This award is for partial support of the Gordon Research Conference (GRC) and Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) on Tribology, to be held 25-28 July 2014 at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts. Tribology - the study of friction, lubrication, and wear - is essential to technological applications with moving parts, from large machineries and cars, to medical implants, to micro-mechanical mirrors in projectors. Regular meetings of the key researchers in this field are necessary for the exchange of ideas, information, and state-of-the-art technologies, in order to enable and accelerate advances and breakthroughs the field. The Gordon Conference is a key mechanism for linking the basic sciences with an engineering discipline of significant importance to the US and world economies. This GRC is held biannually and offers an interesting, even unique, forum for the open exchange of new and previously unpublished scientific ideas. In addition to poster presentations, the conference includes presentations and extended discussion and interactions among participants. This forum has been responsible for the generation and incubation of breakthrough and truly transformative ideas in a wide variety of topical areas. An important aspect of the 2014 conference is the addition of the Gordon Research Seminar, which is a forum for students and early-career researchers to exchange ideas in an informal but dynamic setting.
NSF support of this GRC will enable the participation of junior participants, including graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and early career faculty members, funding a total of 27 participants (12 for the Gordon Research Conference and 15 for the Gordon Research Seminar), and 15 travel grants for the Gordon Research Seminar.
The Gordon Research Conference on Tribology was held at Bentley University, Waltham, MA July 20-25th, 2014. The Conference was well-attended with 153 participants (attendees list attached). The attendees represented the spectrum of endeavor in this field coming from academia, industry, and government laboratories, both U.S. and foreign scientists, senior researchers, young investigators, and students. Of the 153 attendees, 57 voluntarily responded to a general inquiry regarding ethnicity which appears on our registration forms. Of the 57 respondents, 22% were Minorities – 4% Hispanic, 16% Asian and 2% African American. Approximately 25% of the participants at the 2014 meeting were women. The accompanying Gordon Research Seminar on Tribology was held at Bentley University, Waltham, MA, July 19-20th, 2014. The Seminar was well-attended with 55 participants (attendees list attached). Gordon Research Seminars are a new series of highly successful and unique meetings that enable young researchers to share in the GRC experience. Each seminar is held in conjunction with a related GRC and begins the weekend immediately prior to the GRC. This was the first GRS held in conjunction with the Tribology GRC. Graduate students, post-docs, and other scientists with comparable levels of experience and education came together in an environment designed to be highly-stimulating and non-intimidating to discuss their current research and build networks with their peers to lead to a lifetime of collaboration and scientific achievement. The seminar was organized by two young investigators with the support of the chair and co-chair of the associated GRC. The vast majority of the GRS participants participated in the following GRC. Of the 55 attendees, 14 voluntarily responded to a general inquiry regarding ethnicity which appears on our registration forms. Of the 14 respondents, 29% were Minorities – 0% Hispanic, 0% Asian and 29% African American. Approximately 29% of the participants at the 2014 meeting were women. In designing the formal speakers program, emphasis was placed on current unpublished research and discussion of the future target areas in this field. There was a conscious effort to stimulate lively discussion about the key issues in the field today. Time for formal presentations was limited in the interest of group discussions. In order that more scientists could communicate their most recent results, poster presentation time was scheduled. Attached is a copy of the formal schedule and speaker program and the poster program. In addition to these formal interactions, "free time" was scheduled to allow informal discussions. Such discussions are fostering new collaborations and joint efforts in the field.
