Conference: Diffusion Fundamentals IV - A Multidisciplinary Conference on the Fundamentals of Diffusion and its Applications; Troy, NY, August 21 - 24, 2011

摘要PI：CoppensProposal ID：1138436本项目与扩散基础第四次会议有关，该会议将召集国际知名的权威机构和广泛学科的初级研究人员，讨论扩散方面的最新进展。虽然与化学工程相关的科学研究，包括用于分子分离和催化的纳米孔材料，是一个主要感兴趣的领域，但这次会议将是独特的多学科会议，演讲内容从扩散物理和生物医学应用到地球科学。报告将涵盖纳米和多尺度理论的惊人进展，以及复杂的实验表征和新的合成技术带来的控制扩散的新能力。纳米限制和表面势垒效应对热力学和分子传输的新的基本见解和应用推动了最近扩散基础方面的兴奋。关于扩散的跨学科讨论预计将转化为个别和交叉学科、化学工程、地球科学、医学等领域的变革性研究。一个将专家和学生团结在一起的国际会议是及时的。这将是该会议第一次在欧洲以外的地方举行，在纽约特洛伊的伦斯勒举行。此前，该会议在莱比锡、L和雅典成功举行，首先是2005年爱因斯坦关于布朗运动的著名文章的庆祝活动。拟议研究的智力价值与适当计算、甚至控制从微观到宏观长度尺度的扩散有关，对于从化学工程到地下水监测、气候研究、药物控制输送和疾病传播等一系列应用至关重要。在佩林、爱因斯坦、克努森和朗之万之后的一个世纪，人们对扩散的根本兴趣重新抬头。这部分归功于合成具有良好控制和新颖纳米结构的材料的能力(导致有趣的限制效应、异常扩散等？)，部分归功于先进的表征方法，提供了定性的新见解和前所未有的定量精度(PFG核磁共振，各种光谱和散射方法)，部分归功于多尺度的理论和计算方法，使我们能够在适当的实验解释和实际应用(从分子筛膜到生理学和地质学)的长度和时间尺度之间架起桥梁。扩散基本面第四次会议将以一种独特的方式讨论这一进展，将专题专业论坛不够用的人聚集在一起。拟议研究的更广泛影响包括扩散现象是最重要的基本物理现象之一，具有无限的应用，不仅在化学工程和前述广泛的科学领域，而且在社会学、商业和金融领域也是如此。它也是一个极具教育意义的领域，并允许演示与材料科学、化学工程和生物学有关的物理概念。与会者将从会议期间的演讲和讨论中受益，在他们自己的学科范围内，并跨越传统的边界。这次会议将通过将学生注册费保持在较低水平(200美元)，并为海报演示留出充足的时间，与美国和世界专家的特邀演讲相关，从而刺激初级研究人员的参与、互动和新的国内外合作。

AbstractPI: CoppensProposal ID: 1138436 This Project is concerned with The Diffusion Fundamentals IV conference which will assemble internationally renowned authorities and beginning researchers across a broad range of disciplines, to discuss recent progress on diffusion. While chemical engineering related scientific research, including nanoporous materials for molecular separations and catalysis, is a major area of interest, the conference will be uniquely multidisciplinary, with presentations varying from the physics of diffusion and biomedical applications to the geosciences. The presentations will cover astounding progress in nano- and Multiscale theory, combined with sophisticated experimental characterization and new capabilities to control diffusion thanks to new synthesis techniques. New fundamental insights and applications of nano-confinement and surface barrier effects on thermodynamics and molecular transport drive the recent excitement in diffusion fundamentals. Interdisciplinary discussions on diffusion are expected to translate to transformational research in individual and crosscutting disciplines, in chemical engineering, geosciences, medicine, and beyond. An international conference that unites experts and students is timely. It will be the first time that the conference is held outside Europe, at Rensselaer in Troy, NY, after successful meetings in Leipzig, L'Aquila and Athens, starting with the 2005 celebration of Einstein's famous article on Brownian motion. The intellectual merit of the proposed research is related to properly accounting for, or even controlling diffusion from micro- to macroscopic length scales, is essential to a range of applications, from chemical engineering to groundwater monitoring, climate studies, controlled delivery of pharmaceutics and the propagation of diseases. A century after Perrin, Einstein, Knudsen and Langevin, there is a revival of fundamental interest in diffusion. This is partly due to the ability to synthesize materials with well-controlled and novel nanostructures (leading to interesting confinement effects, anomalous diffusion, etc?), partly to advanced characterization methods that provide qualitatively new insights and unprecedented quantitative precision (PFG NMR, various spectroscopic and scattering methods), and partly to multiscale theoretical and computational methods that allow us to bridge length and time scales for proper experimental interpretation and practical applications, from zeolite membranes to physiology and geology. The Diffusion Fundamentals IV conference will cover this progress in a unique manner, bringing together people for whom thematic professional forums would not suffice. The intellectual merit, with uncompromising focus on science, will foster collaborations, multidisciplinary research, as well as progress in individual thematic areas.The broader impacts of the proposed research include the phenomenon of diffusion is one of the most important fundamental physical phenomena, with boundless applications, not only in chemical engineering and the aforementioned broad scientific areas, but also in sociology, business and finance. It is also an area of great educational interest, and allows demonstrating physical concepts linked to materials science, chemical engineering and biology. Participants will benefit from presentations and discussions during the conference, within their own disciplines and across traditional borders. The conference will stimulate junior researcher participation, interactions, and new domestic and international collaborations by keeping the student registration fee low ($200) and allowing ample time for poster presentations, associated to invited talks by US and world experts.