New York Institute Of Technology

NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION FOR CARES ACT ALLOCATION INSTITUTIONAL PORTION

NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION FOR CARES ACT ALLOCATION

PATHWAYS FOR ADVANCING AND THRIVING IN HIGHER EDUCATION (PATH)

SCHOLARSHIPS FOR DISADVANTAGED STUDENTS

TECH TALKS: PROMOTING CIVIL DISCOURSE AT NEW YORK TECH

VASCULAR CALCIFICATION AND ATHEROSCLEROSIS - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE (CVD) IS THE LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH IN THE U.S., WITH THE ANNUAL TOTAL COST OF CARE ESTIMATED AT $351 BILLION. VASCULAR CALCIFICATION IS A NONTRADITIONAL CVD RISK FACTOR ASSOCIATED WITH A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY IN THE GENERAL POPULATION. UNLIKE OTHER ESTABLISHED RISK FACTORS, IT IS NOT YET REGARDED AS A MODIFIABLE FACTOR. HOWEVER, THERE IS EMERGING EVIDENCE THAT IT MAY DRIVE THE PATHOGENESIS OF ATHEROSCLEROSIS AND PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN THE REGRESSION OF ATHEROSCLEROTIC PLAQUES. OUR DATA DEMONSTRATED THAT OVEREXPRESSION OF TISSUE-NONSPECIFIC ALKALINE PHOSPHATASE (TNAP) IN ENDOTHELIAL CELLS ACCELERATED CORONARY ATHEROSCLEROSIS IN HYPERLIPIDEMIC MICE, WHILE THE TNAP INHIBITOR SBI-425 REDUCED MANIFESTATIONS OF CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE IN THIS MODEL. SUBENDOTHELIAL MICROCALCIFICATION WAS FREQUENTLY OBSERVED IN THE INTERNAL ELASTIC LAMINA IN MICE AND IN HUMAN ARTERIES AND WAS PREDICTED BY COMPUTATIONAL FLUID STRUCTURE INTERACTION (FSI) MODELING TO REDISTRIBUTE WALL SHEAR STRESS ON THE ENDOTHELIUM. THE IDEA THAT CALCIFICATION CAN PROMOTE ATHEROSCLEROSIS WAS FURTHER SUPPORTED BY AN OBSERVATION OF INCREASED LOW DENSITY LIPOPROTEIN (LDL) UPTAKE BY ENDOTHELIAL CELLS CULTURED ON SURFACES TEXTURED WITH HYDROXYAPATITE PARTICLES. MORE EVIDENCE FROM MOUSE MODELS SHOWED THAT TNAP ACTIVITY IN MACROPHAGES WAS SUFFICIENT TO INCREASE CALCIFICATION DURING PROGRESSION OF ATHEROSCLEROSIS AND INTERFERE WITH PLAQUE REGRESSION, LEADING TO MALADAPTIVE DILATION OF THE AORTIC ROOT. WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT CALCIFICATION IS A MODIFIABLE FACTOR IN ATHEROSCLEROSIS AND THAT INHIBITING TNAP-MEDIATED VASCULAR CALCIFICATION MAY HAVE THERAPEUTIC VALUE. THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO GAIN A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE ROLE OF CALCIFICATION DURING ATHEROSCLEROTIC LESION INITIATION, PROGRESSION, AND RESOLUTION, AND TO DETERMINE WHETHER CALCIFICATION IS AN ACTIVE PATHOGENIC FACTOR IN ATHEROSCLEROSIS OR A MERE, LIKELY BENIGN, SECONDARY RESPONSE. THE PROJECT WILL USE COMPUTATIONAL AND IN VIVO MODELS TO DELINEATE HEMODYNAMIC MECHANISM BY WHICH SUBENDOTHELIAL MICROCALCIFICATIONS INCREASES RETENTION OF LDL IN THE ARTERIAL WALL. THE EFFECTS OF THE CONDITIONAL GENETIC ABLATION OF TNAP IN MACROPHAGES OR AN INCREASE OF TNAP ACTIVITY IN PLASMA WILL THEN BE TESTED IN A MOUSE MODEL OF FAMILIAL HYPERCHOLESTEROLEMIA. BECAUSE REGRESSION OF CALCIFIED PLAQUES CAN LEAD TO ECCENTRIC AORTIC ROOT REMODELING DURING LIPID LOWERING, WE WILL INTERROGATE WHETHER INHIBITION OF TNAP WITH SBI-425 COULD SUPPRESS CALCIFICATION AND ALLEVIATE MALADAPTIVE REMODELING OF THE AORTIC ROOT IN A MOUSE MODEL DURING REVERSAL OF ATHEROSCLEROSIS. IN TESTING TNAP INHIBITION FOR ITS THERAPEUTIC UTILITY FOR ATHEROSCLEROTIC CALCIFICATION, WE WILL KEEP CLOSE ATTENTION ON POTENTIAL BONE SIDE EFFECTS BY MONITORING BONE MICROARCHITECTURE USING MICRO-COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY. THE RESULTS OF THIS PROJECT WILL ESTABLISH WHETHER CALCIFICATION IS A MODIFIABLE RISK FACTOR IN CVD AND DETERMINE WHETHER SYSTEMIC TNAP INHIBITION OR ELIMINATION OF OSTEOGENIC TNAP-EXPRESSING MACROPHAGES IS A VIABLE THERAPEUTIC APPROACH IN ATHEROSCLEROSIS. THE RESULTS OF THIS STUDY WILL HELP GUIDE FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF NOVEL THERAPEUTICS FOR THIS PREVALENT DISEASE.

LOW THYROID FUNCTION AND MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION

(PQ1) MOLECULAR CIRCUIT OF MULTI-CILIOGENESIS REGULATES CHOROID PLEXUS DIFFERENTIATION AND TUMOR DEVELOPMENT

NYIT STRENGTHENING INSTITUTIONS PROGRAM 2023

JOBS ACCELERATOR CENTER

HEALTH CAREERS OPPORTUNITY PROGRAM

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CYBER-ENABLED LEARNING: DIGITAL NATIVES IN INTEGRATED SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY CLASSROOMS.

SUPPORTING PRESERVICE CANDIDATES TO BE CULTURALLY SENSITIVE AND TECHNOLOGY-COMPETENT STEM TEACHERS

INFEWS/T3 RCN: CITY-AS-LAB: A RESEARCH COORDINATION NETWORK FOR THE STUDY OF THE FOOD, ENERGY, AND WATER NEXUS FOR SUSTAINABLE AND RESILIENT URBAN DEVELOPMENT

FACULTY DEVELOPMENT IN PRIMARY CARE

AFFORDABLE CARE ACT: EXPANSION OF PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT TRAINING PROGRAM

PERSISTENT POVERTY DHCS GRANT - CONACT SEC 379G DELTA HEALTH CARE SERVICES GRANT

THYROID HORMONE REGULATION OF VASCULATURE IN ADULT MYOCARDIUM

AN IMPLANTABLE WIRELESS SYSTEM TO STUDY GASTRIC NEUROPHYSIOLOGY

IMPLEMENTATION OF A COMPREHENSIVE HIGH-SCHOOL-COLLEGE PARTNERSHIP AND EQUITY-BASED CURRICULUM IN ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE

RURAL RESIDENCY PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

CAREER: EVO-DEVELOPMENTAL INTERACTIONS OF CRANIOFACIAL AND BRAIN ANATOMY

PRE-DOCTORAL TRAINING IN PRIMARY CARE

A NOVEL EPITHELIAL CELL MIGRATION DRIVES NEPHRON REPATTERNING AND CONVOLUTION

SCHOLARSHIPS FOR DISADVANTAGED STUDENTS

SCHOLARSHIPS FOR DISADVANTAGED STUDENTS

EXPANDQISE: TRACK 1: ANALOG QUANTUM SIMULATION OF NON-MARKOVIAN DYNAMICS OF MULTI-QUBIT SYSTEMS -NON-TECHNICAL ABSTRACT: A MULTI-QUBIT SYSTEM IS USED IN VARIOUS QUANTUM TECHNOLOGIES, INCLUDING QUANTUM COMMUNICATION, QUANTUM SENSING, QUANTUM CRYPTOGRAPHY, AND QUANTUM SIMULATION. SINCE ANY QUANTUM SYSTEM CANNOT BE FULLY ISOLATED FROM THE ENVIRONMENT, OPEN QUANTUM SYSTEMS ARE INTRODUCED TO MODEL THE EVOLUTION OF A QUANTUM SYSTEM WHILE CONSIDERING THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE QUANTUM SYSTEM AND THE ENVIRONMENT. DEPENDING ON THE STRENGTH AND THE TYPE OF THIS INTERACTION, THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF OPEN QUANTUM SYSTEMS DYNAMICS - MARKOVIAN AND NON-MARKOVIAN, WHERE THE NON-MARKOVIAN DYNAMICS ARE MORE ACCURATE. IN THIS RESEARCH, THE PROJECT TEAM WILL ADVANCE AND PROMOTE THE RESEARCH ON ANALOG QUANTUM SIMULATION OF NON-MARKOVIAN DYNAMICS OF MULTI-QUBIT SYSTEMS. IN ADDITION, THIS RESEARCH WILL IMPLEMENT AN INVESTMENT AND REWARD FEEDBACK LOOP FOR INSPIRING K-12 STUDENTS AND ATTRACTING, RETAINING, AND EDUCATING UNDERGRADUATE, FEMALE, AND UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITY STUDENTS BY EXPOSING THEM TO THIS QUANTUM-RELATED RESEARCH. FURTHER, THIS PROJECT BROADENS AND STRENGTHENS THE CURRENT QUANTUM PHYSICS CURRICULUM AT THE UNDERGRADUATE LEVEL BY ENHANCING EXISTING COURSES AND CREATING NEW ONES. TECHNICAL ABSTRACT: UNDERSTANDING THE DYNAMICS OF A QUANTUM SYSTEM IN CONNECTION WITH ITS SURROUNDING ENVIRONMENT IS CRUCIAL FOR HARNESSING THE FULL POTENTIAL OF QUANTUM INFORMATION PROCESSING TASKS. HOWEVER, MODELING THE NON-MARKOVIAN DYNAMICS OF OPEN QUANTUM SYSTEMS FACES TWO GRAND CHALLENGES: (I) CURRENT EFFORTS USE A MODIFIED MARKOVIAN MASTER EQUATION TO DESCRIBE THE NON-MARKOVIAN DYNAMICS, WHICH COULD BE INACCURATE. (II) THE LACK OF A SYSTEMATIC METHOD FOR OBTAINING APPROXIMATED POSITIVITY-PRESERVING MASTER EQUATIONS (PPME) LIMITS THE CAPABILITY OF CURRENT TECHNIQUES IN PRACTICE. THE RESEARCH AIMS TO DEVELOP ANALOG QUANTUM ALGORITHMS TO STUDY THE NON-MARKOVIAN DYNAMICS OF MULTI-QUBIT SYSTEMS BUILT ON THE QUANTUM-STATE-DIFFUSION (QSD) EQUATION APPROACH. PARTICULARLY, THIS RESEARCH: (I) LEVERAGES THE QSD APPROACH TO OBTAINING THE GENERALIZED FORMALISM OF THE NON-MARKOVIAN MASTER EQUATION; (II) OPTIMIZES AND GENERATES PPME WITH APPROXIMATIONS APPLIED; (III) DEVELOPS A SYSTEMATIC METHOD TO DERIVE KRAUS OPERATORS FOR COMPLICATED INTERACTIONS; (IV) DEVISES A MONTE-CARLO-BASED QUANTUM SIMULATION ALGORITHM INITIATED FROM THE STOCHASTIC QUANTUM TRAJECTORIES, INSTEAD OF THE DENSITY MATRIX. THIS PROJECT IS JOINTLY FUNDED BY THE OFFICE OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY ACTIVITIES (MPS/OMA), COMPUTING AND COMMUNICATIONS FOUNDATIONS (CCF) DIVISION, AND THE TECHNOLOGY FRONTIERS PROGRAM (TIP/TF). 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.

SCHOLARSHIPS FOR DISADVANTAGED STUDENTS

DEVELOPMENT OF LC/MS-BASED DIRECT RNA SEQUENCING WITH CONCOMITANT BASECALLING AND MODIFICATION ANALYSIS CAPABILITY

THE NYIT ROBOTICS CENTER RESEARCH AND EVALUATION CAPABILITY EXPANSION PROGRAM

TAS::97 0400::TAS HAND MOVEMENT, ORIENTATION, AND GRASP (H-MOG): A NEW BEHAVIORAL MODALITY FOR ACTIVE AUTHENTICATION OF SMARTPHONE USERS

TRANSCRIPTIONAL REGULATION OF HETEROGENEOUS POPULATIONS IN CHOROID PLEXUS CARCINOMA

SATC: CORE: SMALL: RUI: LEVERAGING MOVEMENT, POSTURE, AND ANTHROPOMETRIC CONTEXTS TO STRENGTHEN THE SECURITY OF MOBILE BIOMETRICS

NEW GRANT - NYIT BUILDING EFFICIENCY DEMONSTRATION PROJECT DE-NT0001988.000

COMPREHENSIVE GERIATRIC EDUCATION PROGRAM

RGIA5474 AS A NOVEL Α9Α10 NICOTINIC ACETYLCHOLINE RECEPTOR ANTAGONIST TO TREAT MIGRAINE - PROJECT SUMMARY TREATMENT OF EPISODIC MIGRAINE RELIES ON ACUTE THERAPIES THAT ARE OFTEN NOT EFFECTIVE IN AS MANY AS HALF OF THE PATIENTS. WE WISH TO TEST THE RELEVANCE OF Α9Α10 NICOTINIC ACETYLCHOLINE RECEPTORS (NACHRS) AS A NEW TARGET FOR THE TREATMENT OF MIGRAINE. WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT RGIA5474, A PERIPHERALLY RESTRICTED, HIGHLY SELECTIVE Α9Α10 NACHR ANTAGONIST, MAY BE EFFECTIVE IN THE TREATMENT OF MIGRAINE-LIKE PAIN, ESPECIALLY FOR PATIENTS WHO DON’T RESPOND TO CGRP BLOCKERS AND ARE CONTRAINDICATED FOR TRIPTANS. THIS HYPOTHESIS ORIGINATED FROM THE REALIZATION OF STRONG AUTONOMIC NATURE OF SYMPTOMS ASSOCIATED WITH MIGRAINE. THE Α9-EXPRESSING NACHR IS HIGHLY PERMEABLE TO CA2+. WHEN CO-EXPRESSED WITH Α10 SUBUNIT, THE Α9 SUBUNIT CURRENT INDUCED BY ACH IS INCREASED BY ABOUT 100-FOLD. NOTABLY, THE EXPRESSION OF Α9Α10 SUBUNITS IS HIGHLY RESTRICTED OUTSIDE THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM (CNS), MAINLY AT THE ADRENAL GLAND MEDULLARY CHROMAFFIN CELLS AND IMMUNE CELLS, BESIDES THE INNER EAR HAIR CELLS WHERE THEY WERE INITIALLY DISCOVERED. ACTIVATION OF Α9Α10 NACHRS PROMOTES THE RELEASE OF INFLAMMATORY MEDIATORS FROM THE IMMUNE CELLS AND STRESS HORMONES FROM THE ADRENAL MEDULLA. BOTH COULD ACTIVATE TRIGEMINAL NEURONS AND ELICIT RELEASE OF NEUROPEPTIDES LIKE CALCITONIN GENE-RELATED PEPTIDE (CGRP) AND PITUITARY ADENYLATE CYCLASE-ACTIVATING POLYPEPTIDE (PACAP), LEADING TO MIGRAINE PAIN. THE RELEASE OF CGRP AND PACAP COULD FURTHER STIMULATE THE RELEASE OF INFLAMMATORY MEDIATORS. THEREFORE, Α9Α10 NACHR ANTAGONISTS MAY REPRESENT A VIABLE NOVEL MECHANISM FOR ACUTE TREATMENT OF MIGRAINE-RELATED PAIN. IMPORTANTLY, THE LIMITED DISTRIBUTION OF Α9Α10 NACHRS MAY CONFER A GREAT ADVANTAGE OF LIMITED SIDE EFFECTS, ESPECIALLY LACK OF CNS SIDE EFFECTS. RGIA5474 IS A 3RD GENERATION PEPTIDE MODIFIED FROM A MARINE SNAIL TOXIN THAT HAS BETTER PLASMA STABILITY, HIGHER AFFINITY (IC50 AT PM RANGE) AND SELECTIVITY FOR BOTH RODENT AND HUMAN Α9Α10 NACHRS THAN THE PREVIOUSLY TESTED ANALOGS INCLUDING THE 2ND GENERATION RGIA4, OFFERING STRONG TRANSLATIONAL POTENTIAL. OUR PRELIMINARY DATA DEMONSTRATED THAT ONE ACUTE DOSE OF RGIA4 BLOCKED THE DEVELOPMENT OF EVOKED CEPHALIC AND EXTRACEPHALIC ALLODYNIA AND SPONTANEOUS FACIAL GRIMACE INDUCED BY INFLAMMATORY MEDIATORS IN MICE AND REVERSED THE CUTANEOUS ALLODYNIA INDUCED BY BRIGHT LIGHT STRESS IN RATS SENSITIZED BY SUMATRIPTAN. WE WILL EVALUATE RGIA5474’S DOSE- AND TIME-DEPENDENT EFFECTS IN ALLEVIATING MIGRAINE-RELATED PAIN IN FEMALE AND MALE CBA/CAJ MICE USING 2 NON-INVASIVE MOUSE MODELS INDUCED BY HUMAN MIGRAINE TRIGGERS. TWO SPECIFIC AIMS WILL EVALUATE PAIN RELATED BEHAVIORAL (CEPHALIC ALLODYNIA AND FACIAL GRIMACE SCORE), NEUROCHEMICAL (PLASMA RELEASE OF PRO-INFLAMMATORY CYTOKINES), AS WELL AS IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL (ACTIVATION OF TRIGEMINAL GANGLIA AND TRIGEMINAL NUCLEUS CAUDALIS) CHANGES INDUCED BY SUPRADURAL CGRP OR PACAP38 (WITH CGRP RECEPTOR ANTAGONIST ON BOARD) FOR CGRP- DEPENDENT AND CGRP-INDEPENDENT MECHANISMS, RESPECTIVELY. Α9 KNOCKOUT MICE WILL BE UTILIZED TO VERIFY THE CONTRIBUTION OF THIS TARGET TO MIGRAINE PATHOLOGY. THESE STUDIES WILL HELP US DETERMINE WHETHER BLOCKADE OF Α9Α10 NACHRS IS A VIABLE STRATEGY FOR DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL THERAPEUTIC CLASS FOR MIGRAINE TREATMENT.

REU SITE: RESEARCH ON SECURITY OF MOBILE DEVICES AND WIRELESS NETWORKS AT NYIT

REU SITE: COMPUTING AND ENGINEERING FOR SAFE AND HEALTHY DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT -ONLINE EXPERIENCES ENRICH OUR LIVES IN MANY WAYS FROM SEAMLESS SHOPPING TO STAYING CONNECTED WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY ON SOCIAL MEDIA. YET, ONLINE EXPERIENCES ALSO CAN BE CHALLENGING. FOR EXAMPLE, ONLINE HEALTH ADVICE CAN BE CONFUSING AND UNRELIABLE. MALICIOUS APPS, INCLUDING HEALTH APPS, ARE A SAFETY THREAT BECAUSE THEY CAN STEAL CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION. THE RECENTLY INTRODUCED LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS MAY AMPLIFY BOTH THESE EXPERIENCES. THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO COMBINE RIGOROUS ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE TECHNIQUES TO DEVISE METHODS TO ENHANCE THE SAFETY AND EXPERIENCE OF ONLINE ACTIVITIES. THIS PROJECT WILL PROVIDE AN INTERDISCIPLINARY ENVIRONMENT TO STUDY VARIOUS SAFETY ISSUES RELATED TO ONLINE ACTIVITIES. DATA INCLUDING PHYSIOLOGICAL DATA FROM SUBJECTS, AND ONLINE ACTIVITY WILL BE ACQUIRED AND THEN ANALYZED USING MACHINE LEARNING AND OTHER TECHNIQUES FOR MODELING ONLINE ACTIVITIES AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE USERS. PHYSIOLOGICAL DATA FROM WEARABLE DEVICES, VIRTUAL REALITY HEADSETS, NON-INVASIVE BRAIN IMAGING TECHNIQUES SUCH AS ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY AND FUNCTIONAL NEAR-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY WILL BE COLLECTED WHILE INDIVIDUALS ARE ENGAGING IN ONLINE ACTIVITIES. MACHINE LEARNING TOOLS, INCLUDING LARGE LANGUAGE MODELS AND FEDERATED LEARNING, ALONG WITH OTHER TECHNIQUES SUCH AS STOCHASTIC STATE SPACE MODELS WILL BE USED FOR DATA ANALYSIS AND SYSTEM MODELING. THIS SITE IS SUPPORTED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE NSF REU PROGRAM. 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.

ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF MOLECULAR LAYER HETEROTOPIA - PROJECT SUMMARY ABSTRACT NEOCORTICAL MALFORMATIONS DUE TO DEFECTIVE NEURONAL MIGRATION ARE OFTEN ASSOCIATED WITH EPILEPSY AND LIFE-LONG COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT. THEREFORE, UNDERSTANDING THE ANATOMICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES ACCOMPANYING NEOCORTICAL MALFORMATIONS ARE IMPORTANT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND DESIGN OF NOVEL TREATMENTS FOR AFFECTED INDIVIDUALS. MOLECULAR LAYER HETEROTOPIA (MLH) ARE NEURONAL MIGRATION DEFECTS CHARACTERIZED BY COLLECTIONS OF MISPLACED NEURONS IN LAYER I AND ARE OBSERVED IN NUMEROUS NEURODEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS INCLUDING: DYSLEXIA, EPILEPSY, COBBLESTONE LISSENCEPHALY, FUKUYAMA MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY, AND GPR56 POLYMICROGYRIA. SURPRISINGLY, LITTLE IS KNOWN ABOUT THE CELLULAR MECHANISMS AND PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES ASSOCIATED WITH MLH DESPITE THE VARIETY OF DISORDERS AND CLINICAL PRESENTATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH HETEROTOPIA. STUDIES IN MICE WITH IDENTICAL MLH TO THOSE OBSERVED IN HUMANS OFFER THE POTENTIAL TO DEVELOP A GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF MLH. THUS, THE PROPOSED STUDIES WILL USE GPR56 KNOCKOUT MICE WITH MLH TO DESCRIBE THE NEURONAL AND GLIAL CHANGES THAT ACCOMPANY HETEROTOPIA USING SPATIAL TRANSCRIPTOMICS AND QUANTITATIVE MICROSCOPY TECHNIQUES. IN VIVO CALCIUM IMAGING IN GPR56 KNOCKOUT MICE CROSSED TO CALCIUM-INDICATOR MICE WILL BE USED TO TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT HETEROTOPIA RESULT IN HYPER- EXCITABLE NEURONAL CIRCUITRY CHANGES THAT UNDERLIE SEIZURES AND COGNITIVE DEFICITS. FINALLY, THE PROPOSED WORK WILL PROVIDE EXCITING RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES THAT WILL TRAIN UNDERGRADUATE AND OSTEOPATHIC MEDICAL STUDENTS IN DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROSCIENCE TO PREPARE THEM FOR POSSIBLE GRADUATE STUDIES OR FUTURE CAREERS IN BIOMEDICAL SCIENCE.

MICRORNA 34/449 FAMILY PLAYS A CRITICAL ROLE IN CHOROID PLEXUS DIFFERENTIATION AND TUMORIGENESIS - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT TUMORS OF THE CHOROID PLEXUS (CP) ARE RARE PRIMARY BRAIN NEOPLASMS MOSTLY FOUND IN CHILDREN, ACCOUNTING FOR UP TO 20% OF BRAIN TUMORS THAT OCCUR IN THE FIRST YEAR OF LIFE. CP PAPILLOMA (CPP) IS TYPICALLY BENIGN AND CAN BE RESOLVED THROUGH SURGERY, BUT CP CARCINOMA (CPC) IS A PARTICULARLY AGGRESSIVE BRAIN CANCER. CPC MOST COMMONLY ARISES IN YOUNG CHILDREN WHEN THEY ARE UNSUITABLE FOR RADIATION. DESPITE TREATMENTS THAT INCLUDE SURGERY, CHEMOTHERAPY, AND RADIATION, CPC USUALLY RESPONDS POORLY. CPC IS PRONE TO RECURRENCE AND METASTASIS, WITH LESS THAN 50% OF CHILDREN STILL ALIVE FIVE YEARS AFTER DIAGNOSIS. IN ADDITION, SURVIVORS OFTEN SUFFER FROM DEBILITATING LONG-TERM TREATMENT EFFECTS, INCLUDING INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY AND INCREASED CANCER RISK. THE DEVELOPMENT OF SAFER AND MORE EFFECTIVE THERAPIES FOR CPC REQUIRES A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF ITS BIOLOGY. IN THIS APPLICATION, ACCURATE EXPERIMENTAL MODELS WILL BE USED TO GAIN CRUCIAL INSIGHTS INTO CP DIFFERENTIATION AND TUMORIGENESIS, AND FACILITATE THE DEVELOPMENT OF NOVEL THERAPEUTIC STRATEGIES. HUMAN CPCS FREQUENTLY EXHIBIT MUTATION OF TP53 TUMOR SUPPRESSOR AND ABNORMAL NOTCH PATHWAY ACTIVITIES. IN MICE, SUSTAINED NOTCH1 EXPRESSION, OR COMBINED INACTIVATION OF RB1 AND TRP53 TUMOR SUPPRESSORS LED TO AGGRESSIVE CP TUMOR WITH CHARACTERISTICS OF CPC IN HUMANS. MULTICILIATED CELLS (MCCS) ARE PRESENT IN THE CP IN HUMANS AND MICE. MCCS IN THE CP EPITHELIUM ARISE DURING EMBRYOGENESIS AND ARE MOSTLY IMMOTILE. IN CONTRAST, CPCS IN HUMANS EXHIBIT SOLITARY CILIA, AND DISTURBANCES TO MULTICILIATION PROGRAM DIRECTED BY GMNC, A TRANSCRIPTIONAL REGULATOR OF MCC FATE IN DIVERSE TISSUES INCLUDING THE CP. ACCORDINGLY, NOTCH-DRIVEN AND RB1/TRP53-DEFICIENT CPC DISPLAY SINGULAR CILIA CONSEQUENT TO DEFECTS IN MULTICILIATION PROGRAM, SUGGESTING TUMOR SUPPRESSION BY GMNC MULTICILIATION PROGRAM. THEREFORE, THE IMPAIRMENT OF THE MULTICILIATION PROGRAM ENABLES TUMOR CELL PROLIFERATION. KNOWLEDGE OF GMNC PROGRAM REGULATION MAY FACILITATE THE PROMOTION OF MULTICILIATION AS A POTENTIAL THERAPEUTIC STRATEGY IN CPC. THE PROJECT WILL FOCUS ON THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE MCC DIFFERENTIATION PROGRAM AND MICRORNA (MIRNA) DURING CP DEVELOPMENT AND TUMORIGENESIS. AIM 1 WILL EXAMINE WHETHER GENE REGULATION BY MIRNAS INFLUENCES MULTICILIATION IN THE CP. BOTH IN VIVO AND IN VITRO STUDIES WILL BE CONDUCTED TO INVESTIGATE THEIR ROLE AND UNDERLYING MECHANISMS IN MCC DIFFERENTIATION IN THE CP. A NOVEL ORGANOID MODEL WILL BE UTILIZED TO CHARACTERIZE MIRNA EXPRESSION DURING MULTICILIATION IN THE CP IN HUMANS. TRANSCRIPTOMICS STUDIES WILL BE CONDUCTED TO IDENTIFY DIFFERENTIALLY EXPRESSED GENES AND POTENTIAL MIRNA TARGETS IN THE CP. THOUGH MOST CPC IN HUMANS CARRY MUTATIONS IN TP53 TUMOR SUPPRESSOR THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH INCREASED GENOMIC INSTABILITY AND POOR PROGNOSIS, MOLECULAR MECHANISMS OF TP53-DEFICIENT CPC REMAIN POORLY UNDERSTOOD. AIM 2 WILL INVESTIGATE WHETHER GENE REGULATION BY MIRNAS INFLUENCES MULTICILIATION IN TP53-DEFICIENT CPC. BOTH GAIN- AND LOSS-OF- FUNCTION STUDIES WILL BE CONDUCTED TO INVESTIGATE THEIR ROLE IN CPC DEVELOPMENT. THESE STUDIES WILL UNCOVER POST- TRANSCRIPTIONAL MECHANISMS OF CP DIFFERENTIATION AND TUMORIGENESIS.

SRC FAMILY KINASES AND CONTROL OF EPITHELIAL CELL PARACELLULAR PERMEABILITY

DEVELOPMENT OF FIRST-IN-CLASS PDE5/HAT DIRECTED LIGANDSMODULATING MOLECULAR PATHWAYS INVOLVED IN SYNAPTIC PLASTICITY - ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE (AD) IS A COMPLEX, MULTIFACTORIAL DISEASE WITH A SIGNIFICANT HEALTH AND FINANCIAL SOCIETAL IMPACT AS THERE ARE NO DRUGS THAT EFFECTIVELY COUNTERACT THE DISEASE. AD IS CHARACTERIZED BY IMPAIRED SYNAPTIC PLASTICITY LEADING TO DEFECTIVE HIPPOCAMPAL-DEPENDENT MEMORY, WHICH HAS BEEN FOUND TO APPEAR LONG BEFORE THE BUILDUP OF AMYLOID PLAQUES AND NEURONAL CELL DEATH. THIS OBSERVATION SUGGESTS THAT INTERVENTIONS TARGETING BIOLOGICAL PATHWAYS THAT REGULATE SYNAPTIC PLASTICITY MAY PROVIDE A WAY TO SLOW DOWN, ARREST, AND/OR PREVENT THE PROGRESSION OF NEURODEGENERATIVE PROCESSES. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO IDENTIFY FIRST-IN-CLASS SMALL MOLECULES WITH DUAL TARGET ACTIVITY THAT ENHANCE SYNAPTIC PLASTICITY. IN PRELIMINARY STUDIES, WE DISCOVERED THAT TWO DISTINCT MOLECULAR TARGETS, PHOSPHODIESTERASE 5 (PDE5) AND HISTONE ACETYLTRANSFERASE (HAT) ARE CRUCIAL IN SYNAPTIC PLASTICITY. WE DEVELOPED SMALL MOLECULE PDE5 INHIBITORS AND HAT ACTIVATORS THAT ARE ABLE TO RESCUE IMPAIRED SYNAPTIC PLASTICITY IN MOUSE HIPPOCAMPAL SLICES. IN A PROOF-OF-CONCEPT STUDY, WE DEMONSTRATED THAT A COMBINATION TREATMENT WITH A PDE5 INHIBITOR AND A HAT ACTIVATOR PRODUCES A 6-FOLD HIGHER RESCUE OF SYNAPTIC PLASTICITY COMPARED TO TREATMENT WITH THE TWO COMPOUNDS ALONE. THESE FINDINGS INDICATE THAT MODULATING THESE TWO TARGETS INVOLVED IN AD PROVIDES A MORE EFFECTIVE TREATMENT THAN A SINGLE-TARGET THERAPY. IN THIS PROPOSAL, WE PLAN TO TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT MODULATING PDE5 AND HAT ACTIVITY VIA A NEWLY SYNTHESIZED SINGLE MOLECULE WILL RESULT IN A NOVEL AD TREATMENT. THE MULTI-TARGET DIRECTED LIGAND APPROACH WILL BE USED TO ATTAIN A PDE5 INHIBITOR/HAT ACTIVATOR DRUG MOLECULE. THIS APPROACH HAS EMERGED AS A BENEFICIAL STRATEGY FOR THE TREATMENT OF COMPLEX DISEASES AND PRESENTS SEVERAL ADVANTAGES WITH RESPECT TO COMBINATION THERAPY, INCLUDING INCREASED THERAPEUTIC EFFICACY, REDUCED DRUG-DRUG INTERACTIONS, AND SIMPLIFIED DRUG REGIMEN. SPECIFICALLY, WE WILL TEST OUR HYPOTHESIS VIA THE FOLLOWING SPECIFIC AIMS: 1) DESIGN AND SYNTHESIS OF A LIBRARY OF NEW DUAL-TARGET MOLECULES WITH HAT AND PDE5 ACTIVITY, 2) ELUCIDATE THE PHARMACOKINETIC/PHARMACODYNAMIC PROPERTIES OF OUR NEWLY SYNTHESIZED DUAL-TARGET MOLECULES IN VITRO AND IN VIVO, AND 3) ASSESS SYNAPTIC PLASTICITY IN MOUSE HIPPOCAMPAL SLICES DERIVED FROM A GENETICALLY MODIFIED MOUSE MODEL OF AMYLOID DEPOSITION TREATED WITH OUR NEWLY SYNTHESIZED DUAL-TARGET LIGANDS. THESE AIMS WILL BE ADDRESSED THROUGH A COMBINATION OF MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY APPROACHES FOR GENERATING NEW CHEMICAL ENTITIES, AND BIOCHEMICAL AND ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL TECHNIQUES FOR TESTING THE BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY OF THESE NEW DUAL TARGET MOLECULES IN VITRO AS WELL AS ASSESSING THEIR IN VIVO EFFICACY. RESULTS FROM THESE EXPERIMENTS WILL PROVIDE CRUCIAL INSIGHTS INTO AN ALTERNATIVE AND NOVEL THERAPEUTIC APPROACH FOR TREATING AD BASED ON CLEVERLY MODULATING TWO MOLECULAR TARGETS KNOWN TO PLAY A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN THE ETIOPATHOLOGY OF THIS DISEASE.

NECESSITY OF AMPK ACTIVATION FOR CALORIC RESTRICTION-INDUCED CARDIOPROTECTION

IMPACT OF METHAMPHETAMINE INDUCED IL-6 PRODUCTION ON WOUND HEALING AND INFLAMMATION

DEVELOPING QUANTITATIVE SENSING TECHNOLOGIES TO EVALUATE FINE MOTOR SKILLS FOR AUTISTIC CHILDREN -AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER (ASD) IS A NEURODEVELOPMENTAL DISORDER DIAGNOSED IN APPROXIMATELY 1 IN 36 CHILDREN IN THE US, WITH 87% OF THEM EXPERIENCING SOME MOTOR DIFFICULTIES. THESE MOTOR DIFFICULTIES CAN INCLUDE CHALLENGES WITH HANDWRITING AND GRASPING OBJECTS. WHILE PREVIOUS STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT EARLY INTERVENTIONS CAN SIGNIFICANTLY HELP ASD CHILDREN MANAGE MOTOR IMPAIRMENT, THERE ARE VERY FEW STUDIES EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF INTERVENTIONS ON PERFORMING FINE MOTOR SKILLS. MEASURING MOTOR SKILLS IS CHALLENGING. CLINICAL ASSESSMENTS CAN BE SUBJECTIVE AND TIME CONSUMING. CURRENT CAMERA-BASED ASSESSMENTS CAN BE CUMBERSOME AND REQUIRE LARGE AMOUNTS OF DATA. THIS PROJECT AIMS TO IMPROVE EVALUATION OF FINE MOTOR SKILLS FOR ASD CHILDREN BY COMBINING LOW-COST WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY WITH RECENT ADVANCES IN DATA PROCESSING AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI). IF SUCCESSFUL, THIS PROJECT WILL LEAD TO THE DESIGN OF PROMISING INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS THAT CAN FUNCTION IN WELL-EQUIPPED THERAPY CENTERS AND AT HOME. IN ADDITION, THE PROJECT WILL ENGAGE STUDENTS IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING DESIGN BY LEVERAGING SUMMER ENGINEERING AND UNDERGRADUATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAMS AT NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DESIGN AND TEST AN OBJECTIVE GAME-BASED FINE MOTOR SKILL SENSING AND EVALUATION SYSTEM THAT CAN MEASURE HAND GESTURES AND FINE MOTOR SKILLS WITH HIGH ACCURACY. TO ACHIEVE THIS GOAL, THE PROJECT WILL COMBINE QUANTITATIVE SENSING SYSTEMS AND AI AS AN ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGY FOR 1) THE QUANTITATIVE MONITORING AND IDENTIFICATION OF FINE MOTOR SKILLS DEFICITS AND 2) THE EVALUATION OF THE EFFICACY OF INTERVENTION OUTCOMES. THIS PROPOSED TECHNOLOGY COMPRISES THE DEVELOPMENT OF A LOW-COST WEARABLE GLOVE THAT MEASURES HAND MOTIONS AND A COST-EFFECTIVE, USER-FRIENDLY, AND INTERACTIVE GAME THAT IMPROVES THE VISUAL-MOTOR INTEGRATION ABILITY IN ASD CHILDREN. SEVERAL GESTURES BASED ON AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE WILL BE USED TO EVALUATE FINE MOTOR SKILLS AS ASL GESTURES CAN TRANSITION BETWEEN VARIOUS MOTOR PATTERNS AND CONTRIBUTE TO A VARIETY OF FUNCTIONAL HAND POSTURES. WITH THE USE OF THE PROPOSED TECHNOLOGY, FINE MOTOR ABILITIES LIKE GRASPING AND HOLDING A PENCIL CAN QUANTITATIVELY BE EVALUATED FOR THE FIRST TIME. THE SENSING TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPED WILL HAVE LOW COMPLEXITY SO THAT THE ASD CHILDREN AND CAREGIVERS CAN AFFORD TO USE THEM AT HOME. THIS PAVES THE WAY FOR FUTURE EFFICIENT AND AFFORDABLE ASD INTERVENTIONS. THE DEVELOPED TOOLS IN THIS PROJECT CAN BE USED IN A WIDE VARIETY OF APPLICATIONS BEYOND INTERVENTION THERAPY, SUCH AS HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION, ROBOTICS, DRONE CONTROLLING, SMART WEARABLE DEVICES, AND VIRTUAL REALITY. 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.

ASTROCYTIC HEPARAN SULFATE 6-O-SULFATION IN BRAIN FUNCTION - ABSTRACT HEPARAN SULFATE (HS) 6-O-SULFATION AND MUTATIONS IN THE HS 6-O-SULFOTRANSFERASES (HS6STS) ARE LINKED TO MULTIPLE HUMAN BRAIN DISORDERS. HOWEVER, THE MECHANISMS OF HS 6-O-SULFATION IN THESE BRAIN DISORDERS REMAIN POORLY UNDERSTOOD, AND CURRENT THERAPIES ARE LIMITED. THE LONG-TERM GOAL IS TO USE MOUSE MODELS TO REVEAL HOW DISRUPTIONS OF HS 6-O-SULFATION AFFECT BRAIN FUNCTIONS AND CONTRIBUTE TO BRAIN DISORDERS, WITH A HOPE TO EVENTUALLY DEVELOP A CURE. THE OVERALL OBJECTIVE OF THIS APPLICATION IS TO REVEAL THE ROLE AND MECHANISMS OF ASTROCYTIC HS 6-O-SULFATION IN THE ADULT MOUSE BRAIN. THE CENTRAL HYPOTHESIS IS THAT ASTROCYTIC HS 6-O-SULFATION REGULATES BEHAVIOR AND TRANSCRIPTOME IN ADULT MICE, AND THAT ASTROCYTIC HS 6-O-SULFATION REGULATES ASTROCYTE TRANSCRIPTOME VIA THE HS/GPC/FGFR/STAT PATHWAY. THE RATIONALE FOR THIS PROJECT IS THAT A DETERMINATION OF THE IN VIVO FUNCTIONS AND THE ASSOCIATED MECHANISMS OF HS 6-O-SULFATION IN THE BRAIN WILL OFFER A STRONG SCIENTIFIC BASIS TO DEVELOP NEW THERAPIES FOR PATIENTS WITH THESE BRAIN DISORDERS. THE CENTRAL HYPOTHESIS WILL BE TESTED BY PURSUING TWO SPECIFIC AIMS: 1) DETERMINE THE ROLE OF ASTROCYTIC HS 6-O-SULFATION IN ADULT MOUSE BRAIN; AND 2) IDENTIFY THE MOLECULAR MECHANISMS OF HS 6-O-SULFATION IN ADULT ASTROCYTES. THIS PROPOSAL IS INNOVATIVE BECAUSE IT USES NOVEL MUTANT MOUSE LINES AND MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES TO REVEAL A HERETOFORE-UNEXAMINED PROCESS, THE ROLE AND MECHANISMS OF HS 6-O-SULFATION IN THE ADULT MAMMALIAN BRAIN. THE EXPECTED OUTCOMES ARE 1) TO PROVIDE THE FIRST IN VIVO DATA TO DETERMINE THE ROLE AND MECHANISMS OF ASTROCYTIC HS 6-O-SULFATION IN THE ADULT BRAIN AND 2) TO REVEAL THE DETAILED MECHANISMS OF THE HS/GPC/FGFR/STAT SIGNALING PATHWAY IN ADULT ASTROCYTES. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS SIGNIFICANT BECAUSE IT WILL FUNDAMENTALLY ADVANCE OUR MECHANISTIC UNDERSTANDING OF HS 6-O-SULFATION AND ITS SIGNALING PATHWAYS IN THE BRAIN, WHICH WILL HELP US TO UNDERSTAND HS 6-O-SULFATION ASSOCIATED BRAIN DISORDERS AND TO DEVELOP NOVEL THERAPIES. THIS PROJECT WILL ALSO PROVIDE EXCELLENT RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITY AND FEMALE STUDENTS AT THE NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (NYIT) AND WILL SIGNIFICANTLY ENHANCE THE RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT AT NYIT.

OBESITY-RELATED HYPERTENSION: THE CONTRIBUTION OF PPAR GAMMA ACETYLATION AND ASPROSIN - ABSTRACT OBESITY AFFECTS 1 IN 3 ADULTS IN THE US AND IS A MAJOR RISK FACTOR FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF HYPERTENSION, A LEADING CAUSE OF CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE AND DEATH WORLDWIDE. WHILE OBESITY ACCOUNTS FOR 70% OF CASES OF ESSENTIAL HYPERTENSION, THE MECHANISMS GOVERNING OBESITY-RELATED HYPERTENSION REMAIN UNRESOLVED. CURRENTLY THERE ARE NO ANTI-HYPERTENSIVE DRUGS DESIGNED TO TREAT HYPERTENSION SPECIFICALLY IN OBESE PATIENTS AND TARGETED THERAPY TO TREAT THIS AT-RISK POPULATION IS URGENTLY NEEDED. STUDIES HAVE ALSO ASSOCIATED OBESITY TO STIFFENING OF LARGE ARTERIES, AN INDEPENDENT PREDICTOR FOR CARDIOVASCULAR EVENTS THAT APPEARS TO PRECEDE THE DEVELOPMENT OF HYPERTENSION. THE GOAL OF THIS APPLICATION IS TO ELUCIDATE THE MECHANISM(S) BY WHICH OBESITY INCREASES ARTERIAL STIFFNESS AND BLOOD PRESSURE. CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE SHOWS THAT THE FAT SURROUNDING ARTERIES, TERMED PERIVASCULAR ADIPOSE TISSUE (PVAT), AND PEROXISOME PROLIFERATOR-ACTIVATED RECEPTOR GAMMA (PPAR) POSSESS PHYSIOLOGICALLY PROTECTIVE EFFECTS ON THE VASCULAR SYSTEM. OUR PRELIMINARY DATA SHOWS THAT WESTERN DIET-INDUCED OBESE MICE EXHIBITED AORTIC STIFFNESS AND HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE, WHICH WAS ACCOMPANIED BY HYPERACETYLATION OF PPAR IN PVAT. FURTHERMORE, LEVELS OF ASPROSIN, A NEWLY DISCOVERED ADIPOKINE, IS INCREASED IN THE SERUM AND THORACIC AORTA AND MESENTERIC PVAT FROM OBESE MICE. OUR PRELIMINARY FUNCTIONAL DATA IN MESENTERIC ARTERIES REVEAL THAT ASPROSIN POTENTIATES VASOCONSTRICTION AND IMPAIRS VASODILATION, INDICATING A DIRECT EFFECT OF ASPROSIN IN THE VASCULAR FUNCTION. STRIKINGLY, AORTIC STIFFNESS WAS MITIGATED IN OUR MICE GENETICALLY ENGINEERED TO MIMIC PPAR DEACETYLATION (CALLED 2KR MICE) FED A WESTERN DIET. OUR CENTRAL HYPOTHESIS IS THAT THE PPAR HYPERACETYLATION- ASPROSIN PATHWAY IN ADIPOSE TISSUE CONTRIBUTES TO OBESITY-RELATED AORTIC STIFFNESS AND HYPERTENSION. THUS, PPAR DEACETYLATION WOULD BE EXPECTED TO PROTECT AGAINST VASCULAR DISORDERS CAUSED BY OBESITY. THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF THIS WORK IS TO PROVIDE RIGOROUS SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT A THERAPEUTIC BENEFIT OF PPAR DEACETYLATION IN OBESE PATIENTS SUFFERING FROM HYPERTENSION. TO ADDRESS OUR HYPOTHESIS, TWO AIMS ARE PROPOSED: (AIM 1) STUDY WHETHER 2KR MICE ARE PROTECTED AGAINST OBESITY-INDUCED AORTIC STIFFNESS AND HYPERTENSION. AIM 2) DETERMINE WHETHER ASPROSIN IS DOWNSTREAM TO PPAR HYPERACETYLATION AND STUDY ITS EFFECTS ON VASCULAR FUNCTION. WE WILL USE A MICE MODEL OF WESTERN DIET-INDUCED OBESITY AND 2KR MICE. IN VIVO, EX VIVO AND IN VITRO APPROACHES IN COMBINATION WITH PHARMACOLOGICAL AND GENETIC APPROACHES WILL BE EMPLOYED TO STUDY THE EFFECTS OF PPAR DEACETYLATION AND ASPROSIN IN VASCULAR FUNCTIONALITY. SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF THIS PROJECT WILL PROVIDE NOVEL INSIGHTS INTO THE MECHANISMS OF THE PPAR ACETYLATION-ASPROSIN PATHWAY, CONTRIBUTE TO OUR UNDERSTANDING OF OBESITY-RELATED HYPERTENSION AND AORTIC STIFFNESS, AND IDENTIFY PPAR DEACETYLATION AS A POTENTIAL NEW THERAPEUTIC TARGET FOR THE TREATMENT OF HYPERTENSION. SUPPORT OF THIS PROPOSAL BY REAP WILL PROMOTE AN INNOVATIVE RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT AT NYIT, ENHANCE DIVERSITY IN SCIENCE AND PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES FOR OUR STUDENTS TO PARTICIPATE IN CLINICALLY RELEVANT RESEARCH THAT MAY CHANGE THE COURSE OF PATIENT CARE.

DECIPHERING THE ROLE OF AMPK IN DOXORUBICIN CARDIOTOXICITY - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT DOXORUBICIN (DOX) IS AN EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE AND WIDE-SPECTRUM ANTICANCER DRUG, BUT CAN LEAD TO HEART FAILURE, WHICH PRESENTS A SERIOUS PROBLEM TO MILLIONS OF CANCER SURVIVORS WHO HAVE BEEN TREATED WITH DOX. THUS, IDENTIFYING AGENTS THAT CAN REDUCE DOX CARDIOTOXICITY WITHOUT COMPROMISING ITS ANTITUMOR EFFICACY WOULD BE OF GREAT CLINICAL VALUE. AMP-ACTIVATED PROTEIN KINASE (AMPK) IS AN ESSENTIAL REGULATOR OF MITOCHONDRIAL HOMEOSTASIS AND ENERGY METABOLISM THAT HAS BEEN SUGGESTED TO REDUCE DOX TOXIC EFFECTS IN MOST CELL-BASED STUDIES. THE ANTI-DIABETIC DRUG METFORMIN (MET) HAS BEEN PROPOSED AS AN AGENT WHICH CAN ATTENUATE DOX CARDIOTOXICITY BY ACTIVATING AMPK. HOWEVER, IT IS LARGELY UNKNOWN WHETHER AND HOW AMPK PER SE AFFECTS DOX CARDIOTOXICITY IN VIVO. OUR PRELIMINARY STUDIES CONFIRMED THE ABILITY OF MET TO ACTIVATE AMPK AND TO BLOCK THE CARDIOTOXIC EFFECTS OF DOX IN VITRO AND IN VIVO. SURPRISINGLY, DOX CARDIOTOXICITY IS MARKEDLY REDUCED IN AMPKA2 KNOCKOUT (KO) MICE AND EXACERBATED BY MK-8722, A POTENT PAN-AMPK ACTIVATOR, SUGGESTING THAT SOME AMPK ISOFORMS MAY CONTRIBUTE TO DOX CARDIOTOXICITY, IN STARK CONTRAST TO THE PREVAILING BELIEF THAT AMPK IS GENERALLY CARDIOPROTECTIVE IN THE CONTEXT OF DOX TREATMENT. THIS RAISES THE POSSIBILITY THAT THE CARDIOPROTECTIVE EFFECTS OF MET MAY BE MEDIATED THROUGH MECHANISMS EITHER UNRELATED TO AMPK OR RELATED TO AN ISOFORM-SPECIFIC AMPK HOLOENZYME. THIS PROPOSAL WILL TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT DIFFERENT ISOFORMS OF AMPK DIFFERENTIALLY IMPACT DOX CARDIOTOXICITY THROUGH DISTINCT CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR MECHANISMS THAT REGULATE ENERGY METABOLISM AND MITOCHONDRIAL QUALITY CONTROL PROCESSES. WE WILL ASCERTAIN THE POTENTIALLY DIFFERENTIAL ROLES OF ISOFORM-SPECIFIC AMPK HOLOENZYMES IN DOX CARDIOTOXICITY AND IDENTIFY THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF EACH OF THE EIGHT AMPK HOLOENZYMES EXPRESSED IN CARDIOMYOCYTES USING PHARMACOLOGICAL INHIBITORS AND ACTIVATORS AS WELL AS SIRNA- MEDIATED KNOCKDOWN. WE WILL ALSO INVESTIGATE WHETHER MODULATING AMPK ACTIVITY AFFECTS DOX CARDIOTOXICITY THROUGH ITS EFFECTS ON MITOCHONDRIAL FISSION OR MITOPHAGY. GIVEN THE EMERGING IMPORTANCE OF EACH OF THE ISOFORMS IN AMPK FUNCTION, TREMENDOUS EFFORT HAS BEEN MADE TO DEVELOP AGENTS THAT CAN MODULATE AMPK ACTIVITY IN AN ISOFORM-SPECIFIC MANNER. THE PROPOSED STUDY IS EXPECTED TO GENERATE NEW KNOWLEDGE THAT WILL SHED LIGHT ON THE FUNCTIONAL ROLE OF EACH OF THE AMPK ISOFORMS IN DOX CARDIOTOXICITY, SUGGESTING NOVEL ISOFORM- SELECTIVE THERAPEUTICS. THIS PROJECT WILL HAVE A POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE TREATMENT OF MANY TYPES OF CANCER THAT ARE SENSITIVE TO DOX.

DECIPHERING THE ROLE OF LYSOSOMAL MEMBRANE PERMEABILIZATION IN DIABETIC CARDIAC INJURY - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT DIABETIC CARDIOMYOPATHY AND HEART FAILURE ARE A LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH IN DIABETIC PATIENTS. HOWEVER, EFFECTIVE APPROACHES TO PREVENTING AND MANAGING THIS DEADLY DISEASE ARE STILL LACKING. THE LONG-TERM GOAL OF MY RESEARCH IS TO IDENTIFY CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR MECHANISMS THAT MEDIATE DIABETIC CARDIAC INJURY. LYSOSOMES PLAY IMPORTANT ROLES IN CYTOPLASMIC QUALITY CONTROL AND CELLULAR HOMEOSTASIS. RECENT STUDIES HAVE DEMONSTRATED AN ASSOCIATION BETWEEN DIABETIC CARDIAC INJURY AND A DISTURBED LYSOSOME PATHWAY. A PROMINENT FEATURE OF LYSOSOMAL DYSFUNCTION IS INCREASED LYSOSOMAL MEMBRANE PERMEABILIZATION (LMP) WHICH TRIGGERS PROTEASE LEAKAGE AND CELL DEATH. OUR PRELIMINARY RESULTS SHOWED THAT CARDIAC DAMAGE IN DIABETIC MICE WAS ACCOMPANIED BY ELEVATED EXPRESSION OF CATHEPSIN D (CTSD), A MAJOR LYSOSOMAL PROTEASE. HIGH GLUCOSE INDUCED LMP IN CULTURED CARDIOMYOCYTES, LEADING TO ALTERED EXPRESSION AND DISTRIBUTION OF CTSD. IMPORTANTLY, CTSD OVEREXPRESSION EXACERBATED HIGH GLUCOSE-INDUCED CARDIOMYOCYTE DEATH, WHILE KNOCKING DOWN CTSD OR INHIBITING CTSD ACTIVITY ATTENUATED HIGH GLUCOSE TOXICITY. OUR HYPOTHESIS IS THAT THE INCREASED LMP AND THE ENSUING CTSD LEAKAGE AND ABERRANT ACCUMULATION MEDIATE DIABETIC CARDIAC INJURY; THUS ENHANCING LYSOSOMAL QUALITY CONTROL AND MINIMIZING THE ECTOPIC EFFECTS OF CTSD WILL PROTECT THE DIABETIC HEART. WE WILL PURSUE TWO SPECIFIC AIMS TO TEST THIS HYPOTHESIS. AIM 1 WILL DETERMINE WHETHER LMP AND THE ENSUING CTSD LEAKAGE CONTRIBUTES TO HYPERGLYCEMIA-INDUCED CARDIOMYOCYTE DEATH. AIM 2 WILL INVESTIGATE THE PATHOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF LMP IN DIABETIC HEART INJURY USING MOUSE MODELS OF DIABETES. PHARMACOLOGICAL AND GENETIC APPROACHES WILL BE USED TO ENHANCE THE LYSOSOMAL REPAIR AND TO MANIPULATE THE EXPRESSION AND MATURATION OF CTSD. DIABETES-INDUCED LYSOSOMAL INJURY WILL BE ASSESSED WITH A NOVEL LMP REPORTER MOUSE LINE. THE EFFECTS OF ALTERED CTSD ON HYPERGLYCEMIC CARDIOTOXICITY AND DIABETIC CARDIOMYOPATHY WILL BE DETERMINED WITH MULTIPLE APPROACHES. SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF THIS PROJECT WILL PROVIDE NOVEL INSIGHT INTO THE MECHANISMS THAT MEDIATE DIABETIC CARDIAC INJURY, FACILITATING DRUG DESIGN FOR PREVENTING OR TREATING CARDIOMYOPATHY AND HEART FAILURE IN DIABETES.

THYROID HORMONE REGULATION OF CARDIOMYOCYTE T-TUBULE STRUCTUREAND FUNCTION

MECHANISTIC ASSESSMENT OF OSTEOPATHIC MANIPULATION INRELIEVING MIGRAINE HEADACHE USING A NOVEL TRANSLATIONAL RODENT MODEL

MRI: ACQUISITION OF A HIGH-ENERGY MICRO-COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY SCANNER FOR INTER- AND MULTI-DISCIPLINARY STEM RESEARCH

DECIPHERING THE ROLE OF MITOPHAGY IN THE HEART DURING FASTING

SCHOLARSHIPS FOR DISADVANTAGED STUDENTS

THE ROLE OF MUSTN1 IN CARTILAGE BIOLOGY

MANDATED HEALTH CARE PROJECTS

TISSUE-NONSPECIFIC ALKALINE PHOSPHATASE (TNAP)-INDUCED VASCULAR CALCIFICATION AND ATHEROSCLEROSIS

INVESTIGATING THE ROLE OF ASTROCYTES ON NEURONAL ACTIVITY AND BEHAVIORAL MODULATION

REU SITE: RESEARCH ON SECURITY OF MOBILE DEVICES AND WIRELESS NETWORKS

RUI: FAST AND ROBUST NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING OF CYLINDRICAL COMPOSITE COMPONENTS BASED ON MICROWAVE MEASUREMENTS

BELMONT FORUM FOOD-WATER-ENERGY NEXUS: INTEGRATED ANALYSIS AND MODELING FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF SUSTAINABLE URBAN FOOD WATER ENERGY RESOURCES

RUI: AN INFERENCE METHODOLOGY TO ILLUMINATE NONLINEAR NEUTRINO FLAVOR TRANSFORMATION FOR NUCLEAR ASTROPHYSICS -PROBING THE PHYSICS UNDERLYING COSMIC EXPLOSIONS IS VITAL FOR UNDERSTANDING THE MAKEUP OF THE OBSERVABLE UNIVERSE. THE EXPLOSIONS OF MASSIVE STARS ARE CANDIDATE SITES FOR THE NUCLEOSYNTHESIS OF SOME HEAVY ELEMENTS ? THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF LIFE ON EARTH. IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF THESE EXPLOSIONS, HOWEVER, ARE DIFFICULT TO ACCESS VIA TRADITIONAL APPROACHES IN NUCLEAR ASTROPHYSICS. THIS IS DUE BOTH TO A LACK OF ADAPTABILITY OF EXISTING CODES TO THE REQUIRED MATHEMATICAL FRAMEWORK, AND TO COMPUTATIONAL EXPENSE. MOREOVER, IMPORTANT FEATURES OF THE PHYSICS REMAIN ARTIFICIALLY HIDDEN FROM THE TOOLS BUILT TO DESCRIBE THEM. INFERENCE (RELATED TO THE COMMON TERM ?MACHINE LEARNING?) IS AN ALTERNATIVE METHODOLOGY. IN THE GEOSCIENCES AND NEUROBIOLOGY, INFERENCE HAS FOR DECADES ILLUMINATED PROBLEMS AKIN TO THOSE THAT HINDER PROGRESS WITHIN NUCLEAR ASTROPHYSICS. FOR THAT REASON, RECENTLY INFERENCE HAS BEEN BROUGHT INTO ASTROPHYSICS, WHERE PROOF-OF-CONCEPT SIMULATIONS HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFUL. THIS PROJECT BUILDS BEYOND THOSE TESTS, INTEGRATING INFERENCE INTO LARGER-SCALE CODES AND HANDLING REAL ASTROPHYSICAL DATA. INNOVATIONS CULTIVATED WITHIN ONE SCIENTIFIC ARENA CAN BE TRANSFORMATIVE WHEN EXPANDED FOR DISJOINT FIELDS. INTEGRAL TO THE RESEARCH IS THE TRAINING OF UNDERGRADUATES, MANY WITH SOCIO-ECONOMIC BACKGROUNDS UNDER-REPRESENTED IN SCIENCE. STUDENTS ALSO ENGAGE IN COMEDIC SCIENCE OUTREACH, TO BUILD COMMUNICATION SKILLS. THE PHYSICS NOTED AS ?ARTIFICIALLY HIDDEN? FROM TRADITIONAL TECHNIQUES IS DIRECTION-CHANGING BACKSCATTERING IN THE NEUTRINO FLAVOR FIELD IN THESE HIGH-DENSITY ENVIRONMENTS. NEUTRINOS ARE ELEMENTARY PARTICLES WHOSE ?FLAVOR? DICTATES THE MANNER IN WHICH THEY INTERACT WITH OTHER PARTICLES. FLAVOR IN LARGE PART SETS THE NEUTRON-TO-PROTON RATIO AS WELL AS ENERGY AND ENTROPY DEPOSITION, THEREBY IN-PART DICTATING THE MECHANISM OF EXPLOSION AND NUCLEOSYNTHESIS. BACKSCATTERING IN THE FLAVOR FIELD CAN SIGNIFICANTLY SHAPE THE EXPLOSION. BUT IT PRESENTS A TWO-POINT BOUNDARY-VALUE PROBLEM: A FRAMEWORK THAT TRADITIONAL NUMERICAL INTEGRATION IS ILL-EQUIPPED TO HANDLE. THIS PROJECT APPLIES STATISTICAL DATA ASSIMILATION (SDA) TO ILLUMINATE THIS PROBLEM. SDA IS A BAYESIAN INFERENCE METHODOLOGY, INVENTED FOR NUMERICAL WEATHER PREDICTION, TO PREDICT SPARSELY-SAMPLED NONLINEAR SYSTEMS. SDA IS WELL-SUITED FOR SOLVING BOUNDARY-VALUE PROBLEMS, AND IT IS EXPECTED TO OUTPERFORM INTEGRATION IN COMPUTATIONAL EFFICIENCY. THIS PROJECT BUILDS UPON PREVIOUS WORK THAT ESTABLISHED THAT SDA CAN 1) OUTPERFORM INTEGRATION IN TERMS OF SOLVING A DIRECTION-CHANGING BACKSCATTERING PROBLEM, 2) SEARCH PARAMETER SPACE MORE EFFICIENTLY THAN INTEGRATION, AND 3) FIND SOLUTIONS TO SIMPLE PROBLEMS WHERE THE DATA ARE REAL, RATHER THAN SIMULATED. THESE FINDINGS CALL FOR A DEEPER EXAMINATION OF SDA?S ABILITY TO SOLVE MORE COMPLEX PARAMETER ESTIMATION PROBLEMS AND AUGMENT LARGER-SCALE CODES. THIS PROJECT ADVANCES THE OBJECTIVES OF WINDOWS ON THE UNIVERSE: THE ERA OF MULTI-MESSENGER ASTROPHYSICS, ONE OF THE 10 BIG IDEAS FOR FUTURE NSF INVESTMENTS. 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.

REU SITE: RESEARCH ON SECURITY OF MOBILE DEVICES AND WIRELESS NETWORKS AT NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

LC/MS-BASED DIRECT RNA SEQUENCING WITH CONCOMITANT CAPABILITY TO SEQUENCE MULTIPLE BASE MODIFICATIONS AT SINGLE-BASE RESOLUTION

CHARACTERIZATION OF TURBULENT UNSTEADY SEPARATION USING PHOTONIC MICRO-SKIN FRICTION AND WALL PRESSURE SENSORS

TWC: SMALL: COLLABORATIVE: RUI: TOWARDS ENERGY-EFFICIENT PRIVACY-PRESERVING ACTIVE AUTHENTICATION OF SMARTPHONE USERS

EAGER: AN INFERENCE METHODOLOGY TO ILLUMINATE NONLINEAR NEUTRINO FLAVOR TRANSFORMATION FOR NUCLEAR ASTROPHYSICS

EAGER SITS: AUTONOMOUS SOIL NUTRIENT SENSING SYSTEM

ARRA - SCHOLARSHIPS FOR DISADVANTAGED STUDENTS

LEAPS-MPS: INVARIANT SOLUTIONS IN STRONGLY NONLINEAR THERMAL CONVECTION: A NEW APPROACH TO ASYMPTOTIC TRANSPORT -UNDERSTANDING HOW HEAT AND MOMENTUM ARE TRANSPORTED IN THERMALLY DRIVEN FLUIDS UNDER EXTREME CONDITIONS IS A LONGSTANDING SCIENTIFIC CHALLENGE WITH PROFOUND IMPLICATIONS FOR GEOPHYSICAL AND ASTROPHYSICAL SYSTEMS, SUCH AS DEEP OCEAN CURRENTS AND SOLAR CONVECTION. THIS PROJECT INVESTIGATES FLUID BEHAVIOR IN THE SITUATION OF VERY STRONG THERMAL FORCING?WHERE TRADITIONAL SIMULATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS FAIL?BY FOCUSING ON EXACT SOLUTIONS OF THE GOVERNING EQUATIONS. RATHER THAN RELYING ON CHAOTIC, TURBULENT STATES, THE RESEARCH CENTERS ON IDENTIFYING AND ANALYZING SPECIAL, DYNAMICALLY UNSTABLE FLOW PATTERNS KNOWN AS INVARIANT SOLUTIONS. THESE SOLUTIONS PROVIDE A WINDOW INTO THE FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICS OF CONVECTION AND A PATH TOWARD DERIVING THE TRUE ASYMPTOTIC LAWS THAT GOVERN HEAT TRANSPORT IN EXTREME CONDITIONS. THE PROJECT PROMOTES THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE BY ADVANCING FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING OF PLANETARY AND SOLAR SYSTEM DYNAMICS. THE PROJECT ALSO ENHANCES UNDERGRADUATE ENGAGEMENT IN ADVANCED SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AT A PRIMARILY UNDERGRADUATE INSTITUTION AND CONTRIBUTES TO WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT IN COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCE. IN ADDITION, A STRUCTURED OUTREACH PLAN?FEATURING UNDERGRADUATE MENTORING, RESEARCH-BASED COURSEWORK, AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT THROUGH NYIT'S ANNUAL MATH DAY WILL CONNECT STUDENTS FROM REGIONAL COLLEGES AND HIGH SCHOOLS THROUGH SHARED RESEARCH EXPERIENCES. THE PROJECT AIMS TO UNCOVER THE ASYMPTOTIC HEAT TRANSPORT BEHAVIOR OF STEADY-STATE CONVECTIVE FLOWS GOVERNED BY THE NAVIER?STOKES AND ADVECTION-DIFFUSION EQUATIONS IN THE LARGE-RAYLEIGH-NUMBER LIMIT. THROUGH A COMBINATION OF NOVEL COMPUTATIONAL ALGORITHMS AND ADVANCED ASYMPTOTIC ANALYSIS, THE PI WILL COMPUTE AND ANALYZE INVARIANT STEADY SOLUTIONS IN BOTH TWO AND THREE DIMENSIONS ACROSS A BROAD RANGE OF PRANDTL NUMBERS. THESE SOLUTIONS NOT ONLY EXHIBIT STRUCTURAL SIMILARITIES TO TURBULENT FLOWS BUT ALSO OFFER IMPROVED ACCESSIBILITY FOR EXTRACTING ASYMPTOTIC TRANSPORT SCALINGS. KEY RESEARCH TASKS INCLUDE COMPUTING STEADY SOLUTIONS AT RAYLEIGH NUMBERS BEYOND THE REACH OF PREVIOUS STUDIES, CONSTRUCTING ASYMPTOTIC APPROXIMATIONS VIA MATCHED ASYMPTOTIC ANALYSIS, AND EXTENDING THE METHODOLOGY TO THREE-DIMENSIONAL CONVECTION. THE PROJECT WILL ADVANCE THE MODERN DYNAMICAL-SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE ON TURBULENCE AND OFFER NEW THEORETICAL INSIGHTS INTO EXTREME NONLINEAR TRANSPORT IN BUOYANCY-DRIVEN CONVECTION. 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.

LEAPS-MPS: A HIERARCHICAL COMPUTATIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR MODELING ACTIVE SKELETAL MUSCLES ACROSS SCALES -SKELETAL MUSCLES, WITH THEIR INTRICATE HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURES, ARE ESSENTIAL FOR GENERATING THE FORCES REQUIRED FOR MOVEMENT AND STABILITY. HOWEVER, UNDERSTANDING THEIR BIOMECHANICS IS CHALLENGING DUE TO THEIR COMPLEX STRUCTURAL, ARCHITECTURAL, BIOPHYSICAL, AND MECHANICAL ASPECTS. COMPUTATIONAL MODELING OFFERS A VALUABLE, NON-INVASIVE APPROACH TO ASSESS AND PREDICT THE BIOMECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF SKELETAL MUSCLES. THIS PROJECT AIMS TO ESTABLISH A COMPREHENSIVE COMPUTATIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR HIERARCHICAL MODELING OF SKELETAL MUSCLES, EMPHASIZING THE INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE FROM VARIOUS DOMAINS, INCLUDING COMPUTATIONAL METHODS, CONSTITUTIVE MATHEMATICAL MODELS, MICROSTRUCTURAL INTRICACIES, MUSCLE FUNCTION COMPLEXITIES, AND HUMAN DYNAMICS. BY DEEPENING THESE INTEGRATIONS, THE PROJECT CONTRIBUTES TO ADVANCING FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING AND FOSTERS CROSS-DISCIPLINARY INSIGHTS THAT BENEFIT THE BROADER SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY, WHILE ALSO PROVIDING STUDENTS WITH OPPORTUNITIES FOR MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH TRAINING. THE PROJECT WILL DEVELOP ADVANCED NUMERICAL METHODS AND A SERIES OF FINITE ELEMENT MODELS FOR THE HIERARCHICAL SIMULATION OF SKELETAL MUSCLES ACROSS DIFFERENT LENGTH SCALES. BY INVESTIGATING MULTISCALE MUSCLE BEHAVIORS, THIS WORK WILL ADVANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF MUSCLE AGING, INJURIES, AND PATHOLOGIES, INCLUDING MACROSCOPIC AND LARGE-SCALE RESPONSES. ADDITIONALLY, BY MERGING COMMERCIAL SOFTWARE AND USER-DEFINED SCRIPTS, THE PROJECT AIMS TO ENHANCE COMPUTATIONAL PLATFORMS FOR MODELING SOFT TISSUES AND OTHER NONLINEAR MATERIALS UNDERGOING LARGE DEFORMATIONS. THESE EFFORTS HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO INSPIRE FURTHER RESEARCH IN TISSUE BIOMECHANICS AND COMPUTATIONAL MECHANICS, CONTRIBUTING TO SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS AND PROMOTING DIVERSITY WITHIN STEM THROUGH EDUCATIONAL AND OUTREACH INITIATIVES. 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.

PATHWAYS FROM UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH TO THE HABITABLE WORLDS OBSERVATORY

ZINC FINGER PROTEIN 949 AS A POTENTIAL TRANSCRIPTIONAL SUPPRESSOR OF ADIPOCYTE HYPERTROPHY - RESUBMISSION - 1 - BACKGROUND: THE CELLULAR EVENTS THAT CAUSE ADIPOCYTES TO INCREASE LIPID CAPACITY (HYPERTROPHY) CHARACTERISTIC OF OBESITY REMAIN LARGELY UNKNOWN. WE HAVE DISCOVERED THAT MICE WITH TARGETED GENETIC DELETION OF DIAPHANOUS 1IN ADIPOSE TISSUE ARE PROTECTED FROM DIET-INDUCED OBESITY AND EXHIBIT RELIABLY ELEVATED LEVELS OF THE GENE ENCODING THE ZINC FINGER PROTEIN 949 (ZFP949) IN BOTH BROWN AND WHITE ADIPOSE TISSUE. THERE IS ONLY LIMITED PUBLISHED INFORMATION REGARDING THE PHYSIOLOGICAL ROLE OF ZFP949 BUT WHAT IS AVAILABLE HAS IDENTIFIED ZFP949 AS TRANSCRIPTIONAL SUPPRESSOR OF EMBRYONIC DEVELOPMENT. PRELIMINARY DATA FROM OUR LABORATORY DISCOVERED THAT GENETIC MANIPULATIONS THAT RESULT IN LOWERING THE EXPRESSION OF ZFP949 IN ADIPOCYTES CAUSES THOSE CELLS TO ACCUMULATE SIGNIFICANTLY MORE TRIGLYCERIDES THAN CONTROL CELLS THROUGHOUT THE DIFFERENTIATION PROCESS. THUS, THIS NOVEL MODEL OF ADIPOCYTE HYPERTROPHY WILL ALLOW US TO IDENTIFY THE PRECISE CELLULAR CHANGES THAT ACCOUNT FOR THE INCREASED LIPID ACCUMULATION IN ZFP949 KNOCK-DOWN ADIPOCYTES. FURTHERMORE, THE PROPOSED STUDIES AIM TO DETERMINE WHETHER INCREASING THE EXPRESSION OF ZFP949 REPRESENT A THERAPEUTIC TARGET FOR THE TREATMENTS AND/OR PREVENTION OF OBESITY. HYPOTHESIS: IN LINE WITH A COMMON FUNCTION OF PROTEINS IN THE ZINC FINGER FAMILY AND BASED ON A PUBLISHED REPORT SUPPORTING THIS ROLE, WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT ZFP949 FUNCTIONS AS SUPPRESSOR OF GENES AND PROTEINS THAT PROMOTE LIPID BUILDUP IN ADIPOCYTES. FURTHERMORE, WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT ADIPOCYTES GENETICALLY ALTERED TO OVEREXPRESSED ZFP949 WILL BE PROTECTED FROM ADIPOCYTE HYPERTROPHY AND THEREFORE IT MAY REPRESENT A POTENTIAL THERAPEUTIC TARGET FOR THE TREATMENT AND/OR PREVENTION OF OBESITY AND OTHER DISEASES ASSOCIATED WITH EXCESS LIPID BUILDUP. APPROACH: WE WILL LEVERAGE RNA SEQUENCING, PROTEOMIC AND LIPIDOMIC STUDIES TO PERFORM AN UNBIASED ASSESSMENT OF THE GENES, PROTEINS AND LIPID CLASSES THAT UNDERLIE ADIPOCYTE HYPERTROPHY AND THEREBY GAIN INSIGHT INTO THE CELLULAR MECHANISMS THAT PROMOTE HYPERTROPHY. SIMILARLY, WE WILL ALSO HARNESS THOSE TOOLS TO ASSESS WHETHER OR NOT OVEREXPRESSING ZFP949 REPRESENTS A POTENTIAL THERAPEUTIC APPROACH TO TREAT OBESITY. SIGNIFICANCE: ONE OF THE LIMITATIONS TO BEING ABLE TO STUDY THE CELLULAR PROCESSES THAT TAKE PLACE IN ADIPOCYTES DURING HYPERTROPHY IS THAT CURRENTLY IT IS NOT TECHNICALLY FEASIBLE TO ISOLATE HYPERTROPHIED ADIPOCYTES FROM SUBJECTS IN VIVO TO BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY THE PRECISE CELLULAR CHANGES THAT PROMOTE LIPID ACCUMULATION. HERE, WE PROVIDE A NEW CELLULAR MODEL THAT WILL ALLOW FOR DETAILED STUDIES ON THE UNDERLYING CELLULAR PROCESSES THAT PROMOTE ADIPOCYTE HYPERTROPHY IN VITRO. FURTHERMORE, IN LIGHT OF THE LACK OF EFFECTIVE TREATMENTS FOR OBESITY, THE FAST GROWING PREVALENCE OF OBESITY AND THE FACT THAT OBESITY IS A RISK FACTOR FOR CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE AND DIABETES, IF IS OF PARAMOUNT IMPORTANCE TO BE ABLE TO IDENTIFY NOVEL THERAPEUTIC TARGETS FOR OBESITY. THE CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROPOSED WORK IS THAT IT WILL TEST WHETHER OVEREXPRESSION OF ZFP949 REPRESENTS A TARGETABLE APPROACH FOR THE TREATMENT AND/OR PREVENTION OF OBESITY AND OTHER LIPID-DEPENDENT DISORDERS.

MRI: ACQUISITION OF A DC/RF SPUTTERING SYSTEM TO SUPPORT MULTI-DISCIPLINARY RESEARCH ON MEDICAL SENSORS AND MICRO-GENERATORS IN WBAN

21ST CENTURY MUSEUM PROFESSIONALS PROGRAM

HOW DEVELOPMENT AND BEHAVIOR INTERACT TO CHANGE SKULL FORM: EXPLORING AND SHARING EVOLUTIONARY INSIGHTS FROM THE FOSSIL RECORD OF CETACEANS (WHALES,

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CCRI: NEW: NATION-WIDE COMMUNITY-BASED MOBILE EDGE SENSING AND COMPUTING TESTBEDS

THE BIOMECHANICS OF SPECIFIC LOCOMOTION USED BY OUR CLOSEST LIVING PRIMATE RELATIVES

DESIGN, SYNTHESIS AND BIOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF POTENT AND SELECTIVE PYRUVATE CARBOXYLASE (PC) INHIBITORS FOR STUDYING CANCER CELL METABOLISM - PROJECT SUMMARY CANCER REPRESENTS A GROUP OF DISEASES THAT HAS HAD A PROFOUND IMPACT ON HUMAN SOCIETY, NOT ONLY IN TERMS OF HEALTH CARE BUT ALSO BY IMPOSING SIGNIFICANT FINANCIAL STRAIN ON THOSE DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY AFFECTED. TO ADDRESS THIS GROWING HEALTH CRISIS, THERE REMAINS AN URGENT NEED FOR EDUCATION, EARLY DIAGNOSIS, AND CONTINUED RESEARCH INTO CANCER PREVENTION. CURRENTLY, THE DEVELOPMENT OF TARGETED CANCER THERAPIES IS HAMPERED BY AN INCOMPLETE UNDERSTANDING OF THE MECHANISMS THAT ALLOW CANCER CELLS TO SWITCH BETWEEN METABOLIC PATHWAYS IN RESPONSE TO ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS OR TREATMENTS. LYING AT THE CROSSROADS OF CENTRAL METABOLISM IS THE ENZYME PYRUVATE CARBOXYLASE (PC), WHICH IMPACTS BOTH ANABOLIC AND CATABOLIC PROCESSES. PC CONVERTS PYRUVATE TO OXALOACETATE WHICH PLAYS A CRUCIAL ROLE IN CANCER METABOLISM BY REPLENISHING THE TCA CYCLE INTERMEDIATES THAT ALLOW CANCER CELLS TO SUSTAIN THEIR ENERGY PRODUCTION AND BIOSYNTHESIS UNDER NUTRIENT-LIMITING CONDITIONS. WHILE MANY STUDIES HAVE LINKED ABERRANT PC EXPRESSION TO CANCER, THERE HAVE BEEN ONLY LIMITED EFFORTS TO DEVELOP PHARMACOLOGICAL MODULATORS TO STUDY THE ROLE OF PC IN CANCER CELL METABOLISM. EMPLOYING A STRUCTURE-BASED DRUG DISCOVERY APPROACH, THIS PROJECT SEEKS TO GENERATE POTENT AND SELECTIVE SMALL MOLECULE INHIBITORS THAT CAN SERVE AS A VALUABLE NEW TOOLKIT FOR STUDYING CANCER CELL METABOLISM AND THAT MAY ULTIMATELY FACILITATE THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW CHEMOTHERAPEUTIC AGENTS AGAINST CANCER. PC INHIBITORS WILL BE DEVELOPED AND CHARACTERIZED USING TWO INDEPENDENT BUT HIGHLY COMPLEMENTARY APPROACHES: (1) AN EXTENDED STRUCTURE-ACTIVITY RELATIONSHIP WILL BE DEVELOPED ON AN EXISTING SCAFFOLD THAT DISPLAYS LOW ΜM AFFINITY AGAINST PC; (2) IN PARALLEL, TWO WEAK ALLOSTERIC PC INHIBITORS, ASPARTATE AND GLUTAMATE, WILL BE CHEMICALLY EXPLOITED TO GENERATE A SERIES OF MOLECULES WITH INCREASED POTENCY AND SELECTIVITY FOR PC. THESE COMPOUNDS WILL BE CHARACTERIZED USING MULTIPLE IN-VITRO SCREENING ASSAYS. THE MOST PROMISING COMPOUNDS FROM BOTH APPROACHES WILL BE CHARACTERIZED USING A SUITE OF KINETIC, CELLULAR AND STRUCTURAL STUDIES. THIS PROJECT WILL BRING TOGETHER UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN AN INTER-DISCIPLINARY RESEARCH TEAM THAT OFFERS EXPOSURE TO MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY, PROTEIN BIOCHEMISTRY, CELL BIOLOGY, AND STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY. .

(YIP) COHERENT STRUCTURE ON TOPOLOGICAL LATTICES

RAPID: ACQUISITION AND CURATION OF TIME-SENSITIVE FIELD DATA FROM SEVERELY FLOODED NEIGHBORHOODS IN NEW YORK CITY FROM TROPICAL STORM OPHELIA FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY STUDY -RECENT EXTREME CLIMATE EVENTS HAVE CAUSED DISASTROUS OUTCOMES IN NEW YORK CITY AND OTHER COASTAL TOWNS ON THE EAST COAST. TORRENTIAL RAIN WITH RECORD-BREAKING INTENSITY BROUGHT BY THE REMNANTS OF TROPICAL STORM OPHELIA LEFT LARGE AREAS OF NEIGHBORHOODS FLOODED, TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS SHUT DOWN, SCHOOLS STRANDED, AND PROPERTIES DAMAGED. MORE THAN 8 INCHES OF RAIN FELL IN PARTS OF THE NYC FROM THURSDAY SEPT. 28 TO FRIDAY SEPT. 29. AS THE RESULT OF THESE FLOODING EVENTS, PERISHABLE DATA SUCH AS HIGH-WATER MARKS INDICATING THE LEVEL OF FLOODING IN DIFFERENT NEIGHBORHOODS ARE HIGHLY TIME-SENSITIVE AND REQUIRE TIMELY RESPONSE TO BE PRESERVED FOR FUTURE STUDY. THERE IS AN URGENT NEED TO COLLECT AND CURATE DATA TO UNDERSTAND AND ANALYZE VULNERABILITIES IN THE COMMUNITIES ESPECIALLY UNDERSERVED ONES. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO COLLECT PERISHABLE DATA IN NEIGHBORHOODS THAT WERE SEVERELY FLOODED INCLUDING IMAGES OF THE HIGH-WATER MARKS OF FLOODED NEIGHBORHOOD POST FLOODING EVENTS AND THE FORECASTED AND RECORDED PRECIPITATION TO HELP STAKEHOLDERS ASSESS THEIR DESIGN GUIDELINES FOR FUTURE FLOODING EVENTS AND MITIGATION PLANS. MULTI-MODAL DATA FROM SATELLITE IMAGERY, WEATHER RADAR IMAGERY, ROAD CAMERAS, AS WELL AS PEOPLE?S RESPONSES IN SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS WILL ALSO BE COLLECTED AND CURATED FOR POTENTIAL FUTURE USE IN BUILDING TIME LAPSE AND HIGH-FIDELITY VISUALIZATION TOOLS TO HELP STAKEHOLDERS AND COMMUNITIES WITH MORE INFORMED DECISION MAKING AND EXPLORE MORE EFFECTIVE OUTREACH AND FLOOD-RISK COMMUNICATIONS. DOCUMENTING TIME-SENSITIVE PERISHABLE DATA ON A HYPERLOCAL SCALE PROVIDES VALUABLE DATA FOR THE STUDY OF ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY OF COMMUNITIES UNDER CLIMATE EXTREMES. REPRESENTING AND INTERPRETING THESE DATA IN AN INTERACTIVE MAP COULD PROVIDE STAKEHOLDERS AND AT-RISK COMMUNITIES WITH EASY-TO-DIGEST INFORMATION TO ANALYZE RISK AND DEVELOP STRATEGIES FOR MORE EFFECTIVE MITIGATION PLANS. THIS OUTCOME OF THIS PROJECT WILL HELP ADDRESS SUCH QUESTIONS AS HOW NEW YORK CITY IS PREPARED TO RESPOND TO SUCH WEATHER EXTREME EVENTS SINCE HURRICANES SANDY AND IDA, HOW AND WHEN WEATHER WARNINGS ARE ISSUED, HOW COMMUNITIES IN LOW-LYING AND FLOOD-PRONE AREAS ARE INFORMED AND PREPARED FOR EMERGENCY, WHAT ARE THE INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS IN PLACE AND HOW TO ASSESS THEIR EFFECTIVENESS, WHAT DATA WAS USED IN GENERATING THE CURRENT FLOOD MAP, AND ARE THERE MORE TARGETED INFRASTRUCTURE SOLUTIONS TO PROTECT THE COMMUNITIES. 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.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: STEM CELL MATURITY EVALUATION AND PROMOTION WITH AN INTELLIGENT LAB-ON-CHIP FRAMEWORK -CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE IS THE LEADING GLOBAL CAUSE OF DEATH. FUTURE HEART REGENERATION RELIES ON MATURE CARDIOMYOCYTES (CMS) FROM STEM CELLS THAT WILL IMPROVE HEART FUNCTION WHEN TRANSPLANTED IN THE HEART. A MAJOR PROBLEM OF THE EXISTING STEM CELL-DERIVED HEART TISSUES IS THAT THE CELLS REMAIN IMMATURE, BEAT MORE RAPIDLY, AND WHEN TRANSPLANTED INTO ADULT FAILING HEARTS WILL EVENTUALLY PROVOKE LETHAL ARRHYTHMIAS. THE PRIMARY GOAL OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO DESIGN AND DEVELOP AN INTELLIGENT DEVICE THAT WILL NON-INVASIVELY MONITOR THE MATURITY STAGE OF STEM CELL-DERIVED CMS IN REAL-TIME, AND ADAPTIVELY STIMULATE THE CELLS TOWARD FULL MATURATION WITH ELECTRIC PULSING AND MECHANICAL STRETCHING. THE RESEARCH HAS THE POTENTIAL TO REVOLUTIONIZE THE GENERATION OF MATURE CMS. THIS INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION AMONG THE NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, CITY COLLEGE OF NEW YORK, AND RUTGERS UNIVERSITY ALSO PLANS TO INCREASE THE PARTICIPATION AND RETENTION OF UNDERREPRESENTED STUDENTS IN COMPUTER SCIENCE, ENGINEERING, AND BIOLOGY AND CONTRIBUTE TO SUMMER WORKSHOPS WITH CUTTING-EDGE HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES FOR LOCAL K-12 STUDENTS. IT WAS ALREADY DEMONSTRATED THAT STANDARD PROTOCOLS OF IN-VITRO DIFFERENTIATION OF CULTURED HUMAN PLURIPOTENT STEM CELL (HPSC)-CMS WITHOUT EXTERNAL STIMULANTS YIELD IMMATURE CELLS. EXISTING BIOPHYSICAL METHODS ARE ALSO INCAPABLE OF ADAPTIVELY SELECTING STIMULATION PARAMETERS BASED ON THE CURRENT CELL STATE TO SUPPORT THE CONTINUED CELL GROWTH UNTIL FULL MATURATION. TO UNDERSTAND THE IN-VITRO MATURATION PROCESS OF HPSC-CMS, THIS PROJECT WILL DEVELOP A DATA-DRIVEN TECHNIQUE AND THEN LEVERAGE THE GAINED INSIGHTS TO GUIDE THE PROMOTION OF CARDIOMYOCYTE MATURITY WITH UNPRECEDENTED PROPERTIES. IN PARTICULAR, A PROBABILISTIC GRAPHICAL MODEL WILL BE DESIGNED TO EVALUATE THE MATURATION STAGE OF THE HPSC-CMS BASED ON THE BEATING ACTIVITIES RECORDED ONLINE BY THE ELECTRIC CELL SUBSTRATE IMPEDANCE SPECTROSCOPY (ECIS) TECHNIQUE. A NOVEL LAB-ON-CHIP DEVICE, INTEGRATING THE ECIS SENSING AND STIMULATION FUNCTIONS, WILL MONITOR THE CELL MATURATION PROCESS IN REAL-TIME AND APPLY MECHANICAL AND/OR ELECTRICAL STIMULATION ON THE HPSC-CMS. THE BIOLOGICAL STIMULATION, FOLLOWING THE GSK3 INHIBITOR AND WNT INHIBITOR (GIWI) PROTOCOL, WILL REMAIN FIXED DURING THE ENTIRE DIFFERENTIATION AND MATURATION PROCESS. REINFORCEMENT LEARNING TECHNIQUES WILL BE USED TO ANALYZE THE INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM ECIS MEASUREMENTS AND SELECT THE ELECTRICAL AND MECHANICAL BIOPHYSICAL STIMULATION STRATEGIES. THE INTELLIGENT ITERATIVE ADJUSTMENT OF THE STIMULI PROTOCOL WILL AUTO-REGULATE THE DEVICE AND MORE EFFICIENTLY PRODUCE MATURE, BEATING HUMAN CARDIAC MYOCYTES DERIVED FROM PLURIPOTENT STEM CELLS. THE PROPOSED INNOVATIVE STEM CELL RESEARCH WILL IMPACT A WIDE RANGE OF FIELDS, SUCH AS ENHANCING THE APPLICABILITY OF HPSC-CM FOR DISEASE MODELING, DRUG TOXICITY SCREENING, TISSUE ENGINEERING, AND NOVEL CELL-BASED CARDIAC THERAPIES. THE NOVEL DEVICE WITH STRETCHABLE ELECTRONICS WILL FUNCTION IN THE LIQUID ENVIRONMENT OF BIOLOGICAL CELLS AND GENERATE NEW INSIGHTS INTO THE ROLES OF BIOPHYSICAL STIMULATIONS IN DIRECTING CARDIOMYOCYTE STEM CELL MATURATION. 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.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: III: SMALL: EFFICIENT AND ROBUST MULTI-MODEL DATA ANALYTICS FOR EDGE COMPUTING -MANY ADVANCED EDGE COMPUTING APPLICATIONS RELY ON LARGE-SCALE DATA ANALYSIS FOR HIGH-LEVEL DECISION MAKING. EDGE COMPUTING MAKES COMPUTING FASTER AND MORE EFFICIENT BECAUSE IT TAKES PLACE NEAR THE PHYSICAL LOCATION OF EITHER THE USER OR THE DATA RATHER THAN SENDING ALL THE INFORMATION TO THE CLOUD. FOR EXAMPLE, AUGMENTED REALITY/VIRTUAL REALITY (AR/VR) APPLICATIONS UTILIZE DATA FROM HIGH-DEFINITION SENSORS (E.G., CAMERAS, MOTION SENSORS, AND MICROPHONES) TO ENABLE ACCURATE AND ROBUST HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTIONS. DRONES AND ELECTRIC VEHICLES PERFORM TRACKING, ADJUSTMENTS AND OBSTACLE RECOGNITION AND AVOIDANCE VIA ANALYZING DATA AT THE LEVEL OF THE VEHICLE. HOWEVER, THE CURRENT ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND AND MANAGE VARIOUS HIGH-DIMENSIONAL SENSING DATA IS OBSCURED BY SIGNIFICANT KNOWLEDGE AND DATA GAPS DUE TO THE HETEROGENEOUS EDGE DEVICE AND ENVIRONMENTS, HINDERING THE BUILDING OF PRECISE MODELS FOR EMERGING EDGE COMPUTING APPLICATIONS USING DATA ANALYTICS. ONE IMPORTANT TREND IN EDGE COMPUTING IS UTILIZING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) TO EXTRACT COMPLEX KNOWLEDGE FROM VARIOUS SENSOR MEASUREMENTS FOR PRECISE MODELING. HOWEVER, MOST EDGE DEVICES HAVE LIMITED COMPUTING AND MEMORY RESOURCES, MAKING IT CHALLENGING TO PERFORM SOPHISTICATED DATA ANALYTICS USING AI WHILE SATISFYING THE TIME REQUIREMENTS OF MOST APPLICATIONS. THEREFORE, A HEURISTIC DATA ANALYTIC FRAMEWORK IS NEEDED TO ENABLE EFFICIENT AND ROBUST EDGE EVENT PREDICTION USING MULTI-MODEL LEARNING ON RESOURCE-CONSTRAINED EDGE DEVICES. THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS DEVELOPING TRANSFORMATIVE MACHINE LEARNING AND DATA ANALYTICS TECHNOLOGIES FOR ENABLING AI-BASED APPLICATIONS ON RESOURCE-CONSTRAINED EDGE COMPUTING DEVICES (E.G., IOT DEVICES, AR/VR HEADSETS, AND DRONES). THE OUTCOME OF THIS PROJECT WILL ADVANCE DATA ANALYTICS AND MACHINE LEARNING RESEARCH OF DERIVING AND INTEGRATING VARIOUS HIGH-DIMENSIONAL SENSING DATA FROM DIVERSE DATA SOURCES AND BUILDING ROBUST PREDICTIVE MODELS FOR GENERIC EDGE COMPUTING APPLICATIONS. THIS PROJECT ADDRESSES TWO MAJOR PROBLEMS: 1) THE GAP BETWEEN THE DATA COMPLEXITY AND LIMITED COMPUTING RESOURCES ON EDGE DEVICES AND 2) THE GAP BETWEEN THE ROBUST PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENT AND THE MULTI-DIMENSIONAL DATA AND COMPLEX DATA MODELING FROM HETEROGENEOUS EDGE DEVICES AND ENVIRONMENTS. THE PROJECT DEVELOPS AN EFFICIENT AND ROBUST EDGE COMPUTING FRAMEWORK TO PROVIDE CORRECTNESS GUARANTEES ON HETEROGENEOUS EDGE COMPUTING HARDWARE ACROSS DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTS. IN PARTICULAR, DEEP NEURAL NETWORK ACCELERATION TECHNIQUES ARE DESIGNED TO ENABLE FINE-GRAINED DATA ANALYTICS ON RESOURCE-CONSTRAINED COMMERCIAL-OFF-THE-SHELF EDGE DEVICES. NOVEL MULTIVARIATE DATA ANALYTIC MODELS ARE DEVELOPED TO CHARACTERIZE THE UNIQUE FEATURES OF THE TARGET EVENT BASED ON HIGH-DIMENSIONAL SENSING DATA. SUCH MODELS ADVANCE THE USAGE OF DATA SCIENCE IN GENERIC EDGE SENSING TASKS THAT USUALLY SUFFER FROM LONG TRAINING TIMES, LOW PREDICTION ACCURACY, AND INEFFECTIVE PARAMETER SELECTION. ADDITIONALLY, THE PROJECT ADDRESSES THE CHALLENGES ARISING FROM THE HETEROGENEITY IN DEVICES AND ENVIRONMENTS BY DEVELOPING ENVIRONMENT-TRANSFERABLE FEATURES AND MODELS, WHICH ENABLE EASY DEPLOYMENT OF AI-ENABLED APPLICATIONS ACROSS DEVICES AND ENVIRONMENTS. THE PROJECT SEEKS TO INTEGRATE COMPUTER SCIENCE RESEARCH WITH GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULA AND PROMOTE FEMALE ENGINEERING STUDENT INVOLVEMENT. THE OUTCOMES WILL BE SHARED THROUGH CONFERENCES, JOURNALS, AND WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY. 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.

ZEBRAFISH MODEL OF ACUTE KIDNEY INJURY

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CYBERTRAINING: PILOT: COLLABORATIVE QUANTUM COMPUTING AND CYBERSECURITY TRAINING THROUGH CYBERINFRASTRUCTURES -THE INCREASING DEMAND FOR EXPERTISE IN QUANTUM COMPUTING AND CYBERSECURITY PRESENTS BOTH A NATIONAL CHALLENGE AND AN OPPORTUNITY. BY 2035, QUANTUM COMPUTING IS EXPECTED TO GENERATE NEARLY $700 BILLION IN VALUE, YET THE TALENT PIPELINE REMAINS LIMITED, WITH ONLY ONE QUALIFIED CANDIDATE FOR EVERY THREE JOB OPENINGS. MEANWHILE, THE NUMBER OF CYBERSECURITY JOBS ARE PROJECTED TO GROW BY 35% BETWEEN 2021 AND 2031. DESPITE THE URGENT WORKFORCE NEEDS IN BOTH DOMAINS, THERE IS A LACK OF INTEGRATED, EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES THAT FOSTER CROSS-DISCIPLINARY SKILLS. THIS PROJECT ADDRESSES THAT GAP BY CREATING CLOUD-BASED EDUCATIONAL MODULES THAT BLEND QUANTUM COMPUTING AND CYBERSECURITY THROUGH HANDS-ON, COLLABORATIVE LEARNING EXPERIENCES. THE PROJECT SUPPORTS NATIONAL PRIORITIES BY PREPARING A FUTURE-READY STEM WORKFORCE AND PROMOTING COLLABORATION ACROSS INSTITUTIONS OF DIFFERENT TYPES. THIS AWARD SUPPORTS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE-BASED PLATFORM FOR EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING IN QUANTUM COMPUTING AND CYBERSECURITY. THE PROJECT INCLUDES THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF NEW INTERDISCIPLINARY LEARNING MODULES, INTEGRATION OF THESE MODULES INTO EXISTING COURSES, AND DELIVERY OF THE FACULTY DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP AND THE STUDENT SUMMER CAMP. MODULES WILL INCLUDE TUTORIALS AND HANDS-ON LABS USING CLOUD PLATFORMS, MAKING THEM SCALABLE AND ADAPTABLE ACROSS DIFFERENT INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXTS. FACULTY AND STUDENTS AT THE NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA WILL COLLABORATE ON COURSE DEVELOPMENT, MODULE TESTING, AND IMPLEMENTATION. THROUGH FORMATIVE AND SUMMATIVE EVALUATION, THE PROJECT WILL IMPROVE TEACHING MATERIALS AND SUPPORT NATIONWIDE DISSEMINATION AND ADOPTION. THIS INITIATIVE WILL CONTRIBUTE TO CURRICULUM INNOVATION, FACULTY TRAINING, AND THE PREPARATION OF A SKILLED WORKFORCE EQUIPPED TO ADDRESS THE EMERGING CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN QUANTUM COMPUTING AND CYBERSECURITY. 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.

RUI: FIELD THEORIES AND HOLOGRAPHY -THIS RUI AWARD FUNDS THE RESEARCH ACTIVITIES OF PROFESSOR SOPHIA DOMOKOS AT THE NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. WHEN SWARMS OF TINY PARTICLES INTERACT VERY FORCEFULLY AND OFTEN, NEW PHENOMENA EMERGE: ELECTRON SEAS CONSPIRE TO LET CURRENTS FLOW FOREVER; AND ELEMENTARY PARTICLES CALLED QUARKS AND GLUONS CLUMP TOGETHER INTO THE PROTONS AND NEUTRONS AT THE CENTER OF EVERY ATOM. PREDICTING WHAT KIND OF STRUCTURE EMERGES IN SUCH STRONGLY INTERACTING SYSTEMS REMAINS A FUNDAMENTAL MYSTERY IN PHYSICS. ITS RESOLUTION WILL ADVANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF A HUGE ARRAY OF PHYSICAL SYSTEMS, FROM ATOMIC NUCLEI TO THE CORES OF NEUTRON STARS AND TO THE DENSE PLASMA PRESENT IN THE EARLIEST MOMENTS OF OUR UNIVERSE. IN HER RESEARCH, PROFESSOR DOMOKOS WILL USE A PHENOMENON WHICH EMERGES WITHIN STRING THEORY AND WHICH IS KNOWN AS HOLOGRAPHIC DUALITY TO CATEGORIZE AND CLASSIFY CLUMPS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES (LIKE PROTONS AND NEUTRONS) THAT EMERGE IN STRONGLY INTERACTING SYSTEMS. HER WORK WILL NOT ONLY HELP TO UNDERSTAND THESE OBJECTS BETTER, BUT IT WILL ALSO MAKE PREDICTIONS FOR NEW STRUCTURES WE HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE. RESEARCH IN THIS AREA ADVANCES THE NATIONAL INTEREST BY PUSHING THE FRONTIER OF OUR SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING OF STRONGLY INTERACTING SYSTEMS, AND BY DEVELOPING NEW MATHEMATICS TO DESCRIBE THEM. THIS PROJECT WILL ALSO YIELD SIGNIFICANT BROADER IMPACTS. PROFESSOR DOMOKOS WILL INVOLVE A DIVERSE GROUP OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN HER RESEARCH ACTIVITIES, PROVIDING KEY RESEARCH TRAINING FOR STUDENTS FROM GROUPS HISTORICALLY UNDERREPRESENTED IN STEM, AND HELPING TO LAUNCH THEIR SCIENTIFIC CAREERS. PROFESSOR DOMOKOS WILL ALSO GIVE UNDERGRADUATE AND GENERAL-AUDIENCE LECTURES TO FOSTER PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING OF CUTTING-EDGE PHYSICS RESEARCH, TO SPARK A FASCINATION WITH PHYSICS IN A NEW GENERATION OF STUDENTS, AND TO RECRUIT NEW STUDENTS TO STUDY PHYSICS AT THE UNDERGRADUATE LEVEL. MORE TECHNICALLY, THE PROPOSED WORK EXPANDS HOLOGRAPHIC DUALITY IN TWO IMPORTANT DIRECTIONS. THE FIRST LINE OF WORK ADDRESSES THE CRITICALLY IMPORTANT BUT CHALLENGING NON-PERTURBATIVE SECTOR OF THE DUALITY. USING A SUPERSYMMETRIC TOY MODEL WILL SHED LIGHT ON HOW NON-TRIVIAL CLASSICAL BACKGROUNDS ENHANCE THE SPECTRUM OF SOLITONIC OBJECTS. IT WILL ALSO LEAD TO NEW INSIGHTS INTO RECENTLY IDENTIFIED SYSTEMS OF EXTENDED BOGOMOLNY EQUATIONS FOR MONOPOLES. THE SECOND PROGRAM PUSHES THE BOUNDARIES OF HOLOGRAPHIC MODELS FOR HADRON PHYSICS, ENHANCING THE APPLICABILITY OF THE CORRESPONDENCE TO REAL-WORLD PROBLEMS, AND PROVIDING A SET OF MEANINGFUL UNDERGRADUATE PROJECTS. IT WILL ALSO GENERATE NOVEL TECHNIQUES FOR PUSHING HOLOGRAPHIC MODELS BEYOND COMMONLY-USED BUT SEVERELY LIMITING APPROXIMATIONS, AND WILL IDENTIFY NEW EFFECTS --- SUCH AS THE MIXING OF MESON AND GLUEBALL STATES --- THAT APPEAR BEYOND THIS LIMIT. 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.

ENHANCING THE ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING CURRICULUM BY INTEGRATING APPLICATIONS OF WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY

THE EFFECTS OF CUE PRECISION ON MEDICAL IMAGING INTERPRETATION - PROGRAM SUMMARY: IT IS UNDESIRABLE FOR RADIOLOGISTS TO SEARCH FOR ONLY ONE SPECIFIC THING AT A TIME, AS THEY MAY MISS UNEXPECTED FINDINGS. DESPITE THIS, THERE IS EVIDENCE THAT PRIOR KNOWLEDGE AND EXPECTATIONS (FROM CLINICAL HISTORY OR OTHER CUES) ALTER RADIOLOGISTS’ SEARCH PERFORMANCE AND DIAGNOSTIC ACCURACY. AS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TOOLS ARE ADDED TO THE RADIOLOGIC WORKFLOW, UNDERSTANDING THE EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT CUES ON RADIOLOGISTS WILL BE CRITICAL FOR OPTIMIZING THE WAY INFORMATION IS PRESENTED TO RADIOLOGISTS. CUES THAT PRECISELY DESCRIBE TARGETS (“FIND THE RED APPLE”) ARE KNOWN TO GUIDE SEARCH MORE EFFICIENTLY THAN IMPRECISE CUES (“FIND THE APPLE”). HOWEVER, THIS PRECISION EFFECT HAS ONLY BEEN EXPLORED IN CASES WHERE HUE DIFFERENTIATES TARGETS FROM DISTRACTOR OBJECTS, WHICH IS NOT THE CASE IN RADIOLOGY. AND LOCATION CUES (INDICATING WHERE THE TARGET IS) MIGHT INCREASE BOTH CORRECT RESPONSES AND FALSE ALARMS, THOUGH IT IS UNCLEAR WHAT PRECISELY DRIVES THOSE FALSE ALARMS. FILLING THESE GAPS IN KNOWLEDGE IS CRITICAL FOR OPTIMIZING CURRENT AND FUTURE SYSTEMS THAT PROVIDE INFORMATION TO RADIOLOGISTS AND OTHER MEDICAL IMAGING PROFESSIONALS. IN A NOVEL APPROACH, THIS PROJECT WILL QUANTIFY THE EFFECTS OF PRECISE VS IMPRECISE TEXT CUES AND PRECISE VS IMPRECISE CUES TO TARGET LOCATIONS IN RADIOLOGIC SEARCH TASKS WHILE RECORDING RADIOLOGISTS’ EYE MOVEMENTS. THE CENTRAL HYPOTHESIS IS THAT EXPERT RADIOLOGISTS WILL SEARCH MORE EFFECTIVELY FOR ABNORMALITIES AND WILL IDENTIFY NODULES MORE QUICKLY WHEN PROVIDED WITH MORE INFORMATION (PRECISE FEATURES AND/OR LOCATION) CUES. THE PROPOSED PROJECT WILL PRECISELY CHARACTERIZE THE PERFORMANCE AND GAZE BEHAVIOR OF EXPERT RADIOLOGISTS AS THEY VIEW CHEST X-RAYS ( ) AND 3D VOLUMETRIC CTS ( AIM 1 AIM 2 ). THE RESEARCH TEAM WILL ASSESS THE EFFECTS OF CUE PRECISION AND CUES INDICATING NODULE LOCATIONS ON ACCURACY IN IDENTIFYING ABNORMALITIES, TIME TAKEN TO LOOK AT ABNORMALITIES, AND CHANGES IN THE RADIOLOGISTS’ OVERALL STRATEGIES AND OTHER FACTORS RELEVANT TO DIAGNOSTIC ACCURACY. THE RESULTS PROMISE TO TRANSFORM CURRENT THINKING ABOUT MEDICAL IMAGE VIEWING, WHERE CURRENT MODELS TYPICALLY ASSUME THAT TARGETS ARE EITHER COMPLETELY UNKNOWN OR ARE KNOWN WITH EXACTING PRECISION. THE RESULTS WILL ALSO CLARIFY AND RESOLVE LONG-STANDING MIXED FINDINGS IN THE RADIOLOGIC SEARCH LITERATURE: VARIOUS STUDIES HAVE FOUND THAT PRIOR KNOWLEDGE (E.G., CLINICAL HISTORY OR CUES INDICATING WHAT ABNORMALITIES TO SEARCH FOR) EITHER IMPROVES, DECREASES, OR HAS NO EFFECT ON DIAGNOSTIC ACCURACY; MIGHT OR MIGHT NOT INFLUENCE LATER PARTS OF THE SEARCH TASK (SUCH AS TIME SPENT IDENTIFYING AN ABNORMALITY AFTER LOOKING AT IT); AND EITHER DOES OR DOES NOT INCREASE FALSE ALARMS. BY ASSESSING EYE MOVEMENT DYNAMICS, THE PROPOSED PROJECT WILL CLARIFY THE UNDERLYING MECHANISMS DRIVING THESE EFFECTS. IN ADDITION, THIS PROJECT WILL PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS TO ENGAGE IN BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH AND WILL GREATLY STRENGTHEN THE BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT AT NYIT, WHICH HAS RECEIVED LIMITED NIH SUPPORT TO DATE.

CUES FROM TOUCH TO AID POSTURE AND GAIT IN INDIVIDUALS WITH PARKINSON'S DISEASE

RUI: SOLITONS IN HOLOGRAPHY

ADAPTIVE AND RECONFIGURABLE MULTI-FUNCTIONAL DISTRIBUTED RADAR NETWORK

NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY CENTER FOR THE HUMANITIES AND CULTURAL AT NUPT, NANJING, CHINA

EAGER:TOWARDS ADAPTIVE AND ROBUST MULTIMODAL EMOTION RECOGNITION IN-THE-WILD

FEW WORKSHOP: FOOD, ENERGY, AND WATER NEXUS IN SUSTAINABLE CITIES

NETS: MEDIUM: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: EXPLOITING FINE-GRAINED WIFI SIGNALS FOR WELLBEING MONITORING

NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION FOR CARES ACT ALLOCATION INSTITUTIONAL PORTION

OFF-CAMPUS COMMUNITY SERVICE (OCCS)

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: SYSTEMATICS AND EVOLUTION OF FOSSIL AND LIVING DELPHINIDANS (DOLPHINS PORPOISES AND KIN)

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: PPOSS: PLANNING: HARDWARE-ACCELERATED TRUSTWORTHY DEEP NEURAL NETWORK

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: A NOVEL MULTIDISCIPLINARY, MULTI-CAMPUS UNDERGRADUATE MINOR TO ENHANCE STEM LEARNING IN ENERGY SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND POLICY

NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY-NANJING UNIVERSITY OF POST AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS FOR SUPPLEMENTARY ACC GRANT

NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY-NANJING UNIVERSITY OF POST AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS FOR SUPPLEMENTARY ACC GRANT

PURPOSE: TO SUPPORT A SERIES OF ARTS WORKSHOPS AND A TEMPORARY PUBLIC ART INSTALLATION IN EAST HARLEM NEW YORK.

CLEAN WATER MATTERS: CHALLENGES AND RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES WORKSHOP IN BEIJING, CHINA, APRIL 18, 2014

COMPUTING PROFESSIONALS CREATING INCLUSIVE STEM COMMUNITIES

RUI: ASYMPTOTIC AND NUMERICAL TECHNIQUES IN MATHEMATICAL MODELING OF MEMBRANE FILTRATION

URBAN INFRASTRUCTURES WORKSHOP: ANALYSIS AND MODELING FOR THEIR OPTIMAL MANAGEMENT AND OPERATION

PURPOSE: TO SUPPORT A MULTIDISCIPLINARY ART INSTALLATION, DOCUMENTARY, AND BOOK PUBLICATION.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: STABILITY AND INSTABILITY OF PERIODICALLY STATIONARY NONLINEAR WAVES WITH APPLICATIONS TO FIBER LASERS -SINCE THE INTRODUCTION OF THE SOLITON LASER IN THE 1990'S RESEARCHERS HAVE DEVELOPED SEVERAL GENERATIONS OF SHORT PULSE, HIGH ENERGY FIBER LASERS FOR A VARIETY OF APPLICATIONS. THESE LASERS ARE CONFIGURED TO PRODUCE PERIODICALLY STATIONARY PULSES BY PROPAGATING LIGHT MANY TIMES AROUND A LOOP. ALTHOUGH DIFFERENT PHYSICAL EFFECTS CHANGE THE SHAPE OF THE PULSE AS IT TRAVERSES THE LOOP, THE PULSE RETURNS TO THE SAME SHAPE ONCE EACH PERIOD (ROUND TRIP). A SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGE FOR THE MODELING OF THESE LASERS IS THAT FROM ONE GENERATION TO THE NEXT THERE HAS BEEN A DRAMATIC INCREASE IN THE AMOUNT BY WHICH THE PULSE BREATHES, NECESSITATING NOVEL MATHEMATICAL APPROACHES. THIS PROJECT WILL DEVELOP THEORETICAL AND COMPUTATIONAL METHODS TO DETERMINE PERIODICALLY STATIONARY PULSE SOLUTIONS OF NONLINEAR WAVE EQUATIONS MODELING LASER SYSTEMS AND TO ANALYZE THEIR STABILITY (ROBUSTNESS IN THE PRESENCE OF RANDOM NOISE AND OTHER SYSTEM PERTURBATIONS). THE PROJECT WILL PROVIDE COMPUTATIONAL TOOLS TO AID IN THE DESIGN OF HIGH ENERGY LASERS FOR MEDICAL APPLICATIONS, AND OF FREQUENCY COMBS FOR HIGHLY ACCURATE MEASUREMENTS OF TIME AND FREQUENCY, WITH APPLICATIONS TO GEO-LOCATION SYSTEMS, TIME AND FREQUENCY STANDARDS, THE CALIBRATION OF ASTRONOMICAL INSTRUMENTS, AND TRACE GAS SENSING. THE PROJECT WILL PROVIDE BROAD TRAINING IN APPLIED MATHEMATICS FOR DOCTORAL STUDENTS AND MENTORING FOR JUNIOR FACULTY. IN ADDITION, THE PROJECT WILL SUPPORT COMPLEMENTARY ACTIVITY FOCUSED ON PEDAGOGICAL INNOVATIONS. THE LASER MODELS TO BE STUDIED IN THIS PROJECT ARE BASED ON VARIANTS OF THE CUBIC-QUINTIC COMPLEX GINZBURG-LANDAU EQUATION. CLASSICALLY, THE SPECTRUM OF A STATIONARY NONLINEAR WAVE IS GIVEN BY THE ZERO SET OF THE EVANS FUNCTION OF THE LINEARIZED DIFFERENTIAL OPERATOR. THE STABILITY OF PERIODICALLY STATIONARY SOLUTIONS OF THE GINZBURG-LANDAU EQUATION AND OF MODELS OF FIBER LASERS WILL BE CHARACTERIZED IN TERMS OF THE SPECTRUM OF THE MONODROMY OPERATOR OF THE LINEARIZATION ABOUT THE PULSE. SINCE THE STABILITY PROBLEM FOR TIME-PERIODIC SOLUTIONS IS FORMULATED ON A CYLINDER, RATHER THAN ON THE REAL LINE, ANY GENERALIZATION OF THE EVANS FUNCTION WILL INVOLVE FREDHOLM DETERMINANTS OF OPERATORS ON INFINITE-DIMENSIONAL FUNCTION SPACES RATHER THAN CLASSICAL DETERMINANTS OF MATRICES. TO AVOID THE EXTREME STIFFNESS OF THE DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS USED TO COMPUTE THE EVANS FUNCTION IN THIS INFINITE DIMENSIONAL CONTEXT, THE POINT SPECTRUM OF THE MONODROMY OPERATOR WILL BE IDENTIFIED WITH THE ZERO SET OF AN INFINITE-DIMENSIONAL FREDHOLM DETERMINANT OF A BIRMAN-SCHWINGER OPERATOR ON AN INFINITE CYLINDER. NUMERICAL METHODS WILL BE DEVELOPED TO COMPUTE FREDHOLM DETERMINANTS OF SUCH BIRMAN-SCHWINGER OPERATORS. THESE METHODS WILL THEN BE EMPLOYED TO DETERMINE STABILITY REGIONS IN DESIGN PARAMETER SPACE FOR PERIODICALLY STATIONARY SOLUTIONS OF THE GINZBURG-LANDAU EQUATION AND OF MODELS OF EXPERIMENTAL FIBER LASER SYSTEMS. THE GENERIC INSTABILITY OF STATIONARY SOLUTIONS OF REACTION DIFFUSION EQUATIONS HAS RECENTLY BEEN ESTABLISHED BY APPLYING A RELATED TOPOLOGICAL INVARIANT CALLED THE MASLOV INDEX TO THE SPECTRAL THEORY OF SELF-ADJOINT OPERATORS. A NOVEL VERSION OF THE MASLOV INDEX WILL BE USED TO ESTABLISH GENERAL STABILITY RESULTS FOR PERIODICALLY STATIONARY SOLUTIONS OF THE GINZBURG-LANDAU EQUATION. 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.

A MEDIA STRATEGY PROJECT TO STRENGTHEN SUPPORT AMONG YOUNG CHINESE CITIZENS IN EAST CHINA FOR INTERLLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

SGER: DIETARY PALEOECOLOGY OF EARLY CENOZOIC UNGULATES OF NORTH AMERICA

WORKSHOP ON VIRTUAL REALITY, GAMING AND INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES IN SAN DIEGO, CA ON SEPTEMBER 10-13, 2014

PLANNING VISIT TO CHINA: THINK GREEN - ENERGY EDUCATION ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVES; NANJING CHINA

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: TAPHONOMY, PALEOECOLOGY, AND EVOLUTION OF MAMMALS AND SQUAMATES FROM EGG MOUNTAIN: AN EXCEPTIONAL VIEW OF A LATE CRETACEOUS

PURPOSE: TO SUPPORT AN INTERACTIVE EXHIBITION EXPLORING INCLUSIVE DESIGN FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES.

"A JOINT US-EUROPEAN WORKSHOP ON INFORMATICS FOR BIO-INSPIRED DESIGN: REVERSE ENGINEERING OF THE HUMAN BRAIN"

CONFERENCE AND SYMPOSIA GRANTS: ARO TRAVEL GRANT SUPPORT FOR ACM WISEC 2015 CONFERENCE

NSF TRAVEL GRANT SUPPORT FOR ASSOCIATION FOR COMPUTING MACHINERY (ACM) WISEC 2015 CONFERENCE

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: UNRAVELING THE DEEP HISTORY OF AVIAN NEUROLOGICAL COMPLEXITY: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE ORIGINS OF FLIGHT AND ORGANIZATION OF THE

NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BUILDING EFFICIENCY DEMONSTRATION PROJECT