Kenyon College

CARES ACT FUNDING FOR INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT RELATED TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC IMPACT.

CARES ACT FUNDING FOR STUDENT SUPPORT RELATED TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC RESPONSE

MULTIPLE LOW-AFFINITY ARYL HYDROCARBON RECEPTORS IN THE FROG XENOPUS LAEVIS

THE ROLE OF HIGH IMPACT PRACTICES FOR STEM PERSISTENCE AND CAREER SUCCESS

CAREER: GENETIC FACTORS GOVERNING AXON-GLIAL DEVELOPMENT IN ZEBRAFISH PERIPHERAL NERVE

RUI: GENETIC APPROACHES TO UNCOVER MECHANISMS GOVERNING SEASONAL REPRODUCTIVE DEVELOPMENT IN PHYSCOMITRIUM PATENS -SEASONAL INFORMATION, INCLUDING TEMPERATURE AND DAYLENGTH, IS USED BY MANY PLANT AND ANIMAL SPECIES TO COORDINATE THEIR REPRODUCTION WITH THE ENVIRONMENT, SO THAT THEIR OFFSPRING ARE PRODUCED AT AN APPROPRIATE TIME OF YEAR. WHILE MANY FLOWERING PLANTS USE A VERY SIMILAR GENETIC PROCESS TO SENSE AND RESPOND TO SEASONAL CUES, WE HAVE FOUND THAT THIS SAME GENETIC PROCESS IS NOT USED IN THE DISTANTLY RELATED MOSS PHYSCOMITRIUM PATENS. OUR GOAL IS TO DETERMINE HOW MOSSES SENSE AND RESPOND TO SEASONAL CUES. THIS INFORMATION WILL INFORM US ABOUT HOW GENETIC REGULATION CAN EVOLVE IN DISTINCT ORGANISMAL LINEAGES, AND MAY PROVIDE NEW TOOLS AND APPROACHES FOR ENGINEERING AND ALTERING REPRODUCTION IN BOTH FLOWERING AND NON-FLOWERING PLANTS. UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH STUDENTS WILL GAIN VALUABLE EXPERTISE IN RESEARCH THROUGH INVOLVEMENT IN ALL ASPECTS OF THE PROJECT. THE PROJECT WILL ALSO PROVIDE A POSTDOCTORAL SCIENTIST WITH TRAINING AND MENTORSHIP IN BOTH TEACHING AND RESEARCH. FINALLY, ASPECTS OF THE PROJECT WILL BE INCORPORATED INTO GENETICS AND GENOMICS COURSES TAUGHT BY THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR. WE SEEK TO UNDERSTAND THE MOLECULAR MECHANISMS GOVERNING SEASONAL REPRODUCTION IN THE MOSS PHYSCOMITRIUM PATENS. OUR PREVIOUS WORK SUGGESTS THAT, WHILE UPSTREAM LIGHT SENSORY PATHWAYS MAY BE FUNCTIONALLY CONSERVED ACROSS LAND PLANTS, A DISTINCT AND NOVEL DOWNSTREAM PATHWAY REGULATES REPRODUCTIVE DEVELOPMENT IN RESPONSE TO SEASONAL CUES IN P. PATENS, AND PERHAPS IN OTHER BRYOPHYTES. USING A COMBINATION OF FORWARD AND REVERSE GENETICS, COUPLED WITH GENOMIC AND TRANSCRIPTOMIC APPROACHES, WE PROPOSE TO ISOLATE KEY GENES INVOLVED IN THIS PROCESS AND BUILD A MOLECULAR FRAMEWORK FOR THIS NOVEL DOWNSTREAM PATHWAY. SPECIFICALLY, WE WILL USE AN UNBIASED MUTAGENESIS SCREEN TO IDENTIFY NECESSARY COMPONENTS OF THIS SEASONAL REGULATORY AND EVALUATE THEIR SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL REGULATION. IN ADDITION, WE WILL USE CRISPR MUTAGENESIS TO TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT ONE OR MORE PHOTOPERIOD-DEPENDENT GENES SERVE AS INDUCERS OF REPRODUCTIVE DEVELOPMENT. FINALLY, WE WILL USE QUANTITATIVE TRAIT GENETICS TO DISCOVER GENES THAT UNDERLIE NATURAL VARIATION IN REPRODUCTIVE TIMING OBSERVED ACROSS P. PATENS STRAINS FROM DIFFERENT GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS. THE PROJECT WILL PROVIDE SIGNIFICANT RESEARCH TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS INCLUDING PRESENTATION AT REGIONAL AND NATIONAL CONFERENCES, AND WILL PROVIDE AN OUTSTANDING TRAINING OPPORTUNITY FOR A POSTDOCTORAL SCIENTIST INTERESTED IN UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION. 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.

CAREER: THE EVOLUTIONARY CAUSES AND FUNCTIONAL CONSEQUENCES OF SEXUAL DIMORPHISM IN FLIGHT MUSCLE SIZE IN BIRDS -THIS PROJECT AIMS TO UNDERSTAND WHY MALES AND FEMALES OF MANY (BUT NOT ALL) TYPES OF BIRDS DIFFER IN THE SIZE OF THEIR FLIGHT MUSCLES, AND HOW THESE DIFFERENCES AFFECT THEIR FLIGHT. FLIGHT IN BIRDS HAS BEEN AND CONTINUES TO BE AN INSPIRATION FOR ENGINEERS DESIGNING BETTER FLYING MACHINES, BUT MUCH IS STILL UNKNOWN ABOUT HOW SMALL DIFFERENCES IN BIRD ANATOMY, LIKE THOSE WITHIN A SPECIES, INFLUENCE FLIGHT ABILITY. THIS PROJECT ALSO HAS A STRONG EDUCATIONAL COMPONENT: UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS WILL BE INVOLVED IN ALL ASPECTS OF THE RESEARCH, LEARNING TO CREATE HYPOTHESES, DESIGN STUDIES, COLLECT AND ANALYZE DATA, AND WRITE UP RESULTS. STUDENTS IN AN UNDERGRADUATE BIOLOGY COURSE WILL CREATE PLAY-BASED VERTEBRATE ANATOMY TEACHING MATERIALS FOR USE IN A LOCAL CHILDREN?S SCIENCE CENTER AND IN HEAD START PRESCHOOL CLASSROOMS. IN DOING SO, THEY WILL GAIN VALUABLE SKILLS IN SCIENCE COMMUNICATION WHILE IMPROVING THEIR UNDERSTANDING OF ANATOMY. UNDERSERVED CHILDREN FROM A RURAL COMMUNITY WILL BENEFIT FROM NEW ENGAGING EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS DESIGNED FOR THEM. THE AIMS OF THIS PROJECT ARE TO UNDERSTAND WHY MANY SPECIES OF BIRDS EXHIBIT SEXUAL DIMORPHISM IN FLIGHT MUSCLE SIZE, BUT MANY OTHERS DO NOT, AND TO UNDERSTAND HOW THIS DIMORPHISM IN FLIGHT MUSCLE SIZE IMPACTS FLIGHT PERFORMANCE IN WILD BIRDS. A TEAM OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS, A POSTDOC, AND THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR WILL COMPILE A DATASET OF SKELETAL MEASUREMENTS OF AT LEAST FIVE MALE AND FIVE FEMALE SPECIMENS EACH FOR AT LEAST 1,000 SPECIES, WITH A COMPLEMENTARY DATASET ON SPECIES LIFE HISTORY AND ECOLOGICAL TRAITS, TO TEST HYPOTHESES ABOUT WHICH ECOLOGICAL TRAITS BEST PREDICT SEXUAL DIMORPHISM IN FLIGHT MUSCLE SIZE. TO UNDERSTAND HOW SEXUAL DIMORPHISM IN FLIGHT MUSCLE SIZE AFFECTS FLIGHT PERFORMANCE, HIGH-SPEED VIDEO CAMERAS WILL BE USED TO MEASURE VELOCITY AND ACCELERATION OF BIRDS ENGAGING IN ESCAPE-STYLE TAKEOFFS UNDER MULTIPLE CONDITIONS: NATURAL, VERTICAL, THROUGH AN OBSTACLE COURSE, AND IN EACH OF THESE SETTINGS WHILE CARRYING ADDITIONAL WEIGHT. THESE EXPERIMENTS WILL BE CONDUCTED IN THREE DIFFERENT SPECIES: ONE IN WHICH MALES HAVE LARGER FLIGHT MUSCLES THAN FEMALES, ONE IN WHICH FEMALES HAVE LARGER FLIGHT MUSCLES, AND ONE THAT DOES NOT EXHIBIT SEXUAL DIMORPHISM IN FLIGHT MUSCLE SIZE. THE PROJECT WILL GREATLY INCREASE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE EXTENT AND CONSEQUENCES OF INTRASPECIFIC VARIATION, OFFER INSIGHTS TO ENGINEERS REGARDING THE DESIGN OF SMALL AERIAL VEHICLES, AND PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS IN QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH TO PREPARE THEM FOR STEM CAREERS. 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.

BUILDING A CULTURE OF SUCCESS IN THE SCIENCES

RUI: ACID SIGNALS AND BACTERIAL DRUG EFFLUX SYSTEMS

RUI: BENZOATE AND PH STRESS IN EXPERIMENTAL EVOLUTION OF ESCHERICHIA COLI

CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

RUI: ACID AND BASE STRESS IN ESCHERICHIA COLI

MECHANISMS OF PERIPHERAL NERVE INJURY AND RECOVERY IN A ZEBRAFISH DEMYELINATION MODEL - PROJECT SUMMARY IN THE PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM, AXONS INNERVATE DISTANT TARGETS IN AN EXQUISITELY PATTERNED NETWORK FOR SENSATION AND MOTOR CONTROL. SCHWANN CELLS, THE MYELINATING GLIA OF THE VERTEBRATE PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM, PROVIDE ESSENTIAL TROPHIC SUPPORT AND ENWRAP AXONS TO SUPPORT RAPID CONDUCTION OF ACTION POTENTIALS THROUGHOUT THE BODY. IN DEMYELINATING NEUROPATHIES SUCH AS GUILLAIN-BARRÉ SYNDROME, PERIPHERAL MYELIN IS BROKEN DOWN AND CLEARED BY MECHANISMS THAT ARE NOT FULLY CHARACTERIZED, WITH IMPAIRED REMYELINATION BY INJURED SCHWANN CELLS. DEVELOPMENT OF THERAPIES TO PREVENT DEMYELINATION AND PROMOTE REMYELINATION IS HINDERED BY AN INCOMPLETE UNDERSTANDING OF THESE PROCESSES, IN PART BECAUSE THERE ARE FEW MODELS THAT ASSESS GLIAL- SPECIFIC INJURY AND DEMYELINATION. THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO CHARACTERIZE CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR MECHANISMS OF SCHWANN CELL DEMYELINATION AND IDENTIFY FACTORS THAT PROMOTE PERIPHERAL REMYELINATION. TO ACCOMPLISH THIS GOAL, WE HAVE DEVELOPED A NOVEL LARVAL ZEBRAFISH MODEL IN WHICH WE CAN CHEMICALLY INDUCE SCHWANN CELL DEMYELINATION TO VISUALIZE NERVE DAMAGE AND REPAIR OVER TIME, IN LIVING ORGANISMS. IN THE FIRST AIM, WE WILL TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT SCHWANN CELL DEMYELINATION RESULTS IN SECONDARY AXON DAMAGE, RECRUITMENT OF MACROPHAGES, AND EXPRESSION OF THE TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR C-JUN IN INJURED SCHWANN CELLS. IN THE SECOND AIM, WE WILL TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT SCHWANN CELL REMYELINATION IS DEPENDENT UPON BOTH THE TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR MITF AND AXON HEALTH. WE WILL ALSO TEST SMALL MOLECULES FOR ENHANCEMENT OF REMYELINATING POTENTIAL, WHICH CAN SERVE AS CANDIDATE THERAPEUTICS FOR DEMYELINATING DISORDERS IN HUMANS. ALTOGETHER, OUR STUDY EMPLOYS A NOVEL AND HIGHLY TUNABLE SYSTEM TO MANIPULATE SCHWANN CELL- SPECIFIC DAMAGE AND REPAIR IN PERIPHERAL NERVES. OUR SYSTEM PERMITS VISUALIZATION OF MYELIN SHEATH BREAKDOWN AND REFORMATION AT HIGH RESOLUTION, IN REAL TIME, USING NON-INVASIVE FLUORESCENT MICROSCOPY. ULTIMATELY, THIS STUDY WILL DEFINE KEY FACTORS DRIVING MYELIN DYNAMICS IN DISEASE STATES, WHICH IMPROVES OUR UNDERSTANDING OF BOTH SCHWANN CELL BIOLOGY AND TREATMENTS FOR DEMYELINATING DISORDERS.

RUI: ACID AND BASE STRESS IN ESCHERICHIA COLI

RUI: SEASONAL REGULATION OF REPRODUCTION IN PHYSCOMITRELLA PATENS

RUI: CAS: BESPOKE POLYMER DEGRADATION VIA TOPOLOGY AND SIDECHAIN VARIATION -WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE MACROMOLECULAR, SUPRAMOLECULAR AND NANOCHEMISTRY (MSN) PROGRAM IN THE DIVISION OF CHEMISTRY, PROFESSOR YUTAN GETZLER OF KENYON COLLEGE WILL EXPLORE HOW POLYMER TOPOLOGY IMPACTS THE SPEED AND PATHWAYS OF POLYMER DEGRADATION. POLYMERS ARE UBIQUITOUS, FROM THE POLYPEPTIDES IN OUR MUSCLES TO THE POLYOLEFINS OF OUR PACKAGES. IT IS VITAL THAT WE UNDERSTAND HOW THE STRUCTURES OF THESE CHEMICALS AT THE MOLECULAR SCALE IMPACT THEIR PROPERTIES AT THE MACROSCALE. DEPENDING ON HOW CONDITIONS SUCH AS TEMPERATURE, CATALYST REQUIREMENTS, AND POLYMER COMPOSITION IMPACT DEPOLYMERIZATION, THIS WORK MAY HAVE IMPLICATIONS IN FIELDS RANGING FROM TARGETED DRUG DELIVERY TO BIODEGRADABLE AGRICULTURAL FILMS. FURTHERMORE, THE DEPOLYMERIZATION PRODUCTS HAVE THE POTENTIAL FOR USE AS MONOMERS IN A CIRCULAR POLYMER ECONOMY WHEN PAIRED WITH EXISTING CATALYTIC SYSTEMS. UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCHERS WILL GAIN CRITICAL PREPARATION AS EARLY CAREER SCIENTISTS WHILE PURSUING THESE GOALS IN A CLOSELY MENTORED ENVIRONMENT AND WILL PARTICIPATE IN ONGOING QUARTERLY MEETINGS WITH GRADUATE RESEARCH GROUPS. THIS RESEARCH PROJECT WILL PROVIDE AN EXCEPTIONAL TRAINING OPPORTUNITY FOR AN EARLY CAREER SCIENTIST WHO DESIRES GREATER RESEARCH EXPERIENCE PRIOR TO PURSUING A DOCTORATE DEGREE. MENTORSHIP OF THIS POST-BACCALAUREATE TRAINEE WILL FOCUS ON THE SKILLS CRITICAL TO SUCCESS IN GRADUATE SCHOOL ? EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN, DATA ANALYSIS, PROJECT MANAGEMENT, NEAR-PEER MENTORING, PRESENTATION, AND WRITING. THERE ARE INHERENT CHALLENGES IN SYNTHESIZING CYCLIC POLYMER TOPOLOGIES AND SO THEY REMAIN RELATIVELY UNCOMMON. THE GETZLER GROUP DESIGNED A CATALYST TO HELP CONSTRUCT CYCLIC POLYESTERS, A SHAPE THAT IS OTHERWISE DIFFICULT TO ACCESS. DUE TO THE LACK OF CHAIN ENDS, THESE MACROCYCLES ARE PROTECTED FROM A COMMON, UNCONTROLLED, DEGRADATION PATHWAY. BY CAREFULLY MODIFYING THE MONOMERS USED TO FORM THE MACROCYCLES, OTHER UNIQUE DEGRADATION PATHWAYS MAY BE ENABLED AND CONTROLLED. IN THIS RESEARCH PROJECT, THE GETZLER GROUP WILL SYNTHESIZE AND CHARACTERIZE A RANGE OF CYCLIC HOMOPOLYMERS AND COPOLYMERS WITH DIFFERENT SIDE-CHAIN STRUCTURES. THE IMPACT OF TOPOLOGY AND SIDE CHAINS ON THE POLYMER STABILITY AND DEPOLYMERIZATION MECHANISM WILL BE EXAMINED. AN IMPORTANT GOAL OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO UNDERSTAND THE FACTORS THAT CONTROL DEPOLYMERIZATION OF CYCLIC POLYESTERS. IF SUCCESSFUL, THE FUNDAMENTAL KNOWLEDGE GLEANED FROM THESE STUDIES WILL INFORM THE RATIONAL DESIGN OF MATERIALS WITH CUSTOMIZABLE DEGRADATION PROFILES. 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: ACID AND BASE STRESS IN ESCHERICHIA COLI

CAREER: AN INTEGRATED RESEARCH AND EDUCATION PROGRAM IN GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: GENOME STRUCTURE AND ADAPTIVE EVOLUTION IN PEATMOSSES (SPHAGNUM): ECOSYSTEM ENGINEERS

NOVEL ELECTROGENIC CATION-CHLORIDE COTRANSPORTERS IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER

MRI: ACQUISITION OF A VARIABLE-TEMPERATURE, WIDE-SPECTRAL-RANGE FOURIER-TRANSFORM INFRARED SPECTROMETER FOR ENHANCING RESEARCH AND TEACHING IN A LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE SETTING

RUI COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: NICHE EVOLUTION, ECOLOGICAL LIMITS, AND THE MACROECOLOGY OF LAND PLANT BIODIVERSITY

PH REGULATION IN BACILLUS SUBTILIS (AREA R15)

COLLABORATIVE PROPOSAL: LINKING PROCESS TO PATTERN THROUGH AN EXPERIMENTAL NETWORK APPROACH TO IDENTIFY THE BEHAVIORAL MECHANISMS OF REPRODUCTIVE ISOLATION

UBM GROUP - INVESTIGATING THE MATHEMATICAL BIOLOGY OF METABOLIC SCALING USING MANDUCA INSTARS (INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENCE TRAINING AND RESEARCH)

CAREER: THE EFFECT OF STATE-MIXING INTERACTIONS ON THE RYDBERG EXCITATION BLOCKADE

RUI: OPTICAL TWEEZER ARRAY FOR TRIPARTITE RYDBERG ENTANGLEMENT -THERE HAS BEEN AN EXPLOSION OF RECENT PROGRESS IN NEUTRAL ATOM QUANTUM COMPUTERS. IN THESE DEVICES, SINGLE UNITS OF INFORMATION, OR QUBITS, ARE ENCODED IN THE STATES OF INDIVIDUAL ATOMS. BECAUSE THE ATOMS HAVE NO NET CHARGE, ONE CAN PUT MANY IN CLOSE PROXIMITY WITHOUT DISTURBING ONE ANOTHER. HOWEVER, TO PERFORM A COMPUTATION ONE NEEDS TO MAKE THESE NEUTRAL ATOMS INTERACT. THIS IS DONE BY EXCITING AN ELECTRON IN THE ATOM TO A HIGH ENERGY, OR RYDBERG, STATE. THE STRONG INTERACTIONS BETWEEN PAIRS OF RYDBERG ATOMS ARE THE KEY TO MOST OF TODAY?S NEUTRAL ATOM QUANTUM COMPUTERS. HOWEVER, NEW ADVANCES MAY REQUIRE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THREE OR MORE RYDBERG ATOMS. THE PI AND COWORKERS WILL EXPLORE WAYS TO MAKE THREE RYDBERG ATOMS INTERACT COHERENTLY, OR REVERSIBLY. THEY WILL DO THIS IN TWO WAYS. FIRST, BY MAKING FAST CHANGES TO THE STATES OF RYDBERG ATOMS USING MICROWAVE RADIATION. SECOND, BY CREATING AN ARRAY OF ?TWEEZERS? TO TRAP THREE SINGLE ATOMS AND REMOVE THE CONFOUNDING EFFECTS OF INTERACTIONS WITH UNWANTED NEIGHBORS. THIS WORK MAY LEAD TO NEW ADVANCES IN NEUTRAL ATOM QUANTUM COMPUTERS. IT WILL ALSO CONTRIBUTE TO OUR NATION?S QUANTUM WORKFORCE, BY PROVIDING DEEP AND MEANINGFUL RESEARCH EXPERIENCES FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS. NEUTRAL ATOM QUANTUM COMPUTERS HAVE ADVANCED RAPIDLY, OWING TO COHERENT CONTROL OF SINGLE ATOMS IN OPTICAL TWEEZER ARRAYS. TO GENERATE ENTANGLEMENT AND PERFORM QUANTUM GATES, ONE EXPLOITS PAIRWISE INTERACTIONS AMONG HIGHLY-EXCITED, OR RYDBERG, STATES. HOWEVER, NEW APPLICATIONS MAY REQUIRE MULTI-BODY INTERACTIONS. BY CAREFULLY CHOOSING THE LASER PARAMETERS WHEN EXCITING ATOMS TO A TARGET RYDBERG STATE NEAR AN INTERACTION, OR F?RSTER, RESONANCE ONE MAY EXCITE ENTANGLED STATES OF THREE RYDBERG ATOMS. IN PREVIOUS WORK, THE PI AND COWORKERS DEMONSTRATED COHERENT CONTROL OF THESE THREE-ATOM ENTANGLED STATES IN A BULK GAS. THE COHERENCE TIMES WERE OF ORDER HUNDREDS OF NANOSECONDS. THE PI AND COLLABORATORS WILL DEVELOP MORE SOPHISTICATED METHODS FOR CONTROL AND EXTEND THE COHERENCE TIME. FIRST, THEY WILL PERFORM COHERENT MANIPULATIONS BY DRIVING HIGH-RABI-FREQUENCY MICROWAVE TRANSITIONS IN THE RYDBERG MANIFOLD. THIS WILL ALLOW PULSE SEQUENCES TAILORED TO COHERENTLY CANCEL THE EFFECT OF DIPOLE-DIPOLE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN A THREE-ATOM STATE AND A BACKGROUND OF RYDBERG ATOMS. SECOND, THEY WILL DEVELOP A THREE-TRAP OPTICAL TWEEZER ARRAY. THIS WILL ALLOW THEM TO ISOLATE THREE SINGLE ATOMS, AND STUDY IN DETAIL THE WAYS THEY INTERACT. SUCH A SYSTEM WILL BE THE FIRST OF ITS KIND AT A LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE. THE TRAINING STUDENTS RECEIVE WILL CONTRIBUTE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF A STRONG NATIONAL QUANTUM WORKFORCE. 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.

MRI: ACQUISITION OF FACS CELL SORTER FOR RESEARCH ON ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICANT RECEPTORS

RUI: SUPPORTING LIGO CALIBRATION, DETECTOR CHARACTERIZATION, AND DATA ANALYSIS IN O4 -THE FOURTH OBSERVING RUN (O4) FOR GROUND-BASED GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE DETECTORS LIGO, VIRGO, AND KAGRA IS SCHEDULED TO BEGIN IN THE SPRING OF 2023. O4 PROMISES TO BRING THE LARGEST NETWORK OF GROUND-BASED GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE DETECTORS AND THE BEST DETECTOR SENSITIVITY SEEN TO DATE. THIS AWARD SUPPORTS THE KENYON COLLEGE LIGO SCIENTIFIC COLLABORATION (LSC) GROUP, CONSISTING OF PI L. WADE AND CO-PI M. WADE, AND BETWEEN FOUR AND SIX UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH STUDENTS, IN THEIR RESEARCH PURSUITS IN THE FIELD OF GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE PHYSICS. THE KENYON COLLEGE LSC GROUP WILL CONTRIBUTE TO THE OPERATION OF THE LIGO CALIBRATION PIPELINE AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A NOVEL LIGO CALIBRATION MONITOR, THE CONSTRUCTION OF NEW MACHINE LEARNING ALGORITHMS FOR PREDICTING THE PRESENCE OF NOISE ARTIFACTS IN GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE STRAIN DATA USING INFORMATION FROM DETECTOR AUXILIARY CHANNELS, AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF MORE ROBUST AND SOPHISTICATED WAYS OF MEASURING THE NEUTRON-STAR EQUATION OF STATE. THIS AWARD ALSO SUPPORTS TWO ESTABLISHED, IMPACTFUL ASTRONOMY AND PHYSICS RESEARCH GROUPS THAT ENGAGE A DIVERSE POPULATION OF HIGH SCHOOL AND UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS: THE KENYON COLLEGE RADIO AND OPTICAL ASTRONOMY RESEARCH (ROAR) GROUP AND THE MOUNT VERNON HIGH SCHOOL (MVHS) ASTRONOMY CLUB. ROAR IS A NO-BARRIER TO ENTRY RESEARCH GROUP THAT TARGETS RECRUITMENT AT FIRST- AND SECOND-YEAR POTENTIAL PHYSICS MAJORS AT KENYON COLLEGE. STUDENTS IN ROAR ENGAGE IN DISCUSSIONS ABOUT CURRENT ASTRONOMY AND GRAVITATIONAL PHYSICS RESEARCH TOPICS, DO INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATIONS INTO TOPICS OF INTEREST, ENGAGE IN HANDS-ON ASTRONOMY AND PHYSICS RELATED ACTIVITIES, AND CONTRIBUTE TO OUTREACH EFFORTS IN PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY. THE MVHS ASTRONOMY CLUB IS RUN OUT OF THE LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL NEAR KENYON COLLEGE AND REGULARLY ENGAGES 10-20 HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES AND RESEARCH TOPICS IN ASTRONOMY AND GRAVITATIONAL PHYSICS. THIS AWARD HAS THREE MAIN RESEARCH FOCUSSES: CALIBRATION, DATA QUALITY, AND NEUTRON-STAR EQUATION OF STATE (EOS) PARAMETER ESTIMATION. THIS AWARD WILL CONTRIBUTE TO THE OPERATION OF THE LIGO CALIBRATION PIPELINE USED TO PRODUCE THE FINAL CALIBRATED STRAIN DATA, WHICH IS AN EFFORT LEAD BY CO-PI M. WADE, DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A MONITORING TOOL FOR THE LOW-LATENCY CALIBRATED DATA STREAM, AND EXPLORATION OF METHODS FOR PRODUCING A LOW-LATENCY CALIBRATION SYSTEMATIC ERROR ESTIMATE. THE SECOND FOCUS AREA IN THIS AWARD IS RELATED TO INFERRING THE NEUTRON STAR EOS FROM BINARY NEUTRON STAR GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE EVENTS. PI L. WADE PROPOSES TO IMPROVE THE FLEXIBILITY OF THE PARAMETERIZED MODELS USED TO MEASURE THE NEUTRON STAR EOS, DEVELOP INFERENCE SOFTWARE TO MARGINALIZE OVER PARAMETERS MEASURED IN OTHER CONTEXTS, AND BUILD SOFTWARE TO ALLOW THE DATA TO INFORM THE NUMBER OF PARAMETERS TO USE IN THE EOS MODELS. ADDITIONALLY, PI L. WADE WILL CONTRIBUTE TO EOS INFERENCE EFFORTS ON ANY BINARY NEUTRON STAR SIGNALS FOUND IN O4. THE FINAL SET OF RESEARCH ACTIVITIES INVOLVE EXPLORING IMPROVEMENTS TO THE LOW-LATENCY DATA QUALITY IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM KNOWN AS IDQ. IDQ USES MACHINE LEARNING ALGORITHMS (MLAS) TO PREDICT THE PRESENCE OF LOUD TRANSIENT NOISE EVENTS, KNOWN AS GLITCHES, IN THE STRAIN DATA USING ONLY AUXILIARY INFORMATION. PI L. WADE AND CO-PI M. WADE PROPOSE TO BUILD HIERARCHICAL MLAS THAT WILL ACCOUNT FOR THE VARIABILITY IN DIFFERENT AUXILIARY SUBSYSTEMS AND THE VARIABILITY IN GLITCH MORPHOLOGIES, AIMING TO IMPROVE THE EFFICIENCY WITH WHICH GLITCHES CAN BE IDENTIFIED IN LOW-LATENCY DATA, THEREBY IMPROVING THE DATA QUALITY INFORMATION AVAILABLE TO LOW-LATENCY ASTROPHYSICAL ANALYSES. THE FINAL RESEARCH FOCUS AREA WILL BE IN SEARCHING FOR A NEWLY THEORIZED SIGNAL KNOWN AS A GRAVITATIONAL GLINT WHICH IS PRODUCED BY PERTURBERS ALONG THE LINE-OF-SIGHT FROM A COMPACT BINARY EVENT TO AN OBSERVER. IF NO SUCH SIGNALS ARE FOUND IN ARCHIVAL LIGO/VIRGO DATA THEN UPPER BOUNDS COULD BE SET ON THE DENSITY OF PERTURBERS IN THE UNIVERSE. 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.

RUI: IMPROVING THE LIGO DATA ANALYSIS PIPELINE FROM CALIBRATION TO PARAMETER ESTIMATION WITH STREAMING FRAMEWORKS, AI TOOLS, AND SOPHISTICATED INFERENCE METHODS -TEN YEARS AGO, THE FIRST DIRECT DETECTION OF GRAVITATIONAL WAVES FROM TWO COLLIDING BLACK HOLES OPENED AN ENTIRELY NEW WAY OF OBSERVING THE UNIVERSE. SINCE THEN, NSF'S LASER INTERFEROMETER GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE OBSERVATORY (LIGO) AND ITS INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS HAVE DETECTED HUNDREDS OF COLLISIONS OF BLACK HOLES AND NEUTRON STARS, REVEALING NEW POPULATIONS OF BLACK HOLES AND PROVIDING UNPRECEDENTED VIEWS INTO THE INTERIORS OF NEUTRON STARS, THE DENSEST KNOWN OBJECTS IN THE UNIVERSE. THE NEXT OBSERVING RUN OF THESE DETECTORS PROMISES THE BEST SENSITIVITY TO DATE AND, WITH IT, DISCOVERIES. THIS AWARD SUPPORTS RESEARCH AT KENYON COLLEGE THAT STRENGTHENS NEARLY EVERY STAGE OF THE PROCESS BY WHICH RAW DETECTOR DATA ARE TURNED INTO SCIENTIFIC RESULTS: CONVERTING DETECTOR OUTPUT INTO ACCURATELY CALIBRATED DATA, DISTINGUISHING TRUE ASTROPHYSICAL SIGNALS FROM INSTRUMENTAL NOISE, AND EXTRACTING THE PROPERTIES OF ULTRA-DENSE NUCLEAR MATTER FROM DETECTED SIGNALS. THIS WORK ADVANCES THE NATIONAL INTEREST BY PROMOTING THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE, MAINTAINING UNITED STATES LEADERSHIP IN GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE ASTROPHYSICS, AND DEVELOPING A HIGHLY SKILLED STEM WORKFORCE. THE AWARD FUNDS RESEARCH EXPERIENCES FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT KENYON COLLEGE, WHO JOIN AN INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED SCIENTIFIC COLLABORATION AND CONTRIBUTE DIRECTLY TO ITS SCIENCE. IT ALSO SUPPORTS THE RADIO AND OPTICAL ASTRONOMY RESEARCH (ROAR) GROUP, WHICH ENGAGES FIRST- AND SECOND-YEAR UNDERGRADUATES IN ASTROPHYSICS WITH AN EYE TOWARD RETENTION IN THE PHYSICS MAJOR, AND THE MOUNT VERNON HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE CLUB, WHICH BRINGS HANDS-ON PHYSICS, ASTRONOMY, AND CHEMISTRY ACTIVITIES TO STUDENTS IN RURAL CENTRAL OHIO. THIS AWARD SUPPORTS RESEARCH IN THREE PRIMARY RESEARCH AREAS SPANNING THE GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE DATA ANALYSIS PIPELINE. THE FIRST AREA IS CALIBRATION OF THE LIGO DETECTORS, INCLUDING OPERATION OF THE LOW-LATENCY CALIBRATION PIPELINE, INTEGRATION OF ALERTING AND ADDITIONAL METRICS INTO THE REAL-TIME CALIBRATION MONITORING SYSTEM, DEVELOPMENT OF A MACHINE-LEARNING METHOD THAT ESTIMATES BROADBAND CALIBRATION SYSTEMATIC ERROR FROM NARROW-BAND PHOTON CALIBRATOR MEASUREMENTS, AND APPLICATION OF REAL-TIME CORRECTIONS TO COMPENSATE FOR MEASURED SYSTEMATIC ERROR IN THE LOW-LATENCY STRAIN DATA. THE SECOND AREA INVOLVES IMPROVEMENTS TO THE LOW-LATENCY DATA QUALITY IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM KNOWN AS IDQ, WHICH USES MACHINE LEARNING ALGORITHMS TO PREDICT THE PRESENCE OF TRANSIENT NOISE EVENTS, OR GLITCHES, IN THE STRAIN DATA USING ONLY AUXILIARY CHANNEL INFORMATION. THE GROUP WILL DEVELOP A TWO-STAGE ENSEMBLE NEURAL NETWORK TRAINED ON SPECIFIC GLITCH MORPHOLOGIES AND EVALUATE ITS IMPACT ON THE SENSITIVITY OF MODELED SEARCHES FOR COMPACT BINARY SYSTEMS; IN PARTICULAR, BLIP GLITCHES POSE A SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGE FOR INTERMEDIATE MASS BLACK HOLE BINARY (IMBHB) SEARCHES, AND A CLASSIFIER TRAINED TO IDENTIFY BLIP GLITCHES COULD ENHANCE THE PERFORMANCE OF THESE SEARCHES. THE THIRD AREA IS INFERENCE OF THE NEUTRON STAR EQUATION OF STATE (EOS) FROM BINARY NEUTRON STAR MERGERS. THE GROUP WILL UPGRADE THE ROBUSTNESS AND SOPHISTICATION OF THE CURRENT PARAMETERIZED EOS INFERENCE FRAMEWORK, INCLUDING IMPLEMENTATION OF AN OVERHAULED TOLMAN-OPPENHEIMER-VOLKOFF SOLVER CAPABLE OF HANDLING MULTI-BRANCH EOS MODELS WITH SHARP PHASE TRANSITIONS, COMPATIBLE UPGRADES TO THE BILBY PARAMETER ESTIMATION SOFTWARE WITH SAMPLING IN COMPONENT CENTRAL PRESSURES, AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A REVERSIBLE JUMP MARKOV CHAIN MONTE CARLO METHOD THAT ALLOWS THE DATA TO DETERMINE THE APPROPRIATE NUMBER OF EOS MODEL PARAMETERS. THE GROUP WILL ALSO CONTRIBUTE TO EOS INFERENCE EFFORTS ON ANY BINARY NEUTRON STAR SIGNALS DETECTED DURING THE FIFTH OBSERVING RUN. 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: DEMONSTRATING CONTROL OVER STATE-MIXING INTERACTIONS IN RYDBERG EXCITATION NEAR F?RSTER RESONANCE -THE FIELD OF QUANTUM INFORMATION IS POISED TO REVOLUTIONIZE COMPUTATION, DATA SECURITY, AND OUR UNDERSTANDING OF FUNDAMENTAL SCIENCE. IN QUANTUM COMPUTERS, INDIVIDUAL UNITS OF INFORMATION, OR BITS, ARE STORED IN SINGLE QUANTUM OBJECTS. ATOMS ARE OFTEN USED BECAUSE THEY ARE ELECTRICALLY NEUTRAL AND INTERACT VERY WEAKLY, SO FRAGILE QUANTUM STATES CAN REMAIN UNDISTURBED. HOWEVER, TO USE ATOMS TO DO A COMPUTATION, THEY MUST BE MADE TO INTERACT AT THE RIGHT TIME, AND IN THE RIGHT WAY. THE KEY TO SOLVING THIS PROBLEM IS THE RYDBERG EXCITATION BLOCKADE, WHICH RESULTS WHEN ATOMS ARE COOLED TO EXTREMELY LOW TEMPERATURES, AND THE OUTERMOST ELECTRONS ARE EXCITED TO VERY LARGE ORBITS. THESE HIGHLY EXCITED ATOMS INTERACT, AND THE INTERACTIONS CAN LEAD TO A SUPPRESSION OF EXCITATION INTO HIGH-LYING STATES. THIS ?BLOCKING? OF EXCITATION HAS LED TO MANY IMPORTANT BREAKTHROUGHS IN THE PURSUIT OF NEUTRAL ATOM QUANTUM TECHNOLOGIES. IN THIS PROJECT, THE PI AND COWORKERS WILL STUDY A PROCESS THAT MAKES THE BLOCKADE BREAK DOWN: STATE-MIXING INTERACTIONS. WHEN ONE TRIES TO EXCITE ATOMS TO A PARTICULAR RYDBERG STATE NEAR AN INTERACTION RESONANCE, THE ATOMS CAN BE MIXED INTO OTHER, UNWANTED STATES WITH HIGH PROBABILITY. THIS GRANT WILL FOCUS ON DEVELOPING TOOLS TO CONTROL THESE STATE-MIXING INTERACTIONS, SO THEIR EFFECT ON THE BLOCKADE CAN BE MINIMIZED. THE PI AND CO-PI WILL ALSO DEVELOP A RESEARCH-BASED TRAINING PROGRAM FOR THE LEAD TUTORS AT KENYON?S MATH AND SCIENCE SKILLS CENTER. THE TRAINING WILL FOCUS ON USING METACOGNITION, OR THINKING ABOUT ONE?S OWN COGNITIVE PROCESSES, WHEN THE TUTORS INTERACT WITH STUDENTS. THE PIS HOPE TO INCREASE STUDENTS? SENSE OF SELF-EFFICACY IN STEM COURSES, AND ENHANCE PERSISTENCE RATES ACROSS STEM DISCIPLINES AT KENYON COLLEGE. THE RYDBERG EXCITATION BLOCKADE, OR THE SUPPRESSION OF LASER EXCITATION DUE TO STRONG INTERACTIONS, IS THE KEY TO USING NEUTRAL ATOMS TO IMPLEMENT QUANTUM INFORMATION PROTOCOLS. STATE-MIXING INTERACTIONS, WHICH RESULT FROM COUPLINGS AMONG MULTI-PARTICLE RYDBERG STATES NEAR F?RSTER RESONANCE, CAN COMPROMISE THIS SUPPRESSION UNDER OTHERWISE FAVORABLE CONDITIONS. IN RECENT WORK, THE PI AND HIS STUDENTS SHOWED THAT THE MECHANISM THAT CAUSES LARGE RATES OF STATE MIXING DEPENDS SENSITIVELY ON EXPERIMENTAL CONDITIONS. IN THE PRESENT PROJECT THEY WILL EXPLOIT THIS SENSITIVITY TO DEVELOP A BROAD TOOLBOX FOR CONTROL OVER STATE-MIXING INTERACTIONS. THIS TOOLBOX INCLUDES PULSE DURATION, RABI FREQUENCY, ATOM SEPARATION, PRINCIPAL QUANTUM NUMBER, AND APPLIED ELECTRIC FIELD. THEY WILL COMPARE THEIR MEASUREMENTS WITH DIFFERENT THEORETICAL MODELS, CHARACTERIZED BY EITHER TWO OR THREE INTERACTING PARTICLES. FINALLY, THEY WILL DESIGN A TRAINING PROGRAM IN METACOGNITION FOR LEAD TUTORS AT KENYON?S MATH AND SCIENCE SKILLS CENTER, AS A WAY TO ENCOURAGE COGNITIVELY EFFICIENT, BUT CORRECT REASONING. THEY WILL USE RESEARCH-VALIDATED INSTRUMENTS TO MEASURE CHANGES IN STUDENTS? SELF-EFFICACY. IMPROVED SELF-EFFICACY HAS BEEN LINKED TO A BROAD RANGE OF POSITIVE OUTCOMES, INCLUDING PERSISTENCE IN STEM. 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.

RUI: LIGO CALIBRATION, GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE SEARCHES, AND PARAMETER ESTIMATION IN THE ADVANCED DETECTOR ERA

RUI:UNRAVELING THE INFLUENCE OF FREE CARRIERS, PHONONS AND BAND ELECTRONS FROM THE DIELECTRIC FUNCTION OF VAN DER WAALS SOLIDS

RUI: EXPLORING THE TRANSPORT PROPERTIES OF TOPOLOGICAL INSULATORS USING SPECTROSCOPIC ELLIPSOMETRY

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: THE ROLE OF BELOWGROUND RESOURCE PARTITIONING IN TREE BIODIVERSITY-ECOSYSTEM FUNCTION RELATIONSHIPS -FORESTS PROVIDE MANY IMPORTANT FUNCTIONS, SUCH AS PRODUCING TIMBER, RETAINING NUTRIENTS, COOLING THE AIR AND SOIL, AND PROVIDING HABITAT FOR WILDLIFE. ONE FACTOR INFLUENCING FOREST PRODUCTIVITY IS THE NUMBER OF TREE SPECIES. IN GENERAL, FORESTS WITH MORE TREE SPECIES TEND TO BE MORE PRODUCTIVE. WHILE THERE ARE SOME INDICATIONS THAT THIS MIGHT BE DUE TO BELOWGROUND RESOURCE PARTITIONING, IT HAS BEEN DIFFICULT TO OBTAIN ACCURATE MEASUREMENTS OF THESE PROCESSES. THIS PROJECT INVESTIGATES WHETHER AND HOW TREE ROOTS, INCLUDING THEIR STRUCTURE, TRAITS, AND MICROBIAL PARTNERS, DRIVE MORE EFFICIENT SHARING OF WATER AND NUTRIENTS IN MIXED SPECIES FORESTS COMPARED TO MONOCULTURES. UNDERSTANDING THESE MECHANISMS IS CRITICAL FOR PREDICTING THE FUTURE OF FORESTS AND FOR DESIGNING EFFECTIVE REFORESTATION STRATEGIES. THE PROJECT INVESTS IN STEM WORKFORCE TRAINING THROUGH TRAINING OF UNDERGRADUATE INTERNS, GRADUATE STUDENTS, AND A POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER, AND ENGAGES THE PUBLIC THROUGH INTERPRETIVE EXHIBITS, K-12 CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN PARTNERSHIP WITH SMITHSONIAN LEARNING LAB, AND A WORKSHOP FOR FOREST RESTORATION PRACTITIONERS. THIS PROJECT TESTS THE HYPOTHESIS THAT HIGHER TREE SPECIES RICHNESS INCREASES BELOWGROUND BIODIVERSITY, WHICH IN TURN PROMOTES COMPLEMENTARY RESOURCE USE AND ENHANCES FOREST ECOSYSTEM FUNCTION. RESEARCHERS WILL LEVERAGE NORTH AMERICA'S LONGEST-RUNNING, LARGE-SCALE FOREST BIODIVERSITY EXPERIMENT TO DIRECTLY MEASURE BELOWGROUND RESOURCE PARTITIONING RATHER THAN INFERRING IT. THE PROJECT DEPLOYS THREE COMPLEMENTARY METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES: (1) STATE-OF-THE-ART BELOWGROUND IMAGING TOOLS SUCH AS GROUND-PENETRATING RADAR TO MAP ROOT DISTRIBUTIONS; (2) ISOTOPIC TRACERS OF WATER AND NITROGEN TO QUANTIFY DIFFERENTIAL RESOURCE UPTAKE; AND (3) DETAILED ROOT MORPHOLOGICAL TRAIT MEASUREMENTS AND GENETIC IDENTIFICATION OF MYCORRHIZAL FUNGI. TOGETHER, THESE APPROACHES DEVELOP A MECHANISTIC UNDERSTANDING OF BELOWGROUND PROCESSES, CONTRIBUTING TO BASIC THEORIES IN BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE. ULTIMATELY, THE PROJECT PRODUCES A SYNTHETIC EVALUATION OF HOW BELOWGROUND COMPLEMENTARITY LINKS TO ABOVEGROUND AND BELOWGROUND FOREST PRODUCTIVITY, SOIL FUNCTION, AND NITROGEN RETENTION. THIS PROJECT ADVANCES NSF?S PRIORITIES IN BIOTECHNOLOGY. 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: DMREF: NSF-DFG: AI-DRIVEN PLATFORM FOR 2D MATERIALS SYNTHESIS AND DISCOVERY -NON-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION TWO-DIMENSIONAL (2D) SEMICONDUCTORS ARE PROMISING MATERIALS FOR FUTURE ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGIES BECAUSE THEY CAN ENABLE SMALLER, FASTER, AND MORE ENERGY-EFFICIENT DEVICES THAN CONVENTIONAL SILICON. HOWEVER, PRODUCING THESE ATOMICALLY THIN MATERIALS REPRODUCIBLY OVER LARGE WAFER AREAS REMAINS A MAJOR SCIENTIFIC AND MANUFACTURING CHALLENGE. THIS PROJECT DEVELOPS NEW ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)-GUIDED APPROACHES THAT COMBINE ADVANCED THIN-FILM SYNTHESIS, REAL-TIME MONITORING OF FILM GROWTH, CHARACTERIZATION, MULTISCALE SIMULATION, AND DATA SCIENCE TO UNCOVER THE FUNDAMENTAL RELATIONSHIPS GOVERNING TWO-DIMENSIONAL MATERIALS SYNTHESIS AND ESTABLISHES PREDICTIVE STRATEGIES FOR CONTROLLING FILM GROWTH AND MATERIALS PROPERTIES. A KEY INNOVATION IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A REAL-TIME OPTICAL DIAGNOSTIC THAT CONTINUOUSLY MONITORS HOW THE ATOMICALLY THIN FILM EVOLVES DURING GROWTH, PROVIDING IMMEDIATE FEEDBACK THAT CAN BE COMBINED WITH COMPUTATIONAL MODELS TO RAPIDLY IDENTIFY PROMISING SYNTHESIS PATHWAYS. BY INTEGRATING REAL-TIME MEASUREMENTS WITH PREDICTIVE SIMULATIONS AND MACHINE LEARNING, THE RESEARCH AIMS TO ACCELERATE THE DISCOVERY OF HIGH-QUALITY 2D SEMICONDUCTORS WHILE PROVIDING NEW SCIENTIFIC INSIGHTS INTO THE COMPLEX PROCESSES THAT GOVERN THEIR FORMATION. THE PROJECT ALSO PROVIDES INTERDISCIPLINARY TRAINING AT THE INTERFACE OF MATERIALS SCIENCE, DATA SCIENCE, AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WHILE OPENLY SHARING DATA, SOFTWARE, AND EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES TO BENEFIT THE BROADER RESEARCH COMMUNITY. TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION THE RESEARCH ESTABLISHES AN AI-GUIDED FRAMEWORK FOR METALORGANIC CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION (MOCVD) OF WAFER-SCALE TRANSITION METAL DICHALCOGENIDE SEMICONDUCTORS. THE PROJECT INTEGRATES IN-SITU SPECTROSCOPIC ELLIPSOMETRY, EX-SITU MATERIALS CHARACTERIZATION, MULTISCALE SIMULATIONS SPANNING DENSITY FUNCTIONAL THEORY, REACTIVE MOLECULAR DYNAMICS, AND COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS, AND MULTI-TASK, MULTI-FIDELITY MACHINE LEARNING TO UNCOVER THE FUNDAMENTAL RELATIONSHIPS LINKING PRECURSOR CHEMISTRY, TRANSPORT PHENOMENA, NUCLEATION, FILM GROWTH, AND RESULTING MATERIALS PROPERTIES. BAYESIAN OPTIMIZATION COMBINES EXPERIMENTAL AND SIMULATION DATA TO EFFICIENTLY EXPLORE NEW PRECURSOR CHEMISTRIES AND IDENTIFY SYNTHESIS PATHWAYS THAT MAXIMIZE CRYSTAL QUALITY, LAYER UNIFORMITY, AND WAFER-SCALE REPRODUCIBILITY. BY CONNECTING ATOMIC-SCALE REACTION MECHANISMS WITH REACTOR-SCALE SYNTHESIS AND EXPERIMENTALLY MEASURED MATERIALS PROPERTIES, THE PROJECT ESTABLISHES PREDICTIVE SYNTHESIS-STRUCTURE-PROPERTY RELATIONSHIPS AND NEW DESIGN PRINCIPLES FOR SCALABLE MANUFACTURING OF TWO-DIMENSIONAL SEMICONDUCTORS. THIS INTEGRATED APPROACH DIRECTLY SUPPORTS THE GOALS OF THE DESIGNING MATERIALS TO REVOLUTIONIZE AND ENGINEER OUR FUTURE (DMREF) PROGRAM BY ACCELERATING MATERIALS DISCOVERY THROUGH THE INTEGRATION OF EXPERIMENT, COMPUTATION, AND DATA SCIENCE. 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: BUILDING A ROBUST SOFTWARE INFRASTRUCTURE FOR PARAMETERIZING AND MEASURING THE NEUTRON STAR EQUATION OF STATE

RUI: THE NON-LINEAR UNIVERSE: PRECISION NUMERICAL COSMOLOGY AND FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICS -THIS RUI AWARD FUNDS THE RESEARCH OF PROFESSOR JOHN T. GIBLIN, JR. AT KENYON COLLEGE. WE LIVE AT A TIME WHEN TELESCOPES AND GRAVITATIONAL WAVE-OBSERVATORIES ARE SHOWERING US WITH DATA. AT THE SAME TIME, THERE ARE STILL GREAT UNANSWERED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE NATURE OF DARK MATTER, DARK ENERGY, AND THE HIGH-TEMPERATURE INITIAL MOMENTS OF THE UNIVERSE. AS PART OF HIS RESEARCH, PROFESSOR GIBLIN WILL PROBE HIGH-ENERGY PHYSICS USING PRECISION NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS TO PREDICT THE CONSEQUENCES OF DIFFERENT MODELS OF HIGH-ENERGY PHYSICS. PROFESSOR GIBLIN WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP, ALONG WITH HIS UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH STUDENTS, CUTTING-EDGE COMPUTATIONAL TOOLS TO STUDY THE COMPLEX PARTICLE PHYSICS IN THE EXTREME ENVIRONMENTS OF THE EARLY UNIVERSE. THIS WORK IS IN THE NATIONAL INTEREST AS IT BUILDS FOUNDATIONAL UNDERSTANDING OF HIGH-ENERGY PHYSICS, TRAINS SCIENTIFICALLY LITERATE HUMAN RESOURCES, AND STRENGTHENS OUR UNDERSTANDING OF NUMERICAL METHODS. ADDITIONALLY, IT WILL BRING THESE IMPORTANT TOPICS TO HIGH SCHOOLS THROUGH OUTREACH INTO PHYSICS CLASSROOMS. SPECIFICALLY, PROFESSOR GIBLIN WILL STUDY THE DETAILED PHYSICS OF (P)REHEATING AT THE END OF INFLATION BY STUDYING REALISTIC BEYOND-THE-STANDARD-MODEL SCENARIOS AND IMPLEMENTING FULL NON-LINEAR GRAVITATIONAL SIMULATIONS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND IF COSMOLOGICAL PROCESSES CAN CREATE PRIMORDIAL BLACK HOLES. PROFESSOR GIBLIN WILL ALSO STUDY COSMOLOGICAL PROCESSES IN THE LATE UNIVERSE TO LOOK AT HOW NONLINEAR PHYSICS MIGHT CONTRIBUTE TO OUR UNDERSTANDING OF DARK MATTER, THE HUBBLE TENSION, AND DARK ENERGY. 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.

RUI: PROBING THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN MAGNETIC PROPERTIES, BAND STRUCTURE AND CARRIER DYNAMICS OF III-V-BASED MAGNETIC SEMICONDUCTORS

RUI: THE NON-LINEAR UNIVERSE: PRECISION NUMERICAL COSMOLOGY AND FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICS

ARTS, ARCHITECTURE, AND DEVOTIONAL INTERACTION IN ENGLAND, 1200-1600

RUI: THE NON-LINEAR UNIVERSE: PRECISION NUMERICAL COSMOLOGY AND FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICS

RUI: BEYOND LEADING ORDER: USING COMPUTATION TO CONSTRAIN FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICS

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: REU SITE: A DISTRIBUTED NETWORK OF NEUROSCIENCE SCHOLARS

UNDERGRADUATE INTERNATIONAL STUDIES AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE

RUI: THE NON-LINEAR UNIVERSE: PRECISION NUMERICAL COSMOLOGY AND FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICS -THIS RUI AWARD FUNDS THE RESEARCH ACTIVITIES OF PROFESSOR JOHN T. GIBLIN, JR. AT KENYON COLLEGE. THE UNIVERSE IS A UNIQUE LABORATORY FOR EXPLORING FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS ABOUT HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS THAT CANNOT BE ANSWERED THROUGH TERRESTRIAL EXPERIMENTS ALONE. BY COMBINING ADVANCED COMPUTATIONAL AND THEORETICAL METHODS, PROFESSOR GIBLIN WILL STUDY HOW NONLINEAR PROCESSES IN THE EARLY UNIVERSE REVEAL NEW INSIGHTS INTO GRAVITY, PARTICLE PHYSICS, DARK MATTER, AND THE CONDITIONS IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING COSMIC INFLATION. THIS WORK WILL HELP INTERPRET OBSERVATIONS FROM CURRENT AND FUTURE GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE DETECTORS AND COSMOLOGICAL SURVEYS, ADVANCING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE FUNDAMENTAL LAWS GOVERNING NATURE. AS A RESULT, THIS RESEARCH ADVANCES THE NATIONAL INTEREST BY PROMOTING THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE IN ONE OF ITS MOST FUNDAMENTAL DIRECTIONS THROUGH THE DISCOVERY AND UNDERSTANDING OF NEW FUNDAMENTAL LAWS, THE TRAINING OF SCIENTIFICALLY LITERATE HUMAN RESOURCES, AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF WIDELY USEFUL COMPUTATIONAL METHODS.. THE PROJECT WILL PROVIDE INTENSIVE RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT KENYON COLLEGE, SUPPORT THEIR PARTICIPATION IN SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCES, CONTRIBUTE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS IN COMPUTATIONAL AND MATHEMATICAL PHYSICS, AND BROADEN ACCESS TO CUTTING-EDGE RESEARCH THROUGH PUBLIC OUTREACH AND EDUCATION. IN ADDITION, THE PROJECT WILL EXPLORE THE USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE THROUGH PHYSICS-INFORMED NEURAL NETWORKS AS A NEW COMPUTATIONAL PARADIGM FOR SOLVING CHALLENGING PROBLEMS IN THEORETICAL PHYSICS. MORE TECHNICALLY, PROFESSOR GIBLIN WILL DEVELOP HIGH-PRECISION NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS TO STUDY NONLINEAR PHENOMENA IN THE EARLY UNIVERSE AND THEIR OBSERVABLE CONSEQUENCES. THE PROJECT WILL INVESTIGATE THE DYNAMICS OF REHEATING FOLLOWING INFLATION, NON-STANDARD COSMOLOGICAL EXPANSION HISTORIES, AND THE PRODUCTION OF STOCHASTIC GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE BACKGROUNDS THAT MAY SERVE AS PROBES OF PHYSICS BEYOND THE STANDARD MODEL. IT WILL ALSO EMPLOY FULL NUMERICAL RELATIVITY TO STUDY THE FORMATION OF PRIMORDIAL BLACK HOLES FROM COSMOLOGICAL PROCESSES, EXAMINE THEIR POTENTIAL OBSERVATIONAL SIGNATURES, AND DETERMINE HOW NONLINEAR GRAVITATIONAL DYNAMICS MODIFY CONVENTIONAL COSMOLOGICAL PREDICTIONS. FINALLY, THE PROJECT WILL DEVELOP AND APPLY PHYSICS-INFORMED NEURAL NETWORK METHODS FOR SOLVING STIFF SYSTEMS OF NONLINEAR PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS ARISING IN MODIFIED GRAVITY AND COSMOLOGY, ESTABLISHING NEW COMPUTATIONAL APPROACHES THAT COMPLEMENT TRADITIONAL LATTICE-BASED SIMULATIONS WHILE ENABLING MORE EFFICIENT EXPLORATION OF COMPLEX PHYSICAL SYSTEMS. 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.

THE ROLE OF PRODUCTION AND ECONOMIC EXCHANGE IN STRENGTHENING SOCIAL BONDS

BEYOND LEADING ORDER: USING COMPUTATION TO CONSTRAIN FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICS

RCN-UBE INCUBATOR: THE BIOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL DATA EDUCATION NETWORK

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH (RUI): NA,K,CL COTRANSPORTERS IN MOSQUITO EPITHELIAL TRANSPORT - CONNECTING MOLECULES TO PHYSIOLOGY

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: STRAIGHT TO THE SOURCE- MINERAL WEATHERING IN SNOWBANKS AND SUPRAGLACIAL ICE, MCMURDO DRY VALLEYS, ANTARCTICA -GLACIAL EROSION PRODUCES LARGE QUANTITIES OF SEDIMENT THAT CAN CHANGE THE CHEMISTRY OF SURROUNDING LAND AND OCEAN ECOSYSTEMS. WHILE THE NUTRIENTS UNDERNEATH GLACIERS ARE KNOWN TO BE IMPORTANT FOR NEARBY BIOLOGICAL COMMUNITIES, COMPARATIVELY LESS IS KNOWN ABOUT THE CHEMISTRY AND IMPORTANCE OF GLACIER SURFACES AND SNOWPACK, WHICH CAN TRAP DUST - SMALL PARTICLES OF ROCK THAT ARE DEPOSITED BY WIND AND WITH SNOWFALL. THE DUST IS DARKER THAN ICE AND SNOW AND THEREFORE CAN WARM DURING SUNNY PERIODS AND MELT THE SURROUNDING FROZEN WATER, GENERATING SMALL AMOUNTS OF LIQUID WATER. DURING CLOUDY AND COLD PERIODS, SOLAR RADIATION CAN NO LONGER HEAT THE PARTICLES AND THE LIQUID WATER AROUND THE DUST FREEZES AGAIN. THESE THAWING AND FREEZING CYCLES CAN BREAK DOWN THE DUST AND RELEASE NUTRIENTS, SUCH AS IRON, WHICH CAN POTENTIALLY BE USED BY ORGANISMS IN THE ICE OR CAN BE TRANSPORTED TO STREAMS, LAKES, AND/OR THE OCEAN DURING PERIODS OF HIGH MELT. THIS RESEARCH WILL COMBINE COMPUTER MODELING AND LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS TO UNDERSTAND 1) WHAT HAPPENS (CHEMICALLY AND PHYSICALLY) TO GLACIER AND SNOWPACK DUST DURING FREEZING AND THAWING AND 2) HOW TO MODEL FREEZING AND THAWING OF WATER AND DUST IN GLACIER ICE. TWO TRAVELING EXHIBITS EXPLORING THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN SCIENCE AND ART WILL RESULT FROM THIS PROJECT, ALLOWING FOR DIVERSE AUDIENCES TO CONNECT WITH THE ANTARCTIC CONTINENT AND UNDERSTAND HOW SMALL-SCALE SCIENCE INFLUENCES LARGE-SCALE SYSTEMS. THE RESULTS OF THIS STUDY WILL DETERMINE THE GEOCHEMISTRY OF GLACIAL MELTWATER DUE TO FREEZING AND THAWING, AND WHETHER THE MELTWATER CONTAINS CRITICAL NUTRIENTS FOR SURROUNDING ECOSYSTEMS. DESPITE LOW TEMPERATURES AND THE RELATIVE SCARCITY OF LIQUID WATER, GLACIAL SYSTEMS CAN BE A MAJOR SOURCE OF TRACE METALS, NUTRIENTS AND OTHER WEATHERING PRODUCTS TO PROGLACIAL AND MARINE SYSTEMS. WHILE THE IMPORTANCE OF WEATHERING HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED IN SUBGLACIAL AND PROGLACIAL ENVIRONMENTS, LESS IS UNDERSTOOD ABOUT WEATHERING MECHANISMS OR THE COMPOSITION OF MAJOR AND TRACE NUTRIENTS AT THE MOST UPSTREAM SOURCE: WITHIN SNOW AND SUPRAGLACIAL ICE. WIND DEPOSITS FINE-GRAINED SEDIMENT ON ICE SURFACES, WHICH CAN THEN MELT OR BECOME INCORPORATED INTO THE ICE PROFILE AND EXPERIENCE A RANGE OF THERMAL REGIMES AND FREEZE-THAW CONDITIONS. DAILY FREEZE-THAW CYCLING DRIVES PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL WEATHERING OF SEDIMENT GRAINS, YET FEW STUDIES HAVE EXPLICITLY EXAMINED THE FREQUENCY AND INTENSITY OF FREEZE-THAW CYCLES AND HOW THEY CONTROL MAJOR ION AND TRACE METAL RELEASE, ALTERATION, AND MOBILITY. THIS INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDY WILL USE GEOCHEMICAL AND ENERGY BALANCE MODELING, FREEZE-THAW EXPERIMENTATION, AND SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY TO ADVANCE KNOWLEDGE OF MINERAL WEATHERING IN ICE AND SNOW ACTIVE LAYERS. EXISTING SAMPLES COLLECTED FROM THE MCMURDO DRY VALLEYS OF ANTARCTICA, AN ECOSYSTEM THAT RELIES ON RUNOFF DERIVED FROM SUPRAGLACIAL ICE AND SNOW MELT, WILL BE UTILIZED. TWO TRAVELING EXHIBITS EXPLORING THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN SCIENCE AND ART WILL RESULT FROM THIS PROJECT, THE FIRST FOCUSED ON CONNECTING THE MACRO-SCALE ANTARCTIC CONTINENT TO MICRO-SCALE MICROSCOPY IMAGES, AND THE SECOND A CONTEMPORARY ART EXHIBIT THAT WILL EXPLORE THE ANTARCTIC CONTINENT AND OUR PERCEPTIONS OF SCALE. FINDINGS FROM THIS RESEARCH WILL CONTRIBUTE TO KNOWLEDGE OF NUTRIENT BIOAVAILABILITY AND DELIVERY TO PROGLACIAL ENVIRONMENTS AND POLAR OCEANS, WATERSHED-SCALE WEATHERING IN GLACIAL SYSTEMS, AND THE CONDITIONS THAT CREATE MICROSITES FOR LIFE ON GLACIERS AND OTHER ICY SYSTEMS. 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.

WORKSHOP TRAVEL TO STUDY ANALYSIS AND GEOMETRY IN METRIC SPACES

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: DATA-DRIVEN APPLICATIONS INSPIRING UPPER-DIVISION MATHEMATICS

COPPER PROCESSING AND ITS IMPLICATIONS IN NW HONDURAS

CONFERENCE: QUASIWEEKEND III -THE CONFERENCE QUASIWEEKEND III TO BE HELD IN HELSINKI, FINLAND, FROM JUNE 9?13, 2025 WILL FOCUS ON ADVANCING AREAS OF MATHEMATICS THAT EXPLORE THE GEOMETRY AND STRUCTURE OF SPACES. THESE SPACES MAY BE HIGHLY IRREGULAR OR DISTORTED, SUCH AS FRACTALS AND POROUS MEDIA, AND UNDERSTANDING THEM IS IMPORTANT FOR MODELING AND ANALYZING COMPLEX STRUCTURES IN NATURE, TECHNOLOGY, AND DATA. THE AWARD CONFERENCE: QUASIWEEKEND III WILL SUPPORT THE TRAVEL AND EXPENSES OF TEN U.S.-BASED MATHEMATICIANS AND ALLOW THE RECIPIENTS TO PARTICIPATE IN QUASIWEEKEND III. MORE INFORMATION MAY BE FOUND AT HTTPS://WWW.HELSINKI.FI/EN/CONFERENCES/QUASIWEEKEND-III. THE CONFERENCE PROGRAM WILL HIGHLIGHT RECENT ADVANCES AND SYNERGIES ACROSS ASYMPTOTIC METRIC GEOMETRY, SOBOLEV SPACE THEORY AND POTENTIAL THEORY, GEOMETRIC ANALYSIS, AND LARGE-SCALE METRIC GEOMETRY. THE CONFERENCE IS EXPECTED TO FACILITATE THE EXCHANGE OF IDEAS AND TECHNIQUES AMONG THESE INTERCONNECTED FIELDS, FOSTERING NEW INSIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIONS THAT WILL DRIVE PROGRESS IN THE DISCIPLINE. THE AWARD WILL PRIORITIZE TRAVEL SUPPORT FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS, EARLY-CAREER RESEARCHERS, AND MATHEMATICIANS FROM UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS, ENSURING BROAD PARTICIPATION AND STRENGTHENING THE DIVERSITY OF THE MATHEMATICAL COMMUNITY. 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.

GRANT FOR FLIGHT REQUEST FOR SYMPOSIUM SUPPORT ACS POLY SYMPOSIUM TITLE LARGE POLYMERS THE SIZE OF SMALL POLYMERS