The proposal requests partial support for young physicists to attend either of the two sequential 44th Rencontres de Moriond conferences: (1) Electroweak Interactions and Unified Theories and (2) QCD and High Energy Hadronic Interactions. The first conference (March 7-14, 2009) addresses Electroweak Interactions and Unified Theories. The subjects are Flavor Physics, Astroparticles and Dark Matter Searches, Neutrino Physics, new particle searches, Theories beyond the Standard Model, and Precision tests of the Standard Model. The second conference (March 14-21, 2009) addresses Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) and High Energy Hadronic Interactions. The topics to be covered include new physics and associated phenomenology, search for the Higgs boson, production and decay of b and c quarks, properties of the top quark, high PT physics at the Tevatron and LHC, commissioning of LHC detectors, recent developments in QCD, new theoretical developments in particle physics, Small x, saturation and forward and spin physics and Heavy Ion collisions. Both conferences will take place in La Thuile, Aosta Valley, Italy. The funds will be used for travel and registration expenses for young scientists, primarily post-docs and un-tenured assistant professors.
