Florida Institute Of Technology Inc

HIGHER EDUCATION EMERGENCY RELIEF FUND - INSTITUTIONAL PORTION OF CARES ACT FUNDS

FLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION FOR DIRECT-TO-STUDENT PORTION OF THE H.E.E.R.F. OF THE CARES ACT.

EXPERIMENTAL HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS RESEARCH

HEALTH CARE AND OTHER FACILITIES

PURPOSE: TO ACCELERATE THE EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF ENGINEERING STUDENTS SKILLED IN CYBER RESILIENCY AND DESIGN RESILIENCE ENGINEERING (CYBER INFORMED ENGINEERING) FOR INDUSTRY AND GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS. THE FOCUS IS ON OBTAINING COMPUTATIONAL RESOURCES NEEDED TO FURTHER INTEGRATE ADVANCED HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING (HPC) AND AI TECHNOLOGIES IN VARIOUS ASPECTS OF AEROSPACE AND DEFENSE INDUSTRIES, FROM DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING TO OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE.ACTIVITIES TO BE PERFORMED: THE APPROPRIATED FUNDS WILL BE UTILIZED TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO INDUSTRY STANDARD COMPUTERS AND EQUIPMENT BY ADDING 40 HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING NODES (HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE) SUPPORTING CURRICULUM, RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND PRACTICAL APPLICATION TO IMPROVE ASSURED PRODUCT ENGINEERING AND THE USABILITY OF AI, CYBERSECURITY AND RELATED PROCESSES AND TECHNOLOGIES.EXPECTED OUTCOMES: THIS PROJECT WILL (1) MODERNIZE ACADEMIC CURRICULUM AND SUPPORT APPLIED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT TO IMPROVE ASSURED PRODUCT ENGINEERING AND THE USABILITY OF AI, CYBERSECURITY AND RELATED PROCESSES AND TECHNOLOGIES, AND (2) HARNESS THE POWER OF CUTTING-EDGE HPC AND AI TECHNOLOGIES TO ADDRESS CRITICAL CHALLENGES FACED BY AEROSPACE AND DEFENSE INDUSTRIES THROUGH THE DEVELOPMENT OF INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS THAT ENHANCE CYBERSECURITY, IMPROVE RESILIENCE, AND DRIVE INNOVATION.INTENDED BENEFICIARIES: THIS PROJECT WILL ULTIMATELY ASSIST INDUSTRY, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE AEROSPACE AND DEFENSE INDUSTRY AND ORGANIZATIONS IN CENTRAL FLORIDA, BY THE INFUSION OF CYBERSECURITY TECHNOLOGY, DESIGN RESILIENCY AND DIGITAL ENGINEERING INTO CURRICULUM AND APPLIED RESEARCH. THE TAXPAYER BENEFIT WILL BE REALIZED IN THE SUPPORT OF TALENT AND TECHNOLOGIES REQUIRED FOR DOMESTIC INDUSTRY TO GROW AND MAINTAIN A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN AN INCREASINGLY HOSTILE INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT.SUBRECIPIENT ACTIVITIES: THE RECIPIENT DOES NOT INTEND TO SUBAWARD FUNDS.

LARGE SCALE SEAWATER FACILITY FOR DEVELOPMENT OF HULLBUG

ULI PROVIDES THE OPPORTUNITY FOR UNIVERSITY TEAMS TO EXERCISE TECHNICAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP IN PROPOSING UNIQUE TECHNICAL CHALLENGES DEFINING INTERDISCIPLINARY SOLUTIONS ESTABLISHING PEER REVIEW MECHANISMS AND APPLYING INNOVATIVE TEAMING STRATEGIES TO STRENGTHEN THE RESEARCH IMPACT.

EXPANSION REQUEST FOR ADVANCED NONTOXIC ANTI-FOULING COATINGS RESEARCH TEST SITE FACILITY

TAS::97 0400::TAS A SYSTEMS BEHAVIOR APPROACH TO INTEGRATED MOVING TARGET C2 WITH RESILIENCE RESPONSE.

BIOLOGICALLY INSPIRED SECURITY INFRASTRUCTURE FOR TACTICAL ENVIRONMENTS

EMERGENCY FINANDIAL AID GRANTS FOR STUDENTS AFFECTED BY COVAD-19 UNDER THE CORONAVIRUS AID, RELIEF, AND ECONOMIC SECURITY (CARES) ACT.

INSTITUTIONAL PORTION OF THE HIGHER EDUCATION EMERGENCY RELIEF FUND UNDER THE CORONAVIRUS AID, RELIEF, AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY (CARES) ACT.

ADVANCED NON-TOXIC ANTIFOULING COATINGS REASRCH, TEST SITE FACILITY

INSTEP II: EXPANSION OF THE INTEGRATE SCIENCE TEACHING ENHANCEMENT PARTNERSHIP

EMERGENCY FINANCIAL AID GRANTS FOR STUDENTS AFFECTED BY COVID-19 UNDER THE CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE AND RELIEF SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS ACT. 2021.

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF HADRON COLLISIONS AT THE HIGHEST CENTER OF MASS ENERGIES

BUILDING CONSTUCTION

PHASED ANTENNA-COUPLED DETECTOR ARRAYS FOR THZ AND IR IMAGING

CELL CYCLE ASSEMBLY OF NUCLEOPROTEIN COMPLEXES

GRADUATE PSYCHOLOGY EDUCATION PROGRAMS

BIOCHEMICAL PATHWAYS OF 12-HETE AND 12-KETE METABOLISM

THE SOURCE OF WARM PLASMA CLOAK DUE TO ION HEATING BY EMIC WAVES

GRADUATE PSYCHOLOGY EDUCATION PROGRAMS

DESIGN AND OPS CONSIDERATIONS FOR HUMAN SPACE FLIGHT OCCUPANT SAFETY

THIS PROJECT IS PROPOSED BY FLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (FIT) LEVERAGING IDAHO NATIONAL LABORATORY'S (INL) FACILITIES OF BIOMASS PREPROCESSING TECHNOLOGIES. THE OVERARCHING GOAL IS TO UPGRADE HIGH-ASH BIOMASS INTO LOW-ASH, MASS AND ENERGY DENSE, AND PELLETIZED BIOREFINERY FEEDSTOCKS. THE GOAL WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED VIA SYSTEMATIC EXPERIMENTS AT SEMI-BATCH SCALE TO CONTINUOUS SCALE AND A DETAILED TECHNOECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF A FULL-SCALE UNIT.HIGH-ASH BIOMASS WILL BE COLLECTED FROM INL'S PROVEN AIR CLASSIFICATION (AC) TECHNOLOGY. MILD HYDROTHERMAL PREPROCESSING (MHP) WILL BE PERFORMED ON THIS HIGH-ASH FRACTION (HAF) BIOMASS REJECT FROM AC TO REDUCE STRUCTURAL INORGANICS. MHP USES SUBCRITICAL WATER, WHICH REACTS WITH BIOMASS AND LEACHES INORGANICS DUE TO ITS UNIQUE THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES. HYDROCHAR, THE RESULTED LOW ASH BIOMASS FROM MHP, ALSO HAS BINDING ABILITY, WHICH WILL BE EXPLORED TO PELLETIZE LOW-ASH FRACTION OF AC TECHNOLOGY IN SINGLE-PRESS PELLET PRESS (AT FIT) AND PELLET MILL (AT INL). FINALLY, A DETAILED TECHNOECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF INTEGRATED AC, MHP, AND PELLETIZATION PROCESSES WILL BE PERFORMED WITH INL'S GUIDANCE.BY THE END OF THIS PROJECT, WE WILL HAVE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF (A) HOW TO REMOVE STRUCTURAL INORGANICS USING MHP TECHNOLOGY, (B) THE PELLETIZATION PROPERTIES OF HYDROCHAR AND OPTIMUM CONDITION FOR BIOMASS PALLETIZATION USING MHP HYDROCHAR, AND (C) ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY OF THE HIGH-ASH BIOMASS PREPROCESSING TECHNOLOGIES. MHP IS A UNIQUE PREPROCESSING TECHNOLOGY THAT HAS TRANSFORMATIVE POTENTIALS TO IMPROVE BIOREFINERY FEEDSTOCK LOGISTICS ECONOMICS, THEREFORE, THIS PROJECT ALIGNS WELL WITH THE SCOPE OF PROGRAM AREA A1414 BIOENERGY AND BIOBASED PRODUCT FEEDSTOCK LOGISTICS.

EXPLORATIONS: ADVANCED MANUFACTURING AND MICROELECTRONICS TO EMPOWER YOUTH AGING OUT OF FOSTER CARE -THIS PROJECT ADDRESSES THE CRITICAL CHALLENGE OF EQUIPPING FOSTER YOUTH AGING OUT OF THE SYSTEM WITH VITAL TECHNICAL SKILLS AND CAREER GUIDANCE TO ENHANCE THEIR INDEPENDENCE AND ECONOMIC STABILITY. BY INTEGRATING ADVANCED MANUFACTURING AND MICROELECTRONICS TRAINING INTO THEIR EDUCATION, THE PROJECT AIMS TO PROVIDE THESE YOUNG INDIVIDUALS WITH ACCESS TO HIGH-DEMAND SKILLS AND CAREER OPPORTUNITIES. THE INITIATIVE STANDS TO SIGNIFICANTLY IMPACT REGIONAL AND NATIONAL WELFARE BY PREPARING A VULNERABLE DEMOGRAPHIC FOR SUBSTANTIVE ROLES IN THE TECH-DRIVEN ECONOMY, THEREBY PROMOTING SOCIETAL PROGRESS AND INCLUSIVITY. THE EFFORT WILL ALSO FOSTER DIVERSITY IN STEM FIELDS, ALIGNING WITH NATIONAL INTERESTS IN BUILDING A COMPETENT, DIVERSE WORKFORCE THAT MIRRORS THE BROADER SOCIETY. THE PROJECT WILL UTILIZE A STRUCTURED PROGRAM AT THE FLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY'S CENTER FOR ADVANCED MANUFACTURING AND INNOVATIVE DESIGN TO INTRODUCE FOSTER YOUTH TO ADVANCED MANUFACTURING AND MICROELECTRONICS. OVER THREE YEARS, 25 PARTICIPANTS EACH YEAR WILL ENGAGE IN HANDS-ON LEARNING EXPERIENCES, INCLUDING WORKSHOPS, MENTORSHIP PROGRAMS, AND CAREER PLANNING SESSIONS. THESE ACTIVITIES ARE DESIGNED TO DEVELOP HARD AND SOFT SKILLS, PREPARING PARTICIPANTS FOR EMPLOYMENT OR FURTHER EDUCATION IN STEM FIELDS. METHODOLOGICALLY, THE PROJECT EMPLOYS A COMBINATION OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING, PEER MENTORING, AND PROFESSIONAL NETWORKING TO ACHIEVE ITS OBJECTIVES. EXPECTED OUTCOMES INCLUDE HIGH RATES OF SUCCESSFUL JOB PLACEMENTS AND FURTHER EDUCATIONAL PURSUITS AMONG PARTICIPANTS, DIRECTLY CONTRIBUTING TO THEIR PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL EMPOWERMENT AND THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE NATIONAL WORKFORCE 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.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

LARGE SCALE SEAWATER FACILITY FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SHIP HULL GROOMING

SPACE COAST RESCUE (RESILIENCE SOLUTIONS FOR CLIMATE, URBANIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENT)

ADVANCED NONTOXIC ANTI-FOULING COATINGS RESEARCH, TEST SITE FACILITY

ENANTIOSELECTIVE CATALYTIC CHLOROSILANE REACTIONS

ADVANCED NON-TOXIC ANTIFOULING COATINGS RESEARCH, TEST SITE FACILITY

DETERMINING THE RADIATION LEVEL OF GALACTIC COSMIC RAYS AND SOLAR ENERGETIC PARTICLES IN THE HELIOSPHERIC MAGNETIC FIELD BASED ON MAGNETOGRAM MEASUREMENTS OF THE SOLAR PHOTOSPHERE

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CLIMATE CHANGE AND PREDATORY INVASION OF THE ANTARCTIC BENTHOS

3D PRINTED BIOMIMETIC BIOGLASS-GRADIENT MATRICES FOR ACL RECONSTRUCTION

IMPACT OF QUANTUM PROCESSES IN REACTIVE OXYGEN SPECIES MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR REDOX BIOLOGY -A MAJOR CHALLENGE IN MODERN SCIENCE IS UNDERSTANDING HOW TINY MOLECULAR EVENTS SHAPE THE COMPLEX BEHAVIOR OF ENTIRE LIVING CELLS. BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN THE MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR WORLDS REMAINS A CENTRAL GOAL IN UNDERSTANDING HOW BIOLOGY WORKS ACROSS SCALES. THIS RESEARCH EXPLORES WHETHER FUNDAMENTAL QUANTUM CHARACTERISTICS OF ELECTRONS CAN GUIDE IMPORTANT BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES, INCLUDING METABOLISM AND CELLULAR BALANCE. ELECTRONS CARRY A QUANTUM PROPERTY KNOWN AS SPIN, AND DURING SPECIFIC BIOCHEMICAL REACTIONS, TWO ELECTRONS CAN BECOME LINKED IN A QUANTUM STATE CALLED A RADICAL PAIR. THIS PROJECT INVESTIGATES HOW CERTAIN ENZYMES IN CELLS MAY USE THESE RADICAL PAIRS TO INFLUENCE THE PRODUCTION OF REACTIVE OXYGEN SPECIES (ROS), HIGHLY ACTIVE MOLECULES INVOLVED IN METABOLISM, SIGNALING, AND CELLULAR STRESS RESPONSES. BY COMBINING ADVANCED MAGNETIC RESONANCE TECHNIQUES, HIGH-RESOLUTION MICROSCOPY, MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, AND CUTTING-EDGE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI), THE PROJECT SEEKS TO OBSERVE AND ANALYZE HOW THESE QUANTUM PROCESSES OPERATE INSIDE LIVING CELLS. THIS RESEARCH COULD LEAD TO A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF HOW CELLS MANAGE ENERGY AND STRESS, KEY FACTORS IN HEALTH, AGING, AND DISEASE, AND MAY INSPIRE FUTURE TECHNOLOGIES THAT MONITOR BIOLOGICAL OUTCOMES THROUGH QUANTUM-BASED SENSING. THIS PROJECT WILL ALSO ADVANCE EDUCATION BY OFFERING A GRADUATE COURSE THAT INTEGRATES QUANTUM FUNDAMENTALS ACROSS DISCIPLINES, PREPARING STUDENTS FOR CUTTING-EDGE STEM CAREERS. ADDITIONALLY, WE WILL EXPAND OUTREACH THROUGH A SUMMER PROGRAM INTRODUCING LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TO QUANTUM CONCEPTS, AI, AND HANDS-ON MAKING, AS PART OF FLORIDA TECH?S CRAFT CENTER, WHICH FOSTERS INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION AND COMPUTATIONAL EXPERTISE ACROSS CAMPUS. THIS RESEARCH AIMS TO UNCOVER HOW SPIN-DEPENDENT RADICAL PAIRS IN FLAVOENZYMES REGULATE ROS PRODUCTION AT THE MOLECULAR LEVEL, WITH DOWNSTREAM EFFECTS ON CELLULAR REDOX BIOLOGY. THE PROJECT WILL PURSUE THIS GOAL THROUGH THREE KEY AIMS: (1) MANIPULATING QUANTUM PROCESSES IN A RECOMBINANT FLAVIN ENZYME MODEL TO INFLUENCE ROS PRODUCT YIELDS, (2) MEASURING ROS PRODUCTION AND CELL BEHAVIOR UNDER QUANTUM-ACTIVE CONDITIONS, AND (3) APPLYING AI AND MACHINE LEARNING TO OPTIMIZE EXPERIMENTAL CONTROL AND DATA ANALYSIS. TOGETHER, THIS WORK DEFINES A COMPREHENSIVE AND INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH THAT BRIDGES QUANTUM SPIN CHEMISTRY, CELL BIOLOGY, AND AI TO REVEAL HOW QUANTUM PROCESSES DRIVE OXIDATIVE SIGNALING IN LIVING 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.

DESPITE ITS SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN THE GLOBAL CLIMATE, THE MARITIME CONTINENT (MC) REMAINS SOMEWHAT OF AN ENIGMA DUE TO A LACK OF PHYSICAL UNDERSTANDING AND MODEL PERFORMANCE. THE MC CONNECTS THE INDIAN AND PACIFIC OCEANS, AND TROPICS AND EXTRATROPICS THROUGH TELECONNECTIONS. IT ALSO ACTS AS A PREDICTABILITY BARRIER FOR SUBSEASONAL-TO-SEASONAL (S2S) PREDICTION OF PRECIPITATION THAT DEPENDS ON MANY INTERACTING PROCESSES INCLUDING THE LAND-ATMOSPHERE INTERACTIONS, WHICH ARE CONTROLLED THROUGH SOIL MOISTURE, TOPOGRAPHY, AND DIURNAL CYCLE OF INSOLATION, AMONG OTHERS. MANY OF THESE PROCESSES, HOWEVER, ARE POORLY UNDERSTOOD AND INADEQUATELY REPRESENTED IN WEATHER AND CLIMATE MODELS. IN THIS WORK, WE PROPOSE: (I) TO DESCRIBE THE OBSERVED RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE S2S PRECIPITATION AND OTHER PARAMETERS SUCH AS SOIL MOISTURE, TOPOGRAPHY, AND DIURNAL CYCLE OF INSOLATION; (II) TO EXPLORE THE RELATIVE CONTRIBUTION OF SOIL MOISTURE, TOPOGRAPHY, AND DIURNAL CYCLE OF INSOLATION; (III) TO INVESTIGATE THE

DEVELOPMENT OF A STEM EDUCATION PROGRAM IN SUPPORT OF NAVAL FLIGHT TEST ENGINEERING

CAREER: TOWARD UNDERSTANDING SOLAR WIND TURBULENCE IN THE INNER HELIOSPHERE

EDUCATIONAL APPROACHES AND CURRICULUM TO ENGAGE AND EDUCATE A MORE DIVERSE CYBERSECURITY WORKFORCE

INSPIRING STUDENTS TO PURSUE U.S. NAVY STEM CAREERS THROUGH EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

RESEARCH TO FURTHER ENHANCE HYDROLYSIS BY COMBINING ELECTRONICALLY MODULATED CATALYSIS

CHANGES IN HIGH MOUNTAIN ASIA (HMA) WATER RESOURCES AFFECT THE LIVELIHOOD OF MORE THAN A BILLION OF PEOPLE AND HAVE AN IMPACT ON THE BIODIVERSITY OF THE UNIQUE ECOSYSTEMS OF THE REGION.

THERMAL STRESS AND DIFFERENTIAL RECOVERY OF CORAL REEFS

TRUST DYNAMICS IN HETEROGENOUS HUMAN-AGENT TEAMS: APPLYING MULTI LEVEL AND UNOBTRUSIVE PERSPECTIVES

DEVELOPMENT OF LIGHT TRIGGERED MOLECULAR TOOLS CRITICAL FOR UNDERSTANDING THE BRAIN'S NETWORK

PROBING THE BASIC PHYSICS OF ECTRAGALACTIC JETSRELATIVISTIC JETS APPEAR TO BE A UBIQUITOUS RESULT OF

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF HADRON COLLISIONS AT THE HIGHEST CENTER-OF-MASS ENERGIES

IDENTIFYING CORAL REEF 'BRIGHT SPOTS' FROM THE GLOBAL 2015-2017 THERMAL-STRESS EVENT

THE THERAPEUTIC WORKPLACE INTERVENTION IN COMMUNITY SETTINGS.

GROWING THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE PIPELINE FOR CAREERS IN CIVIL, CHEMICAL, AND OCEAN ENGINEERING THROUGH THE FITS-STEM PROGRAM

CHARACTERIZATION OF UPWARD LEADERS AND THE ATTACHMENT PROCESS IN DOWNWARD CLOUD-TO-GROUND LIGHTNING

ADJUSTMENT OF WESTERN PACIFIC OCEAN CORAL REEFS TO SEA-LEVEL RISE AND OCEAN WARMING

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CLIMATE CHANGE, MESOSCALE OCEANOGRAPHY, AND THE DYNAMICS OF EASTERN PACIFIC CORAL REEFS

ADVANCED NON-TOXIC ANTIFOULING COATINGS RESEARCH TEST SITE FACILITY

TRANSPARENT AF / FR COATINGS PROGRAM: CANDIDATE FIELD TESTING AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF ACTIVE SOLUTIONS

PREDICTION OF SOLAR ENERGETIC PARTICLE RADIATION TIMING AND DOSAGE USING PHYSICS-GUIDED MACHINE LEARNING ALGORITHMS WITH REMOTE OBSERVATIONS OF THE SOLAR PHOTOSPHERE CORONA AND INTERPLANETARY MEDIUM

INVESTIGATING THE RADIAL EVOLUTION OF THE SCALING PROPERTIES OF INTERMITTENCY IN THE SOLAR WIND

WE INVESTIGATE SEP PROPAGATION IN REALISTIC 3D INTERPLANETARY AND CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELDS. IT IS THE FIRST LINE OF INVESTIGATION FOR THE DETERMINATIO

GOALS: FIRST WE PROPOSE TO INVESTIGATE THE EFFECTS OF PC 4-5 WAVES (2-22 MHZ) ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTROMAGNETIC ION CYCLOTRON (EMIC 0.1-5 HZ) WAVES IN THE EARTH'S INNER MAGNETOSPHERE. WE WILL STUDY BOTH THE EFFECT OF EMIC WAVE GROWTH RATE MODULATION BY COMPRESSIONAL PC 4-5 WAVES AND THE NONLINEAR CASCADE OF ELECTROMAGNETIC ENERGY FROM THE PC 4-5 FREQUENCY RANGE INTO THE FREQUENCY RANGE OF EMIC WAVE GENERATION. SECOND WE PROPOSE TO STUDY THE EFFECTS OF EMIC WAVES ON RELATIVISTIC ELECTRON PRECIPITATION IN THE EARTH'S RADIATION BELTS (RBS). BACKGROUND: EMIC WAVES ARE CONSIDERED TO BE ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT CAUSES FOR RELATIVISTIC ELECTRON PRECIPITATION FROM THE EARTH'S RBS. CURRENTLY HOWEVER UNDERSTANDING OF EMIC WAVE DEVELOPMENT AND EVOLUTION IN EARTH'S MAGNETOSPHERE IS FAR FROM BEING COMPLETE AND THERE IS NO RELIABLE PHYSICS-BASED MODEL OF EMIC WAVES THAT CAN BE USED IN A REALISTIC MODELING OF RELATIVISTIC ELECTRONS. THE HE-BAND OF EMIC WAVES IS THE DOMINANT BAND OBSERVED IN THE INNER MAGNETOSPHERE AND WAVES ARE USUALLY QUASI-FIELD-ALIGNED THERE. TO BE OBSERVED AS QUASI-FIELD-ALIGNED WAVES SHOULD GROW UP TO AN OBSERVABLE LEVEL DURING ONE PASS THROUGH THE NEAR EQUATORIAL UNSTABLE REGION BECAUSE EVEN IF WAVES RETURN TO THE EQUATOR AFTER REFLECTION FROM THE "BI-ION LATITUDES" (THE LATITUDES WHERE WAVE FREQUENCY MATCHES THE LOCAL O-HE BI-ION FREQUENCY) THEY USUALLY HAVE OBLIQUE NORMALS AND CANNOT BE RE-AMPLIFIED DUE TO THE QUASIFIELD- ALIGNED ION CYCLOTRON INSTABILITY. THE THERMAL BACKGROUND LEVEL FOR EMIC WAVES HOWEVER IS LOW AND WAVES CANNOT REACH AN OBSERVABLE LEVEL DURING ONE PASS IF THEY GROW FROM THIS LEVEL. ONE OF THE POSSIBILITIES TO OVERCOME THIS DRAWBACK IS TO INCREASE THE EMIC WAVE GROWTH RATE COMPARED TO ITS NOMINAL VALUES BY MODULATING THE MAGNETIC FIELD AND/OR PLASMA DENSITY BY COMPRESSIONAL PC 4-5 WAVES. EMIC WAVES HOWEVER ARE OFTEN OBSERVED WHEN THE AMPLITUDES OF COMPRESSIONAL PC 4-5 ARE SMALL. THE OTHER POSSIBILITY IS TO INVOKE SOME NONLINEAR MECHANISM THAT CAN SUPPLY AN ELECTROMAGNETIC SEED FLUCTUATING ENERGY WHICH SUBSTANTIALLY EXCEEDS THE THERMAL BACKGROUND LEVEL IN THE FREQUENCY DOMAIN OF EMIC WAVE GENERATION. AN MHD WAVE-WAVE INTERACTION GENERATES AN ENERGY CASCADE IN THE REGION OF LARGER WAVE NUMBERS AND SO CAN SERVE AS A NEEDED MECHANISM. OUR PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF THE VAN ALLEN PROBES AND POLAR SPACECRAFT DATA ACROSS THE PC 1-5 WAVE BANDS SHOWS THAT A NONLINEAR ENERGY CASCADE FROM THE PC 4-5 FREQUENCY RANGE INTO THE FREQUENCY RANGE OF EMIC WAVES IS OBSERVED AND ABLE TO SUPPLY THE NEEDED LEVEL OF NONTHERMAL FLUCTUATIONS THAT GUARANTEES GROWTH OF EMIC WAVES DURING ONE PASS THROUGH THE NEAR EQUATORIAL REGION IF AN ION CYCLOTRON INSTABILITY TAKES PLACE THERE. METHODOLOGY: TO ACHIEVE THE FIRST GOAL WE WILL COMBINE THE ANALYSIS OF VAN ALLEN PROBES DATA ACROSS THE PC 1-5 BANDS WITH THE CAPABILITIES OF TWO GLOBAL MODELS THE LYON-FEDDER-MOBARRY MHD MODEL OF THE MAGNETOSPHERE AND OUR MODEL OF RING CURRENT (RC) IONS AND EMIC WAVES . TO ACHIEVE OUR SECOND GOAL WE WILL USE THE COMPREHENSIVE INNER MAGNETOSPHERE-IONOSPHERE GLOBAL MODEL OF RELATIVISTIC ELECTRONS THE GLOBAL RC-EMIC WAVE MODEL AND ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIVISTIC ELECTRON FLUXES AND EMIC WAVES OBSERVED BY VAN ALLEN PROBES. DATA: WE WILL USE DATA FROM TWO VAN ALLEN PROBES: 1) EMFISIS FOR MAGNETIC FIELD AND ELECTRON NUMBER DENSITY ESTIMATED FROM THE UPPER HYBRID FREQUENCY 2) EFW FOR ELECTRON NUMBER DENSITY ESTIMATED FROM SPACECRAFT POTENTIAL 3) ECT/HOPE FOR DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS OF ENERGETIC IONS AND ION COMPOSITION AND 4) ECT/MAGEIS AND ECT/REPT FOR FLUXES OF RELATIVISTIC ELECTRONS. RELEVANCE: THIS PROPOSAL IS RELEVANT TO THE DECADAL SURVEY GOALS "2. DETERMINE THE DYNAMICS AND COUPLING OF EARTH'S MAGNETOSPHERE IONOSPHERE AND ATMOSPHERE AND THEIR RESPONSE TO SOLAR AND TERRESTRIAL INPUTS" AND "4. DISCOVER AND CHARACTERIZE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES THAT OCCUR BOTH WITHIN THE HELIOSPHERE AND THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE."

NANODIAMOND QUANTUM SENSING IN REDOX CELL BIOLOGY BY HYPERSPECTRAL MICROSCOPY - PROJECT SUMMARY OXIDATIVE STRESS CAUSED BY DYSREGULATED REACTIVE OXYGEN SPECIES (ROS) PLAYS A CRITICAL ROLE IN NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASES, CANCER, AND AGING. DESPITE ITS IMPORTANCE, THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN ROS BENEFICIAL SIGNALING AND HARMFUL OXIDATIVE STRESS REMAINS POORLY DEFINED, IN PART DUE TO LIMITED TOOLS FOR PRECISE, REAL- TIME MEASUREMENT OF REDOX DYNAMICS IN LIVE CELLS. CLARIFYING HOW CELLS RESPOND TO DIFFERENT ROS LEVELS IS ESSENTIAL TO UNDERSTANDING REDOX REGULATION AND DEVELOPING STRATEGIES TO MITIGATE OXIDATIVE DAMAGE. A BETTER GRASP OF THESE MECHANISMS COULD IMPACT DIVERSE FIELDS INCLUDING NEUROSCIENCE, CANCER BIOLOGY, AND METABOLIC DISEASE. THE USSELMAN LAB AT FLORIDA TECH BRINGS A UNIQUE COMBINATION OF REDOX BIOLOGY, HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGING, AND QUANTUM SENSING EXPERTISE. AS A TEACHING-INTENSIVE INSTITUTION, WE ALSO ENGAGE UNDERGRADUATES DIRECTLY IN HANDS-ON RESEARCH, BUILDING THE NEXT GENERATION OF STEM LEADERS THROUGH IMMERSIVE, HIGH-IMPACT TRAINING. WE WILL ENGINEER CHEMOGENETIC SYSTEMS USING D-AMINO ACID OXIDASE (DAAO) TO GENERATE H₂O₂ WITH SPATIAL AND DOSE CONTROL IN MAMMALIAN CELLS. REDOX DYNAMICS WILL BE QUANTIFIED USING RATIOMETRIC BIOSENSORS, SEAHORSE METABOLIC ASSAYS, AND A NOVEL OPTICALLY DETECTED MAGNETIC RESONANCE MICROSCOPY (ODMRM) PLATFORM WITH NANODIAMOND QUANTUM SENSORS. THESE TOOLS WILL ALLOW US TO DEFINE OXIDATIVE THRESHOLDS, MEASURE MITOCHONDRIAL RESPONSES, AND TRACK REAL-TIME REDOX CHANGES WITH SUBCELLULAR RESOLUTION. THIS MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH OFFERS A POWERFUL FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING REDOX ADAPTATION AND STRESS, WITH BROAD IMPLICATIONS FOR HUMAN HEALTH.

21-HGIO21_2-0052 ON THE ORIGIN OF ENERGETICALLY-DOMINANT SUNWARD-PROPAGATING ALFVEN WAVES IN THE SOLAR WIND

DEVELOP ADVANCED MACHINE LEARNING TECHNIQUES THAT ARE CAPABLE OF EXPLOITING HETEROGENEOUS AND LOWER-FIDELITY, CYBER PHYSICAL SIGNALS.

DESCRIPTION:THIS AGREEMENT PROVIDES FUNDING IN THE AMOUNT OF $499,998 TO THE FLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY TO SUPPORT THE UNIVERSITY'S PROJECT TO ADDRESS MODIFIED BIOCHAR TECHNOLOGY FOR SIMULTANEOUS RED TIDE MITIGATION, NUTRIENT REDUCTION, AND CARBON SEQUESTRATION. ACTIVITIES:THE ACTIVITIES INCLUDE SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF MODIFIED BIOCHAR, TOXIN AND ALGAE REMOVAL CHARACTERISTICS BY BIOCHAR, AND CELL AND TOXIN REMOVAL EFFICIENCIES FOR OPTIMUM CLAY BIOCHAR RATIOS. SUBRECIPIENT:SUBAWARD WOULD GO TO MOTE TO PERFORM COLUMN AND MESOCOSM STUDY AND TOXIN ANALYSIS.OUTCOMES:THE ANTICIPATED DELIVERABLES ARE PERFORMANCE AND FINAL REPORTS AND A SAMPLING PORT SYSTEM TO ALLOW WATER SAMPLES TO BE COLLECTED AT MULTIPLE DEPTHS WITHOUT DISTURBING THE WATER COLUMN, PROVIDING FOR MEASUREMENTS OF CELL ABUNDANCE, PHOTO PHYSIOLOGY, BTX AND WATER QUALITY VARIABLES OVER TIME. THE EXPECTED OUTCOMES CONSIST OF UNDERSTANDING LOADINGS NECESSARY TO ACHIEVE SUFFICIENT REMOVAL OF CELLS AND TOXINS FOR SUCCESSFUL MITIGATION. DIRECT BENEFICIARIES ARE STATE OF FLORIDA CITIZENS AND RESIDENTS.

SCIENCE OBJECTIVES. THE MAIN OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO CONDUCT A STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USING A LARGE SET OF SIMULTANEOUS MEASUREMENTS OF FIELD AND PLASMA DATA TO ESTABLISH A DETAILED COMPARISON OF THE SCALING PROPERTIES OF SOLAR WIND TURBULENCE WITH THE MOST RECENT ADVANCES IN INCOMPRESSIBLE MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS (MHD) TURBULENCE THEORY AND SIMULATIONS. WE AIM TO ACCOMPLISH THE FOLLOWING SCIENTIFIC GOALS: 1) INVESTIGATE THE EXISTENCE OF SCALING LAWS FOR THE ALIGNMENT ANGLE BETWEEN VELOCITY AND MAGNETIC FIELD FLUCTUATIONS ALSO KNOWN AS SCALE-DEPENDENT DYNAMIC ALIGNMENT (SDDA) 2) INVESTIGATE THE POSSIBLE THREE DIMENSIONAL NATURE OF THE SDDA 3) INVESTIGATE THE ROLE OF THE CROSS-HELICITY RESIDUAL ENERGY AND THE COMPRESSIBILITY ON THE SCALING OF DYNAMICAL ALIGNMENT. ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN MHD TURBULENCE THEORY IS THAT THE EXISTENCE OF SDDA FOR INSTANCE BETWEEN VELOCITY AND MAGNETIC AND/OR ELSASSER FIELDS CAN LEAD TO A SCALE-DEPENDENT DEPLETION OF THE NONLINEAR INTERACTIONS BETWEEN TURBULENT FLUCTUATIONS WHICH IN TURN AFFECTS THE SHAPE OF THE TURBULENCE SPECTRUM AND THE TURBULENCE ANISOTROPY. THE MOST PROMISING PHENOMENOLOGICAL MODELS OF INCOMPRESSIBLE MHD TURBULENCE HAVE IN COMMON GOLDREICH AND SRIDHAR S ASSUMPTION OF CRITICAL BALANCE I.E. THAT THE TIME SCALE ASSOCIATED WITH LINEAR WAVE PROPAGATION IS COMPARABLE WITH THE NONLINEAR CASCADE TIME. BROADLY SPEAKING THESE MODELS CAN BE GROUPED INTO THOSE THAT INCLUDE SDDA IN THE CRITICAL BALANCE CONDITION AND THOSE THAT DO NOT RESULTING IN DIFFERENT PREDICTIONS FOR THE SCALING PROPERTIES OF TURBULENCE SPECTRA SDDA AND TURBULENCE ANISOTROPY. ALTHOUGH SEVERAL NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS TO DATE HAVE SHOWN STRONG EVIDENCE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF A SDDA LARGELY CONSISTENT WITH THEORETICAL PREDICTIONS FOR THE MEASURED ENERGY SPECTRUM CONCLUSIVE OBSERVATIONAL EVIDENCE OF SDDA IS LACKING. ONLY A FEW STUDIES HAVE ATTEMPTED TO MEASURE THE SDDA WITH RESPECT TO THE LENGTH-SCALE OF SOLAR WIND FLUCTUATIONS. HOWEVER THESE PREVIOUS STUDIES DID NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE POSSIBLE EFFECT OF THE SAMPLING DIRECTION IN THE DERIVATION OF THE SCALING OF THE SDDA. ALSO THERE WAS NO ATTEMPT TO INVESTIGATE HOW OTHER PROPERTIES OF THE SOLAR WIND PLASMA SUCH AS CROSS-HELICITY RESIDUAL ENERGY AND COMPRESSIBILITY MAY AFFECT THE SCALING OF THE SDDA. METHODOLOGY. TO STATISTICALLY INVESTIGATE THE SCALING PROPERTIES OF SOLAR WIND TURBULENCE WE WILL USE ANALYSIS OF FIELD AND PLASMA DATA FROM WIND AND ACE SPACECRAFT. 1) TO INVESTIGATE THE SCALING OF THE DYNAMICAL ANGLE BETWEEN MAGNETIC AND VELOCITY FLUCTUATIONS WE WILL FIRST IMPLEMENT A WAVELET TRANSFORMATION FOR THE MAGNETIC FIELD DATA IN ORDER TO ESTIMATE THE LOCAL MEAN MAGNETIC FIELD. IN OUR ANALYSIS WE WILL ESTIMATE THE SDDA TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE SAMPLING ANGLE OF THE SOLAR WIND FLUCTUATIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE LOCAL MEAN MAGNETIC FIELD. THEN WE IMPLEMENT TAYLOR HYPOTHESIS TO CONNECT THE FREQUENCY OF THE MEASURED FLUCTUATIONS TO THEIR LENGTH-SCALE. 2) TO INVESTIGATE THE THREE DIMENSIONAL NATURE OF THE SDDA WE ANALYZE THE FLUCTUATIONS SAMPLED PARALLEL AND PERPENDICULAR TO THE MAGNETIC FIELD. WE WILL ALSO ANALYZE THE SDDA WITH RESPECT TO THE TWO DIMENSIONAL PERPENDICULAR (WITH RESPECT TO THE LOCAL MEAN MAGNETIC FIELD) DIRECTIONS ONE IN THE DIRECTION OF THE ALIGNMENT AND THE OTHER PERPENDICULAR TO THE ALIGNMENT. 3) WE WILL ALSO RE-INVESTIGATE THE SDDA WITH RESPECT TO THE CROSS HELICITY RESIDUAL ENERGY AND THE COMPRESSIBILITY TO INVESTIGATE THEIR EFFECT ON THE SCALING OF THE DYNAMICAL ALIGNMENT. THIS PROJECT DIRECTLY ADDRESSES ONE OF THE GOALS OF WIND AND CLUSTER MISSIONS E.G. "TO INVESTIGATE BASIC PLASMA PROCESSES OCCURRING IN THE NEAR-EARTH SOLAR WIND" AND ONE OF THE FOUR HIGH-LEVEL SCIENCE GOALS OF THE HELIOPHYSICS DECADAL SURVEY E.G. DISCOVER AND CHARACTERIZE FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES THAT OCCUR BOTH WITHIN THE HELIOSPHERE AND THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE.

EQUIPMENT: MRI: TRACK 1 ACQUISITION OF A CRYO-ENABLED SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION AT THE FLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND PARTNERS. -THIS NSF MRI TRACK 1 AWARD WILL PERMIT THE FLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY TO PURCHASE A NEW CRYO ENABLED SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE (CRYO-SEM). LEVERAGING THE ADVANCES IN IMAGING PROVIDED BY THIS INSTRUMENT WILL BROADLY IMPACT A VARIETY OF AREAS OF RESEARCH, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO: (I) SPACE BIOLOGY, (II) DRUG DELIVERY, (III) TISSUE ENGINEERING, (IV) MARINE BIOFOULING AND CORROSION, AND (V) THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW THERMAL-RESISTANT COATINGS. DISCOVERIES IN THESE AREAS AND OTHERS WILL DELIVER IMPROVED MATERIALS AND APPROACHES TO REDUCE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS, NEW SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE APPROACHES, REFINED MODELS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION IN BIOLOGY, MITIGATIONS TO THREATS TO PUBLIC HEALTH, AND ADVANCES IN TISSUE ENGINEERING AND NANOSENSOR TECHNOLOGY. THIS INSTRUMENT WILL SUPPORT BOTH RESEARCH AND EDUCATION AT THE UNDERGRADUATE, GRADUATE, AND PROFESSIONAL LEVELS ACROSS MULTIPLE DISCIPLINES IN THE COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE. THE UTILITY OF THIS INSTRUMENT WILL BE EXPANDED BEYOND THE FLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND THE PARTNER INSTITUTIONS (ECKERD COLLEGE, WINSTON-SALEM UNIVERSITY, AND EASTERN FLORIDA STATE COLLEGE); THEREBY POSITIVELY IMPACTING EDUCATION AND RESEARCH ACROSS THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES. REMOTE OPERATION OF THE INSTRUMENT BY USERS AT PARTNER INSTITUTIONS, ALONG WITH HYBRID TRAININGS (IN-PERSON AND VIRTUAL), WILL FURTHER ENHANCE THE USER EXPERIENCE AND THE EDUCATIONAL AND TRAINING OUTCOMES FOR STUDENTS AT THESE SITES. ULTIMATELY, THE ENHANCEMENTS IN IMAGE ACQUISITION, SAMPLE PREPARATION, AND IMAGE ANALYSIS AFFORDED BY THIS INSTRUMENT WILL PROVIDE NEW RESEARCH QUESTIONS AS WELL AS SOLUTIONS TO ALL THE INSTRUMENT?S USERS AND BEYOND. THIS NEW CRYO-SEM WILL ADVANCE RESEARCH AT FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY AND THE PARTNER INSTITUTIONS IN AREAS WHERE LOW VACUUM AND CRYO-MODES ARE NECESSARY TO PROPERLY CHARACTERIZE THE MATERIALS AND MINIMIZE PROCESSING ARTIFACTS. THESE MAJOR AREAS INCLUDE: SPACE BIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY, BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING AND SCIENCES, AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING. FOR EXAMPLE, THE BIOWEATHERING AND FERTILIZATION OF MARTIAN REGOLITH SIMULANTS BY CYANOBACTERIA WILL BE INVESTIGATED IN SUPPORT OF A FUTURE HUMAN SETTLEMENT ON THE RED PLANET. THE MICROSTRUCTURE OF NATIVE TISSUES, TISSUE ENGINEERING SCAFFOLDS INCLUDING HYDROGELS, AND DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEMS WILL BE CHARACTERIZED IN CRYOMODE TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THEIR FIBROUS AND POROUS STRUCTURES THAT CAN IMPACT FUTURE CLINICAL USE. HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS IN COASTAL WATERWAYS AS WELL AS BIOFOULING CONSORTIA ON NEW MATERIALS WILL ALSO BE INVESTIGATED TO LIMIT DAMAGE TO MARINE SPECIES WHILE COMBATTING CLIMATE CHANGE. OVERALL, THIS NEW CRYO-SEM WILL ALLOW TRAINING AND ACCESS FOR UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS AS WELL AS FACULTY AND OTHER PROFESSIONALS FROM A VARIETY OF BACKGROUNDS AND RESEARCH DISCIPLINES. RESEARCH DISCOVERIES MADE AND DEVELOPED IN THE CENTER WILL BE DISSEMINATED THROUGH PUBLICATIONS AND BROADLY INTEGRATED INTO THE COURSE CURRICULA. 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 MAIN SCIENCE QUESTION THAT WE AIM TO ANSWER USING PSP OBSERVATIONS IS WHAT IS THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN TURBULENCE AND THE BACKGROUND SOLAR WIND?

PROJECT 20: GENERAL AVIATION RUNWAY INCURSIONS

JUPITER IMPACT MODELING

OBJECTIVES: POWER-LAW SPECTRUM IS THE MOST COMMON SPECTRUM OF ENERGETIC PARTICLES. HOWEVER WE OFTEN SEE THAT SOLAR ENERGETIC PARTICLES EXHIBIT POWER-LAW SPECTRA WITH TWO OR SOMETIMES MORE DIFFERENT SPECTRAL SLOPES IN DIFFERENT ENERGY BANDS. THOSE WITH TWO DIFFERENT POWER-LAW SLOPES ARE CALLED DOUBLE POWER-LAW SPECTRUM. RECENTLY THE OBSERVATION ATTRACTS A GREAT DEAL OF INTEREST IN THE HELIOSPHERIC PHYSICS COMMUNITY. WHILE THE SINGLE POWER-LAW SPECTRUM HAS A STRONG THEORETICAL FOUNDATION THERE IS NO CLEAR EXPLANATION FOR THE DOUBLE POWER-LAW SPECTRUM. SOME PUBLICATIONS ATTRIBUTE IT TO A MECHANISM OF PARTICLE ACCELERATION IN A SHOCK ENVIRONMENT BUT A FEW OTHERS SUGGEST IT IS DUE TO PARTICLE PROPAGATION FROM A REMOTE SOURCE IN THE CORONA TO 1 AU. THE GOAL OF THIS PROPOSED RESEARCH IS TO IDENTIFY WHAT MECHANISMS AND CONDITIONS PRODUCE THE DOUBLE POWER-LAW SPECTRUM OBSERVED BY SPACECRAFT IN INTERPLANETARY SPACE. THE RESULT WILL LEAD TO A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE PHYSICS OF PARTICLE ACCELERATION AND TRANSPORT IN THE CORONAL AND HELIOSPHERIC MAGNETIC FIELDS WHICH IS CRUCIAL TO DEVELOPING TOOLS FOR SPACE WEATHER FORECAST AND RADIATION HAZARD MITIGATION. DATA SOURCE AND METHODOLOGY: OUR PROPOSED WORK BUILDS ON MEASUREMENTS MADE BY NASA MISSIONS I.E. ACE STEREO WIND ULYSSES IMP-8 AND HELIOS. WE USE ALL ENERGETIC PARTICLE MEASUREMENTS ON THESE MISSIONS (ULEIS SIS LET SIT HISCALE COSPIN AND SO ON). TO AID OUR ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION WE ALSO USE PLASMA AND MAGNETIC FIELD DATA. ENERGETIC PARTICLE FLUX MEASUREMENTS BY THESE MISSIONS WILL BE BUILT INTO ENERGY SPECTRA USING VARIOUS SCHEMES. A LARGE NUMBER OF EVENTS WITH A DOUBLE POWER-LAW EVENTINTEGRATED SPECTRUM WILL BE SELECTED. WE WILL ANALYZE THE DETAILED PROPERTIES OF SOLAR ENERGETIC PARTICLES INCLUDING THEIR SPECTRUM SLOPES AND BREAK ENERGY. IN THIS NEW ANALYSIS WE WILL DISSECT SEP EVENTS INTO DIFFERENT PHASES: RISING PEAK AND DECAY (RESERVOIR) TO STUDY HOW THE DOUBLE POWER-LAW SPECTRUM EVOLVES IN TIME. WE WILL SELECT EVENTS SIMULTANEOUSLY OBSERVED BY MULTIPLE SPACECRAFT LOCATED AT DIFFERENT LONGITUDES LATITUDES AND RADIAL DISTANCES. RADIAL DEPENDENCE WILL ALSO BE STUDIED STATISTICALLY USING SINGLE-SPACECRAFT MEASUREMENTS. IN THIS WAY PROPERTIES OF THE DOUBLE POWER-LAW SPECTRUM AND THEIR DEPENDENCE ON LOCATION MAGNETIC CONNECTIVITY PARTICLE SPECIES OTHER PARAMETERS ARE THOROUGHLY ANALYZED FOR THE PURPOSE OF DETERMINING THE FUNDAMENTAL PHYSICS PRODUCING THE PHENOMENON. COMPARISONS OF THE OBSERVATIONAL RESULTS WITH MODEL CALCULATIONS WILL FURTHER HELP US SOLIDIFY OUR CONCLUSION. RELEVANCE: THE SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVE MATCHES THE GOALS OF HSO MISSIONS: DISCOVER THE MECHANISMS AND SITES OF ENERGETIC PARTICLE ACCELERATION IN THE LOW CORONA AND THE INTERPLANETARY MEDIUM AND THEIR SUBSEQUENT TRANSPORT IN HELIOSPHERIC MAGNETIC FIELDS ALL OF WHICH ARE PROCESSES FUNDAMENTAL TO THE HELIOSPHERIC PHYSICS. IT ADDRESSES TWO (1&4) OF THE FOUR HIGH-LEVEL SCIENCE GOALS FROM THE HELIOPHYSICS DECADAL SURVEY.

INVESTIGATING THE SPACE TIME CORRELATION OF SOLAR WIND TURBULENCE

INCREASING CLINICAL ACCESS BY REDUCING SCAN TIME OF DYNAMIC NUCLEAR CARDIAC IMAGING WITH SUPERIOR DIAGNOSIS - NIH PROJECT SUMMARY (30 LINES MAX) THE PROPOSED PROGRAM AIMS TO IMPROVE THE DIAGNOSIS AND PROGNOSIS OF CORONARY ARTERY DISEASE (CAD) AT CLINICS BY MAKING DYNAMIC NUCLEAR IMAGING ACCESSIBLE TO A WIDE POPULATION. THIS PROTOCOL, CURRENTLY AVAILABLE PRIMARILY AT SELECT RESEARCH FACILITIES, HAS LONG BEEN KNOWN TO BE SUPERIOR FOR QUANTITATIVE CARDIAC PERFUSION IMAGING. YET, DYNAMIC NUCLEAR IMAGING HAS ALMOST NO PENETRATION IN CLINICAL DIAGNOSTICS. THE REASON IS A COMBINATION OF SEVERAL TECHNICAL CHALLENGES, THE MOST NOTICEABLE ONE BEING ITS UNREASONABLY LONG SCANNING TIME. OUR PRINCIPAL HYPOTHESIS IS THAT THE UNIQUE DIAGNOSTIC PARAMETERS LIKE MYOCARDIAL BLOOD FLOW AND CORONARY FLOW RESERVE CAN BE OBTAINED BY DYNAMIC IMAGING ACQUISITION OVER A MUCH SHORTER SCAN TIME THAN WHAT IS BEING PRACTICED TODAY. REDUCING THE SCAN TIME WILL REMOVE THE PRIMARY IMPEDIMENT OF TRANSLATING DYNAMIC NUCLEAR IMAGING TO THE CLINIC. OUR OBJECTIVE WILL BE ACHIEVED WITH INNOVATIVE ALGORITHM DEVELOPMENT FOR THE TWO NUCLEAR IMAGING MODALITIES: SINGLE PHOTON EMISSION COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY (SPECT) AND POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY (PET). PREVIOUSLY WE HAVE DEVELOPED CUTTING-EDGE ALGORITHMS BASED ON A NOVEL MATHEMATICAL TOOL CALLED NON-NEGATIVE MATRIX FACTORIZATION (NMF) FOR BOTH OF THESE MODALITIES. IN THIS PROJECT, WE WILL ADVANCE THESE ALGORITHMS SIGNIFICANTLY TOWARD OUR OBJECTIVE, WHILE ALSO IMPROVING THE ACCURACY OF ESTIMATING DIAGNOSTICALLY VALUABLE INFORMATION. FOR THIS PURPOSE, WE WILL DEVELOP ADDITIONAL HIGH-LEVEL MATHEMATICAL COMPONENTS LIKE TOPOLOGY-BASED ANALYSIS OF 1D TIME-SERIES DATA AND ANATOMICAL SHAPES OF ORGANS TO GUIDE THE SOLUTION IN THE DATA ANALYSIS. WE WILL VALIDATE OUR RESULTS WITH REALISTIC NUMERICAL PHANTOMS AND CLINICAL DATA WITH THE RADIOTRACER 13NH3 IN PET AND 99TC-TETROFOSMIN IN SPECT. ANONYMIZED RETROSPECTIVE DATA WILL BE AVAILABLE FROM OUR COLLABORATORS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO (UCSF). THE SUCCESS OF OUR PROJECT WILL BRING THE APPLICATION OF DYNAMIC CARDIAC NUCLEAR IMAGING CLOSER TO CLINICAL UTILIZATION BY PROVING ITS QUANTITATIVE CAPABILITY TO BE DIAGNOSTICALLY MORE USEFUL THAN THE CURRENTLY PRACTICED STATIC IMAGING, AND THUS, WILL ADD MORE VALUE TO THE DIAGNOSIS OF CAD, SAVING LIVES AND COST. IN ADDITION TO DEVELOPING THE NEW IMAGE PROCESSING APPROACH. WE WILL WORK ON AUTOMATING THE DYNAMIC DATA ANALYSIS, AS CURRENTLY, THE NEED FOR MANUAL INTERVENTION IS A SIGNIFICANT SOURCE OF SUBJECTIVITY AND COST. THE PROJECT TEAM WILL INCLUDE EXPERIENCED MEDICAL PHYSICS RESEARCHERS AND DYNAMIC SPECT IMAGING PIONEERS AS CO-INVESTIGATORS, A MEDICAL IMAGING DATA ANALYST AS A PAID CONSULTANT, AND A NUCLEAR MEDICINE PHYSICIAN AND A NUCLEAR CARDIOLOGIST AS SUPPORTING PERSONNEL. THE PROJECT WILL INCLUDE A VITAL STUDENT TRAINING COMPONENT WITH COLLABORATION FROM THE UCSF. IF SUCCESSFUL, OUR APPROACH WILL BE APPLIED IN LARGER SCALE STUDIES FOR CLINICAL VALIDATION AT UCSF, USING ADDITIONAL IMAGING AGENTS FOR MYOCARDIAL PERFUSION IMAGING. THE RESULT OF OUR WORK WILL ENCOURAGE PATIENTS AND PHYSICIANS TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF DYNAMIC CARDIAC NUCLEAR IMAGING, WHICH WILL ADD MORE VALUE TO THE DIAGNOSIS OF CAD, SAVING LIVES, AND REDUCING COST.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CLIMATE CHANGE AND PREDATORY INVASION OF THE ANTARCTIC MARINE ENVIRONMENT

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: PRE-COLUMBIAN HUMAN IMPACTS ON AMAZONIAN ECOSYSTEMS

USING ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT FOR IMPROVED ANTIFOULING PERFORMANCE ON SHIP HULLS & NICHE AREAS

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH BELMONT FORUM: VULNERABILITY OF POPULATIONS UNDER EXTREME SCENARIOS

IDENTIFYING THE GENETIC DETERMINANTS OF INSECTICIDE RESPONSE VARIATION TO ADVANCE HUMAN RISK ASSESSMENT - PROJECT SUMMARY VECTOR-BORNE DISEASES SUCH AS MALARIA CAUSE APPROXIMATELY 700,000 DEATHS EACH YEAR. TO SUPPORT INSECT VECTOR CONTROL, PYRETHROID INSECTICIDES ARE WIDELY DEPLOYED. HOWEVER, THE RISE OF RESISTANCE HAS REDUCED THEIR EFFECTIVENESS, PROMPTING THE USE OF COMBINATION TREATMENTS THAT PAIR PYRETHROIDS WITH CHLORFENAPYR—AN INSECTICIDE WITH A DISTINCT MODE OF ACTION. EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THAT SPECIFIC PYRETHROID RESISTANCE ALLELES CAN MODULATE RESPONSES TO CHLORFENAPYR, POTENTIALLY DRIVING SYNERGISTIC EFFECTS WHEN THE TWO INSECTICIDES ARE COMBINED. THIS INTERACTION RAISES CONCERN THAT SIMILAR OR NOVEL GENE-BY-TREATMENT INTERACTIONS COULD ALSO INFLUENCE HUMAN RESPONSES, COMPLICATING CHEMICAL RISK ASSESSMENT FOR GENETICALLY DIVERSE HUMAN POPULATIONS. THE OVERALL OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO INTEGRATE LOW-COST, HIGH-THROUGHPUT QUANTITATIVE GENETICS IN C. ELEGANS WITH HUMAN CELL CULTURE TO INVESTIGATE THE GENES AND MOLECULAR PATHWAYS THAT INFLUENCE RESPONSES TO INSECTICIDES ALONE AND IN COMBINATION. THE RATIONALE FOR THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS THAT IDENTIFYING THE CONSERVED GENES AND MOLECULAR PATHWAYS THAT HARBOR NATURAL VARIANTS INFLUENCING RESPONSES TO COMBINED INSECTICIDE EXPOSURE CAN HELP INFORM RISK ASSESSMENT FOR HUMANS. IN AIM 1, WE WILL MAP QUANTITATIVE TRAIT LOCI (QTL) THAT INFLUENCE RESPONSES TO CHLORFENAPYR AND FOUR PYRETHROIDS, BOTH INDIVIDUALLY AND IN COMBINATION, USING WILD STRAINS AND RECOMBINANT INBRED LINES OF C. ELEGANS. IN AIM 2, WE WILL IDENTIFY SPECIFIC GENES AND VARIANTS WITHIN QTL THAT CAUSE DIFFERENCES IN INSECTICIDE RESPONSES USING EXPERIMENTAL CROSSES AND CRISPR/CAS9 GENOME-EDITING. IN AIM 3, WE WILL PROFILE TRANSCRIPTOMIC RESPONSES TO INSECTICIDES IN C. ELEGANS STRAINS WITH CAUSAL EDITS AND IN HUMAN HEK293 AND HEPG2 CELLS TO IDENTIFY CONSERVED PATHWAYS ASSOCIATED WITH RESPONSES TO COMBINED INSECTICIDE EXPOSURE. THE INNOVATION OF THIS PROPOSAL STEMS FROM THE INTEGRATION OF HIGH-THROUGHPUT QUANTITATIVE GENETICS IN C. ELEGANS WITH CROSS-SPECIES COMPARATIVE TRANSCRIPTOMICS. THIS APPROACH HAS NEVER BEEN USED TO INVESTIGATE THE EFFECTS OF NATURAL VARIATION ON COMBINED INSECTICIDE SUSCEPTIBILITY. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS SIGNIFICANT BECAUSE IT WILL UNCOVER MOLECULAR MECHANISMS UNDERLYING NATURAL VARIATION IN SUSCEPTIBILITY TO COMBINED PYRETHROID AND CHLORFENAPYR EXPOSURES, AND IDENTIFY CANDIDATE GENES THAT MAY HARBOR SUSCEPTIBILITY ALLELES RELEVANT TO HUMAN POPULATIONS. IMPORTANTLY, THIS PROPOSAL ALIGNS WITH THE OBJECTIVES OF THE AREA R15 MECHANISM BY (1) INCREASING UNDERGRADUATE INVOLVEMENT IN TOXICOLOGY AND GENETICS RESEARCH, AND (2) STRENGTHENING THE RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE AT THE FLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY.

DEVELOPMENT OF LIGHT TRIGGERED MOLECULAR TOOLS CRITICAL FOR UNDERSTANDING THE BRAIN'S NETWORK - DEVELOPMENT OF LIGHT TRIGGERED MOLECULAR TOOLS CRITICAL FOR UNDERSTANDING THE BRAIN’S NETWORK PI: NASRI NESNAS, PHD PROJECT SUMMARY BRAIN DISORDERS, SUCH AS DEMENTIA, EPILEPSY, AND DEPRESSION, CONTINUE TO BE A MAJOR CHALLENGE IN MEDICINE. THIS IS NOT SURPRISING CONSIDERING THE ENORMOUS COMPLEXITY OF THE BRAIN’S NETWORK OF NEURONS. AN AVERAGE HUMAN BRAIN INCORPORATES NEARLY 86 BILLION NEURONS INTERTWINED WITH AS MANY AS 10,000 SYNAPTIC CONNECTIONS. SUCH COMPLEXITY IS FAR MORE COLOSSAL THAN ANY COMPUTER PROCESSOR OR EVEN THE ENTIRE WORLDS’ ROAD MAPS. THEREFORE, BRAIN-MAPPING EFFORTS HAVE BECOME OF APPARENT URGENCY TO ENABLE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THIS COMPLEX MAZE. MAKING SUBSTANTIAL ADVANCES IN THIS AREA CERTAINLY REQUIRES COLLABORATION OF MULTIPLE DISCIPLINES. LIGHT RESPONSIVE MOLECULAR TOOLS HAVE BECOME INDISPENSIBLE TO NEUROSCIENTISTS AS THEY PROVIDE MEANS TO MANIPULATE SPECIFIC NEURONAL CONNECTIONS WITH PRECISE TIMING. WE ESTABLISHED COLLABORATIONS WITH SEVERAL NEUROSCIENTISTS, INCLUDING ATTILA LOSONCZY OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY TO DESIGN AND USE THESE CRITICAL TOOLS. THEY ARE INVESTIGATING THE ROLE OF CALCIUM IONS IN LEARNING AND MEMORY. WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP MOLECULAR TOOLS THAT CAN PRECISELY MODULATE THE CONCENTRATION OF CALCIUM IONS USING PHOTO SWITCHABLE CHELATING SYSTEMS. PHOTOCLEAVABLE PROTECTING GROUPS, ALSO KNOWN AS CAGES, ENABLE THE RELEASE OF ACTIVE AGONISTS WITH LIGHT. THE PRINCIPAL ADVANTAGE OF THIS TECHNIQUE IS THE UNPARALLELED PRECISION OF ACTIVATION IN LOCATION AS WELL AS TIMING, OTHERWISE REFERRED TO AS SPATIO-TEMPORAL CONTROL. WE HAVE PREPARED SEVERAL OF THESE CAGES, AND WE AIM TO DESIGN MORE EFFICIENT ONES THAT CAN ALSO RESPOND IN VISIBLE AND NEAR IR WAVELENGTHS TO AVOID PHOTO TOXICITIES ASSOCIATED WITH UV LIGHT TRADITIONALLY USED. TAMOXIFEN HAS BEEN USED AS A LIGAND FOR INDUCING GENE EXPRESSION IN CRE-ER LOX SYSTEMS. WE PROPOSE TO PREPARE CAGED TAMOXIFEN TO ENABLE OUR COLLABORATOR TO USE PRECISE TEMPORAL CONTROL OF GENE EXPRESSION IN HIPPOCAMPAL CELLS. PREPARATION OF EFFECTIVE PHOTOACTIVE MOLECULAR TOOLS WILL DIRECTLY BENEFIT THE LARGER NEUROSCIENCE COMMUNITY IN STUDYING THE BRAIN WITH THE LEVEL OF DETAIL ESSENTIAL TO TREATING ELUSIVE BRAIN DISORDERS. I WILL CONTINUE TO ACTIVELY ENGAGE UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN THESE ENDEAVORS, AND PARTICULARLY EMPHASIZE THE DIVERSITY OF EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL BACKGROUNDS OF THE MEMBERS IN MY RESEARCH LAB. I HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFUL AT MAINTAINING A LARGER PERCENTAGE OF FEMALE STUDENTS THAN OUR UNIVERSITY’S AVERAGE AND I WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO AS WELL AS ENCOURAGING MINORITY STUDENTS TO ENGAGE IN RESEARCH.

AN INVESTIGATION OF COSMIC RAY MODULATION AND ACCELERATION IN THE GLOBAL HELIOSPHERE\NTHE GOAL OF TH

DUAL ROLE OF HSP70 IN DIABETES-INDUCED VASCULAR DYSFUNCTION - DUAL ROLE OF HSP70 IN DIABETES-INDUCED VASCULAR DYSFUNCTION R15 – APPLICANT KENIA NUNES PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT VASCULAR DAMAGE, A SIGNIFICANT HEALTH PROBLEM, IS LINKED TO HYPERGLYCEMIA, A KEY COMPONENT OF BOTH TYPES OF DIABETES. THE RATIONALE FOR THIS STUDY IS THAT INCREASED GLUCOSE LEVELS CHRONOLOGICALLY ASSOCIATE WITH HIGHER LEVELS OF CIRCULATING HEAT-SHOCK PROTEIN 70 (HSP70), AN INTRIGUING MOLECULAR CHAPERONE THAT CO-EXISTS IN DIFFERENT CELL COMPARTMENTS AND EXERTS ANTAGONISTIC ACTIONS. THERE IS A WELL-KNOWN CROSSTALK BETWEEN HSP70 AND CA2+, BUT NOT IN SMOOTH MUSCLE. ONLY RECENTLY, MY LAB SHOWED THAT A FUNCTIONAL IHSP70 IS REQUIRED FOR ADEQUATE VASCULAR REACTIVITY UNDER PHYSIOLOGICAL CONDITIONS, AS IT IMPACTS CA2+ HANDLING MECHANISMS. IN DIABETES, THERE IS AN INCREASE IN THE LEVELS OF EHSP70, WHICH IS ASSOCIATED WITH OXIDATIVE STRESS AND LOW-GRADE INFLAMMATION. THUS, IT IS REASONABLE TO ARGUE THAT HSP70 COULD DETERMINE THE OUTCOME OF VASCULAR DAMAGE IN THIS DISEASE. STILL, IT IS UNKNOWN IF IHSP70 AFFECTS VASCULAR CA2+ SIGNALING UNDER HYPERGLYCEMIC CONDITIONS AND IF EHSP70 CONTRIBUTES TO VASCULAR FUNCTIONAL AND STRUCTURAL ALTERATIONS IN DIABETES. THE CENTRAL HYPOTHESIS OF THIS PROJECT, FORMULATED BASED ON THE LITERATURE AND MY ROBUST PRELIMINARY DATA, IS THAT HSP70 PLAYS A DUAL ROLE IN DIABETES-INDUCED VASCULAR DYSFUNCTION. THIS STUDY IS INNOVATIVE BECAUSE IT WILL INDEPENDENTLY INVESTIGATE THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN IHSP70 AND CA2+ HANDLING MECHANISMS LEADING TO FUNCTIONAL AND STRUCTURAL CHANGES UNDER HYPERGLYCEMIA AND BY SELECTIVELY TARGETING EHSP70 IN A MURINE MODEL OF TYPE 2 DIABETES TO PREVENT THESE CHANGES. I WILL COMBINE A SET OF WELL-ESTABLISHED IN VITRO, EX VIVO, AND IN VIVO APPROACHES, BY USING STATE-OF-ART TECHNIQUES SUCH AS ATOMIC FORCE MICROCOPY AND ULTRASONOGRAPHY (PULSE WAVE VELOCITY) TO ALLOW OBSERVATIONS AT MACRO, MICRO AND NANO SCALE. ALSO, SEX PLAYS A CRUCIAL ROLE IN DETERMINING THE TISSUE RATE OF PRODUCTION OF HSP70; THEREFORE, WE WILL USE MALE AND FEMALE ANIMALS. THE EXPERIMENTS OUTLINED IN THIS STUDY WILL ADDRESS EACH SPECIFIC AIM EFFICIENTLY BY UTILIZING THE STRENGTHS OF MY LABORATORY. MOREOVER, NETWORK BETWEEN BIOLOGY AND ENGINEERING WILL BE STABLISHED BY COLLABORATION WITH A SENIOR PROFESSOR IN BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING. THE PI HAS EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE IN THE FIELD AND WILL CLOSELY SUPERVISE THE STUDENTS. THE OUTCOME OF THIS RESEARCH HAS AN ENORMOUS POTENTIAL TO UNCOVER TARGET MECHANISMS TO MANAGE DIABETIC VASCULOPATHIES WHILE CREATING A MULTIDISCIPLINARY ENVIRONMENT OFFERING EXTENSIVE RESEARCH TRAINING TO UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS. OUR FINDINGS WILL HAVE A BROADER IMPACT BY OPENING NEW RESEARCH AVENUES FOR OTHER DISEASED STATES ASSOCIATED WITH VASCULAR STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL CHANGES.

**AWARDS ISSUED PRIOR TO JANUARY 20, 2025, WERE FUNDED UNDER PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS AND MAY NOT REFLECT THE PRIORITIES AND POLICIES OF THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION.** THIS PROJECTIS PROFORMEDBY FLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (FIT), OHIO UNIVERSITY (OHIO), AND UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO (UB). THE OVERARCHING GOAL IS TO DEVELOP BIOMASS-DERIVED BIOSORBENTS CAPABLE CONTROLLING AND PREVENTING EUTROPHICATION. THE GOAL WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED VIA A COMBINATION OF SYSTEMATIC EXPERIMENTS AT BATCH-SCALE TO CONTINUOUS COLUMN-SCALE, MACHINE LEARNING METHODS AND MOLECULAR SIMULATIONS.IN THIS PROJECT, BIOSORBENTS WILL BE SYNTHESIZED BY HYDROTHERMAL CARBONIZATION (HTC) AND THERMAL ACTIVATION OF MODEL COMPOUND (CELLULOSE) AND REAL BIOMASS (CORN STOVER). HTC CONDITIONS WILL BE VARIED TO MAXIMIZE THE CONCENTRATION OF FUNCTIONAL GROUPS ON BIOSORBENTS, AND THERMAL ACTIVATION WILL BE PERFORMED TO INCREASE THE OVERALL SURFACE AREA. ADSORPTION ISOTHERMS OF NUTRIENTS AND MICROCYSTIN WILL BE GENERATED FROM BATCH EXPERIMENTS, WHICH WILL BE MODELED USING MACHINE LEARNING METHODS TO ENABLE PREDICTION OF KINETICS OF BIOMASSES OF DIFFERENT COMPOSITIONS AND AT DIFFERENT HTC CONDITIONS.MOLECULAR SIMULATIONS WILL BE PERFORMED TO STUDY THE ADSORPTION OF NUTRIENTS AND MICROCYSTIN. MODEL BIOFILMS WILL BE FORMED AND CHARACTERIZED AND THEIR EFFECT ON ADSORPTION WILL BE STUDIED USING CONTINUOUS FLOW THROUGH EXPERIMENTS AND MECHANISTIC MODELING. ADDITIONALLY, WORK-LIFE OF THE BIOSORBENT WILL BE EVALUATED BY APPLYING THERMAL REGENERATION. FINALLY, A TECHNOECONOMIC ASSESSMENT (TEA) WILL BE PERFORMED TO DETERMINE THE ECONOMIC VIABILITY OF THE PROJECT.BY THE END OF THIS PROJECT, WE WILL HAVE BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF (A) HOW TO SYNTHESIZE BIOSORBENTS FOR NUTRIENT AND MICROCYSTIN ADSORPTION, (B) THE MECHANISMS UNDERLYING MICROCYSTIN BIOSORPTION, (C) THE EFFECTS OF NATURALLY OCCURRING BIOFILMS ON ADSORPTION BEHAVIOR IN A CONTINUOUS OPERATION, AND (D) THE PROCESS ECONOMICS INVOLVED IN BIOSORBENTS SYNTHESIS. BY DEVELOPING BIOSORBENTS FROM BIOMASS AND UTILIZING THEM TO PREVENT AND CONTROL EUTROPHICATION, THIS PROJECT ALIGNS WELL WITH THE SCOPE OF PROGRAM AREA A1531: BIOPROCESSING AND BIOENGINEERING.

WOMEN S BUSINESS OWNERSHIP ASSISTANCE (RENEWAL)

REGULATORY MECHANISMS LINKING HSF1 PROTEIN LEVELS AND HSF1 PROTEIN ACTIVITY TO THE ALTERNATIVE SPLICING FACTOR SF3B1

RUNAWAY DISCHARGES AND THEIR ROLES IN ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES

WOMEN'S BUSINESS OWNERSHIP ASSISTANCE - CARES ACT

WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORK (WSN) SYSTEM AND LIDAR EXPERIMENTS FOR THE CHARACTERIZATION OF STRONG WIND LOADS ON NON-STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS AND NEAR-SURFACE WIND PROFILES

EXPERIMENTAL HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS RESEARCH

EXPLORING THE LAND-SEA BREEZE CIRCULATION AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH MOIST STATIC ENERGY USING TWP ARM OBSERVATIONS

CAREER: THE PLASMOCHEMISTRY AND PHOTOCHEMISTRY OF THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE INDUCED BY TRANSIENT LUMINOUS EVENTS

INVESTIGATING THE TIMING AND CONSEQUENCES OF PLEISTOCENE MEGAFAUNAL POPULATION COLLAPSE IN THE NEOTROPICS

A MODULE OF PARTICLE ACCELERATION FOR THE CALCULATION OF ENA EMISSIONS: CRUCIAL CONTRIBUTION BY IBEX

A NOVEL, LOW-COST, MACHINE LEARNING BASED AND WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY FOR MONITORING HEART FAILURE PARAMETERS - HEART FAILURE (HF) IS A LEADING CAUSE OF MORTALITY, WITH A LOW FIVE-YEAR SURVIVAL RATE, OFTEN REQUIRING FREQUENT HOSPITALIZATIONS. REMOTE CARDIAC MONITORING HAS IMPROVED HF MANAGEMENT, YET A CRUCIAL GAP REMAINS IN MONITORING THE HEART'S PUMPING FUNCTION, SPECIFICALLY LEFT VENTRICULAR FUNCTION (LVF) PARAMETERS SUCH AS LEFT VENTRICULAR EJECTION FRACTION (LVEF), STROKE VOLUME (SV), AND CARDIAC OUTPUT (CO), WHICH ARE VITAL FOR UNDERSTANDING HF'S UNDERLYING PATHOPHYSIOLOGY. OUR LONG-TERM OBJECTIVE IS TO ADDRESS THIS GAP BY DEVELOPING A COST-EFFECTIVE, NON-INVASIVE, MACHINE LEARNING BASED AND WEARABLE SOLUTION FOR THE CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT OF LVF PARAMETERS. WE BASE OUR APPROACH ON THE MEASUREMENT OF 3D PRECORDIAL VIBRATIONS, WHICH CORRELATE WITH MYOCARDIAL MOVEMENTS. OUR CENTRAL HYPOTHESIS, WHICH WAS FORMULATED BASED ON PREVIOUS STUDIES AND PRELIMINARY DATA, IS THAT THE PRECORDIAL VIBRATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH CARDIAC MOVEMENTS CONTAIN FEATURES CLOSELY LINKED TO LV HEMODYNAMIC CHANGES. PRECISE EXTRACTION OF THESE FEATURES ALLOWS US TO MONITOR LVF PARAMETERS THROUGH A WEARABLE, LOW-COST APPROACH. THIS STRATEGY INVOLVES PLACING ACCELEROMETERS AND GYROSCOPES ON THE PRECORDIAL REGION TO ACHIEVE NON-INVASIVE AND COMPACT MONITORING. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED BY THREE SPECIFIC AIMS: AIM 1 FOCUSES ON FURTHER INVESTIGATING THE CORRELATIONS BETWEEN PRECORDIAL VIBRATIONS AND LVF MEASURES BY EMPLOYING CARDIAC IMAGE PROCESSING AND COMPUTATIONAL MODELING. THE GOAL IS TO IDENTIFY OPTIMAL SENSOR PLACEMENTS AND FEATURE EXTRACTION METHODS FOR PRECISE ESTIMATION OF LV FUNCTION PARAMETERS. AIM 2 INVOLVES EVALUATING THE FEASIBILITY OF USING PRECORDIAL VIBRATIONS TO ACCURATELY ESTIMATE LV FUNCTION MEASURES IN HUMAN SUBJECTS. TO ENSURE EFFECTIVE FEATURE EXTRACTION, WE WILL OPTIMIZE SENSOR PLACEMENTS AND FEATURE SELECTION AND EMPLOY CUTTING-EDGE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) TECHNIQUES TO ACCURATELY ESTIMATE LVF PARAMETERS. THIS AIM ALSO EXAMINES THE APPLICABILITY OF OUR METHOD IN PATIENTS WITH VARYING PRECORDIAL VIBRATIONS. AIM 3 IS DEDICATED TO IMPROVING OUR TECHNOLOGY TO MONITOR SUBTLE RESPIRATORY-RELATED CHANGES IN LVF, PARTICULARLY STROKE VOLUME VARIATION (SVV), BY CAPTURING RESPIRATORY-RELATED FEATURE CHANGES IN PRECORDIAL VIBRATIONS, WHICH IS CRUCIAL FOR ASSESSING FLUID RESPONSIVENESS IN PATIENTS. THIS INNOVATIVE APPROACH, WHICH COMBINES IMAGE PROCESSING, PATIENT DATA-DRIVEN COMPUTATIONAL MODELING, AND MACHINE LEARNING WITH WEARABLE SENSING FOR THE FIRST TIME, HAS THE POTENTIAL TO ENHANCE THE LIVES OF HEART FAILURE PATIENTS BY REDUCING HEALTHCARE COSTS AND IMPROVING THEIR PROGNOSIS AND QUALITY OF LIFE. THIS CONTRIBUTION WILL BE SIGNIFICANT BECAUSE OF ITS ABILITY TO ENABLE CONTINUOUS MONITORING OF LV FUNCTION PARAMETERS FROM A REMOTE SETTING. MOREOVER, THIS PROPOSAL AIMS TO SUBSTANTIALLY BROADEN STUDENT ENGAGEMENT WITH BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH AT THE FLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, WHILE ENHANCING THE UNIVERSITY'S RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE, RENDERING IT AN IDEAL CANDIDATE FOR AN R15 AREA GRANT.

REVERSIBLE METASTABLE-STATE PHOTOACIDS

CAREER: MICRO AND NANO METHODS TO REVEAL CELL SENSITIVITIES TO LOCAL STIFFNESS

ACTIVATION OF SMALL MOLECULES AND C-H AND C-F BONDS USING LOW-COORDINATE CATIONIC GROUP 13 COMPOUNDS

ASSESSING THE EFFECTS OF HUMAN ACTIVITY ON THE COMPOSITION OF TROPICAL FORESTS -THIS PROJECT EXAMINES HUMAN IMPACTS ON RAIN FOREST ECOSYSTEMS. NOTED FOR THEIR BIODIVERSITY, THE BOTANICAL COMPOSITION OF RAIN FORESTS HAS POTENTIALLY BEEN SHAPED DURING EXTENDED PERIODS OF HUMAN OCCUPATION BY THE PLANTING, CUTTING, AND BURNING OF PLANTS. AN ALTERNATIVE POSSIBILITY IS THAT HUMAN ACTIVITY AFFECTS THE COMPOSITION OF RAIN FORESTS ON SHORTER TIME SCALES, INCLUDING RECENT PERIODS OF INTENSIVE EXPLOITATION OF FORESTS FOR RUBBER AND OTHER PRODUCTS. THIS STUDY EXAMINES THESE ALTERNATIVES THOUGH A COMBINATION OF RESEARCH METHODS THAT INCLUDES THE ANALYSIS OF SEDIMENT CORES FROM TROPICAL LAKES, DOCUMENTATION OF VEGETATION IN FORESTED LOCATIONS, AND SURVEYS OF LOCAL RESIDENTS TO DETERMINE VARIATION IN THE USES OF LOCAL PLANTS. THIS COMBINATION OF METHODS FACILITATES ANALYSIS OF CHANGE IN FOREST COMPOSITION OVER TIME, ALLOWING THE RESEARCHERS TO INFER WHEN CHANGES OCCURRED AND THE EXTENT TO WHICH HUMAN ACTIVITY RESULTED IN CURRENT PATTERNS. THE RESEARCHERS ALSO COLLABORATE WITH LOCAL ECOTOURISM ORGANIZATIONS TO PROMOTE GREATER AWARENESS OF HUMAN IMPACTS ON FORESTED ENVIRONMENTS. THE PROJECT ALSO CONTRIBUTES TO THE MENTORSHIP AND TRAINING OF MULTIPLE STUDENTS IN ECOLOGICAL FIELD METHODS AND DATA ANALYSIS. THE EXTENT TO WHICH HUMAN ACTIVITY HAS MODIFIED TROPICAL RAIN FORESTS HAS BEEN A LONGSTANDING QUESTION AMONG GEOGRAPHERS. TO MAKE INFERENCES ABOUT HUMAN IMPACTS ON FORESTS, THE RESEARCHERS EXAMINE LAKE SEDIMENTS, WHICH ACCUMULATE OVER THOUSANDS OF YEARS. THE ANALYSIS OF POLLENS AND PLANT PARTS THAT HAVE FOSSILIZED IN THESE SEDIMENTS PROVIDES INSIGHTS INTO FLUCTUATIONS IN BOTANICAL DIVERSITY OVER TIME. THE RESEARCHERS COMBINE THESE FINDINGS WITH DATA ON LOCAL ETHNOBIOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE, WHICH PERMITS RETROSPECTIVE INSIGHTS INTO THE WAYS THAT PAST HUMAN INHABITANTS MAY HAVE CURATED THE FOREST IN BENEFICIAL WAYS. THE HISTORICAL TRAJECTORY OF TROPICAL FORESTS IS RELEVANT TO CLIMATE PROJECTIONS GIVEN EVIDENCE THAT NEWER FORESTS ABSORB ATMOSPHERIC CARBON AT RELATIVELY GREATER RATES. ASCERTAINING THE EXTENT TO WHICH FORESTS HAVE BEEN MODIFIED ON DIFFERENT TIMESCALES ALSO PROVIDES INSIGHTS INTO THE RESILIENCE OF FORESTS TO HUMAN ACTIVITY, INCLUDING PRESENT IMPACTS ON THE ECOSYSTEMS. THE PROJECT ALSO CONTRIBUTES TO CONSERVATION IN TROPICAL SETTINGS VIA PARTNERSHIPS WITH ECOTOURISM ORGANIZATIONS THAT SUPPORT CONSERVATION EFFORTS. THE TRAINING OF GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS CONTRIBUTES TO THE GOALS OF BROADENING PARTICIPATION IN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. 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.

MRI: ACQUISITION OF A HIGH PERFORMANCE GPU/CPU CLUSTER FOR RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING

SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPY BARRIER HEIGHT SPECTROSCOPY AS A TOOL FOR SUB-MOLECULAR QUANTITATIVE STRUCTURE-ACTIVITY RELATIONSHIP (QSAR) ANALYSIS

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: ARE AMAZONIAN AND ANDEAN ECOSYSTEMS CLOSE TO A TIPPING POINT?

THE ROLE OF PHR SIGNALING IN TAUOPATHY-RELATED NEURODEGENERATION - PROJECT SUMMARY NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASES CAUSE A PROGRESSIVE LOSS OF NEURONAL FUNCTION. CURRENTLY, AN ESTIMATED 6 MILLION AMERICANS ARE LIVE WITH DEMENTIA. DIAGNOSIS OFTEN HAPPENS AFTER SYMPTOMS START AND IRREVERSIBLE DAMAGE HAS ALREADY OCCURRED. PATIENTS FACE A BLEAK PROGNOSIS, AS TREATMENTS ARE INEFFECTIVE AT HALTING DISEASE PROGRESSION. BETTER TREATMENTS WILL RELY ON EARLIER DIAGNOSIS AND DRUGS THAT STOP PROGRESSIVE DEGENERATION. TO IDENTIFY BIOMARKERS AND PROMISING DRUG TARGETS, WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR MECHANISMS UNDERLYING DEGENERATIVE PROCESSES. TAU PROTEIN AGGREGATION IS A HALLMARK OF SEVERAL NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASES AND IS HIGHLY CORRELATED WITH SYMPTOMS. TAU IS KNOWN TO BIND AND REGULATE MICROTUBULE STABILITY. SEVERAL POST-TRANSLATIONAL MODIFICATIONS OF TAU HAVE BEEN DOCUMENTED, THOUGH THE SIGNIFICANCE ON SYMPTOM SEVERITY IS UNCLEAR. IT IS CRITICAL THAT WE IDENTIFY THE SIGNALING DOWNSTREAM OF TAU TO FIND NOVEL TARGETS. TO ADDRESS OUR OVERALL OBJECTIVE, WE ARE USING GENETICS TO REVEAL A NOVEL ROLE FOR THE HIGHLY CONSERVED RPM-1 SIGNALING NETWORK IN DEGENERATION IN A C. ELEGANS TAUOPATHY MODEL. RPM-1 IS A KEY REGULATOR OF NEURAL DEVELOPMENT, BUT RECENT WORK SHOWS ROLES FOR RPM-1 ORTHOLOGS IN AXON DEGENERATION FOLLOWING INJURY. RPM-1 ALSO PROMOTES SYNAPSE MAINTENANCE AND, IMPORTANTLY, WAS SHOWN TO BE GENETICALLY INHIBITED BY PTL-1/TAU DURING DEVELOPMENT. OUR RATIONALE IS THAT GENETIC ANALYSIS WILL IDENTIFY A NEW SIGNALING NETWORK WITH TAU IN NEURODEGENERATION AND HOW THIS NETWORK INFLUENCES DIFFERENT STAGES OF NEURODEGENERATION. COMPLETION OF AIM 1 WILL REVEAL THE TAU AND RPM-1 GENETIC NETWORK IN NEURODEGENERATION. AIM 2 WILL YIELD A COMPREHENSIVE TIME COURSE ANALYSIS OF SYNAPTIC, MITOCHONDRIAL, AND MICROTUBULE DYNAMICS CHANGES THAT OCCUR FROM DEVELOPMENT THROUGH LATE STAGE DEGENERATION. WE WILL ALSO ASSESS HOW THE NETWORK IDENTIFIED IN AIM 1 AFFECTS THESE CELLULAR CHANGES AT KEY TIME POINTS. THE INNOVATION OF THIS PROPOSAL IS THE NOVEL TAU NETWORK THAT INCLUDES THE RPM-1 PATHWAY. ADDITIONALLY, TIME-COURSE ANALYSIS OF SUBCELLULAR CHANGES WILL PROVIDE A TIMELINE OF KEY PHENOMENA DIRECTLY CORRELATING WITH DEGENERATION. WE ALSO WILL MICROTUBULE DYNAMICS, WHICH IS NOT WIDELY DONE AND HAS NEVER BEEN DONE IN VIVO IN A TAUOPATHY MODEL. THIS PROPOSED RESEARCH IS SIGNIFICANT BECAUSE IT WILL PROVIDE NEW INSIGHTS INTO THE GENETIC AND MOLECULAR MECHANISMS UNDERLYING NEURODEGENERATION, AS WELL AS POTENTIAL TARGETS FOR FUTURE DRUG DEVELOPMENT. IMPORTANTLY, THIS PROPOSAL WILL SATISFY KEY OBJECTIVE OF THE R15 MECHANISM BY 1) SIGNIFICANTLY ENHANCING EXPOSURE OF STUDENTS TO MOLECULAR BIOLOGY RESEARCH AND 2) STRENGTHENING THE RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE AT THE FLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY.

THE SOUTHEASTERN ASSOCIATION FOR RESEARCH IN ASTRONOMY NSF-REU SITE PROGRAM

INFEWS/T2: ORGANIC WASTE LIFECYCLES AT THE INTERFACE OF FOOD, ENERGY, WATER SYSTEMS (OWL-FEWS) -INTERCONNECTED FOOD-ENERGY-WATER (FEW) DEMANDS ARE INCREASING DUE TO INCREASING POPULATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH. ONE OF THE MAJOR REASONS FOR THESE INCREASED DEMANDS IS THE GENERATION OF NON-UTILIZED WASTE STREAMS. THE U.S. GENERATES APPROXIMATELY 254 MILLION TONS OF TRASH EACH YEAR, WITH ONLY 34% OF THIS WASTE RECYCLED OR COMPOSTED. INCREASING RESTRICTIONS ON THE EXPORT OF GARBAGE HAS GENERATED BOTH CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF WASTE SYSTEMS. WASTE MATERIAL PROVIDES AND OPPORTUNITY FOR MATERIALS RECOVERY, THE GENERATION OF NEW PRODUCTS AND PROCESSES, AND THE POTENTIAL TO POSITIVELY IMPACT FOOD, ENERGY, AND WATER SYSTEMS. GIVEN THE INCREASING RATES OF CONSUMPTION INTERNATIONALLY, DEVELOPING THE NEXT GENERATION OF WASTE RECOVERY IS OF GLOBAL SIGNIFICANCE. HOWEVER, REINVENTING WASTE STREAMS REQUIRES A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF HOW WASTE IS CURRENTLY GOVERNED, RETHINKING AND REDESIGNING WASTE RECOVERY PRODUCTION SYSTEMS TO BETTER CAPTURE THE VALUE OF MATERIAL, DEVELOPING SYSTEMS FOR MONITORING MATERIAL COMPOSITION, INTEGRATION WITH NEW CYBER INFRASTRUCTURE FOR WASTE MONITORING, AND INCORPORATING THE BEHAVIORAL AND POLICY STRUCTURES THAT INFLUENCE ACTION ACROSS COMPLEX MULTI-SCALED SYSTEMS. THE OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT ARE TO DEVELOP A SYSTEMS-LEVEL FRAMEWORK FOR COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ORGANIC WASTE LIFECYCLES THAT COMBINES BEHAVIOR SCIENCES WITH MATERIAL FLOWS ANALYSIS TO RETHINK WASTE SYSTEMS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW CO-PRODUCTS FROM ORGANIC WASTES. THIS PROPOSAL FOCUSES ON SYSTEMS-LEVEL INTERACTIONS IN THE FRAMEWORK OF ORGANIC WASTE LIFECYCLES AT THE INTERFACE OF FOOD, ENERGY AND WATER SYSTEMS (OWL-FEWS). THE PROJECT ENTAILS THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEXT GENERATION OF CYBER-INFRASTRUCTURE FOR MEASURING, MONITORING, AND CAPTURING DATA ON ORGANIC WASTE STREAMS; ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL AND INSTITUTIONAL DRIVERS BEHIND ORGANIC WASTE DISPOSAL BEHAVIOR; AND EXPERIMENTATION, DEVELOPMENT, AND TESTING OF NEW CO-PRODUCTS FROM ORGANIC WASTE STREAMS. UTILIZING AN EXISTING PILOT-SCALE ANAEROBIC DIGESTER, BIO/HYDROCHAR ENGINEERING FACILITIES, OPEN SOURCE RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION TAGGING FOR REAL TIME TRACKING OF WASTE FLOWS, AND A SERIES OF BEHAVIOR EXPERIMENTS AND COMPARATIVE INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR, THE RESEARCH TEAM WILL FOCUS ON FIVE GOALS: 1) THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DYNAMIC MODEL OF ORGANIC WASTE LIFECYCLES AT A REGIONAL LEVEL; 2) THE DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING OF ORGANIC FOOD WASTE CO-PRODUCTS FOR ENERGY, SOIL AMENDMENTS, WATER REMEDIATION, AND OTHER USES; 3) THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SMART ORGANIC FOOD WASTE CYBER INFRASTRUCTURE; 4) THE INTEGRATION OF SOCIAL SCIENCES ACROSS THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DYNAMIC MODEL, CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE, AND WASTE/RESOURCE PRODUCTS; AND 5) THE ENGAGEMENT OF STAKEHOLDERS ACROSS THE RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS. THE RESULTS OF THIS RESEARCH WILL PROVIDE MEANINGFUL PATHWAYS TO REDUCING WASTE IN THE U.S. AND PROVIDE WATER TREATMENT, ENERGY, AND AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES FROM WASTE, LEADING TO BETTER FOOD, ENERGY, AND WATER SECURITY IN THE U.S. 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.

EXPLORING THE ROLE OF TOPOGRAPHY AND LAND-SEA CONTRAST ON THE PROPAGATION OF THE MJO ACROSS THE MARITIME CONTINENT

CENTRAL AMERICAN CLIMATES OF THE LAST INTERGLACIAL

WOMEN'S BUSINESS OWNERSHIP ASSISTANCE - RENEWAL

AN ENSEMBLE-BASED APPROACH TO FORECASTING SURF, SET-UP, AND SURGE IN THE COASTAL ZONE

CAREER: POST-QUANTUM SECURITY AND IDENTITY FOUNDATIONS FOR ADAPTIVE 6G INFRASTRUCTURE -TODAY, WIRELESS NETWORKS PROTECT PERSONAL INFORMATION USING SECRET CODES CALLED ENCRYPTION. SOON, A NEW TYPE OF COMPUTER CALLED A QUANTUM COMPUTER MAY BECOME POWERFUL ENOUGH TO CRACK THESE CODES, PUTTING HOSPITALS, EMERGENCY SERVICES, BANKS, AND EVERYDAY COMMUNICATIONS AT RISK. THIS PROJECT AIMS TO MAKE FUTURE WIRELESS NETWORKS SAFE FROM THIS THREAT. IT BUILDS NEW WAYS TO LOCK AND PROTECT INFORMATION THAT QUANTUM COMPUTERS CANNOT BREAK. IT ALSO CREATES SYSTEMS THAT CAN SENSE WHEN A NETWORK IS UNDER ATTACK AND AUTOMATICALLY SWITCH TO STRONGER PROTECTION, KEEPING WIRELESS CONNECTIONS SAFE AND WORKING SMOOTHLY. THIS PROJECT ADDRESSES THREE INTERCONNECTED RESEARCH THRUSTS. THE FIRST THRUST DESIGNS AND EVALUATES QUANTUM RESISTANT VERSIONS OF NEXT GENERATION AUTHENTICATION AND COMMUNICATION PROTOCOLS BY INTEGRATING NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY STANDARDIZED POST QUANTUM CRYPTOGRAPHY ALGORITHMS, INCLUDING MODULE LATTICE KEY ENCAPSULATION MECHANISM AND MODULE LATTICE DIGITAL SIGNATURE ALGORITHM, INTO WIRELESS PROTOCOL STACKS. THE SECOND THRUST DEVELOPS A DECENTRALIZED DIGITAL IDENTITY FRAMEWORK USING QUANTUM RESISTANT DIGITAL CREDENTIALS FOR SECURE CROSS DOMAIN AUTHENTICATION. THE THIRD THRUST BUILDS AN ADAPTIVE CRYPTOGRAPHIC AGILITY ENGINE POWERED BY REINFORCEMENT LEARNING THAT AUTONOMOUSLY SELECTS SECURITY CONFIGURATIONS BASED ON REAL TIME NETWORK CONDITIONS, DEVICE RESOURCES, AND THREAT LEVELS. THIS PROJECT ADVANCES THE NATIONAL PRIORITY TO TRANSITION CRITICAL DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE TO QUANTUM RESISTANT PROTECTION BEFORE LARGE SCALE QUANTUM COMPUTERS EMERGE. GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS WILL RECEIVE TRAINING IN POST QUANTUM CRYPTOGRAPHY AND WIRELESS SECURITY THROUGH NEW CURRICULUM, RESEARCH EXPERIENCES, AND A HANDS ON QUANTUM DEFENDER CHALLENGE COMPETITION. LABORATORY MODULES WILL BE SHARED NATIONWIDE THROUGH THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION PLATFORMS FOR ADVANCED WIRELESS RESEARCH PROGRAM. OUTREACH ACTIVITIES WILL BROADEN AWARENESS OF QUANTUM SAFE SECURITY AMONG STUDENTS ACROSS COMMUNITIES IN CENTRAL FLORIDA. OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE TOOLS AND EXPERIMENTAL DATASETS WILL BE SHARED WITH THE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION COMMUNITY TO ACCELERATE INNOVATION. ALL SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATIONS, DATASETS, PROTOCOL EMULATORS, AND EXPERIMENTAL ARTIFACTS DEVELOPED IN THIS PROJECT WILL BE MAINTAINED IN A PUBLIC REPOSITORY TO SUPPORT TRANSPARENCY AND LONG TERM PUBLIC REUSE. THE REPOSITORY WILL INCLUDE OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE, PROTOCOL REFERENCE IMPLEMENTATIONS, TESTBED CONTAINER IMAGES COMPATIBLE WITH THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION ARA WIRELESS LIVING LABORATORY PLATFORM, AND REPRODUCIBLE EVALUATION SCRIPTS. DOCUMENTATION AND INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS WILL ALSO BE PROVIDED TO SUPPORT RESEARCH, TEACHING, AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER IN SECURE WIRELESS SYSTEMS. THE PROJECT WEBSITE WILL BE MAINTAINED FOR AT LEAST FIVE YEARS AFTER THE AWARD PERIOD ENDS. 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 - COSEE FLORIDA: WATER AS HABITAT

TAS::57 3600::TAS "(YIP) ON A THEORY OF BROADBAND ABSORPTION SUPPRESSION IN MAGNETIC COMPOSITES" DATED 15 SEP 2014 AND REVISED 17 FEB 2015

BEHAVIORAL CORRELATES OF EXTREMELY HIGH-SENSITIVITY THERMAL IMAGING BY SNAKES

IDBR (TYPE A): DEVELOPMENT OF APP AND WEB INTERFACE FOR AUTOMATED ANURAN RECOGNITION AND MAPPING

WOMEN S BUSINESS OWNERSHIP ASSISTANCE RENEWAL

THIS AGREEMENT SHALL BE PERFORMED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROPOSAL ENTITLED "CLEANING TOOL DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCHING TECHNIQUES FOR QUANTIFYING THE I

SHINE: INJECTION, ACCELERATION AND TRANSPORT OF SOLAR ENERGETIC PARTICLES PRODUCED BY THE CORONAL MASS EJECTION (CME) SHOCK

REU SITE: ADVANCES OF MACHINE LEARNING IN THEORY AND APPLICATIONS (AMALTHEA)

REU SITE: ADVANCES OF MACHINE LEARNING IN THEORY & APPLICATIONS (AMALTHEA)

THE SOUTHEASTERN ASSOCIATION FOR RESEARCH IN ASTRONOMY REU SITE PROGRAM

MICROGRAVITY TEST OF AUTONOMOUS MULTIPLE CYCLE FARMING SYSTEM

NEURAL NETWORKS FOR ORPHAN AFTERGLOW PARAMETER ESTIMATION OF RUBIN & ROMAN DATA

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: UNDERSTANDING THE FULL RANGE OF AMAZON DROUGHT AND IMPACTS

UNS:NOVEL BIOMATERIALS WITH LIGHT-CONTROLLED CO RELEASE FOR MODULATION OF ENDOTHELIAL CELLS

BACKGROUND: THE HIGH-ENERGY COMPONENTS OF SOLAR ENERGETIC PARTICLES (SEPS) ARE OF GREAT CONCERN AS SPACE WEATHER HAZARD BECAUSE THEY ARE HARD TO SHIELD AND CAN DO SEVERE DAMAGE TO HUMAN AND ELECTRONICS IN SPACE. THESE PARTICLES ARE PRODUCED DEEP ....

A REAL-TIME COUPLED WAVE/ATMOSPHERIC REGIONAL FORECAST AND ANALYSIS SYSTEM: CWARFS

ACOUSTIC PROPERTIES IN THE PRESENCE OF SHOALING AND BREAKING INTERNAL WAVES OVER COMPLEX TOPOGRAPHY, A NUMERICAL MODELING STUDY

THIS ACTION APPROVES AN AWARD IN THE AMOUNT OF $329,997 TO SUPPORT FLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY&RSQUOANDS EFFORTS WITH SUPPORTING SOUTH FLORIDA PROGRAM. THIS PROJECT FOCUSES ON ST. LUCIE ESTUARY REGION FREQUENTLY EXPERIENCES LARGELY UNPREDICTABLE HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS (HABS). THESE BLOOMS CAN BECOME PARTICULARLY PROBLEMATIC WHEN FRESHWATER IS RELEASED INTO THE ESTUARY FROM LAKE OKEECHOBEE, WHICH INTRODUCES BLOOMS TO THE SYSTEM AS WELL AS CREATES CONDITIONS CONDUCIVE TO BLOOM PERSISTENCE AND DISTRIBUTION.

SIGNAL TRANSDUCTION DURING FERTILIZATION

REU SITE: RESEARCH AT THE INTERSECTION OF BIOLOGY AND MATHEMATICS

RHODIUM PORPHYIN COMPLEXES AS CATALYSTS FOR THE RAPID DEGRADATION OF OPIOIDS

USING ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT FOR IMPROVED ANTIFOULING PERFORMANCE ON SHIP HULLS&NICHE AREAS

THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP NEW METHODS AND TOOLS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE RELATION BETWEEN SINGLE-POINT SPACE-CRAFT MEASUREM

THE DOMINANT AND TOTALLY UNEXPECTED FEATURE IN ALL THE INTERSTELLAR BOUNDARY EXPLORER (IBEX) ALL-SKY MAPS IS A RIBBON OF THE ENHANCED ENERGETIC NEUTR

SHIFTED BASELINES: QUANTIFYING PAST HUMAN INFLUENCES ON ANDEAN LANDSCAPES

A NEW TOOL FOR STUDYING JUPITER'S CLOUDS, STORMS AND VORTICES-FIT THE GOAL OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS TO INVESTIGATE THE ATMOSPHERE OF JUPITER THR

REU SITE: STATISTICAL MODELS WITH APPLICATIONS TO GEOSCIENCE

PFI-TT: A PARALLEL COMPUTING ENGINE FOR SIMULATION OF COMPLEX MULTI-SCALE SYSTEMS

ADVANCED BIOFOULING RESEARCH TEST FACILITY

WBC - FLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, INC. (MELBOURNE)

WOMEN S BUSINESS OWNERSHIP ASSISTANCE (INITIAL)

OWBO; CONG;BLINC; FAST; PRIME; SBIR

GEM: ELECTROMAGNETIC ION CYCLOTRON WAVES IN A COUPLED SYSTEM OF THE EARTH'S MAGNETOSPHERIC RING CURRENT, PLASMASPHERE, AND IONOSPHERE

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: IMPROVING CAPABILITIES OF MICRO-SCALE VIBRATORY SYSTEMS BY EMBRACING AND ACCOUNTING FOR LARGE-AMPLITUDE RESPONSES

APPLICATION OF IMTA-TECHNOLOGY TO REVIVE AND SUSTAIN LIVELIHOOD OF FISHING COMMUNITIES IN PUERTO RICO

AN INVESTIGATION OF POST-MAIN-SEQUENCE MASS LOSS USING FRAGILE BINARIES

DEEP - DEVELOPING EFFICIENT EXPLORATION PROBES CRYO VACUUM CHAMBER FOR ENHANCING THE SHAPE AND HEATING CONFIGURATION OF CRYOBOTS FOR THE EXPLORATION OF OCEAN WORLDS

OXYGEN-ENRICHED COMBUSTION OF JP-8 AND A SURROGATE

FUND FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION - EUROPEAN EXCHANGE

TOWARD A THEORY OF TRUST DEVELOPMENT, VIOLATION, AND REPAIR ACROSS CULTURES

AN INVESTIGATION OF SOLAR EUV & FUV SOURCES AND THEIR VARIABILITYWE PROPOSE TO EXECUTE A MULTI-F

TAS::57 3600::TAS, RESILIENT AIRBORNE NETWORK PROTOCOL DESIGN

MATERIALS WORLD NETWORK: COLLABORATIVE RES.: THEORETICAL, COMPUTATIONAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF 3D MICROSTRUCTURAL EVOLUTION IN ULTRA-HIGH VOLU

LIGHTNING INITIATION AND PROPAGATION WITH AN ADVANCED COMPUTER MODEL AND CODE

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: UNCOVERING NATURE'S 100 TEV PARTICLE ACCELERATORS IN THE LARGE-SCALE JETS OF QUASARS

"EXAMINATION OF OMNIDIRECTIONAL TRUST AND DISTRUST IN HETEROGENEOUS HUMAN-AGENT TEAMS" (THE GRANTEE'S TECHNICAL PROPOSAL) DATED 27 MAR 2025, IS HEREBY INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE.

"AN INVESTIGATION OF SOLAR ENERGETIC PARTICLES FROM POORLY CONNECTED CME OR FLARE EVENTS"WE WILL INV

REU SITE: PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS AND DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS

EAGER: ARE CORAL DISEASES CONTAGIOUS?

EAGER: CREATING A COMPOSITE EL NINO RECORD FROM THE LOWLAND NEOTROPICS -THIS PROJECT IS SUPPORTED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE EARLY CONCEPT GRANT FOR EXPLORATORY RESEARCH (EAGER) PROGRAM TO INVESTIGATE ASPECTS OF RECURRING EL NI?O SOUTHERN OSCILLATION (ENSO) EVENTS. THESE EVENTS ARE THE LARGEST CAUSE OF GLOBAL INTERANNUAL CLIMATE VARIABILITY AND ARE ASSOCIATED WITH EXTREME WARMTH CAUSING DRAMATIC INCREASES IN GLOBAL TEMPERATURE FROM WHICH NO SUBSEQUENT RETREAT OCCURS. ALTHOUGH ENSO IS CLIMATICALLY FORCED IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN, THERE ARE STRONG ENVIRONMENTAL TELECONNECTIONS WITH THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. GAINING A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON ENSO FREQUENCY AND INTENSITY IS INTEGRAL TO UNDERSTANDING THE THREAT FROM FUTURE ENSO EVENTS. CURRENTLY, MODELING PREDICTIONS OF HOW ENSO WOULD RESPOND IN A WARMED WORLD DO NOT PROVIDE A CLEAR SCIENTIFIC UNDERSTANDING. THE RESEARCHERS AIM TO DEVELOP A COMPOSITE RECORD OF ENSO HISTORY BASED ON EIGHT HIGHLY RESOLVED SEDIMENTARY RECORDS THAT WILL PRODUCE RECORDS OF ENSO VARIABILITY SPANNING THE LAST 5000 YEARS FROM NORTHERN SOUTH AMERICA. THESE RECORDS WILL BE ADDED TO OTHER RECORDS TO PROVIDE A COMPOSITE RECORD OF ENSO FROM SIX MAINLAND LAKES, INCLUDING ONE RECORD FROM THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS AND ONE FROM A NEARSHORE MARINE SETTING IN PERU. THROUGH THIS ANALYSIS, THE RESEARCH TEAM AIMS TO REDUCE IDIOSYNCRASIES INDUCED BY RELIANCE ON A SINGLE SITE TO PROVIDE THE HISTORY OF ENSO. THIS IS A POTENTIALLY HIGH-RISK AND HIGH-REWARD PROJECT AS IT BREAKS NEW GROUND IN INTELLECTUAL MERIT BY DEVELOPING NEW ENSO RECORDS. THE PROJECT HAS EXCELLENT POTENTIAL BROADER IMPACTS BECAUSE CHALLENGING SCIENTIFIC ORTHODOXY AND SEEKING TO BETTER UNDERSTAND FUNDAMENTAL ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICS THAT GOVERNS ATMOSPHERIC DYNAMICS IS CRITICAL TO ADDRESSING A RANGE OF ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMENA. THE PROJECT SUPPORTS AN EARLY CAREER DOCTORAL SCHOLAR FROM AN UNDERREPRESENTED GROUP IN SCIENCE AND ALSO PROMOTES MEANINGFUL INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION WITH RESEARCHERS IN ECUADOR. 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.

IMPROVING POLLEN IDENTIFICATION AND USEFULNESS IN BIOGEOGRAPHIC AND GEOLOCATION STUDIES

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: NONLINEAR COUPLING AND RELAXATION MECHANISMS IN MICRO-MECHANICS

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: LIQUID FERTILIZER AND ENGINEERED CARBON FROM PH-SWING HYDROTHERMAL CARBONIZATION OF ANIMAL MANURE FOR SUSTAINABLE CIRCULAR BIOECONOMY -OVER ONE BILLION TONS OF NUTRIENT-RICH ANIMAL WASTE ARE PRODUCED ANNUALLY IN THE UNITED STATES, YET ONLY A SMALL PORTION IS UTILIZED, PRIMARILY AS FERTILIZER. THIS PROJECT ADDRESSES A CHALLENGE OF MODERN AGRICULTURE RELATED TO THE SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF ANIMAL MANURE, WHICH, IF NOT PROPERLY MANAGED, CAN SIGNIFICANTLY IMPACT THE ENVIRONMENT, PUBLIC HEALTH, AND THE ECONOMY. THE TEAM SEEKS TO IMPLEMENT A NOVEL PROCESS TO OPTIMIZE NUTRIENT RECOVERY AND PRODUCE ENGINEERED CARBON MATERIALS FROM ANIMAL MANURE WHICH NOT ONLY REPURPOSES ANIMAL MANURE BUT ALSO ENHANCES ITS VALUE AS AN EFFICIENT FERTILIZER. THE PROJECT AIMS TO IMPROVE THE EFFICIENCY OF RESOURCE UTILIZATION AND IMPACT IN THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR. IF SUCCESSFUL, THIS TECHNOLOGY WILL SUBSTANTIALLY ALLEVIATE THE ENVIRONMENTAL, HEALTH, AND ECONOMIC BURDEN ASSOCIATED WITH NUTRIENT RELEASE INTO WATER BODIES. IT MAY ALSO ENABLE LOCAL FARMERS AND OTHERS TO DEVELOP NEW PRODUCTS, THEREBY INCREASING REVENUES AND REDUCING ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION AND WASTE DISPOSAL COSTS. THE PROJECT WILL ALSO PROVIDE UNIQUE TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES FOR GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS. THIS PROJECT AIMS TO DEVELOP A NOVEL HYDROTHERMAL CARBONIZATION (HTC) TECHNOLOGY THAT EFFICIENTLY RECOVERS NUTRIENTS FROM ANIMAL MANURES WHILE ALSO PRODUCING VALUE-ADDED ENGINEERED CARBONS. IN THIS PH-SWING HTC PROCESS, NITROGEN AND PHOSPHORUS WILL BE RECOVERED FROM SOLID ANIMAL MANURE TO FORM LIQUID FERTILIZER BY CONTROLLING THE FEEDWATER PH. THIS WILL ALSO PRODUCE CARBON-RICH AND LOW-IMPURITY HYDROCHAR, WHICH WILL BE FURTHER CONVERTED INTO ENGINEERED CARBON FOR ENVIRONMENTAL APPLICATIONS. TO ACHIEVE THE GOALS OF THIS PROJECT, THE FOLLOWING THREE OBJECTIVES WILL BE PURSUED: 1) DEVELOP A NOVEL PH-SWING HTC TECHNOLOGY TO RECOVER NUTRIENTS INTO A LIQUID PHASE FROM WET ANIMAL MANURES; 2) ANALYZE THE EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT MODIFICATION METHODS ON THE PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES AS WELL AS POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS OF THE HYDROCHAR; AND 3) EVALUATE ECONOMIC VIABILITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY OF NUTRIENT RECOVERY AND ENGINEERED CARBON SYNTHESIS. A RANGE OF LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS AND MODEL SIMULATIONS WILL BE CONDUCTED TO UNDERSTAND THE EFFECTS OF PH-SWING HTC PROCESSES AND CARBON-MODIFICATION METHODS ON THE QUALITY OF LIQUID FERTILIZER AND ENGINEERED CARBON DERIVED FROM ANIMAL MANURE. TECHNOECONOMIC ANALYSIS AND LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT WILL BE CONDUCTED TO ASSESS THE ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF NUTRIENT RECOVERY AND ENGINEERED CARBON SYNTHESIS. THE SUCCESS OF THE PROJECT WILL OFFER NEW INSIGHT INTO THE CHEMICAL REACTIONS AND PHYSICAL TRANSFORMATIONS OCCURRING DURING THE HTC OF ANIMAL WASTES. IT WILL ALSO BE A SIGNIFICANT STEP TOWARDS SCALING-UP AND COMMERCIALIZATION OF THE PH-SWING HTC TECHNOLOGY FOR A SUSTAINABLE CIRCULAR BIOECONOMY. 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.

**AWARDS ISSUED PRIOR TO JANUARY 20, 2025, WERE FUNDED UNDER PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS AND MAY NOT REFLECT THE PRIORITIES AND POLICIES OF THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION.** THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO DEVELOP A DEEP-LEARNING FRAMEWORK FOR THE AUTOMATED SELECTION OF OPTIMAL SOIL SAMPLING SITES BASED ON LANDSCAPE POSITION. SOIL SAMPLING IS ONE OF THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES IN AGRICULTURE: IT IS THE CRUCIAL FIRST STEP IN SOIL TESTING TO DETERMINE SOIL HEALTH. A SOIL ANALYSIS, WHICH PROVIDES INFORMATION IMPORTANT TO MAXIMIZE NUTRIENT USE EFFICIENCY AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY, CAN ONLY BE AS GOOD AS THE SAMPLES SENT TO THE LAB. GOOD SAMPLES REQUIRE SAMPLING AT MULTIPLE OPTIMAL SITES IN THE FIELD. IN THE CURRENT PRACTICE, FARMERS COLLECT AND POOL SAMPLES THEMSELVES AND SEND THEM TO A LAB FOR ANALYSIS. THERE ARE SCIENTIFIC METHODS WHERE SAMPLES CAN BE POOLED BASED ON LANDSCAPE POSITION AND KNOWLEDGE ABOUT HOW NUTRIENTS MOVE IN SOIL DUE TO DIFFERENCES IN PROPERTIES. HOWEVER, MOST PRODUCERS DO NOT FOLLOW THOSE PROCEDURES AS THEY CAN BE COMPLEX AND VARY FROM FIELD TO FIELD. POOLED SOIL SAMPLES DO NOT REPRESENT THE ACTUAL VARIATION IN SOIL PROPERTIES. PRODUCERS CAN PULL MULTIPLE SOIL SAMPLES BUT HAVE NO ASSURANCE OF THE EXTENT OF THEIR FIELDS WHICH EACH SAMPLE ACTUALLY REPRESENTS. AS A RESULT, THERE ARE NO RELIABLE METHODS FOR FARMERS TO ACCURATELY UTILIZE KNOWLEDGE OF SOIL VARIATION WITH THEIR PRECISION AGRICULTURE TECHNOLOGIES. THERE IS AN URGENT NEED FOR AN AUTOMATED TOOL THAT WILL HELP PRODUCERS IDENTIFY WHICH SPOTS ARE OPTIMAL FOR SAMPLING AND CAN BE POOLED TO GET ACCURATE SOIL ANALYSIS RESULTS.TO FILL THIS CRITICAL NEED, WE AIM TO DEVELOP A DEEP-LEARNING TOOL THAT OUTPUTS LANDSCAPE ZONES WITH POSITION ELEVATION AND IDENTIFIES OPTIMAL SAMPLING SPOTS FOR EACH ZONE. THE TRAINING LANDSCAPE DATA AND SCIENTIFIC METHODOLOGY WILL BE PROVIDED BY THE SOIL PEDOLOGIST CO-PI. THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) -ENABLED TOOL WILL BE DEVELOPED WITH GPS GUIDANCE TO GO FROM SPOT TO SPOT. IT WILL ALSO ALLOW FOR THE MIXING OF APPROPRIATE SAMPLES AND PROVIDE INFORMATION ON THE ESTIMATED COST OF ANALYSIS. IF THE PRODUCER CHOOSES A PRICE CAP, THE TOOL COULD INFORM THEM OF THE NUMBER OF SAMPLES THAT COULD BE ANALYZED WITHIN THAT PRICE RANGE AND HOW ACCURATE THE RESULTS WOULD BE.OUR CENTRAL HYPOTHESIS IS THAT THE USE OF ADVANCED DEEP-LEARNING TECHNIQUES TO ANALYZE AND REFINE LANDSCAPE DATA WILL ENABLE PRECISE AND RELIABLE RECOMMENDATIONS OF OPTIMAL SOIL SAMPLING SPOTS. IN ADDITION, THE FRAMEWORK WILL PRODUCE CONSISTENT RESULTS UNDER UNCERTAIN VARIABLE CONDITIONS FROM FIELD TO FIELD. THE RATIONALE IS THAT DEEP LEARNING EXTRACTS MEANINGS FROM LANDSCAPE DATA AND HUMAN-LABELED DATA TO TRAIN MULTI-LAYER NEURAL NETWORKS TO INCREASE THE RELIABILITY AND ACCURACY OF SAMPLING LOCATION SELECTION. OUR TEAM IS PARTICULARLY WELL PREPARED TO UNDERTAKE THE PROPOSED RESEARCH BECAUSE OF OUR EXTENSIVE AND SUCCESSFUL TRACK RECORD OF AI-ENABLED AND DATA-DRIVEN RESEARCH IN PRECISION AGRICULTURE AND SOIL-LANDSCAPE ANALYSIS.WE PLAN TO TEST THE CENTRAL HYPOTHESIS BY PURSUING THE FOLLOWING THREE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES:ESTABLISH A CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE OF,LANDSCAPE DATA AND SOIL SAMPLING ANNOTATIONS TO TRAIN DEEP CONVOLUTIONAL NEURAL NETWORKS.DEVELOP A DEEP-LEARNING PIPELINE TO LEARN, ANALYZE, AND REFINE LANDSCAPE DATA FOR AUTOMATED SELECTION OF SOIL SAMPLING LOCATIONS. THE FRAMEWORK TAKES LANDSCAPE DATA AS INPUT AND OUTPUTS OPTIMAL SOIL SAMPLING SPOTS.DESIGN AND IMPLEMENT A SET OF METRICS TO ASSESS THE SUCCESS RATE OF THE OPTIMAL SAMPLING SITE PREDICTION TOOL.THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS ORIGINAL AND TRANSFORMATIVE BECAUSE IT WILL CREATE AN ADVANCED TOOL FOR A CRUCIAL AND CHALLENGING PRECISION AGRICULTURE PROBLEM, NAMELY AUTOMATED AND RELIABLE SELECTION OF SOIL SAMPLING SITES. THIS TOOL IS CURRENTLY MISSING, AND IT WILL ENABLE A SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT IN SOIL SAMPLING AND ANALYSIS, WHICH WILL LEAD TO A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF SOIL HEALTH. IT WILL LAY A FOUNDATION FOR NOVEL APPLICATIONS OF DATA SCIENCE AND AI TECHNOLOGIES TO SOLVE AGRICULTURAL PROBLEMS.

IN ORDER TO EFFECTIVELY USE THE VOYAGER 1 ANISOTROPY MEASUREMENTS OF ANOMALOUS AND GALACTIC COSMIC RAYS AT THE HELIOPAUSE BOUNDARY LAYER, WE PROPOSE

NEW AWARD - PROJECT ABSTRACT SUMMARY: PROJECT TITLE: CESU-SOFL-CREATE MARINE HAZARD WARNING SYSTEM FOR TIMUCUAN ECOLOGICAL AND HISTORIC PRESERVEAWARD PURPOSE: THE MODEL SYSTEM IS NEEDED TO GUIDE MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS AND ISSUE WARNINGS FOR THREATS TO NATURAL AND CULTURAL RESOURCES WITHIN TIMUCUAN ECOLOGICAL AND HISTORIC PRESERVE.ACTIVITIES TO BE PERFORMED: BUILD A MODEL THAT PROVIDES:1) A BASELINE UNDERSTANDING OF HYDRODYNAMICS WITHIN TIMU. FORECASTING WATER DEPTH, TIDES, AND CIRCULATION IS NECESSARY TO UNDERSTAND SHORT AND LONG-TERM ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES TO EFFECTIVELY MANAGE A COASTAL PARK.2) FLOODING, STORM SURGE, AND SLR FORECASTS THAT WILL ALLOW PARK MANAGEMENT TO EVALUATE AND IMPLEMENT RESILIENCY-BASED HISTORIC PRESERVATION STRATEGIES AND EMERGENCY PLANS.3) PREDICTION OF HAB MOVEMENT IN TIMU.4) AN UNDERSTANDING OF WHICH WETLANDS AND SHORELINES ARE AT GREATEST RISK OF EROSION, INUNDATION, AND CONTAMINATION IN THE EVENT OF A SPILL HAB, WHICH WILL ALLOW PARK MANAGEMENT TO FOCUS RESTORATION PROJECTS IN AREAS THAT ARE MOST VULNERABLE.DELIVERABLES AND OR EXPECTED OUTCOMES: YEAR 1 UPDATED TOPOGRAPHIC MAPFORECAST MODEL RESULTS UTILIZING ADCIRCA DELFT3D MODEL UTILIZING THE ADCIRC RESULTSCITIZEN SCIENCE COMPONENT CREATED FROM CROWDSOURCING CHANNEL DEPTHS FROM BOATERS WHO UPLOAD THEIR GPS AND DEPTH FINDER DATA TO THE PROJECT WEBSITEYEAR 2 CROWDSOURCE DATA WILL BE PROCESSED TO REFINE THE HYDRODYNAMIC MODELFIT STAFF WILL MAP THE AREAS THAT WERE NOT CAUGHT IN THE CROWDSOURCE DATA PROJECTCONTINUE COLLECTING CROWDSOURCED DATAONLINE WEB INTERFACE CREATED FOR PARK AND PUBLIC TO VIEW THE HYDRODYNAMIC MODEL YEAR 3 UTILIZING YEAR 2 DATA TO BETTER HONE THE MODEL.TRAIN NPS STAFF ON THE MODELTRANSFER OF KNOWLEDGE AND THE MODEL OVER TO THE PARKSUBRECIPIENT ACTIVITIES IF KNOWN: N A

THE PURPOSE OF THE PROPOSED PROJECT IS TO PROVIDE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND MODELING AS WELL EXPERT ENGINEERING DESIGNER CAPABILITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT DESIGN PROTOTYPING OR MODELING OF SYSTEM COMPONENTS OF THE KABAND ARRAY RADAR FOR NEAR EARTH OBJECTS ACCURATE CHARACTERIZATION (KARNAC) PROJECT. THE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH MATHEMATICAL MODELS DESIGN AND PROTOTYPING WILL BE USED TO ASCERTAIN THE SUITABILITY OF USING SPECIFIC COMPONENTS IN THE SYSTEM.

LIGHTNING INITIATION BY STREAMER EMISSION FROM THUNDERCLOUD HYDROMETEORS

A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO INTERNET-OF-THINGS (IOT) CYBERSECURITY RESEARCH TO DEVELOP THE RESEARCH CAPACITY OF ROTC STUDENTS

EAGER: PHOTORESPONSIVE POLYMERS BASED ON PHOTO-INDUCED PROTON TRANSFER

DETECTION OF HEAVILY SHIELDED NUCLEAR CONTRABAND THROUGH MUON RADIOGRAPHY WITH ADVANCED MICRO-PATTERN DETECTORS

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: RET IN ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE SITE: RESEARCH EXPERIENCES FOR TEACHERS FOCUSED ON APPLICATIONS OF IMAGES AND SIGNALS

QUANTIFYING THE STABLE BOUNDARY LAYER STRUCTURE AND EVOLUTION DURING T-REX 2006

DATA-ASSIMILATION AND MACHINE-LEARNING ENHANCED AEROTHERMOELASTIC MODELING IN HYPERSONIC BOUNDARY-LAYER FLOWS THE GRANTEE'S TECHNICAL PROPOSAL DATED 6 DEC 2024 AND ADDENDUM DATED 10 FEB 2026 IS HEREBY INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE.

HIGHLY MIGRATORY (HM) SPORT FISHES SUCH AS SHARKS, TUNA, AND MARLIN ARE A CHALLENGE FOR CONSERVATION BECAUSE THEY HAVE LARGE RANGES THAT CROSS MANY JURISDICTIONAL BOUNDARIES. SHARKS ARE ESPECIALLY AT RISK: THEIR NUMBERS HAVE DROPPED MORE THAN 70% IN THE PAST 35 YEARS, AND ONE-THIRD OF SPECIES ARE NOW VULNERABLE TO EXTINCTION. THEIR SLOW GROWTH AND RELIANCE ON SHALLOW COASTAL NURSERIES FOR HARBORING YOUNG IN THE FIRST FEW YEARS OF LIFE CLASSIFIED AS ESSENTIAL FISH HABITAT (EFH) MAKE SHARKS VULNERABLE TO OVERFISHING, POLLUTION, AND DEVELOPMENT. BUT SEASCAPE- LEVEL CONSERVATION OF LARGE FISHES IS HAMPERED BY A GENERAL LACK OF KNOWLEDGE ON THE SPECIFIC ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS THAT CAN NEGATIVELY AFFECT EFH, OR IF THE ANIMALS THAT USE THEM WILL BE ECOLOGICALLY AND GENETICALLY SUITED TO SURVIVE UNDER FUTURE CONDITIONS. UNDERSTANDING THESE DYNAMICS IS IMPORTANT FOR PROTECTING SPORT FISH STOCKS, BUT WHILE MIGRATION CAN BE MEASURED WITH TAGGING AND TELEMETRY, EVIDENCE OF REPRODUCTIVE CONNECTIONS CAN ONLY BE FOUND WITH DNA. EVEN WHEN GENETIC HAVE BEEN DONE ON RELEVANT SPECIES, THOUGH, THEIR RESULTS ARE ALMOST NEVER APPLIED TO MANAGEMENT BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF TOOLS TO INTEGRATE THESE FINDINGS WITH SPATIAL ANALYSES USED IN STOCK ASSESSMENTS, LIKE SPECIES DISTRIBUTION MODELING (SDMS). YET MODELS LIKE SDMS ARE EXPONENTIALLY MORE ACCURATE WHEN THEY INCLUDE GENETIC DATA ON ECOTYPES, WHICH ARE DISTINCT SUBPOPULATIONS THAT HAVE ADAPTED TO DIFFERENT CONDITIONS, AND HAVE DIFFERENT HABITAT REQUIREMENTS. WITH PRIOR MULTISTATE CONSERVATION GRANT PROGRAM (MSCGP) SUPPORT, WE ADDRESSED THIS LACK BY DEVELOPING A PROTOTYPE GENETIC SDM (GSDM), WHICH WE FOUND TO HAVE EXPONENTIALLY MORE PREDICTIVE POWER THAN REGULAR SDMS. WITH THE CURRENT PROPOSAL, WE AIM TO FURTHER DEVELOP THIS TECHNICAL FRAMEWORK BY TESTING IT ON NURSE SHARKS (GINGLYMOSTOMA CIRRATUM) IN THE NORTHWEST ATLANTIC, A CHARISMATIC BUT POORLY STUDIED SPECIES THAT HAS EXPERIENCED IMPACTS FROM MARINE HEATWAVES AND IS CONSIDERED GLOBALLY VULNERABLE TO EXTINCTION. BY LEVERAGING OUR LIBRARY OF HUNDREDS OF PRE-EXISTING NURSE SHARK TISSUES COLLECTED OVER 35 YEARS, WE WILL (1) IDENTIFY NURSE SHARK ECOTYPES AND USE THEM TO MODEL FUTURE EFH, (2) MEASURE PATTERNS OF CONNECTIVITY BETWEEN EFH AT BOTH THE POPULATION AND INDIVIDUAL LEVEL, AND (3) EXAMINE HOW MEASURES OF GENETIC VIABILITY CHANGE OVER TIME, PARTICULARLY BEFORE AND AFTER MARINE HEATWAVES. THIS WORK WILL DELIVER THE FIRST SEASCAPE-LEVEL CONSERVATION PLAN FOR A MIGRATORY SPORT FISH, WHILE MEETING THE NEED FOR APPROACHABLE NEW WAYS FOR MANAGERS TO OBTAIN, INTEGRATE, AND APPLY RESEARCH FINDINGS TO BETTER DIRECT THE CONSERVATION OF SPORT FISHES. THE PROJECT AREA SPANS THE MAJORITY OF THE ATLANTIC AND NORTHERN GULF STATES AND INTO THE CARIBBEAN BY LEVERAGING THE PIS MEMBERSHIP IN THE FLORIDA ATLANTIC COAST TELEMETRY (FACT) NETWORK, A GROUP OF SCIENTISTS AND INSTITUTIONS WHO MANAGE AN ARRAY OF RECEIVERS FOR TRACKING LARGE MIGRATORY FISHES AND SHARE DATA ACROSS STATE BOUNDARIES THROUGHOUT THE NORTHWEST ATLANTIC. BY PARTNERING WITH THE NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION (NOAA) FISHERIES AND STATE AGENCIES LIKE THE FLORIDA FISH AND WILDLIFE CONSERVATION COMMISSION, WE WILL ENSURE RESULTS WILL BE DIRECTLY RELEVANT, INEXPENSIVE, AND ACCESSIBLE TO NON-SPECIALISTS. THIS PROPOSAL ALIGNS WITH THE ASSOCIATION OF FISH AND WILDLIFE AGENCIES STRATEGIC PRIORITIES IN CONSERVATION SCIENCE BY SPECIFICALLY ADDRESSING ASPECTS OF HABITAT CONNECTIVITY, FISH AND WILDLIFE HEALTH, AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES. THESE RESULTS WILL HELP MANAGERS ANTICIPATE AND PLAN FOR FUTURE HABITAT SHIFTS, STRENGTHENING FISHERIES RESILIENCE BY ADVANCING THE SUCCESSFUL LONG-TERM CONSERVATION OF HM SPORT FISHES.

LEAPS-MPS: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNIQUES FOR AUTOMATIC NMR METABOLOMICS DATA PROCESSING -THIS AWARD IS FUNDED IN PART UNDER THE AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT OF 2021 (PUBLIC LAW 117-2). IN THIS PROJECT, FUNDED BY THE MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES DIRECTORATE AND THE CHEMISTRY DIVISION, PROFESSOR BO WANG AND HIS STUDENTS AT NORTH CAROLINA AGRICULTURAL & TECHNICAL STATE UNIVERSITY (NCAT) WILL DEVELOP TOOLS FOR ANALYSIS OF CHEMICAL DATA THAT WOULD BE EASIER TO APPLY FOR NON-SPECIALISTS. THE DATA ARE RELATED TO ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH STUDIES AND WILL BE OBTAINED USING NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE (NMR) METHODS. THE NOVEL WAY OF DATA PROCESSING WILL USE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) METHODS. THIS RESEARCH COULD HAVE SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS ON HEALTH MONITORING BY PROVIDING FAST ANALYSIS OF COMPLICATED DATA SETS. THE RESEARCH IS LIKELY TO INSPIRE STUDENTS AT THE PI'S INSTITUTION, WHICH IS A HISTORICALLY BLACK COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY (HBCU). PROF. WANG?S PLANS FOR BROADENING PARTICIPATION IN STEM BY UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITY (URM) STUDENTS INCLUDE INTRODUCING STUDENTS TO APPLIED DATA SCIENCE AND AI METHODS, WHICH ARE VERY MARKETABLE JOB SKILLS BUT ARE NOT TAUGHT REGULARLY AT THE UNDERGRADUATE LEVEL. OPPORTUNITIES FOR INDEPENDENT INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH PROJECTS WILL BE PROVIDED AND A NEW COURSE WILL BE DEVELOPED. THE IDENTIFICATION OF METABOLITES WILL BE IMPROVED USING AI TECHNIQUES APPLIED TO ANALYSIS OF 1D AND 2D NMR DATA. NMR HAS HIGH INSTRUMENT RELIABILITY, BUT THERE IS A COMMON PROBLEM OF DATA OVERFITTING. THIS NEW METHOD WILL PROVIDE IMPROVED WAYS FOR EXTRACTING PEAKS IN COMPLEX SPECTRA. TRAINING DATA ARE FREELY AVAILABLE FROM PUBLISHED LITERATURE AND PROF. WANG?S OWN STUDIES, AND THE METHOD WILL BE TESTED WITH DATA RECORDED BY PROFESSOR WANG?S GROUP. METHODS DEVELOPED WILL HELP MAKE METABOLOMICS AND OTHER SOPHISTICATED NMR-BASED RESEARCH ACCESSIBLE TO A BROADER RANGE OF SCIENTISTS. THIS RESEARCH WILL BE INTEGRATED WITH EDUCATION THROUGH COURSE AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT, AND THE INTRODUCTION OF AN EDUCATIONAL WEBSITE. SUMMER WORKSHOPS WILL ALSO BE CONDUCTED. UCTED. 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.

UNDERSTANDING MIXED-MODE FRACTURE MECHANICS IN ADDITIVELY MANUFACTURABLE FUNCTIONALLY GRADED MICROCELLULAR SOLIDS -THE USE OF MATERIALS HAVING CELLULAR STRUCTURES IS RAPIDLY GROWING IN VARIOUS ENGINEERING APPLICATIONS RANGING FROM BIOMEDICAL TO AEROSPACE, CIVIL, AND AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRIES. IF DESIGNED ACCURATELY, CELLULAR STRUCTURES CAN BE BOTH HIGH STRENGTH AND LIGHT WEIGHT. IN CONTRAST TO A TRADITIONAL UNIFORM PATTERN OF CELLS ACROSS A STRUCTURE, OPTIMAL DESIGNS USUALLY REQUIRE A NON-UNIFORM GRADING OF CELLS, CALLED A FUNCTIONALLY GRADED STRUCTURE. RECENT ADVANCES IN ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING AND COMPUTATIONAL TECHNIQUES HAVE ENABLED RESEARCHERS TO PRECISELY BUILD FUNCTIONALLY GRADED CELLULAR STRUCTURES WITH COMPLEX PATTERNS. HOWEVER, MOST AVAILABLE DESIGNS FOR OPTIMIZED CELL PATTERN CONFIGURATIONS IGNORE THE NOTCHES OR CRACKS THAT CAN BE FORMED IN THE PRINTED COMPONENTS EITHER DURING THE FABRICATION PROCESS OR DUE TO EXCESSIVE LOADS. THE MAIN GOAL OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO UNDERSTAND FRACTURE MECHANICS NEAR SUCH CRITICAL AREAS IN ADDITIVELY MANUFACTURED FUNCTIONALLY GRADED CELLULAR STRUCTURES EXPOSED TO COMPLEX LOADING CONDITIONS. THIS FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING CAN THEN BE INTEGRATED INTO NEXT-GENERATION DESIGN OF ENGINEERED CELLULAR STRUCTURES WITH ENHANCED FRACTURE RESISTANCE. THE MATHEMATICAL MODELS AND MECHANICS DEVELOPED IN THIS RESEARCH WILL ADVANCE THE FIELDS OF FRACTURE MECHANICS, THEORETICAL AND COMPUTATIONAL MECHANICS, COMPOSITE STRUCTURES, AND ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING. ADDITIONALLY, THROUGH THIS PROJECT, GRADUATE, UNDERGRADUATE, AND K-12 STUDENTS WILL ENGAGE IN SEVERAL PROFESSIONAL, EDUCATIONAL, AND OUTREACH ACTIVITIES. THIS PROJECT AIMS TO PROVIDE A GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF FRACTURE BEHAVIOR IN ADDITIVELY MANUFACTURABLE FUNCTIONALLY GRADED MICROCELLULAR STRUCTURES. THE SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVES OF THIS WORK ARE TO I) DEMONSTRATE THAT DIFFERENT MICROCELLULAR STRUCTURES WITH DIFFERENT PATTERN FUNCTIONS CAN BE SUCCESSFULLY PRODUCED BY ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, II) EXPERIMENTALLY AND COMPUTATIONALLY CHARACTERIZE THEIR CONSTITUTIVE RESPONSE, III) DEVELOP A NOVEL COMPUTATIONALLY EFFICIENT MULTISCALE APPROACH FOR PREDICTION OF THEIR MIXED MODE FRACTURE BEHAVIOR, AND IV) PROVIDE DETAILED INFORMATION REGARDING HOW PATTERNS AND DISTRIBUTIONS OF CELLS (I.E., TOPOLOGY AND MORPHOLOGY) SHOULD BE CONFIGURED NEAR THE STRESS CONCENTRATIONS. TO ACHIEVE THESE GOALS, DIFFERENT SPATIALLY PATTERED MICROCELLULAR STRUCTURES WILL BE BUILT BY ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING TO EXPERIMENTALLY INVESTIGATE THEIR CONSTITUTIVE RESPONSE, MIXED-MODE FRACTURE TOUGHNESS, AND THE CRACK PROPAGATION MECHANISM. A SYNERGISTIC EXPERIMENTAL/COMPUTATIONAL FRAMEWORK WILL BE DEVELOPED TO PREDICT AND OPTIMIZE FRACTURE BEHAVIOR BY CONSIDERING THE MATERIAL ANISOTROPY INDUCED FROM BOTH THE MICROCELLULAR PATTERNS AND THE PRINTING ORIENTATION. 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.

ADVANCED COMBUSTION CENTER

(DURIP-20) PROBING REAL-TIME SPIN DYNAMICS IN REACTIVE OXYGEN SPECIES BIOLOGY BY PULSE RESONANCE AND OPTICAL DETECTION

EMBRACE-AGS-SEED: POWERFUL GAMMA-RAY AND RADIO-FREQUENCY EMISSIONS FROM THUNDERSTORMS -TERRESTRIAL GAMMA-RAY FLASHES (TGFS) ARE HIGH ENERGY EMISSIONS RELATED TO THUNDERSTORM PROCESSES. THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY HAS BEEN ABLE TO OBSERVE TGFS THROUGH SATELLITE AND GROUND-BASED SENSORS, BUT THE EXACT MECHANISMS BY WHICH TGFS ARE FORMED AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO LIGHTNING ARE STILL UNCERTAIN. THIS AWARD WILL MERGE LARGE DATASETS TO ADDRESS SEVERAL OPEN SCIENTIFIC QUESTIONS ABOUT TGFS. THE SOCIETAL IMPACT OF THE PROJECT IS THROUGH THE BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE PRODUCTION OF TGFS AND HOW TO DETECT THEM, WHICH IS ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT FOR AIRCRAFT CREW AND PASSENGERS WHO ARE SUBJECTED TO HIGH-ENERGY RADIATION. THIS AWARD ALSO REPRESENTS A FIRST-TIME NSF AWARD FOR AN EARLY CAREER PI AND WILL HELP TO ESTABLISH CONNECTIONS BETWEEN ACADEMIA AND INDUSTRY. A GRADUATE STUDENT WILL ALSO BE TRAINED AND EDUCATED UNDER THE AWARD. THIS STUDY WILL TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE COMBINATION OF MASSIVE DATASETS FROM GROUND-BASED RADIO OBSERVATIONS OF LIGHTNING/TGFS AND SPACE-BASED OBSERVATIONS OF TGFS, WHICH BECAME AVAILABLE RECENTLY. DATA FROM THE FERMI GAMMA-RAY BURST MONITOR (FERMI-GBM) SATELLITE MISSION AND THE ATMOSPHERE-SPACE INTERACTIONS MONITOR (ASIM) INSTRUMENT ON THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION WILL BE COMBINED WITH GROUND-BASED LIGHTNING NETWORK DATA FROM THE EARTH NETWORKS TOTAL LIGHTNING NETWORK (ENTLN) AND VAISALA?S GLOBAL LIGHTNING DETECTION NETWORK (GLD360) TO ADDRESS THREE MAIN QUESTIONS: 1) WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP OF TGF HIGH-ENERGY PHOTONS LAUNCHED TO THE SPACE AND THEIR RADIO SIGNATURES SEEN FROM THE GROUND, 2) WHAT ARE THE PROPERTIES OF THE RADIO EMISSIONS FROM MULTI-PULSED TGFS, AND 3) WHAT IS THE GEOGRAPHICAL AND SEASONAL VARIABILITY OF TGFS AND LIGHTNING? 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.

ERI: MULTILEVEL INVERSE ROBUST CO-DESIGN OF MATERIALS, PRODUCTS, AND MANUFACTURING PROCESSES -THE RESEARCH OBJECTIVE OF THIS ENGINEERING RESEARCH INITIATION (ERI) PROJECT IS TO INVESTIGATE NEW WAYS TO CO-CONSIDER MANUFACTURING PROCESSES IN THE EARLY STAGES OF MATERIALS AND PRODUCT DESIGN. BY INCLUDING THE CONSIDERATIONS OF MANUFACTURING PROCESSES IN THE EARLY STAGES OF DESIGN, DESIGNERS CAN MAKE EFFECTIVE DECISIONS TO CUSTOMIZE MATERIAL MICROSTRUCTURES AND ACHIEVE DESIRED PRODUCT PERFORMANCE, AS ENVISIONED BY INTEGRATED COMPUTATIONAL MATERIALS ENGINEERING (ICME). CURRENT MATERIALS DESIGN METHODS FOCUS ON SEQUENTIALLY EXPLORING MODEL-BASED RELATIONS OF MATERIALS AND PRODUCTS AT INDIVIDUAL LEVELS INSTEAD OF A CONCURRENT REALIZATION OF PRODUCTS, MATERIALS, AND MANUFACTURING WITHIN A HOLISTIC SYSTEM. THE HOLISTIC, SYSTEMS-BASED, ROBUST CO-DESIGN APPROACH ENVISIONED IN THIS PROJECT WILL ACCOUNT FOR THE GOALS OF AND INTERACTIONS BETWEEN MULTILEVEL MATERIAL SYSTEMS INVOLVING THE PRODUCT AND THE MANUFACTURING PROCESSES UNDER UNCERTAINTY. THE APPROACH WILL ENABLE DESIGNERS TO CONCURRENTLY VISUALIZE AND EXPLORE LEVEL-SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES, MULTILEVEL INTERACTIONS, AND SUBLEVEL ANALYSES, THUS ENABLING QUANTITATIVE LINKAGES IN DIGITAL DESIGN TO MATERIALS STRUCTURE TO MANUFACTURING WORKFLOWS. THE PROJECT WILL PROMOTE THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE BY STRATEGICALLY INTEGRATING KNOWLEDGE AND TECHNIQUES FROM THE FIELDS OF SYSTEMS ENGINEERING, ENGINEERING DESIGN, AND MATERIALS SCIENCE TO ENABLE A FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE COUPLINGS BETWEEN PRODUCTS, MATERIALS, AND MANUFACTURING PROCESSES. ADDITIONALLY, BY DESIGNING NEW CURRICULA THAT EMBED DESIGN FOR ICME TOPICS AND ORGANIZING A SUMMER SCHOOL ON THE ASSOCIATED TOOLS, STUDENTS AND PRACTITIONERS WILL BE BETTER PREPARED TO ADDRESS COMPLEX MATERIALS DESIGN CHALLENGES FROM A SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE. THIS ERI PROJECT WILL ESTABLISH FOUNDATIONAL TECHNIQUES FOR COUPLING MULTILEVEL MODELING OF HIERARCHICALLY STRUCTURED MATERIALS, PRODUCTS, AND THEIR MANUFACTURING PROCESSES WITH MULTIOBJECTIVE SYSTEMS DESIGN STRATEGIES AND UNCERTAINTY MANAGEMENT. THE RESEARCH PLAN CONSISTS OF TWO PARTS: (1) ESTABLISH HISTORY-DEPENDENT, DATA-DRIVEN PROCESSING-STRUCTURE-PROPERTY-PERFORMANCE (PSPP) LINKAGES; AND (2) FORMULATE A SYSTEMS-BASED INVERSE CO-DESIGN FRAMEWORK FOR EXPLORING RANGED SETS OF ROBUST SOLUTIONS ACROSS MULTIPLE LEVELS BY MANAGING UNCERTAINTY AND ITS PROPAGATION. THE OVERALL EXPECTED OUTCOME IS A NOVEL SYSTEMS-BASED MULTILEVEL FRAMEWORK FOR THE INVERSE CO-DESIGN OF MATERIALS, PRODUCTS, AND MANUFACTURING PROCESSES IN TERMS OF ROBUST DECISIONS MADE BY DISTRIBUTED STAKEHOLDERS UNDER UNCERTAINTY. THE INTELLECTUAL MERIT INCLUDES: (1) A FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE INTERDEPENDENT NATURE OF MULTILEVEL MATERIALS, MANUFACTURING PROCESSES, AND PRODUCT DESIGN DECISIONS; (2) AN EFFICIENT MATHEMATICAL REPRESENTATION OF MATERIAL STRUCTURE HIERARCHY TO REALIZE PRODUCTS; AND (3) A COMPUTATIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE MULTILEVEL ROBUST CO-DESIGN VISUALIZATION AND EXPLORATION OF THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT ENGINEERING DISCIPLINES (DESIGN, MATERIAL, AND MANUFACTURING) IN THE EARLY STAGES OF DESIGN. FOUR RELATED EDUCATIONAL AND OUTREACH ACTIVITIES ARE PLANNED TO INTEGRATE THE RESEARCH WITH THE BROADER COMMUNITY OF STUDENTS AND PROFESSIONALS: (1) FORMALIZE THE DATA-DRIVEN PSPP LINKAGE MODELING PROCEDURE BY INTEGRATING THE RESULTS IN EXISTING GRADUATE COURSES; (2) ITERATE, UPDATE, AND DISSEMINATE A SYSTEMS-BASED DESIGN APPROACH FOR STANDARD ICME PROBLEMS THROUGH A NEW DESIGN FOR ICME COURSE; (3) ORGANIZE A ONE-WEEK ONLINE SUMMER SCHOOL ON TOOLS RELEVANT TO DESIGN FOR ICME; AND (4) BROADLY DISSEMINATE RESULTS THROUGH SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS, PRESENTATIONS, AND RESEARCH MONOGRAPHS. THESE ACTIVITIES WILL LEAD TO NEW VERIFIED AND VALIDATED TECHNIQUES TO TEACH DESIGN FOR ICME; NEW TEST EXAMPLES TO ITERATE, ASSESS, AND ESTABLISH THE GENERIC UTILITY OF THE CONSTRUCTS (INDIVIDUALLY AND INTEGRATED); AND A FOUNDATION FOR INFUSING MULTILEVEL MATERIALS MODELING, MANUFACTURING CONSIDERATIONS, AND DECISION-BASED DESIGN STRATEGIES INTO ICME WORKFLOWS. 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.

ERI:ULTRAFAST, ROBUST, NOVEL FOUR-BORE CARBON-FIBER MICROELECTRODES FOR SIMULTANEOUS ELECTROCHEMICAL SENSING OF MULTIPLE NEUROTRANSMITTERS AND TOXIC METALS -NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS HAVE BECOME A MAJOR GLOBAL HEALTH PROBLEM DESPITE EFFORTS TAKEN BY MULTIPLE GROUPS TO PRESERVE BRAIN FUNCTION AND STRUCTURE. NEUROPROTECTIVE DRUGS HAVE LIMITED EFFICACY, THUS INDICATING A SET OF UNDISCOVERED CAUSES BEHIND THESE DISEASES. BESIDES SOME WELL-KNOWN RISK FACTORS SUCH AS AGING, CLINICAL AND EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT EXPOSURE TO HEAVY METALS CAN INITIATE THE DEATH OF NEURON CELLS. MOREOVER, BASED ON BIOCHEMISTRY-RELATED COMPUTATIONAL MODELING, SEVERAL MECHANISMS HAVE BEEN PROPOSED TO EXPLAIN THE EFFECTS OF HEAVY METAL EXPOSURE ON VARIOUS NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASES. BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF PROPER TOOLS TO PERFORM REAL-TIME MEASUREMENTS IN LIVING SYSTEMS, RESEARCHERS STUDY HEAVY METALS IN POSTMORTEM TISSUE SAMPLES OR URINE AND BLOOD OBTAINED FROM PATIENTS. HOWEVER, SUCH STUDIES OR THEORETICAL MODELS DO NOT ACCURATELY REPRESENT THE MEASUREMENTS INSIDE LIVING SYSTEMS. ADDITIONALLY, CURRENT STUDIES MAINLY FOCUS ON IDENTIFYING ONE CHEMICAL MESSENGER MOLECULE OR NEUROTRANSMITTER AT A TIME. THUS, AN IMPROVED UNDERSTANDING OF INTERACTIONS AMONG NEUROTRANSMITTERS AND OTHER ELEMENTS, SUCH AS HEAVY METALS, IS NEEDED. THIS RESEARCH WILL FOCUS ON DEVELOPING A NOVEL, ROBUST ELECTROCHEMICAL SENSOR THAT CAN PERFORM ULTRA-FAST, SIMULTANEOUS MEASUREMENTS OF HEAVY METALS AND MULTIPLE NEUROTRANSMITTERS. THE SENSOR WILL BE FABRICATED USING CARBON FIBER MICROELECTRODES, AND THE DATA ACQUISITION AND ANALYSIS WILL BE PERFORMED USING FAST SCAN CYCLIC VOLTAMMETRY (FSCV). THE OUTCOME OF THIS STUDY WILL EXPLAIN THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THIS NEW SENSOR, THUS, PROVIDING A GREATER MECHANISTIC UNDERSTANDING OF THE SYSTEM BEFORE TESTING IN LIVING SYSTEMS. THE BROADER IMPACT OF THIS PROJECT INCLUDES BROADENING WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN THE STEM FIELD AND INCREASING PUBLIC AWARENESS OF EXPOSURE TO HEAVY METALS AND THEIR NEGATIVE IMPACT ON NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS. THESE GOALS WILL BE ACHIEVED THROUGH SEVERAL OUTREACH ACTIVITIES IN COLLABORATION WITH A LOCAL MIDDLE SCHOOL. THIS PROJECT AIMS TO MAKE FUNDAMENTAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO DEVELOPING AN ELECTROCHEMICAL SENSING SYSTEM TO UNDERSTAND THE ROLE OF HEAVY METALS AND CO-TRANSMITTERS IN THE BRAIN. THE OUTCOME WILL PROVIDE MISSING INFORMATION ABOUT THE MULTIFACTORIAL ETIOLOGY OF NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASES TO ULTIMATELY DESIGN MORE EFFICIENT DRUGS. AS THE INITIAL STEP OF A MULTI-STEP PROJECT, THIS WORK PROPOSES TO ENGINEER NEW FOUR-BORE CARBON FIBER MICROELECTRODES (CFMS) THAT SIMULTANEOUSLY MEASURE HEAVY METALS AND NEUROTRANSMITTERS USING FSCV. THE OUTCOME WILL BE ACHIEVED BY (1) OPTIMIZING FSCV PARAMETERS TO DETECT ARSENIC AND CADMIUM AT MILLISECOND TEMPORAL RESOLUTION, THE REQUIRED SPEED TO PERFORM REAL-TIME, IN VIVO MEASUREMENTS, (2) FABRICATING A FOUR-BORE CFM, AND (3) DETECTING HEAVY METALS AND SEVERAL NEUROTRANSMITTERS SIMULTANEOUSLY USING THE FOUR-BORE CFM. THE RATIONALE BEHIND THIS PROPOSED RESEARCH IS THAT, ONCE THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THIS NEW SENSING PLATFORM ARE IDENTIFIED, IT CAN BE APPLIED TO IN VIVO MEASUREMENTS TO PROBE NEURONAL COMMUNICATION IN THE PRESENCE OF EXTERNAL STIMULI SUCH AS HEAVY METALS. THIS STUDY WILL OPEN NEW AVENUES TO OBTAIN CRITICAL, ACCURATE SPECIATION INFORMATION ABOUT HEAVY METALS AND POTENTIAL CO-TRANSMITTER EVENTS, PARTICULARLY IN HIGHER VERTEBRATE ANIMALS WITH TRANSFORMATIVE APPLICATIONS IN DESIGNING MORE EFFECTIVE THERAPEUTICS. 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.

ERI: IMPROVING THE LEARNING EFFICIENCY OF ADAPTIVE OPTIMAL CONTROL SYSTEMS IN INFORMATION-LIMITED ENVIRONMENTS

NUE: CREATING A HANDS-ON NANOSCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY MINOR

EVALUATING STUDENTS' LEARNING AND ATTITUDES IN A VIRTUAL CHEMISTRY LABORATORY

ERI: PHYSICAL LAYER SIDE CHANNEL ASSESSMENT AND LIGHTWEIGHT COUNTERMEASURES FOR EMBEDDED POST QUANTUM CRYPTOGRAPHY -PUBLIC-KEY ENCRYPTION AND DIGITAL SIGNATURES PROTECT FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS, POWER-GRID EQUIPMENT, MEDICAL DEVICES, INDUSTRIAL SENSORS, AND MANY OTHER SYSTEMS THAT SOCIETY DEPENDS ON. FUTURE QUANTUM COMPUTERS COULD BREAK THE MATHEMATICAL FOUNDATIONS OF MANY WIDELY USED PUBLIC-KEY SYSTEMS, WHICH HAS MOTIVATED THE STANDARDIZATION OF NEW POST-QUANTUM CRYPTOGRAPHIC ALGORITHMS. HOWEVER, MATHEMATICAL SECURITY ALONE IS NOT ENOUGH FOR SECURE DEPLOYMENT. WHEN CRYPTOGRAPHIC ALGORITHMS RUN ON SMALL, LOW-COST MICROCONTROLLERS USED IN SMART METERS, INDUSTRIAL SENSORS, MEDICAL MONITORS, AND OTHER CONNECTED DEVICES, THEY CAN LEAK SECRET INFORMATION THROUGH TINY VARIATIONS IN POWER CONSUMPTION OR ELECTROMAGNETIC EMISSIONS. AN ATTACKER WITH PHYSICAL OR CLOSE-PROXIMITY ACCESS MAY EXPLOIT THESE UNINTENTIONAL SIGNALS TO RECOVER SECRET KEYS WITHOUT BREAKING THE UNDERLYING CRYPTOGRAPHIC MATHEMATICS. THIS PROJECT ADDRESSES THAT IMPLEMENTATION-SECURITY GAP BY MEASURING PHYSICAL SIDE-CHANNEL LEAKAGE IN POST-QUANTUM CRYPTOGRAPHY ON REPRESENTATIVE EMBEDDED DEVICES AND BY DEVELOPING PRACTICAL DEFENSES THAT FIT WITHIN THE ENERGY, MEMORY, AND PROCESSING CONSTRAINTS OF REAL-WORLD SYSTEMS. THE RESEARCH WILL GENERATE OPEN DATASETS, ANALYSIS TOOLS, AND COUNTERMEASURE TECHNIQUES TO SUPPORT THE SECURE DEPLOYMENT OF POST-QUANTUM CRYPTOGRAPHY IN RESOURCE-CONSTRAINED ENVIRONMENTS. THE PROJECT WILL ALSO TRAIN STUDENTS IN HARDWARE SECURITY, EMBEDDED CRYPTOGRAPHY, AND SIDE-CHANNEL EVALUATION, STRENGTHENING THE WORKFORCE NEEDED FOR THE NATION?S TRANSITION TO QUANTUM-RESISTANT TECHNOLOGIES. EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES INCLUDE HANDS-ON LABORATORY MODULES, STUDENT RESEARCH PROJECTS, SENIOR DESIGN PROJECTS, AND OUTREACH THROUGH THE IEEE STUDENT BRANCH AT FLORIDA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. THIS PROJECT ESTABLISHES EMPIRICAL BASELINES FOR PHYSICAL SIDE-CHANNEL LEAKAGE IN NIST-STANDARDIZED POST-QUANTUM CRYPTOGRAPHIC ALGORITHMS ON EMBEDDED PROCESSORS AND DEVELOPS LIGHTWEIGHT COMPILER-BASED COUNTERMEASURES SUITABLE FOR RESOURCE-CONSTRAINED DEPLOYMENT. THE RESEARCH IS ORGANIZED INTO TWO THRUSTS. THE FIRST THRUST CHARACTERIZES POWER AND ELECTROMAGNETIC LEAKAGE DURING THE EXECUTION OF ML-KEM, STANDARDIZED AS FIPS 203, AND ML-DSA, STANDARDIZED AS FIPS 204, ON ARM CORTEX-M-CLASS MICROCONTROLLERS. THE EVALUATION WILL USE ESTABLISHED SIDE-CHANNEL METHODS, INCLUDING CORRELATION POWER ANALYSIS AND TEST VECTOR LEAKAGE ASSESSMENT, AND WILL FOCUS ON ALGORITHM-SPECIFIC OPERATIONS SUCH AS THE NUMBER THEORETIC TRANSFORM, POLYNOMIAL MULTIPLICATION, NOISE SAMPLING, AND SIGNATURE REJECTION LOGIC. THE SECOND THRUST DESIGNS AND EVALUATES COMPILER-BASED COUNTERMEASURES THAT REDUCE IMPLEMENTATION-LEVEL LEAKAGE BY RANDOMIZING EXECUTION TIMING AND INSTRUCTION ORDERING WHERE ALGORITHMIC DEPENDENCIES PERMIT. THESE TRANSFORMATIONS WILL BE IMPLEMENTED AS REUSABLE LOW LEVEL VIRTUAL MACHINE COMPILER PASSES AND EVALUATED AGAINST UNPROTECTED AND PARTIALLY PROTECTED BASELINES. SECURITY EFFECTIVENESS WILL BE ASSESSED USING TRACE-BASED LEAKAGE MEASUREMENTS, KEY-RECOVERY EXPERIMENTS, LEAKAGE-DETECTION STATISTICS, AND PERFORMANCE, MEMORY, AND ENERGY OVERHEADS. CROSS-PLATFORM APPLICABILITY WILL BE SUPPORTED BY SEPARATING ARCHITECTURE-INDEPENDENT ANALYSIS AND TRANSFORMATION LOGIC FROM BOARD-SPECIFIC MEASUREMENT CODE, WITH TARGETED VALIDATION ON EMBEDDED PLATFORMS BEYOND THE PRIMARY TESTBED WHERE FEASIBLE. THE PROJECT WILL RELEASE MEASUREMENT CODE, COMPILER PASSES, CURATED DATASETS, AND ANALYSIS SCRIPTS AS OPEN-SOURCE ARTIFACTS WITH PERSISTENT IDENTIFIERS TO ENABLE REPRODUCIBLE RESEARCH AND COMMUNITY BENCHMARKING. 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.

ERI: SIMULTANEOUS INTERACTIONS BETWEEN GASES, LIQUIDS, AND ADSORBENTS IN ADSORBENT-COATED MICROCHANNELS -COMBUSTION OF FOSSIL FUELS DOMINATES THE GLOBAL ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE, LEADING TO SIGNIFICANT CO2 EMISSIONS AND, IN TURN, ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS THAT ARE INTENSIFYING YEARLY. CAPTURING THIS CO2 USING MOST STATE-OF-THE-ART SEPARATION TECHNOLOGIES REQUIRES ELECTRICITY, COMPROMISING THEIR CARBON FOOTPRINT. MEANWHILE, 67% OF THE PRIMARY ENERGY IS WASTED IN THE ATMOSPHERE AS HEAT. THIS AWARD IS UNIQUELY PLACED AT THE INTERSECTION OF THESE TWO PROBLEMS AND FOCUSES ON DEVELOPING A WASTE HEAT-DRIVEN ADSORPTION-BASED CO2 SEPARATION TECHNIQUE. THIS CONCEPT USES THIN AND POROUS ADSORBENT LAYERS FABRICATED ON MICROCHANNEL WALLS, WHICH OFFER EXCELLENT HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER ATTRIBUTES, RESULTING IN RAPID ADSORPTION OF CO2 FROM THE FEED STREAM. THIS PROJECT WILL COMPREHENSIVELY EVALUATE HOW HOT LIQUID WATER CAN EFFECTIVELY REMOVE THE ADSORBED CO2 THROUGH DIRECT CONTACT, WHICH HAS NOT BEEN EMPLOYED PREVIOUSLY. SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF SUCH A SHARED CHANNEL APPROACH WILL INCREASE THE SPECIFIC CO2 CAPTURE CAPACITY BY UP TO TWO ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE. THIS TECHNOLOGY CAN PROVIDE INEXPENSIVE, SCALABLE, LOCATION-INDEPENDENT, AND COMPACT SOLUTIONS FOR POST-COMBUSTION CO2 CAPTURE. THIS RESEARCH WILL ALSO ENRICH THE THERMAL-FLUIDS COURSES, GENERATE NEW PARADIGMS FOR SENIOR DESIGN PROJECTS, AND ATTRACT PARTICIPATION IN STEM OUTREACH EVENTS. TEMPERATURE SWING ADSORPTION-BASED (TSA) CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2) SEPARATION PROCESSES, WHICH INVOLVE AN ALTERNATING FLOW OF GASES AND LIQUIDS IN ADSORBENT-COATED MICROCHANNELS, HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO YIELD SUPERIOR AND ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY PERFORMANCE COMPARED WITH EXISTING PROCESSES.THE PROPOSED CYCLIC PROCESS BEGINS BY SENDING THE FEED GAS MIXTURE THROUGH ADSORBENT-COATED MICROCHANNELS, WHICH RESULTS IN CARBON DIOXIDE ADSORPTION. SUBSEQUENTLY, HOT WATER FLOWS THROUGH THE SAME CHANNELS, REGENERATES THE ADSORBENT, DESORBS THE CARBON DIOXIDE, AND REMOVES THE DESORBED CO2 FROM THE CHANNEL. THIS STAGE IS FOLLOWED BY COOLING AND PURGING OF LIQUID IN PREPARATION FOR THE NEXT CYCLE. HERE, THE REGENERATION STAGE INVOLVES A COMPLEX AND POORLY STUDIED SET OF TRANSPORT PHENOMENA INVOLVING MULTIPHASE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN HOT LIQUID WATER, SOLID ADSORBENT, AND ADSORBED, DISSOLVED AND GASEOUS CO2. THE SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVE OF THIS AWARD IS TO DEVELOP A FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING OF THESE MULTIPHASE INTERACTIONS THROUGH EXPERIMENTS AND MODELING TO DEMONSTRATE EFFECTIVE CO2 SEPARATION USING THIS TECHNOLOGY. EXPERIMENTS INVOLVING HIGH-SPEED FLOW VISUALIZATION AND FIRST-PRINCIPLE-BASED COMPUTATIONAL MODELS WILL DETERMINE THE INTERMEDIATE VARIABLES IN THESE TRANSPORT PHENOMENA, AND THE END EFFECTS OF THE MULTIPHASE INTERACTIONS IN THE MODELS WILL BE VALIDATED WITH THOSE IN THE EXPERIMENTS. 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.

TESTING ANALYTICAL AND NUMERICAL MODELS IN PHASE COARSENING USING NASA PHYSICAL SCIENCES INFORMATICS SYSTEM A QUANTITATIVE UNDERSTANDING OF MICROSTR

RESEARCH INITIATION: INVESTIGATING THE CONNECTION AMONG UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERING STUDENTS DATA PROFICIENCY, MOTIVATION, AND ENGINEERING IDENTITY -DATA AND DATA ANALYSIS ARE INCREASINGLY PERVASIVE IN ALL ENGINEERING FIELDS. IT IS CRITICAL FOR ENGINEERING STUDENTS TO RETAIN AND IMPROVE THEIR DATA SKILLS AND TO LEARN ADVANCED TECHNIQUES TO BE COMPETENT IN THE JOB MARKET TODAY AND IN THE FUTURE. ENGINEERING STUDENTS AND PRACTITIONERS NEED TO GENERATE, INTERPRET, AND MANIPULATE DATA IN NEARLY ALL THEIR PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES. DATA SKILLS ARE DEFINED AS THE ABILITY TO INTERPRET DATA, MAKE CONNECTIONS, AND TURN DATA INTO MEANINGS TO SOLVE A PROBLEM RANGING FROM FOUNDATIONAL METHODS FOR REFACTORING DATA TO ADVANCED TECHNIQUES SUCH AS MACHINE LEARNING AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. IN DEVELOPING DATA PROFICIENCY, STUDENTS BUILD THE ABILITY TO CONTEXTUALIZE, INTERPRET, AND MANIPULATE DATA TO MEET STAKEHOLDER NEEDS. DATA, DATA SKILLS, AND DATA PROFICIENCY ARE CRITICAL FOR ENGINEERING STUDENTS BECAUSE DATA-ENABLED TECHNOLOGIES ARE IN HIGH DEMAND AS THEY WILL CONTINUE TO TRANSFORM THE ENGINEERING WORKPLACE AND ARE INSTRUMENTAL IN THE ONGOING RADICAL SHIFT OF JOBS REPLACED AND AUGMENTED BY AUTOMATION. HOWEVER, TO DATE, THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE EXPERIENCES BUILDING DATA PROFICIENCY AND ENGINEERING IDENTITY AND MOTIVATION HAS NOT BEEN INVESTIGATED AND ESTABLISHED. THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF THIS RESEARCH INITIATION PROJECT IS TO EMPLOY A MIXED-METHODS RESEARCH APPROACH TO DISCOVERING HOW THE DEVELOPMENT OF DATA PROFICIENCY IS LINKED WITH MOTIVATION AND ENGINEERING IDENTITY THROUGHOUT THE UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERING CURRICULUM. THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS THAT GUIDE THIS PROJECT, VIEWED THROUGH MOTIVATION THEORY AND ENGINEERING IDENTITY THEORY ARE (1) HOW DOES THE DEVELOPMENT OF DATA PROFICIENCY SUPPORT THE PROFESSIONAL FORMATION OF UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERING STUDENTS? (2) HOW DO FACETS OF STUDENT MOTIVATION AND PERSONAL IDENTITIES INFLUENCE THE DEVELOPMENT OF DATA PROFICIENCY AND ENGINEERING IDENTITY FOR UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERING STUDENTS AT A RURAL LAND GRANT UNIVERSITY? TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS, WE PROPOSE A TWO-PHASE MIXED METHODS RESEARCH DESIGN. THE QUALITATIVE PHASE WILL INTERVIEW STUDENT COHORTS TWICE OVER THE TWO YEARS OF THE GRANT TO UNDERSTAND HOW ENGAGEMENT WITH DATA SKILLS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF DATA PROFICIENCY IS BUILT AND INTERACTS WITH ENGINEERING IDENTITY AND MOTIVATION. THESE FINDINGS WILL INFLUENCE THE ADAPTION OF EXISTING SURVEY INSTRUMENTS TO UNDERSTAND POTENTIAL CONNECTIONS BETWEEN DATA PROFICIENCY, ENGINEERING IDENTITY, AND MOTIVATION MORE BROADLY. 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.

RESILIENCY AND RECOVERY DEMONSTRATION GRANT

CURRENT UNDERSTANDING: INTERPRETATIONS PROPOSED IN THE LITERATURE TO EXPLAIN THE SPREAD OF SOLAR ENERGETIC PARTICLES (SEPS) IN THE HELIOSPHERE AFTER THE OCCURRENCE OF A SOLAR ERUPTION INCLUDE:

EVALUATING BENTHIC COMMUNITY RESPONSE TO PLANNED DREDGING ACTIVITIES AT PORT EVERGLADES FLORIDA

ERI: HIGH-FIDELITY NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF TURBULENCE-CHEMISTRY INTERACTIONS IN NON-PREMIXED GASEOUS COMBUSTION -THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEXT-GENERATION HIGH-SPEED AEROSPACE SYSTEMS?INCLUDING REUSABLE SPACE VEHICLES AND SUPERSONIC/HYPERSONIC AIRCRAFTS?RELIES ON PROPULSION SYSTEMS CAPABLE OF OPERATING AT EXTREMELY HIGH SPEEDS. A MAJOR BARRIER TO INNOVATION IN THIS DOMAIN IS THE COMPLEX AND POORLY UNDERSTOOD BEHAVIOR OF TURBULENT COMBUSTION UNDER HIGH MACH NUMBER CONDITIONS. THESE FLOWS INVOLVE INTRICATE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN TURBULENCE, SHOCK WAVES, AND CHEMICALLY REACTING GASES, WHICH MAKE PREDICTIVE MODELING DIFFICULT. THIS PROJECT ADDRESSES THIS CRITICAL GAP BY DEVELOPING ADVANCED SIMULATION TOOLS AND EXPERIMENTAL DATA THAT WILL IMPROVE THE ACCURACY AND RELIABILITY OF COMBUSTION MODELS USED IN AEROSPACE DESIGN. BY INTEGRATING WELL-RESOLVED SIMULATIONS WITH PHYSICAL EXPERIMENTS, THE RESEARCH PROMISES TO TRANSFORM HOW ENGINEERS UNDERSTAND AND PREDICT COMBUSTION IN EXTREME CONDITIONS. THE BROADER IMPACTS OF THIS PROJECT INCLUDE TRAINING GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS, DEVELOPING NEW EDUCATIONAL CONTENT, AND ENGAGING THE PUBLIC THROUGH STEM OUTREACH AND HANDS-ON LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES. THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO BUILD A COMPREHENSIVE FRAMEWORK FOR MODELING TURBULENT COMBUSTION IN HIGH-SPEED FLOWS RELEVANT TO SCRAMJETS AND RAMJETS. THIS WILL BE ACHIEVED THROUGH A THREE-PRONGED EFFORT: (I) CONDUCTING DIRECT NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF REACTIVE SHEAR LAYERS TO CAPTURE KEY PHENOMENA SUCH AS CHEMICAL NON-EQUILIBRIUM, MULTI-COMPONENT DIFFUSION, AND REAL-GAS EFFECTS; (II) INITIATING AN EXPERIMENTAL CAMPAIGN USING A SHOCK TUBE TO VALIDATE THE SIMULATIONS AND REPLICATE REAL-WORLD FLOW CONDITIONS; AND (III) LAYING THE GROUNDWORK FOR ADVANCED DATA ASSIMILATION TECHNIQUES THAT MERGE EXPERIMENTAL AND SIMULATION DATA TO ENHANCE LARGE-EDDY SIMULATION MODELS. THE TECHNICAL INNOVATIONS INCLUDE THE USE OF ADJOINT AND ENSEMBLE-VARIATIONAL OPTIMIZATION METHODS, COMBINED WITH MACHINE LEARNING, TO CALIBRATE AND IMPROVE PREDICTIVE MODELS. THESE EFFORTS WILL PROVIDE A PHYSICS-INFORMED, DATA-DRIVEN FOUNDATION FOR DESIGNING SAFER, MORE EFFICIENT PROPULSION SYSTEMS. BY COMBINING CUTTING-EDGE RESEARCH WITH EDUCATIONAL AND OUTREACH COMPONENTS, THE PROJECT WILL ALSO SUPPORT WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT IN STEM AND HELP POSITION THE U.S. AT THE FOREFRONT OF AEROSPACE INNOVATION. 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.

24-AIAH24-0008 A TENSORFLOW/KERAS EXTENSION FOR MACHINE LEARNING FROM IMBALANCED DATA WITH HELIOPHYSICS APPLICATIONS

CHIRAL PYRIDINES FOR CATALYTIC ORGANIC TRANSFORMATION

NUMERICAL MODELING THE INTERACTION BETWEEN INTERNAL WAVES, FRESHWATER FRONTS, AND MONSOONS: APPLICATION TO THE VIETNAMESE SHELF

QUANTUM SIGNATURES IN REDOX CELL BIOLOGY

GOALI: FULLY SUPERCONDUCTING ELECTRICAL MACHINES FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY

HIGH-RESOLUTION, NONHYDROSTATIC SIMULATIONS OF INTERNAL WAVE GENERATION IN STRAITS USING SUNTANS

INTRODUCING RESEARCH-INSPIRED MODULES IN THE GENERAL CHEMISTRY LAB CURRICULUM

CAREER: ATMOSPHERIC ELECTRICITY ON EARTH AND MARS

MRI: ACQUISITION OF A COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING PARALLEL CLUSTER

NONINEAR PDE MODELS IN KINETIC THEORY -KINETIC THEORY PROVIDES A POWERFUL MATHEMATICAL FRAMEWORK FOR MODELING SYSTEMS INVOLVING LARGE NUMBER OF INTERACTING PARTICLES OR AGENTS. RATHER THAN TRACKING INDIVIDUAL PARTICLES, KINETIC MODELS DESCRIBE THE EVOLUTION OF PARTICLE DENSITIES OVER TIME USING NONLINEAR PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS (PDES). THESE MODELS ARE CENTRAL TO UNDERSTANDING THE BEHAVIOR OF GASES AND PLASMAS, WHICH PLAY KEY ROLES IN BOTH NATURAL PHENOMENA AND MODERN TECHNOLOGIES. THIS PROJECT FOCUSES ON TWO CLASSICAL KINETIC MODELS: THE BOLTZMANN AND LANDAU EQUATIONS, AND THEIR VARIANTS. THE RESEARCH WILL ADVANCE MATHEMATICAL UNDERSTANDING IN THREE MAIN DIRECTIONS: FIRST, IT WILL INVESTIGATE THE REGULARITY AND POTENTIAL BREAKDOWN OF SOLUTIONS FOR THE INHOMOGENEOUS NON-CUTOFF BOLTZMANN EQUATION VIA IMPROVED CONTINUATION CRITERIA AND RULING OUT SPECIFIC BREAKDOWN MECHANISMS. SECOND, IT WILL EXTEND EXISTING RESULTS ON THE EXISTENCE AND REGULARITY OF SOLUTIONS TO THE CLASSICAL LANDAU MODEL TO ITS RELATIVISTIC COUNTERPART, MOTIVATED BY PHYSICAL APPLICATIONS AND NEW MATHEMATICAL CHALLENGES POSED BY RELATIVISTIC COLLISIONS. THIRD, IT WILL EXAMINE DELICATE REGULARITY ISSUES THAT ARISE WHEN THE BOLTZMANN OR LANDAU EQUATIONS ARE COUPLED WITH THE MAXWELL SYSTEM VIA A MEAN-FIELD VLASOV TERM. 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 PROPOSAL: RESOLVED MID-IR OBSERVATIONS AND MODELING OF AGN AND THEIR HOSTS