Travel Support for Students, Post-Docs, and Young Faculty to Attend the Symposium on Synthesis of Bio-Inspired Hierarchical Soft and Hybrid Materials, April 2009, San Francisco, CA

智力的价值是基于许多生物结构共有的基本属性吗？它们经常在从纳米到宏观的长度尺度上表现出层次结构。这种结构为许多材料特性提供了基础，例如，骨骼的显著机械性能、蝴蝶翅膀令人眼花缭乱的光学效果、荷叶的自清洁能力，以及壁虎足毛的干燥粘附性。尽管在美国计算机学会、MRS会议和戈登研究会议上举办了几次非常成功的研讨会，但没有一次致力于探索分层材料。随着人们对软物质和有机-无机杂化材料的兴趣迅速增长，同时强调新颖的合成和组装策略，并探索生物材料和合成材料的结构-性质关系的研讨会是非常及时的，可能会引起在广泛领域工作的大量研究人员的兴趣。拟议支持的更广泛的影响在于招募更多的研究生、博士后研究人员和年轻的教职员工参加会议。通过在研讨会上讨论生物和合成材料的设计、合成、组装和表征，我们的目标是将分级材料领域的最新发展带给国外的观众。共有22位国际知名的演讲者，其中大多数是年轻的研究人员，已被邀请并确认在MRS会议上介绍他们的研究成果。许多年轻的研究人员，包括研究生、博士后研究人员和年轻的教职员工，由于相关的注册和旅行费用而无法参加国家会议。因此，来自国家科学基金会的资金支持将是研讨会成功的关键。具体来说，它将用于提供10个旅行奖励，每个奖励400美元，以支持年轻研究人员参加拟议的研讨会。将优先考虑将参加第一次全国会议的研究生、将作口头报告的年轻教职员工以及属于代表性不足群体的学生。这一研讨会的两位共同组织者是女教授，她们在招募和促进妇女和少数族裔学生参加国内和国际会议方面有良好的记录。

Intellectual merit is based on the fundamental property common to many biological structures ? that they frequently display hierarchical organization on length-scales ranging from the nanometer to the macroscopic level.Such organization provides the foundation for many of the material properties, including for example the remarkable mechanical properties of bone, the dazzling optical effects of butterfly wings, the self-cleaning ability of the lotus leaf, and the dry adhesion in gecko foot hairs. Although there have been a few very successful symposia held at ACS, MRS meetings and Gordon Research Conferences, none has been dedicated to the exploration of hierarchical materials. With rapidly growing interest in soft matter and organic-inorganic hybrids, a symposium that both emphasizes novel synthetic and assembly strategies, and which explores the structure-property relationships of both biological and synthetic materials is extremely timely and likely to be interest to a large number of researchers working in a wide range of fields.The broader impact of the proposed support lies in recruiting a larger number of graduate students, post-doctoral researchers and young faculty members to attend the conference. Through discussion of the design, synthesis, assembly and characterization of both biological and synthetic materials at the symposium, we aim to bring the latest developments in the field of hierarchical materials to abroad audience. A total of 22 internationally-renown speakers, most of whom are young researchers, have been invited and confirmed to present their research findings at the MRS meeting. Many young researchers, including graduate students, post-doctoral researchers and young faculty are unable to attend national conferences due to the associated registration and travel costs. Therefore, funding support from NSF will be critical to the success of the symposium. Specifically, it will be used to provide 10 travel awards at ~ $400 each to support young researchers to attend the proposed symposium. Priority will be given to graduate students who will attend their first national meeting, young faculty who will give oral presentations, and those who belong to the underrepresented groups. Two co-organizers of this symposium are female professors and have proven track-records in recruiting and promoting women and minority students to attend national and international meetings.