Participant Support for the 23rd American Conference on Crystal Growth and Epitaxy (ACCGE-23); Tucson, Arizona; 13-18 August 2023

This grant provides participant support for attendees of the 23rd American Conference on Crystal Growth and Epitaxy (ACCGE-23) to be held in Tucson, Arizona, 13-18 August 2023. The conference focuses on new research and development activities in bulk single crystal and epitaxial thin film growth. Students and faculty present their latest research results on crystal growth and epitaxy through oral and poster sessions.

The conference impacts the advanced manufacturing and broader engineering communities. Priority is given to student and young faculty participants who are women or who come from underrepresented minority groups. This approach promotes diverse participation at the conference, in the short term, and in STEM fields, in the long term.

This award benefits the nation through the education of a skilled and diverse manufacturing workforce, which is better prepared to provide transformative solutions to the challenges in their chosen fields. The conference plays an important role in supporting and sustaining the important field of crystal growth and epitaxy, which is an important component of semiconductor and microelectronics research.

This conference is timely because of renewed interest in the revitalization of microelectronics and semiconductor manufacturing in the US.

This participant support is expected to benefit the students' professional, scientific, and technical development. Attendance at the conference gives the students and faculty a broader view of crystal growth and thin film epitaxy, its fundamentals, advanced manufacturing, advanced characterization, and applications. Symposium topics include fundamentals of materials synthesis, crystal structure analysis, crystal growth techniques and methods, high throughput manufacturing, process modeling, monitoring and control, and specialized topics, such as 2D nanomaterials, ceramics, ferroelectrics, and microfluidic processing.

The conference is an opportunity for participants to showcase their scientific accomplishments, interact with peers and colleagues in academia, government labs and industry and extend their network within the broad materials processing and advanced manufacturing communities. Attendees will learn about state-of-the-art research in their technical areas via access to several technical and professional development talks by leading domestic and international speakers.

Students and young faculty enhance their communication skills through oral and poster presentations and in-depth discussions of their work with peers in their technical areas. This interactive experience significantly broadens student education, increases their enthusiasm for their research topic, acquaints them with expectations for scientific careers, and exposes them to new approaches for innovative research.

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.