Trustees Of Princeton University

U.S. CMS OPERATIONS AT THE LHC

U.S. CMS OPERATIONS AT THE LHC

COOPERATIVE INSTITUTE FOR MODELING THE EARTH SYSTEM (CIMES)

FRAGILE FAMILIES AND CHILD WELLBEING IN MIDDLE CHILDHOOD

ENGINEERING RESEARCH CENTER (ERC) ON MID-INFRARED TECHNOLOGIES FOR HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT (MIRTHE)

RENEW THE COOPERATIVE INSTITUTE FOR MODELING THE EARTH SYSTEM (CIMES) TO CONDUCT RESEARCH IN SUPPORT OF NOAA'S MISSION AND STRATEGIC GOALS IN AREAS RELATED TO EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE FOR BETTER UNDERSTANDING AND PREDICTION ACROSS TIME SCALES FROM DAYS TO DECADES, AND FROM LOCAL TO GLOBAL SCALES, AND INTEGRATING PHYSICAL, CHEMICAL, AND BIOLOGICAL COMPONENTS. CIMES RESEARCH WILL ADDRESS THE FOLLOWING THREE THEMES: 1. EARTH SYSTEM MODELING: DEVELOPING AND IMPROVING EARTH SYSTEM MODELS (ESMS), NUMERICAL MODELS WHICH SIMULATE THE CLIMATE AND EARTH SYSTEM, AND ALLOW PREDICTION OF THE FUTURE EVOLUTION OF THIS SYSTEM. THESE MODELS INCLUDE THE DYNAMICAL, PHYSICAL, CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL COMPONENTS OF THE ATMOSPHERE-OCEAN-LAND SYSTEM AND THE COUPLING BETWEEN THEM. 2. SEAMLESS PREDICTION ACROSS TIME AND SPACE SCALES: APPLYING THE ESMS TO PREDICTIONS ON TIME-SCALES FROM DAYS TO CENTURIES AND OVER SPATIAL SCALES FROM THOSE OF EXTREME EVENTS TO GLOBAL SCALES, MAKING USE OF THE SAME FLEXIBLE CODE-BAS

NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION (NOAA) COOPERATIVE INSTITUTES 2013 - CICS-PRINCETON RENEWAL

ENERGY FRONTIER RESEARCH CENTER FOR COMBUSTION SCIENCE -- EFRC

GRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM (GRFP) -THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (NSF) GRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM (GRFP) IS A HIGHLY COMPETITIVE, FEDERAL FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM. GRFP HELPS ENSURE THE VITALITY AND DIVERSITY OF THE SCIENTIFIC AND ENGINEERING WORKFORCE OF THE UNITED STATES. THE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES AND SUPPORTS OUTSTANDING GRADUATE STUDENTS WHO ARE PURSUING RESEARCH-BASED MASTER'S AND DOCTORAL DEGREES IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS (STEM) AND IN STEM EDUCATION. THE GRFP PROVIDES THREE YEARS OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR THE GRADUATE EDUCATION OF INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE DEMONSTRATED THEIR POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT RESEARCH ACHIEVEMENTS IN STEM AND STEM EDUCATION. THIS AWARD SUPPORTS THE NSF GRADUATE FELLOWS PURSUING GRADUATE EDUCATION AT THIS GRFP INSTITUTION. 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.

S2I2: INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN SOFTWARE FOR HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS (IRIS-HEP)

INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN SOFTWARE FOR HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS (IRIS-HEP) -THE QUEST TO UNDERSTAND THE FUNDAMENTAL BUILDING BLOCKS OF MATTER IN THE UNIVERSE AND THEIR INTERACTIONS IS ONE OF THE OLDEST AND MOST AMBITIOUS OF HUMAN SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVORS. IN ELEMENTARY PARTICLES PHYSICS, THE MOST SUCCESSFUL THEORY TO DATE IS KNOWN AS THE STANDARD MODEL OF PARTICLE PHYSICS. EXPERIMENTAL FACILITIES SUCH AS CERN'S LARGE HADRON COLLIDER (LHC) REPRESENT A HUGE STEP FORWARD IN THIS QUEST AS EVIDENCED BY THE DISCOVERY OF THE HIGGS BOSON. THE NEXT PHASE OF THIS GLOBAL SCIENTIFIC PROJECT WILL BE THE HIGH-LUMINOSITY LHC (HL-LHC), WHICH WILL COLLECT DATA STARTING CIRCA 2029 AND CONTINUE INTO THE 2030'S. THE PRIMARY SCIENCE GOAL AT THE HL-LHC IS TO SEARCH FOR PHYSICS BEYOND THE STANDARD MODEL. WHILE THE STANDARD MODEL HAS BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN EXPLAINING EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE TO DATE, SCIENTISTS KNOW THAT IT IS NOT BE COMPLETE, BECAUSE IT DOES NOT ACCOUNT FOR DARK MATTER OR NEUTRINO MASSES, FOR EXAMPLE. IN THE HL-LHC ERA, THE ATLAS AND CMS EXPERIMENTS WILL RECORD 10 TIMES AS MUCH DATA FROM 100 TIMES AS MANY COLLISIONS AS WERE USED TO DISCOVER THE HIGGS BOSON. AS SUCH, SIGNIFICANT R&D ADVANCES MUST BE ACHIEVED IN THE SOFTWARE FOR ACQUIRING, MANAGING, PROCESSING AND ANALYZING HL-LHC DATA TO REALIZE THE SCIENTIFIC POTENTIAL OF THE UPGRADED ACCELERATOR AND DETECTORS AND THE PLANNED LHC SCIENCE PROGRAM. IN THIS CONTEXT, THE INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN SOFTWARE FOR HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS (IRIS-HEP) WILL PLAY A LEADING ROLE TO DELIVER THE SOFTWARE AND COMPUTING SYSTEMS REQUIRED TO MEET THE CHALLENGES POSED BY THE LHC IN THE HIGH LUMINOSITY ERA. THIS PROJECT ADDRESSES KEY ELEMENTS OF THE INTERNATIONAL ROADMAP FOR HEP SOFTWARE AND COMPUTING R&D FOR THE 2020S AND IMPLEMENTS THE UPDATED IRIS-HEP STRATEGIC PLAN FOR THE NEXT PHASE OF SOFTWARE UPGRADES FOR HL-LHC PHYSICS PUBLISHED IN DECEMBER 2022. IRIS-HEP WILL ADVANCE R&D IN THREE HIGH-IMPACT AREAS: (1) DEVELOPMENT OF INNOVATIVE ALGORITHMS FOR DATA RECONSTRUCTION AND TRIGGERING; (2) DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHLY PERFORMANT ANALYSIS SYSTEMS THAT REDUCE `TIME-TO-INSIGHT' AND MAXIMIZE THE HL-LHC SCIENTIFIC POTENTIAL; AND (3) DEVELOPMENT OF DATA ORGANIZATION, MANAGEMENT AND ACCESS (DOMA) SYSTEMS FOR THE COMMUNITY'S UPCOMING EXABYTE ERA. IRIS-HEP WILL SUSTAIN INVESTMENTS IN TODAY'S DISTRIBUTED HIGH-THROUGHPUT COMPUTING (DHTC) AND BUILD AN INTEGRATION PATH TO DELIVER ITS FACILITIES R&D ACTIVITIES INTO THE DISTRIBUTED PRODUCTION INFRASTRUCTURE. AS AN INTELLECTUAL HUB, IRIS-HEP WILL LEAD EFFORTS TO (1) BUILD CONVERGENCE RESEARCH BETWEEN HEP AND THE CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE, DATA SCIENCE AND COMPUTER SCIENCE COMMUNITIES FOR NOVEL APPROACHES TO ADDRESS THE COMPELLING SOFTWARE AND COMPUTING CHALLENGES OF HL-LHC ERA HEP EXPERIMENTS, (2) ENGAGE BROADLY WITH RESEARCHERS AND STUDENTS FROM U.S. UNIVERSITIES AND LABS EMPHASIZING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING, AND (3) SUSTAIN HEP SOFTWARE AND UNDERLYING KNOWLEDGE RELATED TO THE ALGORITHMS AND THEIR IMPLEMENTATIONS OVER THE TWO DECADES REQUIRED. IN ADDITION TO ENABLING THE BEST POSSIBLE HL-LHC SCIENCE, IRIS-HEP WILL BRING TOGETHER THE LARGER CYBERINFRASTRUCTURE AND HEP COMMUNITIES TO ADDRESS THE COMPLEX ISSUES AT THE INTERSECTION OF EXASCALE HIGH-THROUGHPUT COMPUTING AND EXABYTE-SCALE DATASETS IN WAYS BROADLY RELEVANT TO MANY RESEARCH DOMAINS WITH EMERGING DATA-INTENSIVE NEEDS. THE EDUCATION AND TRAINING PROVIDED BY THE INSTITUTE IN THE FORM OF SUMMER SCHOOLS AND A FELLOWS PROGRAM WILL CONTRIBUTE TO A HIGHLY QUALIFIED STEM WORKFORCE. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS

GRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM (GRFP)

A SILICON-DRIFT-CHAMBER, A PARALLEL COMPUTER FORM, & READOUT DEVELOPMENT FOR AN ELECTROMAGNETIC CALORIMETER FOR THE SSC.

SOUTHERN OCEAN CARBON AND CLIMATE OBSERVATIONS AND MODELING (SOCCOM)

PRINCETON CENTER FOR COMPLEX MATERIALS

PRINCETON CENTER FOR COMPLEX MATERIALS

UNIV RESEARCH ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE (URETI) BIOINSPIRED MULTIFUNCTIONAL NANOCOMPOSITE

GRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM (GRFP)

CENTER FOR QUANTITATIVE BIOLOGY

MECHANISMS OF NEURAL CIRCUIT DYNAMICS IN WORKING MEMORY ANDDECISION-MAKING

BIOINSPIRED LIGHT-ESCALATED CHEMISTRY (BIOLEC)

PRINCETON CENTER FOR COMPLEX MATERIALS

MECHANISMS OF NEURAL CIRCUIT DYNAMICS IN WORKING MEMORY AND DECISION-MAKING - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT: OVERALL THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF THIS U19 PROGRAM IS TO DETERMINE HOW NEURAL COMPUTATIONS ACROSS BRAIN REGIONS PRODUCE TWO CORE COGNITIVE PROCESSES, WORKING MEMORY AND DECISION-MAKING, AND THUS TO DERIVE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF BRAIN FUNCTION. THIS RENEWAL APPLICATION PROPOSES TO PURSUE POWERFUL NEW THEMES THAT EMERGED FROM OUR PREVIOUS WORK AND TO BROADEN OUR SCOPE SUBSTANTIALLY. TO DO SO, THE EIGHT PIS PLAN A TIGHTLY INTEGRATED SET OF EXPERIMENTAL AND COMPUTATIONAL STUDIES OF MICE DOING THE ACCUMULATING TOWERS TASK—IN WHICH THEY MUST REMEMBER HOW MANY TOWERS FLASH ON EACH SIDE AS THEY RUN DOWN A MAZE IN VIRTUAL REALITY—AND RELATED TASKS. THE FIRST THEME ARISES FROM THE FINDING THAT NEURONS ACROSS THE BRAIN ENCODE TASK VARIABLES AND ARE NECESSARY FOR TASK PERFORMANCE. ALMOST ALL OF THESE AREAS EXHIBIT SEQUENTIAL ACTIVITY, IN WHICH NEURONS ARE ACTIVE AT DIFFERENT TIMES IN THE TASK AND, TOGETHER, TILE THE TRIAL DURATION. PROJECT 1 WILL IDENTIFY THE TASK FEATURES THAT DRIVE SEQUENTIAL ACTIVITY, USE COOLING TO IDENTIFY NEURAL CIRCUITS THAT GENERATE SEQUENTIAL ACTIVITY, AND ELUCIDATE ITS ANATOMICAL BASIS BY COMBINING TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY AND COMPUTATIONAL MODELING. A SECOND THEME IS THAT MANIFOLD INFERENCE METHODS, APPLIED TO LARGE-SCALE HIPPOCAMPAL RECORDINGS IN OUR TASK, REVEAL THE GEOMETRY OF A JOINT NEURAL REPRESENTATION FOR AN EXTERNAL VARIABLE (POSITION) AND AN INTERNAL, COGNITIVE VARIABLE (ACCUMULATED EVIDENCE). PROJECT 2 WILL EXTEND OUR WORK ON THE GEOMETRY OF NEURAL REPRESENTATIONS TO OTHER BRAIN REGIONS. WE WILL EXAMINE HOW GEOMETRIES AND REPRESENTATIONS IN THESE REGIONS INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER, AND WE WILL DEVELOP MODELS TO EXPLAIN HOW THE OBSERVED NEURAL MANIFOLDS ARISE. A THIRD THEME, FUELED BY OUR DEVELOPMENT OF STATISTICAL METHODS TO INFER INTERNAL BRAIN STATES, IS THAT ANIMALS’ BRAINS OCCUPY QUALITATIVELY DIFFERENT STATES FROM TRIAL TO TRIAL DURING THE SAME TASK BLOCK. OUR DATA SUGGESTS THAT BEHAVIOR IN EACH STATE REQUIRES DIFFERENT NEURAL STRUCTURES AND CIRCUITS—IN THE SAME ANIMAL AND THE SAME TRIAL BLOCK. PROJECT 3 WILL USE MULTI-REGION RECORDINGS AND PERTURBATIONS TO INVESTIGATE WHETHER STATES ARE LOCAL TO SUBCIRCUITS VERSUS GLOBAL ACROSS THE BRAIN, EXTEND OUR BEHAVIORAL INFERENCE METHODS TO NEURAL DATA, AND EXAMINE TO WHAT EXTENT OUR INFERRED STATES ARE LINKED TO INTERNAL STATES OF AROUSAL, THIRST, AND HUNGER. ELUCIDATING HOW MULTIPLE CIRCUITS PERFORMING LOCAL COMPUTATIONS COMBINE INTO A BRAIN IN ACTION IS THE GOAL OF PROJECTS 4 AND 5. PROJECT 4 WILL PROBE FUNCTIONAL INTERACTIONS IN MULTI-REGION RECORDINGS, INCLUDING VERY LARGE-SCALE SIMULTANEOUS ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL RECORDINGS WITH NEXT-GENERATION SILICON PROBES; AND THROUGH TARGETED EXPERIMENTS WILL TEST TWO HYPOTHESES OF HOW SUBCORTICAL REGIONS INTERACT WITH NEOCORTEX. PROJECT 5 WILL GENERATE A SET OF MECHANISTIC MODELS THAT INSTANTIATE SPECIFIC HYPOTHESIZED ROLES OF DIFFERENT BRAIN REGIONS. THESE LOCAL MODELS WILL BE COMBINED INTO A SINGLE MULTI-REGIONAL MODEL, INFORMED BY DATA FROM ALL PROJECTS, THAT WILL ENABLE US TO DISSECT THE ROLES OF INDIVIDUAL REGIONS AND THEIR INTERACTIONS IN PERFORMANCE OF THE MANY VARIANTS OF OUR DECISION-MAKING TASK.

PREDOCTORAL TRAINING IN GENETICS AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

GRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM (GRFP)

PFC: CENTER FOR THE PHYSICS OF BIOLOGICAL FUNCTION

NSF I-CORPS HUB: NORTHEAST REGION

THE FRAGILE FAMILIES CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH FOLLOW UP STUDY

EXPLOSIVE EVOLUTION UNDER STRESS: THE DRIVING FORCES OF CANCER DYNAMICS (MAIN)

SOUTHERN OCEAN CARBON AND CLIMATE OBSERVATIONS AND MODELING (SOCCOM2)

COOPERATIVE INSTITUTE FOR CLIMATE SCIENCE - LINKING LAND MODELS WITH TOP DOWN ESTIMATES OF THE CARBON BUDGET

COGNITIVE THALAMUS - PROJECT SUMMARY THE PULVINAR (PUL) AND MEDIODORSAL (MD) NUCLEI ARE HIGHER ORDER THALAMIC STRUCTURES THAT ARE KNOWN TO PLAY CRITICAL ROLES IN VARIOUS COGNITIVE DOMAINS. HOWEVER, THE PRECISE MECHANISMS ARE UNKNOWN, WITH THEORIES SUGGESTING THEIR ROLE IN EITHER GATING OR FACILITATING FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY ACROSS THEIR CORTICAL TARGETS. IMOPRTANTLY, RECENT EVIDENCE FROM SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENTS SUGGESTS THAT THESE HIGHER ORDER THALAMIC-CORTICAL INTERACTIONS ARE PERTURBED AND MAY EVEN BE CAUSATIVE TO DISEASE ETIOLOGY. IN THIS CENTER, WE HAVE ASSEMBLED A GROUP OF INVESTIGATORS WHO WILL UTILIZE BEHAVIOR, ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY, IMAGING IN HUMAN AND NON-HUMAN ANIMALS TO 1. IDENTIFY COGNITIVE FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATION PRINCIPLES OF HIGHER-ORDER THALAMIC NUCLEI IN INTERACTING WITH CORTEX; 2. TRANSLATE THALAMIC FUNCTIONALITY FROM ANIMAL MODELS TO THE HEALTHY AND DISEASED HUMAN BRAIN; AND 3. DEVELOP A BIOLOGICALLY PLAUSIBLE MODEL FOR THE HUMAN HIGHER-ORDER THALAMUS. THE CENTER WILL BE DIVIDED INTO 5 SCIENTIFIC PROJECTS AND 3 CORES. PROJECT 1 (PI USREY) WILL COMBINE ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY AND OPTICAL PERTURBATIONS TO STUDY INTERACTIONS BETWEEN PUL AND EARLY VISUAL CORTICAL AREAS DURING ATTENTIONAL PROCESSING. PROJECT 2 (PI KASTNER) WILL TAKE A LARGE-SCALE NETWORK APPROACH IN THE MACAQUE TO STUDY INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE PRIMATE-SPECIFIC MDPUL SUBDIVISION AND FRONTO-PARIETAL NETWORKS IN ATTENTION, AND ALSO STUDY INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE MD AND FRONTAL CORTICAL AREAS IN HIERARCHICAL REASONING AND TASK SWITCHING. PROJECT 3 (PI HALASSA) WILL COMBINE OPTICAL PERTURBATIONS, ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY AND DISEASE MODELING IN TUPAIA TO STUDY INTERACTIONS BETWEEN PUL REGULATION OF DORSAL VS. VENTRAL STREAM SELECTION IN ATTENTION, AND MD REGULATION OF FRONTAL CORTICAL INTERACTIONS IN HIERARCHICAL REASONING. PROJECT 4 (PI COLLINS/ARCARO) WILL COMBINE FUNCTIONAL NEUROIMAGING AND BEHAVIOR IN HUMANS TO INTERROGATE PUL AND MD ENGAGEMENT WITH THEIR CORTICAL PARTNERS IN ATTENTION AND HIERARCHICAL REASONING, RESPECTIVELY. THIS WILL BEGIN AN EXCITING ENDEAVOR OF DETERMINING WHAT TYPES OF HIGHER ORDER THALAMIC CONTRIBUTIONS TO COGNITION HAVE EXPANDED IN THE HUMAN BRAIN. PROJECT 5 (PI WOODWARD) WILL EXAMINE BEHAVIOR-BRAIN RELATIONSHIPS (ATTENTION-PUL AND DECISION MAKING-MD) IN SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENTS, WHERE THE STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY OF HIGHER ORDER THALAMIC CONNECTIVITY TO CORTICAL PARTNERS IS KNOWN TO BE IMPAIRED. CORE A (PIS KASTNER, HALASSA AND USREY) WILL ADMINISTRATIVELY MANAGE THIS CENTER AND INVOLVE IMPORTANT OUTREACH AND TRAINING ACTIVITIES. CORE B (PI CHEN) WILL PROVIDE ANALYTICAL SUPPORT FOR ALL PROJECTS AND STREAMLINE DATA COLLECTION, CURATION AND SHARING ACROSS PIS WITH COMMON FORMAT, AS WELL AS ALLOW FOR DATA SHARING WITH THE BROADER COMMUNITY. CORE C (PI KOPELL) WILL GENERATE COMPUTATIONAL MODELS THAT WILL BE ITERATIVELY REFINED BY THE COLLECTED DATA AND PROVIDE TESTABLE PREDICTION ON AN ONGOING BASIS. ALTOGETHER, SUCCESSFUL LAUNCHING OF THIS CENTER PROMISES TO PROVIDE NEW FRAMEWORKS FOR THE NEURAL CIRCUITRY UNDERLYING COGNITIVE PROCESSING AND HOW THE THALAMUS MAY BE A TARGET FOR ENHANCING COGNITION IN SCHIZOPHRENIA.

GRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM

ADVANCED ACTPOL

DARKSIDE -ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS HAVE PROVIDED STRONG EVIDENCE THAT THE KNOWN MATTER ACCOUNTS FOR ONLY A SMALL FRACTION OF THE OBSERVED TOTAL MASS-ENERGY OF THE UNIVERSE. A LEADING DARK MATTER CANDIDATE IS THE SO-CALLED WEAKLY INTERACTING MASSIVE PARTICLE, OR WIMP, A PREDICTED RELIC PARTICLE OF THE BIG BANG. DIRECT (NON-GRAVITATIONAL) DETECTION OF DARK MATTER WOULD BE A TRANSFORMATIONAL DISCOVERY OF FUNDAMENTAL IMPORTANCE BROADLY TO THE SCIENCES, OPENING NEW INVESTIGATIONS OF THE DARK UNIVERSE. SUCH FIRST MEASUREMENTS OF DARK MATTER MAY BE POSSIBLE VIA WIMP-NUCLEUS COLLISIONS DETECTABLE AT LOW-BACKGROUND, LOW-ENERGY THRESHOLD DETECTORS CAPABLE OF DISTINGUISHING A SMALL NUMBER OF NUCLEAR RECOILS FROM WIMP COLLISIONS OVER A LONG EXPOSURE PERIOD. LIQUID ARGON HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED TO HAVE UNIQUE LIGHT EMISSION PROPERTIES THAT PROVIDE EXCELLENT SENSITIVITY FOR SUCH WIMP COLLISIONS WHILE PROVIDING STRONG BACKGROUND SUPPRESSION. THIS AWARD PROVIDES SUPPORT FOR THE FABRICATION OF A NEXT-GENERATION WIMP DARK MATTER EXPERIMENT, DARKSIDE-20K. THE DARKSIDE INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION HAS PIONEERED THE USE OF LIQUID ARGON WITH HIGH RADIOPURITY TO SEARCH FOR RARE WIMP INTERACTIONS. THE DARKSIDE-20K DETECTOR, WITH A DESIGNED FIDUCIAL EXPOSURE VOLUME OF APPROXIMATELY 20KT OF LOW-BACKGROUND LIQUID ARGON, WILL OPERATE IN THE INFN LABORATORI NAZIONALI DEL GRAN SASSO DEEP UNDERGROUND LAB. THE US NSF DARKSIDE TEAM IS SUPPORTED VIA THIS AWARD TO BUILD THE CENTRAL DARK MATTER DETECTOR LIQUID ARGON TIME-PROJECTION CHAMBER, INCLUDING THE ASSOCIATED HIGH-VOLTAGE DELIVERY, CRYOGENIC, PURIFICATION AND CALIBRATION SYSTEMS. THE AWARDED ACTIVITIES INVOLVE TRANSFERABLE TECHNOLOGIES THAT INCLUDE: THE PRODUCTION OF LOW-RADIOACTIVITY UNDERGROUND ARGON FOR THE EXPERIMENT AS WELL AS FOR NUCLEAR TEST BAN VERIFICATION AND RADIOMETRIC DATING; STUDIES OF UNDERGROUND GAS SOURCES; DEVELOPMENT OF LOW-BACKGROUND, LARGE-AREA, SINGLE-PHOTON CRYOGENIC SILICON PHOTOMULTIPLIER PHOTOSENSORS; LIQUID ARGON-BASED TIME-OF-FLIGHT POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY SYSTEM FOR ENHANCED CANCER SCREENING, AND; THE WORLD?S TALLEST CRYOGENIC DISTILLATION TOWER TO IMPROVE AVAILABILITY OF STABLE RARE ISOTOPES FOR MEDICAL AND ENERGY APPLICATIONS. ALSO INCLUDED ARE TRAINING AND EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES, INCLUDING A SUMMER SCHOOL EXPERIENCE IN THE CORTEZ-DURANGO REGION THAT WILL OFFER INCREASED ACCESS TO UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS IN STEM. THE US DARKSIDE PROGRAM LED THE DARKSIDE-50 EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM THAT DEMONSTRATED THE VIABILITY OF BACKGROUND-FREE SEARCHES IN LIQUID ARGON. THE DARKSIDE-20K EXPERIMENT WILL EXTEND THE SENSITIVITY OF WIMP DARK MATTER SEARCHES IN THE CROSS-SECTION VS. MASS RANGE TO 4.6E-48 CM-SQUARED FOR THE 90% CONFIDENCE LIMIT EXCLUSION, AND TO 1.5E-47 CM-SQUARED 5 SIGMA DISCOVERY SIGNIFICANCE FOR A 1 TEV/C-SQUARED WIMP MASS AFTER A 500T-YR EXPOSURE. UNIQUE US EXPERTISE IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF NOBLE LIQUID DETECTORS IS LEVERAGED TO ENSURE THE SUCCESS OF THIS NEXT GENERATION DETECTOR. THE SCALE OF PROJECT, AND ITS RESULTANT SENSITIVITY, EXCEEDS THAT OF DETECTORS CURRENTLY OPERATING, LEADING TO DISCOVERY, CONFIRMATION, OR EXCLUSION OF THE WIMP DARK MATTER HYPOTHESIS TO THE LEVEL WHERE COHERENT SCATTERS FROM ATMOSPHERIC NEUTRINOS BECOME AN IRREDUCIBLE BACKGROUND. 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.

SSQIP - SCALABLE SILICON-BASED QUANTUM INFORMATION PROCESSING

COMPUTATIONAL CHEMICAL SCIENCE CENTER: CHEMISTRY IN SOLUTION AND AT INTERFACES

"TERRORISM GOVERNANCE AND DEVELOPMENT"

CONTE CENTER: UNDERSTANDING LATENT CAUSE INFERENCE IN HEALTH AND ILLNESS - CONTE CENTER – UNDERSTANDING LATENT CAUSE INFERENCE IN HEALTH AND ILLNESS LATENT CAUSE INFERENCE IS THE FUNDAMENTAL COGNITIVE PROCESS BY WHICH WE DRAW BOUNDARIES BETWEEN SITUATIONS THAT HAVE DIFFERENT UNDERLYING RULES, AND THEREFORE REQUIRE SEPARATE LEARNING AND DECISION MAKING. EVERY PIECE OF INFORMATION THAT ENTERS OUR BRAIN IS FIRST CATEGORIZED AS PERTAINING TO SOMETHING WE ALREADY KNOW ABOUT (AN OLD LATENT CAUSE) OR SOMETHING COMPLETELY NEW (A NEW LATENT CAUSE). BECAUSE LATENT CAUSE INFERENCE IS AT THE HEART OF PERCEPTION, LEARNING, EVALUATION, AND ACTION SELECTION, ALTERATIONS IN THIS PROCESS MAY BE AT THE CORE OF A WIDE VARIETY OF MENTAL HEALTH CONDITIONS. FOLLOWING A COMPUTATIONAL PSYCHIATRY APPROACH THAT BRIDGES ABSTRACT SYMPTOMS TO BASIC NEUROCOGNITIVE MECHANISMS USING COMPUTATIONAL MODELS, WE PROPOSE A COMPREHENSIVE INVESTIGATION OF LATENT CAUSE INFERENCE AS A PROPOSED NEW TRANSDIAGNOSTIC NIMH RESEARCH DOMAIN CRITERIA (RDOC) DOMAIN. WE PROPOSE A RESEARCH PROGRAM CENTERED AROUND THREE THEMES: QUANTIFYING INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN LATENT CAUSE INFERENCE AND RELATING THEM TO MENTAL HEALTH SYMPTOMS, TESTING FOR ALTERATIONS OF THIS PROCESS IN CLINICAL SAMPLES, AND DELINEATING THE NEURAL CIRCUITRY UNDERLYING LATENT CAUSE INFERENCE. THESE THEMES CUT ACROSS FOUR PROPOSED PROJECTS (P1-P4): P1 – LATENT CAUSE INFERENCE AS A FUNDAMENTAL COGNITIVE PROCESS WILL RELATE INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN LATENT CAUSE INFERENCE TO DIMENSIONAL MENTAL HEALTH SYMPTOM FACTORS, AND IDENTIFY THE NEURAL CIRCUITRY INVOLVED IN CREATING AND REUSING LATENT CAUSES. P2 – LATENT CAUSE INFERENCE IN COMPULSION WILL TEST A NOVEL INTERPRETATION OF COMPULSIVE DISORDERS (E.G., OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER, DRUG MISUSE) AS ARISING FROM OVER-SPLITTING OF LATENT CAUSES. P3 – LATENT CAUSE INFERENCE IN ANXIETY WILL INVESTIGATE THE INTERACTION OF LATENT CAUSE INFERENCE WITH MEMORY RETRIEVAL AND UPDATING, AND THEIR FAILURE MODES IN ANXIETY DISORDERS. P4 – NEURAL MECHANISMS UNDERLYING LATENT CAUSE INFERENCE WILL PROBE NEURAL MECHANISMS OF LATENT CAUSE INFERENCE USING HIGH-DENSITY NEURONAL RECORDINGS AND CHEMOGENETIC MANIPULATION OF OREXIN IN RAT AMYGDALA. THE PROPOSED PROJECTS ARE TIGHTLY INTERCONNECTED, ALL EMPLOYING A SHARED THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND COMPUTATIONAL MODELING APPROACH AND RELYING ON INTEGRATION OF METHODS AND RESULTS TO OBTAIN A COMPREHENSIVE UNDERSTANDING OF LATENT CAUSE INFERENCE IN MENTAL ILLNESS AND IN HEALTH. THEY WILL BUILD ON THREE RESEARCH CORES (BEHAVIORAL TESTING AND CLINICAL ASSESSMENT, COMPUTATIONAL MODELING, AND NEUROIMAGING). THE INVESTIGATORS HAVE A LONG AND PRODUCTIVE HISTORY OF COLLABORATION, AND EACH IS ORGANICALLY INVOLVED IN MULTIPLE PROJECTS AND/OR CORES, ENSURING OPTIMAL INTEGRATION OF KNOWLEDGE AND METHODS. THE CONTE CENTER WILL ALLOW US TO CONDUCT A MULTIDIMENSIONAL AND TRANSLATIONAL CHARACTERIZATION OF A NEW CANDIDATE COGNITIVE PROCESS FOR THE RDOC MATRIX, TYING IT TO MENTAL ILLNESSES AND UNCOVERING ITS NEURAL MECHANISMS.

ACTPOL: THE ATACAMA COSMOLOGY TELESCOPE WITH POLARIZATION

QUANTITATIVE AND COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY GRADUATE PROGRAM

SMALL RNAS AS NOVEL MODULATORS OF MICROBE-HOST INTERACTIONS - THE RISE IN ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE HAS SEVERELY DEPLETED OUR ARSENAL FOR COMBATTING DEADLY BACTERIAL PATHOGENS. MEANWHILE, DESPITE INCREASED APPRECIATION OF THE MYRIAD WAYS THAT MICROBIOME BACTERIA IMPACT HUMAN HEALTH, MOST OF THE SIGNALS THAT BACTERIA USE TO INFLUENCE HOSTS REMAIN UNKNOWN. THIS PROPOSAL SEEKS TO ADDRESS BOTH OF THESE CHALLENGES BY LEVERAGING OUR TEAM’S UNIQUE EXPERTISE AND RECENT DISCOVERY THAT ANIMALS CAN DIRECTLY SENSE AND RESPOND TO BACTERIAL SMALL RNAS (SRNAS). SINCE THE DISCOVERY OF ANTIBIOTICS IN THE 1920S, THE PATHOGENESIS FIELD HAS PRIMARILY FOCUSED ON SMALL MOLECULES: NEARLY ALL KNOWN ANTIBIOTICS AND BACTERIAL SIGNALING MOLECULES ARE SMALL MOLECULES. BUT WE SORELY NEED NEW, ORTHOGONAL APPROACHES. NUCLEIC ACID-BASED THERAPIES HAVE EMERGED AS AN EXCITING NEW PLATFORM FOR RAPID DRUG DEVELOPMENT. DUE TO THEIR CHEMICAL SIMILARITY, THE PHARMACOLOGY OF NUCLEIC ACIDS IS ESTABLISHED, SUCH THAT ONCE WE KNOW WHAT SEQUENCE TO TARGET, THE DRUG DEVELOPMENT PIPELINE IS RELATIVELY STREAMLINED (AT LEAST IN COMPARISON TO SMALL MOLECULE DRUGS). FOR EXAMPLE, A BATTEN DISEASE PATIENT WAS RECENTLY SUCCESSFULLY TREATED WITH A PERSONALIZED SYNTHETIC ANTISENSE RNA, LESS THAN A YEAR AFTER HER GENOME WAS SEQUENCED. RNA-BASED INTERVENTIONS HAVE TYPICALLY NOT BEEN CONSIDERED FOR BACTERIA BECAUSE BACTERIAL RNAS WERE THOUGHT TO FUNCTION EXCLUSIVELY WITHIN THE BACTERIA. HOWEVER, WE RECENTLY OVERTURNED THIS PARADIGM BY PROVING THAT MODEL ANIMAL HOSTS CAN DIRECTLY “READ” THE SRNAS PRODUCED BY THE HUMAN PATHOGEN, PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA, USING THE RNA-INTERFERENCE (RNAI) MACHINERY TO RESPOND TO THE BACTERIAL SRNAS. THIS RESULT IS PARTICULARLY EXCITING BECAUSE IT SUGGESTS A PREVIOUSLY UNAPPRECIATED ROLE FOR THE RNAI MACHINERY IN SENSING AND RESPONDING TO BACTERIA. IT ALSO SUGGESTS THAT UNDERSTANDING SRNA-BASED MICROBE-HOST SIGNALING COULD HELP DEVELOP NEW THERAPIES TO HELP HOSTS WARD OFF PATHOGENS OR PROMOTE COMMENSAL COLONIZATION. HOWEVER, ADVANCING SUCH NEW ANTIMICROBIAL STRATEGIES IS CURRENTLY HINDERED BY OUR LACK OF KNOWLEDGE REGARDING THE SPACE OF SRNA-MEDIATED BACTERIA-HOST INTERACTIONS AND THE MOLECULAR MECHANISMS BY WHICH THEY FUNCTION. HERE, WE PROPOSE TO BUILD OFF OUR DISCOVERY OF SRNA-HOST SIGNALING TO SIGNIFICANTLY CLOSE THIS KNOWLEDGE GAP. THIS WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED IN THREE COMPLEMENTARY PARTS THAT SPAN MULTIPLE HOSTS AND MICROBES: GLOBALLY MAPPING HUMAN GUT MICROBIOME COMMUNITY SRNA-HOST INTERACTIONS AND FUNCTIONS, DETERMINING HOW MAMMALIAN CELLS RESPOND TO PATHOGEN SRNAS, AND USING C. ELEGANS TO CHARACTERIZE THE MOLECULAR MECHANISMS OF SRNA-HOST INTERACTIONS. TO ACHIEVE THESE GOALS WE WILL COMBINE THE EXPERTISE OF OUR TEAM, COMPRISED OF LEADERS IN THE FIELDS OF HUMAN MICROBIOME AND COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY (DONIA), MICROBIAL PATHOGENESIS AND ANTIBIOTIC DEVELOPMENT (GITAI), AND C. ELEGANS BEHAVIOR AND GENOMICS (MURPHY). OUR COMBINED EFFORTS THUS HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO ESTABLISH NEW PARADIGMS FOR MICROBE-HOST INTERACTIONS AND PAVE THE WAY TO DESPERATELY-NEEDED NEW THERAPIES.

ORGANOTROPIC METASTATIC SECRETOMES AND EXOSOMES IN BREAST CANCER

BIOGENESIS AND MAINTENANCE OF THE OUTER MEMBRANE OF GRAM-NEGATIVE BACTERIA

ENGINEERING EXOTIC STATES OF LIGHT WITH SUPERCONDUCTING CIRCUITS

SYNCHOTRON X-RAY BASED ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE STUDY OF CORRELATED QUANTUM MATERIALS

IBEX - INTERSTELLAR BOUNDARY EXPLORER

(MURI-20) UNCOVERING AND APPLYING THE INTERFACIAL DESIGN PRINCIPLES OF MULTIPHASIC NATURAL AND SYNTHETIC ORGANELLES

NRSA TRAINING GRANT IN QUANTITATIVE NEUROSCIENCE