This travel grant proposal seeks funding to stimulate the participation of U.S. students in the North American Membrane Society's (NAMS) 2007 national meeting. The funding would be used to provide partial support of travel and related expenses associated with students attending the conference. The objective is to encourage student participation in the largest American meeting focused on this subject, to provide opportunities for them to present their work, meet other scientists and engineers from around the world with similar interests, and see state-of-the-art presentations from other research groups working in this area.
The intellectual merit of the proposal is that the funding will be used to help disseminate knowledge about state-of-the-art research in membrane science and engineering from around the world to students. NAMS is the premier meeting for students and engineers in the American membrane community, and this technology represents one of the fastest growing separations techniques. It is widely used in the chemical, petrochemical, food processing, food packaging, medical and pharmaceutical industries. The most respected and accomplished membrane scientists and engineers from around the world will participate in this meeting. The conference is being organized by Isabel Escobar, Cristiano Borges and Glenn Lispcomb, who also receive input and guidance from an experienced organizing committee and the NAMS board of directors regarding the subject matter and organization of the meeting. In addition to NSF resources, funds are being solicited from industry, the Office of Naval Research, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to support student participation in the meeting, so the NSF funds would be well leveraged.
The broader impacts of the proposed meeting sponsorship would allow U.S. graduate students to attend the most important meeting in the U.S. on membrane science and technology. In addition to 22 technical sessions, an extensive student program has been developed to foster the professional development of the next generation of membrane researchers. Four workshops are being planned, and they would provide an additional venue for students to receive intensive, tutorial training in key fundamental and developing areas of membrane science and technology. The NSF funding would provide partial travel support for 10 students to attend this meeting, and will be available to students of all genders and ethnicity and from any part of the U.S. Applications received from students with disabilities will be encouraged. Student participation in this meeting will enhance the infrastructure for research by giving students access to leading scientists and engineers from around the world in the technical sessions and in the workshops. Students will also have extensive opportunities to network with potential employers and with students and faculty from other research groups with similar interests. Society would benefit from this activity by having better trained, more knowledgeable graduate students prepared to push the frontiers of this unique enabling technology in a wide variety of applications.
