Symposium on Block Copolymers as Nanoscale Materials; ACS Meeting; September 10-14, 2006; San Francisco, CA

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This proposal seeks support for symposium on Block Copolymers as Nanoscale Materials at the Fall ACS national meeting in San Francisco, CA, Sept 10-14, 2006. The self-assembly of Block copolymers (BCPs) into ordered arrays of nanoscopic elements and the ability to chemically manipulate the constituent blocks of the BCPs have opened numerous applications in the rapidly growing area of nanotechnology. The versatility of block copolymers can be appreciated when one considers that the chemistry of the individual blocks can be tailored to perform a specific function, for example, chemical reactivity, biological activity, conductivity or degradability. The diversity in synthetic strategies in preparing block copolymers opens a plethora of applications where block copolymers can be used. With the rapid development of the field, a symposium that specifically addresses the important role that BCPs play as a premiere nanostructured material is needed. This proposed symposium will address this need and will provide a forum to highlight some of the latest advances in the development and applications of BCPs, including thin films, hybrid materials, liquid crystalline and semi-crystalline systems, and nanoporous scaffolds and templates. A total of 19 international renowned speakers have been invited (and confirmed) to present their most recent research in the field of BCP as nano scale materials. Five international invited speakers form fiver different countries will also participate the symposium; this could dramatically enhance the impact of the symposium and harness international collaboration between researchers from different countries. Financial support ($3,000) has been requested from NSF to support the aforementioned symposium. It is our primary goal to bring the most recent development of the BCP as nanomaterials research to the broader audience and higher impact could be achieved with a higher graduate students, post-doc researchers and young faculty attendance. Therefore, funding support from NSF will be specifically used to provide travel awards at ~ $400 each to support graduate students, post-doc researchers and young faculty to attend the proposed symposium. Priority will be given to graduate students who are attending their first national meeting and who belong to the underrepresented groups. Four travel awards will be reserved specifically for young faculty who will be giving oral presentations at the symposium.