Indiana University

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-07

In this project funded by the Chemical Synthesis Program of the Chemistry Division, Professor Jeremy Smith of the Department of Chemistry at Indiana University will develop the chemistry of first-row transition metals bound to atomic carbon, otherwise known as metal carbides. While seemingly exotic species, metal carbides are integral to the development of alternative energy sources, including the well-known Fisher-Tropsch (F-T) process that is used to convert biomass-derived synthesis gas to liquid hydrocarbon fuels. The proposed research aims to provide fundamental insight into the properties of elusive metal carbides by developing well-defined chemical models that include the metal ions commonly used in the F-T process. Successful isolation and characterization of these model compounds will help provide detailed knowledge regarding chemical structure and bonding that is relevant to understanding the F-T process. Moreover, these studies may also lead to new chemical transformations based on atomic carbon. Outreach activities focus on developing new modules for the Advance College Project, a dual enrollment partnership between Indiana University and regional high schools. This project focuses on research that combines synthetic, spectroscopic and physical studies in inorganic chemistry to create and understand late 3d metal carbide complexes. A critical aspect of this work is the development of a new carbon atom synthon that will be paired with a class of metal fragments known to stabilize metal ligand multiple bonds. Isolable carbide complexes will be characterized by standard and advanced structural and spectroscopic methods, with experimentally calibrated computational studies providing insight into their electronic structure. Complementary reactivity investigations will develop structure/function relationships through studies that probe the effect of the metal ion and/or oxidation state on the properties of the newly generated carbide ligands. A specific interest is the role of carbides in proton-coupled electron transfer reactions, which will allow for comparisons with other multiply bonded atomic ligands. Outreach activities that involve the development of inorganic-chemistry focused modules for the Advance College Project are expected to reach a wide audience of high school students. 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.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-07

We make numerous judgments daily, from assessing the size of a parking spot to evaluating the risks of vaccines and assessing presidential candidates for voting. It is widely recognized that context—the set of options under consideration—significantly influences our decisions in areas like perception, preference, and predicting future events. This project aims to deepen our understanding of how context impacts our beliefs in these diverse areas. Knowledge of context effects can lead to powerful tools for influencing judgment and decision-making. For example, school dining services might design menus to promote healthier choices. Additionally, understanding of how context impacts judgments can improve the quality of decisions. For instance, doctors could use this insight to provide more accurate assessments of treatment plans, thereby helping patients make better-informed decisions. This research seeks to unravel the fundamental characteristics of the general context effect and explore its domain specificity or generality. This goal is achieved by constructing detailed and empirical mappings of context effects within domains of perception, preference, and predicting future events. Such comprehensive mapping attempts to provide an extensive understanding of how context effects operate within and across these domains. The dataset generated from this project is an invaluable resource for rigorously evaluating various judgment and decision-making models. The richness of this dataset, combined with the detailed mapping of context effects it provides, presents a substantial challenge to judgment and decision-making models, compelling them to accommodate the full spectrum of these effects. 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.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-07

Parents sharing information about their children online is commonplace in the United States and comes with several benefits such as showing affection toward children, documenting cherished moments, and maintaining social connections. However, typically well-intentioned parents can also expose children to known risks such as identity theft, bullying, misuse of photos, or threats from child predators. Despite these risks, many parents continue to think of sharing their child's information as being similar to sharing more general posts on social media. Across various parenting styles, parents may need to be informed about these risks if we are to protect children against them. Towards the broader goal of improving the welfare of children and protecting them against current and future cyber threats, this project is focused on a scientific method for designing educational materials to foster more responsible, and less risky, parental sharing of children’s information online. Students and the public will be participating in this research. The objective of this project is to establish a more comprehensive understanding of parental sharing in the context of diverse family interaction styles and provide empirically validated educational materials that support informed parental sharing and young children’s privacy. In doing so, the proposed work is investigating privacy education interventions that are preventative, can be easily disseminated, and impact broader social norms. This proposal focuses on parents and their preteen children. At this age, children display increased autonomy as they approach the minimum allowable age for most social media use. At the same time, they are susceptible to influence from their parents and have typically not established the agency to prevent unwanted parental sharing. The overarching objective will be addressed via a three-phased plan to: 1) Demonstrate how family interaction styles contribute to parental sharing practices and outcomes; 2) Identify strategies to inform safe and responsible parental sharing based on insights drawn from parents and their children; and 3) Empirically-validate educational interventions to inform safer parental sharing standards. 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.