Frontiers in Energy Sciences

Cyanobacteria and Algae Research and Education (CARE) 

2024 CARE Workshop 

Workshop Theme: "CARE: From Researchers to Students"

Cover pages of the program book and abstract book. Images provided by Rachael Morgan-Kiss, Jianping Yu, and Gary Brudvig.

Greetings!

On behalf of the Organizing Committee, we are excited to initiate the inaugural Annual Cyanobacteria and Algae Research and Education (CARE) Workshop in 2024. The event will be hybrid (in person and Zoom/Microsoft teams)

The CARE Workshop in the fall will be a complementary event to the existing Annual Research Frontier Symposium (ARFS) in the spring. The CARE Workshop will be a more focused conference on energy sciences, including photosynthesis and cyanobacteria research, and the ARFS Conference will be a broad meeting on the full spectrum of STEM research.  

The CARE Workshop will provide a snapshot of the most recent advances in Frontiers in Energy Sciences. The theme of the CARE Workshop in 2024 is "CARE: From researchers to students." The conference aims to showcase the recent progress in cyanobacteria and algae research, promote collaboration between the teams, and inspire the students from researchers to enter the workforce in energy research, especially the under-represented student populations. 

We are thrilled and honored to have two world leaders as the Plenary Speakers in the 2024 CARE Workshop. Dr. Gary Brudvig is the Silliman Professor of Chemistry at Yale University and will present the recent outstanding discovery in PSII-inspired solar fuel production using the theory of photosynthesis. Dr. Rachael Morgan-Kiss is the Chair of Microbiology and O'Toole Family Professor and will share her amazing stories of the microbial ecology of photosynthetic organisms in the polar desert, Antarctica. 

We greatly appreciate the support from the international photosynthesis and cyanobacteria community to form the Workshop Advising Committee. The 26-member Advising Committee consists of international well-known leaders and active young experts, including Dr. Bob Blankenship, Lucille P. Markey Distinguished Professor Emeritus from Washington University in St. Louis, Dr. Jian-Ren Shen, winner of the Asahi Prize in Science from Okayama University in Japan, Dr. Gary Brudvig, Benjamin Silliman Professor from Yale University, Dr. Gabriela Schlau-Cohen, Associate Professor from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Junko Yano, Senior Scientist from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Dr. Govindjee, winner of Lifetime Achievement Award for photosynthesis research from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

In 2024, the CARE Workshop welcomes oral talks from faculty/scientists, postdocs, graduates, and undergraduates to share their recent progress and breakthrough discoveries in their research projects with the audience. Especially, we strongly encourage undergraduates to give oral presentations in the Workshop. There are two types of oral presentations (the 15-minute regular talk or the 3-minute short talk) for students to choose to showcase their work to the audience. The 3-minute Short Talk Session is for students to highlight their research stories with the participants of the conference. 

During the lunch break, we will have a Research and Training Programs Session, including presentations from Dr. Jianping Yu on the NREL overview, Dr. Himadri Pakrasi from WUSTL on energy research programs, and Dr. Vida Dennis from Alabama State University on ASU training programs.  Additional presentations from other faculty on their universities and graduate programs are encouraged to share with the participants of the conference. 

The student winners (about 10% of total presentations from postdocs, graduates, and undergraduates) will be selected by the Workshop Award Committee. The registration fee ($50) per participant is required and will be used for student awards. Printed workshop programs, abstract books, and Lunch boxes are only available for registered participants.

The abstract may include one figure, 0-5 references, and should have about 250 words. The figure should highlight the work and help readers to understand the results. The figure may be data, instrumental setup, model, or other graphics. The abstract in MS Word should be sent to Dr. Hou by email (hhou@alasu.edu). The date of abstract submission will start on June 1, 2024, and originally end on July 31, 2024 (now extended to August 15, 2024). 

You are welcome to visit the website <https://sites.google.com/alasu.edu/care-2024/home> for more details.

See you in September 2024!

Harvey Hou

Chair, 2024 CARE Workshop Organizing Committee

• Conference Website: https://sites.google.com/alasu.edu/care-2024/home

• Journal Website: https://sites.google.com/alasu.edu/journal-fstem/home

• Contact: Phone: 334-604-9183, Email: hhou@alasu.edu

Copyright by the 2024 CARE Workshop Organizing Committee