Kokes Awards for the 23rd North American Catalysis Society Meeting

The biennial North American Catalysis Society (NACS) Meetings are the premiere conferences in the area of catalysis, surface science, and reaction engineering. The 23rd meeting will be held the week of June 2-7, 2013 in Louisville, Kentucky. Meeting objectives include bringing together leading researchers for intensive scientific exchange, providing students with an opportunity to present their work and interact with leaders in the field, and service. Financial support to offset a portion of the associated costs – and specifically, registration fees, airline tickets, and hotel accommodations – encourages greater participation by graduate and undergraduate students, and in many cases grants them the opportunity to attend and meaningfully contribute to the conference. The funds sought in this proposal will be in support of the Richard J. Kokes Travel Award program. The eligibility criteria for graduate students applying for a merit-based Awards are that they must study at a North American university and present at the Meeting. In the previous meeting, in Detroit, NACS received 209 applications and funded close to half of them. The NACS has an ongoing tradition of encouraging graduate students (and more recently, undergraduates as well) to participate in and serve at the National Meetings. Providing financial support is one of the most effective means of accomplishing this goal. While students are often workhorses in the laboratory, their attendance significantly broadens their scientific training, and offers them an opportunity to improve their communication and presentation skills. For example, they would be able to not only listen to presentations from the leading researchers from the US and abroad, but they would be able to interact with them and receive invaluable advice for thesis work. They would be able to meet with and debate with their peers from other universities, and learn about results from the latest technological innovations that could benefit their own research projects. And, through their own service at the meeting, they become active participating members of the catalysis community. The graduate and undergraduate students of today are the scientists and engineers of tomorrow. Proper training for them now leads to scientific breakthroughs and technological innovations in the future, and these in turn benefit the US economy. Catalysis permeates so many aspects of our lives, and advances in the field result in more energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly chemical processes (e.g., catalytic convertors), improved fuel cell and battery performance and lifetimes, efficient alternative fuel and hydrogen production, enhanced utilization of biorenewable resources, and a cleaner environment.