U.S.-Japan Workshop on Bio-Inspired Engineering of Next-Generation Sensors and Actuators; Spring 2011

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This grant provides funding to support a U.S.-Japan Workshop on Bio-inspired Engineering of Next-Generation Sensors and Actuators in which U.S. and Japanese participants from various disciplinary backgrounds can begin to grow a trans-Pacific Bio-Inspired Sensing and Bio-Inspired Actuation (BSBA) research community. The workshop objectives are to understand the current state of BSBA research and education in the U.S. and Japan with the aim of identifying strategic BSBA research topics ideally suited for U.S.-Japan teaming. BSBA research topics identified will be based on their ability to enhance the performance and resiliency of civil and mechanical systems while attempting to improve the security of both nations. The primary purpose of the workshop is to identify opportunities and challenges in BSBA research. A new research roadmap tailored for U.S.-Japan collaboration will be created to define BSBA research for years to come. The workshop participants will be invited from a highly diverse set of research communities to ensure a multi-disciplinary research agenda is formulated for U.S.-Japan BSBA research. The workshop agenda will consist of: i) initial presentations on potential research thrusts from both the Japanese and US perspective, ii) intense working group sessions to define and refine key research directions to be pursued, and iii) presentations from the working groups on their recommendations with discussion from all workshop participants. The workshop is designed to have a broader impact by creating next generation sensing and actuation technologies designed through bio-inspiration for aerospace, civil and mechanical systems. The workshop will invite, and make every effort to include, the participation of students and young researchers to create a cadre of BSBA experts at the early stages of their careers. Furthermore, underrepresented groups of researchers will be sought to enhance the diversity of the BSBA research community leading to the avoidance of group-think issues common to homogenous research teams. The workshop will also promote international collaborations by sharing resources, technical data and research ideas for the mutual benefit of the two countries (U.S. and Japan).The major outcome of the workshop will be a ranked list of critical BSBA research areas that would most benefit from the diversity of technical and cultural perspectives that would be created by collaborative, multidisciplinary research teams consisting of U.S. and Japanese members. The identified research topics would also be selected to fundamentally enhance the performance and resiliency of civil and mechanical systems prevalent in U.S. and Japanese society while attempting to improve the security of both nations. The final report originating from the workshop would be widely distributed to the broader international sensor and actuator communities via a website developed specifically for the U.S.-Japan workshop.