Support for US Participants in the Workshop Quantum Gravity in the Southern Cone.

Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge LA

Investigators

Abstract

This award supports the participation of a group of junior US scientists in the "Quantum gravity in the Southern Cone" workshop with the Latin American Quantum Gravity Research Network in Bariloche, Argentina and Valdivia, Chile. The workshop will allow the US scientists to showcase the research done in the US in an international setting. It will also be a great opportunity to network with and potentially recruit junior Latin American talent. Latin America has been a traditional source of new and diverse talent for the US research enterprise in this area. The award funds a mixture of experienced and junior US researchers' participation in the eighth Quantum Gravity in the Southern Cone workshop in Bariloche, Argentina and Valdivia, Chile in December 2019. The Quantum Gravity in the Southern Cone Workshops were started by the PI and Professor Rodolfo Gambini in Uruguay with NSF support and have been successfully continued in Argentina, Chile (there in conjunction with an NSF-PASI) and Brazil. The workshops have also spawned the creation of an informal network of Latinamerican researchers in quantum gravity that now runs the meetings. They provide a unique opportunity for junior researchers to meet world leaders in their fields. Having a workshop involving several of the leading figures in the field, this project has a broader impact: it seeks to bring junior researchers and students in Latin America into contact with the experts, something they usually do not have the chance to do. It also seeks to consolidate ties between a formal regional network of researchers and US scientists. A goal of this project is to establish long term collaborations between researchers in the network and US researchers. This workshop is also an exceptional opportunity for broadening the participation of underrepresented groups and for junior US scientists and students to meet and share knowledge with experts from the international community in a stimulating environment. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.