Science Foundation Arizona Grand Challenges Conference
April 12-13, 2010

Science Foundation Arizona (SFAz) in partnership with Arizona State University (ASU), Northern Arizona University (NAU) and the University of Arizona (UA) will host the 2010 Science Foundation Arizona Grand Challenges Conference at the Sheraton hotel, Phoenix, April 12-13, 2010. This year’s keynote speakers will include Dr. Cherry A Murray, Dean, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Dr. Lee Hartwell, Nobel Laureate and Co-Director, ASU Biodesign Institute, and Dr. Alan Nelson, Executive Director, ASU Biodesign Institute.

This Conference will bring together 200 Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF) recipients statewide with innovative academic and industry participants to consider grand challenge questions in information and communications technology, sustainable systems, and biomedical research. Attendees will visit local high-tech industries in the greater Phoenix area operating within the three focus areas. Fellows will meet business leaders and scientists to discuss how they help Arizona meet its scientific and societal Grand Challenges.

Science Foundation Arizona is committed to individuals of highest potential to drive innovation and make Arizona and the United States more competitive in the knowledge-based world of the 21st century. The SFAz GRF program has already transformed existing graduate programs in Arizona by attracting exceptionally gifted Ph.D. students in key areas of strategic value to the State: Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Sustainability (SUS) and Biosciences (BIO). SFAz has awarded 227 fellowships in the past three years, making it the largest of its kind in the United States.

The goal of the Conference is to challenge these “best and brightest” students to consider the grand challenges the world faces and that their research must address and to see how the work is carried out in the world of industry. They will meet scientists and engineers, providing them an eye-witness experience to the real world of science and technology in Arizona. Fellows will also have the opportunity to talk about their own work at two competitive poster sessions, one each day of the conference.