Travel Support to the 2009 Macromolecular Materials GRC and GRS; Ventura, CA; January 10-15, 2009

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ID: MPS/DMR/BMAT(7623) 0841011 PI: Pochan, Darrin ORG: University of DelawareTitle: 2009 Macromolecular Materials Gordon Research Conference (GRC) and Graduate Research Seminar (GRS)INTELLECTUAL MERIT: The organizers of the Macromolecular Materials Gordon Research Conference (GRC) and complementary Graduate Research Seminar (GRS) will supplement the available funds for travel support to enhance participation of biomaterials-focused post doctoral and senior graduate students at this meeting. Although not devoted entirely to biomaterials, a significant portion of the program is of direct relevance to the areas supported by the Biomaterials program. An innovative feature of this GRC will be a two-day Gordon-Kenan Graduate/Postdoc Research Seminar that will precede the GRC itself. This event will introduce new investigators to the GRC experience and give them a chance to participate in ways not normally available to beginning investigators. A quarter of the requested funds will be used to support attendance at the GRC by five of the approximately 30 students and postdocs expected to participate. Special emphasis will be placed on using the funds provided by NSF to support female and minority junior faculty, students, and postdocs, who will apply for this support to the organizing committee.BROADER IMPACTS: The broader impacts lie in the cultivation and development of tomorrow?s leaders in the biomaterials field and related interdisciplinary fields and to further diversity in the scientific workforce performing this interdisciplinary research. In keeping with the past tradition of the Polymers West GRC, the Programmatic Themes of this year?s conference cover a range of important and timely topics spanning the range from biomaterial synthesis to physics and engineering, including industrial trends in polymer science. These programmatic themes include polymer thin film mechanical properties and patterning, polyelectrolytes for DNA complexation and cellular delivery, charged polymers for biomaterials, complex micelle assembly, polymer nanoparticles and nanotechnology, and the theory of charged polymer assembly.