This award from the Synthesis Program will support a "Workshop on Organic Synthesis and Natural Products Chemistry." This workshop has the dual purpose of providing an effective forum for informal discussion among young academic and industrial scientists on current research in topical areas of organic synthesis and natural products, and assisting the Program staff in identifying emerging areas and researchers. This process, in turn, will aid the Program in long-range planning. The specific goals of the workshop include: 1) Providing an environment for the dynamic exchange of ideas in organic synthesis, natural products, and bioorganic chemistry. 2) Encouraging an attitude of cooperation among individuals working in related areas, and thereby, avoiding duplicative efforts. 3) Stimulating participants to study new problems and methods in synthetic and natural products chemistry. 4) Improving awareness of potentially valuable applications of new methods and strategies in synthesis. 5) Increasing diversity at high-level meetings. 6) Creating an atmosphere in which the scientific and social interaction among participants will be both stimulating and pleasant.
For the past 40+ years the NSF has sponsored a workshop, which in the beginning was devoted to the synthesis of Natural products, that has now expanded to encompass many areas of organic and inorganic chemistry. The workshop has been held once per year and hosts roughly 20 participants. The three organizers of the conference are generally senior faculty members and the majority of the remaining participants are pre-tenure academics. Although the latter are typically from research universities in the United States, each year the workshop includes participants from undergraduate teaching institutions and industry. The workshop provides a casual environment in which the participants present their recent research in a 'chalk-talk' fashion. The presentations are informal and discussions with the audience are encouraged and occur in abundance throughout each presentation. Talks are scheduled in the mornings and evenings with time set aside in the afternoon for the participants to interact. This workshop provides an excellent opportunity for young academics to establish strong ties with their contemporaries and also interact with representatives from the NSF. During the term of this current award, 71 researchers attended workshops that were held in Colorado, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. In post meeting surveys, this workshop is often described as the "best meeting ever attended". Interestingly, this description still resonates with researchers who participated in the workshop decades before.
