This grant supports partial travel expenses of international speakers in the Symposium Simulation of Hybrid Interfaces and Multi-Component Polymeric Materials, hosted by the Division of Polymeric Materials Science and Engineering (PMSE) and by the Division of Computers in Chemistry (COMP) at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), August 22-26, 2010, in Boston, MA.
Intellectual Merit
The purpose of the symposium is to provide a forum for U.S. chemical engineers, materials scientists, and chemists with computational and experimental backgrounds to meet their international counterparts in Europe and Asia to exchange knowledge about latest advancements and research ideas in the area of simulation of (bio)organic-inorganic interfaces and polymeric materials. Interactions among the participants and the general audience will provide opportunities for international collaboration. The symposium consists of 16 invited and nine contributed presentations organized in four half-day sessions.
Broader Impacts
The symposium particularly aims at better understanding of ionic, ion-dipole, dipole-dipole, hydrogen bonding, electron donor-acceptor, and pi-stacking interactions at the nanometer scale which determine interfacial self-assembly processes in bioengineered materials, energy conversion and storage materials, as well as in polymer nano-composites. The co-sponsorship of two ACS Divisions, Polymeric Science and Engineering and Computers in Chemistry, will bring experimental and computational/theoretical communities closer together. The significant fraction of international speakers will transfer more knowledge to the U.S. and support the exchange of ideas on an international scale.
. The symposium covered a range of timely topics related to the simulation of biomaterials, energy storage materials, and nanocomposites. The technical sessions of the symposium, which also included about twenty presenters from across the US were spread over two full days and facilitated the exchange of state-of-the-art knowledge in the technical area. Several international research collaborations have continued and newly resulted from this meeting, demonstrated by submitted joint publications and several projects in progress among the participants and their coworkers. The symposium was open for all attendees of the ACS Fall National Meeting, in total more than 10,000. Broader impacts were achieved through a union of experimental and computational/theoretical scientists, which was supported by co-sponsorship of the symposium by two ACS divisions. The primary affiliation of the symposium with the ACS Division of Polymeric Science and Engineering attracted an experimentally oriented audience to benefit from the presented advances in theory. Co-sponsorship by the Division of Computers in Chemistry attracted theory-oriented attendees. The participation of both senior and junior researchers also provided a forum for individual discussions and the exploration of career opportunities. Graduate students and postdocs had an opportunity to enhance their presentation skills.
