NSF Award
2139438
This award will support student participation in the 74th Annual Gaseous Electronics Conference (GEC) to be held October 4 - 8, 2021 in Huntsville, Alabama and the 75th GEC to be held in late 2022 in Sendai, Japan. The GEC has a three quarter century history in pursuit of the foundational physical and chemical processes occurring in partially ionized, collisional plasmas, encompassing the interactions between atoms, molecules, charged particles, photons, waves, and fields. The GEC has a strong tradition of encouraging and promoting student participation. The attendance at research conferences is an important educational experience for students that cannot be replicated at their home institutions. The GEC provides opportunities for students to expand their networks both domestically and internationally, to learn about the most cutting edge research and discoveries, and to develop their professional communication skills.<br/><br/>The GEC is a conference that welcomes student participation and introduces them to the global professional community where they can envision themselves developing their careers. The GEC program is organized with breaks mid-morning and mid-afternoon, as a way of facilitating conversation among participants. At the 2021 and 2022 GEC, intentional steps are being taken to create a more inclusive conference atmosphere for those from groups not well represented at the conference. These steps include a reconsideration of the GEC experience to add a commitment to diversity and inclusivity to its reputation as a premier venue for gaseous electronics and plasma research. Although demographic changes in research communities have slower time constants than might be desirable, the student participation enabled by this award has the potential for long term impact on the diversity of the future GEC community. This approach includes introduction of several tested professional development and social events intended to appeal to early career attendees such as student research competition, including students from underrepresented groups. Questions added to the post-conference survey will help to assess need for, interest in and effectiveness of the added events, and responses will be used to guide planning for subsequent future conferences.<br/><br/>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.
