University Of Nevada Las Vegas

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-12

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Educational Instrumentation (EI) track aims to enhance the experience and success of HSI students in the evolving generative artificial intelligence through building an education-oriented GPU cluster and designing high-quality related courses. Generative artificial intelligence has shown impressive performance in business, healthcare, and creative industries through revolutionary technologies, which will benefit society in the future. However, some key challenges including the lack of generative artificial intelligence-related workforce in the short term and the stable workforce pipeline in the long term are obstacles to sustainable prosperity. To solve these challenges, this project will (1) build a powerful GPU cluster to improve the computational infrastructure as the base of generative artificial intelligence, (2) enrich the existing course materials and develop new courses/initiatives to provide students with more hands-on experiences and scientific developments, and (3) cultivate students and future workforce in generative artificial intelligence from two aspects, including technology-based programs (e.g., computer science) and application-based programs (e.g., public health). Finally, the outcome of this project will advance curricula in generative artificial intelligence-related STEM disciplines, attract more students to pursue education, and meet critical workforce development needs. As a Minority-Serving Institution and Hispanic Serving Institution, this project will help University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) to significantly expand such opportunities for students from varied socio-economic and socio-demographic communities. The project has three specific aims: (1) to build immersive learning experiences for the rapidly growing student interest in generative artificial intelligence, (2) to enable computation-intensive education and research across disciplines, and (3) to address long-term workforce development needs in generative artificial intelligence fields. By providing modern computational resources, this GPU cluster will support hands-on learning for students, allowing them to work with cutting-edge generative artificial intelligence techniques, including generative adversarial networks, diffusion models, and large language models. The research methods include integrating the GPU cluster into coursework, utilizing state-of-the-art generative artificial intelligence algorithms and deep learning frameworks, enabling projects that involve processing high-dimensional image or text datasets, and fostering computationally intensive interdisciplinary collaborations. Expected outcomes will increase student engagement and expertise in a broad area of artificial intelligence. Also, this project will produce new courses for both undergraduate and graduate students and stimulate growth in course enrollments as students gain access to resources that significantly enhance their learning and practical experience. Additionally, this whole project will prepare students with adequate experience as the future workforce in different domains of generative artificial intelligence careers. Results from this project will be disseminated through academic publications, community outreach, and expanded partnerships with local and regional institutions. As the only R1 university in southern Nevada, an EPSCOR jurisdiction, establishing this infrastructure at UNLV will empower underrepresented students with competitive skills, address existing disparities, and advance educational equity. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims. 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

Computer Science (CS) education has predominantly focused on secondary students, leaving elementary school teachers concerned about time constraints and the pressure to cover other subjects. This project addresses this challenge by developing integrated Artificial Intelligence (AI) curricula utilizing the advantages of educational robotics for grades 4-5 students in linguistically diverse classrooms. It also seeks to provide teacher professional development for implementing these integrated units and to conduct educational research. The language-rich curricular resources generated by this project will be disseminated for adaptation and use by other districts nationwide and will serve as a model for designing linguistically relevant integrated AI curricula. The project will enhance the knowledge base on developing novel elementary AI curriculum materials. A design-based research approach will be used to iteratively design and field-test the proposed curriculum. This three-year Medium Research Practice Partnership (RPP) project will involve two cycles of design and development of the integrated units and an examination of student learning fostered by these units and associated professional development. Through design-based research, the project team will develop and iteratively refine the integrated curriculum, and address the following research questions: (1) How does participation in the project influence elementary teachers’ AI teaching efficacy beliefs? (2) How does participation in the project influence elementary teachers’ perceptions of emergent multilingual learners (EMLs) and teaching EMLs? (3) How does participation in the integrated units impact students’ AI conceptual understanding and practices, and their attitudes towards AI? Twenty-five elementary teachers and approximately 600 elementary students (grades 4-5) from schools primarily serving underrepresented populations in Clark County, Nevada, will be directly impacted by this project. This project is funded through the Computer Science for All: Research and RPPs 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 project aims to find new algorithmic methods for the resilient integration of renewable energy into the electrical grid as well as for making transportation more sustainable. For example, in the traditional energy grid, when renewables produce a surplus of energy, such surplus generally does not affect the operation of traditional power plants. Instead, renewables are throttled down, or the surplus is simply ignored. However, in the future, when most of the power is generated by renewables, this will not be tenable. Rather, traditional power plant output needs to be throttled down or switched off in response to less predictable renewable supplies. On the demand side, power usage has also become less predictable with the switch from gas or electric-resistive heating to heat pumps, independent solar panels, the adoption of electric vehicles, and more diverse working hour patterns. With transportation, the transition to electric and autonomous vehicles, as well as multi-modal transportation, is underway and fueled by a smart grid built around renewable energy. Rather than using statistical methods, this project pursues a game-theoretic approach. In the online setting, one imagines the input to be created by an omniscient adversary who knows the code of the online algorithm and strives to defeat the algorithm. An online algorithm with good competitiveness gives a performance guarantee relative to the best that could be done if one knew the future. Thus, it makes good decisions even in situations where the input derives from unusual or unexpected circumstances, such as supply chain disruptions due to disasters. The project will also create more sustainable solutions through algorithms related to batching and server problems in datacenters. The project will also train students and broaden participation in computing as it is hosted at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, a minority-serving institution ranked as one of the most diverse universities for undergraduates. Power plant cycling can be avoided by the obvious method of not cycling a unit, and that may include staying on at a loss; this tradeoff is modeled by abstracting the problem as a power-down problem in the online competitive setting. The project seeks to design novel online competitive algorithms for the power-down problem. A "decrease and reset" scheme is considered where competitiveness is relaxed by a small amount to allow for online competitive algorithms that are close to optimal yet with better performance in many types of request sequences. The project also includes consideration of new potential-guided methods, as well as the study of continuous power-down problems. The use of online models opens a new approach to benefit future transportation systems. Models for car-sharing systems, for example, are inherently online. A problem complementary to both power-down as well as transportation is the server problem. The project includes the study of several open questions around online server problems. Competitive algorithms for the delayed server problem for modeling car sharing, battery consolidation systems and traffic signal control are also sought. The investigator heads the University of Nevada Las Vegas Center for Information Technology and Algorithms; the award contributes to further establishing and nurturing the important work being done at this center. 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

Magnetospheric accretion, where mass from surrounding disks is channeled onto the central objects by their magnetic fields, plays a key role in the formation and evolution of a wide range of astrophysical objects – including neutron stars, young stars, and even planets. The investigators will use advanced supercomputing resources to conduct first-principle numerical simulations of magnetospheric accretion. They will study how neutron stars produce X-ray pulsars and Ultraluminous X-ray Sources (PULXs), and how young stars and planets evolve within their environments. The investigators will collaborate with planetariums and supercomputer centers for visualization efforts, develop a computational physics course with a focus on AI, and organize workshops to enhance computational skills among students. They will annually recruit minority students to participate in their research, harnessing the diverse talent at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. The research will include four key simulation areas: 1) the impact of stellar spin on accretion and outflow structures, 2) interactions between large-scale disk magnetic fields and stellar fields during accretion, 3) effects of tilted stellar magnetic fields on disk warping and asymmetric accretion, and 4) how complex stellar magnetic fields influence hot spot distributions. These simulations are expected to offer a comprehensive physical framework for interpreting observations across various wavelengths, from X-ray to radio. Additionally, the project will foster public engagement through innovative visualizations and promote diversity in astrophysics by involving minority students in research activities. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-09

This three-year renewal Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site: Smart Cities – Advancing Mobility is hosted by the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. Ten undergraduate researchers each year will develop, engineer, and evaluate technologies to improve and advance mobility for use in Smart Cities. Through this technology – intelligent transportation systems (ITS), connected autonomous vehicles (CAVs), and vehicle-to-everything communication (V2X) participants will learn about the impacts of this research on society. Students will develop discipline specific knowledge, computer programming skills, and machine learning/artificial intelligence experience through hands-on research activities. REU students will engage in professional development, training sessions, and professional seminars from mobility experts in academia, industry, and government. Participants engaged in these projects in advanced mobility will learn about the impacts on economic growth, public sector efficiency, and improves quality of life through expanded accessibility, energy efficiency, and public safety. This three-year renewal Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site: Smart Cities – Advancing Mobility is hosted by the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. Ten undergraduate researchers each year will develop, engineer, and evaluate technologies to improve and advance mobility for use in Smart Cities. Students with engineering backgrounds (such as electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, and civil engineering) will take part in hands-on research to address technological challenges in ITS, CAV, and C-V2X with the use of public transportation data and machine learning/artificial intelligence. ITS projects feature traffic flow prediction during events using GPS telematics, IoT systems for smart parking optimization, modeling and optimizing green energy systems. CAV projects feature infrastructure sensor support of CAV control, real-time transmission line inspection with unmanned aerial systems, cooperative simultaneous localization and mapping. V2X projects include software defined radio for CAV sensor communication and dual-mode DSRC/C-V2X display for eco-driving. REU students will engage in professional development, training sessions, and professional seminars from mobility experts in academia, industry, and government. Participants engaged in these projects in advanced mobility will learn about the impacts on economic growth, public sector efficiency, and improves quality of life through expanded accessibility, energy efficiency, and public safety. This project is jointly funded by the EEC REU 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 2024 · 2024-09

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) is a highly competitive, federal fellowship program. GRFP helps ensure the vitality and diversity of the scientific and engineering workforce of the United States. The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students who are pursuing research-based master's and doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and in STEM education. The GRFP provides three years of financial support for the graduate education of individuals who have demonstrated their potential for significant research achievements in STEM and STEM education. This award supports the NSF Graduate Fellows pursuing graduate education at this GRFP institution. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-09

In this project, jointly funded by the Broadening Participation Program in the Division of Chemistry (BP-CHE) and the Centers of Research Excellence in Science and Technology program (CREST) in the Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM (EES), Professor Zhange Feng and his colleagues at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) will conduct planning activities aimed at establishing a Center of Research Excellence in Science and Technology focused on Chemistry research (CREST-CHE). The proposed center will concentrate on sustainable and ecofriendly electrochemical science and technology. The ultimate goal of the CREST-CHE is to drive institutional transformation by enhancing the research capacities in electrochemical science and technology, aligning with the overarching objectives of UNLV. A series of planning activities are proposed, aiming to prepare a competitive full proposal to the CREST center with the completion of the planning activities. Three types of meetings are scheduled to devise the strategy, align the objective, and foster collaborative research among the team members, including semi-annual strategic planning meetings, bi-monthly progress review meetings, and biweekly collaboration meetings. Additionally, training opportunities in the form of workshops and symposiums are provided to faculty members and students to better prepare the team for the comprehensive proposal. The team will also conduct a thorough evaluation of infrastructures and resources at UNLV, and the conclusion will be included in the full proposal to ensure the success of the CREST center. Collaborative research among the team members will be conducted to gather preliminary data, including research on electrochemical energy storage, electrochemical CO2 reduction, organic electrosynthesis of compounds containing P-F bonds, electrochemical separation, and theoretical calculations. The success of the proposed planning activities will lead to a highly capable team in electrochemical science and technology, empowering PIs to craft a competitive proposal for the CREST center. Through the strategy formulated in the planning activities, the project will seek to enroll a large number of undergraduate and graduate students that are reflective of the institution's overall student demographics. The project will significantly enhance the curriculum development and prepare students to work in the highly interdisciplinary area related to electrochemical science and technology. It will provide unique training opportunities through workshops and symposiums for faculty members and students working in electrochemical science and technology. The project will also inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers by engaging high school students from the local school district through a summer internship programs at UNLV. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-08

This major research instrumentation (MRI) project enabled the acquisition of a JEOL JXA-ISP100 Electron Probe Micro-Analyzer (EPMA) at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The EPMA is an instrument designed to image and analyze elemental compositions of materials at ultra-high magnification. The newest generation of EPMA will provide a springboard for diverse and cutting-edge research on a range of samples, as the instrument will be optimized to allow us to measure very small quantities of different elements in a range of materials, including Earth rocks and meteorites. This instrument will attract a diverse community of researchers to explore questions in many fields of science and engineering, including, geological sciences, chemistry, physics, material science, planetary sciences, and radiochemistry. For each of the research areas, undergraduate and graduate students as well as post-doctoral researchers will be actively trained and involved in research using the instrument. The new instrument will also be utilized in outreach projects that allow K-12 students to be directly exposed to STEM research, supporting current NSF-funded outreach programs. Instrument accessibility will also be increased through its remote-access capabilities. An EPMA is a versatile instrument for non-destructive chemical microanalysis (micron scale or 10-5 inches) of solid-state inorganic and organic materials. The new JEOL JXA-ISP100 EPMA allows for higher-quality imaging, mapping, and higher-precision analyses, including measurements of trace elements from boron to uranium, and light elements. The primary analytical advantages of the proposed EPMA over our current aging instrument are: 1) higher spatial resolution and analytical precision; the proposed EPMA can measure all naturally occurring elements in the periodic table except for hydrogen, helium, and lithium, with a detection limit as low as 10 ppm; 2) Lanthanum hexaboride (LaB6) cathode and tungsten (W) electron sources; LaB6 is brighter, permitting for a lower voltage (down to 5 kV) and an improved spatial resolution yielding a smaller beam size and a smaller volume from which the X-rays are emitted, important for small mineral features; 3) five Wavelength-Dispersive X-ray spectrometers (WDS) and large crystals; large crystals yield double the count rate of standard crystals without sacrificing the signal-to-noise ratio, allowing trace elements to be easily measured; 4) one EDS detector, allowing for faster analyses; and 5) Probe for EPMA software and remote access. This new instrument will be primarily used for applications related to igneous petrology, volcanology, mineralogy, and geochronology, economic geology, planetary science and extraterrestrial sample investigation, medical geology, radiochemistry, and materials research. This award was funded by the Division of Earth Sciences and from the Instrumentation and Facilities 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.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 2024-08

Enter the text here that is the new abstract information for your application. This section must be no longer than 30 lines of text. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a set of neurodevelopmental conditions that affect communication and social interactions with restricted interests and repetitive behaviors. Although ASD has one of the highest heritability rates of all complex disorders, and hundreds of genes are known to confer a risk for this condition, most ASD cases remain idiopathic. A critical barrier to progress in the field is to identify additional ASD-risk genes. Since most of the known ASD variants are biased toward coding regions, an unmet need is to evaluate the contribution of noncoding sequences in ASD etiology, including tandem repeats (TRs) that account for ~5% of the human genome. Recently two independent large-scale genome studies uncovered previously undetected and predominantly noncoding TR mutations that have been suggested to account for ~4% of idiopathic ASD cases. Although these studies opened uncharted territory by revealing numerous TR expansion mutations (TRexp) in ASD, they were underpowered to adopt the required statistical rigor to select gene candidates for further mechanistic studies. To overcome this critical barrier to progress in the field, we designed a framework to investigate the contribution of noncoding TRexp in ASD etiology. Based on our considerable expertise in complex TRexp disease mechanisms, we propose to test the central hypothesis that ASD-associated noncoding TRexp contribute to ASD etiology by inducing pathogenic gene regulatory mechanisms that have been documented in other TRexp disorders. We will test our central hypothesis by: (i) identifying high-confidence ASD-risk genes with TRexp enriched in the ASD population (Aim 1); (ii) selecting TRexp based on their propensity to perturb high-confidence ASD-risk gene transcript processing (Aim 2); (iii) testing the hypothesis that intronic TRexp alter specific regulatory steps during ASD-risk gene RNA processing (Aim 3). The results of this proposal will transform our understanding of ASD by addressing important problems underpinning critical barriers to progress in the field by: (i) providing a new approach to identify high-confidence ASD-risk genes from underpowered studies; (ii) developing specialized criteria to estimate TRexp propensity to perturb ASD-risk gene expression and RNA processing patterns; (iii) spanning the bridge between genomic TRexp findings in the ASD population and their mechanistic basis.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-08

Despite years of research and interventions to address inequities that are largely related to race, science education continues to perpetuate these inequities in both participation and outcomes in science. This CAREER project will address the need to provide science teachers with a framework for considering race and racial dynamics in science teaching as well as exemplars in science teaching and professional development to support teachers’ teaching identities and praxis. One way to address the ongoing exclusion of people of color from science is through approaches to science teaching that explicitly seek to meaningfully engage students from all backgorunds. While antiracism and antiracist pedagogy have been studied extensively in education generally, they are rarely explored in depth in science education. Significant challenges in supporting more equitable science instruction, identified by both teachers and researchers, include the lack of a clear teaching framework that details antiracist approaches to science education and aligned models of science teaching enacted in classrooms. As a result, even science teachers who are explicitly interested in addressing racism in and through their teaching often struggle to find ways to do so. Using theoretical frameworks that explicitly address the impacts of race and identity, this project will: 1) develop a Framework for Antiracist Science Teaching; 2) develop and offer professional development to support the use of the framework; and 3) evaluate the impact of the professional development on teachers’ identities and praxis. In the first phase of this project, a critical ethnographic method will be used to investigate and describe science teaching that attends to race and racism. Using classroom observations and interviews of teachers, administrators, students, and families, data will be collected from up to twenty teachers and analyzed iteratively using a developmental research sequence methodology for ethnography in combination with discourse analysis. In the second phase of this project, the framework will be used to develop an observation protocol as well as professional development for in-service science teachers. Over three years, the professional development will be offered to up to sixty science teachers and the impact of the professional development on their teaching identities and praxis will be evaluated. The results of this project will build on existing research in equity in science education to explicitly address: (1) how teachers enact and gain recognition for science teaching identities that embrace antiracism; (2) the experiences and/or structures that support or constrain the development such science teaching identities; (3) how teacher educators can support those science teaching identities; and (4) how those identities develop over time. This project is funded by the Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) that seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models, and tools. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 2024-08

Childhood obesity is on the rise in the US, with an estimated 12.7% of children aged 2-5 classified as obese. Preventing childhood obesity can reduce risk for adult comorbidities such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, fatty liver disease, and cancer. One possible influence on childhood obesity risk is parental behaviors. A key dietary determinant of obesity is daily fruit and vegetable intake (FVI). A majority of the existing evidence among preschool-aged children (PSAC) is cross-sectional. New technology that uses reflection spectroscopy on the skin to measure carotenoids non-invasively, is a promising tool to easily and reliably detect carotenoid biomarkers especially when compared to self-reported dietary measures. The longitudinal mechanisms through which parental behaviors affect their PSAC FVI, and Body Mass Index (BMI) remain to be fully elucidated. Nevada is a suitable setting due to its high prevalence of childhood overweight/obesity. We will recruit a cohort of 251 parents-PSAC dyads and follow them for three years. The specific aims are to: 1) Examine the association of parental behaviors with child outcomes: FVI, and BMI percentile over time, 2) Test the feasibility and acceptability of skin carotenoid biomarker measurement among PSAC, 3) Evaluate carotenoid biomarkers and their association with FVI via 24-hour recalls among parents as proxy reporters for their children. This R16 SuRE-First award will accelerate Dr. Johansen's program of research on determinants of PSACs obesity risk, develop his expertise in longitudinal studies, and provide UNLV students with opportunities to participate in high-quality applied biomedical research.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-08

This grant award will support the participation of eleven U.S. students, postdocs and/or early-career scientists in an international conference at the interface of genomics and geomicrobiology. It will enable vital networking for the participants, opportunities for initiating new collaborative research with international colleagues, and the advancement of research and discovery by U.S. scientists. The conference will include scientists from many countries, including the USA, Europe and China. The topics will address areas of basic scientific research, as well as the role of archeal microorganisms in diverse microbial communities and their contributions to human health and agriculture. This gathering of a group of world experts at the second International Conference on Geo-Omics of Archaea, to be held in Shenzhen, China from November 7-9, 2024. The grant will help advance U.S. efforts in conducting research into fundamental questions related to the biology, physiology, diversity, biogeochemistry, ecology and evolution of Archaea. Participants will also be invited to participate in one or more synthesis manuscripts describing key advancements in areas of Archaeal biology. To maximize impact on broadening participation and development of science excellence in the U.S., funding support: (1) members of underrepresented groups in science; (2) graduate students and/or postdocs; and (3) early-career Assistant Professors. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-08

We live in a mining-based society and critical and other metals are a key component in military defense applications and the transition to a low carbon economy. Most critical metals are produced as co- or by-products of major metals, for example the critical metal tellurium is produced from copper mining. This research will assess the processes that concentrate critical metals in a class of ore deposits called porphyry copper deposits, a common and economically important type of mineral deposit in the SW U.S. The conditions needed to enrich critical metals, how these processes vary spatially and if they changed over time is currently not known. Results that will be generated by graduate and undergraduate researchers will allow the team to accurately assess the resource potential of porphyry copper deposits as a domestic source of critical metals for the U.S. ensuring a secure supply of these metals for the future. This work will also provide place-based learning opportunities for students and produce a 3D virtual field trip of the Yerington district for students who are unable to participate in fieldwork, and facilitate remote access to a world-class geological district. This study utilizes pyrite as a recorder of ore-forming processes and assesses its role as a repository of critical metals within mineralizing systems. Pyrite growth tracks changes in metal sources and chemical and physical changes in fluid compositions that are preserved as micron-scale chemical and isotopic variations across individual mineral grains. The ubiquitous nature of pyrite within porphyry copper deposits combined with the wide range of metals that can be incorporated into pyrite make it the ideal candidate for in situ mineral-scale analysis. This study, focusing on the Yerington District, Nevada, that represents a complete cross-section of a porphyry copper deposit, will employ a systematic approach to mineral-scale analysis by combining trace metal mapping with quantitative geochemical and isotopic analytical transects. These data will allow the team to redefine ore formation models in high-definition, that have historically been developed using whole-rock geochemical data, allowing them to accurately link changing processes to the enrichment of critical metals. This project is jointly funded by NSF GEO EAR, Petrology and Geochemistry 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 2024 · 2024-08

With support from the Chemical Measurement and Imaging Program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor Sun's group at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, is developing methods to facilitate chemical analysis by Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA), an important method for discerning the identity and abundance of chemical elements in a sample. His innovative approach aims to eliminate the reliance on calibration materials and to extend the tools for imaging analysis, with potential applications in agriculture, industry, medicine, and the military. The project is providing valuable research training for students underrepresented in STEM, preparing them for future STEM careers. Additionally, Dr. Sun is creating advanced course materials on "Nuclear Activation Analysis" which will be made available online. Under this award, Professor Sun’s group will advance the quasi-absolute method (QAM) and incorporate QAM calculations into neutron radiography to generate 3-D concentration images of target nuclides. They use neutron flux measurements and Monte Carlo simulations to optimize QAM, validate the pulse activity equation, customize NAA calculation software, and employ 3-D imaging reconstruction techniques to visualize isotopic distributions in samples. By amalgamating contemporary data mining techniques with traditional radioanalytical approaches, the overarching goal is to advance the understanding and application of nuclear activation analysis and nuclear imaging across diverse scientific disciplines. 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 · 2024-07

PROJECT SUMMARY IPMK is a novel PI3K crucial for AKT activation and cell migration. Our previous research demonstrated that the loss of IPMK's PI3K activity impairs PDK1's membrane localization, disrupting PDK1-mediated AKT phosphorylation. To achieve complete AKT activation, phosphorylation by mTORC2 is essential. Interestingly, mTORC2 activation relies on PIP3. The essential PI3K responsible for generating PIP3 required for mTORC2 activation remains unidentified. Our investigation is focused on understanding the mechanism behind the activation of mTORC2 by PI3K IPMK. We aim to decipher the impact of IPMK's PI3K activity on mTORC2 activation. We will also explore whether IPMK's PI3K activity affects cell migration by activating mTORC2 or through an independent pathway. Furthermore, we will delve into how IPMK's PI3K activity influences the organization of the actin cytoskeleton, a critical element in the process of cell migration. The following aims will be explored to investigate the hypothesis: “IPMK is a novel PI3k essential for mTORC2 activation and cell migration.” Specific Aim 1: Mechanism of IPMK-Mediated mTORC2 Activation. In this aim, we will elucidate the molecular mechanism underlying IPMK-mediated mTORC2 activation. Specific Aim 2: Impact of Phosphorylation on IPMK's PI3k Activity. We will identify the specific phosphorylation sites in IPMK necessary for its PI3K activity and investigate how phosphorylation-deficient mutants of IPMK affect downstream functions such as AKT activation, mTORC2 activation, and cell migration. Specific Aim 3: Regulation of Cell Migration by IPMK and its PI3K Activity. This aim will assess how IPMK and its PI3K activity influence actin polymerization, a crucial factor in cell migration. Mechanistically, we will determine whether IPMK-mediated cell migration relies on mTORC2 or operates independently. By addressing these specific aims, we aim to shed light on the intricate roles of IPMK's PI3K activity in mTORC2 activation and cell migration, contributing to our understanding of this novel pathway and its potential implications.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-07

This project is jointly funded by the Gravitational Physics program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). With the advent of Gravitational Wave astronomy in the last decade, a new means of observing the most extreme processes in the Universe has appeared. From a century of detailed studies into General Relativity as the preferred theory of gravitation, predictive models for what gravitational waves might be observable have been readily available for use in analyses capable of inferring the astrophysical properties of the observed systems, which so far primarily have been binary systems of black holes and/or neutron stars. While these gravitational wave models are accurate enough to not introduce systematic biases in observations made with current observatories, as those observatories improve in sensitivity these models have been shown to fail in recovering the unbiased astrophysics governing the observed gravitational waves. Additionally, if it turns out that General Relativity itself is not the final theory of gravitation, any actual observable deviation away from General Relativity could easily be masked by such a systematic model bias. Being able to both describe and account for model inaccuracies will increase the trustworthiness in both current and future astrophysical gravitational wave observations as well as enable new and robust studies into the validity of theories beyond General Relativity. A major goal of this award is the training of of students in analysis, astrophysics, and project management skills necessary to complete their respective projects, while also immersing them in a collaborative research environment at the leading edge of gravitational-wave science. This award will also focus on increasing the involvement and retention of STEM (focusing on gravitational astrophysics) students from communities local to UNLV that have traditionally been under-represented. This will be achieved by creating a set of bridge programs, to increase the fraction of STEM students from under-represented minorities at the graduate level to match the fraction of undergraduate students from those groups. This award supports the development, testing, and implementation of a set of analyses incorporating Bayesian inference to estimate the astrophysical source parameters of compact-object binary coalescences as observed using gravitational waves. These developments will focus on incorporating the capability of accounting for and mitigating uncertainties, inaccuracies, and biases inherent to the assumed gravitational wave signal models, with the explicit goal of increasing the robustness and trustworthiness of the inferred astrophysics. With a more robust understanding of the overall astrophysical analysis, described through General Relativity, it will also be possible to search for beyond-General Relativity signatures. Inferring compact-object binary source parameters is one of the cornerstones of modern gravitational-wave astrophysics, a set of analyses on which nearly all astrophysical statements derived from gravitational-wave observations are based. Hence, as the sensitivity of the current (and future) gravitational-wave detectors increases, the requirements for the fidelity of the models used in the analyses will increase significantly. The combination of methodology and astrophysical deliverables within this award will provide both the necessary breadth and depth necessary for preparing gravitational-wave research for the exciting future to come. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-07

Soil degradation affects 33% of Earth’s land surface and is exacerbated by climate change. Climate-driven soil degradation is an especially urgent problem in drylands, which have unique soil microbial communities that include surface biological soil crusts that reduce erosion. Drylands generate feedback to climate change because they account for ~⅓ of global soil organic carbon and make the largest contributions to interannual carbon fluxes of any terrestrial biome. Despite the importance of microbes to dryland soil health, little is known about how individual dryland soil microbes respond to climate change. The project aims to discover microbial solutions that promote soil health in hotter, drier climates. Research activities characterize the climate resistance of common dryland microbe species exposed to heat and drought, discover how to assemble communities of these species that maximally resist heat and drought, and seek use-inspired solutions that inoculate climate-ready microbes into soils of the Chihuahuan Desert, New Mexico, USA. Ecologists and microbiologists work collaboratively on activities that leverage prior NSF-funded infrastructure and biological collections. Synergistic broader impacts include an innovative program for high school teachers to bring contemporary research into underserved K-12 classrooms, a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience for a gateway majors course, summer REU students, a new community science photography project to raise public awareness of the ecological services of biocrusts, annual workshops for park personnel, volunteers, land managers, retirees, school teachers, and students with Joshua Tree National Park Association, and a schoolyard Data Jam with students from Nevada, Florida, New Mexico, and Puerto Rico. Climate change can accelerate soil degradation through changes to soil microbes. Vegetation-poor drylands are soil microbe-driven ecosystems with unique microbiomes that influence soil health. Ecologists and microbiologists work collaboratively on soil health solutions that leverage prior NSF-funded infrastructure and biological collections, including collaboration with Sevilleta LTER. The integration of knowledge in a hierarchical framework that spans the individual organism to the ecosystem has high potential to improve predictions (theory) and solutions (use-inspired applications) for improved soil health. At the individual-population level, lab experiments characterize heat and desiccation resistance and traits for 30 species of dryland Cyanobacteria and Fungi and molecular mechanisms of resistance. At the population-community level, greenhouse experiments test how heat and drought alter microbe interactions, and, in turn, how microbial composition affects resistance to heat and drought. At the community-ecosystem level, field research applies climate-ready microbial assemblages to reverse long-term soil degradation. This project builds the first comprehensive database on dryland microbe physiological resistance to heat and drought. Trait-based work seeks generalizable rules on microbial climate resistance, tests whether conservative traits confer greater stress-resistance than acquisitive traits, and evaluates the novel hypothesis that cross-domain assemblages composed of bacteria and fungi maximize the resistance of soil health to heat and drought. Altogether, research activities have high potential to generate novel predictions and solutions that maximize the resistance of drylands to soil degradation under climate change. Broader impacts span K12 classrooms to graduate training and build new collaboration with regional managers of soil health. This project is jointly funded by Integrative Ecological Physiology (IOS/IEP) 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 2024 · 2024-07

The transformation from reactants to products in a chemical reaction is the result of billions of collisions between the reactant molecules. At normal temperatures, these collisions occur randomly in arbitrary orientations, and as such, one cannot exert any control over this process. However, as the temperature is reduced, quantum effects begin to emerge and a quantum mechanical treatment is necessary to understand the collisions. In this regime, small perturbations introduced by external electric or magnetic fields can alter the reactants’ interactions and the reaction outcome. This is an emerging field of research in Physics and Chemistry, and quantum science in general, to gain fundamental understanding of atomic and molecular collisions and control their outcome. The collision outcome can also be influenced by controlling the orientation or alignment of the reactant molecules, which is a topic of this award. One can also control the collision outcome through quantum mechanical interference effects, with constructive interference along the reaction path enhancing the reaction and destructive interference suppressing it. Such quantum interference effects are important when the transformation from reactant to products involves multiple pathways. The methodologies developed as part of this award will result in computational algorithms for quantum control of chemical reactions as well as improved understanding of molecular processes in the earth’s atmosphere and astrophysical environments. The Stark-induced adiabatic Raman passage (SARP) technique has become a powerful tool to prepare molecules in well-defined ro-vibrational levels and magnetic projection quantum numbers. Such SARP-prepared molecules have become a testbed for the study of aligned molecular collisions allowing quantum-controlled collisions of diatomic molecules such as HD and D2 though the approach can be applied to any molecular system, including those lacking a permanent dipole-moment. The PI will undertake a detailed quantum mechanical investigation of HD+D2 collisions in light of recent experimental study of this system as well as chemical reaction between electronically excites sulfur atoms and D2 molecules. In both systems, the effect of alignment of the HD and D2 molecules will be investigated on the collision outcome. For the latter case, the effect of coupling to the lower electronic state will be investigated. Additionally, the effect of isotope substitution and quantum interference effects originating from non-adiabatic dynamics in Li+Li2 chemical reaction will be studied. The NSF award will support a postdoc and provide opportunities for undergraduate students from traditionally underrepresented communities to engage in leading-edge research, contributing to future workforce development in emerging areas of quantum science. This project is jointly supported by the NSF Physics and Chemistry Divisions. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-07

The complexity and diversity of animal body structures arise from the combinations of just two tissue types: the attached, static epithelial cells (forming skin and gut lining); and the detached, often migratory mesenchymal cells (forming muscle and blood cells). Epithelial cells, form the stable building blocks for organ formation, while mesenchymal cells provide tissue dynamics and mobility in embryos. This project aims to understand the “plasticity” of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), the fundamental cellular process that transforms epithelial cells to mesenchymal cells. By connecting epithelial state to mesenchymal state, EMT is essential for generating diverse cell types during development and wound healing. In the past, EMT was thought to be a binary switch, but recent studies have pointed to a more fluid model: Cells transition back and forth along a spectrum with intermediate states exhibiting partial epithelial and mesenchymal traits. Importantly, such plasticity is central to the normal function of EMT both in embryos and adults; it allows cells to access the optimal states to grow, migrate, and construct tissues and organs. How cells are stabilized in these intermediate states is poorly known. This project will reveal the mechanisms that achieve and maintain intermediate EMT states. The project will also provide research opportunities for undergraduate students with the goal of facilitating access to STEM field careers. In collaboration with local high school teacher leaders, this project will bring cellular and developmental biology to high school classrooms by providing summer workshops for high school teachers from Clark County School District. At the core of EMT transition is the regulation of cell polarity and cell adhesion, two defining features of epithelial cells. The investigators' central hypothesis is that the reversibility of cell state is achieved by regulating polarity and cell adhesion at the level of protein subcellular localization. The investigators' previous work points to two mechanisms that may confer plasticity in fly mesoderm EMT. The first mechanism requires EMT master transcription factor Snail to promote the loss of polarity protein Par-3 from junctional cortex. Since Par-3 plays a central role in the assembly of cell adhesion, such a mechanism weakens cell adhesion but preserves adhesion proteins for use on demand. The second mechanism is a myosin-dependent mechanosensitive mechanism that rebuilds adhesion junctions using the adhesion proteins preserved from the disassembly. The investigators will identify the molecular players in these two mechanisms by: 1) Testing whether Snail promotes disassociation of Par-3 from junctional cortex via reducing Par-3 protein clustering and enhancing Par-3 phosphorylation; 2) Dissecting the mechanosensitive strengthening of cell adhesions by characterizing two new components the PI identified recently: junctional myosin for its role in directly clustering junction complexes and a conserved casein kinase for its role as a novel mechanosensitive junction effector; 3) Identifying targets of the Snail transcription factor and the intermediate players that mediate Snail’s action on junctional Par-3 through a non-biased genetic screen. The project will take advantage of the live imaging expertise, the machine-learning-based quantitative tools, new reagents and assays developed in the lab to acquire new insight into the mechanisms and players in EMT plasticity. This award is funded by the Cellular Dynamics and Function Cluster of the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences in the Directorate for Biological Sciences. 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 · 2024-04

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Food insecurity (FI) - a household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food 1- is a serious public health problem that affects 37% of undergraduate students 2. FI is more prevalent among students than in the general population 3. In addition to exacerbating physical and mental health problems, FI is consistently associated with an increased risk for eating disorder (ED) pathology. As many as 38-52% of university students with FI meet criteria for an eating disorder 7,8 with many more students reporting subclinical symptoms. This is an urgent problem because EDs are associated with increased mortality and morbidity, reduced quality of life, and high economic burden for individuals and healthcare systems. However, the specific mechanisms linking the experience of FI to eating behaviors remain largely unknown. One possibility is that feedback loops driven by 1) financial concerns related to FI and 2) “traditional” ED pathways of shape/weight concerns may perpetuate problem eating behaviors; however, there is yet to be a study examining within-person experiences of these two pathways in undergraduate students and their impact on academic functioning. Without understanding how these processes contribute to ED symptoms, it is likely that the efficacy of interventions for EDs in undergraduate students with FI will be limited. Our scientific premise is that mechanistic knowledge is critically needed to develop targeted interventions for undergraduate students with FI and EDs, as both FI 9–16 and untreated EDs 17–20 are associated with lower academic functioning, which may have profound impacts on educational attainment. For this R16 application, we have the following specific aims: 1) Evaluate a positive feedback loop of dietary restriction due to FI and loss-of-control eating; 2) Evaluate a positive feedback loop of loss-of-control eating, compensatory dietary restriction due to shape/weight concerns, and dietary restriction due to FI; and 3) Test how academic performance metrics are associated with FI and ED behaviors on the daily and cross-sectional levels. The proposed study is innovative and significant because it will evaluate potential mechanisms linking FI, EDs, and academic functioning. The majority of studies examining these constructs have been cross-sectional, predictive, or retrospective using between-subjects designs. There have been relatively few studies that have examined within-person associations between FI and ED symptoms and no studies that have explored how these daily experiences impact academic performance. Results from this study will support researchers, clinicians, and academic institutions in better addressing student needs. Data from this study will enable the modification of existing ED treatments to be more responsive to how ED pathology may be maintained by FI.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2026 · 2024-04

Project Summary/Abstract The objectives of this proposal are to define fundamental mechanisms that drive radiation-induced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). There is compelling evidence linking an increased risk of developing ESCC with a history of therapeutic radiation exposure. Elucidating the machinery that drives tumor susceptibility, is of major import to NCI, as ESCC is the deadliest of all human squamous cell carcinomas. Abnormalities in stress signaling, in proteins such as ATF2 are strongly implicated in cancers. Additionally, a central role of epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) in the promotion of cancer has gained prominence. Knowledge of pathways that translate radiation-induced aberrant signaling to changes in the microenvironment is lacking and essential to assess cancer risk post radiation exposure. This is a major gap in the field, which the current project proposes to bridge. Our preliminary studies suggest a strong association between persistent pATF2ser 490/98 signaling and EMT, both events regulated by transforming growth factor  (TGF). Our main objectives are to understand the role of TGFβ-mediated pATF2 signaling and its relationship to EMT, to provide insight into how changes in the microenvironment allow radiation-induced tumor initiation and progression and identify biomarkers for ESCC radiation-induced carcinogenesis. We hypothesize that TGF driven persistent pATF2 signaling triggers EMT post radiation exposure, and this signaling network creates a tumor permissive microenvironment. To test this hypothesis, we will use well-characterized normal and transformed cells containing genetic alterations commonly occurring in esophageal cancer, and 3D cell culture systems, closely mimicking the in vivo physiological environment of the esophagus. High and low dose fractionated radiation will be used to simulate the exposure to the esophagus from radiotherapeutic cancer treatments. CRISPR technology will be used to mutate the ATF2 phospho-sites to define dependency of this signaling. Immunofluorescence, immunohistochemistry, and RNA seq will be used to address the specific aims and gain a mechanistic understanding of these events. We will (1) test our hypothesis that EMT induction is a consequence of fractionated radiation-induced aberrant pATF2 signaling, and (2) investigate the effect of pATF2 signaling on tissue architecture, promotion of a tumor phenotype, and transcriptomics post radiation exposure. Our contribution is expected to provide an innovative approach to understand how radiation, through its influence on intercellular communication and interactions with the microenvironment affects levels of biological organization and promotes cancer. This proposal addresses relevant scientific areas of emerging importance such as the contribution of persistent stress signaling, and microenvironment changes in promoting carcinogenesis. These studies are especially significant, as elucidating the underlying mechanisms that promote radiation-induced carcinogenesis could aid in predicting patients at an increased risk of developing ESCC and give mechanistic insights into the radiation-related carcinogenesis of other tumor types including esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC).

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 2024-03

PROJECT SUMMARY Emerging evidence suggests that shift workers, particularly those who work nights, are at a higher risk of mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This is mainly due to the repeated disruption of the sleep- wake schedule (circadian disruption) and poor sleep (e.g., less deep sleep and/or shorter sleep time). However, there are inter-individual differences in the ability to adapt (resilience) or not adapt (intolerance) to night-shift work, resulting in different sleep problems and cognitive responses in shift workers. Yet, we do not have a physiological or biological marker sensitive enough to reflect the level of adaptability to shift work and predict the risk of future cognitive impairment. The overarching goal of our research program is to identify biomarkers that may determine resilient vs. intolerance subtypes of shift workers and predict the risk of AD in the future. As a first step, the proposed study will examine the feasibility of establishing a cohort of active and retired shift workers and evaluate the study procedures for the comprehensive assessment of sleep, shift work-related symptoms, cognitive function, and biological markers. We will also generate preliminary data on whether objective sleep quality measures on night and day sleep (Aim 1) and/or epigenetic changes (i.e., DNA methylation) in circadian genes (Aim 2) can explain variations in shift work-related symptoms and early plasma markers of AD. Findings will inform future larger studies to evaluate potential mechanisms by which disrupted sleep due to shift work may develop AD. We will recruit (a) active, younger shift workers (n=25; night shift, aged 40-64 years) and 25-day workers (without known sleep issues) and (b) retired, older shift workers (n=25; worked night shifts ≥ 10 years in the past and aged ≥ 65 years) and 25 age-matched controls, in Las Vegas, NV, the largest 24-hour city in the world. Baseline assessments will include: (a) a survey about work history and conditions, sleep patterns, shift work-related symptoms (insomnia, excessive sleepiness, and fatigue), medical conditions and medications, lifestyle and demographic factors, (b) cognitive function, (c) blood draw for AD markers and DNA methylation, (d) overnight-urine collection for melatonin, (e) two-week actigraphy with sleep-and-activity log, and (f) multiple- night home sleep studies (≥2 nights and ≥2 days in night-shift workers; ≥2 nights in day workers). Primary measures for objective sleep quality will include percentage of deep sleep in total sleep time, wake time after sleep onset, and sleep depth index, calculated using raw electroencephalogram (EEG) signals from the sleep studies. We will quantify the level of DNA methylation at CpG sites across 22 core circadian genes. To affirm the role of those potential markers in the diagnosis of shift work tolerance and prediction of severe cognitive impairment/AD, both younger and older preclinical AD cohorts will be expanded and prospectively followed in future grants. A prospective investigation of AD biomarkers in younger adults will significantly impact public health by guiding personalized, biobehavioral interventions that can detect the risk of AD and prevent AD onset in the early stage of life.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-01

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). This project aims to serve the national interest by remediating racial, gender, and class tracking in community college math in order to advance opportunity and equity in STEM participation. As community colleges around the country move towards eliminating developmental education, students are increasingly eligible to take a college-level statistics / liberal arts math (SLAM) or business and science technology, engineering, and math (BSTEM) course. While direct access to college-level SLAM or BSTEM courses reduces obstacles to the completion of degree and transfer requirements, having both options could turn these college-level math pathways into potentially rigid math tracks. This could have unintended consequences for STEM participation. The project will begin by evaluating the extent to which students are tracked into SLAM and BSTEM pathways along racial/ethnic, gender, first generation status, and family income lines. Then, in partnership with a single community college, project collaborators plan to design, implement, and evaluate a low-touch nudge that encourages students in college statistics to meet with a math instructor or counselor to “warm up” their STEM aspirations, and invites them to participate in a week-long, non-credit intersession Bridge2BSTEM workshop. The workshop will provide students with the opportunity to explore their STEM interests, learn about STEM careers, establish a growth mindset towards math, and receive academic support for switching to BSTEM courses. Emerging from this project will be new knowledge on whether offering SLAM courses may inadvertently track racially minoritized students and women out of STEM fields; causal evidence on the potential effectiveness of nudging students to explore their STEM interests; and a model for a statistics-to-STEM bridge experience that community college math departments can adopt. This project will pursue a multi-staged effort with a large urban community district in California to: 1) document the extent to which there is tracking of students into BSTEM and SLAM course sequences, 2) collaborate with the math and counseling faculty at a single Hispanic Serving Institution to develop a Bridge2BSTEM workshop designed to introduce students to STEM careers, connect them to support services, and to learn from peers in the BSTEM pathway about ways of exploring and developing careers in STEM, and 3) evaluate whether a validating nudge can prompt students to take up the opportunity to enroll in the Bridge2BSTEM workshop and, subsequently, BSTEM math courses. The first project aim will be fulfilled using descriptive quantitative methods to examine racial/ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic trends in BSTEM and SLAM courses over time. The second project aim will be fulfilled through the partnership between the research team and the community college site for the study. The third project aim will be fulfilled using experimental methods, specifically through section-level randomization of college statistics courses at the community college site. A qualitative study that captures math instructor and counselor perspectives, workshop observations, and student experiences in the program will provide nuanced insights into program design and implementation. The project will result in accessible practice and policy briefs describing the validating nudge and Bridge2BSTEM workshop, as well as the results of the evaluation and policy recommendations for other community colleges. The project will additionally result in academic papers describing the analyses and results. This project should contribute new knowledge on the equity implications of offering multiple math pathways and propose structures and supports that can increase representation of women, racially minoritized, first-generation, and low-income students in STEM. Ultimately, the project should result in actionable research findings community college leaders and faculty members can use as they work to expand options in an equitable manner, specifically through a culturally validating behavioral nudge and Bridge2BSTEM workshop. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. 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 · 2024-01

Humanoids are robots that mimic human form and function. Such robots can manuever in human-centered environments and handle human tools. This is important for dull, dirty, and dangerous tasks that are unappealing or risky for people, such as encountered in disaster response. The 2012 DARPA Robotics Challenge demonstrated humanoids mimicking first responder tasks like navigating rough terrain, climbing ladders, clearing debris, breaching walls, turning valves and driving vehicles. A decade later, these outcomes have translated into social benefits. Beyond disasters, people often suffer from tedious and strenuous work on assembly lines. The car industry is investing in humanoid robots to offset worker occupational injuries. Market forecasters thus see humanoids as a multi-billion dollar industry by 2034. However, current humanoids are still expensive, fragile, and move slowly. This demands more academic research to advance the state-of-the-art. This planning project assembles the research community to identify what is needed for the next generation of humanoids, ones that are more affordable, rugged, and moves with motions and speeds akin to people. The outline of this project's activities involves capturing and disseminating the needs of the research community. Three task forces will capture inputs from a diverse research community on (1) electro-mechanical design; (2) software architecture and control systems; and (3) mixed-reality and data-driven learning. These task forces will respectively hold hybrid workshops in universities in Lafayette (Purdue), Boston (Northeastern) and Philadelphia (Drexel). These workshops bring a diverse community in robotics, computer vision, machine learning, human-robot interaction, VR/AR digital twins, natural language understanding, brain-machine interfaces, advanced cloud and edge computing, high bandwidth communications, algorithmic and communication foundations for advanced operating systems, intuitive programming languages, and trustworthy computing. This process serves to identify both the hardware and software infrastructure the community needs to yield an affordable, durable, and customizable humanoid. Finally, the task forces will share community inputs at the flagship IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in Atlanta 2025. The net effect will be a comprehensive list of technical design requirements. This will then be leveraged to propose a NEW or Enhance/Sustain (ENS) Medium or Grand infrastructure grant within the next 2-years. 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 · 2023-09

Critical to bacterial survival is the proper coordination and response to external stress. For example, the envelope stress response (ESR) allows bacteria to repair and defend against cell envelope damage, which is often sustained during antibiotic exposure. However, overactivation of the ESR is toxic in various microbes, suggesting that the ESR may be manipulated to kill bacteria. To exploit this vulnerability, how bacterial cells overcome this toxicity and regulate ESR overactivation needs to be understood. Preliminary work uncovered that the heat shock co-chaperone DnaJ regulates the sE-regulated ESR in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The objective of this application is to uncover the mechanism of this regulation and characterize its extent. Although DnaJ, in complex with DnaK and GrpE, represses the heat shock response via degradation of this response’s alternative sigma factor, preliminary data suggest that DnaJ regulates the activity of the P. aeruginosa sE homolog AlgU via a different mechanism. The overarching hypothesis is that DnaJ does not regulate AlgU activity via changes in protein levels of known ESR regulators, that instead DnaJ regulates AlgU activity and the ESR via direct binding to this sigma factor, and that this role of DnaJ on the sE-dependent ESR may be conserved across gram-negative bacteria. This hypothesis will be tested via three specific aims. In Aim 1, the effect of DnaJ on gene expression and protein levels of AlgU-dependent ESR regulators will be determined via RT-qPCR and Western Blot under conditions of ESR activation. In Aim 2, DnaJ binding partners that affect the AlgU-dependent ESR will be identified. This Aim will examine which DnaJ domain is important for proper AlgU- dependent ESR activation, if DnaJ binds to AlgU, and if the effect of DnaJ on the ESR requires DnaK, a DnaJ- binding partner that is important for its functions in the heat shock response. In Aim 3, DnaJ-dependent activation of the sE-regulated ESR will be examined in two other, highly genetically tractable gram-negative bacteria, Escherichia coli and Vibrio cholerae, to examine if this mechanism is potentially conserved across Gammaproteobacteria. The outcomes of these Aims are expected to define the mechanistic effect of DnaJ on the ESR (Aims 1-2) and address the potential universality of this mechanism (Aim 3). Furthermore, this work will add to our long-term goal of understanding the mechanism(s) underlying AlgU toxicity in P. aeruginosa, which is important if therapeutics targeting the sE-dependent ESR are to be developed. These outcomes and their potential applications are expected to have a positive impact on the growing problem of multidrug- resistant infections. In addition, as DnaJ has been shown to affect multiple stress response systems in addition to the ESR, this proposal speculates that DnaJ may be a universal stress coordination hub across bacteria, emphasizing its importance in overall bacterial stress response. Finally, this work will benefit the research excellence of a minority-serving institution by sustaining the program of a PI with a strong history of training student researchers from marginalized groups.