Support for the 2014 Gordon Research Conference on Catalysis: From Art to Science

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ABSTRACT TITLESupport for the 2014 Gordon Research Conference on Catalysis: From Art to ScienceABSTRACTThis award will be applied to the registration costs for participants of the 2014 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Catalysis, with preference given to post-doctoral associates and graduate students. The theme of this year?s conference is ?From Art to Science?. The conference will be held June 22-27, 2014, at Colby-Sawyer College in New London, New Hampshire. The PI for the award is Prof. John Regalbuto of the University of South Carolina. The goal of this award is to support the attendance of up to 18 exceptional early career scientists and engineers from the catalysis research community. Special emphasis has been taken to increase the visibility and participation of women. The field of catalysis plays a key role in the nation?s economy and standard of living. Fundamental research in catalysis produces materials (i.e., catalysts) that significantly improve the manufacturing process for many products. Many of these products find application in improving the quality of human life, reducing the adverse impact of human activities on the environment, and securing the nation's energy supply. Research in the field of catalysis also has major economic impact since a majority of the products used by a modern society requires catalysts at some point in their manufacture. The Gordon Research Conferences have a long tradition of bringing together leading experts from around the world to discuss their latest, most exciting work in catalysis and future directions for the field. The agenda for the conference allows for extended discussions amongst the participants from academia, industry, and the national laboratories. At least a third of the participants are graduate students and early career scientists. The conference is a unique learning environment for early career participants because the format combines informal presentations and discussions, group meals, and external activities to encourage collaborative discussions between early career and advanced-career catalytic scientists from academia, industry, and national labs. The 2014 GRC on Catalysis will continue the tradition of bringing together leading researchers from around the world to discuss their latest, most exciting work in catalysis and future directions for the field. The extended discussions that arise in this collection of outstanding thinkers from academic, industrial, and national laboratory research, including post-doctoral associates and graduate students, is a unique learning environment for early career participants and a great opportunity for synergistic advances in research by the established community of scientists and engineers. The conference has a materials synthesis bias. The conferences sessions cover: (1) Science in Catalyst Development, (2) Understanding and Designing Oxides and Carbon, (3) Rational Synthesis of Supported Metal Nanoparticles, (4) Computations for Mechanistic Understanding and Catalyst Design, (5) State of the Art Characterization Methods, (6) The Art of Surface Science, (7) Understanding Catalytic Reactivity, (8) Continuing the Transformation of Catalysis Art into Science. Late-afternoon poster sessions for graduate students and post-doctoral associates are an integral and intellectually vigorous part of the meeting. These poster sessions are given substance by a best-poster competition judged by a panel of industrial participants. Additionally, a significant diversity impact this year is that 50% of the speakers are women.