This award supports a conference for staff of the NSF-funded Centers for Chemical Innovation. This conference was initiated by CCI center staff to maximize the impact that the individual centers have in terms of research, innovation, education, public outreach and broadening participation of underrepresented groups. The meeting will take place February 27-29, 2012, in Anaheim CA.
The Centers for Chemical Innovation (CCI) is an NSF program through the Division of Chemistry that supports research centers focused on major, long-term fundamental chemical research challenges. The CCI Program supports both Phase I (development) awards and Phase II (full Center implementation) awards. These centers respond to the science priority areas such as sustainability, molecular electronics, molecular imaging and the chemistry-life science interface with transformative research directions. Additionally, these centers actively integrate research, innovation, education, knowledge transfer, technology transfer, and public outreach and include a plan to broaden participation of underrepresented groups. This project funded a 3-day conference, the first CCI-wide conference, to give the five NSF-funded Phase II CCI staff, managing directors and outreach/education coordinators the opportunity for professional development, to share and develop best practices, and to advance strategic informal science education (ISE) activities within and among the CCIs. The conference included professional development opportunities; a workshop on theory and organizational behavior; overviews of each center; networking opportunities; information on advancing informal science education, outreach, and broadening participation of underrepresented groups in the CCIs; and a tour of an NSF-funded informal science exhibit. In a post-conference survey, most attendees replied that they were "very statisfied" with the conference. Lessons learned were brought back to be implemented in each center and working relationships were initiated among all the CCIs.
