Nanotribology Symposia at the 2010 and 2011 STLE Annual Meetings

The objective of this award is to establish the 'Nanotribology' symposium in the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE) annual meeting and to provide young generation tribologists and lubrication engineers with opportunities to flourish through participation in this symposium and technical committee meeting. This symposium will serve as the leading platform for dissemination and discussion of the current state of the art in nanotribology. The specific goal is to help students and junior faculty at an early stage in their careers or from underrepresented groups. The grant will be used to provide cost defrayment to junior faculty members who may otherwise have difficulty in finding funding to attend the STLE annual meeting. To bring further visibility to the symposium and the attendees and to promote the quality of the research presented, an award will be given to the best student presentation throughout the entire symposium.

Knowledge shared in the Nanotribology symposium will be disseminated to graduate, undergraduate, and high school students working in the attendee's institution. Bringing together attendees from academia (fundamentals of nanotribology), national laboratories (energy related fundamentals and applications), and industry (application oriented) will impact and benefit the communities involved by providing cross-cutting information between fundamental research and industrial applications. Research presentations and group discussions at the symposium will impact experiments and modeling in the areas of micro and nanosystems, nano-patterning of surfaces, tribological response of materials at the nanoscale, nano-colloidal lubrication, low friction energy saving materials and coatings, characterization capabilities, and environmental impact of nanomaterials.