Travel Support for the 2012 ECI Conference: Water Treatment and Reuse III and the Water Energy Nexus, January 8-13, 2012, Cancun, Mexico

University Of Colorado At Boulder, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

1157131 Pellegrino Travel stipends are requested for a total of ~15-18 participants made up of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, early career academics, and a few invited speakers from the United States to present their research and participate in the Engineering Conferences International (ECI) conference entitled "Water treatment and reuse III and the water-energy nexus" to be held January 8-13, 2012 in Cancun, Mexico. The meeting will have at least 8 technical sessions covering the spectrum of leading-edge fundamental and applied separation science and technology as applied to water processes. Among these, there will be 3 sessions dedicated to the nexus between water and all facets of energy technology and policy. The meeting will feature at least two plenary lectures and ~8 keynote lectures (one in each session) to broaden the attendees' awareness of both the cutting edge technical hurdles and the connections across disciplines. It is important to note that the sessions are intended to foment disruption of the attendees' initial perspectives and challenge the conventional notions of how technology, policy, and economics should "connect water and energy" in the future. The meeting co-chairs will produce a white paper based on the presentations, posters, the question and answer periods, and dedicated discussion periods. This white paper will be framed to address the question of whether strategic new initiatives need to be considered. For example, perspectives about the relative emphasis on novel materials science versus sensors and process engineering versus manufacturing advances to make novel unit operations, will specifically be addressed. The broader impacts of the NSF support for the meeting will be the interaction between internationally renowned and up and coming researchers. The anticipated attendance for the meeting is 100-130 researchers from all parts of the world representing industry, government and academia.