Engineering Approaches to Energy Balance and Obesity (Conference Travel Support)

University Of Colorado At Denver, Aurora CO

Investigators

Abstract

ABSTRACT National Science Foundation Proposal Number: CTS-0650542 Principal Investigator: Hill, James Affiliation: University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center Proposal Title: Engineering Approaches to Energy Balance and Obesity (Conference Travel Support) This grant provides partial travel support for participants in a workshop on Engineering Approaches to Energy Balance and Obesity, which was held under the sponsorship of NSF CTS and NIH in Washington, DC on June 6 & 7, 2006. The purpose of the workshop was to formulate an interdisciplinary, joint NIH/NSF solicitation on the topic. This solicitation was recently issued by NIH as an R21 Request for Applications (RFA-HL-07-007), with funding from both NIH and NSF. Approximately 100 participants attended the workshop from throughout the USA, and it was chaired by Dr. James Hill of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. The intellectual merit of this workshop was that it brought together researchers studying obesity from a physiological perspective with researchers in the field of bioengineering. The intent of the workshop was to delineate the key issues in the field of energy balance and obesity and to stimulate novel collaborations between obesity researchers and bioengineers. It is hoped that these novel collaborations will bring new tools and new ideas to the study of obesity, and more specifically, that these collaborative teams can submit proposals to the joint NIH/NSF solicitation. The broader impact of this workshop was to engage the bioengineering community in the study of obesity. Through the involvement of bioengineers, it is hoped that new techniques, tools and approaches will be developed to understand and treat obesity. There were numerous female participants in the meeting. Most importantly, the workshop enabled dialog that may lead to the formation of research teams that can participate in the joint solicitation.