Workshop on Self-Assembly and Self-Organization; Santa-Barbara, CA

University Of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara CA

Investigators

Abstract

The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) proposes to organize and host an international workshop entitled in "Directed Self-Assembly and Self-Organization" on the UCSB campus January 12-14, 2004. Our organizational sponsoring partner on the Japanese side is The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). The workshop co-chairs will be Professor Masatsugu Shimomura of Hokkaido University and Professor Matthew Tirrell of the University of California, Santa Barbara. This meeting is the second in a workshop series on nanotechnology; the first, on in "Tools and Metrology for Nanotechnology", was held at Cornell University January 23-24, 2003. A set of key questions for debate and discussion for this workshop is given in the body of the proposal. The overall objective is to bring a sharp focus on the scientific and technological possibilities for self-assembly as a route to realizable nanotechnologies. Self-assembly has thus far produced many interesting structures in the laboratory and considerable promise for manufacturing useful nanostructured products. However, this promise will remain unfilled unless we learn to diversify, accelerate, control and scale-up self-assembly processes.