The field of femtosecond chemistry is having a major scientific and technological impact, allowing new insights to be gained in reactions of widely varying types, and providing new instrumentation that enables the study and analysis of species in the gas phase, as particulates, and ones in the condensed state. Developments in the field are even of value in advanced areas of the detection of chemical and biological materials. "Femtochemistry" has become a major conference series that discusses all of these topics in depth, and the next one will deal with issues ranging from chemistry to biology. The seventh conference will be held in Washington, D.C. during the period July 17-22, 2005 and is the first of the series to be held in the United States.
Femtochemistry VII is a conference series that had it's beginnings in 1993 in Berlin and has developed to be a major one devoted to this subject. As seen from the attached program, a wide range of subjects will be discussed which have direct relevance to many areas of science and technology. These include ones ranging from nanoscale materials to surface and interfaces, biophysics and combustion science. Among an expected attendance of about 250, we anticipate 20 to 25 students. Young people are the future of the field and this conference will provide them with an opportunity to learn about emerging areas of research and to interact with most of the prominent researchers in the field. Five of the invited participants are women who serve as role models in the field; we will endeavor to attract minorities and women, as well as young scientists, to attend and present their findings through poster presentations. This is a self funded conference with no connection to a society or other sources of funding. We project that the conference will cost approximately $277,000 to conduct, with only about $107,000 coming from registration fees. Hence we must raise approximately $170,000 additional monies to finance this meeting.
As detailed in the budget, we are requesting $20,000 to help make this Femtochemistry VII meeting a great success and allow us to partially support the expenses of both emerging and prominent invited speakers. Attending Femtochemistry VII will provide an opportunity to present their latest findings including both scientific and technological developments and to discuss directions in which this field is evolving in the US and in other countries.
Details of the meeting agenda, justification for the requested financial support, as well as the projected budget for the conference are provided in this document. Please see our web site www.chem.psu.edu/conferences/femto7/ for more details about the meeting.
