Report of an Army workshop on convergence forecasting

In January 2012, the Army Research Office (ARO) sponsored the Mechanochemical Transduction Convergence Workshop as a test case for identifying convergences of disciplines and their potential impact on science and the Army. A diverse group of academic and government scientists were invited to participate in the workshop. The academic researchers were renowned subject matter experts representing a wide range of disciplines, including chemical engineering, organic chemistry, physical organic chemistry, molecular biochemistry, materials engineering, multi-scale theory, metallurgy, and physics. The chief objective of the workshop was to identify the most promising research opportunities and interdisciplinary convergences that could lead the field of mechanochemical transduction in new directions with unexpected outcomes that would be relevant to future Army needs.