The proposed activity will support the 2016 Summer Biomechanics, Biotransport and Bioengineering Conference (SB3C2016). The SBC meetings are generally considered the premiere annual meetings for biomechanics. The primary purpose of the meeting is to promote state-of-the-art research, collaboration, and international scientific discourse in the broad field of bioengineering with focus on biomechanics, biotechnology, biotransport, biomaterials, tissue engineering, rehabilitation and design. The organizing committee for SB3C2015 is drawn from individuals in academia and the industry with significant experience in running the previous summer meetings. The meeting and its precursor meetings have traditionally provided a high-quality, multidisciplinary biomedical engineering event since early 90's and contributed to training of many generations of academics and researchers. Notably, the summer meetings series has, since its inception, prioritized the integration of students into the meeting to support their professional development and future connection to the biomechanics, biotransport and bioengineering research community; for many years, students have made up more than 50% of attendees and presenters. The theme of this year's meeting is "Impact of Biomechanics on Healthcare". In addition to the direct impact this conference will have on the mainstream bioengineering community, it serves an important cross-fertilization role, since attendees are drawn from a very broad range of disciplines beyond the biomechanics community.
The aims of the project is to sponsor travel fellowships and a mentoring/advancement workshop for females and under-represented minorities; and, to sponsor the prestigious Student Paper Competition by covering the meeting attendance costs of the 36 Ph.D. finalists. Finalists and winners in the student paper competition can add this information to their resumes, and the competition provides an opportunity for students to develop as researchers and is a significant career boost, enhancing retention of the most talented students and providing role models for all student attendees. Through the technical proceedings and conference web site, information presented at the meeting will be available to multiple societies and to the public at large. Further, the conference has historically had, and is expected to continue to have more than 50% of the attendees being students and postdoctoral fellows and more than 25% female attendees. For the first time, the organization committee has been extended to include a Diversity Chair. Though the travel fellowships and workshops, the PI plans to establish this meeting as the "go to" conference for female and under-represented minority attendees.
