Support of a Hybrid Format 2022 North American Membrane Society (NAMS) Meeting To Expand Access And Diversity

该奖项将为2022年在亚利桑那州坦佩举行的北美膜协会（NAMS）混合、虚拟和现场会议所需的视听基础设施提供支持。NAMS是首屈一指的膜会议，提供杰出的技术会议，涵盖膜科学和技术领域的所有主题。2022年会议的主题是“膜的可持续性”，技术会议将重点交流膜科学的最新发展和趋势，以提高可持续性。该会议历史悠久，是来自工业界和学术界的学生，早期职业研究人员和该领域领导者的论坛，分享他们的研究和开发成果，见解和未来方向。混合会议形式允许与会者决定他们希望如何参与。提供虚拟出席选项已被证明可以减少参加的障碍，例如旅行负担和费用，并有望提高总体出席率，使会议能够在全球范围内进行。这种对混合会议视听基础设施的支持将确保所有与会者有一个积极的、富有成效的会议体验，并促进膜研究界不同成员的参与。如果出现与大流行有关的旅行限制，这种格式也提供了灵活性。NAMS组织委员会由不同的北美研究人员组成，并邀请来自学术界，工业界和政府实验室的演讲者在该计划中占据突出地位。会议将包括30个技术会议、每日全体会议、海报会议和丰富的非结构化讨论期，以促进新的合作关系和研究思路。所有现场和在线演讲者的口头报告将通过实时Zoom电话会议进行，双向沟通和在线会议主持人主持讨论。指导小组讨论、赞助商会议和全体会议也将通过Zoom进行现场直播，以便所有与会者都能实时参与。2022年NAMS会议将涵盖各种主题，从膜材料科学的基础研究到过程系统开发以及膜技术在水、生物处理、化学分离、环境系统和能源中的应用。从历史上看，每年有400多名来自世界各地的领先膜学家参加NAMS会议。该奖项将为那些可能无法亲自参加会议的研究人员提供有意义地参加会议的机会。将通过调查和与以前会议的出席情况进行定量比较来评估混合会议形式的有效性，调查结果将通过该协会的网站和同行评议出版物传播。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award will provide support for the audiovisual infrastructure required to host a hybrid, virtual and onsite, 2022 Meeting of the North American Membrane Society (NAMS) in Tempe, Arizona. NAMS is a premier membrane conference, providing outstanding technical sessions across the full breadth of topics within membrane science and technology. The theme of the 2022 meeting is "Membranes for Sustainability," where technical sessions will focus on communicating the latest developments and trends in membrane science geared towards improving sustainability. The meeting has a rich history as a forum for students, early-career researchers, and leaders in the field, from both industry and academia, to share their research and development outcomes, insights, and future directions. The hybrid meeting format allows attendees to decide how they wish to participate. Providing a virtual attendance option has been shown to reduce barriers to participation, such as the burden and cost of travel, and is expected to improve overall attendance and make the meeting globally accessible. This support for the hybrid meeting audiovisual infrastructure will ensure a positive, productive meeting experience for all attendees and promotes participation by diverse members of the membranes research community. The format also provides flexibility should pandemic-related travel restrictions arise.The NAMS organizing committee is comprised of diverse North American researchers, and invited speakers from academia, industry, and government labs feature prominently in the program. The meeting will feature 30 technical sessions, daily plenary sessions, a poster session, and abundant unstructured discussion periods to catalyze new collaborative relationships and research ideas. All oral presentations by onsite and online speakers will be given through a live Zoom teleconference, with two-way communication and online session chairs to moderate discussions. Mentorship breakouts, sponsor sessions, and plenary talks will also be live through Zoom, such that all attendees are participating in real-time. The 2022 NAMS meeting will cover a variety of topics ranging from fundamental studies of membrane material science to process systems development and applications of membrane technology in water, bioprocessing, chemical separations, environmental systems, and energy. Historically, more than 400 leading membranologists from around the world participate in the NAMS meeting each year. This award will extend opportunities to meaningfully participate in the meeting to researchers who might, otherwise, be unable to attend in person. The effectiveness of the hybrid meeting format will be assessed through surveys and quantitative comparison with attendance profiles from prior meetings, and the findings will be disseminated through the society's website and a peer-reviewed publication.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.