Clemson University

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 2025-06

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Candidate and career development: I am an Assistant Professor at Clemson University, proposing a K01 career development plan and research plan to prepare me to become an independent clinical research scientist and leader in developing and implementing innovative and feasible Electronic Cigarette (EC) protocols across clinical settings to reduce the combustible cigarette (CC) burden among people with opioid use disorder (OUD) on buprenorphine. This proposal builds on my expertise in nicotine and opioid research and extends it in important ways. The goal of the career development plan focuses on six skill areas: (1) qualitative methods, (2) quantitative methods, (3) ecological momentary assessment (EMA), (4) tobacco regulatory science, (5) grant writing, and (6) leadership skills. Mentorship team: The proposed mentorship team is truly multidisciplinary, with backgrounds in addiction medicine, public health, psychology, and biostatistics. Each mentor will contribute distinctive expertise to facilitate my progression as an independent clinical researcher. All proposed mentors have previous experience mentoring successful mentees or K awardees, with exceptional records of scientific publications and extramural grant funding. Research strategy: Evidence supports the use of EC in reducing the number of cigarettes smoked per day (CPD) or switching away from CC among adults in the general population. However, people with OUD are underrepresented in such studies. EC flavor and use frequency may influence switching and reducing CPD in people without OUD. Adult CC smokers prefer sweet flavors to tobacco flavors, and cooling flavors may further enhance the sensory experience of sweet flavors. Use of flavored EC, other than tobacco, has been linked to an increased likelihood of reducing CPD or switching to EC among CC smokers without OUD. To our knowledge, no study has systematically tested the impact of EC flavor and patterns of EC use on harm reduction milestones (e.g., CPD reduction, switching) among people with OUD. In a three-group randomized controlled trial (RCT), exclusive CC users (N=90) with OUD on buprenorphine, who are not interested in quitting, will be recruited across rural and urban outpatient settings. These participants will receive counseling and be randomly assigned to receive a 12-week supply of sweet-cooling, sweet non-cooling, or tobacco-flavored EC. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methodology will enable us to examine patterns of EC use associated with important harm reduction milestones. This K01 aims to offer expertise in advanced quantitative statistics, EMA, qualitative research, grant writing, and leadership development, alongside a mentored research experience to achieve the following specific aims: (1)Testing the effect of EC flavors on CPD reduction, switching, and other harm reduction milestones; (2) Characterizing rates and patterns associated with harm reduction milestones; (3) Identifying barriers and facilitators in implementing and maintaining the EC protocol.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-06

Understanding and interpreting complex environments is crucial for autonomous systems to operate safely and efficiently. A self-driving vehicle must navigate through uneven terrain, a search-and-rescue drone must identify obstacles in disaster-stricken areas, and an environmental monitoring system must accurately reconstruct large-scale off-road scenes. However, existing computer vision algorithms, primarily designed for structured indoor or urban environments, often fail in these scenarios due to the unpredictable nature of off-road terrain, dynamic environmental conditions, and the scarcity of reliable visual features. This project will develop a 3D computer vision framework that fuses multiple sensing modalities, including RGB cameras, depth sensors, LiDAR, and event cameras, to enhance feature extraction, tracking, and large-scale scene reconstruction, thereby improving perception accuracy and adaptability in unstructured environments. The research will provide a foundation for next-generation autonomous perception systems, enabling significant advancements in autonomous navigation, environmental monitoring, and search-and-rescue operations. Additionally, the project will provide valuable educational opportunities by engaging students in hands-on research and promoting interdisciplinary learning in STEM. This project will introduce a framework for learning robust 3D visual representations in unstructured environments by integrating multi-modal sensing, feature extraction, and dynamic scene reconstruction. The project will address four fundamental research challenges: (1) multi-modal imaging systems -- developing and deploying a multi-camera and multi-sensor setup to capture diverse environmental data; (2) multi-modal feature extraction and matching -- integrating short- and long-range sensor data using transformer-based architectures to improve feature robustness and spatial-temporal consistency; (3) robust 3D reconstruction -- developing adaptive reconstruction algorithms capable of handling varying lighting, weather conditions, and large-scale terrain variations, incorporating hierarchical Gaussian Splatting for scalable scene modeling; and (4) adaptive tracking - designing real-time tracking algorithms to manage occlusions, clutter, and dynamic elements, enabling accurate motion estimation and scene understanding. These research aims will be complemented by an extensive evaluation plan, including systematic benchmarking against state-of-the-art methods and real-world validation across diverse unstructured environments. The findings will contribute to advancements in computer vision, robotics, and artificial intelligence while providing publicly available datasets and educational resources. 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 2025 · 2025-06

By effectively mimicking natural, energy-efficient, nano-structural designs through computer simulations, scientists could fabricate novel optical materials with applications in energy-efficient products and visual computing pipelines. Examples of such natural designs abound, including those found on insect wings, insect-eye lenses, bird feathers, and rock surfaces. However, challenges to this optical biomimicry are compounded by the scale, volume, diversity, and intricate interplay of underlying wave-optical phenomena. Subtle light-matter interactions significantly influence the observable properties of light perceived by human observers and/or man-made sensors. This project will develop an effective and efficient, data-driven computational framework that leverages mathematical simplifications to accurately and affordably model complex light-matter interactions. This work will empower researchers to design, prototype, and fabricate cutting-edge, energy-efficient products for capturing, sensing, and displaying visual information. This work will contribute to advancements in the automobile, military, biomedical, architectural, and art and entertainment industries. Furthermore, this project will create new learning materials, develop framework usage guidelines, and disseminate knowledge through K-12 engagement to foster STEM education among aspiring scientists and visual computing professionals. To achieve these goals, the investigator will develop a computational framework for replicating, designing, and rapidly prototyping nano-structural coloration architectures. The research team will: (a) organize the diverse phenomena of wave-matter interactions through visual characterization, phenomenological understanding, and structural features into a robust operational taxonomy; (b) refine recent advancements in computer graphics rendering techniques with rigorous mathematical derivations; and (c) integrate real-world, large-volume data into the computational process. Developing an operational, data-driven taxonomy will enable the investigator to streamline modeling workflows for future digital twinning efforts in structural coloration. The investigator will derive Wigner distribution-based formulations to model light propagation through heterogeneous media. This approach will unify, compact, and modularize the computational framework. Subsequently, the team will integrate the operational taxonomy parametrically into this unified framework. This integration will facilitate efficient and flexible general emulations of optical biomimicry. Finally, the team will develop efficient methods for adaptive data acquisition in conjunction with iterative and incremental model parameter estimation. The resulting computational framework will enable both forward modeling for emulating nanostructures and inverse modeling for determining the properties of structures based on their observed appearances. This work will significantly advance the field of optical biomimicry by facilitating data-intensive, physics-based modeling and simulations. 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 2025 · 2025-06

People who are experiencing cognitive decline, such as people living with dementia and mild cognitive impairment, want to maintain their independence, even as their abilities change over time. To support this goal, this project will design "future proofing" approaches, in which people use smart objects in their homes and routines that can help them adapt to anticipated changing cognitive abilities over time. The research team will create toolkits, training sessions, and guidebooks that will allow people living with cognitive impairments and when appropriate, their caregivers, to invent, make, and use their own future proofing systems. If successful, ideas and outcomes from this project will help people with changing cognitive abilities maintain their independence for longer periods of time, with better quality of their own life and their relationships with friends, family, and community. The main goal of this project is to create a framework for designing technology that can adapt to changing cognitive abilities over time. The research team will first conduct diary studies to find out when people with changing cognitive abilities experience those changes, what impacts they have on their independence, and what ideas they have for reducing those impacts. The researchers will then hold co-design workshops based on those insights, working with people experiencing cognitive impairments and caregivers to create and develop customizable systems that can adapt to changing abilities and support future proofing approaches to maintaining independence. The team will also develop training, examples, and other materials that will help people adopt and adapt future proofing systems to their own needs. To assess these systems and materials, the researchers will do a long-term study of people using the smart objects in their own lives to understand the extent to which people can make use of them and how well these systems support the project's goals of helping people adapt to longer-term changes in cognitive abilities. Through this, the project lays the groundwork for future exploration of technologies that intelligently adapt to the needs of people experiencing progressive changes in ability more generally. 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 · 2025-06

Project Summary Brain infections by the pathogenic free-living amoeba Naegleria fowleri are life-threatening and typically (>95% of the time) result in patient fatality. We have identified a potent inhibitor, HEX, of the amoeba enzyme enolase (NfENO), that is well-tolerated in mammals and can extend life of infected rodents. The goal of this proposal is to optimize delivery of HEX to achieve curative concentrations in the brain. To date, resolution of brain distribution has been challenging due to the small size and charged nature of HEX. Here, we will develop mass spectrometry methods required to assess brain distribution of the inhibitor which will enable optimization of delivery approaches and schedules. Additionally, we will score the value of partner drugs in the treatment of disease in a rodent model. Together, these experiments will serve as a key step in progressing HEX toward investigational new drug status for N. fowleri infections.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2026 · 2025-05

Project Summary/Abstract Invasive fungal diseases account for 1.5 million deaths annually. Cryptococcus neoformans contributes to much of this burden with a mortality rate that nears 70% and contributes to more than 180,000 deaths globally. The high mortality rate is largely attributed to the lack of effective anti-cryptococcal therapies. Our long-term goal is to understand the underlying mechanisms that drive Cryptococcus virulence and to exploit these mechanisms for rational drug development. Virulence requires Cryptococcus to overcome many stressors imposed in the human host. We have recently identified the ability to tolerate host carbon dioxide as a novel virulence trait. The objective of this proposal is to specifically identify the mechanisms that allow for tolerance of host carbon dioxide as a requirement for Cryptococcus virulence. A reverse genetic screen of kinases uncovered multiple effectors of the protein kinase Tor as requirements for carbon dioxide tolerance. Tor is a known to regulate metabolic processes across eukaryotes but is not well characterized in Cryptococcus. We performed metabolic profiling under carbon dioxide stress and indeed uncovered a strong metabolic shift. This proposal sets out to define the metabolic profile induced by carbon dioxide across diverse clinical and environmental isolates. We also identified that general membrane stress and specific inhibition of sphingolipid biosynthesis potentiate carbon dioxide sen- sitivity. Tor pathways are known to regulate acetyl-CoA metabolism and sphingolipid biosynthesis but are not well characterized in Cryptococcus. Combining our investigation of these carbon dioxide response pathways with virulence studies will help us uncover the underlying regulatory machinery and response kinetics required for achieving carbon dioxide tolerance as a requirement for virulence. In this pursuit, we will achieve a more direct understanding of the specific requirements for carbon dioxide tolerance. Our combination of genetics, biochemical, and cellular approaches will guide us toward the underlying regulatory machinery and direct effec- tors that dictate carbon dioxide tolerance as a requirement for virulence. The proposed experimental approaches combined with professional development activities will provide a strong foundation for the applicant to launch an independent scientific career.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-05

This project focuses on solving challenges in designing and improving optical resonators, which are essential components in technologies such as the internet, medical diagnostics, and advanced computing. Current methods for creating these resonators are slow and limited, which makes it hard to develop new and better devices. This project will make the design process faster and more efficient. This could lead to important breakthroughs, such as better systems for quantum communication, more accurate sensors for healthcare, and energy-efficient technologies for data processing. Additionally, the project will help prepare future engineers and scientists by involving students in cutting-edge research and creating collaborations with industries to address the shortage of skilled workers in technology and engineering. The proposed framework leverages high-performance computing technologies to enable faster and larger-scale simulations. The research will explore and optimize novel resonator designs such as high-quality factor waveguide resonators, Moire photonic structures, and low-symmetry optical resonators. These efforts aim to advance both the theoretical understanding and practical applications of photonics, with potential uses in quantum light sources, optical computing systems, and next-generation sensors. The project also includes an educational initiative to increase participation in research and train skilled professionals for the semiconductor industry 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 2025 · 2025-05

This Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) site award to Clemson University, located in Clemson SC, supports the training of 8 students for 10 and a half weeks during the summers of 2025-2027. In this program, funded by the Division of Chemistry and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), the students participate in a common research theme that focuses on the synthesis, characterization, and application of deep eutectic solvents. The intellectual merit of the program relies on the integration of pre-REU (Scientific Development, Lab Safety, Hazardous Waste, and industry contact), during-REU (research, technical workshops, communication skills), and post-REU (conference) activities. Taking advantage of video conferencing, the program also allows students to connect with each other, forge collaborations between the groups, and ultimately gain the skills to direct their potential toward productive careers as Ph.D. chemists in industry, government, and/or academia. The program serves the broader community by providing participants (including students that do not have access to extensive research at their local institutions, and students in military schools) with the skills to direct their potential toward productive careers in chemistry. Considering that deep eutectic solvents are rarely discussed in the undergraduate curriculum, this program aims at outlining its concepts through 10 interdisciplinary research projects, ranging from machine learning and organic synthesis to interactions with proteins and cells. To maximize access to both talent and state-of-the-art facilities, projects located in Clemson University (SC), Butler University (IN), University of Mississippi (MS), Western Michigan University (MI), University of Miami (FL), Georgia Southern University (GA), Louisiana Tech University (LA) and Florida Institute of Technology (FL) are available. Students will benefit from the highly collaborative settings provided by the pool of mentors, from developing close relationships with faculty, and from the opportunity to present their results at the end of the summer. 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 2025 · 2025-05

In an increasingly digital world, the preservation of information security and privacy becomes more challenging yet remains essential to assure. First and foremost, private information is increasingly stored on computing systems and networks, and secondly such systems face a growing array of hardware and software level vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities may be further exacerbated by the rising capabilities of machine learning algorithms, quantum computing, and the increasing sophistication of malicious actors. This research project will pioneer novel types of secure hardware technologies which are fundamentally rooted in optics and photonics rather than digital electronics. This research will advance our fundamental understanding of how to design and implement such technologies and will ultimately enhance our ability to construct and deploy safer and more secure computing systems in the future. Additional benefits to this research include the training of skilled future workers in science, technology, engineering, and math disciplines – particularly through developing expertise in the semiconductor industry and aiding workforce development in this technologically and strategically important field. This research project will investigate the use of integrated silicon photonics for realizing new types of ‘physical unclonable function’ (PUF), an important hardware security primitive which can form the basis for security applications such as secure key generation, storage, and exchange. Specific goals of this research project include: (1) Investigating the performance and information capacity limits of unclonable photonic circuits. Mapping and understanding trade-offs in the photonic PUF design space relating to the degrees-of-freedom, bandwidth, footprint, fabrication sensitivity, environmental sensitivity, design approach, and measurement technique. (2) Developing fundamental techniques for extracting and/or generating digital key material and signatures from the physical properties of photonic circuits and PUFs and the photonic signals or spectra they create. (3) Exploring dynamic optoelectronic PUFs based on tunable photonic integrated circuits. Quantifying enhancement in information capacity and studying stable vs. unstable regimes of key generation, storage, and recall. Pioneering new concepts relying on optoelectronic feedback to blur the boundary between the optical and electrical hardware to further enhance security and versatility for optical key generation. The proposed research will advance our knowledge in the design, implementation, characteristics, and phenomena associated with an emerging class of low symmetry photonic structures and circuits based on moiré crystals and quasicrystals – and do so in a platform with great technological significance. Beyond the technical contributions, this research promises broader societal impacts by fostering the development of innovative hardware security technologies. These advancements will help counter emerging security threats, such as those posed by quantum computing, machine learning, and malicious actors within unsupervised supply chains, thus promoting societal well-being and security. This project is jointly funded by ENG/ECCS/CCSS program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). 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 2025 · 2025-04

This award is to provide travel scholarships for 45-50 students to attend the North American Catalysis Society Meeting (NAM) held in Atlanta, Georgia on June 8-13, 2025. NAM29 will provide a venue for graduate students to meet other graduate students, interact with leaders in catalysis, and integrate into the catalysis community. This will help inspire and promote the professional development of these future research leaders. Catalysis researchers from across North America and the world will gather for this premier conference to present and discuss research on a number of topics related to catalysis, including electrocatalysis, photocatalysis, catalytic hydrocarbon chemistry, CO2 conversion, reaction engineering, applying machine learning and artificial intelligence to catalysis, and more. The NAM29 conference typically has over 1000 talks, many presented (both oral and poster) by graduate students. Many of these students are supported by the Kokes Travel Award. Students attending the NAM29 conference will have opportunities to learn of the latest research in catalysis, and also network with their peers, possible mentors, and future employers. Such interactions promote students becoming better integrated into the catalysis community. Such efforts also help ensure a strong pipeline of future catalysis leaders. 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 2025 · 2025-03

Membrane proteins are essential molecular machines that allow cells to interact with their environment, but we know surprisingly little about how they achieve and maintain their proper structure or “fold”. This research project will develop new methods to study these important proteins by probing them with applied mechanical force, one molecule at a time. Although sophisticated physical analysis will be brought to bear, the basic idea is that stronger interactions in the protein will require more force to disrupt them. Results from experiments on multiple protein species and in carefully controlled chemical environments will improve fundamental biophysical understanding of membrane-protein structure formation and yield insights that could lead to new protein engineering strategies, better drug design, and new treatments for diseases caused by malfunctioning membrane proteins. The project will also enhance science education by incorporating cutting-edge biophysics concepts into undergraduate and graduate courses while creating opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds to participate in research at the interface of chemistry, biology, and physics. The research will use atomic force microscopy to measure the forces that hold membrane proteins in their functional, folded shapes, addressing fundamental questions that have been difficult to study using traditional biochemical methods. By precisely pulling on individual protein molecules, the project will determine how proteins interact with the cell membrane and maintain proper orientation, how different membrane environments affect protein structure, and how proteins achieve their final folded state during cellular synthesis. New insights will emerge from new techniques, including advances in biological atomic force microscopy, chemical attachment methods, and ways to isolate and study proteins in their native membrane environment. The work will focus particularly on understanding how protein and lipid charge together control protein orientation in membranes, how the lipids of the membrane influence the structure of cellular signaling proteins, and how all of this is affected by interactions with other proteins that facilitate membrane protein folding. 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 · 2025-03

Project Summary/Abstract A component of the Essure® Micro Insert Female Sterilization device is comprised, in part, of a tin-silver (Sn-Ag) solder, a metal alloy which had never been previously implanted into the human body cavity and for which there is little to no peer-reviewed scientific literature of its use in the human body. The Essure® insert received premarket approval from the US Food and Drug Administration in 2002 as a non-surgical, non-hormonal alternative to tubal ligation. The device utilized dacron fibers to initiate a fibrotic immune reaction occluding the fallopian tube over the course of three months. These fibers were held in place with a 316L Stainless Steel coil (SS), and soldered with Sn-Ag to an outer, shape memory Nickel-Titanium coil (Ni-Ti), which expanded to the diameter of the fallopian tube. Additionally, two platinum- iridium (Pt-Ir) radiopaque markers were on the coils to assist in the insertion process. After only about 15 years on the market, the patient-reported adverse events rose rapidly, resulting in an FDA-mandated 522 post-market surveillance study and the voluntarily withdrawal of the implant from the global market by Bayer Healthcare. To investigate the failure of the device, several retrieval analyses were performed by our lab. While the device was intended to remain permanently implanted in Essure®, these investigations demonstrate evidence that Sn-Ag is a degradable alloy, where severe corrosion of the Sn-Ag solder resulted in fragmentation of the device as well as the release of oxides, chlorides, and phosphates into surrounding tissue. We observed that Sn-Ag corrosion in vivo induced a densely fibrotic tissue response where fibrous tissue grew into and became strongly attached to the porous metal. These observations led us to hypothesize that Sn-Ag may be used as a beneficial degradable alloy that can induce fibrous tissue attachment to metal surfaces. In the current R03 proposal we seek to explore the biological interaction of this biodegradable Sn-Ag alloy and assess its biocompatibility. This basic information is lacking in the biomaterials literature and will provide a basis for consideration of Sn-Ag as a degradable metallic biomaterial. Due to the lack of scientific peer reviewed work regarding the use of Sn-Ag as a biomaterial or its behavior in vivo, this proposal aims to 1. Assess the material for cytocompatibility in vitro and 2. Assess the material/tissue interface in vivo using an animal model. An assessment of cytocompatibility following exposure to various concentrations of corrosion products will allow for a deeper understanding of the local effects caused by implantation of the biomaterial. Compared to the ex vivo retrieval investigations, an animal model will allow for greater understanding of the blood metal ion concentrations over implantation time, systemic effects, and provides an opportunity to better assess the possibility of stimulating fibrous tissue ingrowth as seen in the human retrievals. Due to the usefulness of Sn-Ag as a solder in contact with other alloys, evaluating the alloy on its own as well as in conjunction with an additional metal alloy will provide more translation into real-world applications as a degradable metallic biomaterial. This work will provide insight and understanding of current phenomena experienced by women with Essure®, as well as provide insight into novel applications for Sn-Ag as a degradable metallic biomaterial.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-01

This project will build collaborations to align academic research with community needs to prepare for Earth system hazards and a changing climate. The project will bring together stakeholders in South Carolina to build capacity for addressing the varied Earth system hazards that the Southeast experiences. These hazards include heat stress in urban and rural settings; flooding from both extreme events and everyday fair-weather periods, where changing tides and rising sea levels amplify the hazard; and pollutant exposures from water and air owing to the rapid residential and industrial growth in the region. To advance Earth system hazard knowledge and risk mitigation across these hazards and in a variety of communities, this project will conduct a coordinated and systematic study to understand these hazards across the region. This project will facilitate meetings to bring communities and academics together and will result in a large-scale proposal to address the hazard concerns that communities identify. Having the community engaged in the process will build trust and literacy in potential solutions and science. The project will build capacity by educating communities during public meetings, training graduate students to collaborate with community and public agency stakeholders and to communicate engineering and scientific information to the public, and incorporating project outcomes into research- and project-based college courses. This project will form community partnerships that will lead to advances in knowledge of hazards, impacts, and risks in the Earth system and actionable solutions that communities can employ to increase their resilience to these hazards. The communities and organizations that will contribute to this project are already addressing Earth system and climate hazards locally; this project will bring disparate communities together to coordinate efforts on a larger scale. The project will allow academics to engage communities at public meetings, synthesize hazard data in response to the outcomes of those meetings, and co-develop, with community input, actionable solutions to those hazards. This project will coordinate across microclimates, such as the coastal region influenced by the sea breeze circulation, rising sea levels, and extreme weather; the midlands region with long, hot, and humid summers and an increased risk of wildfires under a changing climate; and the upstate region near the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains where it can be more moderate in the summer but has winter season hazards often forgotten. 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 2025 · 2025-01

This NSF project aims to enable faster and more efficient computational methods in renewable-integrated power systems using quantum computing. The project will bring transformative changes in optimizing the efficiency, reliability, and resilience of renewable energy systems, leading to better energy management, increased integration of renewable sources, and a reduced carbon footprint. This will be achieved by designing variational quantum algorithms that address complex computational challenges, particularly leveraging the capabilities of the Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) regime. The intellectual merits of the project include developing a systematic quantum computing framework tailored for the energy sector and paving the way for more autonomous and self-sufficient energy systems. The broader impacts of the project include demonstrating the practical benefits of quantum technology for solving real-world challenges and equipping the power industry to transition into advanced system analysis in the quantum era. Students will be trained in these emerging technologies with applications to the power and energy industry. This project aims to develop quantum technology to enable a seamless transition between grid-following and grid-forming controls for inverter-based resources (IBRs). It will address critical operational tasks, including intentional partitioning, islanded operation, and subsequent restoration and resynchronization, which pose significant real-time challenges due to the system’s intrinsic complexity, nonconvexity, high computational demands, increased dimensionality, and operational unpredictability. Specifically, the project will (1) develop a quantum approximate optimization algorithm, incorporating insights from the renewable energy domain, to address the non-convexity and complexity of optimally partitioning interconnected microgrids under heterogeneous disturbances and IBR operations; (2) design a variational quantum eigen-solver approach for effective coordination of IBR controllers using approximate dynamic programming and reinforcement learning techniques to enhance dynamic resilience; and (3) develop a bottom-up approach for power restoration by utilizing dispatchable IBRs and designing a quantum-augmented algorithm to achieve seamless synchronization across microgrids. It is anticipated that these outcomes will strengthen the resilience of both islanded and connected microgrids, demonstrate practical quantum computing applications, and pave the way for real-world deployment of quantum technologies in next-generation power grids. 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 2025 · 2025-01

Floods pose considerable threats to human life, critical infrastructure, and the environment, yet current flood modeling architectures are not effective in providing reliable information for informed emergency management and response. To address this need, this project will leverage smart cyber-physical systems (SCPS) capabilities to develop FloodEngine, a next-generation flood computing system that will forecast floods in near real-time by drawing from data engineering, water science, and deep learning algorithms. Focusing on South Carolina as a testbed, this project will address three objectives: (i) optimize data gathering and processing; (ii) develop a physics-based deep learning model; and (iii) promote knowledge transfer through innovative networks. The deep integration of SCPS research and training plans will provide flexible mechanisms to be leveraged for enhancing flood analytics research and engaging learners in more creative and interactive computational learning experiences. This project will train the next generation of flood modelers and strengthen flood analytics and technical design. When built, FloodEngine will advance the frontiers of flood research, ensure accessibility and reproducibility, and build an active user community to catalyze scientific discovery across a broad range of fields. Furthermore, users will be involved in the FloodEngine training workshop to create a community of flood modeling developers. The project will leverage resources of the Clemson inclusion programs to mentor students in engineering and recruit and broaden the participation of flood researchers in the project. This project is designed as a collaboration with the National Weather Service, the South Carolina Office of Resilience, and the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc., among others. 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 · 2025-01

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Acanthamoeba castellanii causes Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK), a serious eye infection that can lead to gradual vision loss, permanent blindness, and the need for keratoplasty. The parasite releases proteases that degrade host cell membranes. In response, host cells undergo apoptosis and secrete pro-inflammatory cytokines. A. castellanii has two life cycle stages, metabolically active amoebae and environmentally stable cysts. According to the CDC, both forms may be found in soil, fresh or sea water, sewage, swimming or medicinal therapy pools, dental treatment units, dialysis machines, heating/ventilation/air conditioning equipment and contact lens equipment and solutions. The majority of AK cases (~85%) occur in contact lens wearers. In immunocompromised hosts, A. castellanii can also cause opportunistic infections, such as granulomatous amoebic encephalitis (GAE), skin lesions, and nasopharyngeal, lung, and kidney infections. The importance of this pathogen is exemplified by an increasing number of reported cases, especially AK and GAE, both of which are challenging to diagnose and treat because of a lack of standardized treatment protocols and efficacious therapies. No single AK drug can eradicate both forms of the pathogen and also be non-toxic to the tissues of the eye. Thymosin β4 (Tβ4) is a small (4.9 kDa) actin-binding protein that is ubiquitously expressed in higher eukaryotes but may be absent in lower eukaryotes. In addition to actin-binding, the peptide is also secreted and can increase angiogenesis and cell proliferation, while inhibiting apoptosis and inflammation. Importantly, Tβ4 has been shown to promote corneal wound healing and reduce corneal inflammation. Topical Tβ4 has been used to treat an animal model of bacterial keratitis, was the subject of a completed US phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of dry eye syndrome and is the subject of a current US phase 3 clinical trial for neurotrophic keratitis, a degenerative corneal disease. Given these advanced ophthalmic uses, we hypothesize that Tβ4 is a viable novel treatment for AK. We will test this hypothesis in two Aims. In the first aim, we will calculate IC50, minimum inhibitory constant (MIC) and onset of action in vitro using infected cultures of immortalized retinal (RPE-1) and corneal (HCE-S) cells. We will also determine the effect of Tβ4 on parasite virulence functions (e.g., stage conversion, adhesion, secretion). On the host side, we will measure apoptosis and cytokine release in the presence of parasite and peptide. In the second aim, we will employ two innovative ex vivo models of disease, a porcine corneal button model and a 3D human corneal tissue model. Tissues (3D human model or animal eye) will be infected with A. castellanii and subsequently treated with Tβ4. Histopathology and qPCR of Acanthamoeba 18S rRNA will be performed on both models to determine resolution of pathology and reduction of Acanthamoeba infection, respectively. At completion, we expect to have defined the efficacy of Tβ4 in the context of AK. The project will have beneficial impact because they will provide a strong mechanism-based proof-of-principle for the further development of topical Tβ4 as a novel treatment for AK.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-01

Having a job is important in many ways, including for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), like Down Syndrome. Jobs are associated with improved well-being, life satisfaction, confidence, and inclusion in the community. People with IDD are often the most unemployed and underemployed group in the United States, partly because they may not have the training or skills needed for many jobs. However, there are different support mechanisms to help those with IDD to find and keep work, including Vocational Rehabilitation, the Department of Disability Services, and post-secondary education. But these supports can be expensive and time-consuming, so not everyone can use them. This project will help people with IDD be more independent by creating a mobile phone app that provides personalized job training. There is strong potential for impact to different communities through this research. The primary goal of this project is to co-design, co-develop, and test an object recognition app. This app provides on-the-job task prompting to support people with IDD in their work. The project has five primary objectives. First, the project will identify specific work tasks where object recognition may help people with IDD. Second, researchers will identify how people with IDD feel about object recognition systems. Third, the project team will co-design an object recognition mobile app for use by people with IDD. Fourth, the team will train an object recognition model for in-task workplace support. Fifth, the team will test the effects of the object recognition system with people with IDD. The tests will check workplace self-sufficiency, self-efficacy, and task performance. To achieve these goals, this project combines different research approaches. Ethnographic research will capture the detailed work experiences of people with IDD. Next, the team uses participatory design methods. This ensures inclusivity in the technology development of object recognition systems for people with IDD. A single case multiple-probe across participant design will assess the technology’s effectiveness. This project has the potential to advance knowledge in accessible technology development. This will make technology more accessible for people with intellectual disabilities. It will result in more inclusive and fair artificial intelligent systems. This project lays the groundwork for future explorations in the design of intelligent workplace assistive technologies. The results of this research will extend the abilities of people with cognitive differences and will be publicized as broadly as possible. 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 · 2024-12

Project Summary: Human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hPSC-CMs) hold remarkable promise for treating infarcted hearts. However, the traditional strategy of intramyocardial injections of a large number of dissociated hPSC-CMs (e.g., 1E7: 1x107 hPSC-CMs/rat) has been limited by low cell survival, moderate functional improvement, arrhythmogenic risk, and poor scalability. To address this, our lab developed prevascularized, nanowired human cardiac organoids composed of hPSC-CMs, cardiac fibroblasts, endothelial cells, stromal cells, and electrically conductive silicon nanowires (e-SiNWs). Our in vivo data showed that the nanowired organoids showed superior functional recovery (~69% Fractional Shortening (FS) recovery) to previous studies that injected 10-fold greater dissociated hPSC-CMs/rat. These exciting results motivated us to further improve e-SiNWs for organoid fabrication. Both mechanism (Eq. 1 in Research Strategy) and our preliminary data showed that e-SiNW geometry (e.g., surface roughness) significantly affects their interactions with hPSC-CMs. In addition, only ~30% injected organoids engrafted into I/R injured hearts 1-week post- implantation. To address this, we used Molidustat, a selective Prolyl Hydroxylase Domain enzyme 2 (PHD2) inhibitor, to activate Hypoxia Inducible Factor (HIF) pathway to significantly improve prevascularization in the organoids and cellular survival in an ischemic condition. Lastly, we developed isogenic hPSC cardiac organoids using cardiomyocytes (hPSC-CMs), cardiac fibroblasts (-cFBs), and endothelial cells (-ECs) differentiated from a single hPSC donor to develop a patient specific cardiac regenerative therapy. The goal of this proposal is to improve the function of each isogenic organoid by optimizing nanowire roughness (Aim 1a) and increase the number of the survived organoids through PHD2 inhibition (Aim 1b) post-implantation. We will synergize the optimized e-SiNWs and PHD2 inhibitor to identify the minimal organoid dose to achieve nearly full (>90%) FS recovery in Aim 2, and the optimized organoid dose will be validated in a porcine model in Aim 3. The central hypotheses of this proposal are: 1) e-SiNW roughness significantly affects its electrical interactions with hPSC-CMs, and 2) PHD2 inhibition mediated pseudohypoxia engineering improves organoid survival post-implantation. The innovations of the proposal are that, for the first time, we will 1) reveal the effects of surface roughness of conductive nanomaterials on cardiac tissue constructs and 2) establish PHD2 inhibition as a powerful preconditioning strategy to improve hPSC-CM survival post-implantation. Accordingly, we will pursue the following 3 Aims: 1) Determine the effects of e-SiNW surface roughness and pseudohypoxia- engineering on hPSC isogenic cardiac organoids, 2) Determine the minimal dose of pseudohypoxia-engineered, nanowired isogenic organoids to treat I/R injured rat hearts, and 3) Determine therapeutic efficacy of pseudohypoxia-engineered, nanowired organoids in a porcine I/R model. The proposed studies will lay the foundation for clinical translations of the nanowired organoids as a personalized cardiac regenerative medicine.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-12

The objective of this Grants for Rapid Response Research (RAPID) project is to support research on understanding the importance of place attachment in homeowners’ decisions to either repair their homes or relocate elsewhere after experiencing damage from a hurricane. People are connected to their land and communities in ways not fully understood. This project will help to discover what motivates people to stay or leave after a major disruption as well as what drives their action in future events. The findings inform government, businesses, and non-profit organizations to prepare and plan for how to best assist residents affected by natural disasters. This project will collect ephemeral data in the aftermath of 2024 Hurricane Helene and enhances underdeveloped theories of the place-attachment. The main goals are (1) to identify the most important factors underlying homeowners’ decisions to rebuild or relocate and (2) to develop a model to predict relocation intentions. Data is collected primarily in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, through surveys, interviews and focus groups. Results are expected to lead to a better understanding of how people think of the importance of the “place” they live and how it influences their assessments of the risks of future disasters. The insight gained on social-emotional bonds homeowners have with their locations could be generalizable to other regions and events. 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 · 2024-12

The objective of this Grants for Rapid Response Research (RAPID) research project is to collect perishable data on organizational adaptation, multi-agency alignment, and team flow in restoration of electric power supply following Hurricane Helene in the upstate South Carolina region. Additionally, this project gathers evidence to assess the benefits of burying electric power lines. Restoring critical infrastructure services is essential to community recovery from a disaster. While multiple factors influence restoration timelines, there is a notable lack of empirical data on the challenges of multi-organizational collaboration and their effects. This gap is particularly significant for rural communities where resources are limited. Hurricane Helene, the fastest moving and most costly hurricane recorded in upstate South Carolina, offers a unique opportunity to examine key hurdles in communication and coordination for power restoration in the aftermath of extreme events. Using a mixed-methods approach, the project recruits participants of crews and managers from multiple agencies involved in power restoration efforts. Through active engagement and collection of: ephemeral data on restoration obstacles; organizational structures; ad-hoc multi-agency communication protocols; and team flow prerequisites are collected. Qualitative analysis, combined with inductive coding, will be used to identify key themes and patterns to categorize and document findings. This project critically examines the impacts of communication, skills, and alignment challenges on the efficiency of post-hurricane power restoration. As the result, it generates important insights to inter-organizational coordination in the context of extreme events. 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 · 2024-12

Generative AI systems such as ChatGPT and Midjourney have been increasingly used to produce music, text, art, and videos that approach the quality people can create. While these AI systems can be used to enhance people's own creative work, a widely voiced concern is how generative AI might replace human creative workforces and lead to significant ethical, legal, and social risks. The project will study two growing communities focused on workers in creative entertainment industries to (a) get a deeper picture of both opportunities and challenges generative AI brings to creative workforces and (b) explore how generative AI can be designed to support creators rather than marginalizing them or harming their creative practices and careers. Because AI's role is still evolving in the creative sector, building this knowledge now has the potential to improve the future of creative work and productivity in the American economy. This project addresses critical but understudied concerns at the intersection of generative AI and creative work through three phases. The first is empirically investigating how end-user driven creative workforces understand, perceive, and approach generative AI through qualitative interviews with creative technology workers and expert AI researchers and developers. The second is identifying both opportunities and risks of generative AI for creative technology workers through co-designing novel AI features with creative workers to mitigate risks and reinforce opportunities. The third is prototyping and evaluating new AI features to help creative technology workers to navigate and cope with the new landscape of creative work in the age of AI. The project team will also contribute to the wider public conversations around designing better AI-based systems for people through developing materials for public outreach and courses on human-computer interaction and human-centered AI. 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 · 2024-12

This project investigates the biomechanical and fluid-mechanical mechanisms that insects use to move their antennae. Antennae are sensing organs that provide insects with astonishing abilities to navigate in air and water and on land or to identify a mate, a predator, or another member of their own species. All of these tasks require a millisecond-fast mechanical response by the antennae to environmental perturbations. Insects express a broad range of antennal forms, with diameters spanning orders of magnitude from submicrons to millimeters, and a large range of length-to-diameter ratios, all of which pose significant engineering challenges for insects to control their antennal movements. To understand the wide-ranging abilities of flying and nonflying insects to respond to environmental perturbations, a diverse team of researchers will investigate the structure, function, and biomechanics of antennae. Hovering and nonhovering hawkmoths and flying and nonflying cockroaches will be used to provide insights into the role of antennae in species diversification. The results will provide strategies for designing novel bio-inspired fiber-based micro-actuators, sensors, and micro-robotics that can take advantage of the mechanisms insects use to manipulate their antennae. The knowledge gained and the techniques, instruments, and materials developed will benefit biological and engineering sciences. The team will nurture a new educational culture integrating biology and engineering to prepare a new generation of scientists, engineers, and teachers. Participating in public outreach activities related to the project, students will lead citizen-science activities that provide insects, such as hawk moths, for study and will share results on a dedicated webpage. The functional morphology of insect antennae demonstrates a common structural arrangement of a shaped, cantilevered, load-free microfluidic device. The project’s principal hypothesis is that hemolymph (insect blood) pressure and flow create and control internal bending and twisting moments that enable fast reactions and antennal movements. A quantitative analysis of the mechanical reaction of antennae will be conducted by using methods of comparative biomechanics involving three objectives: (1) investigate the blood-cuticle coupling, (2) perform a comparative biomechanics analysis of antennal movements caused by blood flow, and (3) provide a predictive framework by determining the constraints imposed by the physical determinants of blood flow and antennal deformations. The project employs a rigorous experimental and theoretical research program based on unique materials-characterization technology and high-speed optical microscopy and X-ray imaging of live insects, supported by modeling. The general principles of materials design and biomechanics of insect antennae to be discovered in the project may be applied to many arthropods, enabling investigation of the fundamental evolutionary strategies governing the design of antenna-like organs with distributed actuation, sensing, and manipulation of minute amounts of biofluids. Broad talent and diverse perspectives will be incorporated into the team by involving all academic levels from high school onward. The award will support a post-doctoral fellow and two graduate student researchers, as well as course-based research opportunities for undergraduates. 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 proposal takes advantage of an existing Short Wavelength InfraRed (SWIR) all-sky imager and is an example of advances in technology that has enabled measurements in the least studied spectral region spanning 800 – 1700 nm wavelength range. The investigators plan to utilize this instrument to map mesoscale spatial brightness structures to study auroral and airglow emissions. The project aims to investigate the role of Alfvénic waves in generating auroral arcs and to measure metastable Helium (He) and the associated dynamics. Alfvén waves are travelling ion oscillations and magnetic field tension in the plasma, which propagate along geomagnetic field lines, and transport energy. Electrons are accelerated during the Alfvénic wave propagation, which plays a dominant role in magnetosphere-ionosphere (MI) coupling through their interactions with ionospheric ions. To examine the role of the Alfvénic aurora relative to the electron aurora, midnight observations would be considered, since during this time Alfven waves are more dominant. Supplemental observations by the instruments currently operating at Poker Flat, which include meridian scanning photometers, all sky 630.0/557.7/482.1 imagers, and the Poker Flat incoherent scatter radar (PFISR) are also planned. The proposal seeks funds to address two science questions (SQ): (i) What is the role of Alfvén waves in exciting auroral arcs and forms as compared with monoenergetic particle influx producing auroral emission? and (ii) what is the exospheric density variability in the polar atmosphere over various time scales between minutes and days? To investigate the first SQ, the proposers plan to combine SWIR observations with other instruments as outlined in the first paragraph, while the second SQ will be explored through the observations of metastable He emissions at 1083 nm, which possibly acts as a tracer of exospheric density. Addressing Alfvén precipitation will contribute to (a) thermospheric responses that impact atmospheric drag calculations and (b) enhance magnetosphere-ionosphere interactions. Observations of exospheric metastable He 1083 nm brightness and its comparison with TIEGCM would provide new insights into exospheric dynamics and total atmospheric density variations relevant to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) atmospheric drag and how it responds to changes in geomagnetic activity and solar flux, hence benefitting space weather research. The proposal will involve several undergraduate/graduate students and will provide support to an early career researcher. This award has been made possible through co-funding from the GEO directorate and the EPSCoR Program. 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

The unlicensed Industrial, Scientific, and Medical wireless frequency bands at 2.4GHz have supported a broader range of emerging Internet of Things (IoT) applications that benefit people’s daily life. Diverse wireless protocols supporting heterogeneous IoT devices coexist on the crowded 2.4GHz, resulting in a significant challenge of spectrum management. Their uncoordinated multiple access not only quickly depletes the limited spectrum resource but also significantly drains the power of low-complexity IoT devices. This project designs a novel hardware-software co-design communication framework that enable parallel communication for heterogeneous IoT devices, fundamentally enhancing spectrum utilization and power efficiency. The proposed framework advances the understandings of enhancing the spectrum utilization and power efficiency for large-scale heterogeneous IoT systems, such as smart healthcare, industrial IoT, and many more crucial sectors requiring continuous connections among disparate system objects. The success of this project allows coexisting IoT devices to work coherently without compromising their own communication performance, which is indispensable for the wide adoption of heterogeneous IoT devices. By leveraging Software-Defined Radios (SDRs) as gateways to manage the IoT device, this project renovates both hardware and software stacks to enable future spectrum-efficient and power-efficient heterogeneous IoT systems. To minimize the power consumption in digital domain, Thrust 1 designs and implements a novel RF real-time signal processor for synchronizing SDR with heterogeneous IoT devices. Thrust 2 designs a new physical-level parallel inclusive communication paradigm for spectrum-efficient downlink transmission, by which a software-designed signal can be decoded by multiple protocols with exclusive messages. Combining the previous hardware-software efforts, Thrust 3 tackles uncoordinated multiple access by innovating a data-driven cross-layer approach for uplink transmissions among heterogeneous IoT devices. To ensure the framework's effectiveness, the team will build a testbed and collect data for public use. This project seeks to broaden the scientific view of undergraduates and underrepresented students in the minority-serving institution, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, in the field of wireless communications and networking and prepare them with the cross-disciplinary skills needed to succeed in the modern workforce. The integrated research activities proposed in this project will enhance the long-term collaboration among Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Clemson University, and Florida State University. 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

To feed the world’s growing population, food production must increase by an estimated 70% by 2050. Achieving food security by minimizing supply fluctuations and adjusting to the growth in food demand presents many challenges that will require major adjustments in current agricultural practices, most importantly in controlled-environment agriculture (CEA). Current CEA facilities consume substantial energy, hence making this technology energy-hungry and preventing their wider adoption. This interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) project intends to build a networked CPS together with advanced data analytics and integrated renewable energy and energy storage aiming at reducing the dependence on utility grid and hence energy cost, while optimizing crop production efficiency. This project led by Clemson University brings together a team from agricultural sciences, control systems and computing/data science to create a networked system for CEA, with the goal of improving crop growth and yield while minimizing the energy cost; it enables self-adaptation and autonomy of CEA and advances the frontier of core CPS research. The research results will be integrated into the undergraduate and graduate curriculum development at the institutions involved with students trained on interdisciplinary research and education. The PIs’ partnership with K-12 schools and CEA growers will be leveraged to educate students, mostly from underrepresented groups, and practicing engineers on the development and deployment of CPS technologies in CEAs. This project builds a novel system for multi-scale, cooperative and autonomous sensing, control and renewable energy management to address several fundamental challenges of complex CEA systems, a key step towards fully autonomous and net-zero-energy CEA. The hierarchical structure of this project exploits inter-dependencies of crop physiology, energy systems and environment to advance research in CEA systems aiming at enhancing their resilience. This project outcomes enable a paradigm shift in a number of areas including: (1) integration of photosynthesis models with real-time biophysical measurements for optimizing environmental parameters; (2) automatic monitoring of the crop growth and environmental conditions using advanced AI-guided image and sensor data analytics; (3) automated robot-assisted data collection using novel control approaches for optimal distribution of mobile manipulators over large CEAs with safety guarantees; (4) devising novel stochastic control tools to manipulate environmental parameters to facilitate photosynthesis for each crop species and growth stage. The tight interaction of controllable physical systems with autonomous biological systems and the environment provides an intriguing problem space that can be also useful for a broad range of other cyber-physical 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.