About the Conference

The 2012 NSF Engineering Research and Innovation Conference, sponsored by the National Science Foundation’s Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) and hosted by Northeastern University, took place July 9–12 in Boston, Massachusetts. The conference was held along with the George E. Brown Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) Quake Summit 2012.

This year’s conference theme, Engineering Transformation through Partnerships, evoked the academic city at work that is Boston. Through presentations and technical tours, an estimated 1,200 attendees from academe, industry, and government were able to see first-hand real partnership successes addressing real problems, and contributed to the dialogue on using partnerships effectively to address future challenges.

Three subthemes within Engineering Transformation through Partnerships defined the lenses that conference attendees used to engage with research and education across the Division’s programs and beyond. These subthemes are:

• Partnered (interdisciplinary) research
• Partnerships up (with decision-makers and research funders)
• Partnerships out (engagement with society)

Conference activities included:

• Featured speakers from academia, outreach, and industry
• Plenary and breakout sessions on funding opportunities and proposal writing, research needs, opportunities, and best practices
• Technical tours of local facilities of interest as well as Northeastern and other university laboratories
• Poster sessions featured more than 1,000 presentations
• Graduate student tracks focused on career development and skills training
• Outreach activities that bring CMMI into the community
• Excellent opportunities for networking