This award, which is jointly funded by the Divisions of Chemistry and Materials Research, supports a series of Materials Chemistry Workshops, which are to be organized by Dr. Peter K. Dorhout at Colorado State University. Participants in these workshops, which will be held in the autumns of 2004 through 2006. will be drawn from applicants from all aspects of the field of materials chemistry with peer-reviewed selection. Approximately 30 participants will attend each workshop, which are designed to bring together scientists with common materials chemistry interests from diverse backgrounds including inorganic, organic, physical, biological, polymer and analytical chemistry as well as other science and engineering disciplines. The workshops provide a focus for the technologically critical field of materials chemistry from both educational and research points of view. In addition, the workshops promote dialogue and collaboration between industry, government and academic scientists in a forum that identifies fundamental and technological problems and stimulates their investigation. The intellectual merit of these workshops derives from the networks that organically develop between the participants during the informal and vivid discussions inherent to these workshops as breaking science is presented and new collaborative research efforts are explored. Faculty from Predominantly Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs) can connect with felow researchers in larger universities, industry and national laboratories to learn of new research and new opportunities.
The atmosphere of these materials chemistry workshops will continue to be conducive to discussion and dissemination of ideas via the following means: (i) The broadest possible solicitation for applicants, aimed at all sectors of the materials chemistry community with special attention to encouraging industrial, government, minority, women, and young materials chemists to apply. (ii) Selection of participants based on merit-based criteria designed to produce a diverse and interactive group of participants. (iii) Adherence to a presentation format that promotes discussion of ideas and discourages formal presentation of past research results. Within these guidelines, the workshops provide for informal, provocative and stimulating discussions of new directions in materials chemistry.
