Support of Student Travel to Attend the Joint Meetings of The Clay Minerals Society and the Asian Clay Conference

The annual Clay Mineral Society (CMS) conference is a leading international conference in clay science, held annually. In 2024, this joint conference with Asian Clay communities will attract scientists who study a type of fine-grained rock or soil in the world, with applications from agriculture to medical science and engineering. The annual meeting will advance clay science for the benefit of the environment, industry, and society, through the interaction among researchers and educators and will thus foster the society’s vision to improve our lives through the transforming power of clay science. The meeting’s technical program begins each day with society award winners’ presentations on research, education, and outreach activities in clay science, followed by presentations that cover a broad range of clay sciences dealing with its applications for consumer goods, environmental remediation, natural science, medicine, space exploration as well as cosmetic, food and industrial products. It is a unique opportunity for students to participate and interact with international colleagues and leading researchers and teachers. The interaction during and after technical sessions will further enhance research and education in clay sciences. The student travel awards funded by this NSF award will support approximately 10 students in the United States to attend the joint Meeting between The Clay Minerals Society and Asian Clay at the University of Hawaii at Manoa from June 3rd- 7th, 2024. Support for student registration fees is also included for approximately 10 local students, who will also help with the conference operation. The student travel grants will target students who will benefit from attending this conference including registration fee and a field trip. Priority will be given to first-time attendees and students from under-represented groups in the Geosciences. This award is co-funded by the Geobiology and Low Temperature Geochemistry Program and the Sedimentary Geology and Paleobiology Program in the Division of Earth Sciences. 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.