Excellence in Graduate Polymer Research Symposium: An Interdisciplinary and International Forum for Future Leads, Spring 2010, San Francisco

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TECHNICAL AND NON-TECHNICAL ABSTRACT Advances in polymeric materials continue to catalyze our nation's future critical technologies ranging from charged polymers in biomedical devices and water purification membranes to conducting polymers for sensors and alternate energy solutions. Functional polymeric materials require our fundamental understanding at length scales ranging from nanometers to centimeters. Our constant attention to fundamental structure-property-performance relationships is critical for our continued success and societal impact, and research strategies demand an interdisciplinary and teamed vision for both rapid and integrated solutions. It is this interdisciplinary strategy that will enable new discoveries in polymer science and engineering. This research proposal will allow future leaders, who are currently graduate students across the United States, to assemble in a unique international forum of polymer science and engineering. Oral presentations and interactive poster sessions will address key research areas including theory and molecular modeling, polymer design and synthetic strategy, polymer characterization using state-of-the-art techniques, engineering of polymer-based devices, and fundamental understanding of the interface of polymer chemistry, physics, biology, and engineering. Moreover, this forum will encourage scientific network building and raise the awareness of the necessity for interdisciplinary research to younger polymer scientists and engineers. The symposium will occur at the 2010 spring national meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Francisco, California. The NSF funding will permit the attendance of some leading graduate students, ensure diverse participation, and showcase the importance of interdisciplinary research for solving some of the more complex questions that face our scientific community. The forum will serve to recognize leading graduate student researchers and provide a mechanism for research partnerships to evolve in a grass-roots fashion. The symposium will offer an educational experience where students will be able to benchmark their research strategies and presentation skills, and participants will raise their awareness of emerging topics at new boundaries of polymer science and engineering.