Workshop on New Frontiers of Thermal Transport; Orlando, FL; March 2020

The University Of Central Florida Board Of Trustees, Orlando FL

Investigators

Abstract

This award is to support the Workshop on New Frontiers of Thermal Transport to be held on March 9-10, 2020 in Orlando, Florida. Thermal transport processes are critical in many traditional and emerging engineering applications, ranging from energy, electronics and aerospace to manufacturing, food and health care. However, the scientific community is lacking in providing innovative thermal solutions in order to improve existing technologies or to address emerging challenges. Communications between industry and academia need to be strengthened so that the researchers can better target technology bottlenecks. This two-day workshop will bring together academicians, industry experts, researchers from national labs, and program managers from funding agencies to brainstorm and develop a shared vision and future opportunities for the community at large. Six focused panels will cover emerging challenges that will need to be resolved to enable future technological advancements. Subsequently, participants will convene in breakout sessions to explore future directions to address these roadblocks. Outcomes from these discussions will then be presented and a report will be disseminated to summarize major findings and recommend future research opportunities. This workshop will promote the societal impacts of academic research and advance the professional development opportunities for participants that are early in their career or are under-represented in engineering. This two-day workshop will bring together experts from various disciplines to identify critical challenges, advancements, and new directions in thermal transport research. Six panels on energy, advanced manufacturing, thermal management, aerospace, artificial intelligence, and health and sustainability will be included. The goal is to identify key research, development, and design needs and provide a guideline for future endeavors. The outcomes of this workshop will focus on the development of a roadmap that will define the needs for future generation of thermal transport process technologies, as well as documentations in archival review articles and a dedicated website. This workshop is expected to (i) promote the societal impacts of academic research, (ii) reinforce a scientific community of university-industry researchers who are active across disciplines and (iii) advance the professional development opportunities for early-career participants. Special attention will be paid to the inclusion of under-represented minorities and women both in invited speakers and in participants. The ultimate goal is the eventual development of solutions to address current and future thermal transport challenges in a range of critical industries. 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.