Every eighteen months, CMMI gathers its grantees, program staff, and other interested parties for a research and grantees conference. The latest occurred in Knoxville, TN from January 7-10, 2008, hosted by the University of Tennessee in partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).
Each grantees conference includes various sessions designed to stimulate new research ideas and allow for interaction between grantees and NSF program staff. The conference includes plenary and parallel sessions offering valuable information on research activities and trends in civil and mechanical engineering and manufacturing innovations; sessions where representatives from NSF provide important knowledge about NSF funding opportunities, programs, and partnerships as well as details about creating successful proposals and setting up research programs; interesting technical tours to various industry and government engineering facilities; and opportunities for meetings with CMMI program directors for one-on-one discussions. Additionally an opportunity for student participation has been added to the conference, via a student parallel session track and a student research poster session. The division in conjunction with a sponsoring institution conducts a travel grant competition to fund student particpation at the conference.
Beyond these activities, the grantees conference provided an opportunity for current attendees to present their research. This is accomplished via scheduled poster sessions where grantees have an opportunity to present information to other conference attendees as well as to their respective program directors. The poster sessions provide a unique experience for discussions and networking and also offer many possibilities for the development of future research collaborations. More than 650 active grantees exhibited posters during the 2008 conference. Active grantees are required to attend the grantees conference held during the period of their award. Funds to attend are provided within the travel funds allocated in each award.
The following are some of the presentations and other talks given throughout the conference:
Research Development Workshop
George Hazelrigg, NSF
Keynote Presentation:
Innovation in Materials throughout the Centuries: The Impact on Today's Energy Crisis
Jeffrey Wadsworth, Executive Vice President for Global Laboratory Operations, Battelle Memorial Institute
Parallel Sessions
Consideration in Putting Together a Center Proposal
Ethics for Students and Faculty
Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation and CDI: Opportunities and Challenges
NSF Initiative in Cyberinfrastructure
Working with the Media
Coping with Your CAREER Award
NSF Success Stories and Future Directions
Top Advances and Emerging Areas
Top Advances
Philip LeDuc, Carnegie Mellon University: Cellular Mechanics and Inspiration
Scott Smith; University of North Carolina, Charlotte: Deformation Cutting
Nader Jalili, Clemson University: Control and Manipulation at the Nanoscale
Hanqing Jian, Arizona State University: Stretchable Electronics
Victor Li; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor: Bendable Concrete
Hod Lipson, Cornell University: Active Fault-Tolerant Systems
Emerging Areas
Yacov Haimes, University of Virginia: Cascading Failures
Martin Wortman, Texas A&M University: Predictive Modeling
George Hazelrigg, NSF: Energy Manufacturing
