Student Travel Support for the North American Membrane Society 2014 Annual Conference

University Of Houston, Houston TX

Investigators

Abstract

1439342 University of Houston Chellam, Sankar Travel funds are requested to partially support approximately 25 graduate students to attend the 2014 Annual Meeting of the North American Membrane Society (NAMS 2014) Conference in Sugar Land, Texas from May 31 - June 4, 2014. The NAMS annual meeting is one of the preeminent global membrane meetings. The latest developments in the membrane field from leading academic, governmental, and industrial research labs are presented for the first time for evaluation by the membrane community. The meeting will have 19 separate technical sessions (some extending to two time slots depending on the number of abstracts selected for presentation) covering all aspects of membrane science and technology. An extensive student program has been developed for the meeting, including the Young Membrane Scientist Forum, Lunch with the Legends, student workshop on career planning, and a student poster competition. The meeting will feature two plenary speakers, one from academia (Prof. Andrew Zydney) and another from industry (Dr. Larry Costa). Additionally, Prof. Georges Belfort will deliver the Alan S. Michaels lecture. Five technical workshops will also be offered. These workshops are excellent venues for students to learn about fundamentals and advanced research topics in key areas such as Membranes for Gas Separations, Emerging Membrane Materials and Manufacturing Methods, Membranes for Water Treatment, Membranes for Fracking Applications, and Polymeric and Inorganic Membrane Materials and Membrane Formation. The organizers anticipate a total of approximately 400 membrane researchers from all over the world representing industry, government, and academia. In addition to the development of human resources, the support provided by this proposal will allow presentation of the latest research results from the most innovative academic laboratories around the country. This showcase of new materials and technologies attracts significant industrial participation as it provides a unique environment to evaluate the commercialization potential of the research. The economic growth associated with such commercialization benefits the entire country.