Support for participants at the Gordon Research Conference on Solid State Studies in Ceramics: Fundamental Phenomena in Energy Applications. The conference involves ceramics used in lithium ion batteries and other energy storage, fuel cells, solar energy, nuclear fuels, and hydrogen. NSF funding will enable a more diverse group of young researchers and graduate students to attend this conference, participate in discussions with senior scientists, and present their own work as posters.
TECHNICAL DETAILS: This Gordon Conference has 21 invited lectures, with intensive discussion, by a distinguished group of experts on experimental and theoretical research on oxide materials in batteries, protonic and oxygen electrolytes for fuel cells and electrochemical storage, oxides in supercapacitors, solar photolysis, nuclear fuels, and photovoltaics. A poster session will present further research. This Gordon Conference, with its emphasis on detailed discussion and intensive conversation between senior and junior researchers, provides a unique forum for the exchange of ideas and the development of new collaborations. The NSF support is earmarked for junior researchers, with a strong emphasis on support for women and underrepresented minorities.
The Gordon Research Conference on Ceramics was held at Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH August 18-20, 2010. The Conference was well-attended with 157 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 157 attendees, 83 voluntarily responded to a general inquiry regarding ethnicity which appears on our registration forms. Of the 83 respondents, 22% were Minorities – 1% Hispanic, 19% Asian, and 2% African American. Approximately 22% 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 In designing the formal speakers program, emphasis was placed on current unpublished research and discussion of the future target areas in this field.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. Thank you for your support of this Conference. As you know, in the interest of promoting the presentation of unpublished and frontier-breaking research, Gordon Research Conferences does not permit publication of meeting proceedings. If you wish any further details, please feel free to contact me. Thank you.
