Participant Support for 7th International Conference on Advanced Nanoparticle Generation and Excitation by Lasers in Liquids (ANGEL); Charlottesville, Virginia; 26-31 May 2024

This award provides participant support for attendees of the 7th International Conference on Advanced Nanoparticle Generation and Excitation by Lasers in Liquids (ANGEL); Charlottesville, Virginia; 26-31 May 2024. The conference focuses on new research and development activities in laser-based nanoparticle synthesis for applications in clean energy, medicine, and advanced manufacturing. Students, faculty, and researchers from industry present their latest research results on laser-based synthesis of nanoparticles in oral and poster sessions. The conference impacts the advanced manufacturing and broader engineering communities. Priority is given to student and young faculty participants, particularly female participants and those who belong to minority groups underrepresented in science and engineering. 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 nanoparticles and nanomaterials, which are important components in energy, medicine, microelectronics, and quantum research. This conference is timely because of the increase in global demand for high quality, tunable nanomaterials, and nanoparticles. 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 nanoparticle synthesis, its fundamentals, advanced manufacturing, advanced characterization, and applications. The conference is attended by U.S. and international experts and researchers, thus a variety of perspectives are presented and discussed. The conference is an opportunity for participants to showcase their scientific accomplishments, interact with peers and colleagues in academia, government laboratories and industry, and extend their network within the broad materials processing and advanced manufacturing communities. Attendees learn about state-of-the-art research in laser synthesis and processing of colloidal nanoparticles, biomedical applications of laser-nanoparticle interactions, advanced modeling and experimental probing of laser-nanoparticle interactions at the limits of spatial and time resolution, and other emerging topics in the general area of laser-materials interactions in liquids 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.