The Gaseous Electronics Conference (GEC) is the leading international conference in the science and technology of LTP (Low Temperature Plasmas) combined with collision physics (CP). The conference has been the venue of the first presentations on world leading developments in investigations of LTP and CP topics including lighting and lasers, plasma materials processing of relevance to the semiconductor and photovoltaics industry, and plasma application in biomedicine. The invited speakers represent the world's leading scientists in these fields. The future of any field depends upon attracting bright young people. The GEC has a strong tradition of encouraging and promoting student participation. The GEC has an enviable reputation of being the first conference that many of the leading members of the community presented their first research results as graduate students. This award pays partial travel support for PhD students to attend and present the results of their work at the meeting.
The broader impacts of this proposal include the opportunity for young scientists to attend one of the most important conferences in their field. They will have the opportunity to observe first-hand the scientific and cultural diversity of the field, and establish what will hopefully be career long collaborations with their international counterparts. The GEC makes a special effort to support graduate students who are women and underrepresented minorities.
It is a stated goal of the NSF to broaden the international perspectives of graduate students. This NSF grant was to support student travel to the 2012 Gaseous Electronics Conference (GEC) held in Austin Texas in Oct 2012. NSF provided $ 10,000 to support student travel to the conference and all of the funds were utilized in for the purpose. The process for a student to receive travel support was as follows. A student’s advisor nominated one of his/her students for travel assistance. Each nomination for GEC student travel assistance was accompanied by an abstract of the student’s research to be presented at the conference. Each student received $600 towards deferring overall conference expenses. To receive the support, all students submitted conference-related receipts up to the value of their award (e.g. for hotel, conference registration, flights or meals). A total of 13 US student were supported directly by the NSF award. A remainder from the NSF award was used to support student related expenses within the conference. For example, student awards, student poster material purchase, etc. The broader impacts of this support included the opportunity for young scientists to attend one of the most important conferences in their field. They had the opportunity to observe first-hand the scientific and cultural diversity of the field, and establish what will hopefully be career long collaborations with their international counterparts.
