This award by the Biomaterials program in the Division of Materials Research is in support of the 2013 Materials Research Society Fall Meeting symposium titled "Synthetic Tools for Understanding Biological Phenomena." The goals of the symposium are to: a) showcase recent advances in the design, synthesis, characterization, and application of synthetic tools for understanding and directing biological phenomena; b) facilitate a dialogue between polymer scientists, chemists, bioengineers, and biologists to further the design and application of biomaterials with controlled properties through networking and the open exchange of ideas; and c) provide opportunities for young investigators, including junior faculty, post-doctoral fellows, and graduate students, especially from underrepresented groups, to present their latest research results. The planned oral and poster sessions would provide a cutting-edge scientific program and discussion forum that focus on specific fundamental, applied sciences and engineering challenges that would facilitate the translation of novel and facile chemistries for biomaterial synthesis and applications.
The broader impacts are high in terms of their impact on students, post-docs, as well as in stimulating new ideas within the biomaterials research community. The organizers of this MRS Symposium are junior faculty scientists in their areas of specialization and have put together an excellent program, and group of speakers and discussion leaders. Three of the four symposium organizers are women, and five of the twelve invited speakers are female scientists. Presentations by graduate students and post-doctoral researchers including members of underrepresented groups will be strongly pursued to encourage and facilitate scientific discourse, collaboration, and education.
, at the 2013 MRS Fall Meeting. Developing and utilizing materials as tools to answer biological questions is a new and rapidly growing field that integrates knowledge from materials science, engineering and biology. In particular, materials with highly controlled biochemical and biophysical properties are increasingly employed to understand and direct complex biological systems. Thus, there is a tremendous opportunity for materials scientists and engineers to develop materials-based interdisciplinary approaches to quantitatively characterize and direct biological systems at the molecular, cellular, and tissue levels, goals that are directly related to the scientific interest of the Biomaterials (BMAT) section of NSF. The goals of Symposium F were: (1) showcase recent advances in the design, synthesis, characterization, and application of synthetic tools for understanding and directing biological phenomena; (2) facilitate dialogue among polymer scientists, chemists, bioengineers, and biologists to further the design and application of biomaterials with controlled properties through networking and the open exchange of ideas; and (3) provide opportunities for young investigators, including junior faculty, post-doctoral fellows, and graduate students, especially from underrepresented groups, to present their latest research results. Significant effort was made to enhance the participation of groups underrepresented in science and engineering: three of the four organizers are women, reflecting the increasing female leadership in the fields of biomaterials and the fourth organizer is junior faculty. The 12 invited speakers included 5 female scientists and 1 is a junior researcher. Additionally, of the 41 contributed talks, 15 were by women, and of the 21 poster presenters, 6 are women. Funding support from NSF was critical to the success of this Symposium by providing financial assistance to early-stage researchers who otherwise would have been unable to attend the conference. Funding priority was given to graduate students attending their first national meeting and junior researchers with outstanding scientific contributions based on their submitted abstracts and podium/poster presentations. There was much enthusiasm for the Symposium topics; thus, there is active planning for future symposia along similar themes.
