Texas A&M University

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-07

With the support of the Chemical Synthesis (SYN) program in the Division of Chemistry Professor Oleg Ozerov of Texas A&M University is studying the development of complexes of late transition metals that contain boron-metal bonds, and the exploitation of the boron-metal synergy in selective transformations of nitrogen-containing organic molecules. Selective activation and transformation of chemical bonds, especially carbon-hydrogen bonds, is key to the efficient utilization of available chemical resources in organic synthesis. The work in the Ozerov group will explore the nuanced fundamental aspects of the interactions of boron-metal units with carbon-hydrogen and other bonds, and will explore the potential for catalytic transformations with unusual selectivity. The project will serve as a vehicle for training graduate and undergraduate students in modern organometallic synthesis and a variety of characterization techniques. It will benefit from a network of US and international collaborators, including faculty at primarily undergraduate institutions, and from outreach activities in the state of Texas aimed at increasing participation and interest in organometallic chemistry. This project will explore the fundamental reactivity of new transition metal complexes supported by tridentate “pincer” ligands anchored by the boryl donors forming a central boron-metal bond. These central boryl moieties offer unique possibilities beyond the more conventional C/N/P donors, in part because of the availability of an empty p-orbital on boron. On the fundamental side, the work will aim to create new understanding of the overall reactivity and the role of Lewis-acidic boryl ligands in bond-breaking and bond-making steps. In particular, investigations will target the mechanistic role of B in transferring the organic fragments to and from the transition metal and the novel mechanism for C-H (and possibly other C-Element) bond formation at boron, assisted by the transition metal. The fundamental insight will be leveraged for the optimization of ligand design and the development of catalytic methods of C-H functionalization of nitrogenous heterocycles that rely on the selectivity principles specific to the boryl-metal unit. The core studies with Rh and Ir as the transition metals in the boryl-metal partnership are expected to be extended to Co in group 9, and to Fe/Ru/Os in group 8. Access to the desired variety of boryl pincer ligands will require synthetic innovation that should become useful to a broad set of practitioners of transition metal chemistry. The proposed work will benefit significantly from the synergy between theoretical and experimental studies to navigate the efficacy of the various sub-classes of ligands. 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 · 2025-07

This planning grant for the Energy-Related Geologic Storage (ERGS) Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) enables the interaction between university faculty and companies in the energy and subsurface fluid/gas injection sectors of the economy. Its goal is to identify mutual interests of both university faculty and companies that can lead to use-inspired, university-driven innovations and knowledge needed by industry to overcome hurdles that are holding it back from developing new products and services that benefit the economy and society. Activities include training university faculty in customer discovery and their developing a value proposition for Center research that aligns with critical industry needs and is capable of attracting investment from the private sector. The resulting industry-funded, use-inspired research focuses on global geological subsurface storage resources capable of securely containing buoyant fluids/gases critical for the energy and low carbon economy. Center research will also provide much needed understandings of processes, using AI, machine learning, and novel materials for well completion to prevent greenhouse gas leakage. It also develops solutions to address subsurface gas/fluid containment risks and mitigation for fluid/gas extraction and/or injection. Gases and buoyant fluids, subject to investigation, include, but are not limited to, hydrogen, compressed air, and methane. Broader impacts of the work include research that aligns with the critical needs of the U.S. energy and subsurface storage sectors of the economy and workforce training of students who are involved in the industry-aligned research activities. The new Center will enact integrative research that aligns with industry needs related to storage mechanisms, reservoir and drill hole integrity, and associated scientific and engineering issues that impact the geological storage and containment of fluids. The Center is motivated by the nation’s need to sequester the gases/fluids emitted, as a result of energy production, that need to be stored in secure, large volume, subsurface reservoirs. The Center will use a variety of machine learning techniques and AI to assess geological storage capacity and formation heterogeneities, and security. It will develop novel materials and drilling/wellbore completion techniques to provide for a secure energy and environmental future. The Center research team has extensive expertise in exploration geoscience for the energy industry and for the assessment of hydrocarbon resources. It also has engineering expertise in well drilling and borehole completion. Research will focus on analyzing sedimentary basin potential for storage and and risks related to geological factors such as subsurface faults and basin margin exposures. It will work to provide solutions that dramatically reduce and/or eliminate wellbore leakage and determining the leak potential of reservoirs. Research will utilize university faculty expertise and innovative ideas and approaches as well as university infrastructure of Texas A&M University and Oklahoma State University, the two Sites that form the Center. The research serves the national interest by promoting the progress of science and engineering and helps to advance national prosperity and national energy security. 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 · 2025-07

PART 1: NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY This research proposal will develop the knowledge required to create capsules with liquid core and polymers shells, in which the liquid core is pure, and the properties of the shell can be fine-tuned for a desired application. Capsules are used in a broad range of technologies including those for medicine, food science, energy discovery, textiles and the like. The fundamental issue that the proposed research will address is how to localize precursors to the polymer shell (monomers and initiators) such that the shell is grown around the liquid droplet, essentially shrink wrapping it. To this end, emulsions will be used as a platform for capsule formation, with droplets of one liquid in a continuous phase of the other (the droplet will become the core liquid). The ability to produce such capsules is important for creating new materials that meet societal needs; for example, capsules with a protective polymer shell and core of a salt hydrate solid-liquid phase change material can be used to passively manage heat, so that air conditioning does not have to be used as often. An important component to consider is that for these capsules to be used multiple times, the shell must be strong enough to prevent leakage but also impermeable so that the composition does not change. Notably, this research can be applied to different core liquids and polymer shells relevant to other applications, such as for carbon capture, pesticide delivery, or additive manufacturing, to name a few. Through this research, graduate and undergraduate students will be trained in how to design and implement research; how to collect, organize, and report data; and how to collaborate across disciplines. PART 2: TECHNICAL SUMMARY This proposal addresses the critical need to understand how confinement of initiators and monomers in emulsions impacts the production of capsules and their properties. Limitations to an interfacial polymerization approach are that the liquid core is contaminated and that only a few polymer chemistries can be used, thus restricting composition and performance-related properties such as permeability. To overcome this, the proposed research will (i) use modified particles as both surfactant and initiator for radical polymerization of monomers located in the emulsion continuous phase; and (ii) leverage double emulsions in which the interphase contains monomers to polymerize around the inner droplet. For this purpose, the interface is defined as the zone where two domains touch and the interphase as a self-contained region between two domains (thus flanked by two interfaces).These two distinct approaches are supported by initial results from the PI’s lab and will provide unprecedented control of capsule composition (both shell and core) such that structure-property-application relationships can be defined. The PI has access to all resources and infrastructure required to complete this work, and the research component is complemented by the training and professional development of undergraduate and graduate student researchers, as well as development of a hands-on module to be incorporated into the undergraduate laboratory curriculum. 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 · 2025-07

The recent growth in data-enabled science and engineering has ushered in a promising new generation of cyberinfrastructure (CI) technologies. These technologies use sophisticated features that have propelled the adoption and advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) in scientific and engineering research and discovery. While these technologies hold enormous potential to accelerate scientific discovery, their novelty and complexity often present significant barriers to effective use by researchers. This project, ByteBoost 2.0, offers a community-driven unified training platform where interested researchers and instructors can learn to use state-of-the-art sophisticated technologies. The program offers a series of specialized online training events followed by an in-person hands-on researcher-training workshop. The program enables researchers to gain the skills and strategic understanding required to effectively place scientific workflows on cutting-edge CI resources and train the new generation of researchers, accelerating the process of scientific discovery and innovation. Building on the lessons learned from a successful Pilot program, the ByteBoost 2.0 training platform advances the goals of familiarizing researchers and educators with advanced novel computing technologies. The program is modular and focuses on common challenges faced by researchers rather than a specific accelerator technology or discipline. The program offers an environment that accommodates interested campus, regional, and national computing technology testbed facilities including NSF-funded advanced cyberinfrastructure resources. The program begins with a webinar series open to a broad audience of computational researchers and instructors. These sessions introduce foundational topics, highlight key distinctions among computing technologies, and incorporate hands-on exercises. All training materials will be maintained in a learning management system. Participating researchers will also get access to existing asynchronous CI-courses to establish a baseline level of knowledge and CI skills. After the webinars, participants will apply to attend a five-day, in-person “Bring Your Own Science” workshop. At the workshop, they will work on a capstone project related to their research. The workshop will include educators who will develop curricular programs in collaboration with educational experts. During the workshop, all participants will work on their chosen research problems using the innovative technologies. Trained peer-facilitators and experienced scientists will offer recommendations on how to effectively utilize these systems. The community-driven focus helps integrate the innovative CI technologies into the growing research and instructional fabric. Working with active CI-engagement groups, ByteBoost 2.0 will broaden adoption of computation and AI at two- and four-year institutions, contributing to the goals of national AI research, entrepreneurial, and educational initiatives. The program will be offered on an annual basis. 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 · 2025-07

Weather events, such as heat waves, winter storms, droughts, floods, and hurricanes, severely impact human well-being. Such events also cause severe disruptions to agriculture, infrastructure, energy delivery and use, industrial activity, and fisheries. To better protect life, property, and food sources, it is in the national interest to provide policymakers and local and regional stakeholders with the reliable information they need to make informed decisions. The provision of such information requires Earth system model simulations that can run fast at increasingly finer scales on emerging computational platforms. In addition, advancing the scientific understanding of the processes occurring at these scales and how they feed back to the larger scales is needed. The project aims to address this Earth system modeling challenge by advancing the capabilities of one of the most widely used Earth system models through the creation of optimized configurations of its ocean component that can run efficiently on advanced supercomputers. The project will make a crucial contribution to the Earth system model, providing critical information at local and regional scales and enhancing the planet's resilience to natural hazards. The project will support the training and education of undergraduate and graduate students, as well as the broader research, policymaking, and stakeholder communities, through specific classes, tutorials, and workshops. The project creates an innovative cyberinfrastructure for the latest version of the Community Earth System Model (CESM3), particularly for its ocean component, Modular Ocean Model version 6 (MOM6). It enables new high-resolution (HR; ~10-25 km) and ultra-HR (~3-5 km) frontier applications and science, thus broadening CESM3's use cases down to the kilometer scale. Specifically, the project aims to create Graphics Processor Unit (GPU)-enabled and optimized configurations of MOM6, anticipating the availability of more GPU-based systems in the future. One of the cyberinfrastructure innovations is the introduction of the AMReX software framework within MOM6. The project has the potential to transform the scientific understanding of physical processes, including upper-ocean and air-sea interactions, teleconnection patterns, and their interplay with ocean biogeochemistry at unprecedentedly small spatial scales. 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 · 2025-07

This is a project jointly funded by the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Geosciences (NSF/GEO) and the National Environment Research Council (NERC) of the United Kingdom (UK) via the NSF/GEO-NERC Lead Agency Agreement. This Agreement allows a single joint US/UK proposal to be submitted and peer-reviewed by the Agency whose investigator has the largest proportion of the budget. Upon successful joint determination of an award recommendation, each Agency funds the proportion of the budget that supports scientists at institutions in their respective countries. Earth’s energy budget is balanced between incoming solar radiation and outgoing thermal energy. Clouds exert a significant impact in both directions, but there has been significantly more study of the impact of clouds on incoming energy from the sun. This project will focus on the opposite route, the emission of longwave, or infrared, radiation from the Earth’s surface and how that radiation interacts with ice clouds in the high latitudes. The impact of this study will be to provide better information to the scientific community on processes that are important for understanding the warming Arctic region. The project will also enhance collaboration between US and UK scientists and provide training for early career researchers. This project addresses three primary research questions: (1) Do current representations of surface properties capture the longwave emission spectrum of snow and ice surfaces correctly? (2) Is a new light-scattering model able to reconcile ice cloud microphysics (ice crystal sizes, shapes) with energetic (radiative) impact across the longwave spectrum? (3) Can our radiative transfer models successfully match simultaneous observations of the longwave energy spectrum at the surface, within the atmosphere and at the top of the atmosphere under a variety of different atmospheric and surface conditions? The research team will address these questions through a multi-faceted plan. First, the team will use measurements from a new instrument, called the Far-INfrarEd Spectrometer for Surface Emissivity (FINESSE) that has been deployed in Norway and Canada in the past few years. The deployment in Canada was matched with airborne observations of clouds, providing both radiative and cloud properties to the research team. This data will be used to evaluate a new ice cloud optical property model, assess the impact of snow and ice emissivity models in an Earth System Model, and combine the ground and airborne data with satellite observations to achieve radiative closure from the surface to space across the infrared spectrum for the first time. 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

Rivers and deltas of the world have been extensively engineered for centuries. Past engineering projects have, collectively, enabled the prosperous economies of deltaic regions that are enjoyed today, but have also created conditions that limit the regions in the future. In many places, including along the United States Gulf Coast, planners and governments are implementing new projects that aim to restore coastal changes, enhance economic and environmental support, and mitigate risk to human lives and livelihoods. However, there is not a robust understanding of how past delta management has influenced human decisions and outcomes. This project uses novel numerical and computational modeling approaches to study how human engineering decisions cascade through space and time over centuries of landscape change to create system conditions that limit or enhance the portfolio of management decisions available at future times. This work develops tools with coastal planners to determine the portfolio of projects that maximize coastal survival. Delta engineering projects induce geomorphic change across space and time scales that impacts human lives and society. This project integrates cascading human decision making into landscape evolution models with three modeling approaches that inform one another and have complementary strengths: agent-based modeling, dynamical system modeling, and participatory modeling. Project research focuses on two testable hypotheses towards the tools and quantitative understanding of cascading decision making that are needed for delta planning: (1) local-scale engineering interventions can lead to less geomorphologically stable delta landscapes, when compared to a few larger system-scale interventions, and (2) human decisions can push the coupled system across tipping points, to both system benefit and detriment. Finally, research and development across all modeling approaches in this project is guided by community engagement. 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

This award supports participants in the Midwest Several Complex Variables Conference to be held at Texas A&M University during May 16-18, 2025. The Midwest Several Complex Variables Conference series is one of the most important venues for researchers in the field of several complex variables and has influenced generations of researchers at all career stages. This year’s conference will be held for the first time at Texas A&M University and will provide an excellent opportunity for graduate students and early-career researchers to learn about the latest techniques and trends in several complex variables. The conference program includes lectures by leading researchers as well as early-career mathematicians, a poster session for graduate students, and an open problem session for conference participants. More information can be found at https://sites.google.com/view/mwscv2025/home. The Midwest Several Complex Variables Conference at Texas A&M University will showcase recent developments in several complex variables, functional analysis, operator theory, complex geometry, and related fields. The main topics of this year’s meeting include the Cauchy-Riemann operator, the complex Laplacian, and their applications; the Kohn Laplacian and CR geometry; reproducing kernels and invariant metrics; function theory in several complex variables; and the interplay between several complex variables and operator theory. These areas have witnessed significant progress in recent years. The conference will bring together leading experts, early-career researchers, and graduate students in several complex variables and related fields to discuss these recent developments and explore new research frontiers. 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

DNA methylation is a biological process that involves the attachment of methyl groups to the building blocks of DNA. Establishing and maintaining proper patterns of DNA methylation throughout the genome is a highly choreographed process involving not only the addition of methyl groups, but also their removal (termed DNA demethylation). This project will investigate how the enzyme thymine DNA glycosylase, a key player in the DNA demethylation pathway, is targeted to specific methyl groups throughout the genome. This is an important question because accurate removal of methyl groups from DNA is critical for normal cellular function, and dysregulation of this pathway can result in abnormal human development and disease, including cancer. Thus, the scientific outcomes will lead to an improved understanding of how DNA methylation landscapes are established and maintained under both physiological and pathological states and may provide impetus for future clinical applications. Additionally, this project will promote research training of graduate and undergraduate students and will provide research opportunities to K-12 students to encourage participation in STEM fields. Thymine DNA glycosylase (TDG) plays important roles in maintaining appropriate genetic and epigenetic states, yet it remains unclear how this multifaceted enzyme is targeted and regulated at the genome level. While most studies aimed at answering this question have focused on protein interactions, emerging evidence now indicates a regulatory relationship between TDG and RNA. Indeed, TDG was recently shown to bind tightly to RNA. Moreover, RNA competes with DNA for binding to TDG and inhibits TDG-mediated excision, supporting a model wherein TDG-mediated processes, such as DNA demethylation, are regulated through the direct interactions of TDG with RNA. Yet, several critical questions remain: How does TDG bind to RNA? To what extent does TDG interact with RNA in cells and what is the functional relevance of those interactions? To answer these questions, this project will employ a series of biochemical, genetic, and genome-wide approaches to uncover the molecular basis of RNA recognition by TDG and to establish how these interactions contribute to TDG chromatin occupancy and function in vivo. The findings will have broad implications for all TDG-associated biological pathways and will provide new insights into the role of RNA in gene regulation. 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 · 2025-06

Project Summary Parental sensitivity, or the ability to accurately perceive and respond to children's signals1, is crucial for supporting the development of self-regulation in offspring2,3. The significance of maternal sensitivity in adaptive child development is well-known1,4–6, but fathers are understudied despite increasing involvement in caregiving7–10. Consequently, measures of parental sensitivity are often generalized from maternal research to paternal behavior, increasing the potential for bias and overlooking the nuance of paternal caregiving. According to the extended parent-child emotion regulation dynamics model11,12 and synchrony model3, brain and behavioral processes that are synchronous, or coordinated, between parents and children during interactions index more effective co-regulation and parent-child relationship quality13,14,15. Critically, both effects specific to and independent from caregivers' biological sex have been observed in relation to sensitive parent behaviors16–23, which likely contribute to parent-child biological synchrony. For example, biological females typically exhibit both verbal and nonverbal engagement with offspring while biological males exhibit more nonverbal engagement16–19, and both forms of sensitivity have been shown to support healthy development in offspring24–26. However, such effects are rarely analyzed in the context of single study across multiple levels of analysis. To provide a basic science foundation for a more holistic understanding of mothers and fathers as effective caregivers, I will test biological and behavioral mechanisms underlying parent-child interactions in mothers and fathers. I will use measures of verbal and nonverbal mentalizing, or the ability to understand children's mental states which underlies overt caregiving behavior, as an index of caregiver sensitivity24,25,27. I will also use measures of parent-child brain synchrony as an objective index of co-regulatory quality during interaction13. Using a publicly available dataset of concurrent Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) recordings from parent-child dyads (N=62; mother-child n=33, father-child n=29, child ages 34-60 months) during free play interaction, I will test whether the relation between parent mentalizing (verbal, nonverbal) and parent-child brain synchrony depends on maternal or paternal status in order to understand whether caregiving sensitivity manifests and/or differentially impacts parent-child interactions between biological male and female parents. To understand the development of differing but effective caregiving behaviors between biological male and female caregivers, I will also test parents' own caregiving histories as a predictor of mentalizing capacities (verbal, nonverbal) and parent-child brain synchrony. Overall, this work will provide further evidence for both sex-independent and sex-dependent caregiver behavioral effects on dyadic relations, highlighting the strengths of complementary but equally effective caregiving roles. Further, this work has the potential to inform future assessment and intervention supporting sensitive parent- child interactions among diverse caregivers, strengthening the overall family system.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-06

Precision measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation seek a clearer picture of the physics of the Big Bang. The telescopes that take such data also capture light from stars and galaxies that emit at the same wavelengths. This project would build software pipelines that take advantage of these measurements. Each day, these telescopes scan the sky and make an updated image, letting sources that are variable to be identified. During this decade, upgraded telescopes will produce more and better data of this kind. Such time-resolved data will permit new classes of unknown phenomena to be found. This may include exceptional supernovae, gamma ray bursts, tidal disruptions of stars around supermassive black holes, stellar flares and the discovery of additional bodies in the solar system, including a hypothetical and undiscovered Planet 9. The excitement of this project will be conveyed to the public via a variety of outreach programs including one targeting people living in rural areas near Tallahassee. New, time-domain studies of wide-field millimeter-wave surveys are opening a vast, unexplored discovery space. In this project, millimeter-wave transients and point-like sources will be identified using data from the Advanced Atacama Cosmology Telescope, now surveying areas that exceed 18,000 square degrees, and the Simons Observatory, which by the mid-2020s will produce more sensitive measurements over a similar area. Software tools and pipelines will be developed to (1) develop and implement a system to mine daily Simons Observatory data based on real-time transient alerts; (2) perform triggered and blind searches for mm-wave transients in archival and live data; (3) prepare and release point source catalogs in temperature and polarization for the ACT and Simons Observatory surveys; and (4) support a follow-up program for high redshift source candidates. The project supports a number of outreach programs that involve the general public, K-12 students and undergraduate as well as graduate students. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-04

The goal of this program is to continue to support and inspire the next generation of undergraduate students in the pursuit of their education. This award supports the continuation of the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) site in nuclear science at Texas A&M University. The site will support ten undergraduates per year in ten weeks of research during the summer months. Involvement in research at the undergraduate level is a critical component in helping students decide whether they wish to pursue graduate school, STEM careers and the research subfield of choice. Research has shown that these research opportunities increase the number and preparation of students who do choose to enter the STEM field. This site primarily targets students who lack opportunities to contribute to research in nuclear science at their home institutions, however, all students are considered for participation. The student projects will contribute to research endeavors that are at the leading edge of nuclear science, including sub-fields such as nuclear astrophysics, weak interactions, nuclear dynamics and thermodynamics, nuclear structure, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), atomic ionization, radiation effects, and medical isotope production. Students will complete projects that can primarily be described as either theoretical, experimental, or computational/analytical. All students will be given the opportunity to learn about each research aspect during the program. The Cyclotron Institute is a Department of Energy (DOE) Nuclear Physics Center of Excellence. The facilities include a K500 superconducting cyclotron, a K150 cyclotron, and associated state-of-the-art detector systems. The Cyclotron Institute and the physics department are also home base for involvement in experiments at other facilities. The faculty are leading scientists in the field and have a long history of working with undergraduates in their research programs. 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 Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site award to Texas A&M University, located in College Station, TX, supports the training of 9-10 students for 10 weeks during the summers of 2025-2027. In this program, funded by the Division of Chemistry, participants conduct independent research projects, collaborating with faculty across distinct chemistry disciplines alongside graduate student mentors. By focusing on the ongoing transition from hydrocarbons to sustainable chemical alternatives, the program addresses societal and environmental priorities in the Gulf Coast region. This research experience is complemented by weekly professional development workshops, seminars and networking opportunities that will provide interaction with their peers and industry partners within the university and the broader scientific community in the area. The program is committed to empowering talented students with limited research opportunities to pursue graduate studies in STEM fields. This REU program focuses on advancing sustainable solutions to replace hydrocarbon feedstock for the chemical industry. Research will address critical challenges in green chemistry, energy security, and human health—key issues shaping the Gulf Coast's evolving economy. Students conduct independent research in areas such as sustainability, catalysis, and environmental chemistry, developing skills in experimental techniques, data analysis, and effective communication. Weekly seminars contextualize the research within broader regional and global challenges, while workshops on ethics, teamwork, and science communication emphasize professional development. Participants engage with industry partners through site visits and network with alumni from various career paths, fostering a lasting mentoring network. The program leverages the collaborative environment at Texas A&M University, offering close faculty and graduate student mentorship, access to state-of-the-art facilities, and opportunities to present research through various symposia and public outreach, promoting engagement and collaboration across the scientific community. 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 · 2025-04

PROJECT SUMMARY Research into the mechanisms underlying methamphetamine craving, a key driver of relapse, is dwarfed in comparison to other drugs of abuse (e.g., cocaine, opioids). Exacerbated drug craving can be modeled in rats using the incubation of methamphetamine craving paradigm. The nucleus accumbens plays a key role in mediating drug seeking which intensifies commensurate with abstinence duration. Approximately 95% of accumbens neurons are GABAergic medium spiny neurons which can be distinguished by expression of the D1 dopamine receptors (D1DRs) or D2 dopamine receptors (D2DRs), although a relatively small proportion of these cells express both of these receptors. Canonically, D1DR-containing neurons were thought to project exclusively to the ventral tegmental area, whereas D2DR-expressing accumbens efferents extended to the ventral pallidum; however, recent evidence suggests that there is some overlap such that D1DR-containing neurons also project to the ventral pallidum and modulate drug seeking. Generally, D1DR-containing neurons promote drug-related behaviors, whereas D2DR-containing neurons inhibit drug-related behaviors. Importantly, the influence of specific projections of these neuronal subtypes on methamphetamine seeking is unknown. Specific Aim 1 will combine D1DR-Cre and D2DR-Cre transgenic rats, optogenetics, and electrophysiology to dissociate the role of D1DR- vs. D2DR-containing striatopallidal and striatotegmental projections in the incubation of methamphetamine craving. The time-dependent molecular adaptations within accumbens D1DR- containing and D2DR-containing neurons that occur during abstinence from methamphetamine are also unexplored. Very recent advances in single cell sequencing methodologies have enabled simultaneous profiling of the transcriptome and chromatin accessibility in defined cell populations. This is particularly relevant for the current proposal since it will allow us to differentiate in silico effects in accumbens neurons which express either the D1DR or D2DR. Specific Aim 2 will define the landscape of accessible chromatin and gene expression by coupling ATAC sequencing and RNA sequencing from the same single nuclei droplets in rats following short or prolonged abstinence from methamphetamine. Functional validation of a candidate gene will be performed by bidirectionally manipulating gene expression in selectively in D1DR-containing or D2DR- containing neurons and assessing the incubation of methamphetamine craving. Collectively, the proposed studies will elucidate the neurocircuitry and molecular mechanisms underlying the incubation of methamphetamine craving.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-04

In many families the division of household labor is unevenly distributed between parents, however little is known about how differential division of labor in a household may impact children’s development. This project investigates how family experiences relate to children’s thinking about fairness and their aspirations for future work and family life. The broader impacts of this project include research training in developmental science and behavioral methods for graduate and undergraduate students in STEM, and broad dissemination of the research findings to the public. There has been limited research into how children’s experiences with their immediate home environments – namely their family’s division of labor – impact their cognitive development. This project takes a socio-cognitive developmental approach by focusing on a relatively underexplored contributor to young children’s cognition: the experience of within family division of labor. In a series of studies, the project investigates (1) how family division of labor is associated with children’s own future expectations for both career and family life, (2) how naturally occurring distinct family structures (e.g., two-parent versus single-parent households) may influence young children’s understanding of how family labor can be divided, and (3) whether alternative examples can influence children’s beliefs about their future family lives and career aspirations. The project uses behavioral and observational data from parents and children, including experimental and survey approaches, to test possible causes of children’s career and family life aspirations. 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

Non-technical Summary: The discovery of new materials is essential to bridging the gap between current and targeted information transport and storage technologies. Recently, a promising class of materials with layered chemical motifs that behave as magnets even upon the reduction of bulk solids to single layer materials has been realized, but such systems remain difficult to rationally design. One route to expanding this class of materials is to use high pressures (equivalent to the interiors of some planets) to distort known structures or enable entirely new reactions that yield layered motifs that can persist once the materials are returned to ambient pressures. With support from the Solid State and Materials Chemistry Program in NSF’s Division of Materials Research, researchers at Texas A&M University elucidate the design principles of such materials by using tunable pressures to incrementally change the interactions between atoms until chemical reactions are observed. The experimental effort is supported by computational predictions, and the researchers also measure the material’s properties as a function of pressure. Enhancing these efforts is also significant investment in solid-state chemistry outreach. Targeting broad involvement across learning communities and educational stages, the principal investigator and her team design and organize workshops that connect materials chemistry with everyday examples to expand definitions of what it means to be a solid-state chemist. Technical Summary: Materials in which magnetism persists to the monolayer limit are a notable discovery of the last decade, with potentially transformative applications as novel information processing platforms. Such magnetic order arises from the convolution of spin and orbital degrees of freedom in the form of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) which is inherent to high-Z elements (where Z = atomic number). Lanthanide elements in particular, with their potential maximal amounts of spin degrees of freedom and large amounts of spin-orbit coupling, embody this potential. Yet, the intersection of their electronic anisotropy and structural anisotropy remains underexplored and significant gaps persist regarding synthetic tools for the rational design of anisotropic structures in lanthanide materials. With support from the Solid State and Materials Chemistry Program in NSF’s Division of Materials Research, researchers at Texas A&M University investigate the use of high-pressure techniques to access orbital configurations implicated in structural anisotropy, targeting new examples of layered lanthanide materials beyond ambiently accessible systems. The project makes use of a combined synthetic, computational and spectroscopic approach to reveal design criteria for controlled magnetic behavior. Simultaneously, the principal investigator and her team enable broad involvement across learning communities and educational stages by developing and sharing a materials chemistry of food curriculum for K–12 learners as well as implementing an X-ray crystallography workshop to serve undergraduate and graduate students across East Texas. 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

This CAREER project seeks to provide a comprehensive understanding of the sources, spatial concentrations, chemical processes, and climate impacts of micro- and nano- plastic particles in the atmosphere. Atmospheric micro- and nano- plastic particles contribute significantly to the mass of marine and land micro- and nano- plastic particles, and their concentrations are expected to increase ten-fold over the next decade. Their presence has significant environmental implications, but their atmospheric behavior and impacts remain poorly understood. The research will combine laboratory studies with mobile field measurements in the Houston Texas region to gain a holistic understanding of micro- and nano- plastic particles in the atmosphere. This research on micro- and nano- plastic particles (MNPPs) has three objectives: (1) the real-time and offline quantification of major atmospheric MNPPs to comprehensively examine their atmospheric concentrations, spatial distribution, and sources; (2) the characterization of atmospheric reaction kinetics, chemical reactivity, and decomposition products of MNPPs through laboratory oxidation studies; and (3) the investigation of the potential climate impacts of MNPPs by assessing their optical properties and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activities during their atmospheric lifecycle. This research includes the development of an interactive exhibition at the Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History to inform the local community about air pollution and atmospheric science, and the design of an interdisciplinary chemistry lesson module for a local high school. Both graduate and undergraduate students will participate in the research over the course of the project. 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

Fire is one important component of the earth system. It can greatly affect the Earth’s climate, air quality, and public health and welfare. Because of the climate change, more intensive wildfires with higher plume injection heights are expected to occur. Despite great importance, the magnitude and even the sign (warming or cooling) of wildfire smoke on the Earth’s climate are still unknown. To address these issues, the project will predict the fire intensity and plume injection height in a timely manner as well as quantify the impacts of fire smoke on the Earth’s energy budget and climate, which are critically important for the policy makers and stakeholders. The improved estimation of fire radiative effects will enhance our ability to predict relative warming/cooling effects on the Earth system and greatly benefit teaching and mentoring of undergraduate and graduate students at the Texas A&M University. This project will investigate the importance of two fire properties, i.e., plume injection height and absorption of dark brown carbon (dBrC) for the radiative effects of biomass burning aerosols (BBAs). For that, the researchers will identify the dominant factors driving the fire intensity distribution which will affect both plume injection height and dBrC absorption. The project will focus on the three scientific issues: (1) radiative effects of BBAs associated with fire plume injection height and dBrC absorption; (2) controlling factors that determine the wildfire intensity distribution; and (3) potential positive feedback between extreme wildfires (wildfires with high intensity) and climate change (e.g., through diminished polar ice/snow cover). To address these scientific issues, the researchers will: (1) incorporate the existing modeling efforts of plume-rise model and dBrC absorption into the NCAR Community Earth System Model version 2 (CESM2). By conducting a suite of model experiments, the researchers will quantify the uncertainties in estimating the radiative effect of BBAs associated with plume injection height and dBrC absorption; (2) build a machine learning (ML) emulator fed by observed fire intensity and modeled meteorological and land fields as the predictors to identify the controlling factors that determine the wildfire intensity distribution; (3) conduct fully-coupled simulations using CESM2 with ML emulated fire intensity, plume injection height and dBrC absorption, to test the positive feedback hypothesis between fire intensity and polar ice/snow cover. 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 · 2025-02

PROJECT SUMMARY Our understanding of Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) and other pathogens transmitted from mother to fetus is limited. However, they significantly contribute to fetal illness and death worldwide. This proposal aims to address this knowledge gap by identifying and characterizing T. gondii proteins that play a role in crossing the placenta and causing congenital infection. The research team will use innovative methods and tools, such as the similarity of the guinea pig placenta to humans and a new in vitro placental barrier derived from human trophoblast stem cells, to study the role of a particular T. gondii protein, TgMIF, in the parasite's ability to cross the placental barrier. They also aim to identify new parasitic proteins that might contribute to vertical transmission. Preliminary data suggests that only a fraction of extracellular parasites can cross the trophoblast barrier in a manner dependent on a host intercellular adhesion protein called ICAM-1. Furthermore, it has been found that recombinant TgMIF alone can increase ICAM-1 levels on trophoblasts, which might enhance the parasites' ability to cross the placental barrier and infect the fetus. The study's first Aim is to test the hypothesis that TgMIF mediates extracellular parasites to cross the trophoblast barrier and/or T. gondii replication in these cells, using in vitro placental barrier and pregnant guinea pig models. The researchers expect to determine whether both phenomena are involved in fetal infection and pinpoint the role of TgMIF. In the second Aim, the researchers will test the hypothesis that unknown parasitic plasma membrane proteins interact with the host cell protein ICAM-1 and enhance the ability of extracellular parasites to cross the trophoblast barrier. They plan to use a CRISPR/Cas9 loss-of-function screen with the trophoblast barrier to identify these new parasitic proteins. In conclusion, the research team will use stem cells, animal models, genetic tools, and high- throughput screens to achieve the goals of this R21 application. The results of this proposal are expected to identify and characterize crucial proteins that mediate T. gondii vertical transmission and establish a scientific basis for developing therapies to prevent fetal infection.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-01

This award provides travel support for early career US-based mathematicians to attend four workshops during the semester program “Equivariant Homotopy Theory in Context” at the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences in Cambridge, UK in the first half of 2025.The workshop names and dates are: 1. Introductory workshop for Equivariant Homotopy Theory in Context, January 13-17, 2025 2. Operads and calculus, April 7-11, 2025 3. New horizons for equivariance in homotopy theory, May 12-16, 2025 4. Beyond the telescope conjecture, June 16-20, 2025 Priority for funding will be given to those who do not have funds from other sources . The direct impact of NSF funding will be the training and career development of up to 30 researchers, by means of the opportunity to participate in a major program in Europe and at the Newton Institute, in particular, which is a major international nexus in mathematics. A secondary impact is to further develop collaboration between emerging research groups in algebraic topology and derived algebraic geometry in the US and Europe, in particular the United Kingdom. Holding this program as well as the workshops at the Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences makes particular sense, because this is an international field, with leaders in many countries. The last decade has seen an explosion of exciting results in homotopy theory and related areas of algebraic geometry, algebra, and the algebraic topology of manifolds. Crucial here are new equivariant techniques, the study of symmetries and group actions in algebraic topology. Historically, advances in differential topology depended on the solution of basic homotopy theoretic questions and, in the same way, the advent of equivariant homotopy theory was guided by the study of manifolds with group actions. It quickly became much more than that and the interplay between equivariant homotopy theory and its applications in algebraic K-theory, chromatic homotopy theory, functor calculus, and other fields drove a self-reinforcing narrative that is only expanding now. This semester-long program and workshops are building on this momentum and creating an environment for further exchange of ideas. Workshop websites are: https://www.newton.ac.uk/event/ehtw01/ https://www.newton.ac.uk/event/ehtw02/ https://www.newton.ac.uk/event/ehtw03/ https://www.newton.ac.uk/event/ehtw04/ 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 · 2024-11

Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4 storm on September 26, 2024, delivering 12-16 inches of rainfall and a 9-foot storm surge to Florida’s Gulf Coast karstic coastlines. During hurricanes, the combined effects of intense rainfall, storm surge, and flooding can enhance groundwater recharge and discharge, intensify aquifer salinization, mobilize contaminants, and deteriorate both groundwater and surface water quality. For example, sudden discharges of nutrient-rich groundwater following extreme precipitation events have been associated with phenomena like planktonic blooms and red tides. Although groundwater-surface water interactions and aquifer salinization in coastal areas are widely studied, most research were conducted during regular weather conditions, potentially underestimating the magnitude of extreme events on coastal aquifer dynamics. Therefore, this study aims to assess both the immediate and long-term effects of hurricanes on hydrogeology and nutrient geochemistry in karstic aquifers. The findings will inform coastal management strategies and improve hydrogeological model predictions, helping to mitigate hurricane-induced impacts on coastal ecosystems and water resources. This project will foster collaboration between two early-career researchers and actively involve undergraduate and graduate students, including those from underrepresented minorities, with results integrated into Texas A&M University at Galveston and Florida Atlantic University courses. This project will employ interdisciplinary hydrological, geophysical, and geochemical methods to: (1) Evaluate the degree of aquifer salinization and its effects on nutrient speciation, and (2) Quantify groundwater discharge and nutrient fluxes. Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) will be used to assess aquifer salinization, while radon-222 will be utilized to quantify groundwater discharge. Nutrients and major ion concentrations will be measured from groundwater and surface water samples, with analyses focused on how hydrochemical patterns affect nutrient speciation. The research will be conducted post-hurricane and during baseflow conditions, enabling an assessment of the hydrological disturbances caused by the hurricane on aquifer salinization, groundwater-surface water interactions, and nutrient geochemistry, as well as tracking their progression over time. Additionally, the project will build on previously collected post-storm data from Alabama and Texas, allowing for a comparative analysis of groundwater system responses across different aquifer types (porous and karstic) in the Gulf Coast. This is especially relevant, given that the region is among the most vulnerable in the U.S. to the impacts of extreme weather events and climate change. 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 · 2024-11

The Fall 2024 meeting of the Texas Geometry and Topology Conference will be at Texas A&M on November 8-10, 2024. To date the Texas Geometry and Topology Conference has been held spring and fall since its founding in 1989, a total of 67 times. The conference has become an extremely successful semiannual event in the Southwest. The next series of conferences will have seven primary host universities: Rice University, Texas A&M University, The University of Texas at Dallas, University of Houston, Texas Tech University, and (jointly) Texas Christian University and The University of Texas at Arlington. By design, the Texas Geometry and Topology Conference has two high-impact foci. First, the conference makes it possible for the community of geometers and topologists from Texas and surrounding states (a huge geographic region) to meet and share mathematics on a regular basis. In so doing, the conference is committed to bring researchers of national and international stature to discuss their research as well as offering a venue for regional scholars and early career researchers. This stimulates individual research and generates productive cooperative efforts between schools. Second, the conference is committed to the strengthening and enrichment of the mathematics personnel base. In order that there be no barrier to participation, the conference is widely advertised, participation is open, and there are no registration fees. Graduate students, junior faculty, women, minorities, and persons with disabilities are especially encouraged to participate and to apply for support. Furthermore the conference is partnering with two historically black universities (Fayetteville State University and Prairie View A&M University) on a project to foster research opportunities for select junior faculty at these institutions. The permanent web page for the Texas Geometry and Topology Conference: http://www.math.tamu.edu/~tgtc/archive/. 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 · 2024-11

This project will investigate how groundwater discharge delivers important nutrients to the coastal ecosystems of the West Florida Shelf. Preliminary studies indicate that groundwater may supply both dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) and iron in this region. In coastal ecosystems like the West Florida Shelf that have very low nitrate and ammonium concentrations, DON is the main form of nitrogen available to organisms. Nitrogen cycling is strongly affected by iron availability because iron is essential for both photosynthesis and for nitrogen fixation. This study will investigate the sources and composition of DON and iron, and their influence on the coastal ecosystem. The team will sample offshore groundwater wells, river and estuarine waters, and conduct two expeditions across the West Florida Shelf in winter and summer. Investigators will participate in K-12 and outreach activities to increase awareness of the project and related science. The project will fund the work of six graduate and eight undergraduate students across five institutions, furthering NSF’s goals of education and training. Motivated by preliminary observations of unexplained, tightly-correlated DON and dissolved iron concentrations across the West Florida Shelf (WFS), the proposed work will quantify the flux and isotopic signatures of submarine groundwater discharge (SGD)-derived DON and iron to the WFS, and evaluate the bioavailability of this temporally-variable source using four seasonal near-shore campaigns sampling offshore groundwater wells, estuarine, and riverine endmembers and two cross-shelf cruises. The work will evaluate whether SGD stimulates nitrogen fixation on the WFS, and the potential for the stimulated nitrogen fixation to further modify the chemistry of DON and dissolved iron in the region. The cross-shelf cruises will investigate hypothesized periods of maximum SGD and Trichodesmium abundance (June), and reduced river discharge and SGD (February), thus comparing two distinct biogeochemical regimes. The concentrations and isotopic compositions of DON and dissolved iron, molecular composition of DON, and the concentration and composition of iron-binding ligands will be characterized. Nitrogen fixation rates and Trichodesmium spp. abundance and expression of iron stress genes will be measured. Fluxes of DON and iron from SGD and rivers will be quantified with radium isotope mass balances. The impacts of SGD on nitrogen fixation and DON/ligand production will be constrained with incubations of natural phytoplankton communities with submarine groundwater amendments. Two hypotheses will be tested: 1) SGD is the dominant source of bioavailable DON and dissolved iron on the WFS, and 2) SGD-alleviation of iron stress changes the dominant Trichodesmium species on the WFS, increases nitrogen fixation rates and modifies DON and iron composition. Overall, the work will establish connections between marine nitrogen and iron cycling and evaluate the potential for coastal inputs to modify water along the WFS before export to the Atlantic Ocean. This study will thus provide a framework to consider these boundary fluxes in oligotrophic coastal systems and the relative importance of rivers and SGD as sources of nitrogen and iron in other analogous locations, such as coastal systems in Australia, India, and Africa, where nitrogen fixation and SGD have also been documented. 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 · 2024-11

The study of quantum systems is fundamental in modern mathematical physics. This project aims to study the long-time behavior of quantum systems by building new bridges between direct and inverse approaches. The direct approach asks one to describe the attributes of a given system, while the inverse approach asks what systems may exhibit specified attributes. The project plans to support education and diversity though a summer school in mathematical physics, the supervision of undergraduate research, and the writing and publication of a graduate textbook on ergodic Schrödinger operators aimed at introducing graduate students to this field. This project addresses the spectral analysis of Schrödinger, Jacobi, and Dirac operators with coefficients obtained by continuously sampling along the orbits of an ergodic topological dynamical system. This framework includes many models of interest, such as crystals, quasicrystals, and disordered media. The project will study open questions related to the quantum evolution for such models as well as the structure of the spectrum for pseudo-random models, periodic operators on graphs, and aperiodic tilings. 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 · 2024-11

The Devonian Period (419 to 359 million years ago) witnessed some of the most important transformations leading to the habitable planet that we have today. Plants and vertebrate animals first colonized the land surface, oxygen levels rose in the oceans and atmosphere, and the planet cooled significantly. There were also a series of mass extinctions related to a temporary loss of oxygen in the shallow oceans. The funded work seeks to understand the timing, causes, and consequences of these Devonian mass extinctions, and how they can be identified in rocks deposited across North America, as well as in Bolivia and Western Australia. Ultimately, this study will provide a new integrated framework of ocean oxygen loss across time and space through the Devonian extinctions, improving our understanding of how our planet came to resemble to modern world. This project also supports two early-career faculty members of mixed-race and African ancestry, expands field geology opportunities for high school students, supports numerous undergraduate and graduate students and a postdoc, and will disseminate results to non-technical audiences in English and in Spanish. The Late Devonian is a unique interval in Earth history during which the proliferation of land plants triggered a cascade of Earth system perturbations, including atmospheric CO2 drawdown and O2 rise, climate cooling, eutrophication and widespread development of anoxia in epeiric seas, and ultimately, a series of mass extinctions that fundamentally altered the trajectory of Earth’s biosphere. This proposal seeks to link key Late Devonian global events in a new genetic framework that ties a refined temporal record of anoxic expansion in epeiric seas across Laurentia and Gondwana directly to the extinction events, determines the effect of epeiric sea anoxia on the global carbon cycle, and then links these records to global carbonate-based isotopic curves. Specifically, this work proposes to: 1) develop a new, integrated geologic framework that ties Late Devonian mass extinctions to the epeiric black shale successions of North and South America using a combination of conodont biostratigraphy, Re-Os geochronology, and redox geochemistry; 2) use these data to refine the open access Macrostrat database for the Late Devonian with the goal of estimating global carbon burial, CO2 drawdown, and O2 buildup; and 3) generate a new uranium and carbon isotope record through Late Devonian carbonates of Western Australia, which will provide a quantitative record of global ocean anoxia and carbon burial. 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.