Symposium on Mechanical Instabilities in Polymer Films, Interfaces and Nanostructures; held in New Orleans, LA, April 6-10, 2008.

该提案要求支持将于2008年4月6日至10日在新奥尔良举行的第235届美国化学学会全国会议上召开的“聚合物薄膜、界面和纳米结构中的机械不稳定性”研讨会。表面不稳定性曾经被视为机械故障现象，现在被用于设计新型设备，如柔性电子设备和可调谐光栅，以及提供测量材料特性的创新方法。随着表面不稳定性的研究和应用扩展到新的科学学科，显然需要有组织的论坛来促进固体力学、实验材料研究、聚合物科学和设备工程等领域专家之间的知识和思想交流。组织本次研讨会的目的是：(1)捕捉机械不稳定性领域正在进行的研究的广度；(2)识别和验证跨学科边界的科学需求；(3)培养研究生、博士后和其他青年科学家。本次研讨会将提供一个独特的论坛，在开放和友好的环境中进行跨学科的知识和思想交流。演讲者的选择将反映该领域研究人员的多样性，既有成熟的参与者，也有年轻的参与者，包括来自传统上在科学和工程领域代表性不足的群体（例如妇女和少数民族）的演讲者。研讨会的很大一部分（口头和海报展示）将保留给研究生。本次专题讨论会提出的工作将以各种形式广泛传播，产生更广泛的影响。

This proposal requests support for a symposium on Mechanical Instabilities in Polymer Films, Interfaces and Nanostructures, which will be held at the 235th American Chemical Society National Meeting at New Orleans, LA, April 6-10, 2008. Once seen as mechanical failure phenomena, surface instabilities are now being harnessed to design novel devices such as flexible electronics and tunable gratings as well as provide innovative approaches to measuring material properties. As the study and use of surface instabilities branch out into new scientific disciplines, there is a clear need for organized forums to foster an exchange of knowledge and ideas among experts in fields such as solid mechanics, experimental materials research, polymer science, and device engineering. The goals of organizing this symposium are: (1) To capture the breadth of research being conducted in the area of mechanical instabilities; (2) To identify and authenticate the scientific needs across the discipline boundaries; (3) To educate graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and other young scientists.This symposium will provide a unique forum for interdisciplinary exchange of knowledge and ideas in an open and friendly environment. The speakers will be selected to reflect the diversity of researchers in the field, with both established and young participants, including speakers from traditionally underrepresented groups in science and engineering (e.g., women and minorities). A good portion of the symposium (oral and poster presentations) will be reserved for graduate students. The work presented in this symposium will be widely disseminated for broader impacts in various forms.