Intellectual merit. This proposal requests partial funding to organize a Workshop on the Future of Carbon Nanoscience and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This short course aims to introduce the graduate and undergraduate students in the New England region to the new properties and possibilities of graphene, a single monolayer of carbon atoms with unsurpassed transport properties. It will bring together world experts in graphene science and technology and it will foster student participation.
Broader Impact. The proposed short course on graphene electronics will provide student participants with an opportunity to gain exposure to the new material graphene, its basic physics and potential engineering applications. The timing of this workshop is ideal for this generation of students to learn how the new science and technology of graphene is developing. These lessons will be useful beyond graphene, as these students will be able to apply them to any future new materials and technologies that they will encounter during their career. Special effort will be made to involve female and minority students in the short course by advertisement and active recruitment.
This grant provided partial funding for the organization of a Workshop on the Future of Carbon Science and Engineering. The Workshop was held on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on December 3rd, 2010. The workshop was very well attended, with more than 100 participants including students, academic and industry researchers, policy makers and the general public. In this workshop, attendees discussed recent advances in the field of materials and devices based on carbon (mainly graphene and carbon nanotubes), as well as the important implications of this research area in science, environmental and energy policy. Two additional presentations gave an overview of other technologies that could play an important role in future energy research: gallium nitride semiconductor materials and devices, and thermoelectrics. The workshop also included two panel discussions. The first one highlighted the importance of international collaborations in modern science and engineering, while the second was focused on mentoring and identifying relevant role models to help students get into a successful career path in science and engineering. In summary, it is expected that this workshop will provide an important reference for future carbon research at the same time that it has exposed undergraduate and graduate students to world-class researchers who have shared with them advice on career development.
