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WVU welcomes international plasma science conference to region

Pittsburgh skyline

The physics and astronomy department is organizing the 70th Gaseous Electronics Conference, November 6-10, in Pittsburgh. Conference secretary Mark Koepke, and his organizing committee comprised of Earl Scime and Julian Schulze from WVU, Costel Biliou, Applied Materials Inc., Gottlieb Oehrlein, University of Maryland, and conference planner Saralyn Stewart, will host more than 325 scientists and engineers from North America, Asia, and Europe for four Monday workshops and 3.5 days of invited and contributed talks and contributed poster presentations. The scientific program was finalized on June 16 in Washington, D.C. The conference hotel is DoubleTree by Hilton Pittsburgh - Green Tree. A tour of WVU plasma physics facilities for the conferees will take place November 11. 

GEC is a special meeting of the Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics Division of the American Physical Society. The field represented at the GEC2017 covers physical and chemical processes and dynamics taking place in partially ionized, collisional plasma and between its atoms, molecules, charged particles, photons, waves, and fields.  

Applications of gaseous electronics and low-temperature plasma science include municipal water purification, microbial decontamination, plasma medicine, waste remediation/reduction, space propulsion, semiconductor etching, and thin-film deposition. The research holds extreme scientific promise, realized by the control of power-through-the-plasma for the selective production of reactive atoms and molecules, ions and photons. In recent years, the GEC has also been a leading venue for reporting on emergent areas of plasma-biotechnology, plasma medicine, plasma-metal catalysis, and atmospheric-pressure plasma systems. The National Academy of Engineering lists 6 out of 14 “Engineering Grand Challenges” (www.engineeringchallenges.org) for the 21st century wherein low-temperature plasma is playing a direct role: making solar energy economical, providing energy from fusion, developing carbon sequestration methods, providing access to clean water, engineering better medicines, and engineering the tools of scientific discovery.

Each one of us touches or is touched by plasma-enabled technologies every day. Products from microelectronics, large-area displays, lighting, packaging, and solar cells, to jet engine turbine blades and biocompatible human implants, either directly use or are manufactured with and, in many cases, would not exist without, the use of plasmas. The result is an improvement in our quality of life and economic competitiveness.

For more information visit The 70th Annual Gaseous Electronics Conference website.