Conference: Supporting Students and Early Career Researchers as Participants in the 11th SNO Workshop and Conference 2022

The theme of the 2022 Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization Conference and Workshop is environmental applications and implications of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology research and development in the United States has been thriving to achieve paradigm shifting outcomes in a variety of industries within the last two decades. Consequently, environmental impacts of nanotechnology have become more relevant in recent years.

One crucial component to advance environmental nanotechnology research is organizing annual conferences. These meetings allow discussions of the critical aspects of sustainable and safe nanotechnology among the key players such as universities, companies, and policy makers. In addition, these activities facilitate discussion of recent advances.

The Conference also fosters networking opportunities, helps workforce training by improving students’ and early career researchers’ technical knowledge and communication skills, and nurtures new ideas. The Conference will provide travel costs for early career researchers. These attendees will be selected to improve the diversity, equity, and inclusion of the Conference.

This year’s Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization Conference will focus on fundamental nano-scale processes related to sustainability and the environment and presents state-of-the-art knowledge and an outlook on nano-enabled applications. The conference will have a kick-start with a close look at transport through nano-scale pores. This will be followed by a set of high-profile plenaries and concurrent sessions covering a wide set of topics including fate, transport, exposure of nanomaterials, nanomaterial applications in the environment, energy sectors, and agriculture, as well as discussions on women in engineering, education, and nano-impacts.

A group of renowned experts are leading these sessions who will share ideas, develop collaborations, and recognize accomplishments of the leaders in the field. The Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization Conference has served as the community for nano-environmental scholars and has given a platform to many early-career researchers. This exchange of ideas will serve as a catalyst for future environmental applications, where nano-scale transport plays a central role.

The conference will also catalyze discussions in many areas including, but not limited to, nano-energy, nano-scale transport, nano-fate and transport, nano-enabled environmental applications, nano-sensors, nano-education, women in engineering and nanotechnology, and sustainable nanotechnology. The conference will seek to incorporate students, postdocs, and junior faculty members from underrepresented communities as well as women scholars.

The diverse academic and ethnic backgrounds represented in the workshop augment a creative, inclusive, and diverse intellectual environment. The students will gain experience and inspiration from the diversity and inclusivity of the workshop, which will help them build their careers in their respective fields.

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.