2018 Crystal Engineering GRC

Major Goals Organizing a Gordon Research Conference involves extensive communication with the research community to identify important issues at the frontiers of the field, and solicit suggestions for speakers and discussion leaders to participate in the conference. The Chair then contacts prospective participants to invite them to talk and discuss the nature of their contributions. The Chair then communicates the topics and aims of the conference through web pages, contact with relevant international professional bodies and email to members of the research community around the world to encourage applications for participation in the conference. The Chair is then responsible for assessing and accepting the applications and fielding a host of questions both concerning the technical content and practical aspects of conference participation. Accomplishments This is the fifth GRC dedicated to Crystal Engineering. The 2018 GRC followed highly successful meetings in 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016 each of which was attended by tilde 140 participants from around the world. This GRC was accompanied by a Gordon Research Seminar GRS on Applications and Interfaces in Crystal Engineering. The GRS is an excellent opportunity for graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and other scientists with similar levels of experience to gather and learn from each other and experts in the field. The GRC and the GRS together provided a unique opportunity for participants to discuss the very latest trends and findings within this exciting and rapidly-evolving area of science. The ability to control crystallization and dictate the organization of atomic and molecular building blocks in the solid state using principles of crystal engineering is rapidly evolving to the point where properties can be realized through design rather than serendipity.