Colorado State University

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-07

NONTECHNICAL SUMMARY Magnetic materials are central to technologies such as data storage, sensors, and emerging computing devices. Most of these technologies rely on the electrons' magnetic moment, which is like a tiny compass needle carried by electrons, to manipulate and store information. This project explores an exciting new frontier in magnetism, where instead of using simple compass-like moments, it focuses on more complex shapes of magnetism known as "multipole moments", which arise in materials where magnetic moment directions vary in intricate patterns across tiny atomic distances. These complex magnetic structures, especially those found in a class of materials called antiferromagnets, can generate new and useful material responses to electric currents or light, opening the door to entirely new types of electronic devices and sensors. The project will develop theoretical tools to understand how these magnetic shapes behave, how they can be controlled by electric currents or light, and how they can enable novel information processing methods that go beyond traditional electron-magnetism-based electronics (also known as spintronics). Educational efforts alongside the research include mentoring students at various levels, organizing a summer school on symmetry in magnetism, and creating accessible teaching materials that blend modern theory and hands-on computation. Together, these efforts aim to expand both the scientific knowledge and the workforce needed for developing next-generation quantum materials and devices. TECHNICAL SUMMARY This project develops the theoretical foundations and functional implications of multipoletronics, an emerging framework that describes magnetic materials using spin multipole moments as active degrees of freedom. It focuses on collinear as well as noncollinear antiferromagnets where conventional spin-based descriptions are insufficient. The research is organized into two complementary thrusts: Thrust I develops a multipole-based dynamical theory, bridging spin dynamical equations and approximate conservation laws giving rise to definitions of multipole currents. It also establishes a gauge-invariant formulation for computing spin multipole moments from first-principles calculations. Thrust II explores nonequilibrium phenomena, including current-driven switching between symmetry-distinct multipolar states and the role of wave-packet multipole moments in interfacial transport. The combined effort provides new insights into complex spin textures, spin-orbit couplings, and topological band degeneracies in antiferromagnets and related quantum materials. Educational efforts alongside the research include mentoring students at various levels, organizing a summer school on symmetry in magnetism, and creating accessible teaching materials that blend modern theory and hands-on computation. Together, these efforts aim to expand both the scientific knowledge and the workforce needed for developing next-generation quantum materials and devices. 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 project will build a tool for land managers that will help them conserve grassland birds. North American grasslands once spanned more than 500 million acres. Grasslands are rapidly vanishing, along with the organisms that inhabit them. Grassland birds play a critical role in ecosystem health by dispersing seeds and consuming pests that damage crops and spread disease. However, grassland birds are declining faster than any other group of birds in North America, and their loss poses a threat to these important ecosystem services. One challenge with taking conservation actions to promote the recovery of grassland birds is that they migrate between distinct geographic regions each year. These migrations make it difficult to understand the factors causing population declines. To address this challenge, the project will collect data on migratory patterns, genetic health, and reproductive output of declining grassland bird populations. These data will be used to identify conservation actions that will benefit grassland bird populations, with the goal of restoring grassland bird populations across North America. In addition to building a conservation tool, the researchers will organize workshops for land managers. The project will also provide research internships for undergraduate students through Colorado State University’s MURALS First Year Scholars Academy program. Since 1970, over seventy-five percent of grassland birds have declined with some species nearing threatened and endangered status. While conservation efforts aimed at reversing population declines in grassland birds are urgently needed, such efforts are currently hindered by critical gaps in our understanding of the migratory connections and demographic vital rates of populations throughout their full annual cycle. The goal of the proposed work is to develop a user-friendly tool that will aid wildlife habitat biologists in prioritizing management actions such as grassland restoration, brush management, and prescribed grazing. Specifically, the proposed research will combine data on migratory connections, genetic variation, and demographic vital rates collected across the breeding and nonbreeding grounds of three declining grassland bird species into a genomically-informed, full annual cycle, Integrated Population Model that will allow decision makers to assess which conservation measures will best promote species recovery within their jurisdiction. Furthermore, the proposed work will evaluate the effectiveness of resulting conservation recommendations by leveraging ongoing monitoring efforts. This project is jointly funded by the Divisions of Environmental Biology and Integrative Organismal Systems through the Partnership to Advance Conservation Science and Practice 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 2025 · 2025-06

Emerging propulsion and energy systems that use clean burning fuels require efficient ignition and stable combustion. This project addresses limitations of traditional combustion techniques by pioneering a laser-driven plasma method for active combustion control called continuous optical discharge. This technique is aimed at enhancing ignition, flame stability, and emissions control in engines. The project will develop a completely non-intrusive, tunable plasma-based combustion control method that can operate across a wide range of engine conditions. Results from the project will advance clean energy solutions in aerospace and industrial applications. Additionally, the project will support educational activities that engage K-12 students in propulsion-related topics through interactive, simulation-based learning tools. These activities will foster interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics among students and help expand a future science and engineering workforce. This project will determine the conditions that are required to achieve an optical plasma discharge with a high degree of selectivity, which can be optimized for various combustion applications. The project will employ an initial femtosecond laser pulse to create a cold, non-equilibrium plasma filament. Following this, an overlapped continuous-wave laser will act as a “dimmer switch”: by controlling the amount of energy deposited into the filament, the plasma will be gradually heated until a fully ionized thermal plasma is generated. This will enable control over the thermal and kinetics mechanisms influencing the plasma-flame coupling. Research objectives include: i) experimental studies of plasma properties in a high-pressure cell using advanced laser-based diagnostics, such as laser scattering and optical emission spectroscopy; ii) development of a numerical model of the continuous optical discharge to elucidate the chemical kinetic pathways enhancing combustion; and iii) demonstrating the continuous optical discharge feasibility for combustion improvements in high-pressure environments. This approach is expected to yield significant advances in the current understanding of both combustion control and plasma generation at optical frequencies. 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 REU site award to Colorado State University’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in Fort Collins, CO, will support the training of 10 students for 10 weeks during the summers of 2025-2027. It is anticipated that a total of 30 students, primarily from schools with limited research opportunities will participate in the program. The REU site will train undergraduates in molecular life sciences including biochemistry, molecular biology, microbiology, immunology, and virology. Participants will benefit from training offered by a large pool of experienced scientists from 14 departments with a track record of commitment to mentoring undergraduates. Society will benefit from the development of a cohort of well-trained molecular bioscience student researchers who will go on to strengthen the STEM workforce. Students will learn how research is conducted, and many will present the results of their work at scientific conferences. Assessment of the program will be done through student feedback and career outcomes. Students should apply to the REU site using NSF ETAP (Education and Training Application: https://etap.nsf.gov). The individual research experiences and interactions with mentors provide opportunities for implementing the latest research techniques and technologies within the molecular life sciences. Potential research projects include HIV-1 protease autoprocessing, basic biology of mycobacterial pathogens including Mycobacterium tuberculosis, genomic/proteomic investigation of photosynthesis efficiency and regulation, mammalian cell architecture using single-molecule biophysical techniques, AI/ML modeling of metabolic regulation, thermophilic microbe DNA-dependent processes, computer-guided DNA and protein engineering, epigenetic mechanisms involving small non-coding RNA. The program also provides workshops on science communication (oral, written, poster) and responsible conduct of research (including ethical theory, notebook keeping, mentor/mentee relationships). Additionally career professional development workshops will prepare students to submit graduate school applications and resumes for entry into the workforce. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-05

The 2025 Summer Research Institute in algebraic geometry is a large scale, three week long conference that will be held at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado, from July 14 to August 1, 2025. Plenary lecture series (accessible to the entire algebraic geometry community) will be scheduled during the mornings, and invited research seminars in the afternoons. Each week will explore several relatively focused themes, however the Summer Research Institute will stress the unity of the subject through smooth transitions from one theme to another. The proceedings of the Summer Research Institute will be published by the American Mathematical Society, and are expected to serve as a central reference source for algebraic geometers. This grant will support housing for 150 graduate students, postdocs and early career researchers in Colorado State University dormitories. The Institute is expected to play a pivotal role in the professional development of young researchers and influence their path for years to come. The research themes covered by Institute activities include a wide cross-section of modern algebraic geometry: moduli of higher-dimensional varieties, birational geometry in positive and mixed characteristics and connections to commutative algebra, geometry of moduli, analytic methods in algebraic geometry, enumerative geometry, combinatorial aspects of algebraic geometry, hyperkähler varieties and derived categories, geometric aspects of Hodge theory, O-minimality and arithmetic aspects of Hodge theory, connections between algebraic geometry and topology, p-adic geometry, p-adic Hodge theory, and Shimura varieties, Varieties over global fields. The lectures will be delivered by top experts in each field with a reputation for excellent exposition. The Institute is expected to foster interactions and collaborations between experts from different areas of algebraic geometry. More information is available at https://sites.google.com/view/2025summerinstitute/home. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-05

With the support of the Chemical Catalysis program in the Division of Chemistry, Professors Daniel Weix and Shannon Stahl of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Professor Mohammad Rafiee of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and Professor Robert Paton of Colorado State University are studying new approaches to catalysis and electrochemistry for the synthesis of biaryl molecules useful in polymers and agriculture. Building upon their recent advances, this team will continue to develop analytical and computational tools that will be used to illuminate fundamental principles that are important for success of these catalytic reactions. The lessons learned will enable lower-cost, higher-efficiency synthesis of important molecules using electricity in place of metal reductants. The research team will also work to train the next generation of chemists via several established programs and to educate the broader chemistry community about organic electrochemistry via courses and lectures. This project focuses on electrochemistry-driven and nickel-catalyzed reductive biaryl synthesis from a variety of aryl electrophiles. The research team will use a combination of stoichiometric organonickel studies, theory, and electroanalytical techniques to understand how each step in the biaryl synthesis (oxidative addition, transmetalation, reduction, and reductive elimination) is influenced by catalyst identity, conditions, and applied potential. This understanding will be used to make electrochemical biaryl synthesis suitable for commercial scale-up by conducting additional studies to improve catalyst turnover number, turnover frequency, and selectivity, including the development of cross-selective reactions. More broadly, these studies will contribute to an improved understanding of nickel catalysis and electrosynthesis; the resulting reactions will be lower-cost, more efficient alternatives to the state-of-the-art biaryl syntheses, which may utilize less selective oxidation reactions, more expensive precious metal catalysts, and/or more reactive aryl nucleophiles. 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 Abstract. The goal of this project is to introduce new synthetic strategiesto functionalize pyridine and diazine heterocycles. Pyridines are the second most common nitrogen heterocycle found in FDA approved drugs, and there are numerous examples of diazines in these structures. The widespread occurrence arises because of a combined effect of the heterocycle and its substituents. The key drug-receptor interaction is often comprised of a hydrogen bond between the heterocycles N-lone pairs and the biological target. These heterocycles are also polar, can engage in p-stacking interactions and are resistant to oxidative metabolism. The substituents enable tuning of the steric and electronic environment of the heterocycle as well as serving as additional binding sites. As such, medicinal chemists require chemical process that can directly and selectively install a range of substituents at various stages of drug discovery from C–H precursors. In this proposal we will develop three different approaches for azine functionalization. First, we will install heterocyclic phosphonium salts and exploit their unique reactivity to develop coupling reactions with amines, thiophenols, cysteine containing molecules and alkynes. Using phosphines with pendant functional groups will enable coupling with water and ammonia. Second, direct coupling reactions between NTf-pyridinium salts and nucleophiles will be exploited for C–Heteroatom bond formation. Additionally, this platform will enable direct coupling with aliphatic amines, anilines, amides and sulfonamides. Third, we will use a new version of Zincke ring-opening chemistry to enable 3-selective pyridine functionalization reactions via reaction that form C–C and C–Heteroatom bonds. We will also use this Zincke platform to isotopically exchange 14N pyridines to 15N pyridines as well as incorporating deuterium atoms at the 3-, and 5- positions to create higher mass isotopologs that are required for drug toxicology studies. Forth, we will use a deconstruction-reconstruction approach to transform heterocycles such as pyrimidines into their substituted variants, and also to other distinct heterocycles such as 1,2-oxazoles, pyrazoles and pyridines. This approach will also enable us to access higher mass pyrimidine isotopologs.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-04

Ice nucleating particles are small airborne particles that enable ice crystals to form in clouds. These particles often consist of desert dust, marine aerosols, or biological aerosols. In this project, the research team will equip a set of drones with advanced measurement capabilities and launch them during a research voyage in the eastern Atlantic Ocean to study the prevalence of ice nucleating particles and their role in precipitation, biogeochemical cycles, and ocean fertilization. The resulting data will help researchers to better understand and forecast clouds and precipitation. The project also includes early-career scientists and students, which ensures the development of the next generation of scientists. In this project, the NSF-funded research team will join a scientific cruise from the German Research Vessel Meteor in the eastern Atlantic Ocean in Summer 2025. The researchers will deploy a set of three drones and other instrumentation on the ship to study the prevalence of ice nucleating particles with a special focus on biological particles, known as bioaerosols. Measurements will be targeted around convective precipitation regions, including cold pools from rain-cooled air. The research team will address hypotheses about the origin of the ice nucleating particles, the impact of convective storms on particle concentrations and vertical distributions, and potential feedbacks to convective properties. 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 I-Corps project is based on the development of a method to filter salt from saltwater and use the remaining water to irrigate living green plants. Currently, the availability of freshwater limits economic development and agriculture, especially in the Western U.S., and in many other parts of the world. The goal of the technology is to produce freshwater from saltwater in a sustainable way. The solution was inspired by naturally occurring mangroves. The technology uses plants that have been biologically engineered to filter seawater and “pump” or produce freshwater. These genetically enhanced plants have specialized root barriers that allow them to filter saltwater. This technology may provide a sustainable, economic option to freshwater scarcity. This I-Corps project utilizes experiential learning coupled with a first-hand investigation of the industry ecosystem to assess the translation potential of genetically engineered plants to produce freshwater from saltwater. Inspired by the water filtering capabilities of mangroves, living plants are developed using a synthetic biology platform where it is possible to add specialized root epidermal barriers to any plant species allowing the plant to filter saltwater. Also, the plants are engineered with a synthetic system to “pump” the purified freshwater by refactoring well characterized genes and directing their expression to the plant’s xylem. The goal is to provide a decentralized water purification ability using the sun to power photosynthetic water purification, which may reduce energy costs comparable to that of solar panels. The technology has been demonstrated in a model laboratory plant, and calculations suggest that the technology, when scaled, may provide freshwater volumes equivalent to that of energy intensive thermal mechanical sites. The technology may be used for water purification from seawater, brackish water, and residential water recycling. 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 addresses an important topic related to snowflakes and snowfall using state-of-the-art and yet-to-be-developed methodologies, tools, and instrumentation and has significant potential to advance knowledge about the natural diversity of snowflake properties. The principal objective is to enhance scientific understanding of snow and ice particles with applications in improving weather forecasting and precipitation estimation, the importance of which to economy, safety, and everyday life can hardly be overstated. In line with the saying that “no two snowflakes are alike,” there indeed is a huge natural variability of shapes, sizes, internal compositions, densities, and habits of snow and ice particles, which are both truly fascinating and extremely challenging to observe, measure, analyze, understand, and predict. This project develops and applies a synergistic systematic approach to analysis, characterization, and quantification of a large variety of snowflakes and snowfall advancing and integrating microphysics and computational methodologies, emerging artificial intelligence (AI) and deep machine learning (ML) techniques, sophisticated image and data processing and computer vision methods, and cutting-edge optical and computer technology and equipment. The project performs new comprehensive microphysical analysis, profiling, and parametrization of precipitation particles, whose outcomes will be systematized and organized into the “Snowflake World Bank” database. Education and outreach plan includes advising/training Ph.D. students, course modules, undergraduate capstone projects, and vertically integrated “AI and Snowflakes” outreach program. This research develops new general methods for classification, characterization, and quantification of snowflakes based on multicamera measurements and AI/ML and image-processing techniques. Main outcomes are a novel AI/ML-enabled methodology for automatic classification of precipitation, namely, deciding to which of the predefined classes of winter hydrometeors the observed particles belong, based on multiview images by multicamera instrumentation measurements, as well as a novel method for realistic reconstruction of 3D shapes of winter hydrometeors using full images from multiview cameras and AI/ML. To aid the observations, a novel multicamera instrument for snowflakes in freefall, namely, the Multicamera Snowflake Profiler (MSP), will be developed. The MSP will incorporate and apply novel classification and shape reconstruction methods, on-site, in real time, which will, conversely, be used to advance the methods. The research measures, calculates, and estimates a wide range of properties and parameters of ice particles including geometric categories; degrees of riming; melt/dry state; fall speed; 3D reconstructed shape; volume; mass; effective density; and effective dielectric constant among others. Generally, and not exclusively, it pursues the concept of classification first and then quantification by assigning these properties and parameters to various categories of previously classified particles. The accuracy, reliability, and versatility of the data and information are enabled by the new general methods for classification, characterization, and quantification of snowflakes. 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 Ocular surface squamous neoplasia (OSSN) is a progressive ocular cancer that lacks approved treatments and is increasing in prevalence globally. We have developed a new liposomal-TLR agonist immunotherapy (LTAC) that in a novel equine spontaneous OSSN model effectively induces OSSN resolution following topical and perilesional administration in most treated animals. We now propose to use the equine OSSN model to elucidate immunological mechanisms underlying the antitumor activity of LTAC immunotherapy. In Aim 1, local immune responses will be investigated using tumor biopsy and corneal swab samples, including immunohistochemistry and transcriptomic analysis. These studies will identify immune correlates with responsiveness and resistance to immunotherapy. In Aim 2 we will determine whether LTAC immunotherapy also induces systemic immunity to OSSN, using OSSN antigen-specific T cell and antibody assays. These studies overall will advance the field of ocular immunotherapy for ocular cancers and provide important new insights into local and systemic OSSN immunity.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 2025-04

Abstract [Same as parent award; no change in abstract/scope proposed] Exposure to household air pollution from the use of traditional energy sources is a top-ten risk factor for morbidity and mortality worldwide. Emissions from traditional energy sources in the home create unhealthy levels of household air pollution and the issue is pervasive. Approximately 3 billion people rely on fuels like wood, charcoal, and kerosene to support needs such as cooking, heating, and lighting. Approximately 80% of the population in Rwanda uses such fuels, making exposure to household air pollution the 3rd leading contributor to the burden of disease in this country. Exposure to household air pollution is also a problem in the developed world. Nearly 30 million Americans burn solid fuels as their primary source of heating energy. Nearly 50 years of research on ‘cleaner’ household energy technologies has demonstrated only modest global impact, due to a combination of economic, cultural, and technologic barriers that prevent access to and usage of clean energy. A further limitation is that nearly all household energy interventions, to date, have focused on replacing only a single energy source (i.e., replacing just cooking, or just lighting) with a more modern technology. We propose to address these issues by conducting a randomized controlled trial that (1) focuses on total household energy (2) in a country that evinces readiness for alternative forms of energy, (3) by forming a public- private partnership to promote technological solutions that are consumer-focused and market sustainable, (4) by investigating outcome measures that are clinically actionable and strongly linked to morbidity/mortality, and (5) by developing project outputs that can inform policymakers with cost-benefit information. We hypothesize that a whole-house energy intervention (replacing all primitive forms of energy within the home with cleaner, modern forms) will produce meaningful reductions in household air pollution and health benefits in rural Rwandan homes. The randomized controlled trial will substitute traditional forms of household energy (biomass for cooking and kerosene for lighting) with solar power and liquefied petroleum gas stoves in rural Rwanda. Participants will be followed for 3 years with repeated measurements of household air pollution exposure (24-hour fine particulate matter and black carbon), energy usage, and health. Primary health endpoints will include blood pressure in adult women and men and lung-function growth in children; secondary health endpoints include blood pressure in children and lung-function change in adults. The long-term goals of this research are to increase the clinical knowledge-base on the health effects on household air pollution, to demonstrate that a whole-house energy intervention will produce meaningful household air pollution reductions and health benefits in rural Rwandan homes, to elucidate the relationship between fuel subsidy levels and household air pollution exposure, and to demonstrate that scalable solutions to the household air pollution disease burden are achievable via public-private-governmental partnerships.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-04

Rain-on-snow (ROS) events - when rain falls on a cold snowpack, freezes, and creates a hard ice layer - are increasing in frequency across the Arctic. These events have dramatic and far-reaching impacts on the Arctic system for humans, society, infrastructure, wildlife, ecosystem function, soil, and vegetation. An assessment of the physical impacts of ROS events on snow and ice properties is urgently needed as the Arctic system warms rapidly and climate regimes shift at unprecedented rates. This project will assess and quantify the effects of ROS events on Arctic snowpacks through a combination of snow and ice field measurements, historical ROS observations, and the development of an ice-layer model (IceLayer) that quantifies ROS ice layers formed in snow. IceLayer will be used to identify thresholds in key snow and ice properties that influence winter mobility and forage accessibility for caribou and muskoxen. These species are a central component of Arctic systems, because human communities and ecosystems depend on them culturally, environmentally, and economically. Despite growing concern regarding major Arctic system impacts resulting from ROS events, we lack methodologies to quantify and evaluate the effects of ROS on the snowpack (e.g., melting snow and subsequent ice layer formation on top, within, or below the snowpack). This project will quantify how ROS events modify snow and ice properties at spatiotemporal scales relevant to Arctic system processes, to produce information on ice-layer formation, thickness, snowpack position, and strength resulting from ROS events. This project will use the most widely applied snow modeling system in the world, SnowModel, and extend and enhance its current capabilities to simulate ROS-induced ice-layer formation and associated snowpack property changes, including ice layer location within the snowpack, thickness, strength, timing, duration, and areal extent, across space and time. To guide model development, researchers will collect field observations of ROS-induced snowpack changes in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Svalbard, and Finland, and collate historical records of ROS observations across the Arctic. The scope of this project will include Arctic land areas and snow environments inhabited by two wildlife species that are currently exposed to and directly impacted by ROS events: caribou / reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) and muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus). To ensure the benefits of IceLayer are as useful as possible for different audiences, this project will include an outreach event for youth in rural western Alaska, a snow and ice field measurement workshop for collaborators, a scientific workshop on using the IceLayer model, and a hybrid meeting to provide IceLayer to interest groups, citizens, and professionals concerned with the societal impacts of ROS events. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2026 · 2025-04

PROJECT SUMMARY Sexually reproducing organisms faithfully transmit their genome to the next generation via haploid gametes, such as eggs and sperm. In contrast to oogenesis and other developmental processes, spermatogenesis must occur 2-7ºC below basal body temperature. Failure to precisely thermoregulate spermatogenesis or exposure to elevated temperatures are strongly linked to male infertility and an increased risk of testicular cancer, but the mechanisms behind temperature induced male infertility and cancer are unknown. Similar to mammals, Caenorhabditis elegans displays elevated levels of DNA damage and fertility defects in spermatogenesis following heat exposure. Notably, I have found in C. elegans that the synaptonemal complex (SC), a meiotic chromosome structure essential for fertility, is altered following heat exposure in only spermatocytes. In addition, I also uncovered that the SC is sexually dimorphic without heat exposure with spermatogenesis having differences in both SC protein composition and turnover compared to oogenesis. Here, I hypothesize that sexual dimorphisms in the SC contribute to the mechanism(s) causing temperature induced male infertility. In the proposed work, I will exploit the ease to access, manipulate, and visualize both spermatogenesis and oogenesis in the model system C. elegans to dissect the sexually dimorphic nature of the SC and address how these sex-specific differences contribute to heat induced male infertility. I will investigate whether differences in SC organization and composition during spermatogenesis render it temperature sensitive (Aim 1). These experiments will determine how heat affects both the ultrastructure and dynamics of the SC and other meiotic chromosome structures during spermatogenesis and oogenesis. In addition, the response of spermatocytes to heat exposure is variable with nuclei displaying two phenotypes: (1) sensitized nuclei, high levels of DNA damage and substantial SC defects, and (2) resistant nuclei, significantly less DNA damage and intact SC. To understand this nucleus autonomous response to heat, I will determine how the transcriptional profiles are changing within the sensitized and resistant spermatocyte nuclei and assess how loss of the SC influences the heat stress response of oocytes and spermatocytes (Aim 2). Finally, I will identify and characterize novel spermatogenesis proteins that cause SC heat sensitivity (Aim 3). Together, this study will illuminate, how temperature affects genome integrity in spermatocytes and identify the molecular mechanisms that underlie temperature associated infertility and cancer risk in male reproductive health.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-04

With support from the Environmental Chemical Sciences Program, Dr. Megan Willis and her students at Colorado State University (CSU) are studying multiphase chemistry—molecular-scale chemistry across gas and condensed phases in Earth’s atmosphere. Natural aerosol particles set the background conditions in Earth's atmosphere; therefore, an understanding of the processes that determine the background is important. Marine sulfur compounds are a large source of natural aerosol to Earth's atmosphere. They undergo a cascade of atmospheric reactions that lead to either formation of new particles or growth of existing particles through competing gas and multiphase reaction pathways. Despite its importance, a complete understanding of this marine multiphase chemistry is lacking. This project will investigate controls on multiphase sulfur chemistry and provide chemical parameters that can be incorporated into large-scale atmospheric models. The project, in partnership with the CSU Education and Outreach Center, will create inquiry-driven STEM experiment kits that engage middle and high-school students in the scientific process through studying multiphase atmospheric chemistry. This project will use laboratory experiments and kinetic models to provide quantitative descriptions of the fate of multiphase biogenic sulfur fate in atmospheric particles and droplets. Using a combination of direct, relative-rate, and aerosol kinetics experiments, this project will: (1) quantify solvent environment effects on ozone reactivity with biogenic sulfur compounds, and (2) predict the timescale and location of multiphase ozone reactivity with oxidized biogenic sulfur. Solvent environment effects on the kinetics of aqueous-phase ozone reactions with dimethyl sulfide and methanethiol, and their oxidation products, will be quantified. Bulk rate constants and laboratory aerosol kinetics will be combined in a multiphase kinetic model to describe the fate of oxidized biogenic sulfur in aerosol. Outcomes of this project are expected to improve estimates of the fraction of marine biogenic sulfur that leads to either new particle formation or growth of existing aerosol. 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 research explores how different types of trust are related to people’s willingness to take risks, and tests whether the interplay between trust and risk taking is related to how people think about and participate in the civic system. While existing scholarship emphasizes the role of trust in shaping civic attitudes and behavior, research often overlooks how one’s willingness to take risks can vary across different aspects of life, and neglects how risk taking might affect the extent to which trust affects civic participation. By systematically investigating how trust and risk interact to shape civic attitudes and behavior, this project aims to provide a more nuanced understanding of civic engagement, for example, why individuals might trust the government but remain skeptical of the electoral process, or why people continue to participate in civic activities despite increasing distrust in civic elites and institutions over time. Leveraging original data collected during the November 2024 presidential election, this project examines the relationship between different types of trust and risk taking, hypothesizing that the extent to which people rely on trust may depend on how willing they are to take certain risks. Whereas individuals who are less willing to take certain risks may rely more on trust when deciding whether to vote or engage in other civic activities, those who are more willing to take certain risks may rely less on trust when deciding whether to participate. Combined with complementary experimental data, this project provides robust evidence on the roles of trust and risk taking in shaping civic attitudes and behavior. These data will also be used to develop a novel and validated measure of civic risk taking. Findings from this research help advance interdisciplinary scholarship while offering policymakers, scholars, and society guidance for mitigating deficits in trust, enhancing civic participation, and improving democratic health. 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

NON-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION New solid-state materials are essential to advance existing or create new technologies. Materials synthesis remains a crucial bottleneck to the materials discovery process. This project directly addresses this synthesis bottleneck in an emerging class of ternary chalcogenide-based semiconductors. Many materials in this family have been computationally predicted to have excellent properties for solar cells, energy-efficient electronics, and batteries – materials needed to directly and indirectly advance national health and security. However, experimental synthesis of these predicted materials has proven challenging, as only a handful of these materials have been made. This project involves computationally-led experiments and experimentally-informed computational work to understand and design new synthetic approaches to access these materials. The collaborative nature of this project provides a unique training experience for graduate students through their engagement in advanced computational and experimental research. TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION This project aims to discover new ternary chalcogenides for optoelectronic applications by leveraging alternative entropy sources that can enable materials synthesis. Many ternary chalcogenides have been predicted to be thermodynamically stable and exhibit compelling optical or electronic properties. Yet, only a small fraction of these predicted compounds have been experimentally synthesized. This project operates under the hypothesis that synthesis of these materials requires careful control of thermodynamic driving forces through entropic factors to prevent competitive compositional decomposition reactions or polymorphic transitions. Specifically, this project employs control over entropy associated with point defect formation, crystal vibrations, and gas evolution to stabilize and synthesize targeted chalcogenide materials relative to competing binary reaction products or polymorphs. The synthesis science discoveries have potential to apply broadly to other classes of materials. This collaborative project leverages first-principles thermodynamic calculations to lead experimental synthesis and characterization, as well as experimental work to inform computational efforts. Together, this project provides comprehensive training to student researchers in solid-state materials chemistry. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2026 · 2025-03

Project Summary/Abstract Moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA; i.e., aerobic and resistance exercise) improves physical function and quality of life for cancer survivors, and is associated with reductions in cancer-specific and all-cause mortality. Unfortunately, recent estimates suggest that only 14% of individuals with a cancer history are engaging in the amount of MVPA considered necessary to achieve these health benefits. Thus, there is a need for effective and wide-reaching interventions that can help cancer survivors increase MVPA. Supervised group-based interventions are successful in increasing MVPA among cancer survivors, however, delivering these interventions face-to-face can be resource intensive, and present a barrier in terms of access. Virtually supervised PA interventions (i.e., using videoconferencing) can offer the benefits of real-time supervision and social interaction, while retaining the scalability and reach advantages of other remote delivery modalities. To date, there have been no large-scale, randomized controlled trials testing the efficacy of a group-based videoconference intervention to increase MVPA in cancer survivors. This study will examine the effect of a group- based videoconference intervention to increase MVPA and improve health outcomes among cancer survivors and explore behavioral mediators and moderators of intervention effects. We will randomize adult cancer survivors to the 12-week intervention, or a comparator group. The intervention will include twice-weekly instructor led group-based aerobic and resistance exercise, and PA behavior change discussion sessions. Outcomes will be assessed at baseline, 12-weeks (post-intervention) and six-month follow-up. All study visits and intervention components will be delivered in-real time using videoconferencing software. The primary outcome will be weekly minutes of MVPA, measured using an accelerometer and a validated self-report questionnaire. Secondary outcomes are self-reported quality of life, and physical fitness as assessed by the sit-to-stand test and 2-minute step test. An exploratory outcome of the study will be to examine the effect of the intervention on loneliness. Videoconference technology has the potential to expand the reach and scalability of supervised, group-based interventions, thus presenting an effective way to help cancer survivors increase MVPA and connect with other participants.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-02

This RAPID project focuses on the nature of smoke and ash pollution from the fires occurring at the wildland-urban interface (WUI) in the Los Angeles region. The goals this effort are to sample and speciate air pollutants emitted from the fires and quantify the contribution of structure fires to concentrations and impacts of hazardous air pollutants in the densely populated megacity of Los Angeles. The knowledge gained from this work will inform disaster response policy (risk assessment, hazard control), ecosystem health risks, prediction of human health risks, and recovery efforts in the wake of a growing national hazard: catastrophic urban fires. The presence of advanced polymer materials (e.g., in carpets, flooring, clothing, appliances, housewares) and metals (e.g., in electronics, appliances, vehicles, fasteners) suggests that the content of urban fire emissions should be complex and potentially more toxic than emissions from traditional biomass burning events. Analysis of field data suggest that structure fires in WUI regions might produce severe exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), halogenated compounds (e.g., PFAS), dioxins, furans, and transition metals, orders of magnitude larger than the exposure from wildfire emissions. Working with leadership and staff at the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), the proposal team has deployed a small network of AirPen and UPAS systems at existing air quality monitoring stations as close as possible to the existing fires in the northern Los Angeles region. This air quality sampling is expected to last for four weeks but may be adjusted to include additional sites or sampling equipment in the future depending on the nature of the fires. Other region-specific data streams: criteria pollutants measured at SCAQMD air quality monitoring stations, fire activity, and remote sensing (e.g., satellite) and weather (e.g., reanalysis, back trajectory) data will supplement the interpretation of the chemical data. Ash is expected to persist in the region for weeks-to-months following this event and ash samples will be collected from within the burn areas and from fugitive emission events (i.e., windblown dust) and analyzed. The ash samples are likely to contain a different mixture of toxic species (relative to the smoke), and ash exposure will remain a major human and environmental hazard for first responders, cleanup crews, homeowners, and members of the surrounding community. This effort will demonstrate how structure fires and specific structural fuels have the potential to modulate the environmental and health impacts from WUI fires. Training for both a graduate student and a postdoctoral scholar will be supported through 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 · 2025-02

Pollination is a critical life-supporting process for people and nature. Understanding and reversing pollinator declines is one of the great environmental challenges of the 21st century. In the United States, migrating birds that usually eat insects have also been observed foraging in flowers. However, there has been little previous research on songbird flower foraging for this region. Understanding this behavior is important because migratory birds regularly move longer distances than insect pollinators. If birds are transporting pollen along these migratory routes, they could help improve genetic diversity in plant populations, making both natural and agricultural systems more resilient. This research will help raise awareness about the importance of birds and pollination for human wellbeing. For example, one of the project outcomes will be a short film showcasing this topic, which will be paired with other materials to create a teaching module for middle school students focused on the unexpected ways that animals help with plant pollination. Overall, this project is expected to improve understanding of birds and the potential role they play in pollination, a process that is critical to sustaining biodiversity and agricultural systems for future generations. This project aims to fundamentally advance the way we understand plant-pollinator networks in North America by addressing the following research questions: 1) what individual bird characteristics or environmental factors are associated with the presence of pollen on songbirds?; 2) Are particular plant morphological characteristics associated with a higher probability of flower-foraging and pollen-carrying by songbirds?; 3) Does species richness or the relative abundance of functional groups contribute to resilience factors in bird-flower networks? The researchers will collaborate with bird banding stations to collect pollen samples from songbirds, and use DNA metabarcoding to identify the pollen. These data will be applied to models that will test predictions about the association between pollen presence, bird, and environmental characteristics, and to understand the links between plant characteristics and flower visitation by songbirds. This study has strong potential to stimulate new lines of research in songbird foraging and migration ecology, long-distance pollen dispersal, and plant-pollinator dynamics. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 2025-02

Modified Project Summary/Abstract Section Here, we focus on the microRNA, miR-137, which is enriched in the brain and strongly linked to Schizophrenia (SCZ) and Bipolar Disorder (BP) with genome-wide significance. In addition to neuropsychiatric symptoms, SCZ and BP patients suffer from ~10-15 year reduction in life expectancy and this early mortality is due to a high prevalence of obesity, Type II Diabetes (T2D), hyperglycemia, elevated cholesterol and triglycerides, high blood pressure, and irregularities in insulin signaling. Our overarching hypothesis is that miR-137 drives both neuronal and metabolic dysfunction, and that metabolic dysfunction contributes to disease susceptibility/progression. Drosophila has served as a powerful genetic model system for studying both neuronal signaling as well as obesity and diabetes because organs, signaling pathways and proteins, as well as neuronal ion channels/receptors are highly conserved across species, and many disease-associated genes are conserved between Drosophila and humans. Using Drosophila as an experimental system, we have found that miR-137 regulates both metabolic and neuronal function. In this application, we propose studies to further our understanding of how miR-137 affects metabolism to ultimately affect neuronal signaling.

NIH Research Projects · FY 2025 · 2025-02

Project Summary Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a highly complex and multi-faceted group of related neurodevelopmental disorders with numerous genetic, epigenetic, and environmental etiologies. Despite such complex underlying causes, one common theme among ASD variants is that it is a disorder of synaptic development. This observation strongly motivates testing whether experimental models of ASD disrupt the normal synaptic and biophysical development of neural circuits, with the goal of understanding whether and how such perturbations alter circuit function into adulthood. One particularly compelling circuit, which has recently become a major focus in the field of ASD research, is the cerebellum. Although traditionally viewed as a motor structure, emerging clinical and preclinical data suggest that the cerebellum plays an important role in cognitive and emotional processing. Disruptions in cerebellar activity during development may also centrally contribute to ASD – as the developing cerebellum is a common locus the expression of ASD risk factor genes. Furthermore, ASD results in decreased numbers and synaptic complexity of Purkinje cells as well as their postsynaptic targets, cerebellar nuclear cells, the two cell populations that form the cerebellar cortico-nuclear circuit, a disruption which persists into adulthood. These observations have resulted in the cerebellar diaschisis model of ASD, which posits that disruptions in cerebellar circuit function, particularly during early critical periods of synaptic development, may causally contribute to ASD. If the cerebellar diaschisis model is correct, then perinatal circuit function in the developing cerebellar cortico-nuclear circuit is likely perturbed. Therefore, the goal of the proposed research is to explicitly test whether ASD results in aberrant cortico- nuclear circuit formation and electrophysiological maturation during early developmental critical periods, and test whether these changes persist into adulthood. More specifically, the proposal will test the hypothesis that ASD is associated with aberrant developmental glutamate release during early sensitive periods of circuit formation. In other inhibitory circuits, developmental glutamate release is critical for proper circuit maturation, however, this hypothesis has not been tested during cerebellar development or in the context of ASD. Together, the proposed experiments have the potential to provide a biophysical and mechanistic grounding for the cerebellar diaschisis model of ASD, which may provide novel therapeutic targets for the treatment of ASD.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-01

The project will support the goals of a) advancing the field of STEM education through helping to identify factors that support or hinder the persistence of undergraduate students in STEM and b) building the PI’s research capacity in statistical modeling. To achieve these goals, the PI will complete statistical courses and work with a mentor team to be able to build complex statistical models that explicitly incorporate, rather than ignore, variables related to individuals’ experiences and backgrounds into statistical modeling. This is important because otherwise it can be easy to focus on factors related to the most common participant experiences, rather than capturing the breadth of participant experiences. Important persistence factors may not be identifiable if variables related to experiences and background are not included in models. The PI will use data collected by the non-profit Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) about the experiences of undergraduate students as they enter and graduate from college, as well as institutional characteristics. These models will provide information about the underlying factors that may influence the differences in the persistence of students in different STEM and non-STEM fields, addressing a significant and fundamental issue in STEM education research. In 2015–2019, HERI increased the breadth of their data collection, thus the PI is situated to make key contributions through analyzing this expanded dataset across several cohorts of students. This research will seek to a) help advance the field of STEM education through furthering understanding of the factors that influence student persistence in STEM and provide pathways for positive change; and b) positively impact STEM fields and benefit society through identifying ways to increase STEM persistence by addressing gaps in persistence. The goals of this project are a) capacity-building in statistical modeling for the PI, and b) knowledge-building about factors influencing student persistence in STEM. To build research capacity the PI will complete statistical coursework and work with a mentor team, which will allow the PI to use Hierarchical General Linear Models and Structural Equation Modeling in analyses of the U.S.-wide data from HERI, specifically the Freshman, College Senior, Staff, and Faculty Survey data collected from 2015-2023. These analyses will include variables such as student GPA, academic preparation, academic behaviors, sense of belonging, values, and personal experiences as well as institutional characteristics. The project will uniquely contribute to knowledge about the factors that predict student persistence in STEM by investigating several complementary threads. First, is to compare student persistence across categories of fields of study (e.g. business, English, life sciences, physical sciences), to help understand patterns of persistence relating to characteristics of different fields. Second, is to draw across student, faculty, and staff perceptions of institutional climate, which will provide perspectives on how well aligned these perceptions are within an institution. Third, is to integrate a range of carefully selected variables that characterize student experiences prior to and during their time as undergraduate students, as facilitated by the expanded variables that HERI began collecting within the last decade. Fourth, is to use effect codes for categorical variables with three or more categories instead of indicator variables, which allows all individual subgroups to be compared to the overall group mean, rather than using a reference group. This four-pronged approach will allow the PI to contribute knowledge by identifying leverage points for increasing student persistence in STEM related to specific subsets of student experience and student and institutional characteristics, which would be otherwise unidentifiable. The project is supported by NSF’s EDU Core Research Building Capacity in STEM Education Research (ECR: BCSER) program, which is designed to build investigators’ capacity to carry out high-quality STEM education research. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-01

One important way that atmospheric scientists research phenomena on Earth is through observations, often done in field campaigns, with ground-based or airborne measurements. For students, this is a unique opportunity to learn about scientific observations, instruments and engineering challenges, but up until now student teaching during field campaigns has been often ad hoc and not studied or informed by best practices. A collaborative and multi-institutional team of atmospheric scientists, social scientists, and atmospheric science education researchers will come together with a common goal of advancing understanding of how students and early career scientists think and learn through authentic, experiential learning in the discipline. Through this workshop, this project seek to bring together this diverse community of researchers and scientists to learn from one another, to identify knowledge gaps across communities, and to explore potential research questions about student learning in field campaigns and field work settings specific to the atmospheric sciences. The project seeks to improve the understanding of how students learn under the unique conditions of atmospheric science field campaigns, both physically and mentally, and when and how that learning is optimized, to intentionally support and integrate early-career training and development. Field campaigns provide fertile opportunities for education researchers to address questions related to student learning, cognition, effective pedagogy, development of science identity and integration into a community of practice. In return, field experimentalists and scientists can benefit greatly from the work of education researchers in their field, especially regarding how to best design field campaigns that effectively engage students in the science enterprise. Through mutual learning, workshop participants will identify ways in which field campaigns can advance learning and provide education researchers the space to analyze student learning, while staying true to the scientific mission. This project seeks to expand the reach of the atmospheric science education research community beyond the traditional classroom setting while also increasing awareness of potential student learning opportunities within field campaigns; potentially identifying paths to integrating student learning into atmospheric science field campaigns in a way that will lead to improved integration of early-career training in field campaigns while supporting the science goals of the campaign. Student participation in field campaigns is widely acknowledged as an important part of atmospheric science education and training programs. However, no one has systematically studied how effectively these experiences achieve goals related to student learning, identity, inclusion, and developing professionalism. Consequently, it is not known if field campaigns improve the student experience or what practices we might employ to increase the efficacy of these experiences. The workshop is the first step in developing evidence-based practices for use with field experiences. Specifically, this will advance our knowledge and understanding of how students learn atmospheric science in field settings. By the end of the workshop, the goal is to develop a statement paper for the community that highlights the learning gaps within the current field campaign model and identifies opportunities for embedding education research in atmospheric science field campaigns. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2025 · 2025-01

This project will test how insect and microbial diversity affect the breakdown of dead animals. Decomposition of dead organisms is critical for controlling the recycling of nutrients in ecosystems. For example, this recycling process can affect soil health and plant growth. Decomposition of dead animals, or carrion, is a unique process because high-quality nutrients, such as proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, may be recycled for reuse by living organisms. Although carrion decomposition is important in natural systems, little is known about the ecology of this process. Some microbes and insects feed only on animal remains, but it is unknown how the diversity of these organisms affects decomposition rates. This project will provide insight into the role of insect and microbial diversity in controlling the fate of the estimated two billion tons of animal life on Earth. The results will help guide environmental management plans in a world of declining biodiversity. The project will also train undergraduate students through workshops on microbes. To investigate the effect of insect and microbial taxonomic and functional diversity on decomposition rates of carrion, this project will use carrion mesocosms with four levels of insect species richness, from zero to three, in an outdoor, terrestrial field experiment. Each treatment will be replicated five times to capture a range of insect combinations within a block of four treatments. Further, the experiment will be replicated across three blocks to capture variation across experiment locations, for a total of sixty mesocosms. This research will take place at the Pineywoods Environmental Research Laboratory at Sam Houston State University, where carrion decomposer insects and microbes have been studied for over a decade. Insect functional traits, such as body size to tarsus size ratio, will be measured and included in Rao's quadratic entropy to estimate functional trait diversity of each mesocosm insect community. Carrion tissue and associated soil microbiomes will be characterized via amplicon sequencing over the key decomposition stages of active and advanced decay. Key microbial decomposer metabolic activity, which may be a functional niche unique to carrion decomposition, will be investigated via meta-transcriptomics. The contributions of insect taxonomic and functional diversity, microbial taxonomic and metabolic diversity on the ecosystem function of decomposition rate will be estimated via generalized linear mixed effects models. The results of this project will illuminate biodiversity ecosystem function relationships in an important, yet understudied system. 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.