Welch eXperimental (WelchX) Collaboration Retreats
This program aims to bring together Texas researchers to topically focused chemistry meetings and stimulate them to ideate on challenging issues of our time. Early- to mid-career tenured faculty will be invited to this fully in-person summer meeting to stimulate collaborations that foster lasting connections among the participants, thus increasing the density of research ties across Texas and spurring the growth of basic research in the chemical sciences.
The theme for the 2023 WelchX collaboration retreat is:
"Chemistry for Sustainability”.
The retreat’s program activities are designed to spur creative, innovative, collaborative ideas that address the most challenging and unexplored issues in climate-smart chemistry, clean energy, and materials production and usage. Including but not limited to:
- Climate-Smart Chemistry. Reactions driven by nanostructured materials, molecular and biomolecular complexes and Earth-abundant elements for; energy conversion, plastics production/upcycling, and novel ways to make H2
- Energy Capture and Storage. More efficient batteries, hierarchical organic molecules, perovskites and quantum dots for light harvesting, and plasmonic materials for enhanced light-matter interactions
- Sustainable Plastics. Polymers and processes for sustainable production and recycling at industrial scales)
- Organic Semiconductors (solar cells, sensors, novel applications)
- Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Materials (computational and data sciences to design and predict the properties of new materials)
- Chemical-Based Strategies to Mitigate Climate Change
Participation in WelchX is by invitation only. To participate, you must first apply and be selected by the WelchX organizing committee. WelchX retreat participants are eligible to develop the collaborative concepts they design at the retreat into funding proposals to be considered for WelchX collaborative Pilot Grants of up to $100,000 for 12 months.