Magnetic Excitations in Semiconductors: Bridges to the next Decade

The proposed project is to support the Symposium, "Magnetic Excitations in Semiconductors: Bridges to the Next Decade", which will bring together many of the world leaders and the active young investigators in its subject area. It is designed both to highlight key advances in the field of magnetic excitations in semiconductors (MES), and to provide links to new long-term directions for research. It is planned for March 7-8, 2008 at the University of Buffalo, and will also honor the research of Dr. B. D. McCombe whose work has helped to shape the understanding of MES. An eminent group of 19 scholars, including two Nobel laureates, have agreed to give plenary lectures. Additional contributions in 13 topic-areas, chosen for their impact on the science and technology of MES, will be given in poster format. The Symposium will seek to maximize the intellectual exchange between young investigators and established leaders. The resulting increase in science knowledge-base, stimulation of new research technology, and wide dissemination of ideas to scientists specializing in the field, are the main intellectual merit of the proposed project. The Symposium will also feature the public lecture "Putting Spin into Electronics" as part of its program, in order to promote informal outreach learning in an area of MES that has strong potential to impact society. This lecture will be presented by Dr. Igor Zutic (University of Buffalo Physics), who is a leading theorist in the field of Spintronics and a highly engaging speaker. Dr. Zutic's lecture will be geared to non-scientists, and will be free and open to the public. It will be widely promoted at local schools and in the media, and held in a large venue hall at the University of Buffalo. This outreach lecture will be included along with the Symposium's plenary and poster presentations in a Web-Proceedings that is made fully available to the general public. World wide searchable access to the Proceedings by means of any OAI compliant metasearch engines or major directories (e.g., Google Scholar, OpenDOAR) will be set up under the SUNY Institutional Repository. The educational outreach fostered by the Symposium's public lecture and open dissemination in areas important to the non-scientific public constitute the broader impacts of this project.