Travel Support to the 6th International Conference on Borate Glasses, Crystals, and Melts (BORATE 2008), Osaka, Japan, August 17 - 23, 2008

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NON-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION:This grant will support ten students, at the undergraduate and graduate level, to attend the Sixth International Conference on Borate Glasses, Crystals, and Melts. This triennial meeting will take place August 18-22, 2008 at Egret Himeji, Hyogo, Japan. These students, from several colleges and universities across the nation, will make presentations and be full participating members of the conference. There are a number of advantages for the American public that result from this activity. Borate glasses have manifold practical uses and improve our standard of living. Examples of this include dental implants that closely match natural teeth, safe radioactive waste storage within highly stable borosilicate glasses, and high lithium containing borate glasses that are excellent candidates for new generations of solid state battery materials. Students attending the meeting will be able to learn the latest advances within the field from scientists from over 20 nations.TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION:The technical content of the meeting will be well focused and timely. Papers will be presented on: Short and intermediate range order in borate glasses and melts; Structure and physical properties; Computer simulation and modeling; Phase separation and inhomogeneities; New spectroscopic techniques; EPR, XAFS, XPS, IR, NMR, and diffraction studies of borates; Novel borate glasses and crystals; Mineralogical crystals; Local thermal properties; Thermodynamics of borate systems; Industrial applications of borate and borosilicate glasses; Biomedical applications; Optical properties and materials; Superionic systems and ionic conductivity. In addition, before the conference, these students will visit the Spring8 Synchrotron Radiation Lab (a sponsor of the conference) and a modern Japanese Glass Company. Since the meeting will not have concurrent sessions the students will be able to fully immerse themselves in all aspects of the current science of borates. Furthermore, overall student participation is high making it likely that significant scientific dialogue will take place between the students we will bring and their counterparts from other nations.