9706812 Galletti Partial support is requested for the International Society for Artificial Organs conference to be held June 29-July 1, 1997 in Providence, RI. Funding from the Foundation would be used for travel and conference fee support for up to ten graduate students. The meeting is expected to help the U.S. meet new challenges in the development of artificial internal organs, viz. The need to establish a strong engineering design basis for devices expected to perform for increasingly longer periods of time. The need to sustain bioengineering innovation in the U.S. academic community and to transfer that knowledge to American industry for R & D related to medical devices. The need to consider simultaneously technological, economic and ethical issues in the distribution of health care resources. The need to attract women and under-represented minorities to a field which already employs a large number of bioengineering graduates. It is expected that new innovative and proactive interactions will develop among the groups participating in the meeting. The young scientists to be supported by NSF funds will have an excellent opportunity themselves to engage in such interactions; a special session is planned wherein the students can meet with their peers. Abstracts of presentations at the meeting are to published in an Abstract Volume that will constitute a regular issue of Artificial Organs, the official journal of the International Society for Artificial Organs.
