Jimmy Mays, Chair Darrin Pochan, Vice-Chair The Polymers (West) Gordon Research Conference (GRC) seeks to supplement the available funds for travel support to enhance participation of post doctoral and senior graduate students at this meeting. This request is for $3,000 for supporting approximately 6 supplemental travel packages at approximately $500/person. Funding requests by junior faculty will also be considered provided they can demonstrate no other source of support for travel to the conference. Technical Merit: The technical merit of this proposal is to facilitate enhanced participation of young polymer scientists in a Gordon Conference that addresses several key areas at the frontiers of polymer science and engineering. The invited speakers are internationally known, world class experts in their respective areas of polymer chemistry, physics and engineering, as well as emerging young stars. Having such distinguished leading experts participate as speakers and discussion leaders is critical to assuring that the GRC is highly successful. Another criterion that is viewed as an important measure of the success of a GRC is attendance and active participation of young researchers. For many of us, including the Chair and Co-Chair of this conference, early career attendance at GRCs provided scientific stimulation, development of professional relationships, and collaborations with other scientists that have been important in our professional development. Our motivation for the present request is to give as many young polymer scientists as possible the opportunity to experience their first GRC in Ventura next January. NSF funding is critical to achieving this goal. Broader Impact: The broader impact lies in the cultivation and development of tomorrow's leaders in the polymer field and related interdisciplinary fields and to further diversity in the scientific force performing this interdisciplinary research. In keeping with the past tradition of the Polymers (West) GRC, the Programmatic Themes of this year's conference cover a range of important and timely topics spanning the range from polymer synthesis to polymer physics and engineering, including industrial trends in polymer science. These programmatic themes are Bioactive Polymers, Controlled Polymer Architectures, Polymers for Microelectronics and Optics, Block Copolymers, Nanoparticles and Nanotechnology, Bio-Rheology and Gels, Polymers for Energy Needs. Finally, a new Graduate Research Seminar meeting will be held the weekend prior to the full Gordon Research Conference that will be fully organized, run, and attended by graduate students and post-doctoral researchers chosen by Mays and Pochan. This will certainly lead to increased participation of younger researchers in the interdisciplinary field of polymer science and engineering.
