Ashley Pierce
$162,843
Daniel J Herr
University of North Carolina Greensboro
North Carolina
Engineering (ENG)
Held annually since 2001, the National Science Foundation’s Nanoscale Science and Engineering (NSF-NSE) Grantees Conference is a two-day annual event that brings together educators, researchers, and experimentalists within nano science and engineering from academia, government, and industry to highlight information on the research and education activities funded by nanotechnology grants. The 2023 conference will be held in-person in Alexandria, Virginia, 7-8 December 2023, with a virtual attendance option, and will explore the timely topic of sustainable nanotechnology solutions to challenges in the life sciences and nanoscience applications in biotechnology. Specifically, it will raise awareness of this emerging global issue and consider visionary directions and breakthrough options for addressing this challenge. The conference will foster interactions among academic, government, and industry leaders across a diverse array of nanotechnology fields. Final versions of the conference materials, e.g., videotaped keynote, panel, and poster presentations, panel discussions, abstracts, and bios, will serve as conference proceedings. The global audience may access this material, following the event, at http://www.nseresearch.org/2023/, along with archival information from previous events. The discussions on grand challenges in and potential convergent solutions for nanotechnology in the life sciences will foster creative interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration during the event. Additionally, the poster sessions provide opportunities for one-on-one interactions between presenters and participants. Finally, this event will identify and explore emerging trends in nanotechnology and biotechnology; societal, ethical, and economic implications; and accessible workforce training considerations. These collective perspectives will help to enable academic researchers, industry, government, and communities prepare for and proactively capitalize on targeted breakthrough solutions and systemic high-impact opportunities. This conference’s primary goals are to promote dissemination of innovative research progress in diverse nanotechnology fields, with a focus on Nanobiology, or nanoscale science and engineering of biological phenomena across different applications, to facilitate research partnerships, and to identify future research directions. The first day of the conference will emphasize “Nanobiotechnology and Nano biomanufacturing”and the second day will focus on “Nanobiomedicine, nano-neuroscience, and workforce development.” Keynote speakers, panel discussions, and poster sessions serve to promote inter-university and academic, industry, government, and national-laboratory interactions. These interactions represent a vital step toward the advancement of the goals of the National Science Foundation, US National Nanotechnology Initiative, and the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act. To achieve these goals, the 2023 Nanoscale Science and Engineering Grantees conference will feature keynote and panel presentations, panel discussions, and posters that highlight visionary and strategic breakthrough opportunities in nanobiotechnology, nanobiomanufacturing, nanobiomedicine, and nanoneuroscience. Specific session topics include Quantum Biology and Quantum Sensing; Recent Breakthroughs in Synthetic Biology; Nanoscale phenomena in plants and agricultural systems, with applications on the bioeconomy; multi-scale and bioinspired assembly, i.e.. nano-bio architecture; cell-based and distributed biomanufacturing; Nanotechnology for regenerative medicine; bioprinting technologies; the future of nanomedicine in pandemics (and the role of targeted drug delivery); neurological processes at the nanoscale; and education and infrastructure for the nanobiology research community and (nano)bioeconomy.. Each keynote address, panel presentation, panel discussion, and poster session will serve as a training opportunity for all attendees, as the expert conference presenters will provide in-depth intra- and interdisciplinary insights across a broad array of nanotechnology fields. NSF-funded researchers and NSF Program Directors will moderate panel discussions. Additionally, the poster sessions will foster in-depth conversations with poster team representatives, as well as additional discussions of the Conference presentations. Questions addressed in the panels include: What innovations have arisen in these topics in the last decade? What are the critical gaps in advancing these areas? What are the opportunities for the future? This shared information provides a wealth of knowledge that can catalyze new collaborative and convergent research directions and opportunities. It also will enable an enhanced body of teaching nanobiology related materials at the K-12, undergraduate, and graduate levels. Following the event, the global audience may access final versions of the conference materials at http://www.nseresearch.org/2023/, along with archival information from previous events. The organizers will strive to ensure that conference related publications properly acknowledge NSF support. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.