University Of Texas At Austin

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-10

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has led to groundbreaking progress in tasks such as image recognition, classification, speech, and natural language processing. However, the implementation of machine learning AI models is costly in terms of energy, storage, and computation, making them unsuitable for integration into resource-limited sensors. Weightless Neural Networks (WNNs) represent a distinct class of neural models inspired by the processing of input signals by biological neuron dendritic trees. They are small, fast, and energy-efficient. This project focuses on integrating WNN-based intelligence with cardiac and chemical sensors at the point of sensing. It leverages expertise in machine learning, circuit design, and sensors to develop integrated systems for health and chemical sensing, combining the investigators’ prior work on tiny machine learning networks, ultra-thin wearable health patches, flexible circuit manufacturing, molecular chemistry, molecular biology, electromagnetics, and micro and nanofabrication technology. Of particular interest are intelligent systems for cardiac health sensing and innovative chemistry applications. The integration of intelligence and sensing developed in this project is expected to benefit the common public via health monitoring advances. Integration of intelligence within ultra-thin, lightweight and multifunctional wearable patches which can conform to soft and curvilinear skin surfaces is important for cardiac and other health monitoring applications. Such health monitoring can lead to preventive health measures and personalized healthcare. Inexpensive solutions in this domain can make the use of such sensors pervasive, enhancing health equity for the masses. The chemical sensing platform developed under this project will serve as a tool to enable the promise of basic scientific discovery in chemistry and molecular biology. The project is also expected to train a large workforce in semiconductor technologies. The joint activity between the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas at San Antonio involves communities underrepresented in STEM, including women and minorities, as well as first-generation college 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 · 2024-10

Metals are critical components of modern society. Aside from recycling, metals are recovered from ore deposits such as magmatic sulfide systems that often formed close to the surface and thus provide relatively easy access to metals like nickel and copper. Because ore deposits are non-renewable, we must find (at least) one new deposit for each exhausted resource to guarantee a steady metal supply in the future. Currently, mineral exploration efforts focus mostly on the upper crust because this approach has worked well over the past century. However, a recent decline in new discoveries implies that most of the deposits near the surface have already been found. Consequently, the opening of search space deeper in the Earth is necessary to guarantee a steady metal supply. This project will address this issue by investigating the formation of a series of variably metasomatized magmatic sulfide deposits in the Ivrea-Verbano Zone in Italy. These deposits formed in the deep crust and were tectonically uplifted to mineable levels. Although the deposits were previously mined for nickel and copper, surprisingly little is known about how they (and similar deposits elsewhere) originally formed. This project will use the deposits in the Ivrea-Verbano Zone to better constrain how and where such deposits preferentially form, particularly focusing on the role of mantle metasomatism in deep crustal ore formation. The findings will provide an important step toward including such deposits in future exploration models. The research will be integrated with an educational component that will reach K-12, undergraduate and graduate students. A high school outreach program in collaboration with Project Lead The Way will use examples from this project to highlight geoscience career paths that K-12 students may initially not be aware of, particularly in rural Missouri. The PI will also incorporate aspects of the proposed research into a summer training program for undergraduate students to help students prepare for a post-baccalaureate geoscience career. Furthermore, two graduate students will be actively involved in the research component. The Ivrea-Verbano Zone is a well-preserved cross section of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle and lower continental crust that outcrops subvertically and therefore allows for comprehensive studies of deep lithospheric mass transfer. Previous studies on the Ivrea-Verbano Zone have significantly contributed to our understanding of the lower continental lithosphere. However, research that focuses on the source of metalliferous hydrous melts/fluids, and their role in the transport and local deposition of metals (i.e., ore deposits) is rare. To address this knowledge gap, this project will investigate different localities in the Ivrea-Verbano Zone that represent variable degrees of metasomatism and sulfide mineralization: (1) strongly metasomatized / highly mineralized pipes, (2) un-metasomatized / moderately mineralized sills/intrusions, and (3) a strongly metasomatized / sulfide-poor mantle peridotite. Field studies will be integrated with petrographic observations, bulk rock, mineral and fluid inclusion analyses, isotopic (Cu, Sm-Nd) and geochronological studies. The proposed research will provide new insight into (1) the physical and chemical processes that produce, transport and concentrate fluids and metals in the deep lithosphere; and (2) the spatial and temporal scales of such processes. The PI is actively recruiting K-12 teachers, undergraduate and graduate students to be involved in this project. The goal of the K-12 outreach program is to raise awareness for geoscience disciplines and to encourage students to consider geoscience or other STEM career paths. Undergraduate and graduate student projects will be individually tailored to prepare each student for a career path of their choosing in academia, federal/state agencies, or the private sector. 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 · 2024-10

This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) project aims to enhance the sustainability and resilience of transportation and power systems (TPSs) in response to rapid deployment of electric vehicles (EVs) and clean energy. Traditional, system-specific approaches are often inadequate or unable to address close couplings and decentralized decision-making scheme. This research meets this fundamental challenge by offering a novel mechanism design for system-level planning and operation. The methodologies developed have the potential to extend to other infrastructure systems, where heterogeneous stakeholders interact with each other over a large-scale network. Research findings will help inform future strategies for EV adoption and grid integration of intermittent clean energy sources. The integrated research and education activities are intended to facilitate knowledge transfer to students, practitioners, and the public, including K-12 and college students, utility companies, and transportation planning agencies. The scientific goal of this CAREER project is to advance the understanding of the mechanism design of decentralized TPSs. More specifically, the research efforts will advance the knowledge on (1) network modeling strategies to elucidate the spatiotemporal interactions among heterogeneous and decentralized stakeholders with incomplete information, (2) optimal information sensing and sharing strategies for decentralized TPSs, and (3) equity-aware market mechanism design to optimize TPSs leveraging EVs and clean energy. Meanwhile, it will integrate convexification, decomposition, and variational analysis theories to cope with the computational challenges brought by multi-agent interaction, multi-stage decision-making, and multi-dimensional scenarios for TPSs planning and operation. 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

Project Summary/Abstract Morphogenesis of biological tissue is a rich and complex process in which coordinated interplay between molecular and mechanical stimuli progressively shapes an organism. Successful orchestration of this process enables an organism to develop from a single cell into complex arrangements of tissues and organs comprising up to trillions of cells. Optical imaging has emerged as a tool of fundamental importance in studying morphogenesis. Compared to other imaging techniques used to study morphogenesis, such as X-ray or magnetic-resonance imaging, optical imaging enables non- ionized live imaging of biological samples with sub-micron resolutions, morphological and molecular-specific contrast, and high-speed data capture. Unfortunately, optical imaging within biological tissue is limited by optical scattering. Classical microscopes form images by focusing unscattered light, and achieve imaging depths up to hundreds of microns in tissue. Confocal and multiphoton microscopes achieve longer imaging depths by selectively illuminating and/or detecting only with the unscattered component of the total light, which is detectable up to ~1 mm within biological tissue. Unfortunately, light from longer depths is dominated by scattering, which scrambles sample-specific information and is generally considered unusable. This is a major obstacle for imaging tissue morphogenesis within developing organisms, many of which reach sizes up to multiple millimeters during their developmental cycle. Recent optical imaging technologies such as adaptive optics have demonstrated promising results in correcting for tissue scattering to achieve enhanced imaging depths – however, they are still limited to small fields-of-view and are generally not suitable for imaging 3D morphogenesis across whole organisms composed with dense heterogenous tissue. We aim to establish a research program that develops computational microscopy technologies that overcome the challenge of tissue scattering, to achieve large-scale 3D imaging of tissue morphogenesis. To accomplish this, our major research thrusts will be to (1) develop computational scattering models that describes how light travels through scattering tissue. These models will be used with gradient-based inverse-solvers to reconstruct the scattering sample’s 3D refractive- index and fluorescent distributions, enabling joint morphological and molecular imaging, respectively; (2) design multimodal optical hardware systems that combine refractive-index tomography with wavefront-shaped fluorescent scattering tomography, to enable 3D co-registered morphological and molecular imaging. These systems will be designed to achieve millimeter-scale fields-of-view with micron-scale resolution, to enable visualization of entire embryos with subcellular resolution; and (3) apply our computational imaging developments to study in-vivo deep-tissue morphogenetic processes. Specifically, we will quantitatively and at whole-organism scales study the interplay between collective cell movements and the planar cell polarity signaling pathway in early-stage Zebrafish and Xenopus embryos, which is recognized to be significant, but remains poorly understood.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 2024-09

Abstract Texts describing medical advances are of keen interest to the general public. However, reliable medical evidence is largely disseminated in peer-reviewed journal articles describing new findings. Because such articles are wrięen in technical language intended for experts, this “primary literature” is effectively inaccessible to the general population. With very large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT now widely available, lay people are increasingly turning to them for medical information. One potentially promising use is for LLMs to provide simplified versions of medical papers. However, while LLMs can capably simplify texts automatically, they can also still generate inaccurate, unsupported, and/or potentially misleading information, posing a risk. This proposal seeks to develop novel natural language processing (NLP) technologies to mitigate risks and improve the reliability of LLM outputs for the task of medical text simplification. Given the high-stakes of healthcare information, we focus on building controllable, transparent LLMs that are moderately sized, and design tools that enable communities to strike a balance between using LLMs safely and perceiving their outputs critically, while (potentially) improving health literacy by eventually empowering the public with more reliable access to high-quality, newly published medical findings. We propose several methodological safeguards. To begin, we will design the first error detection model for LLM-generated simplifications of medical texts, trained with expert-annotated data focusing on factual correctness. This tool will then allow us to build safer knowledge distillation methods, i.e., training much more efficient, smaller models on examples elicited from massive, closed models like GPT-4 calibrated by estimated confidence of their correctness. With full access to the parameters of the distilled model, we propose innovative ways to improve the factuality and readability of the output, and to estimate the model’s (un)certainty of its own output. We will then integrate these safety guards into a prototype, such that they can be evaluated by medical experts and lay readers.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 2024-09

ABSTRACT Background: Mexico is an upper-middle income country which, like the U.S., is highly urbanized (79%) and has a high noncommunicable disease (NCD) level (77% of all deaths), including a major diabetes and obesity crisis. Given this public health emergency, multiple bold, large-scale evidence-based interventions (EBIs) to improve healthy eating have been implemented. However, commensurate action for physical activity promotion, another critical determinant of obesity, diabetes, and multiple other NCDs, remains lacking. Residents of low-income urban communities comprise a high-need population with multiple challenges, including limited access to spaces and programs for leisure-time physical activity. Place-activation interventions are research-proven strategies (EBIs) for increasing physical activity in urban settings, optimizing use of new or rehabilitated public open places through community-engaged, multisectoral approaches. Goal: This proposal seeks to reduce the burden of physical inactivity by accelerating the uptake of place-activation EBIs in low-income urban communities in Mexico and informing action for high need groups in the U.S., including U.S.-based Latin Americans. Methods: We will harness an existing policy in Mexico that is supporting the renovation of multiple public spaces across the country to conduct a mixed-methods study in up to 10 cities where our team has existing partnerships. Our study will test multisectoral engagement methods to advance active dissemination and implementation for increasing the uptake of place-activation EBIs in low-income urban communities. We will pursue three specific aims: (1) use a mixed methods approach to adapt place-activation EBIs for use in our study settings (surveys, interviews, and focus groups); (2) conduct a hybrid III group-randomized controlled trial testing the effectiveness of active dissemination and implementation methods for improving the reach, adoption and implementation of place-based EBIs (15 intervention neighborhoods with recent public open space improvements will receive the intervention, and 15 comparison neighborhoods with recent public open space improvements will serve as controls); and, (3) use a community-engaged, participatory approach to examine the potential for longer-term maintenance and scalability of place-activation EBIs (GIS interviews, co-creation workshops, concept mapping). Our work will be guided by the “necessity- vs. choice-based physical activity models” framework for contextually responsive physical activity promotion; and the adapted version of the RE-AIM framework for scaling up physical activity interventions. Innovations and Impact: This study is innovative and impactful as it will be the first to test state-of-the-art implementation science methods for improving the uptake of effective, place-based physical activity EBIs in low-income urban Latin American communities. As such, it will provide critical evidence for addressing the growing levels of NCDs for similar high-need populations, including U.S.-based Latin Americans.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 2024-09

Mitochondrial disease has a minimum prevalence of at least 1 in 5000 adults, with few or no effective treatments. Mitochondrial disease patients demonstrate enormous biological variation and diverse disorders. These include neurologic, cardiac, endocrine, kidney, visual, hearing, blood, and skeletal muscle systems. Imaging and basic science of mitochondria showcase how this highly dynamic organelle responds differentially to extrinsic, intrinsic and unknown biological signals from roles in metabolism, organ homeostasis, apoptosis and aging. One unique feature of mitochondria is their dual genome nature where both nuclear and mitochondrial genomes contribute to its form and function. Sequence variations in either genome each contribute to human mitochondrial genetic disease. The mitochondrial genome is highly conserved in all vertebrates, for example the zebrafish mitochondrial genome is nearly identical in size (16kb+) and encodes the same complement of genes that are organized in the same order as the human mitochondrial genome. A key bottleneck in the field has been the historical lack of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) gene manipulation tools that has greatly restricted the options for studying the differential roles of genetic variation in biology and disease. However, the advent of mtDNA base editors has enabled a series of new cellular and animal models. With advanced methods and effective delivery, near-complete editing efficiency capable of introducing over 80% programmed editing efficiency in the pioneering animal the zebrafish (Danio rerio) is now possible, enabling the establishment of the first designer in vivo models of mtDNA disease. This research resource project will be accomplished in three aims: 1) Generating animal models of mtDNA disease using the established mitoFUSXTBE cytosine base editor. Designer models with single nucleotide variants will be generated in both protein-coding and tRNA mitochondrial genes. 2) To enhance the kind of alleles that can be modeled and to develop new, tissue-specific mtDNA animal models, mtDNA modeling work will be expanded using new mitoFUSXTBE adenine base editor. 3) Community engagement for allele selection and to enhance access to these new models through education, outreach and sharing plans. The outcomes of this work will include a series of validated zebrafish lines harboring designer mtDNA variants suitable for hypothesis testing as well as discovery science. The molecular toolbox will also be optimized for utility in helping generate other animal models from work by mitochondrial scientists in the field. Together, these gene editors and in vivo avatars will enable new approaches for diagnoses and therapies for these terrible diseases.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 2024-09

Stark racial/ethnic disparities in chronic disease reflect greater exposure to deleterious contextual stressors, such as low socioeconomic status. Over the life course, these stressors “get under the skin” via maladaptive psychological and behavioral coping and persistent activation of stress response systems, leading to uneven chronic disease burden. By adolescence, contextual stressors can produce the physiological, behavioral, and psychological precursors to chronic conditions among racial/ethnic minority youth. Thus, effective coping skills in adolescence are critical to ameliorating the early signals of chronic disease and pre-empting chronic disease progression. Shift-and-persist (S&P) coping, where one reappraises life stressors (i.e., shifting), while finding meaning and maintaining optimism (i.e., persisting), shows promise as a successful coping strategy to mitigate the early signs of chronic disease among racial/ethnic minority adolescents, yet more investigation is needed prior to designing S&P coping interventions for racial/ethnic minority youth. Using data from Project PISCES, a 6-wave study of adolescents, in combination from data from the U.S. Census Bureau, this project addresses three aims: 1) to understand how socioecological assets predict unique trajectories of S&P coping across adolescence 2) elucidate how the health effects of configurations of contextual stress may vary by distinct trajectories of S&P coping across adolescence and, 3) design and conduct a feasibility study of a digital S&P coping single-session intervention for racial/ethnic minority youth. Findings from this program of research will uncover key factors that contribute to the long-term development of S&P coping, provide further clarity on the responsiveness of S&P coping over time to the broader landscape of stressors that shape racial/ethnic minority adolescents’ health outcomes, and contribute to evidence regarding intervention modalities that can enhance S&P coping. The proposed project combines an interdisciplinary program of research, mentorship, and education/apprenticeships to provide robust training in the following areas: 1) mixture modeling analyses, 2) content expertise in biopsychosocial models of health and use of biomarkers in research, 3) participatory intervention design and evaluation, and 4) professional development. Training in these domains will propel the candidate towards an independent research career focusing on developing evidence-based health interventions for racial/ethnic minority adolescents. Such interventions are crucial to facilitating healthy transitions to adulthood for racial/ethnic minority youth and disrupting pathways to chronic disease, consistent with the priorities of NIMHD.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 2024-09

ABSTRACT The Cloud Workspace of the Common Fund Data Ecosystem (CFDE) will make it easy for a wide range of researchers to analyze data and work together. Our primary goal is to create a user-friendly environment where researchers can import their data, analyze their data alongside other Common Fund datasets, and use a variety of analysis tools and workflows. Our Cloud Workspace Implementation Center (CWIC) leverages the existing partnerships between the Texas Advanced Computing Center’s (TACC) unparalleled public high-performance resources, Galaxy’s open-source online interface for analyzing data and authoring workflows, and CloudBank’s tools that simplify cloud resource access and billing. By leveraging our existing resources and skills, this CWIC can streamline implementation of the Cloud Workspace. This Cloud Workspace will provide users with access to Common Fund datasets, allow users to import data from other sources, and allow for data integration and analysis. Users will have access to a wide range of tools, workflows, and pipelines developed by the CFDE, by Galaxy, and by other partners. In addition, users will have the flexibility to use custom or third-party tools within the workspace. The CWIC will cater to the needs of both novice and expert users by offering outreach, training, and support designed to meet the diverse needs of its users. This effort will include user manuals, online tutorials, and tools to help users manage computing costs across public and commercial computing resources. Current scientific discoveries can be expensive, relying on large datasets and intensive computational processing power. Notably, this Cloud Workspace will enable science across a broad set of researchers, providing access to large amounts of storage and compute at no cost to new users and trainees. By promoting data sharing, collaboration, and ease of access, the CWIC will speed up biomedical research and address high-priority challenges for our nation. The CFDE Cloud Workspace represents a significant step towards realizing the vision of broadening the community of scientists with the power to tackle complex research questions and drive innovation.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-09

Most of the stars that make up our home galaxy, the Milky Way, are arranged in the shape of a rotating disk. Many other galaxies in the universe today are also shaped like disks. However, when astronomers look back in time with large telescopes, they see that the fraction of galaxies that are disks goes down. The very first galaxies we have seen in the primordial universe are not disks. The investigators will use simulations that model the formation of galaxies, from the earliest times to today. They will explore when and how galaxies begin to take the shape of disks to understand the reasons why. The investigators will also compare their simulations to observations of stars in the Milky Way and distant galaxies to help us understand how disk galaxies came to be. The research program will support the education and training of PhD students, increasing their understanding of physics, data science, scientific visualization, and programming. The investigators will also mentor a diverse population of undergraduate students pursuing careers in STEM fields. The investigators will study the physics that underpins galaxy disk formation using a large set of zoom cosmological simulations with Feedback In Realistic Environments (FIRE) galaxy formation physics. They will study the connection and causal correlations between thin and thick disks: Do thin disks emerge first in cosmic history, with thick disks constituting a descendant, heated population? Or, are thin disks a relatively recent phenomenon, with thick disks a natural outcome of high-redshift galaxy formation? The investigators will explore the degree to which galaxy potentials becoming centrally concentrated over time may help enable galaxies to “spin up,” and track how the disordered interstellar medium (ISM) of galaxies at early times transitions to more ordered, thin-disk-dominated populations at late times. A crucial component of this work will be to understand the astrophysics that regulates galactic disk formation as a means of understanding what may be missing in models that do not produce disks with the correct frequency and character to match observations. The simulations will allow the investigators to explore connections between the baryon cycle and morphological structure. The investigators will inform deep-field imaging and velocity-field studies of galaxy disk “settling” as well as local studies with surveys including MaNGA, the Local Volume Mapper, GALAH, and Gaia. 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 Abstract Urinary incontinence (UI) and difficulties with toilet training are significant and common challenges faced by children and young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and/or intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). For these individuals, toileting problems can result in slower progress and lower overall success rates with toilet training compared to their neurotypical same-aged peers, and a substantial negative impact on their independence and ability to participate in educational and community settings. Unfortunately for many, these difficulties with incontinence can continue into adulthood, creating physical and psychological quality of life barriers, such as physical discomfort, social isolation, improper hygiene, and lowered self-confidence and independence. The available support tools for children struggling with toilet training have not advanced significantly in decades, and there is an urgent need for approaches to help these individuals achieve long-term successful toileting. In this work, a technological support tool will provide a proactive solution to help with toilet training. By proactively alerting before an accident occurs, it is expected that the use will be able to learn to recognize and attend to the sensation that triggers the alert. Further, a proactive response will reduce accident risk, minimize associated embarrassment from accidents, and decrease the likelihood of developing toileting averse behaviors. The project takes a multi-disciplinary approach, combining expertise from Electrical Engineering and Special Education, in order to tackle two key aims. The first aim is to identify the highly population-dependent set of needs and constraints for an ideal toileting support tool through engagement with key stakeholders (i.e., parents and caregivers of children with ASD/IDD, care providers, educators, and clinical professionals) through focus groups and survey-based questionnaires. The second aim is to design, implement, and pilot test a user-centered bladder monitor that aims to uniquely provide a support tool to proactively alert of bladder fullness and support dignity and independence for children and young adults with ASD/IDD and others suffering from UI. Built based on radiofrequency (RF)-based technology, the bladder monitor is non-invasive and enables real-time, safe, and continuous measurement and monitoring of the bladder state through a sensor array that is flexible, discreet, and wireless. The resulting monitor will meet the diverse needs of this population and will be the first tool ever to provide a proactive alert when the bladder is approaching full to support toilet training and avoid accidents. Initial validation testing will be conducted through electromagnetic computational simulations and experimental demonstrations, followed by pilot testing with stakeholders to establish real world feasibility and social validity, with expanded behavioral studies in individuals with ASD/IDD who have difficulties with toilet training planned subsequently. Long-term, this device is envisioned to support the transition to independence for children and young adults with ASD/IDD from diverse backgrounds for them to achieve a higher quality of life and great participation in educational and community settings.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 2024-09

PROJECT SUMMARY Approximately 1 in 3 American adolescents have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder; 3 in 20 with a mood disorder, with 1 in 3 female adolescents experiencing at least one major depressive episode. The onset of psychiatric disorders can occur in early life, potentially leading to a reduced quality of life due to a disruption in emotional, psychological, and/or social development. Mental illness during youth may also result in long-term consequences, including an increased risk of mental health challenges and diminished quality of life in adulthood. Inflammation in the central nervous system (neuroinflammation) is thought to underlie anxiety and mood disorders, yet there remain no broadly effective therapies. The neuroinflammatory pathology may be, in part, caused by circadian dysregulation of the neuroimmune system. The circadian clock is critical for controlling biological processes, generating time-of-day differences in gene expression, hormone release, and behaviors; however, circadian rhythms dampen in psychiatric disorders. Although the percentage of individuals experiencing psychiatric disorders concomitant with circadian disturbances remains unknown, circadian disruptions and sleep- wake disturbances are used as diagnosable criteria for neuropsychiatric disorders. Therefore, circadian dysregulation may be a potential biomarker and signal for early intervention in anxiety- and mood disorder- related pathology. The immune system is tightly regulated by the circadian clock, and recent evidence demonstrates circadian regulation of neuroimmune system components: microglia, meninges, and choroid plexus. Microglia, the primary immune cell of the brain, are rhythmic cells that can trigger a release of inflammatory molecules when activated, potentially triggering a suite of physiological and behavioral alterations. The meninges and choroid plexus serve as immune surveillance sites and can also release inflammatory signals that influence the activity of microglia. Together, these components may provide insights into the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of mental disorders. However, the ontogeny of circadian rhythms in the neuroimmune system has not been well-documented. Early developmental periods offer a potential window for intervention and prevention of neuropsychiatric disorders. Thus, we hypothesize that circadian rhythms in the neuroimmune system emerge early in life, and perturbations during development will alter neuroimmune function that leads to behavioral changes. This proposal addresses the following specific aims: First, establish the development of circadian rhythms in “clock” and inflammatory genes in critical neuroimmune tissues; second, reveal whether early life environmental and genetic perturbations to the circadian system lead to long-term behavioral changes. This contribution will be significant because our results will identify temporal windows of high and low neuroimmune reactivity during development. We expect these results will uniquely combine expertise in circadian biology, immunology, and behavioral neuroscience to identify a novel role for biological rhythms in regulating neuroinflammatory pathology and mood-related behaviors via the neuroimmune system.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 2024-09

Liver cirrhosis results from long-term continuous damage to the liver leading to irreversible buildup of scar tissue impairing liver function. Cirrhosis can occur as a consequence of various chronic liver diseases including alcoholic liver disease and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. One of the most serious complications of cirrhosis is hepatic encephalopathy (HE), a pathological state characterized by neurological deficits that significantly impair quality of life and overall prognosis. Furthermore, these neurological impairments can be irreversible, persisting after resolution of liver injury. Our current understanding of the events leading to the development of HE is limited, resulting in limited therapeutic options which ultimately leads to poor patient outcomes and generates significant challenges for the US healthcare system. We have recently demonstrated that cholesterol accumulation plays a role in the development of HE due to acute liver failure. However, whether a similar phenomenon can be observed during liver cirrhosis is unknown. The objective of this proposal is to assess the dysregulation in brain cholesterol homeostasis, and the subsequent effects of aberrant neurosteroid synthesis, during HE in models of liver cirrhosis. Based upon strong preliminary data, we propose the novel central hypothesis that during liver cirrhosis there is an accumulation of free and membrane-bound cholesterol in the brain during HE, due to a dysregulation of pathways involved in cholesterol clearance. The excess cholesterol increases neurosteroid synthesis, which depresses neural activity and contributes to the pathogenesis of HE. Three specific aims have been designed to test this working hypothesis: 1) Cholesterol accumulation in the brain contributes to the neurological deficits associated with HE; 2) HE-associated suppresses of cholesterol clearance pathways in the brain is regulated by farnesoid X receptor signaling; 3) Increased brain cholesterol is associated with an aberrant increase in neurosteroid synthesis pathways. With the completion of the proposed studies, we will understand the molecular pathology contributing to the progression of HE in the context of liver cirrhosis. This knowledge will lead to novel therapeutic targets for drug development. This would greatly benefit the US healthcare system by decreasing patient morbidity and mortality, improving patient quality of life, and reducing medical expenditures.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-09

Nontechnical Description This project advances the understanding of and control over the emission of single photons in atomically thin semiconductor materials. A photon is a single, well-defined quantum of light, and single-photon emitters are a key component in systems for quantum communications and computing. Atomically thin semiconductors offer a promising approach and material platform for the development of single-photon emitters and their integration with current computing and communications systems. Researchers in this project are using semiconductor manufacturing techniques to create chips that combine atomically thin semiconductors with more conventional semiconductor electronics, in a configuration that allows electrical signals to mechanically deform the atomically thin semiconductor layers as required to achieve single photon emission. This capability leads to the possibility of achieving electrical control over the emission of single photons. By using different atomically thin semiconductor materials, emission of single photons with different energies can be achieved. Also, by reducing the size and correspondingly increasing the density of single photon emitters on a semiconductor chip, researchers are exploring possibilities for observing additional exotic quantum phenomena in light emission. This project is helping to establish and strengthen the foundation of understanding required for application of quantum light emission in these materials to quantum communications and information processing systems. A strong education and outreach component is included, focusing on an enrichment project for K-8 students in which extremely inexpensive, readily available materials combined with a smartphone camera can be used to build a very simple “microscope” providing magnification by up to a factor of fifty. Providing diverse student populations with accessible yet powerful capabilities for applying basic optical concepts and visually exploring their surroundings enables them to solidify concepts learned in school and to develop a scientific, evidence-based approach to their world with benefits extending across a broad range of their future endeavors. Technical Description Single photon emission and its relationship to strain, material defects, and optical properties of semiconductors in which it occurs are fundamental issues in the study of quantum materials. Furthermore, single-photon emitters are a key component in systems for quantum communications and information processing. Atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) semiconductors offer a promising approach for development of single-photon emitters that can be integrated with conventional semiconductor electronic and photonic structures. This project builds upon a recently developed nanofabricated platform that enables tensile strain in atomically thin TMD semiconductors to be dynamically controlled via application of bias voltages to a back gate, thereby creating electrostatic attraction between the TMD material and an underlying silicon wafer. This platform allows modulation of mobile carrier concentrations simultaneously with strain, and can be reduced in lateral dimension to scales comparable to or smaller than the wavelength of an illumination source and/or the light emitted by the TMD semiconductor. Two principal directions are being pursued: (i) demonstration, characterization, and optimization of dynamically controllable, strain-dependent single-photon emission from monolayer WSe2, and other atomically thin TMD semiconductors, notably MoSe2 and MoTe2, using the nanofabricated material platform recently developed by the principal investigator; and (ii) creation of closely spaced, electrically controllable single-photon emitters and investigation of their possible interactions and coupling. These activities are elucidating fundamental properties of single-photon emitters in atomically thin TMD semiconductors as well as approaches for dynamically controlling their emission and associated optical properties such as wavelength, single photon purity, and emission rate. Scaling of these structures to subwavelength dimensions enables interactions among multiple single-photon emitters to be created and modulated, establishing a foundation for achieving new insights into and potential demonstrations of quantum phenomena such as entanglement or superradiance. 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

PROJECT SUMMARY Altered ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) function and brain connectivity are implicated in emotional dysregulation and the emergence of bipolar disorder. However, our understanding of the development of VLPFC brain networks prior to bipolar disorder onset is limited. In contrast, we have more comprehensive knowledge of healthy adolescent brain development, specifically the profound influence of peers on emotionally responsive brain regions and long-term mental health. This F32 research project aims to gather feasibility and pilot data to support our central hypothesis that during late development (age 14-21), youth with a family history of bipolar I disorder (high-risk) will exhibit altered maturation of VLPFC function and connectivity during negative social interactions compared to youth without a family history (low-risk), which will be closely associated with measures of emotional reactivity and dysregulation. My long-term career objective is to become an expert in utilizing neuroimaging techniques to assess bipolar disorder risk and develop stress resilience interventions. During this research project, I aim to enhance my neuroimaging expertise, academic presence and knowledge in the neurodevelopment of bipolar disorder through this F32 training and hands-on research. To test our central hypothesis, we will pursue two specific aims. Firstly, we will investigate the neurodevelopmental maturation patterns in VLPFC activation and connectivity during peer ostracism in high- risk compared to low-risk youth. Specifically, we will compare group differences in the relationship between development and VLPFC response and connectivity with emotionally responsive (e.g., subgenual anterior cingulate) and cognitively oriented brain regions (e.g., dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) during peer ostracism. Secondly, we will investigate the relationship between VLPFC function and connectivity during peer ostracism and emotional reactivity/regulation in both high and low-risk groups. We posit that, for both groups, VLPFC activity and connectivity with medial prefrontal cortex, insula, striatum, and thalamus will be associated with cyberball task distress and the ability to regulate negative emotions more generally. Additionally, we predict that a VLPFC connectivity and other lateral prefrontal brain regions will be associated with greater emotional resilience only in high-risk individuals, namely, less emotional reactivity and dysregulation. This study will investigate emotional control brain networks within a developmental framework, utilizing a participant cohort of 180 youth. By studying these networks before the onset of secondary disease effects and employing age relevant social tasks, we aim to obtain valuable pilot data for publication while refining our hypotheses for future research and grant submissions. Findings from this study will advance our understanding of the neuropathophysiological mechanisms preceding bipolar disorder onset, a step toward earlier intervention during this dynamic period of emotional and social development.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 2024-09

PROJECT SUMMARY Polyelectrolyte complex micelles (PCMs) are a unique class of self-assembled nanoparticles that form with a core of associated polycations and polyanions surrounded by a neutral corona. The hydrated nature and structural and chemical versatility make PCMs an attractive system for delivering hydrophilic payloads while controlling carrier size and stability. While recent studies have shown PCMs are effective at delivering nucleic acids, the design process has largely been trial-and-error to this point with few systematic studies focused on defining and predicting PCM properties and behavior in physiological conditions. By leveraging polymer design, controlled self- assembly, and materials characterization techniques, the goal of this proposal, and of our research group, is to develop design rules quantifying the relationships between polymer and nucleic acid structure and PCM assembly, physical properties, delivery, and dynamic behavior. We will use small-angle X-ray scattering, electron microscopy, and fluorescence imaging to accomplish three broad goals: 1) develop structure-property relationships based on polymer and nucleic acid structure, chemistry, size, and charge density, 2) quantify the effect of PCM component structure on cellular uptake and cargo release, and 3) uncover the mechanism, kinetics, and factors that control nucleic acid exchange between PCMs. As each area progresses we will use computational methods to analyze our vast PCM characterization database and establish the scaling laws and relationships driving PCM assembly and function. The proposed work will build the foundation for a new class of PCMs with predictive properties tailored to each treatment, aligning our lab goals with the overarching mission of NIGMS.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2026 · 2024-09

PROJECT SUMMARY The pancreas is smaller in individuals with diabetes and individuals at increased risk for developing diabetes, suggesting that small pancreas size may convey risk for developing the disease. However, it is not known whether individuals at risk for developing diabetes are born with a smaller pancreas or whether their pancreas shrinks as part of the pathogenesis of the disease. Establishing the link between pancreas size and development of diabetes is difficult, as the time course of diabetes progression is not well established and time to progression can be long. However, pregnancy is a period of physiological beta cell proliferation that presents a diabetogenic state with known and rapid onset. MRI can safely and noninvasively assay multiple aspects of the maternal and fetal pancreas, including pancreas size as well as other markers of pancreas structure and composition. Image acquisition and analysis will leverage our expertise assessing human pancreas size, shape, fat content, and inflammation using multimodal quantitative MRI. We propose to perform longitudinal MRI of the maternal pancreas over the course of pregnancy and postpartum and correlate imaging metrics with diabetes development and metabolic phenotyping. We will also assess the capability of MRI to measure pancreas growth in the fetus. Study participants will include mothers who not develop diabetes, mothers with pregestational type 2 diabetes, and mothers who develop gestational diabetes during pregnancy. These studies will establish the first model of maternal pancreas growth and multimodal imaging signature and their interactions with diabetes. Our central hypothesis is that maternal pancreas growth will be altered by diabetes and can be used to predict diabetes incidence in the mother. While the focus of this study is on the pancreas, the images generated will encompass the maternal abdomen and entire fetus. Thus, the data generated will be valuable datasets for secondary analysis of the interaction of diabetes with fetal development and maternal liver, fat, and placenta dynamics over the course of pregnancy.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-09

Helium is a strictly nonrenewable and irreplaceable resource, whose price and availability are tied to the global oil industry and undergo turbulent fluctuations in recent years. On the other hand, liquid helium cooling is indispensable for investigating quantum matter at temperatures close to absolute zero and studying chemical reactions by nuclear magnetic resonance. The helium recovery system in this Major Research Instrumentation project recaptures the exhaust helium gas from low-temperature instruments and recondense it in a local facility. The equipment establishes helium recycling practice and enables the continuation of many frontier research activities in physics, chemistry, and engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. The availability of liquid helium also enhances the educational experience of physics and chemistry undergraduates during summer research and attracts underrepresented minority students to UT Austin through the American Physics Society Bridge program. The helium liquefier has a liquefaction rate that is sufficient to cover the usage on the entire University of Texas at Austin campus. The gas-collection system accepts recycled helium gas from the nuclear magnetic resonance facility. The combination of helium recovery and liquefaction improves the reliability of liquid helium cooling and reduces the cost for researchers. Research directions on quantum materials include the low-temperature microscopy of topological phases, optical studies of excited states, tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy of correlated insulators, solid-state nuclear resonance on superconducting nickelates, and cryogenic nonlinear terahertz spectroscopy on collective modes. Research using the nuclear magnetic resonance facility allows scientists to characterize molecules in solution and solid phases for unambiguous structural assignment, monitor the rate of reactions, study the secondary structure of large molecules, and observe the interaction between molecules. 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

In this project, funded by the Chemical Structure, Dynamics & Mechanisms B (CSDM-B), Chemistry of Life Processes (CLP) and Chemical Measurement and Imaging (CMI) Programs of the Chemistry Division, Professor Hsin-Chih Yeh of the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Professor Devleena Samanta of the Department of Chemistry at The University of Texas at Austin will develop new types of molecules for detecting and imaging chemicals under various settings. These molecules are comprised of short snippets of DNA, RNA, and/or peptides, and are termed as functional nucleic acids (FNAs). The research aims to discover new FNAs with catalytic properties that can be transformed into sensors that are sensitive, selective, and maintain their function in complex environments. The ultimate goal is to develop sensors for diverse chemical and biological applications that are as good as, or better than, conventional protein enzyme-based sensors. The PIs will leverage the institution’s outreach activities to promote STEM awareness among young talents and inspire them to pursue careers in STEM. The PIs will also make a strong effort to utilize web-based and social media outlets such as YouTube to feature their scientific discoveries and make science more appealing to K-12 students, teachers, and the general public. In this project, Professor Hsin-Chih Yeh and Professor Devleena Samanta will develop catalytic functional nucleic acids (FNAs) for chemical measurements and imaging. Specifically, the proposed research aims to use state-of-the-art selection, synthesis, and signal transduction methods to characterize, enhance, and diversify the catalytic properties of a wide variety of FNAs including aptazymes and DNA-peptide chimeras. The ultimate goal is to discover new FNAs that can be used to detect, measure, and image target analytes under various chemical and biological settings with sensitivities and specificities rivaling or even surpassing those of their protein enzyme counterparts. As such, this research will enhance our fundamental knowledge of how targets and FNAs interact, the development of nucleic acid sensors, and the application of nanomaterials in fluorescence imaging. Additionally, it will introduce innovative techniques for monitoring chemical dynamics within live human cells and tissues. 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

The NSF Center for the Creation of Abiotic Replicating Materials and Assemblies (CARMA) is supported by the Centers for Chemical Innovation (CCI) Program of the Division of Chemistry. One hallmark of terrestrial life is that it is both driven by sequence-specific replication and subject to self-sustaining Darwinian evolution. CARMA will demonstrate an entirely new chemistry-based system of molecular building blocks comprised of non-biological components, but still capable of self-replication and evolution. Establishment of these molecular replicating systems will have numerous societal benefits, including materials that can self-heal in a self-sustaining manner, repairing themselves akin to how a body heals wounds or become stronger with stress, as do muscles. Activities within this Center will include a public facing website to transfer all technology developed to the broader community, and week-long annual workshops that diversify graduate experiences. CARMA will integrate high school students into university laboratories, and expand an outreach program that sparks scientific excitement in K-6 age children and their families within the Spanish speaking community (“Supper and Science”). Sequence defined chemical chains or polymers and their hybridization will be demonstrated using a set of four chemical “pairs” that have physicochemical properties which both mimic the Watson:Crick isosteres, while simultaneously being very different. CARMA will build upon previously demonstrated TORC (Tunable, Orthogonal, Reversible, Covalent) bonding pairs which associate via dynamic covalent bonding rather than hydrogen bonding. Four classes of reactions are embodied by the TORC pairs: thiol conjugate additions, boronic acid/diol condensations, metal chelation, and amine/carbonyl condensations. Sequence-specific hybridization and subsequent dissociation of polymers containing TORC pairs will be investigated by balancing between the kinetics of association/dissociation and the valency of individual pairs. Distinct combinations of molecular design properties—including different backbone chemistries (e.g., phospho-ribose, peptide, peptoid, urethane), spacing between the TORC pairs, and the number and identity of specific TORC pairs—will enable dynamic and tunable sequence-specific hybridization. Modeling will play a critical role in judiciously guiding and informing synthetic efforts, including the structural characteristics (rigidity) of short sequence motifs across different backbone chemistries, the type of linkages to append the TORC pairs to the backbones, and optimization of regiochemistry. CARMA will explore how TORC bonds and architecture influence the hybridization and ultimate copolymer replication, thereby unlocking strategies for improving the precision of selection and evolution. This will begin with probing the hybridization of ‘perfect’ complementary oligomers to block copolymer templates, followed by examining the impact of dispersity in duplex assembly. CARMA’s investigations will enable critical understanding of the necessary limits on block size and proper TORC pairs to achieve hybridization selection that will set the stage for multiple cycles of hybridization and replication in the future. 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

How new species are formed is a grand challenge across biology. Particular combinations of genes from different populations may not interact favorably during hybridization, creating unhealthy offspring due to genetic incompatibilities. The specific genes involved in this process are seldom identified, but genes involved in mitochondrial function are prime candidates and the focus of recent research. This project will investigate how different combinations of mitochondrial and nuclear genes create reproductive barriers in hybridizing swordtail fish (Xiphophorus), a model system for genetic incompatibilities. Genomic tools will be used to identify which specific combinations of nuclear and mitochondrial genes influence overall hybrid health. Specific aspects of mitochondrial function such as respiratory efficiency will also be investigated as a mechanistic basis for hybrid incompatibilities. Genetic incompatibilities will also be investigated in different environments and developmental stages because incompatibilities may only manifest in certain conditions. This work includes generating hybrids in the laboratory by targeted crossing experiments and examining natural populations with ongoing hybridization. These activities will be used to recruit students from diverse backgrounds to STEM research, especially in the opportunity-rich field of bioinformatics. Freshmen will be explicitly targeted though the development of a new program called “Power in the Powerhouses” as part of the University of Texas at Austin’s highly successful Freshman Research Initiative to recruit and train the next generation of STEM researchers. Coevolution between nuclear and cytoplasmic genomes can create coadapted genomes within a population that may be disrupted during hybridization, creating reproductive isolation and acting as a common mechanism of speciation. Under this hypothesis, selection during introgressive hybridization should act to maintain coadapted cytonuclear genotypes. To test this hypothesis, genome-wide patterns of ancestry will be generated from three naturally hybridizing pairs and three lab-generated hybrid pairs of swordtail fish species (genus Xiphophorus). Selection should especially favor matched ancestry between mitochondrial genomes and the subset of nuclear-encoded genes that interact with mitochondrial-encoded gene products. Mitonuclear incompatibilities will be identified through statistical associations between nuclear alleles and mitotypes in natural and lab-bred hybrids. Lethal mitonuclear incompatibilities have already been identified using this approach in one pair of hybridizing Xiphophorus. Mitochondrial- and nuclear-interacting genes should also show concordant clines in ancestry with geography. Compromised energetic phenotypes as well as reduced organismal fitness should result from incompatible combinations of mitochondrial and nuclear genes, likely in an environmentally-dependent context. Therefore, in addition to standard metrics of organismal health, whole-organism metabolic rates and mitochondrial DNA copy number will be assessed in parental Xiphophorus species and their hybrids in response to thermal and hypoxic stressors. Multiple respiratory phenotypes in isolated mitochondria will also be investigated, including those dependent on mitonuclear interactions. Phenotypes will be assessed in adults and embryos, as lethal mitonuclear incompatibilities can prevent embryos from developing. 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

Shape synthesis—creating formal descriptions of novel 3-D shapes—is a foundational area of computer graphics. With the advent of deep learning and generative AI models, computer graphics innovators have adopted machine learning (ML) technology in service of shape synthesis. Current approaches focus on adapting image- and video-generation techniques developed by the computer vision and ML communities. These approaches often produce visually appealing results, but suffer fundamental limitations; they often fail to capture geometry and topology properly leading to unnaturally distorted shapes, or shapes that incorrectly incorporate holes or disconnected pieces. Similarly, existing methods offer no guarantees that shapes synthesized will be physically suited for manufacturing. These limitations place fundamental barriers to applying machine learning methods for shape synthesis in applications such as augmented and virtual reality, embodied AI (such as robotics), and manufacturing (including 3-D printing). This project addresses the deficits in current methods by developing a computational framework that incorporates physical, topological, and geometrical preferences when learning shape synthesis. The overarching goal of this project is to establish shape synthesis as a scientific sub-community that departs from simple applications of 2-D image-generation techniques. Integrated education and outreach activities amplify the broader impacts of this project. The key idea of our framework is to model various geometric, physical, and topological priors as regularization losses in learning shape generators to enhance their generalizability. We focus on the latent diffusion paradigm that has led to state-of-the-art shape generators. The proposed research consists of two thrusts. The first thrust studies principled approaches that enforce geometric, physical, and topological priors to improve the diffusion procedure. The second thrust focuses on improving the shape decoder by modeling regularization losses that enforce these priors. We seek to revolutionize 3D shape generation from the current focus of visual appearance to synthetic shapes that are geometrically feasible, physically stable, and topologically correct. Toward this goal, the project will develop differentiable tools in structural shape analysis, computational topology, and shape analysis that can be easily integrated into learning shape synthesis models. 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

Many agricultural, farming, and industrial processes release excess nitrate into the environment, making it the most pervasive groundwater pollutant in the world. This poses a serious threat to human and ecosystem health. Capturing and converting low nitrate concentrations from groundwater and surface waters is exceptionally challenging. To address this pressing need for nitrate management across food and water systems, this project will bring together experts from various complementary disciplines to develop an integrated nitrate capture and conversion device that is efficient, low-cost, and powered by renewable resources. The device will use light energy to concentrate nitrate from waste streams (photocapacitive concentration) and electrically-driven chemical reactions (electrocatalytic conversion) to produce nitrogen and valuable chemicals such as ammonia. This approach will provide insights into the chemical, physical, and catalytic processes involved in nitrate concentration and conversion, as well as the socioeconomic factors that limit the adoption of nitrogen management technologies. The project outcomes will advance the design of sustainable resource recovery systems to manage the nitrogen cycle and may reduce the cost of nitrate treatment. Further, this research will empower resource-limited communities and industrial point source treatment operators to better address their nitrate water treatment needs. Graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Michigan, the University of Iowa, and the University of Texas at Austin will receive interdisciplinary technical training. The planned outreach activities will also provide opportunities to broaden the participation of underserved groups in STEM. This project aims to develop an integrated photocapacitive concentration and electrocatalytic conversion technology for nitrate treatment. The project includes four research thrusts focused on developing and understanding this nitrate treatment technology. The first thrust advances the discovery and design of selective photocapacitive systems to capture and concentrate nitrate. In the second thrust, the team will develop and test electrocatalysts made from inexpensive and earth-abundant elements that are durable and thermodynamically and kinetically compatible for nitrate capture and conversion to ammonia or nitrogen. The third thrust involves physics-based modeling and testing of the transport processes needed to optimize the photocapacitive capture and electrocatalytic conversion system. The fourth thrust assesses process sustainability using technoeconomic and life cycle analyses to promote technology adoption by impacted communities. By integrating photocapacitive and electrocatalytic tools, this project will create a technology platform that sustainably captures and transforms nitrate, a regulated human health risk, into useful products. This convergent research advances knowledge by simultaneously considering nitrate concentration and conversion, unlike existing studies that separate these steps. The project’s outreach activities include (1) creating an exchange program for interdisciplinary summer undergraduate research experiences to prepare students from underrepresented groups for graduate research; (2) engaging water treatment professionals and communities in Iowa and Texas who are working to address nitrate pollution; and (3) integrating best practices from NSF Research Traineeship programs focused on innovations at the nexus of food-energy-water systems. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-09

Our solar system contains only one star, but most systems contain two or more stars. The number of stars in a system depends on the conditions when those stars were born. The team will study the formation of multi-star systems using computer models. These models including physics like gravity, turbulence, radiation and feedback from the stars themselves, such as winds and heating. The investigators will analyze the models to study the different ways multi-star systems form. Studying the origin of stars enables a better understanding of the origin of our own solar system and how common Earth-like planets. They will create summary movies, targeted for the public, by creating visually appealing moves for planetarium shows. The team will help train the next generation of scientists and the technical workforce. They will build an inclusive environment for students and provide practical hands-on computer training that will allow the students to work in industry or academia. Binary star formation occurs during the earliest stages of star formation, when star-forming cores and disks are highly obscured and difficult to probe at high resolution. The proposal addresses a fundamental question: Why do some filaments, cores, and disks produce multiple gravitationally bound stars, while others produce only single stars? To address this question, the proposers will study the physics responsible for stellar multiplicity, with a specific focus on determining the incidence of each channel for multiple formation and on disentangling the impact of the initial gas conditions (nature) from the influence of dynamical interactions (nurture). The team will analyze a series of magnetohydrodynamic simulations of star cluster formation that include all major physical processes in order to explore the relationship between multiple protostellar systems, gas properties and dynamical interactions. 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

The search for habitable worlds in the Universe is one of the highest priorities within Astronomy and Earth and Planetary sciences; yet a pathway to answering whether there is life in our Galaxy and beyond has not yet emerged. This project aims to chart a path towards determining where life may (or may not) exist using a novel interdisciplinary framework. More specifically, the goal is to combine Astronomy and Petrology to constrain the location of potentially habitable worlds using observational and experimental techniques to understand how the key elements for life, specifically Phosphorus, are distributed across the Galaxy and beyond, and what the required amount of these key elements are for life to exist. This work will focus on Phosphorus, in part, because it is a primary nutrient limiting the biological productivity at the planet surface over geologic timescales. The search for life is not only a crucial scientific exploration, but it also has the ability to inspire broader impacts. The broader impacts of this work center on engaging, empowering, and recruiting young future scientists with diverse backgrounds at various levels. This project responds to the Dear Colleague Letter NSF 22-032: Geoscience Lessons for and from Other Worlds (GLOW) by charting an interdisciplinary pathway to constraining where in the universe life could exist. The proposed activities “considers the Earth in the context of planetary bodies” by developing a novel framework based on Phosphorus to broaden understanding of habitable worlds in the Galaxy and beyond. More specifically, this project aims to fill the knowledge gaps of Phosphorus regarding its cosmic distribution and behaviors inside of planetary bodies. This will be accomplished by: (1) measuring phosphorus abundances in stars in two distinct regions of the Universe (i.e., the Milky Way and the Gaia Enceladus dwarf galaxy) through astronomical observations and (2) building new predictive models for phosphorus partitioning in metal-silicate and mineral-melt systems. The first part of the project will constrain how much bulk phosphorus can exist in a cosmic environment, while the second part will determine, given the bulk phosphorus available, whether the phosphorus can be found on a planetary surface as needed by life. The key outcomes of this project will be the establishment of a new framework linking the compositions of planet hosting stars to phosphorous abundances at rocky planet surfaces required to determine if life could exist. This framework can combine astronomical and petrological studies to constrain the locations of habitable worlds in the Galaxy and beyond. 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.