Symposium EE: Self-Organization and Nanoscale Pattern Formation; for the MRS Fall meeting in Boston

Materials Research Society, Warrendale PA

Investigators

Abstract

Symposium EE, "Self-Organization and Nanoscale Pattern Formation", will be held at the 2011 MRS Fall meeting in Boston. It will bring together a large community of researchers who utilize self-organization and self-assembly to synthesize and functionalize nanostructured materials. The symposium will cover a broad spectrum of materials, from polymeric and supra-molecular systems, to semiconductors, oxides, and metals, and a broad spectrum of applications, ranging from photonics and plasmonics, to gas sensors, catalytic materials, and materials subjected to irradiation or plastic deformation. The underlying principles responsible for self-organization are often similar in these situations, so the symposium will provide opportunities for researchers from one particular area to learn and potentially transfer recent knowledge gained in other areas. The requested support will be used to facilitate the participation of graduate students, female researchers, and researchers from underrepresented minorities. The high cost of attending the symposium can prevent some graduate students to attend, present their research results and inhibit exposure to the state-of-the-art research and acquiring direct feedback on their research from senior researchers. Offering a partial support to offset registration fees and traveling costs provides an effective means to ensure a broad participation from graduate students. The field of self-organization and self-assembly for the synthesis and investigation of nanostructures is extremely active and diverse, and attendance at this symposium is expected to have beneficial impacts on the careers of these researchers.