2018 Tribology: Progress in Tribology at the Interface Between Disciplines; Gordon Research Conference; Bates College, Lewiston, Maine; June 24-29, 2018

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This award supports the Gordon Research Seminar and at the Gordon Research Conference on Tribology held on June 24-29, 2018 at Bates College, Lewiston, ME, USA. Tribology - the study of friction, lubrication, and wear - is essential to technological applications with moving parts, from large machineries and cars, to medical implants, to micro-mechanical mirrors in projectors. Regular meetings of the key researchers in this field are necessary for the exchange of ideas, information, and state-of-the-art technologies, in order to enable and accelerate advances and breakthroughs the field. The science of tribology impacts the national prosperity through improvements in manufacturing and energy reduction. The Gordon Conference is a key mechanism for linking the basic sciences with an engineering discipline of significant importance to the US and world economies. This GRC is held biannually and a unique forum for the open exchange of new and previously unpublished scientific ideas. In addition to poster presentations, the conference includes presentations and extended discussion and interactions among participants. The theme of the 2018 Gordon Research Conference is interdisciplinarity bringing together scientists and engineers from a variety of disciplines to discuss and debate the forefront research questions, and to identify areas for significant breakthroughs in tribology that are likely to be found at the interfaces between the classical fields. An important aspect of the 2018 conference is the Gordon Research Seminar. The Gordon Research Seminar is held the weekend before the Gordon Research Conference and is a forum for students and early-career researchers to exchange ideas in an informal but dynamic setting. National Science Foundation support from the Materials Engineering and Processing Program enables the participation of 15 junior participants, including graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, at the Gordon Research Seminar, and 12 invited early-career speakers and discussion leaders at the Gordon Research Conference. The Gordon conference is a premier workshop venue which allows weeklong discussion with not resulting conference summary published. This allows for the free flow of ideas and information within an open environment. The topics range from the atomic origins of friction and lubrication to the tribology of the earth. The workshop will focus on interdisciplinary and unpublished work with research presentations to inform the community in a small group format with ~100 attendees to foster discussion. NSF participant support is directed to the individuals from underrepresented groups, including gender and ethnic diversity; first-time GRC/GRS attendees and people from diverse fields to broaden the attendance base; and individuals with evidence of high-quality, early-career research accomplishments.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.