Travel Grant for Fourth Mediterranean Chemical Engineering Conference for Collaborative Research; Dead Sea, Israel, January 9-12, 2006

本提案是为美国学术代表出席第四届东地中海合作研究交流会议(EMCC-4)提供旅费，会议将于2006年1月9-12日在以色列死海举行。参展国包括土耳其、希腊、以色列、意大利、保加利亚、罗马尼亚和美国。来自东地中海其他国家的化学工程师也将被邀请。讲习班的目的是向与会国家的研究人员介绍化学工程四个领域的最新研究情况：先进材料和纳米技术、化学过程工程、生物工程、运输现象和分离过程，以促进各国研究人员之间的合作研究和接触。之所以选择这些领域，是因为它们是所有参与国的关键技术领域。EMCC-4的主要主题是“加强化学工程领域合作研究的模式”。这是本系列的第四次会议。前三次成功的会议是1999年3月在以色列海法的Technion举行的，来自土耳其、以色列和美国的代表参加了会议；2001年5月在安卡拉和伊斯坦布尔举行的会议，希腊和其他三个国家的化学工程师参加了会议；2003年5月在希腊塞萨洛尼基举行的会议，参加会议的四个国家都参加了会议。以色列本古里安大学的莫蒂·赫斯科维茨将担任会议主席。三位杰出的美国化学工程师将在全体会议上发言，其中包括威斯康星大学的尼克·阿博特教授。此外，将邀请来自这四个领域的25名美国演讲者，他们是资深研究人员和有前途的年轻研究人员的混合体。每个研究领域还将有来自美国的主旨讲师。来自其他国家的杰出特邀演讲者已承诺参加，每个国家将邀请约20名演讲者口头发言。还将有来自这些国家的海报演示，一些是由研究生介绍的。还将向5名美国与会者提供特别旅行补贴，让他们在以色列以外的国家--土耳其、希腊、意大利、保加利亚或罗马尼亚--访问和演讲，以发展和/或促进合作。其他美国与会者预计将在组织者的批准和其他资金来源的支持下参加会议。此前的三次EMCC会议在让美国、土耳其、以色列和希腊的学者了解他们的研究兴趣和能力以及促进研究合作方面产生了重大影响。拟议的第四次会议将提供更多的机会，特别是预计将有许多以色列研究人员参加。此外，通过将会议扩大到包括意大利、保加利亚和罗马尼亚，我们将进一步扩大参与国之间的合作机会。这些会议的另一个好处是，它们为来自东地中海国家的大量研究生提供了直接与来自美国和其他国家的经验丰富的年轻教职研究人员互动的机会。此外，这些会议提供了极好的论坛，供与会国家的教师就课程问题进行富有成效的非正式讨论。每个研究领域的美国领导人将在其他三个国家的同行的帮助下，在会议上编写总结每个研究领域活动的草稿报告，然后分发供编辑和编写最终报告。本报告将张贴在待开发的EMCC一般网站上。此外，与前几次会议一样，预计拟议会议的约30篇论文将发表在《化学工程通讯》上。

ABSTRACT - 0544649This proposal is for travel funds for U.S. academic representatives to attend the 4th Chemical Engineering Conference for Collaborative Research Exchanges in the Eastern Mediterranean (EMCC-4) to be held at the Dead Sea, Israel, January 9-12, 2006. The participating countries are Turkey, Greece, Israel, Italy, Bulgaria, Rumania and the U.S. Academic chemical engineers from other Eastern Mediterranean countries will also be invited. The purpose of the Workshop is to update researchers from the participating countries with the state of the art of research in four areas of chemical engineering: Advanced materials and nanotechnology, Chemical process engineering, Biological engineering, andnTransport phenomena and separation processes, in order to catalyze collaborative research and contacts between investigators from the various countries. These areas were selected since they are critical technology areas in all of the participating countries. The major theme of EMCC-4 will be "Modes for Enhancing Collaborative Research" in Chemical Engineering. This is the fourth conference in this series. The three previous successful conferences were at the Technion, in Haifa, Israel in March 1999 with representatives from Turkey, Israel and the U.S.; in Ankara and Istanbul in May, 2001 with participation by chemical engineers from Greece as well as the other three countries; and in Thessaloniki, Greece in May 2003 with participation by the four participating countries.Prof. Moti Herskowitz from Ben Gurion University in Israel will be the Chair of the Conference. Three distinguished U.S. chemical engineers will be Plenary Speakers including Prof. Nick Abbott of the University of Wisconsin. In addition, twenty five U.S. speakers will be invited from the four areas, a blend of senior researchers and promising young investigators. There will also be keynote lecturers from the U.S. in each research area. Distinguished invited speakers from the other countries have committed to participate and approximately 20 speakers from each country will be invited to give oral presentations. There will also be poster presentations from these countries, some presented by graduate students. Special travel supplements will also be provided to 5 U.S. participants to visit and lecture in countries other than Israel-Turkey, Greece, Italy, Bulgaria or Rumania -- to develop and/or promote collaboration. Other US participants are expected to attend the conference with approval from the organizers and with support from other financial sources.The three previous EMCC Conferences have had major impacts in acquainting US, Turkish, Israeli and Greek academics with their research interests and capabilities and in fostering research collaborations. The proposed fourth conference will provide further opportunities, especially with the many Israeli researchers expected to attend. In addition, by expanding the conference to include Italy, Bulgaria and Rumania we will further expand the opportunities for collaboration between the participating countries. An added benefit of these conferences is the exposure they have provided for large numbers of graduate students from the Eastern Mediterranean countries to interact directly with both seasoned and young faculty researchers from the US and the other countries. In addition, these conferences have provided excellent forums for fruitful informal discussions on curriculum issues among faculty of the participating countries.Draft reports summarizing the activities in each research area will be prepared at the meeting by the U.S. leaders in each research area with the help of their counterparts from the other three countries and will then be circulated for editing and to prepare the final report. This report will be posted on a general EMCC Web Site to be developed. In addition, it is expected that about 30 papers from the proposed Conference will be published in Chemical Engineering Communications, as was done for the previous conferences.