Student Poster Symposium at ASME Society-Wide Micro and Nano Technology Forum, Denver, Colorado, November 11, 2011 - November 17, 2011

Pennsylvania State Univ University Park, University Park PA

Investigators

Abstract

PI: Tony Jun Huang, Pennsylvania State University Proposal Number: CBET 1160568 The proposed effort seeks NSF funding for student participation grants for the 2011 ASME Society-Wide Micro and Nano Technology Forum to be held during the ASME IMECE 2011 in Denver, Co. The proposed Forum will bring together ASME members and others, with a focus on new developments in the field of micro and nanotechnology. For the past three years the forum has been enthusiastically embraced by ASME IMECE attendees, in particular students; each year, there have been more than 150 poster presentations and about 300 attendees at the forum. The proposed NSF awards will be used to further nurture student development by encouraging participation from a select group of meritorious students working in the general area of micro-/nanoscale engineering by providing them partial travel grants including expenses related to conference registration fees and lodging. The travel awards will be decided by a panel of experts from the Micro and Nano Forum organizing committee, and will be based on the technical quality of the poster abstracts submitted and statement from their research advisors. In the past, the participating students at the ASME Micro and Nano Forum have greatly valued the opportunity given to them by the Forum to showcase their research, interact with their peers, and meet people outside of their immediate environment. Besides this, the Forum also provides opportunities to increase student exposure to cutting-edge research in the frontiers of micro and nano technologies, and increase student abilities with respect to tools that will make them competitive in a research environment, namely, team work and project management, oral and written technical communication skills, ethics, and overall research acumen. In addition, the students will get an opportunity to attend technical presentations (over 2000 presentations and posters are anticipated to be presented at IMECE 2011) relevant to their current research, and also in other mechanical engineering fields. This will expose them to solutions and challenges that may be relevant to their current projects, while at the same time provide opportunities to discover exciting new research activities to pursue in future. In this regards, the mission of the forum fits well with the mission of NSF (in particular the Engineering Directorate) in attracting young research talents and mentoring them for a career in science and engineering. Direct exposure of the participating students to leaders in their research fields (technical organizing committee members, judges, etc.) will provide them with a unique opportunity to disseminate their most recent research, and receive first-hand information on available opportunities for postdoctoral positions, as well as faculty positions. ASME traditionally hosts several Grand Challenge sessions where speakers from industry or government identify critical technical challenges facing the nation in various fields. In addition, ASME award lectures by prominent researchers, special sessions on ethics and the next-generation engineering education curriculum, and technical tours to local industry and national laboratories represent other opportunities for student learning and growth. Like in the past, personnel from NSF, DoD agencies, national laboratories, and industry are expected to have a strong presence at the conference. Members from these groups will be involved in providing professional development seminars, workshops, information sessions and recruitment activities, and will provide further new avenues for student development as well. While selecting students for the travel awards, every effort will be made to include and encourage student participation from both minority and traditionally underrepresented student groups in engineering.