More than 1,400 top scientists and funding leaders will come to Knoxville in January for the 2008 National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research and Innovation Conference, sponsored by the NSF Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI).

The event is being hosted by the University of Tennessee College of Engineering (COE) Jan. 7-10 at the Knoxville Convention Center. The conference theme will be "Innovation Through Engineering."

CMMI funds research on topics and issues that span civil, mechanical and industrial engineering; engineering design; and manufacturing. The division also focuses on the reduction of risks induced by earthquakes and other natural and technological hazards.

Attendees will include participants from universities, industry and government, and conference programming will highlight the research of CMMI grantees and their students.

Among the activities planned for the conference are more than 500 different sessions, including poster presentations, plenary and breakout sessions. Topics include funding opportunities and proposal writing sessions led by NSF program directors, as well as research needs, opportunities and best practices.

The conference also provides an excellent opportunity for networking with other researchers and participants to develop collaborative efforts. Participants in the conference have earned a combined $250 million in NSF research funding.

Additional activities include technical tours of numerous scientific and engineering sites that make East Tennessee a national science and technology leader. Conference attendees will tour several UT campus labs, as well as Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Spallation Neutron Source, Siemens Molecular Imaging and the Y-12 National Security Complex.

The event will culminate in the CMMI Conference Banquet on Wednesday, Jan. 9, featuring a presentation on "Secret City-the Movie" by award-winning documentary filmmaker and East Tennessee native Keith McDaniel.

Way Kuo, COE dean and university distinguished professor, is the conference chair. Co-chairs include Lee Riedinger, professor of physics and former interim vice chancellor for research, and Peter Liaw, the John Fisher Professor and Ivan Racheff Chair of Excellence in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Details about the conference and registration information may be found at http://www.dmigranteeconference.org.

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