This Gordon Research Conference on "Electronic Processes in Organic Materials" is supported by the Solid State and Materials Chemistry (SSMC) and Electronic and Photonics (EPM) programs and provides an ideal setting to discuss in depth transformative developments with leading scientists from academia, government, and industry. The field of organic electronics and photonics has enjoyed tremendous progress since the discoveries in the late seventies of conducting polymers and in the late eighties of efficient electroluminescent devices based on small organic molecules or polymers. The market for organic electronics-based products is now projected to reach over $30 billion by 2015. Various sessions will be devoted to the chemistry, physics, biology, materials science, optical science, nanoscience, engineering, and device fabrication of electrically-active and optically-active organic materials. This conference has consistently hosted presentations at the cusp of important new directions for the field. Meetings have driven progress at critical stages of developments in areas including organic opto-electronics, polymer light-emitting diodes, single-molecule studies, organic electronics, and organic solar cells.
NON TECHNICAL
Key researchers will be present to address the critical questions through a combination of presentations and informal discussions. Invited speakers and session chairs represent the highly interdisciplinary nature of the Organic Materials field with experts from chemistry, physics, material science and engineering, chemical engineering, and electrical engineering with both experimental and theoretical approaches. Speakers and sessions chairs are from a diverse background, including 7 from outside US and 4 female. A primary goal of this funding request is to assist researchers in the early stages of their careers (students, postdoctoral researchers, and/or new faculty) to participate in the conference and join the "Electronic Processes in Organic Materials" community. The conference will enhance their research programs and proposals by inspiring goals and ideas at the leading edge of the field. At the same time, the intimate atmosphere of the conference will allow them to have more exposure of their work within the community and make important connections.
The Gordon Research Conference on ELECTRONIC PROCESSES IN ORGANIC MATERIALS was held at Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA July 25-30, 2010. The Conference was well-attended with 169 participants (attendees list attached). The attendees represented the spectrum of endeavor in this field coming from academia, industry, and government laboratories, both U.S. and foreign scientists, senior researchers, young investigators, and students. Of the 169 attendees, 70 voluntarily responded to a general inquiry regarding ethnicity which appears on our registration forms. Of the 70 respondents, 11% were Minorities –11% Asian. Approximately 20% of the participants at the 2010 meeting were women. In designing the formal speakers program, emphasis was placed on current unpublished research and discussion of the future target areas in this field. There was a conscious effort to stimulate lively discussion about the key issues in the field today. Time for formal presentations was limited in the interest of group discussions. In order that more scientists could communicate their most recent results, poster presentation time was scheduled. Attached is a copy of the formal schedule and speaker program and the poster program. In addition to these formal interactions, "free time" was scheduled to allow informal discussions. Such discussions are fostering new collaborations and joint efforts in the field.
