US-Japan Workshop on Bioinspired Sensing and Bioinspired Actuation (BSBA) Technologies; Hawaii; March 18 and 19, 2011

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This grant provides partial funding for a joint US-Japan Workshop on Bioinspired Sensing and Bioinspired Actuation (BSBA) Technologies, to be held in Japan on March 18 and 19, 2011. Society is reliant on the use of sensors and actuators to monitor and control its engineering systems, and new paradigms to their design are urgently needed to ensure sensors and actuators continue to improve in functionality, reduce in cost and shrink in size. An entirely new approach to design next-generation sensors and actuators is through the mimicking of the highly efficient sensing and actuation mechanisms found throughout nature. Toward this end, a joint US-Japan Workshop is organized to identify a research and education roadmap for bio-inspired engineering of sensors and actuators. The objectives of the US-Japan Workshop on Bio-inspired Sensing and Bio-inspired Actuation (BSBA) are to: (a) evaluate the current status of research and education in the topic area in the United States and Japan, (b) identify critical and strategic research and educational issues of mutual interest, (c) identify joint research projects and potential research teams for collaborative research activities, and (d) formulate a strategy for securing funding for them in both the US and Japan. The workshop will be jointly supported by NSF and Japan Technological Agency (JST).The research of BSBA is newly emerging and multi-disciplinary, and vigorous research efforts are beginning to be undertaken in various disciplines including aerospace/civil/electrical/mechanical engineering, bioengineering, biology and chemistry. It is expected to bring transformative changes to the design of many engineering systems. As USA and Japan are two technological giants in the world, joint BSBA research can be expected to create breakthroughs that will lead to novel bio-inspired technologies that could impact every facets of our living society. The workshop will invite and include the participation of students, post doctoral researchers and other junior researchers as well as underrepresented groups of researchers to enhance diversity and broad contribution. The workshop will also promote the international collaboration to leverage resources, and share technical data and research ideas for the mutual benefit of the two countries. The outcomes of the workshop will point to and guide the major collaborative directions of future sensor technology research between US and Japan.