Chlorine conference at MIT

[jnash@MIT.EDU (Jennifer Nash)]

I have just joined this list and am very pleased to find such an 
informative group!  I am a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology and am organizing a conference on chlorine and the 
environment.  We have just issued a "call for papers" and I hope that 
some of the people on the list will respond.  I have attached the call 
and some information about the conference below.  Please let me know if 
you have any questions.  Thanks.  Jennifer Nash

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology will hold a conference on the 
future uses of chlorine on June 12-13, 1996.  Conference organizers are 
accepting proposals for papers until February 15 in any of the following 
areas related to chlorine: Pollution prevention, environment and human 
health; destruction and disposaltechnologies; education in 
cross-disciplinary issues such as chlorine.  For updates about the 
conference, please refer to the conference homepage at 
http://web.mit.edu/ctpid/www/tbe/chlorine.html.

This conference is designed to educate the next generation of 
researchers who will be contributing scientific understanding, 
technological innovation, and policy recommendations for the management 
of currently chlorine-dependent processes.  It will round out the third 
year of work undertaken by the MIT Chlorine Project, a program of 
research and related educational activities.

A special emphasis of the conference will be to bring together graduate 
students working on various aspects of chlorine-related issues.  The 
format of the two-day meeting will feature intensive half-day workshops, 
each focused on an issue about which substantial work is underway at MIT 
and elsewhere, as well as plenary sessions devoted to assessments of the 
current state of knowledge and practice in managing chlorine in the 
environment.  Workshops and plenary sessions will provide an opportunity 
for participants to gain a broad interdisciplinary set of perspectives 
on the issues related to the future uses of chlorine.  In addition, 
poster sessions will showcase student research.  

Call for Papers

This call for papers is intended to provide inputs to a series of 
concurrent workshops given at the conference.  The intention is to use 
these workshops as a basis for discussion about alternative research 
perspectives.  The workshops will operate as working sessions to advance 
the emerging research agenda.  Each will be facilitated by a senior 
scholar.  

Suggested Themes for Papers and Posters

1.  Pollution Prevention

Pollution prevention requires innovations in assessment, technology, and 
policy.  We will be holding workshops in each of these areas.  We are 
looking for papers that cover the following topics:

*Assessment:  Decision-making tools for firms that can provide the 
information needed to integrate environmental considerations into 
product and process design, for example, design-for-environment and life 
cycle analysis.  Also, decision-making tools that are applicable at the 
societal level for improving hazard assessment and comparative hazard 
assessment.
*Technology:  Promising new technologies for reducing chlorine use and 
chlorine emissions to the environment throughout the product lifecycle.  
This would include process and product technologies.
*Policy and Law:  Analysis of how to design public policy processes and 
environmental legislation to promote innovation and diffusion of more 
environmentally friendly processes and products.  We are particularly 
interested in exploring how the public sector can effectively promote 
pollution prevention rather than pollution control.

2.  Environmental and Human Health

A large number of man-made chemicals that have been released into the 
environment, as well as a few natural ones, have the potential to 
disrupt ecosystems, such as the ozone layer, as well as the endocrine 
systems of animals, including humans.  This session will explore new 
techniques for studying the transport, fate, and health impacts of 
chlorinated compounds, as well emerging evidence for environmental, 
animal, and human health disruptions.  We will consider papers in the 
following areas:

*Movement of various forms of chlorinated compounds in the air, water, 
and soil environments.  
*Chemistry of organo-chlorine compounds in the troposphere and 
stratosphere.  
*New techniques to identify the most problematic chlorine-based 
chemicals on the basis of their environmental and health impacts.
*Evidence of chlorine-induced endocrine disruptions and other health 
impacts in populations.

3.  Destruction and Disposal Technologies

Eliminating toxic residues and stocks of banned chlorine-containing 
compounds requires new methods for safe, effective material destruction.  
We will examine technologies for this purpose such as photocatalysis, 
heterogeneous catalysis, and reactions in supercritical fluids.  
Monitoring and measuring approaches will be considered for process 
control and residue detection.  A key policy issue concerns compliance 
with regulations on material handling and effluent disposal.

4.  Education

We seek papers that document experience educating students to address 
cross-disciplinary issues such as debate over the future uses of 
chlorine.  We are interested in case studies of educational programs 
that cut across health, social, and economic disciplines, as well as 
policy-related academic programs that address conflict resolution and 
policy formulation that are applicable to the study of chlorine.

Requirements for Paper and Poster Abstracts

Abstracts for papers and posters are welcomed.  Abstracts should contain 
250 to 500 words.  Abstracts will be reviewed for selection by the 
advisory board of the Chlorine Conference.  Abstracts must be received 
by February 15, 1996.  Abstracts received after that date will be 
considered at the discretion of the board.

Please send your abstracts to:
Jennifer Nash           fax:  617 253 7140
Chlorine Project        tel:  617 253 3586
Massachusetts Institute of Technology   email:  jnash@mit.edu
E40-251
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA  02139-4307


Timetable
February 15, 1996       Deadline for paper and poster abstracts
March 15, 1996          Authors notified of accepted abstracts
May 1, 1996             Authors submit final abstracts and papers
May 15, 1996            Abstracts sent to registered participants
June 12-13, 1996        Conference


Registration
To register for the conference, please complete and return the enclosed 
registration form.  The meeting will be limited to 200 people to ensure 
meaningful involvement for all.  The cost for registration, meals, and 
materials is $200.  To encourage wide participation, we will selectively 
offer scholarships for students currently enrolled in an academic 
institution.  Scholarships will cover registration, meals, materials, as 
well as overnight accommodations on campus.