This project supports the organization of a one-of-a-kind conference on "Supramolecular Chemistry and Chemical Engineering", co-sponsored by Gordon Research Conference fund, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Nico Technologies Corporation, American Chemical Society, and Firmenich, SA to be held on June 19-24, 2011 in Il Ciocco Italy. The funds requested in this project will be used to partially cover the registration fee and travel expenses of scientists and engineers at all levels of careers from graduate students and post-doctoral researchers to assistant, associate professors. Special emphasis is given to the young generation of scientists and engineers.
The conference aims at finding new methods of nanoscale engineering of materials, devices, and processes. The conference will assemble top-notch scientists and engineers with many different areas of expertise to look into the problem of how to utilize the phenomena of self-organization for energy efficient manufacturing processes. The participants will attempt to apply classical approaches of thermodynamics and other classical disciplines to the following self-structuring solids: carbon, polymer, metal, semiconductor, and hybrid nanostructures. A large portion of the meeting will be devoted to the use of self-assembly for catalysis and solar energy conversion as well as interfacial and transport phenomena governing catalytic and energy conversion processes.
Intellectual Merit:
The intellectual merit of the proposal is the vision of self-organization as the foundation of new types of chemical processes in industry. The conference will utilize collective properties and nano/micro/polymer interfaces and particles. Besides the fact that such a transition leads to inherently more energy efficient manufacturing, it will also create a fundamentally new relation between biological and non-biological processes that can potentially open the door to a new branch of chemical engineering. This conference for the first time will attempt to formulate the unified approach to different self-organization processes at different scales.
Broader Impact:
The broader impact of the meeting will encompass new collaborative activities between the top-notch scientists of the USA and other countries. It will also allow the young researchers to become more integrated in the larger scientific and engineering community and to find their pathway to success. From the educational perspective, the meeting will provide an energetic and stimulating environment for students. They will be introduced to the toughest problems of modern materials science, which require out-of-the-box solutions. The educational impact of the proposal will be enhanced by the possibility for students to interact with both academic and industrial researchers. Integration of underrepresented groups to the fabric of the conference was given special attention.
PI/Co-PI Name: Nicholas Kotov We organized a one-of-a-kind conference on "Supramolecular Chemistry and Chemical Engineering" co-sponsored by Gordon Research Conference fund, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Nico Technologies Corporation, American Chemical Society, and Firmenich held on June 19-24 2011 in Il Ciocco Italy. It was aimed at finding new methods of nanoscale engineering of materials, devices, and processes and integrating them into existing manufacturing capabilities. The conference assembled the top-notch scientists and engineers with different areas of expertise looking into the problem of how to utilize the phenomena of self-organization for energy efficient manufacturing processes. A large part of the meeting was devoted to the use of self-assembly for catalysis and solar energy conversion. Interfacial and transport phenomena governing catalytic and energy conversion processes received promimemnt attention as well. The funds received for project were used to partially cover the registration fee and travel expenses of scientists and engineers at all levels of careers from graduate students, and post-docs to assistant, associate professors and established scientists. Special emphasis was given to the young generation of sciences and female engineers. The list of GRC attendees to funded by this projects include Prof. George Whitesides, Prof. Bartocz A. Grzybowski, Prof. Chad Mirkin, Ms. Claribel Acevedo-Ve?lez, Ms. Yiqun Bai, Dr. Ludovico Cademartiri, Prof. John Texter, Dr. Ana Querejeta-Fernandez, Prof. Sharon Glotzer. The outcome of this conference included the formulation of self-organization as the foundation of new type of chemical processes in industry. We demonstrated that utilization of collective properties and nano/micro/polymer interfaces and particles is possible for the preparation of devices and energy storage materials. Such transition is inherently more energy efficient manufacturing. In terms of broader impact of the meeting, it facilitated new collaboration activities between the top-notch scientists of the USA and other countries. It also allowed the young researchers represented by graduate students, post-docs, young Assistant Professors to get integrated in the larger scientific community and to find their pathway to success. From the educational perspective, the meeting provided an energetic and stimulating environment for graduate and undergraduate students.
