This project will support the 2008 ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference which will be held on Marco Island, FL during June 25-29, 2008. The Summer Bioengineering Conference is a high quality, multidisciplinary annual biomedical engineering event sponsored by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers-Bioengineering Division (ASME-BED). This year's Conference is also cosponsored by several other well-recognized societies such as the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (IEEE EMBS), the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), and the American Society of Biomechanics (ASB). This conference brings together all of the different bioengineering communities including topics such as cell and molecular engineering, tissue engineering, functional tissue engineering, etc. This year, there will be the ?Nerem Symposium?, which will honor the contributions of Dr. Robert Nerem to the field of bioengineering and to the ASME Bioengineering Division. The second symposium will be the ?Nano and Multiscale Frontiers in Biological Heat and Mass Transfer Symposium?.
A hallmark of this meeting is the interaction and true integration of rigorous engineering principles and biologic concepts. The conference format will be 6 parallel sessions of oral presentations. Approximately 1/3rd to half of the accepted papers will be presented in poster format. All technical presentations will be two-page extended abstracts and compiled in a CD format, distributed to all registrants. Copies of this CD will also be provided to all co-sponsoring societies. The CD will serve as the only technical proceedings of the meeting.
In addition to the direct impact this conference will have on the mainstream bioengineering community, this meeting will serve an important cross-fertilization role. Bioengineers, engineers from other disciplines, cell and molecular biologists, biochemists, biophysicists, and other scientists are expected to participate in the meeting. More than 40% of the attendees will be students. This will provide a broad impact for the current times as well as for the future as these students will benefit by participation in the meeting and through the material presented by the plenary speakers and workshops. Furthermore, through the CD containing technical proceedings and conference web site, information presented at the meeting will be available to multiple societies and to the public at large. The NSF support will be used to aid in reducing student registration fees, partial funding for the student travel and to cover in part the publication costs of the program booklet and CD.
