This award supports the participation of American scientists in a U.S.-Japan joint seminar on science and technology issues in the area of nanoscale thermophysics and energy conversion to be held in Matsushima, Japan. The co-organizers are Professor Pamela Norris at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Professor Taku Ohara at Tohoku University in Sendai and Ken Okazaki at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan. Both the US and Japan are deeply committed to nanotechnology. Exploration, understanding, and control of physical phenomena at the nanometer scales have received intense attention in recent years. Research has shown ample evidence that when inorganic materials such as metals, semiconductors, and ceramics are nanostructures in the 1-100 nm range, they exhibit unique physical properties that are not found in bulk or even microstrutured materials. In the realm of organic materials, it is quite apparent that proteins and nucleic acids that are only 1-10 nm in width have unique biological functions, which are now slowly being unraveled. Designing microdevices that analyze biomolecules through their reaction with specific receptors or through electrically or fluidically driven transport is an important aspect of biotechnology. To facilitate research in this area, the National Nanotechnology Initiative was started by the US government as a major research thrust. Although a lot of effort in the past has been directed towards understanding the electronic and materials behavior of nanostructures, the thermophysics of nanostructures and nanodevices as well as biomolecular transport phenomena in micro/nanodevices have not receive comparable attention.
The co-organizers have complementary scientific expertise in the field. This enables them to evaluate and attract the best science and engineering researchers to participate. The Japanese scientists lead the field of molecular simulation of nanoscale transport phenomena and the US scientists lead much of the experimental efforts, which are required for model validation. However, this gap has decreased over the years and it is hoped that this meeting will continue to utilize the great strengths of both groups to advance the science of nanoscale themophysics and energy conversion. The seminar organizers have made a special effort to involve young professors, postdocs, graduate students and undergraduate students as both participants and observers. The exchange of ideas and data with Japanese experts in the field will enable U.S. participants to advance their own work, and will set the stage for future collaborative projects. Following the seminar the organizers plan to establish a workshop web page. It is also anticipated that conference proceedings will be published in "Microscale Thermophysical Engineering."
