This award provides support for the Graduate Student Symposium to be held at the 259th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; March 24, 2020. The Graduate Student Symposium is organized entirely by graduate students and is held at each ACS National Meeting. The symposium, titled "Smart Materials: From Stimuli to Response," will highlight the fundamental science enabling smart materials discovery, synthesis, processing and application. The symposium will accomplish two primary objectives: to provide a forum for the discussion of the current state of smart materials research and to promote diversity and inclusion in the Chemical and Materials Science and Engineering communities. The symposium will consist of a series of lectures featuring ten speakers with diverse backgrounds who will discuss the underlying principles of smart materials and their applications, as well as a networking session for speakers and attendees. This award supports travel to the ACS National Meeting in Philadelphia for graduate student organizing committee members, ten speakers, and ten undergraduate students, with priority given to undergraduate students from traditionally underrepresented and socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Smart materials are materials that were designed to elicit a particular response when exposed to stimuli such as temperature or light. These responses can be tuned for specific applications. Attendees of this symposium will hear from distinguished speakers whose research collectively includes both the foundational science as well as various applications of smart materials in medicine, renewable energy, wearable electronics, and other burgeoning fields. A primary objective of this symposium is the promotion of diversity in science. The organizers have assembled a diverse list of speakers, and this award will provide travel support to these speakers as well as to undergraduate students from traditionally underrepresented and socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. The symposium will provide the opportunity for students to interact with scientists at all career stages, from fellow undergraduate students to tenured faculty members, with the aim of providing a network of mentorship and support to a broad, diverse pipeline of researchers in Chemistry and Materials Science and Engineering and enhancing the future workforce. This award is co-funded by the Division of Materials Research's Crosscutting Program and the Advanced Manufacturing program in the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
