Conference: Keeping the Fire Alive: Fostering a Sustainable Community in the Combustion Sciences

This proposal is to support three outreach activities held during the U.S. National Combustion Meeting, March 19–22, 2023, at Texas A&M University. These activities include an Early Career Workshop for Combustion Researchers, a Mentorship Mixer, and a Women in Combustion Luncheon. The goal of these activities is to bring together a community of early-career combustion researchers and develop action committees to encourage early-career participation in the combustion research community. In the U.S., nearly 70% of energy conversion is accomplished by combustion—hence, advancement in combustion science is crucial to U.S. energy security and society. Workshop participants will develop four high-priority items, including public outreach, building productive and inclusive research group cultures, and education and communities of practice, and navigating research challenges in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Workshop findings will be documented in a report that will be disseminated to the wider technical community. Combustion is a key technology for power generation, and this will remain the same for decades to come. However, the combustion research community is facing various technical and non-technical challenges. The participants will identify challenges, educate the early-career researchers about these challenges, and discuss possible solutions. Discussion around technical issues will include brainstorming of novel, possibly cross-disciplinary research areas for future work. On the other hand, various non-technical issues will also be discussed, including communication with the public and policymakers and attracting and retaining talented researchers from diverse backgrounds. Results of this workshop are expected to help build a more productive combustion research community. 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.