This travel grant is support for The US-India Chemical Engineering Conference and Workshop on Energy and Sustainability, to be held in Chandigarh, India, December 28-30, 2008.
Intellectual Merit: The primary goal of The US-India Chemical Engineering Conference and Workshop on Energy and Sustainability, is to promote interactions between academia, industry and government from India and the United States on frontier topics in energy and sustainability. Energy is important to all sectors of the world economy. Concerns about rapidly depleting crude oil supplies amidst growing global demand for energy have spurred research and development aimed at developing sustainable and affordable alternate sources of energy. Given that energy powers the businesses and industries that create jobs and enable trade around the world, the aforementioned energy challenges are foremost in the strategic science and technology initiatives of the U.S. and Indian governments.
The joint conference will focus on traditional, non-traditional and future sustainable sources of energy as follows: (1) Oil and Natural Gas, Petroleum; (2) Coal; (3) Bioenergy; (4) Hydrogen & Fuel Cells; (5) Solar Energy; (6) Nuclear Energy; and (7) Wind, Geothermal, and others. In each topical area, there will be invited lectures by experts from both countries. Specifically, the conference will provide a unique forum for scientists and engineers in academia, industry and government from both countries to discuss the following aspects: (i) the many energy-related grand challenges facing the global community, including economic and sociopolitical issues; (ii) ongoing energy-related research activities in academia, industry and government laboratories, and (iii) particularly in the Workshop, discussion of future research needs aimed at developing mutually beneficial collaborations.
Broader Impact:
Conference participants will benefit from state-of-the-art reviews and presentations by leading experts, by exchanging the latest advances on frontier research subjects relating to energy and sustainability, and by debating controversial points with their peers. The meeting will provide an opportunity for interaction and cooperation among the academic, industrial and government researchers, from India and the U.S. The award of travel funds and registration subsidy are expected to especially attract young researchers, including women and minority, to the meeting who may otherwise be unable to attend. These young researchers will have an opportunity to interact with each other and with experienced researchers in the field, which will positively influence their professional development.
By placing emphasis on problems related to energy and sustainability, the knowledge disseminated in the joint conference and workshop will benefit society at large. It is expected that the lectures and the workshop will stimulate many collaborative investigations on these topics.
