2010 Gordon Research Conference on Thin Film and Small Scale Mechanical Behavior; held July 25-30, 2010.

关于“薄膜和小尺度机械行为”的戈登研究会议（GRC）将于2010年7月25日至30日在缅因州沃特维尔的科尔比学院举行。财政支持将帮助支付会议费用和受邀演讲者、讨论领袖以及研究生、博士后和初级教员的旅费。智力上的优点是，会议的主题是高度跨学科的，涉及具有材料科学和力学背景的科学家，以及来自凝聚态物理，电气工程甚至生物学等邻近领域的同事。众所周知，当材料在几何上被限制在至少一个维度的小尺度中时，其力学行为会发生变化。这可能会影响弹性、塑性和随时间变化的变形，以及断裂、疲劳和磨损等退化机制。然而，这些变化的基本机制和科学认识需要继续调查，并且是许多研究项目的主题。小规模机械行为的研究受益于与材料科学和工程相关的物理机制的基础研究，这些研究达到了从光学和微电子设备、纳米或微电子机械系统（NEMS/MEMS）到能源生产和存储设备的现代应用。该研究领域一直在利用原子和微力学建模，以及材料表征和小长度尺度的原位测量方面的最新进展。因此，对小尺度力学行为的研究为材料科学和应用力学领域的许多研究提供了养分。以前的会议总是对新的和意想不到的结果和观察结果进行激烈的讨论，在许多情况下，与会者之间已经开始了新的研究和合作。2010年会议将继续讨论对该领域具有持久意义的主题，如弹性、塑性变形和小型结构的断裂。此外，会议还将突出日益重要的议题。特别是，能源转换和存储领域的新兴主题，如电池材料，将得到强调。该GRC将对知识传播、激发新思想和研究合作产生广泛影响。在以往关于这一主题的GRC会议上，100多名国际专家聚集在一起，他们具有上述领域的背景，大部分与会者来自欧洲和亚洲。通常，超过一半的参与者是来自学术界、国家实验室和工业界的学生或年轻研究人员。会议使这些年轻学者在GRC的独特氛围中与专家直接接触，不仅激发了他们的特定研究兴趣，更重要的是将他们融入科学社区。我们将大力邀请演讲者和讨论领袖，并支持来自不同背景、性别和种族的学生。此外，预计所有受邀演讲者都将是首次在本次GRC上发言。每次口头报告后，将有充足的时间进行提问和深入讨论。为此，讨论的领导是非常重要的，并将仔细选择。他们要么是以前GRC会议上的演讲者，可以提供一个总体的观点，要么是非常有经验的人，他们做了杰出的工作，善于提出令人兴奋的问题。还计划在每届会议结束时进行简要讨论。

The Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on "Thin Film and Small Scale Mechanical Behavior" will be held from July 25 to 30, 2010, at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Financial support will help defray the conference fees and travel costs for invited speakers and discussion leaders as well as graduate students, post-docs and junior faculty members. The intellectual merit is based on the fact that the topic of the conference is highly trans-disciplinary, involving scientists with backgrounds in materials science and mechanics as well as colleagues from neighboring areas including condensed matter physics, electrical engineering and even biology. It is well established that the mechanical behavior of materials changes when they are geometrically confined to a small scale in at least one dimension. This may affect elastic, plastic and time-dependent deformation as well as degradation mechanisms such as fracture, fatigue and wear. The fundamental mechanisms and scientific understanding of these changes, however, require continued investigation and are the subject of many research projects. The study of small scale mechanical behavior has benefitted from fundamental studies of physical mechanisms linked to materials science and engineering reaching towards modern applications ranging from optical and microelectronic devices and nano- or micro-electrical mechanical systems (NEMS/MEMS) to devices for energy production and storage. This research area has always taken advantage of recent progress in atomistic and micromechanical modeling, as well as materials characterization and in-situ measurements at small length scales. As such, the study of small scale mechanical behavior has fertilized many aspects of research in the fields of materials science and applied mechanics.Previous meetings have always led to intense discussions of new and unexpected results and observations, and in many cases new research and collaborations between attendees have been initiated. The 2010 Conference will continue to cover topics of lasting significance to the field such as elasticity, plastic deformation, and fracture in small structures. In addition, it will highlight topics of growing importance. Particularly, emerging topics in the area of energy conversion and storage, such as materials for batteries, will be highlighted.This GRC will have a broad impact on knowledge dissemination, stimulation of new ideas and research collaborations. At previous GRC meetings on this topic, more than 100 international experts on the subject came together, with backgrounds in the areas described above and with a large portion of participants coming from Europe and Asia. Typically, more than half of the participants are students or young researchers from academia, national laboratories, and industry. The meeting brings these young scholars into direct contact with experts in the unique atmosphere of a GRC, stimulating not only their specific research interests but even more importantly integrating them into a scientific community. We will make a strong effort to invite speakers and discussion leaders and to support students who are diverse in background, gender, and race. Also, it is anticipated that all invited speakers will be presenting for the first time at this GRC. After each oral presentation, there will be ample time for questions and in-depth discussions. For this, the discussion leaders are very important and will be carefully chosen. They are either speakers from previous GRC meetings who can provide an overarching perspective and/or very experienced people who have done distinguished work and are adept at posing stimulating questions. It is further planned to have summary discussions at the end of each session.