This grant provides partial travel support for U.S. students and a limited number of established scientists with unusual financial needs to attend the 19th International Conference on Nucleation and Atmospheric Aerosol (ICNAA) to be held in Fort Collins, Colorado. The intellectual merit of this activity rests in open exchange of the latest research results concerning formation, physical and chemical properties, transformation and cloud-climate impacts of atmospheric aerosol particles. Broader impacts of this support center on offering a unique opportunity for student scientists to share research results and have discussions with an international cross-section of established experts in their respective subdisciplines.
This proposal facilitated the participation of students and researchers with special financial needs in the 19th International Conference on Nucleation and Atmospheric Aerosols (ICNAA), a premier international meeting held every fourth year concerning the formation, physical and chemical properties, transformations and cloud/climate impacts of atmospheric particles. Knowledge regarding the properties and behaviors of particles produced by natural processes and human activities is of vital importance to understanding their fate and impact on human health and on the Earth’s radiation balance and hydrological cycle. The 19th ICNAA was held at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO, from June 24-28, 2013. There were more than 230 attendees from six continents and 27 countries represented. This meeting offered a unique opportunity for selected young scientists to share research results and engage in discussions with an international cross-section of experts. Travel grant awards were made based on submitted application forms, to demonstrate relevance and financial need, which were evaluated by the conference International Advisory Committee. Seventeen registration fee waivers, 15 campus housing stipends, and three airline ticket stipends were awarded. Eleven awards were to Ph.D. level graduate students, two to postdoctoral scientists and three to researchers with special financial need for attending. There was a broad representation of (15) awardees from across the United States, and four international applicants whose personal and national resource support was otherwise insufficient to attend. In the international cases, NSF support augmented support from the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics to guarantee attendance. Fifteen of nineteen award recipients presented oral presentations, and all submitted extended papers published in a cited compendium by the American Institute of Physics. The conference provided international exposure and peer interaction for the award recipients. High retention rates in science of previous award recipients suggest that such award opportunities strongly encourage the professional development and success of young atmospheric scientists.
