Technical. An international symposium on functional pi-electron systems (F-pi-9) will be held at the Georgia Institute of Technology, May 23-28, 2010. The goal of the symposium is to provide a forum that attracts a diverse audience to learn about state-of-the-art research in the area of functional pi-electron systems. The idea is to promote discussions of broad applications of functional pi-electron systems covering fundamental aspects of chemistry, physics, and materials research, and to provide exposure to technology drivers and biologically important systems that are often neglected at more specialized conferences on displays, organic photovoltaics, and nonlinear optics. Non-technical. An important impact of this conference will be to increase the attendance of scientists and students from underrepresented groups. Strong efforts will be made to improve the inclusion of women and minorities in fields related to chemistry, physics and materials science of electronic and photonic materials. Along with the opportunity to assess the field and future directions, it is expected that new ties will be established among universities, research institutions, and industry. The requested NSF funds will be used to support the registration of women and under-represented minority researchers or faculty members who are professors at a minority serving institution and who will bring minority students with them to the conference. The symposium is co-supported by the MPS Divisions of Chemistry [MSN (Macromolecular/Supramolecular/Nanochemistry) Program] and Materials Research [EPM (Electronic and Photonic Materials) Program].
More than 500 participants from across the world gathered on the Georgia Tech campus for the 9th International Symposium on Functional π?Electron Systems (F?π?9), May 23 ?28, 2010. The conference was organized by Professor Seth R. Marder and Jean?Luc E. Brédas, aided by the local organizing committee of professors Uwe Bunz, Ron Chance, David Collard, Bernard Kippelen, Joe Perry, Elsa Reichmanis, and Laren Tolbert. The conference was organized by COPE’s Veronique Bredas assisted by Distance Learning and Professional Education (DLPE). The symposium started with a welcoming reception on Sunday evening at the MoSE Building and continued on Monday morning at the Ferst Center for the Arts where Keynote Speaker Roger Tsien (Nobel Laureate 2008, University of California, San Diego, USA) kicked?off four days of lectures, discussions, and poster sessions. The international forum provided researchers with an opportunity to discuss their new research and results in the context of conjugated polymer/oligomer synthesis, organic semiconductor materials, and photovoltaic and electroactive materials and devices. The conference included plenary lectures from: Zhenan Bao, Stanford University, USA Paul Burn, University of Queensland, Australia Mario Leclerc, Université Laval, Canada Hiroyuki Isobe, Tohoku University, Japan Bert Meijer, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands And Invited Speakers: Chihaya Adachi, Kyushu University, Japan Harry Anderson, Oxford University, UK Chantal Andraud, ENS Lyon, France Ana Arias, Xerox PARC, USA Peter Bäuerle, University of Ulm, Germany David Beljonne, University of Mons, Belgium Fabio Biscarini, ISMN Bologna, Italy Graciela Blanchet, DuPont, USA Bong Rae Cho, Korea University, Korea Paulette Clancy, Cornell University, USA Eugenio Coronado, University of Valencia, Spain Xavier Crispin, Linköping University, Sweden Luisa DeCola, University of Münster, Germany Dennis Dougherty, California Institute of Technology, USA Antonio Facchetti, Polyera Inc., USA Richard Friend, University of Cambridge, UK Dan Frisbie, University of Minnesota, USA, Robert Haddon, University of California at Riverside, USA Samson Jenekhe, University of Washington, USA Emil List, Graz University of Technology, Austria Christine Luscombe, University of Washington, USA George Malliaras, Cornell University, USA Jenny Nelson, Imperial College London, UK Greg Scholes, University of Toronto, Canada Natalie Stingelin?Stutzmann, Imperial College London, UK Timothy Swager, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA Kazuo Takamiya, Hiroshima University, Japan Luisa Torsi, University of Bari, Italy Scott Watkins, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Australia Xiaowei Zhan, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Xi Zhang, Tsinghua University, China The conference also had over 300 contributed talks and posters. Representatives from various societies and journals attended the conference including from the American Chemical Society, Royal Society of Chemistry, Nature Chemistry and Nature Materials which published a short article highlighting the conference. This years award winners were: 1st Prize, Chemical Science, Egle Puodziukynaite, University of Florida; 2nd Prize, Journal of Materials Chemistry, Roland Gresser, TU Dresden; 3rd Prize, Polymer Chemistry, Christiane Falkenberg, TU Dresden; Chemical Communications, Thomas Holcombe, University of California, Berkeley; Chemical Society Reviews, Elena Galán, University of Zaragoza, Spain (spent 6 weeks in the Marder group). NSF support allowed the organizers to increase the participation of women and under?represented minorities attending the conference through travel and registration grants. The International Advisory Board unanimously adopted guidelines for participation to the International Advisory Board, which will ensure that is has a diverse representation in the future. The F?π?10 Conference will be held in Beijing, China, ct. 13? 17, 2011.
