Conference: 2025 Society for Biological Engineering Conference Support for Future Leaders

The primary goal of this project is to ensure that student trainees and early career professionals in the fields of synthetic biology, biotechnology and synthetic microbial systems are able to attend important conferences. This support is viewed as an investment in the biotechnology workforce of the future, providing trainees and early career professionals with an opportunities to share their work, develop relationships and advance their careers. This support will apply to trainees and early career professionals working at U.S.-based universities, building a strong national pipeline to ensure the United States continues to be a leader in science and engineering disciplines. The Society for Biological Engineering (SBE) organizes conferences to advance the industries, research areas and careers of biological engineers, and people working in related areas. The conferences focus on developing a high-quality technical program to share the latest technical developments, networking opportunities to build community and engaging trainees and early career professionals to build a strong future for the field. Four of its key conferences in synthetic biology are: Synthetic Biology: Engineering, Evolution and Design (SEED), Mammalian Synthetic Biology (mSBW), Cell Free Systems and the International Conference on Microbiome Engineering (ICME). It is important to engage the next generation of synthetic biologists in these meetings, to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and offer development opportunities. This project's goals are to help students and early career professionals attend conferences in the fields of synthetic biology and biotechnology, building a strong talent pipeline to continue advancing synthetic biology and related fields. 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.