2020 Flow and Transport in Permeable Media GRC/GRS; Switzerland, July 2020

Gordon Research Conferences, East Greenwich RI

Investigators

Abstract

Permeable media are materials that allow fluids to pass through them and they are everywhere in our natural and built environment. The flow of fluids through permeable materials and how they transport reactants determines vital aspect of our own physiology, the functioning of many ecosystems, the generation and extraction of natural resources, and many industrial processes. As such the field is very broad and highly interdisciplinary with participation from a variety of engineers, physicists, chemists, geoscientists, hydrologists and biologists. The field of Flow and Transport in Permeable Media aims to improve our fundamental understanding of these complex systems and apply it to broad range of societal problems. The goal of the proposed work is to sponsor a meeting as part of the Gordon Research Conferences on Flow and Transport in Permeable Media. The meeting will be held in Les Diablerets, Switzerland, June 19-24, 2020. A significant number of the participants will be U.S. researchers, and 2/3 of the meeting participants are early stage investigators (graduate students, postdoctoral associates, and early stage professors). Gordon Research Conferences are week-long immersive experiences in which cutting edge, unpublished science is presented, with long question and answer periods, poster session, discussion of science over meals, and social engagement between sessions. This particular meeting will also have a Gordon Research Seminar, two days before the main meeting, for solely graduate students and postdoctoral associates to present their work. In all, the meeting is designed to address the important ideas and concepts in the field of Flow and Transport in Permeable Media by international leaders in the field, with significant participation a new generation of scientists. The interdisciplinary field of Flow and Transport in Porous Media focuses on developing a fundamental understanding of wide range of natural and engineered permeable media and the complex multi-phase flow, reactive transport, and deformation processes within them. The field is crucial to subsurface energy recovery and storage, hydrology, soil science, and represents a core focus of research activity of several programs at the National Science Foundation. Planned sessions include Mixing dynamics, Multi-phase flows, CO2 sequestration, Micro-scale fluid dynamics, Innovative sensors, Biochemical processes, Hydromechanics, and Flow and transport in ice. The meeting will focus on the fundamental challenges in Flow and Transport in Permeable Media. This proposal is to support the registration of 35 participants in the Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Flow and Transport in Permeable Media. The format and structure of the GRC is designed for immersion of scientists into new and emerging concepts in Flow and Transport in Permeable Media – with an emphasis on breaking results and unpublished data - though long question and answer periods, interactive discussion over meals, significant poster sessions and social activities between sessions. This particular meeting will also have a Gordon Research Seminar, two days before the main meeting, for solely graduate students and post-doctoral associates to present their work. The emphasis on early stage investigators and underrepresented groups will significantly enhance the broader impact of this meeting. 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.