This proposal requests funds to support a national workshop on Nanoscale Science and Technology for Forensics which will be held in Brooklyn, NY on August 28-29, 2011. The funds are for travel and subsistence for students and leading experts to participate in the workshop.
Intellectual Merit: The workshop will assemble will bring together key experts from nanotechnology areas (optoelectronics, materials, fabrication, engineering and medicine) to focus on applications in forensic science. This multidisciplinary meeting will advance identification of future research needs and will promote new collaborations. The workshop goals are to determine: (i) the primary forensic sensing and characterization requirements; (ii) the most difficult science and engineering challenges to be overcome; and, (iii) the potential advantages that nanotechnology offers. The organization of this workshop leverages the expertise of researchers from universities, government agencies, and industry across the U.S. and the international community.
Broader impact: The workshop will provide a special forum for leading experts to review the most important breakthroughs in nanotechnology and the potential impact in forensics. It will help to establish future programs for training graduate and undergraduate students to become the next generation of forensic scientists and engineers. The workshop includes a special program to increase the participation of student and postdoctoral researchers from the area of forensic sciences. A special effort has been made to include student attendees from underrepresented groups as well as minority institutions. This combined forensic science and nanotechnology meeting will build new bridges in areas related to sensing and characterization.
A workshop on "Nanoscale Science & Technology for Forensics" was held on the campus of the Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-POLY), Brooklyn, NY during the period August 28-29, 2011. It's purpose included bringing together experts from the traditional areas of the forensic sciences (e.g., legacy forensic science, forensic enabled intelligence, forensic authentication of records and historical materials) and experts from the transitional areas of nanoscale science and technology (e.g., nano-optoelectronics, nanomaterials, nanofabrication, nanoengineering and nanomedicine). As envisioned this multidisciplinary meeting would be able to collectively identify: (i) the leading forensic-type sensing and characterization requirements for the future; (ii) the most difficult science and engineering challenging that prevent these type of capabilities from being realized today; and, (iii) the potential roles and contributions that nanoscale science and technology will be able to contribute to these problems. This grant was used for the primary purpose of increasing the participation of student and postdoctoral researchers from the area of forensic sciences, and covered items such as registration waivers, hotel costs and travel to the conference. Thirteen attendees received support for this conference. Their research activities are summarized in the abstracts that were included in the final report. A brief narrative submitted by several of these attendees of the significance of the conference for their work is included as part of the final report.
