At the beginning of the 21st century, humanity faces significant grand challenges in the areas of energy, human health, and environmental sustainability. Plasma science and technology, due to its intrinsic nonequilibrium nature, will be at the heart of many key enabling technologies that are needed to provide breakthrough solutions for these grand challenges. The 2012 Gordon Research Conference on Plasma Processing Science will feature a comprehensive program that will highlight the most cutting edge scientific advances in plasma science and technology as well as explore the applications of this nonequilibrium medium in possible approaches relative to many grand societal challenges. Fundamental science sessions will focus on plasma kinetics and chemistry, plasma surface interactions, and recent trends in plasma generation and multi-phase plasmas. Application sessions will explore the impact of plasma technology in renewable energy, the production of fuels from renewable feedstocks and carbon dioxide neutral solar fuels (from carbon dioxide and water), and plasma-enabled medicine and sterilization. The conference will bring together in an informal atmosphere leaders in the field with junior investigators and graduate students. The special format of the Gordon Conferences, with programmed discussion sessions and ample time for informal gatherings in the afternoons and evenings, will provide for a fertile atmosphere of brainstorming and creative thinking among the attendees.

The 2012 Gordon Research Conference on Plasma Processing Science (GRC-PPS) will be held July 22-27, 2012, at Bryant University, Smithfield, RI. Associated with the GRC-PPS is a weekend-long Gordon Research Seminar, which features attendance limited to graduate students and post-doctoral associates, allowing for scientific interaction in a non-threatening environment.