES members involved in research and training focused on health disparities and minority health. The partnership with NSBE is specifically targeted at supporting underrepresented engineers with an interest in biomedical engineering.
The overall aims of this award are to support the professional development of students and underrepresented groups. Through a series of travel awards, a high school visitation program, and poster awards, this grant will provide opportunities for increased diversity among the meeting attendees and participation in the meeting's networking and diversity activities. BMES is the premier biomedical engineering conference in the United States, covering all areas within the broad discipline. It brings together researchers with backgrounds in engineering and biomedical science to discuss the latest advances in the field and support the professional development of the next generation of biomedical engineers.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
