About the Monie A. Ferst Award:
The award is given annually to an educator in engineering or science who has made “notable contributions to the motivation and encouragement of research through education.” Its purpose is to “recognize significant contributions to scientific research by an educator in engineering or science.” The award consists of a medal and $10,000. Since 1977, it has been given to educators who have inspired their students and colleagues to significant research achievements.

Schedule:

8:15-8:45: Continental Breakfast

8:45-9:00:  Welcome address

9:00-9:30: Michael Dickey, NCSU, “Patterning and Actuating Soft Materials”

9:30-10:00: Qinghuang Lin, IBM, “Wafer-Scale Nanofabrication for Detecting and Controlling Single DNA Molecules: A Tribute to Professor Grant Willson”

10:00-10:15: Break

10:15-10:45: Brian Long, University of Tennessee, “Siloxane Functionalized Polynorbornenes as Gas Separation Membranes”

10:45-11:15: Scott M. Grayson, Tulane University, “Cyclic polymers: Synthesis and potential applications”

11:15-11:45: Clifford Henderson, Georgia Tech, “Plenty of Room at the Bottom: Large Scale Nanomanufacturing Using Block Copolymer Directed Self Assembly”

12:00-1:00: Break

1:15-1:45: Jodie Lutkenhaus, Texas A&M University, “Advanced Functional Layer-by-Layer Nanocoatings: Graphene, MOFs, MXenes and More”

1:45-2:15: Keith Keitz, University of Texas, “Mesoporous Materials and Amyloid Formation”

2:15-2:45: Christopher Bates, University of California-Santa Barbara, “Connecting Macromolecular Architecture and Properties”

2:45-3:25: Jared Schwartz, Oluwadamilola Phillips, and Anthony Engler, Georgia Tech: “Vaporizing Polymers: Synthesis, Stability and Photo-sensitization”

3:25-4:00: Break

4:00-5:00: Award presentation and address

5:00-6:00: Reception with refreshments