This grant provides funds to host the 2008 NSF Design, Service and Manufacturing Grantees and Research Conference, to be held in Knoxville, Tennessee, January 7-10, 2008. This conference is held every 18 months and provides a venue for bringing together all grantees from the Design and Manufacturing Innovation Division. During the conference, grantees can meet with their program officers, review their research accomplishments, and get information on upcoming NSF programs and initiatives. The conference also features plenary speakers on timely subjects and numerous workshops on topics of concern to the Division's grantees. These include a research program development workshop and a workshop for students. Typical attendance exceeds 500 persons.
This conference provides a highly cost-effective and time-effective means for NSF program directors to meet essentially all of their grantees and review their research. It also allows grantees to meet each other, to interact, and to form collaborations for future research. Key goals of the conference are to improve the quality of the research funded by the Division of Design and Manufacturing Innovation, and to improve technology transfer to the benefit of the nation.
