Travel Support for 18th US National Congress on Computational Mechanics (USNCCM18); Chicago, Illinois; 20-24 July 2025

This grant provides funding for graduate students, post-doctoral scholars, and early-career researchers to attend the 18th US National Congress on Computational Mechanics (USNCCM18) which will be held in Chicago, Illinois, 20-24 July 2025. USNCCMs are the flagship conferences of the US Association for Computational Mechanics (USACM), and the country’s premier computational mechanics meetings. USNCCM18 will provide a forum for bringing together graduate students, post-doctoral scholars, and early-career researchers from academia, national laboratories and industry to confer on the latest advances and emerging frontiers in Computational Mechanics. USNCCM18 will feature 101 minisymposia encompassing a wide range of topics. These will include: Scientific Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence/Data-Driven Methods; Biomechanics/Computational Biology/Biosystems; Solid Mechanics and Materials; Soft Materials; Fluid Mechanics; Multi-Phase Mechanics and Fluid Structure Interactions; Nanoscale Phenomena; Advanced Manufacturing; Novel Computational Methods/Algorithms; Emerging Computing Paradigms; Geosystems and Climate Science; Verification, Validation and Uncertainty Quantification; Optimization; Scientific Visualization, Extended and Augmented Reality. Additionally, the conference will introduce Late-Breaking Topics’ minisymposia, whose focus will be decided by the Congress Scientific Committee. USNCCM18 is expected to have around 1200 participants.

The Congress will have extensive graduate student participation, including: (i) oral presentations in regular technical sessions, and (ii) the Student Poster Competition. The USACM’s recently established Student Chapter will hold a Meet and Greet event. With over 300 members representing universities from across the country, the USACM Student Chapter’s events have become a vibrant and growing feature of the Congresses. There will be a Mentoring Session for post-doctoral scholars and senior graduate students aspiring to careers in academia and research institutions. The vision for this event is to have Assistant and newly promoted Associate Professors present their perspectives to help post-doctoral scholars and graduate students (i) understand the requirements for making successful entries to independent research and teaching careers, (ii) understand the challenges and intricacies of maintaining an independent research group and managing younger research personnel, (iii) successfully navigate the funding landscape, and (iv) interact meaningfully with the Computational Mechanics and larger scientific community. Recognizing the importance of and shared responsibility for equitable representation, USNCCM18 will feature a Networking Event that will be open to all. This event will have keynote lectures by researchers with lived experience in achieving representation and practicing leadership. Also, as at previous Congresses there will be a Future of Research Funding panel and one-on-one meetings for researchers with agency program managers.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

Award Number: 2512845
Principal Investigator: Krishnakumar Garikipati
Funds Obligated: $60,200
State: CA