International Competitiveness
In an environment of increased international competition, US funding for research in the physcial sciences has been stagnant or declined while at the same time funding for life science research has grown substantially. This has drawn increasing numbers of the most talented students to the life science disciplines. In other countries particularly in Asia, trained people with skills in the physical sciences and engineering are seen as economic enablers and as a result enormous investments have been made in polymer science, for example. This investment means that many new and important developments will take place overseas and partnerships with international researchers will become increasingly important.
The polymer industry has also changed during the last decade with the conventional polymer industry (large volume manufacturers) going offshore, reducing its research activity and in many cases moving its focus to incremental changes in polymer technology. This evolution is occurring at the same time that many exciting developments in science and technology are taking place in speciality, low volume polymers, such as the invention of polymer based light emitting diodes, polymer electronics, polymers in drug delivery, etc. As a new industry develops around these new technologies, needed skills increasingly fall across science and engineering traditional boundaries. Through a panel discussion and in the breakout sessions, these important issues will be interwoven with discussions about new research areas and educational challenges.