This award partially supports the 6th International Conference on Nanochannels, Microchannels and Minichannels, which will be held at the Technische Universitaet in Darmstadt, Germany, on June 23 - 25, 2008. The purpose of this meeting is to continue this important series of international meetings that are focused on the emerging field of small-scale channel flow and transport processes.
With respect to the intellectual merit of the conference, fluid flow and heat and mass transport in confined channels, ranging from millimeter-size channels down to nanometer-sized channels, is an increasingly important area of research. Pertinent applications include photonics, heat exchangers, micro turbines, and lab-on-a-chip devices. This series of meetings has brought together an interdisciplinary group of researchers, from around the world. The importance of this topic has been recognized by several major journals, including the ASME Journal of Heat Transfer, the AIP Journal of Biomicrofluidics, and Nanofluidics and Microfluidics, which have agreed to publish special volumes containing some of the conference papers, provided enough papers are accepted at the meeting.
The broader impacts of the conference include an active engagement of undergraduate and graduate students. A novel Students? Forum will be organized and run by students at the meeting. In addition, a number of women and underrepresented minorities will take part in the meeting, and will receive partial financial support from this award. Given the international flavor and venue, all the participants will benefit from interactions with their colleagues from around the world.
