The International Thermoelectric Society (ITS) solicits organizations from the North American region interested in hosting its 39^th Annual International Conference on Thermoelectrics (ICT2020) in the year 2020.

The ICT is the most important annual meeting for scientists, engineers, and industry in the field of thermoelectric research, development of new materials and applications in power generation, waste heat recovery, refrigeration, thermal management, and sensors. The international prestige of this conference has continued to grow over the years with attendance at our most recent meetings typically exceeding 500 - 600 attendees.

The ITS holds a three year rotation for conference sites between Europe, Asia and the Americas, where most of the activities in thermoelectrics research are located. In 2020, the ICT is scheduled to return to the Americas. Recent conferences in the region were held in Traverse City, Michigan (2011), Nashville, Tennessee (2014), and Pasadena, California (2017). Thus, the ITS Board’s preference is for candidate organizations, especially universities and national laboratories, located in the Americas to host ICT2020. It is also expected that the proposing organizations must be or have strong connections with a well-known thermoelectric group.

Interested parties should first send, as soon as possible, a brief notice of intent to propose hosting the 2020 ITS Conference to the Proposals Committee Chair, preferably by e-mail. Upon receipt of the notice, details will be provided relative to anticipated conference organizers’ responsibilities, guidelines and other ITS expectations. Full proposals should be sent, as early as possible, but no later than April 15, 2018, preferably by e-mail, to Professor Yuri Grin (grin@cpfs.mpg.de) and copied to Professor Donald Morelli (dmorelli@egr.msu.edu).

Proposals should include relevant information about host organization, location, conference facilities, preliminary dates, Conference Chairperson, projected sponsors and prospects for financial support, and accessibility; briefly state the expected advantages to the ITS for awarding the conference organization to your institution; describe accommodation facilities and expected hotel costs, travel connections, plans for accompanying persons, the possibility of holding short courses/workshops, evening and satellite events; and last but not least, the expected registration costs for regular participants, students and accompanying persons.

The ITS Board plans on reviewing the proposals prior to the annual ITS Board Meeting that is held in conjunction with the beginning of the ICT2018 on Sunday July 1, 2018 and award the organization of the conference at the ICT2018 in Caen, France (July 1 - 5, 2018). Each candidate organization will be invited to give a brief presentation on its proposal to the ITS Board on Sunday July 1, 2018 at the conference in Caen.

On behalf of the International Thermoelectric Society, we are looking forward to your conference proposals for ICT2020.

Best regards,

ITS 2020 Conference Proposals Committee

Yuri Grin (Chair) and Donald Morelli