Conference: 2016 Bioinspired Materials Gordon Research Conference and Gordon Research Seminar

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Intellectual Merit:Biological systems have evolved means to create polymeric and mineralized materials that are exquisitely designed for high functionality in specific applications. In many cases, the materials of nature display structure-function relationships that exceed our current ability to reproduce in synthetic materials. Nevertheless, our understanding of these designs and the means by which they are produced is now sufficient to encourage efforts to harness or mimic these designs and the methods used in nature to achieve them. This conference will bring together young scientists and experts in the field of bioinspired materials to share recent advances and new methodologies. It is anticipated that international interactions, including student exchanges and research collaborations, will emerge from the conference that will advance both research and education in this area.Broader Impacts:Enhancing young scientist (graduate student, postdoc, junior faculty) participation in the worldwide activities of bioinspired materials research, which leads to broadening of their professional experiences, stimulating interactions and collaborations with the international bioinspired materials community, and fostering the development of a new generation of young scientists, is a primary goal of this conference. This Gordon Research Conference (GRC) and Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) will have broad impacts through the promotion and cross-disciplinary fertilization of new ideas in the emerging field of Bioinspired Materials and will stimulate international exchanges and interactions between young scientists, underrepresented minority scientists, junior faculty, and prominent senior investigators. It will do so by bringing together a diverse group of researchers at one venue who have common interests that span the field of Bioinspired Materials. By doing so, the PIs hope to stimulate the growth of this area of research, and professional development of researchers in this field, by providing a single venue for the dissemination and exchange of results and ideas. The ultimate, long-term goal for the Bioinspired Materials GRC is to be the first choice for researchers in this field. If PIs succeed in building a cohesive community of scholars through this GRC, as other GRCs have done for many other interdisciplinary fields, PIs believe that this GRC will have had a broad impact on the field of Bioinspired Materials. The broader impacts of the GRC are enhanced in 2016 by incorporating an accompanying GRS on Bioinspired Materials. The GRS will provide a unique venue where young researchers can interact in a forum of their own design and develop professional networks, discuss scientific advances, as well as receive career advice from a panel of senior investigators. The organizers will endeavor to involve as many younger scientists and scientist from groups underrepresented in the STEM workforce as possible.