The Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry (MSN) program in the Division of Chemistry supports this project which provides support for the attendance and oral presentations of Assistant and Associate Professors from US Universities at the 8th International Symposium on Supramolecular and Macrocyclic Chemistry (ISMSC-8) to be held in Arlington, Virginia, July 7-11, 2013. The conference features a mixture of oral presentations, short talks and poster talks, and poster sessions covering a wide scientific area of interest to the supramolecular chemistry community. The intellectual merits of the proposal are inherent in the presentations of the participants which are grouped into theme sessions in the areas of complexity, assemblies, molecular machines and mechanical effects, functional crystals, polymers and materials, supramolecular chemistry of biology, surfaces and interfaces, and supramolecular catalysis. The theme session promises to stimulate discussions on the current challenges and barriers in the topic areas. Finally, a special issue of the journal "Supramolecular Chemistry" will be published based on research from the conference participants.
The significance and broader impact of the conference are manifold. The participants in ISMSC-8 are diverse with respect to country of origin, gender, academic level, and area of expertise. The interactions between scientists of diverse background catalyze new (inter)national collaborations which expose student co-workers to different cultures and scientific viewpoints. For the US based Assistant and Associate Professors for whom funding is requested, this is an opportunity to present their research to leading experts in the field. Interactions between senior and junior faculty members lead to the establishment of informal mentor-mentee relationships that impact the future development of research in supramolecular and macrocyclic chemistry.
(ISMSC) held in Arlington, Virginia in July 2014. The ISMSC meeting brought together leaders and emerging leaders in the field to discuss cutting edge research in supramolecular and macrocyclic chemistry with allied interests in macromolecular and supramolecular chemistry. About 250 posters were presented along with 49 invited talks from a diverse group of scientists from around the world. The intellectual merits of the project are inherent in the presentations of the individual researchers whose abstracts are collected in the book of abstracts freely available for download from the conference website (www.indiana.edu/%7Eismsc8/). Some of hte cutting edge topics covered included: complexity, container assemblies, molecular machines, functional crystals, polymers and materials, supramolecular chemistry of biology, and surfaces and interfaces. Of particular note are the group of presentations that fall in the area of supramolecular catalysis which is an interest area of the the NSFs macromolecular, supramolecular and nanochemistry program. These talks served to stimulate the imagination of researchers in the field toward supramolecular catalysis. The broader impacts of the project are mainly in the area of human resource development. Specifically, the graduate students and postdocs who attended and presented posters and talks were exposed to the leaders in the field which should inform their pursuit of challenging and important research topics in their future work. The opportunity to create personal connections between researchers promises to promote future collaborative research which is a significant broader impact. Finally, the career development of the six Assistant and Associate Professors who were supported by this grant should be enhanced by the exposure to the leaders of the field is also a significant broader impact.
