Wentworth Institute Of Technology

FILING FOR HEERF FUNDING, INSTITUTIONAL SHARE.

FILING FOR FUNDING UNDER THE CORONAVIRUS AID, RELIEF, AND ECONOMIC SECURITY ACT.

NRT-IPP: PREPARING FUTURE BIOENGINEERS FOR CAREERS IN BIOTECHNOLOGY AND BIOMANUFACTURING THROUGH HANDS-ON TRAINING AND INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIPS -THIS NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION RESEARCH TRAINEESHIP INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERSHIP PILOT (NRT-IPP) AWARD LED BY WENTWORTH INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (WIT) AND BOSTON UNIVERSITY (BU), WILL CREATE A MASTER OF SCIENCE (MS) DEGREE PROGRAM IN BIOENGINEERING DESIGNED TO MEET DEMAND FOR PROFESSIONALS IN THE BIOTECHNOLOGY AND BIOMANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES. BIOENGINEERING IS A RAPIDLY EXPANDING FIELD IN MASSACHUSETTS, WHICH SERVES AS A NATIONAL HUB FOR THE BIOTECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY. THIS PROJECT ADDRESSES A SHORTAGE OF BIOENGINEERS BY PROVIDING STUDENTS WITH INDUSTRY-RELEVANT SKILLS, HANDS-ON RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES, AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT EXPERIENCES. THE PROGRAM INTEGRATES COURSEWORK, IMMERSIVE RESEARCH, AND PAID INDUSTRY INTERNSHIPS, ENSURING GRADUATES ARE WELL-PREPARED TO TRANSITION INTO STEM CAREERS AND CONTRIBUTE TO THE BIOENGINEERING SECTOR. TRAINEES WILL GAIN EXPERTISE IN BIOENGINEERING PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT, MEDICAL DEVICE DESIGN, BIOMANUFACTURING, AND COMPUTATIONAL MODELING, AMONG OTHER KEY AREAS. THE PROJECT ANTICIPATES TRAINING 100 STUDENTS OVER FIVE YEARS, INCLUDING 25 FULLY FUNDED TRAINEES. THIS DEGREE PROGRAM AT WIT WILL LEVERAGE BU?S EXPERTISE IN BIOENGINEERING GRADUATE EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, INCORPORATING SUSTAINABLE AND EFFECTIVE TRAINING PRACTICES FROM ITS NRT PROGRAM IN NEUROPHOTONICS. THE PROJECT COMBINES EDUCATIONAL PRACTICES WITH INDUSTRY ENGAGEMENT TO ENSURE STUDENTS ACQUIRE NEEDED SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES. THE PROGRAM?S CURRICULUM INCLUDES COURSES TAILORED TO INDUSTRY NEEDS, PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS, AND TECHNICAL TRAINING IN CUTTING-EDGE TOOLS. BY PARTNERING WITH BIOTECHNOLOGY COMPANIES, WIT STUDENTS WILL GAIN PAID WORK EXPERIENCE IN REAL-WORLD SETTINGS THROUGH A STRUCTURED COOPERATIVE PROGRAM. ADDITIONALLY, TRAINEES WILL CONDUCT INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH IN AREAS SUCH AS MEDICAL IMAGING, BIOSENSING, TISSUE ENGINEERING, AND DIGITAL THERAPEUTICS. THIS RESEARCH-DRIVEN APPROACH, COUPLED WITH INDUSTRY MENTORSHIP, WILL BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN ACADEMIA AND THE WORKFORCE, FOSTERING INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS. THE PROJECT WILL PROVIDE A REPLICABLE MODEL FOR STEM GRADUATE EDUCATION. THE ANTICIPATED OUTCOMES INCLUDE A HIGHLY TRAINED WORKFORCE AND BROAD SOCIETAL BENEFITS FROM BIOMEDICAL TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENTS THAT ADDRESS PRESSING CHALLENGES. THE NRT INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERSHIP PILOT (NRT-IPP) IS A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT BETWEEN THE DIRECTORATES FOR STEM EDUCATION (EDU) AND TECHNOLOGY, INNOVATION, AND PARTNERSHIPS (TIP) TO SUPPORT RESEARCH AND EDUCATION PROJECTS WITH HIGH INDUSTRY RELEVANCE IN EMERGING FIELDS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

ENSURING EARLY MATHEMATICS SUCCESS FOR STEM MAJORS

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: SHINE--CORONAL PHYSICS WITH TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE DATA AND MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC SIMULATIONS -THIS PROJECT AIMS TO IMPROVE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE SUN?S CORONA, THE HOT OUTERMOST LAYER OF THE SOLAR ATMOSPHERE, BY ANALYZING DATA FROM TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSES (TSES). ECLIPSES PROVIDE A RARE OPPORTUNITY TO STUDY THE CORONA IN DETAIL, OFFERING INSIGHTS INTO HOW IT IS HEATED AND HOW THE SOLAR WIND FORMS. TELESCOPE OBSERVATIONS OF DIFFERENT CORONAL EMISSION LINES, THE BACKGROUND CONTINUUM, AND BROADBAND WHITE LIGHT WILL ALLOW US TO INFER PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE CORONA SUCH AS TEMPERATURE, DENSITY, AND MAGNETIC FIELD STRUCTURE. USING DATA FROM FIVE ECLIPSES, SPANNING NEARLY A FULL SOLAR CYCLE (2015?2024), THIS RESEARCH WILL TRACK CHANGES IN THE CORONA OVER TIME AND ACROSS DIFFERENT STRUCTURES. THE PROJECT WILL ALSO COMPARE THESE TSE OBSERVATIONS TO ADVANCED COMPUTER SIMULATIONS TO REFINE MODELS OF THE SUN?S ATMOSPHERE. THESE FINDINGS WILL ENHANCE OUR ABILITY TO PREDICT SPACE WEATHER, WHICH HAS IMPLICATIONS FOR SATELLITES, POWER GRIDS, AND SPACE TRAVEL. ADDITIONALLY, UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS WILL GAIN HANDS-ON RESEARCH EXPERIENCE, CONTRIBUTING TO THE NEXT GENERATION OF SCIENTISTS. IN THIS PROJECT, IMAGING DATA FROM FIVE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSES (2015, 2017, 2019, 2023, AND 2024) WILL BE ANALYZED AND COMPARED WITH NEW AND EXISTING MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC (MHD) SIMULATIONS USING THE PREDICTIVE SCIENCE INC. MAS MODEL. WE WILL ANALYZE VISIBLE AND NEAR-INFRARED BROADBAND AND NARROWBAND IMAGING OBSERVATIONS MADE DURING EACH ECLIPSE TO STUDY THE CORONAL ELECTRON TEMPERATURE (TE), ELECTRON DENSITY, AND THE STRUCTURE OF THE CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD. IN PARTICULAR, IMAGING DATA OF THE CORONAL EMISSION LINES OF FE X, FE XI, FE XIV, AND CA XV WILL BE USED TO INFER TE VIA A RADIATIVE DIFFERENTIAL EMISSION MEASURE (RDEM) ANALYSIS. EACH EMISSION LINE REQUIRES A NARROWBAND CONTINUUM OBSERVATION, WHICH IS USED TO SUBTRACT THE BACKGROUND FROM EACH LINE, AND WILL BE USED TO SEPARATE ELECTRON AND DUST SCATTERING (K AND F CORONA). THE BROADBAND WHITE-LIGHT DATA WILL THEN BE ANALYZED USING A ROLLING HOUGH TRANSFORM (RHT) TO INFER THE PROJECTED MAGNETIC FIELD VECTORS THROUGHOUT THE CORONA. THE OVERARCHING GOAL IS TO BENCHMARK AND IMPROVE CORONAL AND SOLAR WIND MODELS BY CONSTRAINING KEY PHYSICAL PARAMETERS. THE RESULTS WILL PROVIDE VALUABLE EMPIRICAL CONSTRAINTS ON CORONAL HEATING AND SOLAR WIND FORMATION, AND WILL BE VALUABLE FOR INFORMING FUTURE SPACE WEATHER FORECASTING. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

HIGH-SPEED SPIN TESTING OF REINFORCED 2212 COILS FOR HIGH-FIELD NMR MAGNETS

MRI: ACQUISITION OF ATOMIC ABSORPTION SPECTROMETER FOR EPIC LEARNING

LEAPS-MPS: EXPLORING NEW PHYSICS WITH MORE ACCURATE SIGNALS FROM COSMIC STRINGS -THE RECENT EVIDENCE FOR A GRAVITATIONAL WAVE BACKGROUND IS ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT DISCOVERIES FOR COSMOLOGY SINCE LIGO FIRST SAW GRAVITATIONAL WAVES FROM MERGING BLACK HOLES. THE GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE BACKGROUND IS A ?HUM? FILLING SPACE, MUCH LIKE BACKGROUND CONVERSATION IN A CROWDED ROOM. AND JUST LIKE A CROWDED ROOM, IT CAN BE HARD TO PICK OUT A SINGLE VOICE?BUT EASIER IF IT?S THE VOICE OF SOMEONE YOU KNOW. THE GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE BACKGROUND IS FULL OF MANY ?VOICES? FROM DIFFERENT ASTROPHYSICAL AND COSMOLOGICAL SOURCES, AND TO BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THE WHOLE, WE NEED TO BE ABLE TO RECOGNIZE EACH VOICE. ONLY THEN CAN WE DETERMINE WHICH SOURCES ARE PRESENT, AND THEREBY LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PHYSICS OF OUR UNIVERSE. THE PARTICULAR VOICE/SOURCE THIS PROPOSAL FOCUSES ON IS COSMIC STRINGS: LONG, THIN, OSCILLATING OBJECTS PREDICTED TO HAVE FORMED IN THE VERY EARLY UNIVERSE. THIS PROPOSAL COMPRISES TWO PROJECTS, BOTH MAKING USE OF THE MOST RECENT ADVANCES IN MODELING THE ?VOICES? OF COSMIC STRINGS. THE FIRST AIMS TO INTEGRATE CURRENT CONSTRAINTS ON THE COSMIC STRING BACKGROUND WITH PROJECTED SENSITIVITIES FOR NEXT-GENERATION GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE DETECTORS. CURRENT CONSTRAINTS WILL COME FROM THE NANOGRAV COLLABORATION, SERVING AS AN INDIRECT TEST OF A VARIETY OF MODELS OF NEW PHYSICS. THE LIKELIHOODS OF DIFFERENT THEORIES WILL THEN FEED INTO UPDATED CONSTRAINTS ON THE ABILITY OF THE LASER INTERFEROMETER SPACE ANTENNA (LISA) TO DETECT COSMIC STRINGS; THIS MULTIDETECTOR ANALYSIS PROVIDES MORE ROBUST PREDICTIONS THAN USING EITHER DETECTOR ALONE, AND AIMS TO INSPIRE THE NEXT REFINEMENT IN MODEL-BUILDING FOR NEW PHYSICS MODELS. THE SECOND PROJECT WILL FIND NEW PREDICTIONS FOR THE STRENGTH AND RATE OF BURSTS OF GRAVITATIONAL WAVES FROM COSMIC STRINGS, AS SEEN BY LISA. THIS WILL PROVIDE A COMPLEMENTARY METHOD OF SEARCHING FOR STRINGS, AND THUS FOR NEW PHYSICS. BOTH PROJECTS WILL HAVE SIGNIFICANT STUDENT INVOLVEMENT. STUDENTS WILL DEVELOP TRANSFERABLE SKILLS IN DATA ANALYSIS, COMPUTATIONAL TECHNIQUES, VISUALIZATION, AND COMMUNICATION WHILE BROADENING THEIR PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS BY INTERACTING WITH SCIENTISTS FROM INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIONS. THE RECENT EVIDENCE FOR A GRAVITATIONAL WAVE BACKGROUND IS ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT DISCOVERIES FOR COSMOLOGY SINCE LIGO FIRST SAW GRAVITATIONAL WAVES FROM MERGING BLACK HOLES. THE FULL GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE BACKGROUND IS A SUM OF MANY DIFFERENT SOURCES, INCLUDING THOSE FROM NEW-PHYSICS THEORIES. CAREFUL MODELING OF ALL SOURCES IS IMPORTANT FOR DISENTANGLING THE FULL BACKGROUND INTO THESE CONSTITUENT PARTS. COSMIC STRINGS ARE IMPORTANT SIGNS OF NEW PHYSICS, BEING GENERIC PREDICTIONS IN MANY BEYOND-THE-STANDARD-MODEL THEORIES. RECENT PROGRESS IN SIMULATIONS OF GRAVITATIONAL SELF-INTERACTIONS OF COSMIC STRINGS HAS FOUND HOW THE SHAPES AND GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE EMISSIONS OF THE STRINGS EVOLVES OVER THEIR LIFETIMES. THIS PROJECT WILL USE THE DATA WHICH PROVIDED THE EVIDENCE FOR A BACKGROUND AS WELL AS THESE SELF-INTERACTION RESULTS TO MAKE IMPROVED PREDICTIONS FOR THE DETECTABILITY OF COSMIC STRINGS. RECENT RESULTS SHOW THAT THE BACKGROUND?S AMPLITUDE DECREASES AT ALL FREQUENCIES, WEAKENING CURRENT CONSTRAINTS FROM PTA EXPERIMENTS LIKE NANOGRAV AS WELL AS FORECASTS IN EXPERIMENTS LIKE LISA. THESE FORECASTS WILL BE INTEGRATED INTO UPCOMING NANOGRAV DATA RELEASES. IMPROVED PREDICTIONS FOR THE SHAPE, EMISSION PATTERNS, AND EVOLUTION OF A TYPICAL STRING LOOP WILL DETERMINE MORE PRECISELY THE LIKELIHOOD AND RATE OF A LISA DETECTION OF GRAVITATIONAL-WAVES BURSTS FROM STRINGS. BECAUSE THESE BURSTS HAPPEN AT HIGH FREQUENCIES BUT LOW AMPLITUDES, BELOW THE LIGO SENSITIVITY, LISA IS THE NEXT EXPERIMENT WITH A CHANCE OF DETECTING BURSTS, MAKING PRECISE PREDICTIONS ESSENTIAL. THIS PROJECT WILL HIGHLIGHT HOW BEYOND-THE-STANDARD-MODEL THEORIES ARE CONSTRAINED BY THEIR RESULTS, PROVIDING GUIDANCE FOR THE NEXT ROUND OF MODEL-BUILDING AND EXPERIMENTAL SEARCHES FOR NEW PHYSICS. IT WILL ALSO BUILD ON A FRAMEWORK FOR GENERIC MULTI-DETECTOR COMPARISONS AND BURST EVENT RATE CALCULATIONS, MAKING THEM APPLICABLE TO OTHER CURRENT AND FUTURE EXPERIMENTS, SUCH AS LIGO OR COSMIC EXPLORER. STUDENTS WORKING ON THE PROJECT WILL GAIN SKILLS IN DATA ANALYSIS, PROGRAMMING, AND. SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATION, AND WILL MAKE CONNECTIONS IN INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIONS. IN ADDITION, AS PART OF THE PROJECT, A SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING MINI COURSE FOR BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WILL BE CONDUCTED AND ACTIVITIES WILL BE CARRIED OUT WITH MUSIC STUDENTS AND FACULTY AT LOCAL UNIVERSITIES FOR A SONIFICATION PROJECT OF COSMIC STRING SIGNALS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

EARMARKS

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: PROBING CORONAL PROCESSES THROUGH THREE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSES -A TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE OFFERS A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO STUDY THE SUN?S OUTER ATMOSPHERE, THE CORONA, WHERE DYNAMIC PROCESSES, INCLUDING SOLAR WIND, ORIGINATE. THESE DYNAMIC PROCESSES IMPACT THE OPERATIONS OF SATELLITES, POWER SYSTEMS, AND COMMUNICATIONS ON EARTH. THE GOAL OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO LEVERAGE THREE UPCOMING TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSES ON 12 AUGUST 2026, 2 AUGUST 2027, AND 22 JULY 2028, TO ADVANCE UNDERSTANDING OF CORONAL CONDITIONS THAT LEAD TO EXTREME SPACE WEATHER EVENTS. THE FINDINGS WILL HAVE IMPORTANT IMPLICATIONS FOR CURRENT SPACE INFRASTRUCTURE AND FOR FUTURE SPACE EXPLORATION. THE PROJECT WILL ALSO PROVIDE HANDS-ON RESEARCH AND TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES FOR UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS THROUGH PARTICIPATION IN ECLIPSE OBSERVATIONS, INSTRUMENTATION, AND DATA ANALYSIS. THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO INVESTIGATE THE THERMODYNAMICS OF THE MULTI-THERMAL CORONAL PLASMAS WITH THEIR ASSOCIATED MAGNETIC FIELD STRUCTURES AND TO CHARACTERIZE THE DIFFERENT MANIFESTATIONS OF SPACE WEATHER EVENTS AT THEIR ORIGINS IN THE CORONA. THE SCOPE IS TO ACQUIRE HIGH SPATIAL RESOLUTION IMAGES AND HIGH SPECTRAL RESOLUTION DATA WITH A SUITE OF STATE-OF-THE ART IMAGING AND SPECTROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTATION, DEVELOPED AND TESTED DURING THE 2023 AND 2024 TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSES. INSTRUMENTATION WILL BE ENHANCED WITH HIGHER RESOLUTION IMAGING IN WHITE LIGHT AND FE XIV EMISSION LINE TO EXPLORE THE THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES OF DYNAMIC EVENTS, SUCH AS TURBULENCE, PLASMA INSTABILITIES AND CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS. IMAGING SPECTROMETERS WILL ALSO BE IMPROVED WITH NEW FILTERS TO ENHANCE THE SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO ENABLING MORE PRECISE MEASUREMENTS OF IONIC TEMPERATURES AND DOPPLER SHIFTS FROM THE MOST DOMINANT FE EMISSION LINES IN THE CORONA, SUCH AS FE X AND FE XIV. INSTRUMENTATION WILL BE DEPLOYED AT MULTIPLE OBSERVING SITES ALONG THE PATH OF TOTALITY FOR ALL THREE ECLIPSES. THESE THREE ECLIPSES COINCIDE WITH THE DECLINING AND MINIMUM PHASES OF SOLAR CYCLE 25. AS SUCH THEY WILL OFFER UNPARALLELED BENCHMARKS FOR MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC SIMULATIONS AND TURBULENCE-DRIVEN MODELS OF THE CORONA AND SOLAR WIND. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

TO SUPPORT THE COSTS OF THE RENTAL OF A PIANO FOR HOLDING A FREE PUBLIC CONCERT AT THE NORWEGIAN ARCHITECTURE MUSEUM IN OSLO ON AUGUST 26, 2011. THE