This proposal requests support to cover the registration costs for several participants to attend the conference. The conference is scheduled to be held January 11-16, 2015 in Galveston, Texas. The main objective of this proposal is to support participation at the Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Micro and Nanoscale Phase Change Heat Transfer. The proposed conference is the first of its kind for the heat transfer community and will help accelerate ideas and disseminate fundamental knowledge in the scientific frontier pertinent to thermal processes. The community will be able to identify and develop strategies to better focus future research efforts, develop a clear vision about research needs, learn about recent research developments, and identify research shortcomings. This newly established GRC will address emerging challenges in phase-change heat transfer and identify new opportunities by establishing a cohesive multi-disciplinary community consisting of researchers in heat transfer, chemistry, material science, and interfacial science. The organizers are taking special initiatives to recruit speakers and other attendees from under-representative groups.
The topics of the GRC will focus on the fundamental modes of liquid vapor phase change in combination with surface structures, and the opportunities provided by a new class of experimental heat transfer and metrology methodology, theoretical and numerical thermal science, surface science and chemistry, materials, and flow manipulation. Although various general conferences in heat transfer exist, the phase change related topics are often interspersed within the large conference program. This set up does not allow for detailed technical discussions and the inclusion of researchers from related fields. The proposed conference will bridge this gap between heat transfer experts with others from important relevant disciplines. In addition, the significant time allotted for discussions will foster collaborations amongst diverse researchers to rapidly accelerate understanding.
The Gordon Research Conference on Micro & Nanoscale Phase Change Heat Transfer was held at the Hotel Galvez, Galveston, Texas, January 11-16th, 2015. The Conference was well-attended with 128 participants (attendees list attached). The attendees represented the spectrum of endeavor in this field coming from academia, industry, and government laboratories, both U.S. and foreign scientists, senior researchers, young investigators, and students. Of the 128 attendees, 76 voluntarily responded to a general inquiry regarding ethnicity which appears on our registration forms. Of the 76 respondents, 39% were Minorities – 4% Hispanic, 30% Asian and 5% African American. Approximately 19% of the participants at the 2015 meeting were women. In designing the formal speakers program, emphasis was placed on current unpublished research and discussion of the future target areas in this field. There was a conscious effort to stimulate lively discussion about the key issues in the field today. Time for formal presentations was limited in the interest of group discussions. In order that more scientists could communicate their most recent results, poster presentation time was scheduled. Attached is a copy of the formal schedule and speaker program and the poster program. In addition to these formal interactions, "free time" was scheduled to allow informal discussions. Such discussions are fostering new collaborations and joint efforts in the field.
