Florida State University

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-09

The area of computer-aided verification and formal methods is thriving and growing in computer science, due to the rigorous approach it provides in tackling the complexity of modern computing systems. The Computer Aided Verification (CAV) conference is one of the premier conferences in computer science, dedicated to the advancement of the theory and practice of computer-aided formal analysis methods for hardware and software systems. The goal of the Verification Mentoring Workshop (VMW), co-located with CAV, is to attract early-stage graduate students to pursue research careers in the area of computer-aided verification. The aim of this travel grant is to provide support for students to attend the Verification Mentoring Workshop (VMW) and the International Conference on Computer Aided Verification (CAV) in the years 2024, 2025 and 2026 (to be held in Montreal, Zagreb and Lisbon, respectively), thereby encouraging students to pursue research careers in this important area. By attending the VMW workshop, the participants receive advice from established researchers in the intersection of other traditional areas in computer science such as theory and logic, systems, programming languages, and compilers. Students who have insufficient exposure to the broad range of research problems and career options receive guidance that is often difficult to get from their academic advisors only. Additionally, students receive guidance on how to become more successful paper writers and paper reviewers and learn about possible job-related roles and responsibilities. This grant will provide travel scholarships to support more than US-based 45 students to attend the VMW and CAV to be held in 2024, 2025 and 2026. The scholarships will cover conference registration, accommodations, and other travel expenses. VMW is intended to focus explicitly on mentoring and career advice, along with an opportunity for participants to attend a top conference. Funded students will benefit greatly from the opportunity to engage in the critical technical, professional, and social exchanges that both the conference and the mentoring workshop foster. 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.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 2024-09

Despite the substantial declines in HIV transmission achieved over the past decade, the full benefits of available tools and interventions have yet to be realized in youth. This is due to the inadequate implementation of efficacious interventions tailored in partnership with youth. The proposed approach to optimizing intervention implementation is the integration of data science, implementation science, and the science of engagement into a Youth Learning Health Community (Y-LHC). Florida is suffering from a severe HIV epidemic and ranks second in the number of End the Epidemic jurisdictions (n=7). In Florida, as well as nationally, emerging adults continue to be overrepresented among new HIV cases in youth. In North Florida, considered the Deep South, there are 10 counties with high HIV prevalence, but they have much fewer resources and much less research activity than counties in South and Central Florida. Thus, addressing implementation of evidence-based interventions along the youth prevention continuum in North Florida is highly significant. Our proposed approach will be a model of translational behavioral science with community-engaged systems science to develop a Y-LHC in North Florida using data from OneFlorida+ Data Trust, a clinical research consortium of 11 health systems in Florida. Aim 1 is to define implementation strategies using community-engaged system science methods for youth in North Florida (R21 phase). Aim 2 is to conduct simulations of selected strategies to refine for feasibility and greatest impact (R21 phase) Aim 3 is to conduct proof of concept (POC) study of collaboratively selected strategies on feasible, pragmatic outcome measures (R33) using a pre-post mixed methods approach with additional simulations of strategy effect. This project will not only pave the way for multisite pragmatic trials to address the Diagnose and Prevent pillars of the End the Epidemic initiative for youth as a key population but will also test a transformative framework for translating community-engaged systems science into new implementation strategies with pragmatic outcomes.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-09

One goal of this project is to measure the mass of the electron with an uncertainty of 10 parts-per-trillion, that is, with a factor of three less uncertainty than the previous best measurements. As one of the fundamental physical constants, the mass of the electron is a necessary input for many theoretical predictions in the physical sciences. For most of these the current most accurate value for the electron mass is sufficiently precise. However, there are some applications where this is not the case. In particular, predictions for the frequencies of rotation and vibration of molecular hydrogen ions (MHI, the simplest and most fundamental molecules, just two protons or deuterons bound by a single electron) require a more precise electron mass than is currently available. This is important because any discrepancy between theoretical predictions and measurements on MHI may indicate, besides the need for more precise calculations, that there is an extra force between the nuclei that is not accounted for by currently known physics (the “Standard Model” of physics). A second goal of the project is to make measurements on MHI themselves (of hyperfine structure and magnetic moments) that will complement the precise measurements of rotational and vibrational frequencies that have been made by other researchers. The measurements use devices called cryogenic Penning ion traps, in which single charged particles are suspended in a vacuum by a combination of electric and magnetic fields, and at the temperature of liquid helium. Graduate and undergraduate students will participate in developing this system, then they will make the measurements and analyze the data. Students will gain research experience in a variety of technologies, some of which are used in quantum information science, preparing them for a wide range of careers in advanced STEM, The mass of the electron will be obtained using an indirect technique that combines measurements on a singly charged helium ion in a strong magnetic field, of the ratio of electron-spin-flip frequency and cyclotron frequency, with the mass of the helium ion and a theoretical value for its electronic magnetic moment. In the case of helium-4 the ion’s magnetic moment has been calculated to 0.3 parts per-trillion, so the necessary measurements are of the helium ion’s electron-spin-flip to cyclotron-frequency ratio, and its mass. The measurement of helium-4 mass will use the Penning trap system and single-ion techniques that have previously been used for many measurements of atomic mass at Florida State University. The measurements of spin-flip frequencies and hyperfine structure on helium and MHIs will use the same superconducting magnet, but will incorporate a newly-developed double Penning trap system. This will consist of a “precision trap” where the measurements of the spin-flip and cyclotron frequencies take place, and an adjacent “analysis trap”, to which the ion is transferred for detection of an electron spin-flip, together with the necessary microwave and radio-frequency feeds. 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.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2024 · 2024-09

Project Summary Up to 3 billion people will reside outside of the human climate niche due to climate change by the end of the century and the wholesale abandonment of communities are now a reality. As some communities in the US become increasingly environmentally precarious and settlements become abandoned, migration away from these areas could increase exposure to displacement-related stressful life events (DR-SLEs) and their impact on health. Such DR-SLEs are associated with short-term reduced health outcomes but little is known about how these short-term reduced health outcomes could translate into long-term reduced health outcomes. No database of US abandoned settlements currently exists, hindering our ability to study the long-term health impacts of DR-SLEs. This project will build a comprehensive database of all enumerated places since 1890 and verify any settlements abandoned during since. We will then leverage this database by linking verified, abandoned places between Census 1940 and 1950 to individuals in CenSoc, an NIA-funded database which matches deceased persons in the Social Security Administration’s Death File to their 1940 Census record, to estimate the causal effect of settlement abandonment on longevity using a synthetic control design. Findings from this project will directly inform ongoing federal, state, and local policies of managed retreat and illustrate the mortality penalty settlement abandonment could place on the millions of anticipated US-based climate migrants this century.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-09

Despite comprising the largest racial/minority group in the U.S., Latiné students are marginalized in STEM, and are especially structurally disadvantaged in pathways to computing degrees. Despite the growth of the Latiné population, institutional leaders often lack access to effective strategies for authentically serving this growing demographic's needs for recruitment, retention, engagement, and advancement. This BPC Demonstration project at Florida State University will integrate evidence-based servingness criteria, effective transition strategies, tools, and methods to transform how the nation's 401 emerging Hispanic Serving Institutions (HIS) actively engage in their HSI transitions. As a result, this study aims to deepen Latinos' sense of belongingness on their campuses. The dissemination efforts will (1) leverage accessible formats and authentic Hispanic marketing to share insights on (how servingness is experienced at Hispanic Serving Institutions and (2) how emerging HSIs can establish context-specific benchmarking and implement associated strategies to best serve the Latiné STEM and computing communities. This demonstration project is a collaboration led by Florida State University (FSU), an emerging Hispanic Serving Institution (eHSI), and in partnership with fellow eHSI University of South Florida, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and Excelencia Seal HSIs such as University of Texas at El Paso, University of Central Florida, and Florida International University, with the advice of BPC Centers including the Computing Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (CAHSI) and STARS Computing Alliance and experts from the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication (CHMC). Using a mixed method multiple case study approach with a focus on Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) majors, the team will conduct secondary data analysis and applied ethnography of HSI and eHSI, grounded in theories of authenticity and servingness, to accomplish four goals: 1) improved eHSI servingness to Latinos by documenting HSI's effective policies, processes, and practices eHSI's identified challenges to employing these strategies across organizational units (e.g., Student Affairs, Office of Research, Faculty Affairs, Admissions, Human Resources); 2) enhanced predominantly White institution (PWI) preparedness to serve Latinos using rigorous Seal of Excelencia requirements for data gathering and demonstration of the review process; 3) eHSI empowered to better serve Latinos with an HSI (R)evolution assessment rubric and toolkit; and 4) eHSIs supported in their transitions by disseminating project findings through traditional, bilingual, and multicultural multimedia academic channels. By using a multiple case study approach with a testbed eHSI PWI, this novel study will develop critical subject-matter knowledge on higher education institutions' evolution from eHSI to HSI. 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 · 2024-09

Past research has shown that hurricanes result in massive sewer overflows resulting in the release of pollutants to receiving waters. Such releases have the potential to create “hotspots” for microplastic release into the surrounding environment due to the high microplastic content in raw sewage. In August 2024, Hurricane Debby affected numerous urban population centers in the Florida Gulf, including Tallahassee, Florida. The processes affecting sewage overflows and runoff of accumulated microplastics from the land are poorly understood. The goal of this project is to assess the impact of hurricane-induced sewage overflows on microplastic release to the surrounding waters. Water samples obtained in a watershed impacted by sewage overflows from Hurricane Debby will be compared to those from systems that were not affected. These systems will be tracked over time to understand both short-term (days) and long-term (weeks) releases of microplastics following Hurricane Debby. The results will advance knowledge about the impact of hurricanes on microplastics release. More broadly, results will also help understand the impacts of hurricanes on water quality in urban drainage systems. Results from this study will inform efforts by urban water managers to prevent and mitigate releases from future hurricanes and other large flooding events. Hurricanes in urban watersheds can cause massive sewer overflows resulting in the release of pollutants. While research has demonstrated the importance of hurricane induced sewage overflows on pollutant release, comparatively little is known about how this process affects microplastics release. The specific objectives of this research project are to understand: i) how hurricanes affect the mass of microplastics released from urban drainage systems during sewage overflows, ii) how microplastics releases vary with space and time, and iii) whether hurricane induced sewage overflows create microplastics hotspots in urban water systems. Samples will be obtained from various locations in a watershed experiencing sewage overflows impacted by Hurricane Debby. Results will be compared to samples obtained from non-impacted waterbodies. State of the science FTIR techniques will be used to measure microplastics concentrations and composition. Successful completion of this research will help understand the impact of hurricane and other extreme event-induced flooding has on microplastics release. Results will benefit society by informing efforts to prevent and mitigate the impact of releases from urban flooding, as well as guiding future responses to hurricanes to prevent water contamination in urban areas. 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 · 2024-09

This EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) award is made in response to Dear Colleague Letter 23-109, as part of the NSF-wide Clean Energy Technology initiative. Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are the technology of choice when it comes to mitigating the impacts of climate change or for energy storage. With the ever-growing need for their production, multimillion tons of LIBs will reach their end of life in the near future, and if not properly recycled, will lead to a detrimental impact on natural resources, supply-chain, and the environment. LIBs contain a range of metals that have been deemed as critical (e.g., Lithium, Nickel, Cobalt, Manganese, etc.) for short- and long-term purposes. The current state-of-the-art recycling methods for these critical metals are often costly, and energy and chemically intensive, leading to significant environmental pollution. Therefore, it is imperative to recycle metals from end-of-life LIBs using a greener and more environmentally benign separation technique. Through an experimental and multiphysics simulation study, this project seeks to overcome those shortcomings by engineering a green and efficient separation method based on magnetic fields. The study will establish the foundation for a novel and green magnetic-assisted separation strategy with broad impacts in recycling of the critical metals found in spent LIBs, transport of ferro-magnetic nanoparticles for drug delivery, separation of proteins, and for water purification. Additionally, the joint FAMU-FSU College of Engineering provides a unique opportunity to recruit, educate and retain students from underrepresented groups in science and engineering. The principal investigators will experimentally demonstrate the magnetic-assisted recycling of critical LIB metals from spent LIBs and will develop foundational knowledge on identifying the optimal conditions for such separations through a synergistic combination of experiments and numerical simulations. Experiments explore and improve the separation of LIBs critical metals by optimization of magnetic fields of a broad range of magnets (permanent, resistive and superconducting), and numerical simulations are performed to inform and guide experiments. The unique innovation of the project is that subject to a non-uniform magnetic field, the flux of LIBs critical metal solutes in an immiscible fluid mixture, is controlled by the interplay between magnetic force, thermal diffusion, concentration gradient, and the viscous forces. The team will assess the interplay between these four forces through systematic variation of magnetic field, concentration of metals, flow geometry and flow intensity. Objectives are to simulate and improve the gradients in static magnetic field and to validate the simulation results by measurements of the magnetic field. Subsequently, the team will subject the immiscible fluid mixture to the magnetic field and measure in situ, the spatio-temporal evolution of metal concentrations. This will allow the team to identify and construct the flow-phase diagrams for optimal separation of the critical metal ions. An expected outcome of the project is a mechanistic understanding of the principles that control magnetic-assisted transport of LIBs metals and a rigorous test of the magnetophoresis model. These models will accelerate the development of magnetic assisted separation and fluid processing schemes needed to address challenges associated with the recycling of the critical metals found in spent LIBs. 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 · 2024-09

Despite being the most numerous massive particle, neutrinos remain the least understood known fundamental particle. The undetermined properties of the neutrino likely connects to some of the largest open questions in modern physics such as the origin of neutrino mass, nature of dark matter, and whether there are undiscovered forces of nature. Progress resolving these open questions is slow primarily because neutrinos interact very feebly with matter. Thus, neutrino experiments are typically massive, often measured in the thousands of tons. We will build and operate a detector that will test the unknown properties of neutrinos with a small, 10-kg detector by searching for very low energy signals. A small-scale detector enables full engagement in neutrino science by students from design to data analysis. The PIs will leverage this opportunity to involve young scientists at Florida State University, North Carolina Central University, and the University of South Dakota and nurture their identities as early career neutrino physicists. The detector constructed under this project will measure coherent, elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) in which a low-energy (< 50 MeV) neutrino transfers a small kinetic energy to a nucleus (< 100 keV). Low-threshold detectors are critical for CEvNS measurements. We will design, construct, and deploy a cryogenic, undoped CsI scintillation detector at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) as part of the COHERENT experiment. This technology has demonstrated impressive light output with potential for detection thresholds twenty times lower than the first detection of CEvNS, made by COHERENT in 2017. In the detector's baseline design, scintillation activity in a 10-kg CsI crystal will be monitored by an array of silicon photomultiplier light detectors. The detector will be housed in a low-activity copper support structure in a cryostat cooled to 40 K. The detector will be surrounded with a composite shielding to mitigate environmental gamma and neutron backgrounds along with scintillator panels to veto cosmic activity. The detector will be operating at the SNS by the end of this award. This project is co-funded by the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), which provides awards to strengthen STEM undergraduate education and research at HBCUs. 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.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2024 · 2024-08

While vaccines are available for SARS-CoV-2, influenza virus, and RSV, and our laboratory has advanced mAbs and vaccines for hMPV, there has been a lack of research on parainfluenza virus (PIV) disease prevention and treatment, despite being the second highest cause of acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI) in young children. Globally, PIVs cause 18 million ALRI cases, 700,000 hospital admissions, and 34,000 deaths in children younger than five years of age each year. As a comparison, RSV causes nearly 60,000 deaths in children under 5 years of age each year, while hMPV causes approximately 12,000 deaths in the same age range. Among adults, severe disease can occur in those with immuncompromising conditions, especially those with hematopoietic stem cell and solid organ transplants, as well as those with hematologic malignancy, with high resulting mortality rates. PIVs are members of the Paramyxoviridae family, which consists of both endemic viruses as well as zoonotic viruses with pandemic potential. This R01 proposal seeks to advance the development of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) for the treatment of infectious diseases, which is a major priority of NIAID and our research laboratory. Our major objective is to define the structural and mechanistic determinants mediating the neutralization and protection against paramyxoviruses. For this proposal, we will specifically focus on the PIV fusion (F) and hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) surface proteins. In Aim 1, we will define the human B cell repertoire to PIV HN and F in adults and children. We will leverage recent advances in single B cell sequencing for the generation of human mAbs, which will then be assessed for neutralization potency, epitope specificity, and interfering with the viral life cycle. In Aim 2, we will determine the optimal therapeutic strategy for anti-PIV mAbs. We will utilize two rodent models, including Syrian golden hamsters for mAb screening, followed by cotton rats for verification of therapeutic value. In Aim 3, we will determine the structural epitopes mediating antibody functionality and protective efficacy. We will define these protective mAb epitopes at the molecular level using cryo-electron microscopy, which will be essential to advancing the mAb candidates and future vaccine candidates by identifying the optimal epitopes for mAb efficacy. With the recent approval of the first RSV vaccine, and the critical use of antibody guided structure-based vaccine design to stabilize the RSV F protein in the pre- fusion conformation, this proposal is conceptually innovative as we will incorporate recently described PIV pre- fusion F proteins in our strategies, conduct the first in-depth B cell repertoire studies for PIV infection, and by the exciting collaborations. Furthermore, this proposal is technically innovative as we will leverage state of the art tools, including high-throughput single B cell sequencing and cryo-electron microscopy for determination of protective and non-protective epitopes on the PIV surface proteins. Our research will advance the field by developing new human mAb therapeutics for the treatment of PIV infection, and by defining protective epitopes important for vaccine development for PIVs, which will translate to additional paramyxoviruses.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-08

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.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-08

This award supports the installation of a helium-recovery system at the John D. Fox Superconducting Accelerator Laboratory (Fox Lab) on the campus of Florida State University. The Fox Laboratory is one of the nation’s most important training grounds for nuclear scientists at both the Ph.D. and undergraduate levels. Liquefied helium is used to cool the accelerator structures to a temperature a few degrees above absolute zero, at which point they become superconducting. This superconducting accelerator is used to accelerate atomic nuclei, which are then used to perform experiments that explore the nuclear reactions that take place in stars and the ways in which the forces between protons and neutrons cause novel phenomena within nuclei. Twice a year, the accelerator is warmed for regular maintenance and approximately 45% of the helium inventory is lost. The helium recovery system supported by this grant will eliminate losses during scheduled or accidental warm-ups, like those that occur during power outages, mitigating a significant and rapidly growing cost in operating the Fox Lab. The helium-recovery system supported by this grant will allow for more efficient operation and more flexible scheduling at the accelerator, which serves scientists and graduate students at FSU as well as visitors from several universities and national laboratories. This project supports the installation of a helium-recovery system at the John D. Fox Superconducting Accelerator Laboratory (Fox Lab) on the campus of Florida State University. The Fox Lab accelerator system consists of a Tandem Van de Graaff accelerator boosted by a superconducting Linear Accelerator (Linac). The FSU group of six tenure-line faculty, their graduate students, as well as external groups from Louisiana State University and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed the experimental facilities at the laboratory. The laboratory operates three signature programs, the RESOLUT radioactive beam facility, the Super-Enge Split-Pole spectrograph and the Clarion-2 Compton-suppressed germanium detector array. The FSU laboratory is the only heavy-ion nuclear physics laboratory in the southeastern USA and is one of the nation’s most important training grounds for nuclear scientists at both the Ph.D. and undergraduate levels. The researchers working at the Fox Lab pursue two primary scientific goals. The first goal is to reproduce in the laboratory the nuclear reactions that take place in stellar explosions, which produce the majority of heavy elements in the universe. The second goal is to measure the behavior of exotic nuclei – that is, isotopes in which the ratio of neutrons to protons is either too large to be stable (and therefore naturally occurring) or too small to be stable and provide rigorous tests of our understanding of the behavior of all nuclei. The cryogenic operation of the superconducting linac is affected by the increasing costs for helium, which likely will soon become the laboratory’s largest cryogenic expense. The system acquired through this grant will enable an essentially helium-loss-free operation of the accelerator, by recovering and purifying helium that currently would be lost when the facility is warmed up, which typically occurs twice a year. In addition, the recovery system will be backed-up by an electrical generator, avoiding helium loss during unforeseeable power disruptions. We estimate that the proposed system will recycle the equivalent of 1850 liter of liquid helium per year, which otherwise would be lost. 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 · 2024-08

All over the world contact between groups of people and their languages has led to language change. It is well known that when languages come into contact, changes occur due to a combination of linguistic factors (e.g., differences between the languages) and social factors (e.g., number of speakers, prestige), but researchers do not know how these factors interact. This is an issue this project addresses. Specifically, this project examines the linguistic outcomes of language contact between an indigenous, endangered language and a socially dominant language in two distinct contact settings. This language pair allows for a careful examination of linguistic differences between these languages and the long-term and intensive contact situation. The same language pair is studied in two areas to tease apart the effects of linguistic and social factors on the outcomes of language contact. This project specifically focuses on intonation, which is an area that has received less attention in language contact. Intonation is the melody of a sentence and corresponds to changes in pitch (e.g., high and low tones), which may cause changes in meaning (e.g., questions versus statements). This project examines the production and perception of questions and explores how their different intonation strategies collide in contact situations. The two languages under investigation differ in how questions are marked grammatically and with intonation contours, with one language using a particle with no intonational difference between questions and statements. However, the other language distinguishes questions and statements intonationally. By investigating production and perception, alongside factors such as age of acquisition and proficiency, this project aims to uncover the nuances of language contact outcomes. By using a combination of linguistic and psycholinguistic methods including proficiency tests, elicitation tasks, and eye-tracking, this project not only advances linguistic understanding of the dynamics of language contact but also sheds light on understudied language varieties in indigenous contact settings. The broader impacts of this research extend to promoting inclusivity of underrepresented minorities in linguistic research, fostering an appreciation of linguistic diversity, and contributing valuable resources for language documentation and education. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-08

The intimate link between form, or shape, and function is ubiquitous in science. In biology, for instance, the shapes of biological components are pivotal in understanding patterns of normal behavior and growth; a notable example is protein shape, which contributes to our understanding of protein function and classification. This project, led by a team of investigators from the USA and the UK, will develop ways of modeling how biological and other shapes change with time, using formal statistical frameworks that capture not only the changes themselves, but how these changes vary across objects and populations. This will enable the study of the link between form and function in all its variability. As example applications, the project will develop models for changes in cell morphology and topology during motility and division, and changes in human posture during various activities, facilitating the exploration of scientific questions such as how and why cell division fails, or how to improve human postures in factory tasks. These are proofs of concept, but the methods themselves will have much wider applicability. This project will thus not only progress the science of shape analysis and the specific applications studied; it will have broader downstream impacts on a range of scientific application domains, providing practitioners with general and useful tools. While there are several approaches for representing and analyzing static shapes, encompassing curves, surfaces, and complex structures like trees and shape graphs, the statistical modeling and analysis of dynamic shapes has received limited attention. Mathematically, shapes are elements of quotient spaces of nonlinear manifolds, and shape changes can be modeled as stochastic processes, termed shape processes, on these complex spaces. The primary challenges lie in adapting classical modeling concepts to the nonlinear geometry of shape spaces and in developing efficient statistical tools for computation and inference in such very high-dimensional, nonlinear settings. The project consists of three thrust areas, dealing with combinations of discrete and continuous time, and discrete and continuous representations of shape, with a particular emphasis on the issues raised by topology changes. The key idea is to integrate spatiotemporal registration of objects and their evolution into the statistical formulation, rather than treating them as pre-processing steps. This project will specifically add to the current state-of-the-art in topic areas such as stochastic differential equations on shape manifolds, time series models for shapes, shape-based functional data analysis, and modeling and inference on infinite-dimensional shape spaces. 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.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 2024-08

PROJECT SUMMARY Directional sensing of force plays a critical role in a wide variety of physiologic processes including migration, angiogenesis, morphogenesis, and mechanical homeostasis. An important aspect of this force sensing is that many of these forces are dynamic in nature, requiring that cells constantly probe, sense, and respond to force in both time and space using force sensitive proteins. While these forces exist at the tissue scale, they are sensed through molecular deformations at the protein scale that drive changes in binding, reinforcement, and downstream signaling. Despite the critical importance of directional force sensing, the molecular mechanisms that allow for this behavior are unclear. While many tools now exist for measuring biophysical forces and different length scales, there are several unresolved questions with respect to the scale at which this directional force sensing occurs. Recent work has indicated that mechanosensitive molecules in the cytoskeleton display direction dependent reinforcement of bond lifetimes at the molecular scale. While this behavior has the potential to drive directional force sensing at the cellular and tissue scales, tools for measuring the orientation of molecular forces in living cells are limited. One established method for measuring orientation, polarized fluorescence microscopy, is limited by its lack of intracellular force and dynamics information. The goal of this work is to develop methods for simultaneous measurement of these dynamic forces and material systems for interrogation of cellular responses to directional mechanical cues. To accomplish this, this research program will consist of three research themes. Theme 1: Do molecular level forces and force orientations drive emergent directional mechanosensing behaviors at the cellular scale? We will develop imaging and analysis methods for simultaneous measurement of multiple biophysical variables in living cells that allow for cross-correlation of molecular measurements with emergent behaviors. Theme 2: Can we engineer environments to manipulate and study directional mechanosensing behaviors at the molecular and cellular scale? By engineering cellular microenvironments with independently controllable directional cues that drive durotaxis and contact guidance, we will investigate the molecular basis of these phenomena. Theme 3: Are environmental deformations directionally sensed through individual proteins with directionally reinforced domains? By developing systems for high resolution analysis of cellular deformation mechanosensing using engineered laminates with independently controllable stiffness and Poisson’s ratio, we will assess biophysical changes at the molecular and cellular scales in response to directional deformation fields. The combined imaging modalities and material systems developed in this proposal will allow for detailed dissection of directional force sensing at the molecular level, providing an important new toolset for interrogating and manipulating molecular mechanisms of directional force sensing.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2026 · 2024-07

PROJECT SUMMARY Guided by Fundamental Cause Theory with innovative methodologies, this proposal examines the impact of geospatial intersectional stigma and affirmation on substance use and HIV risk among bisexual Black and Latino men. Bisexual men experience co-morbid health disparities including elevated substance use and HIV risk. Black and Latino men are disproportionately represented in bisexual populations relative to the general population in the United States making up 45% of bisexual men. Bisexual Black and Latino men experience elevated substance use and HIV risk relative to heterosexual Black and Latino men. One contributing factor is stigma. Intersectionality informs us that bisexual Black and Latino men experience a range of stigma types including binegative stigma based on their sexual identity, racist stigma, substance use stigma, and HIV stigma. While stigma is theorized to be multilevel and intersectionality experiences have called for geospatial examinations of stigma, few studies have sought to measure stigma geospatially. This proposal seeks to address these limitations by first collecting a general sample of adults to generate geospatial stigma scores then using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to quantify activity space for a sample of bisexual Black and Latino men including momentary assessments of substance use and HIV risk. This will be addressed through 3 specific aims: Aim 1: Describe geospatial distribution of intersectional stigma in Cook County, IL and Palm Beach County, FL including bi-negativity, racism, substance use stigma and HIV stigma. Approach. We will generate geospatial stigma scores through a household-based probability sample of the general adult population (N = 2,000 ). Survey responses will be geocoded to generate geolocated averages of stigma scores. Hypothesis. There will be unequal distribution of stigma including areas of increased or decreased stigma. Aim 2: Examine the impact of geospatial stigma on the relationship between substance use and HIV risk. Approach. We will link geospatial estimates of stigma generated in Aim 1 to a second survey sample of HIV- Black and Latinx bisexual men using EMA to capture activity space (N = 600 ). Hypothesis. Bisexual men who reside or have activity spaces in areas with higher stigma will be more likely to use substance, and engage in HIV risk behaviors, while access to affirming social resources will buffer against geospatial stigmas. Aim 3: Analyze qualitative perspectives on the impacts of intersecting stigmas on substance use and HIV risk in bisexual men, provider interactions, and messaging. Approach. We will collect qualitative interviews with bisexual men (N = 48), and key informants (N = 24) addressing perspectives on the impact of stigma on substance use and access to HIV prevention and community services as well as preferences for prevention messaging. Findings will inform the development of multilevel intervention strategies.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2024 · 2024-07

Project Summary/Abstract Child maltreatment is a serious problem in the U.S. and worldwide. An estimated 1 in 7 children are maltreated each year, and most recent annual U.S. data suggest that over 618,000 child maltreatment cases were substantiated. Approximately 30% of substantiated child and protectice services (CPS) cases lead to child removal from the home and placement in foster care. Support networks, or safety nets, are a protective factor associated with child abuse prevention. Research shows that, among vulnerable families in the general population, strong safety nets, including informal and formal supports, are important because they protect against risks and benefit parental health, parenting practices, and child wellbeing. Despite the documented importance of safety nets for vulnerable families, we know much less about the safety nets of families involved with CPS. Importantly, safety nets may work differently for CPS involved families (e.g., social isolation is a characteristic of parents involved with CPS, parental lack of engagement in formal supports also is a documented issue). Not understanding how informal and formal safety nets potentially complement or clash with one another may contribute to less than desirable outcomes for families involved with CPS (e.g., inconsistent participation in services, child removal from the home). Given the potential protective power of safety nets, not knowing how safety nets function specifically for families involved with the CPS is a significant gap because we spent over $33.0 billion U.S. federal, state, local dollars on child protective services in the last fiscal year. With a sample of families involved with the U.S. CPS, this project will identify: (a) parents’ informal and formal supports (i.e., safety nets) over time; (b) how their safety nets are linked with child outcomes; and (c) the extent to which their safety nets uniquely, additively, and interactively influence the longitudinal outcomes of youth involved with CPS. This is important because parental engagement in intervention services upon CPS involvement is key for positive family outcomes, yet we know very little about the combination of informal and formal supports—and each have strengths and limitations. This project innovatively applies safety net frameworks developed with low-income, vulnerable but non-CPS involved families, to families involved with CPS. Results will move the field forward by filling an important research gap, and direct evidence-based shifts in child welfare practices by identifying how safety nets function over time and with what results.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-07

The IEEE International Conference on Cluster Computing (Cluster) serves as a major international forum for presenting and sharing recent accomplishments and technological developments in the field of cluster computing, as well as the use of cluster systems for scientific and commercial applications. Cluster 2024 involves participants (researchers, developers, and users) from academia, industry, laboratories, and commerce, coming together to discuss recent advances and trends. 2024 Cluster conference takes place on September 24-27, 2024 in Kobe, Japan. The Student Program at Cluster provides a comprehensive means for students to improve their overall research skills. The attending students will participate in the regular conferences activities and a student program comprised of special sessions that target research presentation training, research experience and career guidance, and industry interaction. Funding provided through this grant will support the travel of eligible US students. Recipients will be able to attend the main conference, workshops, and tutorials. Travel grants will encourage the research interests and the involvement of students in the field who are not well funded and those who are just beginning their participation in the field or are interested in entering it. A special effort will be made to reach out to students from underrepresented groups. This grant will offer up to 15 – 20 NSF-sponsored student travel grants. The funding opportunity will be broadly announced, giving students ample notice and time to apply. An ad-hoc committee will review applications, and the support provided will cover student registration, travel and/or lodging expenses. 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 · 2024-06

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). The project will assemble radiocarbon-dated segments of ancient coral recovered from islands in the central equatorial Pacific to study climate conditions during the last 1000 years. It will focus on two important time periods, the Medieval Climate Anomaly (850-1300 ago) and the Little Ice Age (1400-1850) to look at what factors cause El Nino conditions. Researchers will reconstruct monthly-resolution records of seawater temperature and salinity conditions by targeting growth bands in coral skeletons. This project supports research training educational opportunities for several undergraduate and graduate students. It also supports a research collaboration among two early career scientists and others who have a strong track record of participation in K-16 education and public outreach with an emphasis on broadening diversity and inclusion of underrepresented communities. These efforts will continue with guest lectures at a nearby minority-serving institution and by offering summer research opportunities for local high school students. Improving the accuracy of future climate projections requires a more complete understanding of internal vs. externally forced changes in tropical Pacific climate on a broad range of timescales. Coral-based paleoclimate records have dramatically improved our understanding of interannual climate variability in the tropical Pacific, however, similar insights into centennial-scale variability have thus far remained unattainable due to (i) diagenesis, which can significantly bias coral reconstructions, and (ii) colony-to- colony offsets in coral proxies, which introduce large uncertainties in estimates of mean climate change from single corals. Informed by two decades of work at Kiritimati Island (2degN, 157degW), this project will generate ~50 new well-dated and multi-proxy records of climate variability across the last millennium. Using a novel approach that layers paired coral oxygen isotope and Sr/Ca measurements, with a new paleothermometer, Sr-U, this reconstruction will provide the first set of robust, quantitative, and independent estimates of central tropical Pacific surface temperature (SST) and hydroclimate trends across the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA; 900-1200CE) and Little Ice Age (LIA; 1500-1800CE). The fidelity of these fossil coral records will be further ensured using rigorous screening for diagenesis and a microscale analyses to extract reliable climate information from altered corals. Comparisons of these new reconstructions with transient climate simulations will provide much-needed context for present-day trends and allow us to investigate the tropical Pacific’s long-term response to external forcings and climate feedbacks. Broader impacts to this project include a dramatic improvement to our understanding of natural climate variability in the tropical Pacific, allowing for the better quantification of regional anthropogenic climate trends, and the improvement of future climate projections by providing more accurate benchmarks for climate models. As climate change continues to dominate social consciousness, the PI will actively engage in public outreach efforts to communicate the results of the paleoclimate research as well as more general information about local/regional impacts of future climate change. It supports research training and mentoring of several graduate students and summer research experiences for high school students from a nearby school district which has a >90% underrepresented minority student population. 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 · 2024-06

This research project will develop a new class of latent variable models for network data capable of capturing essential characteristics observed in applications from various disciplines, including the social and life sciences. Existing latent variable models for network data can capture the structural features of networks; however, they make the unrealistic assumption that connections within the network do not depend on each other. In contrast, for networks from the social and life sciences, the processes that lead to network formation and structure inherently induce fundamental dependencies among the connections within the network. This project will introduce a new class of latent variable models for network data that can model both network structure and important dependence patterns that affect how the networks of our world materialize. The research project provides an opportunity for the involvement of undergraduate and graduate students with a broad range of backgrounds and interests. Furthermore, the methods developed in this project will be introduced into relevant courses. Together with Florida State University, the project will support the formation of a K-12 educational outreach program. The program will establish a data science summer camp aimed at early exposure to statistics and data science disciplines, including an introduction to network analysis. Latent variable models for network data typically assume that connections within the network are conditionally independent given the latent variables. This assumption may be too strong for many applications of interest, especially those in the social and life sciences, as the social processes that give rise to a network may induce dependence patterns among the connections within the network that cannot be explained solely by latent variables. This project will introduce a new class of latent variable models for network data that do not adopt the almost ubiquitous conditional independence assumptions of the current state-of-the-art by integrating and extending two existing approaches to modeling network data, that of the exponential-family random graph model and the latent space literature, utilizing the strengths of each literature to compensate for known deficiencies of the other. The project will develop accompanying methodology for fitting models to observed network data and theory for establishing the statistical foundations for estimation and inference. The new methods will be applied to real network data from the social and life sciences. Freely distributed open-source software will be produced to allow practitioners to utilize the developed class of models in applications. 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.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2026 · 2024-06

Project Summary The nuclear entry and transport of HIV-1 to genes for viral (v)DNA integration is determined by viral capsid and its interaction with the host cellular polyadenylation specific factor CPSF61-3. In the absence of CPSF6 interactions, HIV-1 remains tethered to nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) and integrates outside of genes in lamin associated genomic domains or LADs3, 4. We have made a seminal discovery2 that CPSF6 interactions drive HIV-1 replication complexes to accumulate in phase-separated membraneless compartments called nuclear speckles, in multiple cell-types including primary CD4+ T-cells and macrophages. Notably, nuclear speckles are formed at sites of transcription and are known to sequester actively transcribing genes5. As such our finding indicated that the speckle associated genomic domains or SPADs are the primary targets for HIV-1 vDNA integration. The scientific premise of this proposal is to delineate the mechanisms of how? HIV-1 navigates the nucleoplasm to reach speckles and integrate into SPADs, a key step in viral replication that remains under- explored and poorly understood. We hypothesize that the intrinsically disordered low-complexity regions (LCRs)6 and mixed charged RSLD-domains of CPSF6 cooperatively recruit host-factors including nuclear filaments to capsids for its release into- and transport to nuclear speckle compartments for integration. We will use novel technologies developed in our lab and, (1) Determine a role for CPSF6-RSLD domain phase-separation in releasing HIV-1 from NPCs, and in recruiting new host-proteins including speckles for virus nuclear transport, (2) apply live-cell imaging to visualize HIV-1 nuclear co-trafficking with CPSF6, nuclear actin and nuclear speckles and determine the contribution of individual CPSF6 LCRs and RSLD domains to this process, and (3) determine the role of nuclear speckles, and proximal genomic architecture in biasing vDNA integration into genes. We expect these studies to provide key mechanistic insights into CPSF6-capsid interactions that mediate nuclear HIV-1 trafficking to integration sites, identify novel SPADs that respond to virus infection and highlight its implication on global genome architecture, including virus-cell biology.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2026 · 2024-05

PROJECT SUMMARY Plasmodium parasite infections cause an estimated 229 million malaria cases and 409,000 deaths per year worldwide, posing a significant global public health burden. Artemisinin (ART) is the most effective first-line drug in combination therapies to treat Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) malaria, the deadliest malaria-causing parasite, but a major problem plaguing disease elimination efforts is the emergence and spread of partial ART resistance, characterized by delayed parasite clearance following ART treatments. In Pf, this has led to reduced efficacy as well as an increased risk of resistance to partner drugs. The threat of multi-drug resistant parasites therefore looms large, prompting a critical need to understand the molecular mechanisms of ART resistance, a complex phenomenon whose associated molecular markers remain poorly described. Studies on Pf ART resistance have largely focused on mutations in the Kelch 13 protein (K13) propeller domain, which disrupt digestion of hemoglobin required for ART activation. This disruption gives the parasite a fitness advantage when faced with ART, and can partially account for resistance. But while ART is dependent on hemoglobin digestion, its activity is dependent on other, yet-to-be elucidated mechanisms. In the present work, ART sensitivity in a Pf field isolate harboring a K13 mutation was modulated using an in vitro evolution strategy. Single-cell RNA-sequencing was then performed to elucidate the transcriptional signatures of ART-resistant and -sensitive ring forms. The most striking distinction between ART-resistant and -sensitive rings is the greater expression of genes encoding for RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) in the former group. RBPs are post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression that coordinate growth and life-stage transitions in Plasmodium parasites, and are also known to mediate stress responses, including to drug exposure. However, despite evidence of altered Pf stress response pathways implicated in ART resistance, the role of RBPs remains unknown. The proposed project will use state of the art techniques and phenotypic assays to assess the extent to which post-transcriptional gene regulation via RBPs governs ART resistance. In aim 1, I will use long-read, short-read, and Chromosome Conformation Capture sequencing to determine the genetic signatures underlying the observed cellular and transcriptomic phenotypes in ART-resistant and -sensitive parasites; in aim 2, I will use inducible knockdown studies to assess the extent to which two candidate RBPs mediate ART resistance; and in aim 3, I will use high-throughput sequencing of RNA isolated by crosslinking immunoprecipitation (eCLIP-seq) to identify the RNA interactors of the candidate RBPs. The outcomes of these studies will expand our understanding of ART resistance mechanisms and guide new therapeutic strategies to tackle ART resistance.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 2024-05

Project Summary Our long-term objective is to determine how thalamic networks contribute to memory consolidation. The goal of this project is to investigate the basic mechanisms by which the dynamics of spike activity in cognitive thalamic networks contribute to memory consolidation. During non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, spindle oscillations in thalamocortical networks and ripple oscillations in the hippocampus facilitate memory consolidation. However, the precise role of thalamic spindle activation dynamics in memory consolidation remains unclear. We aim to answer two basic questions. First, we will use optogenetics and electrophysiology to induce spindle-like activity in the thalamus of rats after training them in a memory task to understand how different patterns of thalamocortical activation facilitate sleep-dependent consolidation. Complementary computational modeling will help us understand the impact of spindle-like thalamic activation on cortical circuits and spindles. Second, we aim to determine how the thalamus facilitates hippocampal ripple oscillations and memory consolidation. We will use behavioral testing, extracellular recordings, and closed-loop optogenetics, to control thalamic spiking activity after detection of ripple oscillations in the hippocampus. This approach will enable us to assess the causal contribution of the thalamus to the fundamental NREM sleep oscillations that facilitate hippocampal-neocortical interactions and sleep-dependent memory consolidation. Understanding the role of thalamocortical neural dynamics in memory consolidation is clinically relevant for developing new interventions for neuropsychiatric disorders are associated with sleep and memory disruption.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 2024-04

PROJECT SUMMARY There is increasing interest in promoting the use of information and communication technology to engage patients in their own healthcare. Patient portals, for example, can provide patients with secure access to lab test results, doctors’ notes, and medication lists, as well as facilitate communication with healthcare providers. Use of patient-facing tools like portals has been found to improve the overall quality of preventive or follow-up care, improve medication adherence and compliance with treatments, as well as reduce caregiver burden. Patients with the highest healthcare needs, such as older adults with multiple chronic conditions, stand to benefit the most from patient portals. However, multiple factors have been found to hinder older adults’ ability to fully optimize their use of these tools and their ability to retrieve and understand health information provided. Viewing lab test results is one of the most used features of patient portals, but older adult patients with limited health literacy and technology skills encounter the most problems locating and interpreting lab results. In this project, we will employ a user-centered approach to develop and evaluate a working prototype of LabGenie, a web-based patient engagement tool, specifically designed to improve older adults’ comprehension of lab results, and engagement in managing and acting upon their lab test results. LabGenie will provide visual representations of lab results and generate question prompts tailored and contextualized based on patients’ medical information. In Aim 1, we will use an iterative and user-centered approach focused on rapid prototyping and usability testing as guided by the patient engagement framework to design and test different prototypes of the LabGenie interface. In Aim 2, we will develop and incorporate in the full version of LabGenie, an AI-powered question prompt generation module that can automatically generate tailored question prompts based on personal health information from electronic health records and a lab test knowledge graph. In Aim 3, we will evaluate the effectiveness of LabGenie-generated question prompts in improving patient engagement and perceived self-efficacy and intentions to participate in shared decision making. In Aim 4, we will conduct an explanatory sequential mixed methods research on the full prototype to evaluate the effectiveness of the system in improving patient engagement, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, accessibility, and self-efficacy in shared decision making. We will also interview healthcare providers to elicit their perceptions about the potential impact of LabGenie on clinical workflow and burden in primary care settings. Our long-term goal is to apply these novel technologies and approaches in the design of patient decision aids or patient portals to improve patient engagement and shared decision making among at risk populations, with the ultimate goal of improving health outcomes.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2026 · 2024-03

1 Project Summary/ Abstract 2 Children with speech sound disorders (SSD) produce speech sound errors beyond a developmentally- 3 appropriate age, make up a significant portion of school-based speech-language pathologist (SLP) caseloads. 4 Currently, we know that difficulties with speech production are often associated with other learning disabilities 5 (6-7), particularly reading (8-11) and spelling (12-13) disorders. Speech sound therapy is effective at 6 improving speech sound production (25) and has downstream effects on additional phonological 7 knowledge required for word decoding, speech perception, phonological working memory, and spelling (6-13). 8 There are features of the school-based speech sound therapy environment that are considered active 9 ingredients for change. For example, session dosage positively impacts speech sound accuracy (25); however, 10 group format has been largely neglected as a malleable feature of the therapy environment in clinical research 11 despite the ubiquitous provision of group therapy in schools (20). The dynamics between characteristics of the 12 speech sound therapy environment is currently unknown, but is a daily decision for school-based SLPs. 13 The overall objective of this exploratory, pre-implementation proposal is to study the active ingredients of 14 school-based speech sound therapy for children with SSDs. The project will investigate features of the speech 15 sound therapy environment (e.g., group format, dosage, session frequency/duration, therapy approach) as 16 they relate to individual differences in children’s speech sound production skills and their more generalized 17 phonological knowledge, required for successful word decoding and spelling. The central hypothesis to this 18 work is that features of the speech sound therapy environment proximally improve speech sound production, 19 and distally improve phonological knowledge. Therefore, speech sound therapy outcomes extend beyond “just 20 speech” (46) and into academic performance. Crucially, phonological knowledge varies for individual children. 21 This innovative investigation will comprehensively examine the dynamics between features of the speech 22 sound therapy environment and their effect on phonological learning from a large sample of school-based 23 SLPs (N = 80) working with kindergarten, first, and second grade children (N = 400) with SSDs, in four non- 24 overlapping cohorts. 25 The proposed project will provide necessary pre-implementation evidence to determine “what works for whom” 26 within a school-based setting. There is a crucial need to understand the nature of the associations between the 27 school-based therapy environment and each child’s individual phonological knowledge profile to: 1) determine 28 efficient pathways to improving speech sound production accuracy and 2) mitigate long-term difficulties on 29 academic performance for this heterogeneous clinical population. Understanding these malleable features is 30 crucial to determining how therapy may be individually tailored to optimize outcomes for children with SSDs.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2026 · 2023-09

ABSTRACT Cardiometabolic and mental health conditions are highly prevalent and complicate management of each other when they co-occur, leading to greater healthcare costs. Such multi-comorbidity becomes even more challenging when it intersects with community health and other determinants of health culminating in amplified risk of adverse outcomes. Successful disease management that works at the intersection of the individual and the community must be implemented to mitigate disparities and optimal treatment must address aspects of both cardiometabolic and mental health disorders in a culturally relevant intervention. Evidence based interventions have not been demonstrated to be relevant for resource deficit populations. The community perspective is likely missing in the overall care management of comorbid conditions. Scientific study must include all populations both in the collection of data and also in the identification of community identified variables important in successful management of comorbid conditions. Subsequently, positioning these variables in community-generated conceptual models and then testable computer models will help to identify and highlight key points for development of culturally relevant intervention strategies. The candidate proposes a parallel, integrated dynamic process of understanding community perspectives, analyzing risk factors and determinants, and building and testing computer models that explain disparities and predict outcomes. Connecting the dots between epidemiologic research and computer modeling through systems science in a community based participatory framework will allow for the development of accurate replicable models of health disparities that are co-built by community voices and population scientists.