Kent State to Host ICAM/I2CAM Conference in May

Kent State University will play host this year to one of the most prestigious scientific conferences in the world.

The annual international conference of the Institute for Complex Adaptive Matter will be held May 16-18, 2016 at the Kent State University Hotel and Conference Center.

Kent State has been a member of of the Institute since 2003, but this is the first time it will host the event.

The institute was established in March 1999 at the University of California. In 2002, ICAM became a multi-disciplinary research program there, with nine founding branches. In 2004, it received an award from the National Science Foundation to establish the International Institute for Complex Adaptive Matter (I2CAM) to continue and expand ICAM’s international scientific and educational activities. The international organization now consists of 72 branches — 35 in the United States, 17 in Europe, 14 in Asia, one in Canada, one in Australia, two in the Middle East, two in South America, and four partner institutions. Altogether, ICAM links 112 leading centers of complex materials research worldwide. ICAM’s programs include exploratory workshops, symposia, fellowships, and research and educational networks.

Since 2003, the Institute has awarded several one-half post-doctoral competitive fellowships to Kent State researchers, and funded multiple workshops, including several for the Glenn H. Brown Liquid Crystal Institute.

Kent State Physics Professor, Dr. Khandker Quader, led the effort to bring Kent State into the organization in 2003 and has been the university’s ICAM coordinator since then.

Quader said the university’s role as host of the conference not only gives Kent State a chance to show off its research facilities and faculty, it allows the university to form bonds that will further its research goals.

“It is an in to collaborate with leaders in the field,” he said. “I’ve received great support from (Arts and Sciences Dean) James Blank, and I’m getting a strong response locally to participation in the conference.”

Dean Jim Blank, along with Research Vice President Paul DiCorleto will give the opening remarks at 8 a.m. May 17, 2016.

The conference will welcome and feature speakers from all over the world, and certainly some from Kent State, including LCI professor Oleg Lavrentovich and Physics Post-Doctoral Research Associate Miroslaw Salamonczyk, as well as Physics Professor Hamza Balci.

I was hoping Kent State people would want to be a part of it and be involved, and they are,” Quader said. “And there’s still time for more to register.”

Registration is free and meals are provided.