The objective of this Gordon Research Seminar (seminar) is to match the Gordon Research Conference (conference) to expand the impact to this conference to graduate students, postdoctoral associates, and other junior researchers at comparable experience (young scientists).This seminar will focus on bringing together young scientists from the highly interdisciplinary community of organic electronics and allow them to discuss recent progress and new ideas on their own level.
Intellectual Merit: The intellectual merit is to contribute to the understanding and, in turn, the ability to control the basic current- and light-driven processes in organic materials. The emphasis of the seminar will be on the latest progress and challenges regarding: artificial light-harvesting systems, organic electronics devices, inorganic/organic hybrid nanoscale systems, and especially on the synergy effects between these topics.
Broader Impacts: The broader impacts are that this seminar will not only offer opportunities for new interdisciplinary collaborations among attendees to address future challenges but also it will provide the opportunity for young scientists to substantially increase their benefit from their conference experience. The speakers and discussion leaders will represent the highly interdisciplinary nature of this field with young scientists from chemistry, physics, material science, engineering, and chemical engineering, with both experimental and theoretical approaches. A primary goal of this funding request is to assist young US scientists to be able to participate the seminar and to join this community. The seminar will enhance their research programs and proposals by providing inspiring goals and ideas at the leading edge of the field.
The Gordon Research Seminar on ELECTRONIC PROCESSES IN ORGANIC MATERIALS was held at the Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco Resort, Lucca (Barga), Italy, June 2 – 3, 2012. The Conference was well-attended with 65 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 65 attendees, 11 voluntarily responded to a general inquiry regarding ethnicity which appears on our registration forms. Of the 11 respondents, 0% were Minorities – 0% Hispanic, 0% Asian and 0% African American. Approximately 26% of the participants at the 2012 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.
