Colgate University

NSF Awards · FY 2026 · 2026-09

In this project, Professors Anthony Chianese and Jason Keith of Colgate University are working to improve the efficiency of industrially useful catalytic chemical reactions by understanding how they proceed at the molecular level. By working to understand exactly how the chemical bonds change as simple molecules are converted to more complex and high-value products, we can develop improved catalysts to reduce chemical waste, improve energy efficiency, and provide access to new types of useful molecules. The team is using a combination of laboratory experiments and computer modeling to provide a complete understanding of how the reactions work. Understanding how the reaction works at a microscopic level contributes to basic scientific knowledge and facilitates the design of the next generation of improved catalysts. All of the research for this project is being conducted by undergraduate students in the PIs’ laboratories at Colgate. Participation in undergraduate research, especially early in a student’s career, is increasingly recognized for its positive impacts on students and for broadening participation in the sciences. PI Chianese and the students working in his research group devote a day each summer to an outreach activity for high school students attending Camp Fiver, a residential summer camp that hosts a group of at-risk students from New York City and rural upstate New York. In this project, PIs Chianese and Keith are using a combined experimental/computational approach to study the mechanisms of transition-metal catalysts for the hydrogenolysis of esters and amides, with the aim of using the knowledge gained to advance the state of the art in these reactions. Many catalysts for ester and amide hydrogenation selectively give products where the C-O or C-N single bonds are cleaved, while few are known to selectively promote reduction of the carbonyl group to a methylene group. To date, no comprehensive mechanistic analysis has been conducted on ester or amide hydrogenation catalysts known to reduce carbonyl groups. By developing an understanding of the mechanistic origins of this selectivity pattern, we aim to develop improved catalysts ester and amide reduction, with a broader scope of applicable substrates and with reduced use of expensive Lewis acid additives. 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 2026 · 2026-04

This project will generate a comprehensive database linking the biogeochemical properties of Antarctic land-based ecosystems in the McMurdo Dry Valleys to their spectroscopic properties that can be detected by drones, aircraft, and satellites. The multi-technique and multi-scale approach of this project will enable scaling from local observations to landscape-level patterns and will create a standardized monitoring framework compatible with global observation networks such as the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), ensuring interoperability and long-term scientific value. The urgency of this work is driven by its alignment with the Catalyst Strategic New Zealand—United States Joint Antarctic Research Programme, which creates a unique and time-critical opportunity for collaboration between two nations at the forefront of Antarctic research. This opportunity addresses the immediate need to synchronize methodologies, share infrastructure, and initiate joint data collection. The Catalyst program is structured to accelerate integration of U.S. and New Zealand capabilities, reduce duplication, and establish a foundation for sustained monitoring of terrestrial ecosystems. This project also contributes to the training of an undergraduate student in the development of cutting-edge drone operations and spectroscopy skills. Coordinated sampling/data collection, lab analyses, and remote sensing investigations will be conducted to generate a comprehensive database of the morphological, spectral, and genetic characteristics of Antarctic photoautotrophs. These efforts will enable both spatial and temporal studies of photoautotrophic activity by bridging plot-, local-, and regional-scale remote and in situ observations. Newly collected and aggregated data will be statistically assessed to more accurately predict the suitability and distribution of photoautotrophic habitats. The project will focus primarily within Taylor Valley and the Pyramid Trough regions of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, which have long been studied for their unique terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and observed change over time. They represent the greatest expected responses by vegetation to changing environmental conditions and glacial melt activity among sites easily accessible from Ross Island. This project will identify essential spectral, ecological, and landscape variables that underpin the detection, spatial expansion, and community succession of key photosynthetic biota in the greater McMurdo Dry Valleys. These variables will have been collected to approximate the technical capabilities of the NEON Airborne Observation Platform (AOP) to maximize the potential synergies and impact of this work. This project will provide an improved understanding of the combinations of environmental and spectral variables that correlate with important ecological attributes such as diversity, evenness, and functional traits, laying a foundation for enhanced capabilities to generate spatially explicit and climate-scenario-bound projections of vegetations that are arguably the most useful sentinel biota for change in Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems. 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 · 2025-09

Building artificial intelligence (AI) systems that approach human cognitive flexibility requires a better understanding of how the brain uses visual and linguistic information to achieve specific goals. While previous research in cognitive neuroscience and AI has focused on visual classification tasks, such as identifying objects or labeling scenes, real-world behavior is more nuanced and often depends on selecting task-relevant information, guided by the observer’s goals. Critically, this process draws not only on the visual features of the scene, but on conceptual and linguistic knowledge as well. This project examines how people flexibly extract and use visual information in context and how this information is represented in computational models, supporting the goal of advancing theories of cognition and the development of more adaptive, human-aligned AI systems. The project integrates methods from visual AI (convolutional neural networks), language-based AI (large language models), neuroscience, and cognitive science. First, deep networks are trained to predict language embeddings of human scene descriptions elicited under different task goals, capturing how semantic meaning maps onto visual features. Next, these networks are reverse-engineered to generate activation maps that identify the regions of each image most relevant for a given task. These maps are validated using both behavioral experiments and electroencephalography (EEG). A novel multivariate analysis technique (dynamic electrode-to-image mapping) is used to track when and how these task-relevant features are processed in the brain. Finally, the project assesses whether features identified by the brain contribute to successful behavior. This approach reveals how visual, conceptual, and neural systems interact to support goal-directed perception, offering a new framework for understanding scene processing and for building AI systems that better reflect human needs and capacities. 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 grant will provide funding for the purchase of a field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) at Colgate University. It will include a suite of detectors including backscattered electron (BSE) and secondary electron (SE) detectors, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS), electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), and cathodoluminescence (CL) detectors. This system allows for the determination of both the physical and chemical properties of a wide range of materials at very small spatial scales and has a broad range of research applications across many scientific disciplines. The system will be used by students and faculty at Colgate University, as well as a range of neighboring institutions in the greater Central New York region, to support fundamental research in areas related to Geology, Environmental Science, Physics, Biology and Anthropology. The facility will also serve to enable new research opportunities and collaborations in the region. Training of undergraduate students and educational outreach are major broader impacts of this grant. Undergraduate students will receive technical training in advanced electron microscopy techniques through both coursework and student-faculty research. High school students will also be introduced to the system through long-standing outreach programs that Colgate science departments have with the local community. These experiences will serve to encourage students to pursue science-related careers and enhance their training for success in these fields. The FE-SEM system will enable a wide range of new research opportunities for students and faculty at Colgate University and in the region through collaborative research. Major planned research using the new system includes: (1) investigating the nano-to-microscale structures of bio-based materials developed for electronics and functional surfaces, (2) understanding how growth environment impacts biomineral structure and composition in marine organisms, (3) resolving geologic questions regarding the tectonic setting of anorthosite emplacement during the Proterozoic and associated formation of skarns (which are often sites of economically significant mineral resources), and (4) testing tectonic models of crustal extension at metamorphic core complexes in western North America. Other proposed research projects that will utilize this SEM include understanding volcanic eruptions in the Galápagos Islands and Alaska, the tectonic evolution of the Himalayas, interactions between soil and microbes, micro-artifact and use/wear patterns of pre-Hispanic tools at archeological sites, and microplastic adsorption and degradation in the environment. 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

While most familiar light beams, such as those from a laser pointer, have a relatively simple structure and intensity pattern, far more complex structures are possible. These structures are of interest both intrinsically and for potential practical applications. Deliberate manipulation of the phase and intensity of light beams can create patterns in three dimensions that have focal lines along curved paths, rotate or transform the light's transverse pattern as it travels, or have points along its wavefront that oscillate in unison but with patterned orientations. The goal of this research project is to explore techniques for the creation of novel three-dimensional patterns including those that may be of interest for applications. The PI and his undergraduate research team will look for inspiration in the connections between optical beams in the laboratory and other physical systems, such as - on the cosmic scale – the deflection of light by gravity around astrophysical objects and – on the microscale – oscillations of a pendulum governed by quantum mechanics. Connecting these diverse physical systems and size scales is possible due to the similarities in the mathematical structure of these problems and the wave equation of the light. Within this framework, the research team will also investigate communication via the rotation of patterned beams and new types of optical beams with low divergence. Similarities between quantum entanglement and wave behavior also give rise to new parallels that are of interest to pursue. In addition to basic research, the team will incorporate research outcomes into undergraduate laboratory experiences thereby making a direct connection between research and undergraduate classroom/lab instruction. The training of undergraduate students in basic research, and the development of instructional laboratories which can be used by many institutions, will help prepare students to join the emerging quantum workforce. The manipulation of light’s degrees of freedom in polarization, spatial mode, momentum, energy, and photon number can lead to novel patterns in three dimensions that are of fundamental interest and can lead to applications in biomedical imaging and communications. Via table-top optics experiments, amenable to the undergraduate setting, the PI and his students will study novel problems that harness the similarity in mathematical structure between light’s wave equation and other physical systems, such as cosmic gravitational lensing and atomic and molecular nonlinear oscillations. The outcomes are three-dimensional patterns that carry caustics and vortex singularities, which are novel in their own right and can be exploited for new applications. One such application is in communications where the information is encoded in the rotation of beam patterns. At the quantum level, parallels between photon entanglement and classical optical metrology are also expected to harness new types of non-local metrology. This award will support the continuation of an ongoing program in the development and dissemination of instructional quantum optics laboratories which serve to connect research with instruction. These laboratories will help educate the emerging quantum information workforce at and beyond the PI’s home 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.