The NACS meeting is the prestigious meeting for the catalysis community outside of the International Congress on Catalysis. The NACS meeting is held each 2 years and is organized in turn by each of the Local US Catalysis Societies. The 20th NACS meeting is being held in Detroit, MI. The meeting topics typically cover many aspects of catalysis utilizing both oral and poster presentations. Attendees can be immersed in various areas of catalysis, whether they are currently working in the area or wish to gain an understanding of catalysis work in a completely different arena. Some participants come from outside the US, thereby allowing initial contact with the global catalysis community. Prof. Suljo Linic from the University of Michigan is the chairman of the Kokes Award Committee which seeks funds to partially offset the costs for graduate students to participate in the NACS meeting. The support of graduate student attendees is an excellent way to allow them to begin the understanding of the diversity of work in the catalysis field.
Broader Impacts: The entire meeting is an educational event for those workers in the field. This award would enable partial support of more than 100 graduate students to attend the meeting. Many will be giving poster or even oral presentations. There will be ample contact with existing and new colleagues in catalysis. The work presented is current research at academic, industrial and national laboratories. The support of graduate student attendance has been a customary and well-placed investment from the Catalysis & Biocatalysis Program of CBET/ENG in NSF.
(Prof. Suljo Linic, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan) This aim of this award was to fund graduate students from USA institutions of higher education to attend North American Catalyst Society (NACS) meeting held in Detroit in July of 2011. We used the award ($ 25,000) to fund 31 graduate students). This was a part of large effort that funded ~ 80 students. The additional students were funding by DOE and NACS. All students presented either their work at the meeting in either oral or poster format. The conference provided the students with a forum to discuss and critically evaluate their work. The meeting also provided an excellent opportunity to meet with more senior investigators in the field and in some cases build longer term collaborations. The funded students were selected from a large pool of applicant. The main criterion was their academic accomplishments. We believe that the student attendance at the meeting contributed to their scientific training as well as their communication and presentation skills. They were exposed to the leading researchers from the US and abroad; they met their peers from other universities; they learned about cutting-edge results that could benefit their research projects. These young investigators represent the next generation of scientists and engineers, and their proper training will lead to future scientific breakthroughs and technological innovations that benefit the US economy. Advances in catalysis can come in the form of more energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly chemical processes, improved fuel cell performance, efficient hydrogen production, and a cleaner environment.
