This grant provides funds to help organize the 13th Pan American Congress of Applied Mechanics (PACAM) that will be held in Houston, Texas on May 22-24, 2013. PACAM will facilitate the exchange of information on contemporary aspects of applied mechanics and its technological applications in a unique setting that is perhaps the only one in the world that explicitly brings together researchers from South, Central, and North America. The 13th PACAM is being held in the US for the first time.
PACAM will host tutorial sessions in contemporary topics in applied mechanics that will be especially valuable for early-career researchers. The funds provided will support early-career researchers, and the conference organizers recruitment plan will emphasize students from groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM. A special journal issue will be pursued to publish the results of this conference in a high-quality and visible venue.
The objective of PACAM conference is to bring together researchers, practicing engineers and students from South, Central, and North America to discuss cutting edge topics in mechanics, materials and their ramifications for diverse applications such as energy, structures, biotechnology among others. This is a biennial event and for the first time, in 2013, PACAM was held in North America. This proposal requested funds ($ 15, 000) to support the participation of US engineering and science students and young researchers: i.e. NSF-PACAM scholarship for young researchers. This scholarship provided the financial means for students and early career researchers who may otherwise not attend PACAM. The participants and scholarship recipients got direct exposure to leading researchers and allowed them to network with scientists and engineers from an important region of the world: South and Central America. The scholarship opportunity was widely advertised via iMechanica and through emails to organizers as well as established mailing lists of various societies like the ASME, SES etc. The recipients were selected by an independent committee based on a filled out form and resume. The criteria used was the following: (i) financial need, (ii) past performance and (iii) potential career trajectory. The net money received ($ 15, 000) was distributed to six junior faculty/post-docs and eight graduate students. The award amount ranged from $ 500 to $ 1000 depending on amount requested, geographical location etc.
