University of Hawaii

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-09

The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program assists universities and colleges in their efforts to significantly increase the numbers of students matriculating into and successfully completing high quality degree programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines in order to diversify the STEM workforce and supports the production of scholarly research in STEM broadening participation. Particular emphasis is placed on transforming undergraduate STEM education through innovative, evidence-based recruitment and retention strategies, and relevant educational experiences in support of racial and ethnic groups historically underrepresented in STEM disciplines: Blacks and African Americans, Hispanic and Latino Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders. These strategies facilitate the production of highly competitive students motivated to pursue graduate education or careers in STEM. For the United States (U.S.) to remain globally competitive, it is vital that it taps into the talent of all its citizens and provides exceptional educational preparedness in STEM areas that underpin the knowledge-based economy. The Islands of Opportunity Alliance is made up of 12 partner institutions including universities and community colleges in the US-affiliated Pacific Islands. This network brings together a unique set of institutions that, while geographically separated and often under-resourced, are effectively sole providers for access to higher education of their indigenous Pacific Islander populations. The Alliance is positioned for sustained quantitative and qualitative impact on STEM graduation and graduate school entry based on a sophisticated understanding of Pacific Islander family, community, and cultural issues that affect STEM participation. The vision of the Alliance is to prepare a diverse, highly competitive, and empowered STEM workforce of historically excluded populations of Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders. Providing accessible, inclusive, and culturally resonant undergraduate education and research experiences rooted in Indigenous languages, values, and cultures will positively impact retention, persistence and graduation rates for STEM degree attainment and entry into graduate school. The goals of the Alliance are to develop STEM learning communities on each campus for research engagement, skills-building, and experiential learning, to provide opportunities for STEM “becoming” (evolution of a STEM identity) and “belonging” (being accepted and valued in STEM), and to produce and disseminate new scholarly research on broadening participation. The outcomes of the project are the design of STEM learning communities with increased recruitment and more effective transfer pathways, culturally grounded research experiences following Pacific cultural protocols of research, best practices for developing culturally-sustaining STEM programming, and increased numbers of students graduating in the STEM fields and entering graduate school. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-09

This research project will investigate the formation of complex organic molecules (COMs) containing carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen atoms on interstellar ice. The investigators will perform laboratory experiments on ice analogs at conditions mimicking the environment of interstellar space, viz. ultra-high vacuum, low temperatures, and exposure to ultraviolet radiation. Results from the study will allow astronomers to understand how certain key COMs are formed on ices within interstellar clouds and the processes that generate molecular complexity in space. This project will provide training in advanced laboratory astrophysics to graduate and undergraduate students, including ones from groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM. The team will also give popular science lectures at local high schools, enabling educators to incorporate research into teaching and attract students to pursue STEM careers. The research team will explore the synthesis of key classes of COMs – aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids, esters, and amides – on interstellar ice analogs. They will do so by exposing interstellar ice analog samples to Lyman alpha radiation in a low-temperature, ultra-high vacuum space simulation chamber. The molecules produced in the experiment will be characterized in a highly complementary manner using infrared, Raman, and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, as well as mass spectrometry. The measurements will yield reliable reaction rates and branching fractions necessary to accurately interpret astronomical observations of COMs. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-09

Reliable concentration measurements of chemical elements require careful quality control. Part of this quality control depends on the use of reference materials of known concentration to assess the accuracy of measurements and intercalibrate between laboratories. For trace element concentration analyses of seawater, the supply of reference materials has become exhausted in recent years. This project aims to collect large samples of water from the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Mexico to be used as a new set of reference materials. Trace metal concentrations will be measured by several experts using different methods and conditions. The concentration values will be compared against one another, and a consensus value will be developed by these experts using state-of-the-art statistics. The remainder of these large-volume water sample will be stored for distribution to the scientific community in the future. These consensus materials are expected to improve the quality and accuracy of seawater trace metal concentration data over the next decade. Several students will participate in the three research cruises and receive training on trace metal sampling and intercalibration studies. The project also provides support for an early career scientist. The primary objective of this project is to improve the quality of trace metal data in the ocean over the next decade through optimized methodologies and well-studied consensus samples that can be used to assess accuracy. Samples will be collected from the surface and 1000 m at Station ALOHA, which brackets common ranges of open ocean dissolved metal concentrations. In addition, two surface stations in the Gulf of Mexico that have lower salinities and higher organic content due to the influence of the Mississippi River outflow will be used to test the boundaries of sample storage and analytical intercalibration. Samples will be collected and homogenized within large volume tanks and dispensed into 500mL bottles for archiving and distribution to the community. These samples will be analyzed initially by fifteen laboratories worldwide for a suite of trace metal concentrations, to address two goals. First, the data will be compared statistically, via a collaboration with an expert statistician from the National Institutes of Standards and Technology, to calculate consensus concentration values for each element. This consensus concentrations will be reported on the GEOTRACES website, and the statistical best practices will be published. Second, this network of collaborators will explore common intercalibration issues that have arisen over the last decade by utilizing a range of analytical methodologies and conditions. The primary scientific impact of this project will be a set of well-studied consensus samples that can be used to monitor the accuracy of trace metal analyses of seawater over the next decade. This project will support one early-career scientist, one PhD student from the University of Southern California, and 5-15 graduate and/or undergraduate students from Texas A&M University who will participate in the staging and collection of samples from these expeditions. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-09

The dispersal of people from their places of origin into diaspora communities has accelerated in recent years. The current project supports diaspora communities by working to document endangered languages, which in multiple cases have few written or audiovisual resources. The research team trains speakers in recording languages and developing language learning materials appropriate for their communities. These materials are of immediate use in educational contexts. The project trains graduate students and faculty to mentor heritage undergraduate students in methods of linguistic research and data analysis, culminating in novel research publications on endangered languages. To extend this work to a broad audience, the members of this project organize and host public conversations on language work in diaspora communities in academic and community forums. Endangered languages are often represented by limited descriptive work and documentary materials. A general paucity of language access exacerbates the educational, employment, and healthcare challenges faced by diaspora communities. This project takes a process-oriented diasporic approach to language, analyzing how language works through the lens of complex social factors related to migration and multilingualism. In challenging long-held assumptions about what constitutes a "language community," the diasporic approach addresses a prominent gap in the field of language documentation. Thus, the project bolsters the description and documentation of endangered languages and increases the profile of these languages in linguistic research. Through partnerships with local community organizations, the project's outputs directly support endangered languages in diaspora communities and bridge identified educational gaps. The first goal is to produce richly annotated, multipurpose language documentation materials that serve as the foundation for a wide variety of grammatical studies. This documentary material is accompanied by targeted studies of unique speech phenomena in several languages using state-of-the-art ultrasound technology to complement acoustic measurements. A third goal is to build the capacity for language work within diaspora communities through project-based training workshops for community members on language documentation and conservation. Finally, project members engage in local and international outreach through local cultural events as well as academic conferences. This outreach breaks new ground in the domain of language documentation and conservation by fostering a dialogue between diaspora communities, scholars, and society, with potential for innovative, synergistic progress in language advocacy, maintenance, and education. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-09

This project aims to uncover the secrets behind the growth of supermassive black holes (SMBH) located at the centers of galaxies. These enormous black holes are crucial for understanding the evolution of the Universe, as they significantly influence their host galaxies by affecting star formation and the development of galactic structures. The primary focus is to explore how SMBHs grow, either through the accumulation of matter or by merging with other black holes. The research will also provide educational opportunities and foster diversity within the scientific community. By engaging with the Native Hawaiian community and other underrepresented groups, the project aims to inspire and nurture the next generation of scientists. The project's main goal is to understand the growth mechanisms of supermassive black holes. It has three specific objectives: 1) to determine the merger rates of SMBHs and relate these to gravitational wave observations; 2) to investigate the growth of SMBHs during the peak period of black hole activity (known as cosmic noon) and its connection to accretion rates; and 3) to map the complete history of SMBH accretion. The research employs a multiwavelength survey approach, leveraging optical, infrared, and X-ray observations to minimize bias against obscured black holes. Advanced AI techniques will be used to analyze large imaging surveys, identifying dual active galactic nuclei (AGN) and galaxy mergers. This will help predict gravitational wave events and measure black hole masses and luminosities. Data will be collected using various observatories, including privileged access to Euclid data and several ground-based telescopes. Results will be shared through AGN-DB, an AI-managed database, and supported by tools like THALES and AGNFinder for comprehensive data integration. The project also includes significant educational outreach and diversity initiatives, providing research experiences and professional development for underrepresented students in astronomy. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-09

Understanding how smoke particles and lofted dust from events like the 2019-2020 Black Summer fires in Australia interact with clouds is incredibly important for all of us. These interactions have an impact on our weather and climate, affecting things like how clouds form, where and when it rains, and even how air moves around in our atmosphere. By understanding these processes better, scientists and policymakers can make smarter decisions to protect our health, improve air quality, and prepare for future wildfires. This research also helps us build more accurate predictions of our current climate and climate change, which is crucial for developing effective strategies to safeguard our planet for future generations. So, studying aerosol-cloud interactions after events like Black Summer is not just about science—it is about finding ways to keep our environment and communities safe and healthy. Aerosol-Cloud Interactions (ACI) are the largest source of uncertainty in global climate models. Reducing uncertainty in ACI is critical for constraining the forcing and feedbacks that combine to change the earth’s climate. By isolating a natural aerosol perturbation event, “Black Summer,” this project will be able to integrate observations, simulated aerosol emissions, and transport patterns over the Southern High Latitudes. This project will leverage this event to better constrain process-level understanding of aerosol cloud microphysics relevant for Southern Ocean (SO) mixed phase clouds and develop a thorough understanding of background and perturbed SO aerosol regimes. Simulated and satellite cloud properties from the “Black Summer” event will also allow the investigation of cloud activation and ice nucleation impacts of biomass burning aerosol on SO cloud properties. This process-oriented study addresses the importance of SO clouds on the climate system and the complex nature of the aerosol-cloud-precipitation processes. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-09

This award will support the acquisition of a state-of-the-art electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA) at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa. The EPMA is the gold-standard instrument for rapid determination of the abundances and distribution of elements in natural and synthetic solid materials at spatial scales from the centimeter down to the nanometer (billionth of a meter). The instrument will advance research frontiers in existing disciplinary strengths: volcanology, petrology, geochemistry, cosmochemistry, astrobiology, archeology, and planetary science. Its enhanced functionality will extend disciplinary impact to material sciences, engineering, and biological sciences, and support curricular initiatives that broaden participation of undergraduates in the UH Mānoa Earth Science and Mechanical Engineering BS degrees and the UH Hilo Anthropology program. Remote access and operation of the instrument will promote engagement of students and faculty at community colleges, scientists at the Hawaiian Volcanoes Observatory, and researchers outside Hawaii. Key capabilities of the proposed instrument include an increase in the maximum probe current, improved current stability and spatial resolution, and higher beam intensity in a small beam diameter. Specific components include (a) a thermal field emitter that provides a very high and stable probe current for ultra-high spatial resolution imaging at high and low accelerating voltage and thus, the ability to quantify light (low atomic number) elements as well as minor and trace elements; (b) a panchromatic cathodoluminescence detector that broadens the science objectives that can be addressed; (c) five wavelength-dispersive spectrometers configured with L-type diffracting crystals suitable for high beam intensities and light element detection; and (d) an advanced energy-dispersive spectrometer system for quantitative major-element mapping. Specialized software will facilitate operation by students as well as advanced researchers by streamlining background acquisition and corrections for matrix effects, spectral interferences, dead time, secondary fluorescence, and time-dependent intensities This project is jointly funded by the EAR Instrumentation and Facilities (EARIF) Program, the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), and Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-08

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY Humans are surrounded by soft materials: water, gel, polymers, proteins, etc. These soft materials serve important roles in our daily lives. One method to manufacture soft materials is via self-assembly, a bottom-up materials synthesis method, since top-down methods can be too time-consuming. Given the diverse range of design space for soft materials, new theoretical and simulation tools are needed to accelerate the process of finding the best building blocks for a targeted materials function. In this project, the PI proposes to use a minimal model that can design two kinds of self-assembling materials: finite clusters in connection with virus shells and bulk structures for complex crystal structures. Aided by state-of-the-art data-driven methods, the project will result in a fast design pipeline for building blocks that could be potentially synthesized in a lab environment. This project will contribute to the education and training of next-generation engineers and scientists (i.e. undergraduate and PhD students) in scientific computing. The project will also serve the general computational soft materials community by providing open-source codes, documentation, and tutorials. TECHNICAL SUMMARY One key area in soft materials design is to create minimal models that are simple enough to be experimentally realizable but also complex enough to capture a wide range of soft materials behaviors. The overall goal for this project is to efficiently inverse-design patchy particles for targeted bulk and finite structures assembly, by optimizing a patchy particle model that can capture both building block geometry and directional interaction using state-of-the-art data-driven methods. The project will have two specific aims: (1) Designing patchy particles for complex crystal structure assembly and (2) Designing patchy particles for self-limiting assembly. An automatic-differentiation-enabled molecular dynamics engine (JAX-MD) will be used to perform all the patchy particle designs, making the whole design process training free. The proposed research and education activities will improve the data and coding literacies for local Hawaiian students, provide research and training opportunities in STEM, and contribute to the greater computational soft materials community by providing open-source code, documentation, and tutorials to make research more accessible. STATEMENT OF MERIT REVIEW This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-08

Due to increasing globalization, among other factors, speakers of some marginalized languages are becoming increasingly pressured to switch to more dominant languages. This results in the loss of a language in addition to important parts of the culture and knowledge that have allowed people to steward their homelands. This knowledge helps to understand how humans have traveled, settled, and changed over the course of existence and gives deep insights into ecosystems and their stewardship. Therefore, the retention of cultural and linguistic heritage is an important factor in identity-building, especially in diaspora communities. This doctoral dissertation project consists of community-focused language documentation of such languages and creates a corpus and a reference grammar available to both the local community and researchers in the field. This project additionally benefits society because the data can be used by others to create revitalization and educational language materials. Languages under pressure with growing diaspora communities, especially those spoken in marginalized areas that have relatively small speaker numbers to begin with, are at a high risk of becoming endangered, and, eventually, becoming dormant. Through fieldwork with local community members, this doctoral dissertation project creates a grammatical description of an endangered language based on naturalistic speech data. Field activities include collecting high-quality naturalistic speech data and recording phonology-focused data from a wide range of demographics and language varieties. Recorded oral tradition is translated for linguistic analysis. Grammatical description is tied to a publicly accessible multimedia corpus of natural language data, providing an enduring record of language and culture to the community, researchers, and the public. The project is community-based, with the community informing the areas for documentation. All collected data (audio and video recordings, transcriptions, metadata, and relevant images) that have been granted open access by the community are stored in a publicly available language 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 · 2024-08

The project aims to serve the national need of developing highly effective teachers by enhancing practices to recruit and diversify mathematics educators who are culturally responsive to Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) multilingual students throughout Hawai'i. The Hawai'i Department of Education has even identified Mathematics and English as a Second Language as areas with teacher shortages. This Scholarship and Stipends project, Culturally Responsive Education and Teaching Empowerment (CREATE), will focus on recruiting and retaining "homegrown" mathematics teachers to become STEM leaders in the community who are knowledgeable in Hawai'i's unique cultural environment and are familiar with the NHPI student population. Additionally, the project's focus on NHPI students and scholars will help diversify the field of education by cultivating effective mathematics educators who are of backgrounds that are historically underrepresented. The CREATE project is a collaborative effort between two indigenous-serving institutions: the University of Hawai'i at West O'ahu (UHWO) and the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa (UHM). By implementing innovative and efficient streamlined education, CREATE scholars will obtain a Bachelor of Science in Natural Sciences with Applied Mathematics concentration (BS-NSCI-AM) from UHWO, and a master's degree with graduate certificates in Multilingual and Multicultural Professional Practice (MMPP) and Ethnomathematics from UHM. The project brings together over 22 educators with expertise in mathematics, teacher education, Hawaiian knowledge, and multilingual learning to enable 13 content-rich, highly-qualified, and culturally responsive secondary mathematics teachers who can fulfill kuleana (right, privilege, concern, or responsibility to take care of one another and the community) to NHPI within high-need Local Education Agencies (LEA) in Hawai'i. The CREATE project will incorporate two initiatives, Peer Academic Leader (PAL) and Math Teachers' Circle of Hawai'i (MaTCH), to further support Noyce scholars in becoming effective mathematics educators. The PAL component allows scholars field-based experiences by supporting and mentoring fellow UHWO students in lower division mathematics courses. The MaTCH workshops introduce students to content-based activities and will challenge them to think of pedagogical implications and opportunities for these activities, as well as help to foster relationships with in-service mathematics educators who can further support the scholars in and beyond the CREATE project. Both initiatives will provide scholars with opportunities for authentic engagement in mathematics education and learning communities. Track 1: Scholarships and Stipends project is supported through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (Noyce). The Noyce program supports talented STEM undergraduate majors and professionals to become effective K-12 STEM teachers and experienced, exemplary K-12 teachers to become STEM master teachers in high-need school districts. It also supports research on the effectiveness and retention of K-12 STEM teachers in high-need school districts. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-08

Learning the meanings of words, especially verbs, is challenging for children, since word/verb meaning is notoriously difficult to determine from use alone. Previous theories of learning have proposed that children rely on their innate grammar to help them determine the meanings of verbs, though the kinds of verbs that have been investigated are limited. This project investigates a particularly challenging set of verbs – verbs of empathy – in a language where their acquisition has never been investigated before. This project thus sheds light on the learning mechanisms that children use to learn the meanings of verbs. The outcomes of this project provide data on whether children are able to encode empathy at early ages, and what kinds of evidence children use to learn verbs. Results from this project further provide insights into language learning for child learners of second languages as well as language training for children with varied language learning abilities. The project investigates the acquisition of empathy verbs in a language where these verbs encode who the speaker of a sentence most empathizes with in an event. These verbs help speakers of languages that encode such grammatical information to convey complex social and mental connections to their interlocutors and require speakers of these languages to understand that other speakers may empathize with different individuals from those that they themselves empathize with. This latter concept is referred to as theory of mind. The first set of experiments investigates whether children can acquire empathy verbs using only grammatical evidence in their input. The second set investigates whether children can acquire these verbs using contextual, observable evidence instead. Finally, the third set of experiments are various tests typically used to assess theory of mind, where the results are correlated with those of the first two sets of experiments. The outcomes provide evidence on whether acquisition of empathy is aided by focusing on grammar versus contextual (non-grammatical) cues, thus leading to a greater understanding of language and social development. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-08

A goal of the Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP) is to increase the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) instructional and research capacities of specific institutions of higher education. Expanding the STEM curricular offerings and research capacity at TCUP institutions expands the opportunities of their students to pursue challenging, rewarding careers in STEM fields, provides for research studies in novel areas, and encourages a community and generational appreciation for the role of science and mathematics in workforce preparation and addressing local interests. This project aligns directly with that goal, allowing the institutions to design and develop a comprehensive plan for improving and expanding STEM instruction, and moreover may serve as a model and impetus for similar institutions of higher education to develop collaborative degree programs. It further supports the participating colleges’ missions to provide STEM instruction specific to the communities they serve. Through this project - PACT: Partnership in Advancing Computational Thinking - both University of Hawai‘i West O‘ahu (UHWO) and Kaua‘i Community College (KCC) will study best approaches to building capacity for teaching and research, particularly in response to emerging technological advances like generative Artificial Intelligence, while broadening the institutions’ offerings of computer science and computational thinking programs. The project aims to achieve three goals to 1) increase the number of graduates from UHWO and KCC prepared for either computational/data science jobs or for the next academic level; 2) increase the number pathways in computational thinking from KCC (a two-year college) to UHWO (a baccalaureate institution); and 3) strengthen the pathways from KCC (including Early College [EC]) to UHWO and to post-baccalaureate careers (job or graduate school). These goals will be achieved by conducting four research activities that will build faculty capacity, build student capacity and success, facilitate collaborations between UHWO and KCC, and increase KCC’s capacity. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-08

Many scientific and societal breakthroughs can only be achieved by performing complex processing of vast amounts of data efficiently. In domains as crucial to our society as climate modeling or health (and in fact in most fields of physics, chemistry, and biology today), as well as more recently in the overarching field of artificial intelligence, practitioners define "scientific workflows" to describe complex computational scientific processes as data and inter-dependent computations on these data. Scientific workflows have already supported many ground-breaking discoveries and have now become mainstays in today's science. Due to constantly evolving scientific needs and technological landscapes, it should come as no surprise that scientific workflows themselves, as well as the software and hardware systems used to support them, are the target of countless research, development, and education activities. These activities are key to advancing the state of the art of scientific workflows, but to do so they must be driven by the use of realistic and accurate scientific workflow datasets. These datasets contain "workflow instances" that describe the structure, the compute and data demands, and the past executions of real-world scientific workflows. The goals of the WfCommons project are the generation and curation of such workflow instances, and the development of software tools by which the curated workflow instances can be explored and selected by scientific workflow researchers, developers, and educators. The project will provide realistic, accurate, and usable data that is fundamental to advancing the state of the art of the scientific workflows that arise in virtually all fields of science. A schema will be defined for the precise description of workflow instances, both in terms of the workflow's specification (as static or dynamic sets of tasks with control- and/or data-dependencies) and of its past execution (on Cyberinfrastructure resources using a production workflow runtime system). Standalone software tools will be developed to construct workflow instances based on real-world executions using popular workflow runtime systems. These tools will parse and analyze the input provided to and the output and log files produced by these runtime systems, so as to extract the relevant information as defined by the above schema. A suite of integrated tools will be developed for browsing, visualizing, editing, and simulating the curated workflow instances. These tools will allow WfCommons users to easily select the workflow instances that are appropriate for their specific goals. These users include researchers who wish to perform evaluation of their algorithms for specific kinds of workflow configurations, workflow runtime system developers who wish to augment and strengthen the testing and evaluation of their systems, or educators who wish to achieve new learning objectives by exposing students to compelling and real-world workflow scenarios. These integrated tools will be made available directly in-the-browser on the WfCommons site. New data items (workflow instances) and software tools will be released continuously throughout the project. The impact of the project will be continuously assessed throughout the project's timeframe and beyond via several metrics, many of which will be automatically computed and reported on the project's Web site daily. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-08

The Earth’s surface is made of a series of tectonic plates which, over geologic time, move across the surface. Where plates move towards each other, one sinks into the Earth’s mantle, in the process known as subduction. As the rock sinks, the rock experiences increasing pressure, and the minerals, including the mineral olivine, Mg2SiO4, adopt new, denser crystals structures. These crystal structure changes result in volume reductions which have been postulated to contribute to deep earthquakes in subducting plates. Unfortunately, past experiments have not been able to fully explain the large number of deep-focus subduction zone earthquakes occurring between 475-660 km in depth. The hypothesis of this project is that the large shear stresses or grain-size reductions likely encountered during subduction deepen the Mg2SiO4 crystal structure transformations to the conditions found at the depth the earthquakes occur. To evaluate this hypothesis, this project will carefully measure the crystal structures of nano-grains of Mg2SiO4 thin films under stress as a function of pressure and temperature in diamond anvil cells. If successful, this work will boost our understanding of deep-Earth processes and help launch a new field of Thin Film Mineral Physics where the novel composition, grain size, and deviatoric stress control possible in thin film samples can be used to study a variety of natural or synthetic materials in extreme environments. This project will enable expanding outreach efforts to programs focused on STEM across age levels, from elementary and middle school, to university students, and to grandparents. The mantle discontinuities at ~410, ~520, and ~660 km critically impact deep-Earth structure and dynamics. These discontinuities have been attributed to phase transformations between olivine, wadsleyite, ringwoodite, and the bridgmanite + periclase assemblage. Recently, this team detected phase transformation in thin films at high-pressure. In these experiments, the thin film Mg2SiO4 1) forsterite-to-wadsleyite and 2) (akimotoite + periclase)-to-(bridgmanite + periclase) phase transformations occurred at pressure and temperature conditions similar to those reported for bulk Mg2SiO4. In contrast, the thin film wadsleyite-to-ringwoodite transformation occurred ~500 K higher at 18 GPa (~2.5 GPa lower at 1900 K) than it does in bulk Mg2SiO4. This suggests that the either small grain sizes or large deviatoric stresses possible in thin films (and postulated to exist within subducting slabs) may impact the wadsleyite-to-ringwoodite transformation within subduction zones. Hence, the objective of this work is to 1) determine if the previously observed thin film Mg2SiO4 phase boundary shifts can be reproduced in anhydrous Mg2SiO4 thin films, 2) carefully map out the 0.1 - 30 GPa and 300 - 2300 K phase boundaries of anhydrous Mg2SiO4 thin films, and 3) establish the fabrication and testing protocols necessary to identify the mechanisms responsible for any observed phase boundary shifts. To achieve these aims, the project will produce anhydrous Mg2SiO4 thin films via Pulsed Laser Deposition, 2) optimize thin film sample-loading procedures into a Diamond Anvil Cell and use synchrotron-based X-Ray Diffraction or Raman spectroscopy to construct the world’s first high-pressure phase diagram of a thin-film sample. In addition to elucidating how grain size and deviatoric stress may impact Mg2SiO4 phase transformations, this work will highlight how thin films, capable of supporting static tensile or compressive deviatoric stresses up to ~10 GPa, can be loaded into laser-heated Diamond Anvil Cells to apply large, well-controlled, and complex deviatoric stress states on optically-accessible samples. The proposed work will have a broad impact by 1) allowing PI Nicholas to produce a new Michigan State University (MSU) demonstration station for 4-8th grade students on “Rocks and Minerals”, 2) allowing PI Nicholas, PI Li, and PI Chen to incorporate interdisciplinary Materials Science and Geophysics teaching strategies and content into their courses, and 3) exciting broader society about science via the development of a new “Amazing Crystals” course for the Grandparent University Summer Camp run by Michigan State University each June. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-08

A research collaboration between the University of Hawai’i and Ohio State University will continue to operate the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN), which is a network of 20 telescopes deployed at four sites around the globe with a scientific goal to provide a survey of the bright transient and variable astronomical sky. ASAS-SN is the first project to image the entire visible sky on a nightly basis to a visible magnitude of g~18, making the data public. The project discovers and observes approximately 300 supernova per year, and is also an important resource for other science such as active galactic nuclei and blazar flares, tidal disruption events, Galactic and Local Group novae, cataclysmic variables, and other transients. ASAS-SN triggers on events from other NSF-supported facilities, such as astrophysical neutrinos from IceCube and gravitational wave events from LIGO to search for the optical counterparts that are crucial to fully exploring them. ASAS-SN will continue to provide a critical training ground for the next generation of time-domain astronomers and the investigators plan future Citizen Science projects to classify detected objects. Targeted observations of multimessenger alerts can reach g~20 over 100s of square degrees in a few hours. It is a unique all-sky optical counterpart to other facilities searching for neutrinos, gravitational waves, and gamma rays. The depth of ASAS-SN is nearly perfectly matched to many spacecraft (TESS/Swift for imaging, and HST/CXO/JWST for spectra). Because ASAS-SN transients are bright and promptly announced, they frequently become the best-studied sources in any transient class. Many ASAS-SN sources and transients can be studied in detail for long periods of time, whereas fainter transients cannot. ASAS-SN discovers and recovers ~300 SNe per year, with ~3300 total projected by 2027, the majority with spectroscopic classifications. It will be the largest such sample for studies of rates and correlations by type or with host properties. ASAS-SN provides public databases of 600,000 homogeneously classified variable stars as well as continuously updated light curves of more than 100 million g < 18 sources. This enables new science across many sub-fields of astronomy. ASAS-SN also provides the community with a unique tool to obtain an up-to-date optical light curve for any point on the sky. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-08

A goal of the Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP) is to increase the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) instructional and research capacities of specific institutions of higher education. Expanding the STEM curricular offerings and research capacity at TCUP institutions expands the opportunities of their students to pursue challenging, rewarding careers in STEM fields, provides for research studies in novel areas, and encourages a community and generational appreciation for the role of science and mathematics in workforce preparation and addressing local interests. This project aligns directly with that goal, allowing the institutions to design and develop a comprehensive plan for improving and expanding STEM instruction, and moreover may serve as a model and impetus for similar institutions of higher education to develop collaborative degree programs. It further supports the participating colleges’ missions to provide STEM instruction specific to the communities they serve. Through this project - PACT: Partnership in Advancing Computational Thinking - both University of Hawai‘i West O‘ahu (UHWO) and Kaua‘i Community College (KCC) will study best approaches to building capacity for teaching and research, particularly in response to emerging technological advances like generative Artificial Intelligence, while broadening the institutions’ offerings of computer science and computational thinking programs. The project aims to achieve three goals to 1) increase the number of graduates from UHWO and KCC prepared for either computational/data science jobs or for the next academic level; 2) increase the number pathways in computational thinking from KCC (a two-year college) to UHWO (a baccalaureate institution); and 3) strengthen the pathways from KCC (including Early College [EC]) to UHWO and to post-baccalaureate careers (job or graduate school). These goals will be achieved by conducting four research activities that will build faculty capacity, build student capacity and success, facilitate collaborations between UHWO and KCC, and increase KCC’s capacity. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-07

The national spectrum strategy emphasizes spectrum infrastructure and workforce development in the full range of operational, technical, and policy roles to establish U.S. leadership in future-generation (FutureG) wireless techniques. However, achieving the strategic goal of spectrum workforce development involves non-trivial challenges, including limited capacity and availability of advanced wireless cyberinfrastructure (CI) and specialized tools, skills, and knowledge sets to develop, manage, and utilize wireless CI. This project responds to the national call for spectrum workforce development and trains the FutureG workforce by extending their research abilities through a novel “immersed” approach to promote project-based hands-on learning. An open radio access network (O-RAN) wireless testbed will be utilized to allow trainees to practice the operation and programming of FutureG wireless instruments and develop wireless applications. Cloud-based access to the O-RAN testbed and a suite of template projects will be offered to address the technical barriers and complexities of wireless CI access. New course modules, vertical-integration projects, and summer courses will be offered to both student trainees and existing students at PIs’ institutions. The training materials will be disseminated through public platforms including the ACCESS Knowledge Base to train a broader and diverse group of wireless professionals. Specifically, this pilot project includes three tasks: Task 1 is to extend the abilities of wireless professionals with a publicly and remotely accessible wireless CI based on the O-RAN architecture. The CI integrates advanced RF and computing instruments including NI USRP X410 and 2974 supporting sub-6G Hz to mmWave bands, TMYTEK mmWave BBox at 28GHz and 39GHz, phrased-array beamformer and reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS), and a GPU server with 8x NVIDIA RTX A5000. Task 2 aims at training wireless professionals with the development of AI/ML tools and services to allow automatic wireless data collection and intelligent analytics. Based on this unique CI, Task 3 develops a suite of hands-on projects to train and educate wireless professionals under different scenarios ranging from basic wireless instrument operation to advanced wireless 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 2024 · 2024-07

With joint support from the Chemical Mechanism, Function, and Properties (CMFP) Program of the Chemistry Division and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), Professor Matthew Platz at the University of Hawai’i-Hilo (UHH) will carry out research with undergraduate students in the areas of organic synthesis, photochemistry, chemical analysis of reaction product mixtures, and computational modeling. This research will test advanced theoretical predictions of a new photochemical reaction mechanism that involves divalent carbon intermediates known as carbenes. UHH consistently ranks among the most diverse four-year campuses in the nation. About half of all UH Hilo undergraduates are Pell eligible, and almost two thirds take fewer than 15 credit hours per semester. This project will provide the opportunity for a modern research experience to economically challenged students from historically underrepresented populations. The project will strengthen collaboration between faculty and students at UH Hilo and The Ohio State University. UHH students will carry out research at Ohio State during the summer months, gaining valuable hands-on experience with state-of-the-art instrumentation. In Hilo, Hawai’i, students will synthesize diazirines, diazo compounds and oxadiazolines as carbene precursors, expose these compounds to monochromatic UV-vis radiation in acetonitrile/methanol mixtures, and analyze the Z/E ratio of alkene and ether products so produced as a function of excitation wavelength and methanol concentration. The predictions of theory in regard to carbene reactivity will be confirmed if the Z/E ratio of alkenes changes dramatically once a critical energy of exciting photons is reached. UHH undergraduates will spend summer months at the Ohio State University, an R1 university, developing their skills in computational chemistry under the tutelage of Professor Christopher Hadad, an expert in the field. The students will also participate in femtosecond time-resolved IR experiments measuring the lifetimes and reactivities of carbenes in collaboration with Professor Claudia Turro at the Ohio State Center for Chemical and Biophysical 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.

NSF Awards · FY 2024 · 2024-06

Partial differential equations (PDEs) model a wide variety of phenomena, ranging from how an airplane wing deforms in response to turbulence, to how radio waves travel through and around objects, to how black holes generate gravitational waves when they merge. Numerical analysts develop algorithms for simulating these systems by solving PDEs on a computer; these simulations enable engineers and scientists to develop prototypes and to interpret data from sensors. For example, the NSF-funded Nobel-winning detection of gravitational waves would not have been possible without advances in numerical analysis. In recent decades, numerical analysts discovered that ideas from differential geometry, an area of pure mathematics, can be used to develop good algorithms for solving PDEs. In fact, these ideas help not only for geometric problems in fields of study like computer vision and general relativity, but also for fields like electromagnetism that have little to do with geometry. Although applying differential geometry to numerical analysis has been very successful, thus far this link has been explored only for a small number of differential geometry ideas. In this project, the investigators will continue exploring this link, taking more ideas from differential geometry and applying them to develop new numerical algorithms. These algorithms could then be used both in applied areas, by solving PDEs in science and engineering, and in pure areas, by solving PDEs in differential geometry itself. The project will also support the training of graduate student researchers. This project focuses on problems at the cusp of numerical analysis and differential geometry. It deals specifically with the design of finite element methods for PDEs that involve vector fields and tensor fields on Riemannian manifolds. In the long term, these efforts have the potential to lead to robust numerical methods for solving geometric PDEs like the Einstein field equations, which are useful for studying gravitational wave signals, as well as PDEs like the elasticity equations, which model how objects deform under stress. This project has three main goals. The first is to develop a new family of finite elements for discretizing algebraic curvature tensors and other bi-forms---tensor products of differential forms---on simplicial triangulations. The second goal is to develop an intrinsic finite element discretization of the Bochner Laplacian, which is a basic differential operator in Riemannian geometry that differs from the familiar Hodge Laplacian from finite element exterior calculus. The third goal is to leverage what we learn to design numerical methods for a wide range of geometric problems, such as computing spectra of elliptic operators on manifolds, simulating intrinsic geometric flows, and solving prescribed curvature problems. 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 · 2024-06

Micro/nanoplastics, tiny plastic debris arising from the environmental breakdown of plastic products, are not biodegradable and can take decades or even centuries to decompose fully. There is emerging evidence that micro/nanoplastics can enter the human body through food, water, beverages, or inhalation, necessitating a deeper understanding of their environmental, health, and safety impacts. This project is driven by two main objectives. Firstly, the research team intends to establish a pioneering microplastic library in Hawaii, where the waters and beaches are among the most contaminated by microplastics on this planet. This unique collection will be gathered from the shorelines of Oahu Island, taking into account the location and sand texture, thus offering real-world environmental context. This Hawaii-based microplastic library will serve as a valuable resource for researchers and citizen scientists exploring the eco-environmental impact of microplastics. Secondly, the research will focus on the respiratory health impacts of micro/nanoplastics. The insights gained will substantially advance current understanding of the respiratory health implications linked to micro/nanoplastic exposure. This study is poised to illuminate the pathophysiology of respiratory diseases connected to air pollution and micro/nanoplastic exposure, having clear translational implications. In collaboration with local nonprofit organizations, the PI will engage in initiatives to elevate public awareness of the microplastic crisis, fostering a sense of responsibility and informed decision-making within the community. Leveraging expertise in Pediatrics, the PI will champion efforts to reduce early-life plastic exposure to safeguard children's health and well-being, aligning with the project’s aim to mitigate the adverse effects of plastic pollution. Located at the University of Hawaii, the PI is dedicated to promoting the involvement of underrepresented groups, including Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and students from low-income families. This commitment highlights the project’s focus on fostering diversity and inclusion in science. Emerging evidence suggests that micro/nanoplastics can become airborne, penetrating deeply into the distal lungs of humans. Once inhaled, these particles encounter the natural pulmonary surfactant film, which serves as the primary defense mechanism within the lung alveoli. A notable difference between micro/nanoplastics and engineered nanomaterials is the significant heterogeneity in their morphology and composition. This heterogeneity is a critical risk factor that influences their interaction with the surfactant film. Despite the growing body of research, the precise biophysical mechanisms that govern these interactions remain largely unknown, as does their potential to adversely affect respiratory health. The objective of this project is to achieve a mechanistic understanding of how micro/nanoplastics from real environmental sources impact respiratory health. The research will focus on two specific goals: First, the research team aims to establish a pioneering microplastic library in Hawaii. This unique collection of microplastic samples will be sourced from the shorelines of Oahu Island, providing a tangible environmental context. Each sample will undergo comprehensive physical and chemical characterization. The composition and morphology of these samples will be compared with reference polymeric materials and microplastics prepared from commercial plastic products, aged under fully controlled laboratory conditions. Second, the research will test a novel hypothesis that micro/nanoplastics affect the biophysical function of natural pulmonary surfactant through heteroaggregation with the surfactant film. Specifically, the PI will explore whether the biophysical mechanism involves direct binding between micro/nanoplastics and surfactant phospholipids or proteins. This experimental approach will integrate biophysical simulations, physicochemical analyses, and complementary inhalation toxicological studies. The knowledge gained from this study is expected to provide valuable insights into the specific biophysical impacts of micro/nanoplastics on surfactant phospholipids/proteins, significantly advancing current understanding of the respiratory health implications associated with micro/nanoplastic exposure. Located at the University of Hawaii, the PI is committed to promoting the participation of underrepresented groups, including Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and students from low-income families. In collaboration with local nonprofit organizations, the PI is actively engaged in efforts to raise public awareness of the microplastic crisis, fostering a sense of responsibility and informed decision-making in the community. Leveraging expertise in Pediatrics, the PI advocates for reducing early-life plastic exposure to protect the health and well-being of children, aligning with the project’s goal to mitigate the adverse effects of plastic pollution. 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 · 2024-06

The R/V Kilo Moana is a 186-foot, general-purpose research vessel built in 2002 and operated by the University of Hawaii under a charter party agreement with the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The vessel is part of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet (ARF) and is supported by the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS). Ship time is made available to academic researchers funded by the NSF, ONR, NOAA, NASA, and other federal and state agencies. This award provides funds for the purchase of instrumentation in support of the vessel's mission and its obligations to the scientific community and UNOLS. The request is for: (1) an All-In-One Weather Station identical to the one installed on the vessel to be used as a spare and as a replacement during calibration / servicing of the original station; (2) two ultra-low temperature freezers for storing oceanographic water and biological samples after collection and prior to analysis; and (3) radiometers to replace existing obsolete sensors. The principal impact of the present proposal is under Merit Review Criterion 2 of the Proposal Guidelines (NSF 23-525). It provides infrastructure support for scientists to use the vessel and its shared-use instrumentation in support of their NSF-funded oceanographic research projects (which individually undergo separate review by the relevant research program of NSF). The acquisition, maintenance, and operation of shared-use instrumentation allows NSF-funded researchers from any US university or other organization access to well-maintained, high quality, calibrated instruments for their research. It ensures collection of high-quality oceanographic data in support of science, reduces the cost of that research, and expands the base of potential researchers. 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 2023 · 2023-10

Software architecture refers to the discipline of designing the structure of software systems. The structure consists of software elements (or modules or components) and relations among them, as well as properties and constraints on the structure and behavior of the elements. The term “architecture” used in this sense is a metaphor, analogous to the architecture of a building. The software architecture serves as a blueprint for the system and the developing project, and guides the design and development of the software. During the designing of a software architecture, attributes such as reliability, availability, security, and performance are addressed by posing and comparing alternate solutions, understanding their trade-offs, and ultimately making a series of interrelated design decisions with the intention of optimizing the degree to which each of the quality concerns is satisfied. As in building architecture, the software architecture discipline has developed standard methods, called architectural tactics, of making these architectural design decisions. The main objective of this project is to develop and validate new technologies that could make software architecture design more intuitive, particularly for novice programmers and new learners. The vision is to someday be able to have programmers express their design intent intuitively and generate error-free software programs. Software architecture design is notoriously difficult to learn and even harder to master. In order to satisfy quality attribute scenarios, appropriate architectural solutions need to be chosen and implemented. These solutions are often based on well-known architectural tactics and software frameworks that deliver these tactics. This project presents a solution to change software design and programming from purely manual and exclusive tasks to one in which a programmer and an automated tactic synthesis tool collaborate to generate defect-free software design and implementation that satisfy quality attributes scenarios. This project will create (1) a context-aware inference algorithm capable of recommending suitable architectural tactics to programmers, (2) learning by example techniques for inferring the specification models that describe how a tactic can be implemented using a software framework, and (3) automated tools and an intuitive domain-specific language for the synthesis of tactical code. In addition, this research will design, develop, evaluate, and release new interventions in terms of software design strategies that can help novices and new learners during software design and programming activities. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.