Course Highlights

The NSF I-Corps program is nationally recognized for helping researchers bridge the gap between laboratory discoveries and commercial applications. Through hands-on activities and expert mentorship, participants will engage in the critical process of customer discovery, learning to identify the best product-market fit for their technology or research project. The program opens the door to government grant programs such as (fund investments of up to $2 million with no equity to help bring research to market), as well as private investments.

The program includes a combination of live virtual sessions and one-on-one meetings offering teams an opportunity to receive additional guidance from the course instructors and refine their discoveries.

Participants will gain:

• Firsthand experience with customer discovery
• Feedback and mentorship from NSF-trained instructors
• A clearer understanding of the product-market fit for their innovations; and
• The potential to be nominated for the NSF I-Corps Teams program, which offers additional resources and support.

Schedule

One-hour virtual class sessions are offered at convenient times for participants. Two days are scheduled for 1:1 mentoring sessions.

• Session 1: Monday, Feb, 17, 2025
• Session 2a: Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025 — (1:1 mentoring meetings)
• Session 2b: Friday, Feb. 21, 2025
• Session 3: Monday, Feb. 24, 2025
• Session 4: Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025 — (1:1 mentoring meetings)
• Session 5a: Wednesday, March 5, 2025
• Session 5b: Monday, March 10, 2025
• Session 6: Wednesday, March 12, 2025

NSF I-Corps programming is co-led by Linda Dickerson Hartsock, strategic initiatives advisor at the Libraries; Jeff Fuchsberg, director of the Syracuse Center for Advanced Systems and Engineering (CASE); and Cristiano Bellavitis, assistant professor of entrepreneurship in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, who serves as project research lead. Whitman Interim Dean Alex McKelvie serves as principal investigator for the University’s NSF I-Corps grant.

For more information about the upcoming NSF I-Corps course, contact Hartsock at ldhart01@syr.edu or Fuchsberg at jrfuchsb@syr.edu.

About the NSF I-Corps Program

The NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) is a program designed to help researchers in the STEM fields transition from fundamental research to the commercialization of their ideas. Through a national network of training programs and partnerships, I-Corps provides the knowledge and skills needed to evaluate the commercial potential of scientific and technological innovations.

The course is offered through Syracuse University as a partner in the��, funded by the NSF, led by Cornell University, with other collaborators, including Dartmouth College, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Binghamton, SUNY Buffalo, University of Pittsburgh, University of Rochester, University of Vermont and West Virginia University. The hub is part of the , connecting researchers, entrepreneurial communities and federal agencies to help commercialize research.

Eva Legge has been named a Mollie Beattie Visiting Scholar by the Society of American Foresters and was also awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. (Photo courtesy of Eva Legge)

Legge will receive a $10,000 scholarship to pursue her research on the role mycorrhizae play in boosting forest resilience. Mycorrhizae are fungi that grow on the roots of trees and plants and provide mutual benefits. As a Mollie Beattie Visiting Scholar, she will gain valuable professional development and networking opportunities. In addition to connecting with SAF members across the country, she can also submit her research to an SAF journal and collaborate with staff and partners at the SAF headquarters in Washington, D.C.

This latest award comes on the heels of Legge winning a����from the National Science Foundation over the summer. Like the Mollie Beattie award, the NSF fellowship includes a stipend and access to professional development opportunities. According to the NSF program, its mission is to “help ensure the quality, vitality and diversity of the scientific and engineering workforce of the United States.”

Legge is part of A&S biology professor����Mycorrhizal Ecology Lab and SUNY ESF Professor����Applied Forest and Fire Ecology Lab. As a member of these teams, she studies how climate-adaptive forest management, such as timber harvest, assisted tree migration and prescribed fire, affects the symbiotic relationship between fungi and forests. Their goal is to devise strategies to safeguard these crucial yet delicate symbioses, ultimately aiding in the development of effective forest management practices.

“Climate change will likely add to the many stressors facing eastern U.S. forests. However, the positive benefits of fungal partnerships with tree roots can, in certain contexts, increase a forest’s stress tolerance,” Legge said in an��.

With this funding, she will continue her research exploring the connection between forest management, mycorrhizal symbioses and seedling success. She hopes to improve management practices and maximize the advantages mycorrhizae offer to “future-adapted” seedlings, thereby enhancing the resilience of America’s forests.

Eva Legge (second from left) and her team have been conducting their latest field research in Huntington Forest, located in the Adirondacks. (Photo courtesy of Eva Legge)

“Eva is an exceptionally driven graduate student motivated by addressing critical knowledge gaps in forest ecosystem resilience to global change,” says Fernandez. “Her research focuses on the crucial role of belowground dynamics in forest resilience, bridging fundamental ecological research with applied forest management. Her multidisciplinary approach promises to advance both basic scientific understanding and sustainable land management practices in a changing world. I am thrilled to see her outstanding work recognized with these prestigious awards.”

Learn more about the�����Ի���.

Before any scientific question can be answered, it must be dreamed up. What happens to cause a healthy cell or tissue to change, for instance, isn’t fully understood. While much is known about chemical exposures that can lead to genetic mutation, damaged DNA, inflammation and even cancer, what has rarely been asked is how physical stressors in the environment can cause a cell or tissue to respond and adapt. It’s a piece of the puzzle upon which future medical breakthroughs might depend.

Homeostasis refers to a state of equilibrium; at the cellular and tissue level, any changes in environment will spur a response that balances or accommodates it. “Mostly people think of chemical changes, exposure to drugs, for instance,” says Schwarz, principal investigator on the project. “Here we ask, what if you squeeze a cell—or a group of cells or tissue—mechanically? Can it still carry out its functions? Maybe not. Maybe it needs to adapt.”

�����Ի� , both professors in the �����Ի� members of the��, have been awarded a four-year National Science Foundation grant from Physics of Living Systems, for a project titled “.”

From left, Alison Patteson and Jennifer Schwarz

As co-principal investigator Patteson notes, describing the idea this way is a new use of scientific language. “As physicists, we are proposing this idea that there is a mechanical version of homeostasis,” she says. “We have proposed a framework for that.”

Drawing upon previous collaborations that have examined specific scales (such as chromatin molecules, individual cell motion, and collective cell migration through collagen networks), the investigators will work to build a multiscale model to capture how chromatin remodels from physical stressors at the cell- and tissue-level. They will conduct experiments involving mechanical compression, and working with the��, observe detailed microscopic images of the cells in action.

3D reconstruction of a collection of cells, called a cell spheroid, with individual nuclei in yellow. This is an example of a detailed microscopic image used to study cell motility. (Photo credit: Minh Thanh of the Patteson Lab and Blatt BioImaging Center)

Xiaoxia “Silvie” Huang

With “Engaging Refugee and Immigrant Youth in STEM Through Culturally Relevant and Place-Based Digital Storytelling,” — an associate professor in the program—aims to engage culturally and linguistically diverse refugee and immigrant middle school students in co-designing culturally relevant and place-based STEM learning experiences through immersive, virtual reality (VR) storytelling. The goal? To support their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education and career aspirations.

During this two-year project, Huang, a project investigator, will collaborate with an interdisciplinary team, including co-PIs Professor (School of Education) and Professor (). Also joining the research team are professors and () and professors and ().

“During the VR storytelling co-design process, local middle schoolers will expand their STEM disciplinary knowledge and skills in agriculture, environmental science, and entry-level computer coding,” says Huang. “This learning will be deeply rooted in their lived experience, with immersive stories that interweave their identities, cultures, and interaction with local environments. The goal of this project is to increase participants’ STEM learning, identity and self-efficacy, and to broaden their interests in STEM career pathways.”

The project team will collaborate with various community partners and organizations during its implementation, including , the , �����Ի� interconnected projects and programs organized through the (including Natural Science Explorers and Write Out). Huang’s project also will engage 10 Syracuse University undergraduate and three graduate students as mentors for the middle school participants.

“This exciting and interdisciplinary research project brings together collaborators from four different schools and colleges and a host of community partners to advance culturally sustaining STEM opportunities for refugee and immigrant students in the local Syracuse community,” says Professor Beth Ferri, Associate Dean for Research, School of Education. “Drawing on cultural and community assets and engaged interdisciplinary learning, the project is as ambitious as it is innovative.”

Huang expects the project will produce not only the young participants’ digitally immersive stories but also curriculum modules for facilitators and participants, supporting the co-design process, as well as a practical guide for using community-based research to involve refugee and immigrant youth in STEM.

Carlos Caicedo

��is an associate professor at the iSchool and director of the Center for Emerging Network Technologies (CENT). He is serving as the principal investigator on the research grant, “.”

Caicedo Bastidas is collaborating with colleagues at Rutgers University to research new RF spectrum management methods that can impact or enable spectrum sharing between cellular operators, coexistence of different wireless devices, and interference management for passive wireless devices, such as those used for weather forecasting and radio astronomy.

“I’m very happy to have received this grant,” says Caicedo Bastidas. “For several years, my collaborators from Rutgers and I have been discussing and maturing ideas for how distributed spectrum management should be implemented.”

As part of their research, the team will complete a multi-stage evaluation methodology that starts with architectural design of D3SM (distributed data-driven spectrum management). Their studies are expected to lead to an experimentally validated set of protocols and algorithms for distributed and partially centralized RF spectrum management methods.

Wireless communication services and associated applications rely on the use of radio frequency spectrum resources for their operation. Due to the rapid growth in the use of these services, spectrum management agencies and wireless service providers need to migrate from current spectrum use practices to more dynamic spectrum assignment and sharing mechanisms.

“This grant gives us the opportunity to finally develop the protocols and algorithms that realize our vision under a data and information-centric approach for distributed and hierarchical spectrum management,” says Caicedo Bastidas. “It’s applicable in a wide range of scenarios where devices with heterogeneous radio frequency operation characteristics need to co-exist and/or share RF spectrum resources. Such scenarios will become more common as 5G evolves into 6G and beyond.”

The 2024 cohort of Syracuse-area high school students who took part in the Syracuse University Physics Emerging Research Technologies Summer High School Internship Program.

Thanks to a new National Science Foundation grant, Syracuse University’s physics department doubles the number of Syracuse-area high school participants in their paid summer internship program.

STEM jobs are quickly becoming the backbone of America. By 2031, STEM occupations are��, while non-STEM occupations will grow at about half that rate at 4.9%. Therefore, it’s essential for today’s students to gain a solid foundation in math, science and engineering subjects. Syracuse is about to see its own boom in STEM jobs, as the arrival of the Micron chip manufacturing facility will include 9,000 high-paying positions at the Central New York campus.

Federal funding organizations like the National Science Foundation (NSF) have acknowledged this workforce shift and are seeding and supporting initiatives aimed at growing a diverse STEM workforce. Since 2022, the Department of Physics has hosted one such program, bringing in Syracuse-area high school students to participate in a paid research internship. In support of that program, the NSF recently pledged nearly $1 million to Syracuse University through their Experiential Learning for Emerging and Novel Technologies (ExLENT) campaign, which will fund the physics internship over three years.

Ruell Branch

Originally known as Syracuse University Research in Physics (SURPh) during its first two summers in 2022 and 2023, the program seeks to create STEM career pathways for historically excluded groups by involving them in authentic research experiences and providing mentoring and peer networks. SURPh was the brainchild of former physics student Ruell Branch ’24, who pitched the idea to his professors as a way to strengthen the University’s connection with the local community and inspire local students to pursue STEM.

“I wanted Syracuse high school students who have interests in physics to see what it’s like to work as a paid scientist,” says Branch, who graduated from the Syracuse City School District. “I think it’s extremely important for students to get experience conducting research in an actual science lab.”

Expanding the Program

With the help of physics professor��, Henninger High School science teacher Melanie Pelcher, and fellow Syracuse alum and Henninger High School graduate Devon Lamanna ’23, G’24, SURPh was born. Now, thanks to the NSF funding awarded to Ross and fellow physics professor and department chair , the summer program will be funded through the summer of 2026.

“The new NSF support is a game-changer,” says Soderberg. “It signifies to the students who participate that not only those of us in the SU physics department and Syracuse city schools, but also policymakers in the federal government, see value in helping them get excited about STEM disciplines and see the potential for them as future professionals who will someday help drive innovation and discovery.”

The three-year grant, totaling nearly $1 million, allowed the program to grow from 12 students in 2023 to 24 in 2024 and brought in additional faculty mentors. SURPh was made possible in past years thanks to funding from the John Ben Snow Foundation and internal support from the Engaged Humanities Network and the physics department.

“This program could not have achieved NSF funding without these other sources to prop us up,” says Ross.

Now called the Syracuse University Physics Emerging Research Technologies Summer High School Internship Program (SUPER-Tech SHIP), the program just wrapped its summer session with a closing ceremony and poster session.��Through SUPER-Tech SHIP, students were exposed to skills and concepts related to computational physics, biophysics and particle physics during the six-week program.

Read the full story on the��.

Saba Siddiki

The funding is provided by the NSF’s Smart and Connected Community program and aims to foster a Community-Responsive Electrified and Adaptive Transit Ecosystem to tackle challenges that arise in the planning, operations and management of public bus fleet electrification.

According to Siddiki and fellow project researchers, public bus fleets—including transit and school buses—represent a prime opportunity for transportation electrification and associated improvements in environmental quality and health benefits in impacted communities.

The widespread adoption of electric buses has been hindered by an array of complex and interrelated planning, operational and managerial challenges, they say. Among them are range limits, long charging time, expenses, low bus utilization ratios, equipment downtime, an underdeveloped workforce, and diverse stakeholder interests and priorities.

The research team seeks to overcome these hurdles with a holistic approach that includes the integration of intelligent technology development with community needs. Sustainability and transportation access will be focal points in their research and solution design.

The project will involve the development of intelligent tools for effective and data-driven decision-making regarding bus electrification. The project will also assess collaborative governance in public bus fleet electrification planning and policymaking. In addition, in collaboration with industry and community partners, the project will contribute to the development of a workforce to facilitate a sustainable future for electrified public bus transportation.

“Through these various activities, the project aims to support a scalable, transferable and sustainable path for bus electrification,” says Siddiki.

Siddiki co-authored a paper published in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Transition in August 2023 that presented findings on research related to the topic of transportation electrification. She and fellow writers examined pathways in American cities with varying degrees of plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) adoption and policy activity took to encourage PEV adoption in the late 2010s. They found that transportation electrification in cities was streamlined through the work of PEV advocates that collaborated across sectors.

This recent work builds on previous projects Siddiki has conducted examining public sector policies to encourage electric vehicle adoption as well as factors informing individual vehicle uptake.

Siddiki is the Chapple Family Professor of Citizenship and Democracy and director of the master of public administration program and the Center for Policy Design and Governance. Her research focuses on policy design, collaborative policymaking, institutional theory and analysis, and regulatory implementation and compliance.

“Professor Siddiki’s leadership of the Center for Policy Design and Governance and her broader interdisciplinary work, collaborations and scholarship elevates the visibility and relevance of the research being done as well as the diverse audiences that are impacted by the outcomes and the external funding being prioritized to support evidence-based policy and implementation,” says Dean David M. Van Slyke.

The project research team is led by principal investigator Jie Xu of George Mason University. In addition to Siddiki, it also includes Wenying Ji, Ran Ji, Vivian Motti, David Wong and Fengxiu Zhang, all of George Mason University, and Jundong Li of the University of Virginia.

The program, NRT-URoL: Emergent Intelligence Research for Graduate Excellence in Biological and Bio-Inspired Systems (EmIRGE-Bio), will support the integration of research and education on emergent intelligence in both biological and bio-inspired systems and allow doctoral students to work and experience team-building across disciplinary and departmental boundaries.

Lisa Manning speaks at a previous BioInspired Symposium. (Photo by Angela Ryan)

“Many of society’s most pressing challenges—including food security, sustainability and supporting aging populations—will require breakthroughs in biotechnology and bio-inspired science,” says , William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Physics in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), who is principal investigator (PI). “This program will train a new generation of scientists and engineers who can evaluate and harness complex systems, such as biological tissues or next-generation materials, to drive intelligent responses such as sensing, actuating and learning, leading to breakthrough technologies.”

Co-PIs are , associate professor of biology and chemistry in A&S; , associate director of BioInspired and Renée Crown Professor in the Sciences and Mathematics and associate professor of biology in A&S; , Samuel and Carol Nappi Research Scholar and associate professor of biomedical and chemical engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS); and , associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in ECS.

BioInspired director , professor of biomedical and chemical engineering in ECS, says, “the Research Traineeship Program is currently one of—if not the most—competitive funding programs at the National Science Foundation. Receipt of the award speaks to the existing strength of graduate education in BioInspired fields at Syracuse University and to the exciting new opportunities and programming that Lisa and the team designed and proposed and now stand poised to deliver.”

The EmIRGE-Bio program will feature advanced core disciplinary courses in areas foundational to biotechnology and bio-inspired design; the development of two new courses utilizing team-based learning paradigms; and a longitudinal professional development program. It will also include a STEM entrepreneurship course offered by the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, an internship program and a co-curricular workshop series on project management and technology transfer.

Some 115 Ph.D. students from fields that span the life and physical sciences and engineering are expected to take part in the training, which the research team says will address a STEM workforce gap identified by local and national partners in industry and academe.

“Emergence in biology and bio-inspired design is one of the University’s signature areas of strength, and we have seen that borne out by the success of BioInspired since its founding in 2019,” says Interim Vice Chancellor, Provost and Chief Academic Officer . “This initiative draws on that strength and supports our long-term strategic goal to transform STEM at Syracuse and enhance graduates’ potential for success in a swiftly evolving marketplace.”

Adds , vice president for research: “The NRT award will advance BioInspired in ways that are core to Syracuse University’s identity: recruiting and retaining a diverse student population, advancing cutting-edge interdisciplinary research and education and providing our students with the entrepreneurial skills needed in the 21st century workforce.”

Lauryn Gouldin (Photo by Marilyn Hesler)

, Crandall Melvin Professor of Law and a 2022-25 Laura J. & L. Douglas Meredith Professor of Teaching Excellence, is one of three researchers on the��project, “.”��She and , assistant professor of computer science at the University of Virginia (formerly of Syracuse University) and , associate professor of computer science and engineering at Washington University in St. Louis received a $600,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant for the research. They are examining three issues: the uniformity and fairness of criminal court-date scheduling processes, if individual circumstances are considered when setting court dates, and whether a “smarter” computerized system can produce more equity and efficiency in those processes.

Ensuring that defendants who are released before trial return to court as scheduled is one of the primary goals of the pretrial process, Gouldin says. “Fortunately, data across jurisdictions suggest that most defendants show up for court as required. With bail reform efforts in many jurisdictions leading to higher rates of pretrial release, courts are focused on ensuring that pretrial appearance rates remain high,” she says.

Scheduling court appearances on dates and at times that work for defendants will help keep pretrial appearance rates high and avoid court system inefficiencies, she believes. Many factors—often legitimate hardships—can influence whether a defendant appears in court when scheduled. Gouldin says those factors are not consistently considered by courts and there is little uniformity in how appearance dates are scheduled from court to court.

The researchers are working to produce a system that predicts dates and times when defendants are more likely to appear versus being assigned an arbitrary court date or time. They believe having that knowledge, along with more flexibility in scheduling court dates—such as setting evening or weekend appearance dates—could improve pretrial appearance rates and create a more equitable scheduling process overall.

No-Show Factors

“Whether a defendant can appear in court when assigned depends on individual circumstances. Some may have work or school obligations or need to find childcare or arrange transportation. Others having substance addictions or mental health issues may be more at risk to miss dates; some defendants just don’t understand the court system; and people with disabilities may face specific challenges getting to court on time. In addition, some defendants who must repeatedly return to court can wait all day for their cases to be called, then find out the proceedings are postponed for a month,” Gouldin says.

But criminal courts can be inflexible, she adds. “Maintaining a perfect attendance record under these circumstances, and when so many court appearances are adjourned seems especially unreasonable. I believe courts can likely improve pretrial appearance rates by developing more flexible scheduling practices that account for these challenges.”

Data Input

This summer, Gouldin is working with research assistants to develop partnerships with judges, court administrators, pretrial service offices and criminal defense organizations in Syracuse and across New York State to collect data on the information that courts consider and the processes they use to schedule criminal cases.

Fioretto and Yeoh will take that data and apply what they call “” a scheduling approach that integrates machine learning algorithms with mathematical optimization and computerized logical reasoning. The AI-based approach aims to predict dates and times when an individual would be more likely to be able to appear in court. The researchers will incorporate defendants’ potential constraints into the date predictions and then develop mechanisms to ensure that court appearances are scheduled fairly for defendants of different races and genders.

Time, Money Costs

Fairness is an important consideration because judges can impose consequences for missing scheduled appearances even when defendants have justifiable reasons for not showing up, according to Gouldin. “Judges often make high-stakes decisions that implicate fundamental liberty interests, such as detaining defendants before trial or imposing bail, electronic monitoring, pretrial supervision or curfews. Failures to appear also become part of a defendant’s court record and may impact future pretrial liberty.”

The researchers are also mindful of the court’s administrative efficiency goals. Missed court dates mean inconveniences and costs of time and money for judges, attorneys, court personnel, witnesses and other defendants whose cases may be delayed as a result, as well.

Phase 2

Gouldin hopes eventually to gather court appearance data that will include defendants’ demographic details to assess whether specific factors affect the ability or inability to meet a pre-set court appointment. That step could reveal further ways to increase fairness in scheduling, she says. Having individuals return for their court appearances is more important than ever now, Gouldin says, because pretrial reforms in the U.S. over the past 10 years have overhauled traditional money bail systems so that more defendants are released before trial.

Gouldin’s pre-trial appearance work has been cited in federal court decisions, in state and federal amicus briefs and in testimony to the House Judiciary Committee. In 2022, she served as a consulting expert for federal litigation where a Tulsa County, Oklahoma money bail system was eventually deemed unconstitutional. Her article, “Keeping Up Appearances,” an analysis of law and policies governing pretrial appearance, which has been developed in part with the support of the NSF grant, is due to be published in the University of California Davis Law Review later this year.

Three Syracuse University students have been awarded prestigious graduate research fellowships through the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), and two students have been recognized with honorable mentions.

The fellowship recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees in the U.S. The five-year fellowship includes three years of financial support, including an annual stipend of $37,000 and a $16,000 educational allowance.

The 2024 recipients of the NSF GRFP are the following:

• Edward (Cole) Fluker, a senior chemical engineering major in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS). Fluker will be joining the Ph.D. program in chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Pennsylvania upon graduation.
• Dan Paradiso, a second-year Ph.D. student in physics in the College of Arts and Sciences.
• Melissa Yeung, a first-year Ph.D. student in mechanical and aerospace engineering in ECS.

��Edward (Cole) Fluker

Fluker, who was recently named a University Scholar, initially got involved in research in his sophomore year and took on his first significant research project the following summer. Through the University’s Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, he worked under Ian Hosein, associate professor of biomedical and chemical engineering, analyzing a gel polymer electrolyte system as an alternative to liquid electrolytes in calcium-ion batteries. The research resulted in a paper, on which Fluker was first author, in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Physical Chemistry.

That experience led him to pursue more research opportunities in energy storage. In summer 2023, he completed the Internet of Things for Precision Agriculture REU at the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied the power and energy performance of aluminum air batteries (AABs) with Ag-based cathodes.

“By the end of the project, I had successfully fabricated cathodes that resulted in power performance of 70% of the commercial option at less than 1/4,000th of the cost,” Fluker says. “I was especially interested in creative efforts to improve efficient agricultural practices, and I hope to continue contributing to them while at UPenn.”

Fluker says the NSF GRFP will give him financial resources to help broaden his research to be more sustainable and inclusive. “There is a severe underrepresentation of Black students pursuing advanced degrees, and I believe this program will help me launch a pipeline program for African American students to support their advanced degree aspirations,” he says. “On top of my research goals committed to next generation energy storage, I want to pave a path for underrepresented students that opens doors they never thought were meant for them.”

Dan Paradiso

Paradiso’s research is focused on the deaths of massive stars in the universe, known as core-collapse supernovae. These stars, which have masses of around 10 to 100 times the mass of the sun, end their life in a cataclysmic and explosive death that produces light that can be detected with ground and space-based telescopes. Decades of research, however, suggests that not all stars that undergo core-collapse result in a successful explosion and instead the star can continue to implode until a black hole is formed. These events are referred to as failed supernovae, and it is estimated that approximately 20-30% of stars that undergo core-collapse result in a failed supernova.

“In my research I focus on the dynamics of shockwaves, which are ubiquitous with core-collapse supernova physics, using analytical and numerical methods to understand these failed supernova explosions,” Paradiso says. “I then use these techniques to make predictions about observable properties of failed and sub-energetic explosions.”

“As a second-year graduate student, the generous support from the GRFP is very welcome, and I am excited to continue my research with this support,” he says.

��Melissa Yeung

Yeung works in the fluid dynamics lab of Yiyang Sun, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, where she focuses on supersonic jet engines.

High noise levels have always been associated with supersonic aircraft, restricting their flight range to over sea. “The goal of my work is to alleviate the undesired features through strategically placed small micro-jets of air. I am currently focused on optimizing these micro-jets such that they can continuously modulate themselves to adapt to various flight conditions. By doing so, the flow can be controlled even in off-design conditions and with minimal energy input,” Yeung says. “Understanding these complex flow physics is vital for the development of next-generation high-performance aircraft. Successfully controlling this flow can improve upon the aircraft’s performance and ensure the safety of nearby workers or civilians. This work is one of many steps in pushing supersonic flight for commercial use.”

Yeung says the GRFP fellowship will allow her more flexibility in her research direction, fund her research activities and allow her to attend more conferences.

Yeung also notes the tremendous amount of support she received from Sun, Professor Emeritus Mark Glauser and Gina Lee-Glauser, retired vice president for research, throughout the application process. “Their guidance has been crucial to my success and without them I would have not have the honor of being an NSF GRFP recipient, she says.

Nicholas Rubino and Elizabeth Su

Two students also received honorable mentions in this year’s NSF GRFP competition. Nicholas Rubino, a second-year Ph.D. student in mechanical and aerospace engineering in ECS who is researching robotic devices for physical rehabilitation, and Elizabeth Su, a senior graduating with a bachelor’s degree in bioengineering and neuroscience from the College of Arts and Sciences. Su will pursue a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering at Purdue University, researching enhanced visual prosthetics.

The CFSA will hold an the week of June 10-14. The bootcamp is for rising seniors and first- and second-year graduate students who are eligible for and plan to apply for the NSF GRFP this fall.

Students interested in learning more about or applying for the next NSF GRFP award cycle or any other nationally competitive scholarships and fellowships should visit the����or email��cfsa@syr.edu��for more information.

Hoque has received the National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award to research context-sensitive fuzzing for networked systems. This grant supports early career faculty with their professional development and will build upon Hoque’s research on computer networks and systems security, program analysis and software engineering.

“Many big tech companies like Google and Microsoft have been investing in fuzzing techniques and have seen the importance of finding bugs in existing software,” Hoque says. “The National Institute of Standards in Technology also endorses fuzzing as an automated technique for security testing. This project will push boundaries within the field and have an impact on cybersecurity.”

Endadul Hoque (Photo by Alex Dunbar)

Hoque’s project has three research goals. The first goal is to create a language that can encode complex structures of inputs that change depending on the context and develop algorithms that can quickly generate correct inputs based on this language. The second goal will create techniques that can mutate these inputs without losing their context sensitivity, which is essential for the process of fuzzing. The final goal is to create mechanisms that ensure the internal state of a protocol is accurately maintained. This will allow each fuzz input to be tested in a suitable state for the protocol being tested.

“In this area of research, people tend to focus on strengthening the system by finding flaws in the existing system that we use in our day-to-day life,” says Hoque. “How can we find loopholes in real-world security-critical systems? This research award falls under that category to advance the limitations of existing methodologies.”

As part of his project, Hoque plans to improve cybersecurity courses and hold K-12 workshops to promote cybersecurity awareness, integrating his research findings into these initiatives. The project will also encourage undergraduate and graduate students from historically marginalized communities to get involved with educational and research activities.

Additionally, Hoque will form a team for cybersecurity competitions such as capture-the-flag competitions, where participants search for hidden text strings in vulnerable websites or programs. These gamified competitions are also an effective way to improve cybersecurity education.

“This project has the potential to significantly enhance the robustness of protocol implementations and cybersecurity education, benefiting society. I’m happy to have received this prestigious award,” says Hoque.

Syracuse City School District students work on an experiment

The initiative, Syracuse University Physics Emerging Research Technologies Summer High School Internship Program (SUPER-Tech SHIP), is a partnership between the Department of Physics in the College of Arts and Sciences and the Syracuse City School District (SCSD). , professor and chair of physics, is principal investigator. The co-principal investigator is , professor and associate chair of physics.

“This program will allow us to really increase the impact we can have on both the local community of high school students who might be interested in future STEM careers, and also on our Syracuse University undergraduate and graduate students who work alongside them and use the experience to develop as mentors, teachers and scientists,” Soderberg says.

Jennifer Ross

Through SUPER-Tech SHIP, student interns will be exposed to skills and concepts related to quantum information, semiconductors and biotechnology during a six-week program. It’s based on a run by the physics department during the summers of 2022 and 2023. That program, Syracuse University Research in Physics (SURPh), engaged SCSD students and recent graduates in six-week, paid internships, during which they worked alongside faculty researchers in physics labs and classrooms. Ross developed it after then-student Ruell Branch ’24 told her that his former classmates at SCSD’s Henninger High School would love to experience hands-on learning in the University’s physics lab.

“I am very invested in exposing people to the positives of physics and science—especially people who have been historically excluded from the field due to cultural stereotypes,” Ross says. “I want people to have opportunities, and this program is a way to give people opportunities to learn about other career paths.”

SUPER-Tech SHIP, like SURPh, seeks to create STEM career pathways for historically excluded groups by involving them in authentic research experiences and providing mentoring and peer networks. The SCSD student body is 48% Black, 15% Latino and 1% Indigenous; 85% of students are economically disadvantaged. To recruit students to the program, physics faculty members will visit SCSD classrooms to promote participation. Applications will be evaluated based on a student’s persistence and grit, rather than science experience.

Mitchell Soderberg

Following an orientation “boot camp,” interns will work in pairs on long-term research projects in the labs. Ross says interns may work on biotechnology in biophysics labs, looking at the mechanical nature of bacteria; particle detection, using semiconductor technology and novel detection schemes; or astrophysics, working to understand how black holes collide and tear apart stars.

Past participants in the SURPh project will return to serve as peer mentors and participate in research with current interns. The interns will also benefit from seminars on science topics, professional development workshops, lunch-and-learns with speakers from the University and the industry and weekly activities to introduce them to different areas of campus. The six weeks will conclude with a poster session and a celebration event attended by the interns’ friends, family members and teachers.

Ross says encouraging the next generation of creative problem-solvers to work in tech is essential in order for the U.S. to remain competitive in the high-tech industry, and that “creativity requires diversity in thought and that often comes from diversity in thinkers.”

She also notes the program’s synergy with the impending arrival of Micron Technology in Central New York. “Micron will need many workers for the fabrication and production factory, and the exposure the students will get will help them to understand the fundamental science and the cutting-edge technologies that microchips support,” she says. “It is the right thing to do to develop our local economy by training the folks in our community who have outstanding potential to make the world a better place through high-tech solutions to the world’s problems. Syracuse is the right place for this development to take place.”

Quinn Qiao

Their hands-on training is underway in the lab of noted expert , professor in the . Qiao directs the , one of three National Science Foundation (NSF)-supported collaborative research energy storage centers.

That center played a huge part in the University’s recent naming as a core partner in the , one of 10 inaugural projects funded by the NSF. Hosted by nearby Binghamton University, the project aims to make upstate New York “one of America’s battery hubs.” It brings $15 million now and potentially up to $160 million total to supercharge growth and cutting-edge research. Its is to establish sites that produce new battery componentry, conduct safety testing and certification and manufacture, integrate applications and support workforce development. New forms of battery power and energy storage technologies are considered critical .

Qiao will conduct training activities and collaborate with international industry partners and local economic development agencies and governments. He’ll also coordinate with existing entrepreneurship programs for technology transfer and commercialization activities and plan training for students from primary to graduate school and for local industry employees.

New Space

Qiao’s lab is housed in expansive new facilities in Link Hall that is filled with sophisticated and state-of-the-art equipment. The space is part of an extensive renovation designed to accommodate the college’s anticipated 50% growth over the next five years, as outlined in the University’s academic strategic plan, “.” That leap is being driven by emerging technologies in energy storage, computer chip and sensor manufacturing and other technology innovations that are leading new job growth in the Syracuse area.

Five-Student Lab

Students working with Qiao are , , , and .

Li tests lithium-rich cathodes in coin batteries aiming to speed synthesis processes to achieve batteries that can store more energy in the same physical space. He is working to produce materials faster and to lower the costs of production by using microwavereactors to accelerate the rate of synthesis and to monitor temperatures and pressures to observe how varying conditions affect the rate and yield of synthesis.

Hansheng Li, right, and Madan Saud, left, Ph.D. students, in the lab with Professor Quinn Qiao.

Over three years in Qiao’s lab, Li developed testing techniques and methodologies that have strengthened his preparation for a future either in industry or academia, he says. Still, his research hasn’t come without challenges, providing “a mix of pain and gain somehow,” he adds. “You’re not going to have results come out as you’re expecting them to each time, so analyzing the reasons behind those outcomes and proposing how to resolve problems is what’s helpful in building up research methodologies.”

Bilal Sattar, left, uses the ECS’s QiaolLab’s sophisticated equipment for experiments.

Sattar, who is in his second year at the University, worked three years in China before coming to the U.S. His research focuses on the chemical composition of batteries to see how they can be made more environmentally friendly. He also studies nanoscopic photochemical changes that drive instabilities in perovskite semiconductors used in solar cells, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), photodetectors, lasers and other technologies, including solar panels and photo-rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.

He enjoys the lab’s collegial nature and his professor’s “24/7 availability,” and is pleased at the high degree of professional activity he has experienced, he says. Sattar presented at last summer’s American Chemical Society (ACS) conference and at the 2024 American Physical Society (APS) March meeting in Minnesota. He has also been able to publish in scientific journals.

Third-year doctoral student Zhang works with an atomic-force microscope on nanoscale imaging and on mapping thin film organic solar cells and perovskite solar cells for nanoscale measurements.

Yuchen Zhang says his lab work with Professor Qiao, in which he works on solar cells at the nanoscale level, is world-unique.

“What I’m doing is world-unique,�� and no other universities can do it, so I’m very glad I have the opportunity to work here,” he says. Zhang imagines an industry career as a researcher, scientist or engineer, but is also open to an interesting postdoctoral position at a university or national laboratory.

Saud is a third-year Ph.D. student who previously taught secondary-level science in government schools in his home country of Nepal. He is working to develop a solid-state battery to meet the high energy demands of the electric vehicle and grid-scale storage sectors. His goal—and he admits it’s not an easy task—is to create an energy-dense, safer, longer-lasting solid-state lithium metal battery.

To do that, he replaces the liquid electrolytes in current batteries (which can sometimes be flammable) with a non-flammable solid electrolyte. That involves synthesizing a solid electrolyte, characterizing it, measuring its ionic conductivity, testing its stability with Li-metal anodes, then fabricating a full solid-state battery.

He has been able to synthesize a novel sulfide electrolyte that has a significantly higher critical current density at room temperature, he says. He is also working to increase the capacity retention in full solid-state batteries at higher current density. It’s a goal he hopes to achieve before he graduates in 2025.

The battery field is interesting for a researcher now, Saud says. Recognizing the hard work of his parents to assure his education, he hopes to pay his gratitude forward to help others. “The field does require basic knowledge in electrochemistry, but it offers a lot of research scope for a student who is energetic. As society transitions toward a more sustainable and electrified future, developing a new battery technology is a good way to contribute to the world.”

Poojan Kawekar is currently on an NSF intern research program at an industry lab in South Dakota.

Kaswekar, also in his third year, focuses on developing lead-free perovskite solar cells, which have significant cost advantages over conventional solar cells and align with the nation’s clean energy transition. He also works on solid-state batteries and their industrial and commercial applications and nanoscale characterization techniques. He is participating in a study away internship at Daktronics Inc. in South Dakota, supported by an NSF INTERN grant.

He says Qiao “has been an invaluable cornerstone in my pursuit of a Ph.D. He is dedicated to fostering a collaborative and intellectually stimulating environment within our lab and I have grown not only as a researcher but also as a critical thinker under his mentorship.”

will explore new variations of two of the oldest problems in geometry—the isoperimetric problem and the Minkowski problem—with a , the National Science Foundation’s most competitive award for early-career faculty who may serve as academic role models in research and education.

Isoperimetric problems go back to the ancient Greeks.

Yiming Zhao

“They wanted to know how to enclose as much area as possible with a thread of fixed length,” says Zhao, assistant professor of mathematics. “The answer is you make the thread into a circle. In the second type of problem, the Minkowski, you find how to reconstruct a geometric shape when you have only partial information.”

The problems are connected. “In classical cases, they can be two sides of the same coin,” says Zhao. “If you know the answer to one, you usually know the answer to the other.”

But not always. Zhao will explore isoperimetric problems or Minkowski problems in various settings when answers to one exist while answers to the other remain elusive.

“In new mathematical variations over the last few decades, sometimes we only know the answer to one,” he says. “I want to use our existing knowledge of one answer to a problem to find the answer to the other.”

Applications of solving these problems extend beyond mathematics into engineering and design.

The CAREER award calls on faculty members to integrate their research into instruction. Zhao will organize a series of events for K-12 students, high school teachers and the public about mathematics at a local science museum, high schools and community centers. These events will expose the fun and exploratory side of Zhao’s research to young students, raise society’s awareness and interest in mathematics and promote mathematics among historically underrepresented populations.

Zhao will encourage youngsters to think about mathematics differently, conducting an educational session for K-12 students at the , a science and technology museum in downtown Syracuse.

“Math is about discovery, not just about people applying a set of formulas on an exam,” Zhao says. “I plan to get kids involved in an old problem, a toy version of the Minkowski problem I’m working with, which I could easily explain to them.”

Zhao’s project will involve graduate and undergraduate students in research and educational activities. Graduate students will help plan programs for K-12 students and the public, gaining crucial training opportunities to explain research to different audiences.

Zhao’s CAREER award brings the total to 10 A&S researchers since 2022. Read about the and CAREER grant winners.

This story was written by John H. Tibbetts

Professor Jeff Stanton has been selected for the prestigious role of program director at the National Science Foundation (NSF). After completing his one-year role, which began in September, he will return to Syracuse to continue teaching as a professor of information studies.

“I applied to NSF and got an opportunity to work in the foundation’s new����(TIP) directorate, which was established by Congress as part of the Chips and Technology Act,” says Stanton. “TIP is the only new directorate established at NSF in about 30 years.”

Stanton is serving as program director for a program called��, POSE, which “aims to harness the power of open-source development for the creation of new technology solutions to problems of national and societal importance.”

“My position is known as a ‘rotator’ position, which means that I will return to my academic role at Syracuse after my NSF experience is complete,” Stanton says. “NSF makes extensive use of rotators as a way of bringing the experience and knowledge of outside experts into the agency.”

The POSE program has an anticipated funding amount of $27.8 million, and Stanton will be working with a team of program officers from across the foundation to conduct the merit review process that leads to awards in the program. Program officers create merit review panels with external peer reviewers from higher education and industry, and the panels make recommendations on which proposals NSF should fund.

Stanton is no stranger to the NSF. He originally came to Syracuse with an NSF CAREER award and he and his iSchool colleagues have applied for and received several other NSF awards over the years.

“I have served as an NSF principal investigator or co-principal investigator on many occasions,” Stanton says. “The most recent of these is the three-year award that is supporting our Research Experiences for Undergraduates site. I’ve also previously served as an NSF merit review panelist and, in that role, had the opportunity to see some of the details of the merit review process.”

“Additionally, I have had a few different administrative roles at the iSchool and the University that have given me a close-up look at research administration,” Stanton added. “All of these experiences have been helpful in preparing me to serve as a program director. I appreciate the support of the University and the iSchool in providing the opportunity for me to participate in this valuable career experience.”

Prof Quinn Qiao (third from left) with his research team (from left) Hansheng Li, Madan Bahadur Saud, Muhammad Bilal Faheem Sattar, Poojan Indrajeet Kaswekar and Yuchen Zhang

Syracuse University is a core partner in the , one of 10 inaugural Regional Innovation Engines created by the National Science Foundation (NSF).��The program was Monday by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, whose CHIPS and Science Act helped create the NSF Engines.

“Up to $160 million is now on its way to supercharge Upstate New York as a booming battery research hub from Syracuse to Binghamton and beyond,” Sen. Schumer says. “Thanks to my CHIPS and Science Law, Upstate New York will be the beating electric heart of federal efforts to help bring battery innovation and manufacturing back from overseas to spark the growth of this critical industry vital to America’s national and economic security. Whether it is Micron’s historic investment in Central New York or cutting-edge innovation in battery development, my CHIPS and Science Law has been the catalyst to supercharge a transformation in Upstate New York’s economy. Batteries are the building block for the next generation of technology—from cell phones to electric vehicles—and this esteemed award from the National Science Foundation shows that America’s top scientific minds believe Upstate New York universities and workforce are best-in-class for the scientific discovery and innovation to ensure this industry grows in America.”

Led by Binghamton University and its New Energy New York coalition, the Upstate New York Energy Storage Engine will bring $15 million in federal funding over two years and up to $160 million over 10 years to support research and development in battery and energy storage technologies.

The goal, according to NSF, is to establish a “tech-based, industry-driven hub for new battery componentry, safety testing and certification, pilot manufacturing, applications integration, workforce development and energy storage, including through material sourcing and recovery.” It builds on the region’s historical strengths in battery innovation and manufacturing.

“Syracuse looks forward to collaborating with New Energy New York to further world-renowned research and development, address next-generation energy storage challenges and inspire the future innovators of this critical industry,” says Vice President for Research .

At Syracuse, the program lead is , professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the (ECS) and an expert in solid-state batteries. Qiao is the Syracuse site director for the Center of Solid-State Electric Power Storage, an NSF Industry-University Cooperative Research Center.

“The transportation sector produces the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Battery is a key component in electric vehicles, which will significantly reduce the amount of carbon emissions,” Qiao says. “NSF Engines funding will address the entire battery technology value chain and facilitate new battery technologies for a green world by working on the three key areas including use-inspired battery research and development, technology translation and workforce development.”

Professor Quinn Qiao works with his graduate students on testing new solid-state batteries.

Qiao will conduct use-inspired battery research and development and training activities, work with industry partners and collaborate with local economic development agencies and government. Leveraging the work of the Center of Solid-State Electric Power Storage, he will also work with faculty, graduate students and existing entrepreneurship programs for technology transfer and commercialization. Additionally, he will organize workshops and other training opportunities for students from primary to graduate school as well as local industry employees.

“The College of Engineering and Computer Science is dedicated to research that tackles the grand challenges facing our planet today: research that improves the human condition,” says ECS Dean . “The NSF Engines award speaks to the heart of our college’s mission by promoting the development of cleaner, safer and more affordable energy sources. This prestigious award will serve as a vital cornerstone as our college embarks on its 50% growth trajectory in the next five years.”

In addition to Binghamton and Syracuse, core partners include Rochester Institute of Technology, Cornell University, New York Battery and Energy Storage Technology Consortium, Launch NY and Charge CCCV.

University researchers received over $1.5M in NSF funding to study gravitational waves and design next-generation observatories. (NSF LIGO; Sonoma State University; A. Simonnet)

Billions of years ago in a distant galaxy, two black holes collided sparking one of the universe’s most extreme cosmic events. The occurrence was so powerful that it bent the fabric of spacetime, sending out ripples called gravitational waves.

These waves would eventually be detected on Earth by Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors, with Syracuse University faculty playing a leading role in that monumental discovery. While members of the University’s Gravitational-Wave Group took a moment to celebrate the incredible feat, they immediately began wondering how they could build a new observatory that would allow them to explore even more of the Universe with gravitational waves.

Enter Cosmic Explorer, a next-generation gravitational-wave observatory being devised by the Syracuse University��Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy and Astrophysics (CGWAA). Established this fall, CGWAA is a hub for students and faculty at the University to play a principal role in the design and operation of gravitational-wave observatories. Working with scientists from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania State University, California State University, Fullerton, and the University of Florida, the CGWAA team hopes that Cosmic Explorer will be searching the universe by the mid-2030s.

Artist’s impression of Cosmic Explorer. (Eddie Anaya, California State University Fullerton)

To put the capability of Cosmic Explorer in perspective, while Advanced LIGO has made around 100 detections of colliding black holes since 2015, Cosmic Explorer will be able to detect every collision in the visible universe–about 100,000 per year, or one every five minutes. Cosmic Explorer will also see around one million neutron star mergers each year, allowing scientists to understand the nature of nuclear matter and the creation of heavy elements.

Gravitational wave detectors, like Cosmic Explorer, are large-scale interferometers. Interferometry is an extremely sensitive measurement technique that uses mirrors, laser beams and interference (the adding or canceling of combined beams) to measure the displacement of a mirror caused by the ripples from gravitational waves. The advanced detectors help researchers map black holes in the universe, something not previously possible with telescopes since, unlike stars, black holes do not produce light.

Physicists from Syracuse University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania State University, California State University, Fullerton, and University of Florida during a proposal-writing workshop at Syracuse University’s Minnowbrook Conference Center.

In October 2022, Cosmic Explorer project collaborators came together for a proposal-writing workshop at Syracuse University’s Minnowbrook Conference Center, resulting in over $9M of federal funding to the project. Syracuse University is receiving $1.64M of funding over the next three years as part of that NSF commitment.

Griffiths is the principal investigator on the three-year project, titled “Global Patterns in Interstate and Intrastate War Since 1750.” The project falls under NSF’s umbrella of security and preparedness research and seeks to fill in the gaps on global war data between and among states since the 18th century.

Ryan Griffiths

Griffiths’ particular focus on global patterns seeks to address how “data-driven work on conflict prior to the early 20th century is centered on Europe and ignores hundreds of independent states in other parts of the world.”

Beyond creating a publicly available conflict dataset, Griffiths’ aim is to analyze the frequency of war over time around the world and determine if certain regions of the globe are more peaceful than others. He is also interested in the frequency of war fought within a state compared to war fought between states, and whether one type has increased over time more than the other.

Griffiths’ NSF project model will build out his previously conducted research from the International Systems Dataset, a multi-part register of 482 sovereign states’ development from 1816 until 2016, by adding historical data on combatant and battle fatalities. He hopes the project will ultimately contribute to academic understanding of the causes of war and long-term trends in warfare.

Griffiths is the research co-director of international and intra-state conflict through the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration.

Story by Sophia Moore

The program supports early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization. The grants are considered the NSF’s most competitive awards in support of early-career faculty.

The 2023 recipients are:

• , Thonis Family Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences and assistant professor, College of Arts and Sciences (A&S)
• , assistant professor of chemistry, A&S
• , assistant professor of physics, A&S
• , assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, College of Engineering and Computer Science
• , assistant professor of chemistry, A&S

Bhattacharya is a climate scientist who uses evidence from the geological past, including former instances of climate change, to understand how rainfall will change in the future as a result of global warming. Her lab uses organic molecules, as well as climate models, to reconstruct ancient patterns of temperatures and rainfall. She is currently working on using the geological past to understand the processes that will drive extremes in droughts and flooding in the 21st century.

Makhlynets works at the intersection of chemistry and biology to produce “smart” biomaterials such as stimuli-responsive hydrogels that promote wound healing and antimicrobial hydrogels. She also studies how the human pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae controls manganese levels inside cells and how the redesign of small and stable non-enzymatic proteins catalyzes chemical reactions.��

Patteson researches the mechanical properties of living materials and how cells navigate the physical features of their environment. She is presently investigating the role of the structural protein vimentin in cell motility. She is testing the mechanisms by which vimentin protects the cell nucleus against damage caused by cellular stress and inflammation.

Shan researches the mechanics of tunable dry adhesion for the design of soft grippers that can manipulate delicate and small objects. Shan’s team previously explored ways to adjust the adhesion abilities of soft composite structures containing smart materials with tunable stiffness triggered by heat. He was granted a patent in spring 2022 for that discovery and has now filed a provisional patent for a new method that uses low pressure to achieve tunable adhesion.

Steinhardt designs and synthesizes molecular probes that bind native dopamine and serotonin receptors. The Steinhardt lab is interested in creating chemical tools to understand how these critical receptors (especially DRD2, 5HT2A, and 5HT2C) contribute to learning, mental illness and addiction and neurodegenerative disease.

A group photo at the Mount Everest base camp, which is marked as the official destination point. Fun fact: That point changes every year as base camp is built on a moving glacier.

Of all the exceptional Syracuse University Study Abroad courses, there is one that towers above the others–about 18,000 feet above.

Mount Everest Base Camp Trek: The Human Response to High Altitude is a three-week, three-credit course and international research expedition in Nepal led by exercise science professor , chair and graduate director of Falk College’s . To teach students how the human body adapts to extreme high-altitude environments, the course interlaces full immersion classroom instruction with cutting-edge research led by faculty and advanced graduate student experts in physiology.

Before leading the trek to Mount Everest base camp, Exercise Science professor Tom Brutsaert and other professors and physiology experts directed five days of classes in the Nepal capital of Kathmandu.

Various physiological and altitude performance measurements of the students, faculty, researchers and Sherpa volunteer guides continued all the way to the Mount Everest base camp at almost 18,000 feet (roughly 3.5 miles) above sea level.

“The trip is immersive, and physically and emotionally challenging, but the payoff to students is close faculty contact, incredible experiential learning opportunities, and adventure,” Brutsaert says. “For the faculty and researchers involved, our student-focused ‘incremental ascent to high altitude’ research model has also proven to be very productive in terms of data generation and grant funding.

“For me,” Brutsaert adds, “it has been the pleasure of my career to lead two of these expeditions, one in 2018 and again this year.”

Designed for undergraduate and graduate students interested in human environmental physiology, mountaineering and adventure, the course brought the Syracuse contingent together with high-altitude experts, researchers and students from Mount Royal University in Canada, Iowa State University and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

The Syracuse students included health and exercise science majors Sofie Confalonieri, Alaina Hauber, Michael Jodlowski, Nathan McCarthy and Lydia Van Boxtel; Benjamin Dennison (chemistry), Emily Shuman (human development and family science), and Anthony Watt (bioengineering); and Taylor Harman, a Ph.D. student who received her M.S. in exercise science and is currently working on her Ph.D. in anthropology.

Including research participants and Sherpa guides (Sherpa is one of the Tibetan ethnic groups native to the most mountainous regions of Nepal), the group featured “an extended family of about 45 people all united toward a common goal,” Brutsaert says.

At Pheriche (altitude: 13,340 feet), the group’s head Sherpa and his wife gave four Falk College students prayer scarves. From left to right are Alaina Hauber, Sofia Confalonieri, Lydia Van Boxtel, and Emily Shuman.

The 2023 trip was funded through a three-year grant from the that was awarded to principal investigator Brutsaert and co-investigators from Mount Royal and UCLA. The grant supported the students, four faculty members, four post-doctoral students and several other trainees. It also paid for the direct costs of research on Sherpa volunteers – work that had not been done on the previous trip in 2018.

This year’s trip ran from May 15-June 6, starting with five days of classes in the Nepal capital of Kathmandu and pre-departure testing that measured hypoxia-sensitivity, hematology and exercise performance. The trek to Everest base camp and back covered about two weeks and 130 kilometers (81 miles) of strenuous hiking. On the way up, the schedule included rest days at increasing altitudes to allow for acclimatization and safe ascent.

To get a firsthand view of this unique experience, we asked Emily Shuman, a human development and family science major from Falk who’s minoring in biology, to describe it for us. Here’s what she wrote:

“Looking back on my three weeks trekking through Nepal, there are so many moments that stick out to me. The memories that first come to mind when I reflect on my trip include waking up each morning face-to-face with Ama Dablam (a mountain in the eastern Himalayan range of Koshi Province, Nepal), visiting active monasteries, participating in global research, meeting Sherpa who have summited Mount Everest, and becoming friends with researchers and undergraduates from around the world.

“Traveling to Nepal and having the opportunity to trek up to the base camp of Mount Everest was by far one of the most amazing things I have ever done, but it was also among the most grueling and emotional. Sixteen days of intense hiking, altitude sickness, food sensitivity, weather difficulties and lack of sleep made the trek even more difficult.

“Don’t get me wrong, it was the most life-changing experience of my life, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything, but it’s not the trip that everyone dreams of when they think of ‘vacation getaways.’ Despite the struggles that we as a group endured throughout our several weeks in the mountains, it was all worth it in the end. After all, how many people can say they’ve trekked through the Himalayas and seen Mount Everest up close and personal, while also participating in major research projects?

Emily Shuman

“Those 16 days spent in the Himalayas–and the days in Kathmandu before and after the trek–taught me more about myself and the world than a classroom ever could. Not only was I learning about the effects of high altitude on the body, but I was experiencing it firsthand. We spent hours learning about how the different parts of your body react to the lack of oxygen in the air, and then we went out and experienced it for ourselves, allowing us to connect with not only the material but our physiology in a way that would otherwise be strictly hypothetical.

“We watched movies and documentaries about the mountaineering industry and the amazing group of people who lead trips to the summit of Mount Everest, and then we were able to talk about it with the Sherpa in the room. Guest lecturers taught us about their world-renowned research one night and we woke up and participated in it the next morning. Everything that we did in Nepal taught me something different about the world of research, the world of mountaineering or the world of physiology.

“To anyone considering going on this trip in the future, I cannot recommend it enough! Is it a lot of hiking in one day? Yes. Will you get sick from the altitude? Probably. But does it leave you with a sense of accomplishment and awareness (for not only yourself but also the world) that can’t be found anywhere else? YES! Since returning from Nepal, I have spent hours talking to my friends and family about the trip, and to all of them I say the same thing: It was the toughest thing I have ever done, both physically and emotionally, but it was also the one thing that has taught me the most about who I am, and what I can be a part of, in this life.”

Throughout their adventure, the participants posted a (Shuman’s blog entry is Day 16 on May 31). For a peek at what you’ll read in the blog, here’s an excerpt from Wesley Lefferts (Days 17-19 June 1-3), a cardiovascular exercise physiologist and an assistant professor at Iowa State University who received his M.S. in exercise science and Ph.D. in science education from Syracuse University:

“We survived. Survived AMS, sleep apnea, finger-stick blood draws, VO2max tests, upset stomachs, headaches, restless nights of sleep, smelly socks and dodging yaks and zoes (zo’s, I have no idea how to spell it exactly, but they are basically lower altitude cows that replace yaks which don’t do well in the warmer temperature).”

(Editor’s note: A dzo is a hybrid between the yak and domestic cattle.)

Lefferts also created a video of the trip that you can watch .

To learn more about the academic programs, experiential learning and research opportunities available in Falk College’s Department of Exercise Science, visit the department .

Ethan Coffel

Ethan Coffel, assistant professor of geography and the environment in the , has received a $582,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in support of his research on agriculture as a driver of climate extremes. Coffel is the principal investigator for the three-year project, titled “Quantifying Agriculture as a Driver of Regional Climate Extremes.” With co-investigator Justin Mankin from Dartmouth College, he will study how agriculture plays a role in regional climate changes and climate extremes. Specifically, he is researching the increase in crop yields, globally, and how they’ve enhanced or decreased extreme weather events.

The project builds on Coffel’s previous research on crops’ role in cooling temperatures while raising humidity. He seeks to answer how this cooling and heating dynamic impacts different regions and how agriculture and global warming are connected. “Improvements in agriculture like fertilizer use, pest control, genetic modification and general mechanization have dramatically increased crop yields, meaning more crops are growing in a given area,” Coffel says. “As plants grow, they transpire—water is pulled from the soil and evaporates into the air from their leaves. This transpiration is a major source of moisture to the atmosphere and can change the humidity and temperature.”

Carol Faulkner, associate dean for academic affairs and professor of history, says Coffel’s research will no doubt inform decisions related to climate change and will benefit his current and future students. “We share in the excitement for this latest NSF funding,” she says, “It underscores his excellent work and growing reputation in this pressing and important research.”

This is Coffel’s second NSF award. In 2021, he was awarded $360,000 for a three-year project studying agriculture’s role in climate change across the upper midwestern United States, eastern Europe, northern China, and southern Africa and Asia. “In our 2021 grant, we are quantifying the impact that agriculture has on the climate around them—especially how crop growth affects temperature. We’ve found that increases in crop growth have generally reduced temperatures in the U.S. Midwest, and that these cooler temperatures have buffered some of the negative impacts of global warming on crops,” Coffel says. “In our 2024 grant, we will build on this work, focusing specifically on how crop growth affects climate extremes like heat waves and droughts.”

Story by Sophia Moore

The National Science Foundation (NSF) , the fourth time the ULSAMP program has been funded. Syracuse University leads the program, which also involves Clarkson University, Cornell University, Monroe Community College, Onondaga Community College, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Rochester Institute of Technology.

ULSAMP program participant Donyell Logan received the Chancellor’s Citation for Student Research award from University Chancellor Kent Syverud in 2023. The award recognized Logan’s research in inorganic chemistry.

The program promotes practices that increase the number of students from ULSAMP populations in STEM majors; increases the number of underrepresented students entering STEM careers or graduate-level programs; and conducts and disseminates scholarly research to assess the impact of research experiences for undergraduates on their graduate enrollment and completion.

, vice chancellor, provost and chief academic officer, says, “Syracuse University is proud to have this important grant renewed for a fourth time. Its objectives mirror the University’s crucial missions to expand education in the STEM fields, broaden educational opportunities for underrepresented communities, boost levels of research and creative activity and continue productive alliances with the wider community. We are proud to have led this initiative for 16 years now and to work with alliance partners on these important goals.”

School of Education Leadership

The University’s LSAMP program is housed in the School of Education’s . The program has been highly successful in increasing the enrollment, retention, graduation and graduate-school enrollment of underrepresented STEM students. When the program began in 2007, ULSAMP institutions enrolled 1,943 underrepresented STEM students in undergraduate programs and awarded 249 bachelor’s degrees. By 2020, those numbers increased to 3,891 students enrolled and 700 degrees awarded, according to Syracuse University co-principal investigator and ULSAMP program director.

The renewed NSF funding is essential to the achievements of the Upstate LSAMP program, Hamilton says. “We are excited to be able to continue this great work. This funding has allowed us to increase the number of underrepresented minority students who are pursuing STEM fields, support student transition from community colleges to four-year institutions, boost undergraduate research and graduate school preparation and provide students with leadership and professional development opportunities. Program funding has also helped us expand collaborations across our campuses and with our industry and government partners,” Hamilton says.

Student Research Opportunities

ULSAMP research scholars Kaura Reyes (top) and Jazmine Richardson (at right below)

The ULSAMP program operates several programs that encourage participation in robust research activities in the STEM fields. They include an undergraduate research program where students participate in projects with distinguished faculty; a summer experience providing paid research experience and networking with faculty and staff; an annual symposium that recognizes elite scholars’ participation in research projects on and off campus; reimbursement of funds for students to travel to attend or present at conferences; and graduate school stipends for students pursuing master’s and doctoral programs.

Studying STEM Interest Factors

The factors that lead students to decide to continue studying in the STEM fields is the subject of a current School of Education faculty research project, according to Hamilton.

Cathy Engstrom, associate professor of higher education and the School of Education’s faculty director of graduate studies, and Dawn Johnson, associate professor of higher education, are studying current and former USLAMP summer students’ involvement in their research experiences. The investigators are examining the graduate school aspirations, pathways and outcomes of USLAMP underrepresented minority students to gain insights regarding their decisions to pursue, delay or opt out of graduate study in STEM fields.

The research project’s goal is to link effective practices within ULSAMP to facilitate students’ graduate study interests and aspirations. The researchers also hope to define the kinds of activities (such as providing�� undergraduate research opportunities, conducting GRE preparation, and hearing graduate students speak about their research experiences) that strengthen students’ aspirations to pursue graduate study in STEM fields.

Several community and industry partners will also be collaborating with the alliance over the next five years to provide real-world research opportunities, Hamilton says. They include Micron Technology, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and National Grid.

Participants will learn to apply discovery methodology to help translate technology innovation from the lab into a successful product and/or service through a better understanding of how to achieve product-market fit.

The monthlong virtual course will be offered Sept. 18-Oct. 18��through Syracuse University as a partner in the , funded by the NSF, led by Cornell University and with other collaborators, including Dartmouth College, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Binghamton, SUNY Buffalo, University of Pittsburgh, University of Rochester, University of Vermont and West Virginia University. The Hub is part of the , connecting researchers, entrepreneurial communities and federal agencies to help commercialize research.

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Course Overview

This virtual course combines self-directed online learning activities, with six Zoom-based class meetings and one-on-one instructor check ins. The course is technology-agnostic, and any sufficiently developed (i.e., beyond ideation) tech innovation team is welcome to apply.

In the first half of the course, teams learn how to identify target customer segments, develop hypotheses about the value proposition offered to each customer segment and effectively interview potential customers about their problems/needs.

In the second half of the course, teams will conduct customer discovery and join personalized calls with instructors to share progress and receive coaching. In the final class, teams present their findings, receive additional coaching, learn about other local entrepreneurship programs and receive information about applying for the national I-Corps Teams program and various grants.

Applicant Information

Criteria for apply to the program are as follows:

• Applicants should have an early-state technology innovation, with either a prototype or some form of scientific validation.
• Teams of one to three people may apply.
• All team members are required to attend and participate fully in every course session and complete all coursework to be considered for NSF lineage and a nomination for ��the national I-Corps Team.

While all applicants are welcome, preference is given to those with university-affiliated technology (i.e., faculty working with the Office of Technology Transfer), as well as postdocs, graduate students and undergraduate students who are commercializing research.

Applications are also encouraged from researchers and early-stage founders engaged with other campuses as well as community incubators and accelerator programs.

The application closes Wednesday, Aug. 23.

More Information

NSF I-Corps course programming at Syracuse University is being co-led by Linda Dickerson Hartsock, strategic initiatives advisor, Syracuse University Libraries, who was founding director of the Blackstone LaunchPad, and Jeff Fuchsberg, director, Syracuse Center for Advanced Systems and Engineering. Both Hartsock and Fuchsberg led the Syracuse Tech Garden before joining the University. NSF certified instructors will be teaching the course modules.

Read more about Syracuse University’s participation in the new IN I-Corps Consortium and its $15 million STEM innovation program. The new initiative aims to create a cohesive innovation ecosystem through inclusive models of education and workforce training designed to catalyze innovation in economically underserved areas.

Partners in Syracuse University’s NSF I-Corps programming are resource providers across campus, including the Office of Research, Office of Technology Transfer, Syracuse University Libraries, the College of Law’s Innovation Law Center, the College of Engineering and Computer Science and its Center for Advanced Systems and Engineering and the Martin J. Whitman School of Management.

For more information about the upcoming NSF I-Corps course, contact Linda Dickerson Hartsock (ldhart01@syr.edu) or Jeff Fuchsberg (jrfuchsb@syr.edu).

SLMath awards a small number of research professorships at the November meeting of its Scientific Advisory Committee. The intensive program is reserved for distinguished mathematicians to collaborate on cutting-edge topics. She will participate in seminars and workshops, exchange ideas with other researchers in residence and mentor postdoctoral fellows.

Miller

“I will use this time to develop research in new directions,” says Miller, who has taught at Syracuse University since 2003. “I hope to work with people I’ve not had the chance to work with before, including a new generation of postdocs. We will explore projects in which people have slightly different approaches, and because we are all in one place, we can work closely with each other.”

Miller says she will focus on research questions that play critical roles in many parts of algebra and geometry. “For years, scholars have tried to use algebra to study questions from geometry,” she says. “There are still fundamental questions that are not yet understood.”

She plans to use algebra to explore singularities in geometry. A singularity is a sharp point in an otherwise smooth curve, surface or higher dimensional object studied abstractly in mathematics with applications to physical systems.

“Highly complex numbers or abstract structures are easier to understand when they are smooth, and singularities present all kinds of complexities,” she says. “Algebra can help us understand how to measure how extreme a singularity is or how far it is from being smooth.”

The program offers Miller an opportunity to mentor young scientists and learn from them.

“I will mentor postdocs about navigating things that come up in an academic career, such as how to develop your own research program and find good collaborators and also how to focus on research topics that are the most relevant and important in your field,” she says. “But I also expect to learn from postdocs because they’re young and have new ideas. I want to bring back those ideas and hot topics to Syracuse to benefit colleagues and students here.”

“We are very proud of Professor Miller for receiving this significant honor,” says��, mathematics professor and department chair. “It reflects the high quality of her research achievements and her extensive successes as a mentor. This experience will enable her to expand her network of collaborators and will lead to new research opportunities for Syracuse students, which is very exciting.”

SLMath, founded in 1982, is a landmark of U.S. and world collaborative mathematical research. Over 1,700 mathematical scientists visit the headquarters each year. SLMath has been supported since its origin by the National Science Foundation, now joined by other government agencies, private foundations, corporations, individual donors and over 100 academic institutions.

Story by John H. Tibbetts

Professors Tripti Bhattacharya, Alison Patteson and Olga Makhlynets (left to right).

A trio of faculty members have received highly competitive national awards in recognition of their commitment to teaching and research excellence. , Thonis Family Professor of Earth and environmental sciences, ���Ի���, assistant professor of physics, were named��Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellows, an honor recognizing early-career scholars who represent the most promising scientific researchers working today. In addition, Patteson received a 2023��Cottrell Scholar��award, a national honor that ranks her among the country’s best faculty researchers and teachers from the fields of astronomy, chemistry and physics.

Adding to the significant list of awards, Patteson, Bhattacharya and chemistry professor����have also won National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER grants, the NSF’s most competitive award in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education. Last year,����won CAREER awards, which marked the most for the College in a single year. With several CAREER proposals still pending, A&S could exceed that total in 2023.

“Sloan fellowships, Cottrell Scholar awards and NSF CAREER grants are among the most prestigious distinctions for early career researchers, and we are incredibly fortunate to have winners of each in A&S this year,” says Alan Middleton, A&S associate dean of research and scholarship. “These honors affirm our standing as a premier research institution. I congratulate Tripti, Alison and Olga, and look forward to seeing their future research breakthroughs.”

To learn more about these faculty members, their awards and research visit .

Bioinspired research draws from the natural world to develop solutions for global challenges. But it can be difficult to turn these research ideas into actual materials and methods that can be applied to real world problems in areas like construction, energy and health care. That’s why , the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Physics and director of the at Syracuse University, led a workshop in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in October to explore new paths to transform this research into industry applications.

“We always want to think about how to take our discoveries and figure out how to make them useful to the world,” Manning says. “But, as scientists and engineers in academia, it’s not always easy to translate research into products that are ready for market ourselves.”

She explains that one of the greatest challenges can be developing low-cost, large-scale models for widespread use.

Physics Professor Lisa Manning leading a discussion at the Convergence Accelerator workshop in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Photo courtesy of the Wyss Institute at Harvard University)

Manning’s leadership role reflects the national recognition that ����������ܲ���’s BioInspired Institute has earned since it was founded in 2019. The BioInspired Institute includes faculty from across life sciences, engineering, physics and chemistry–and stands out as an example of interdisciplinary collaboration happening at Syracuse.

To help address the nationwide need for translatable outcomes from basic research, Manning helped organize a workshop sponsored by the (NSF) as part of its , which funds interdisciplinary collaboration–or convergence–to advance innovative solutions for the most pressing issues. NSF identified bioinspired design as a promising candidate for this program and tapped Manning to lead a workshop to explore its potential. Manning will be lead author on a national report that will outline why bioinspired design is an ideal field to advance through this program. If successful, bioinspired design would be named into the next cohort of Convergence Accelerator tracks.

“Bioinspired design has many applications across a wide range of industries including medicine, manufacturing, energy and sustainability,” she explains. “There’s a large group of scientists and engineers that are already working in this space but rarely interact with one another–and it’s clear that convergent interactions between these groups could drive innovation. The NSF Convergence Accelerator could fast-track this research and discovery into applied uses.”

Examples of bioinspired designs include hybrid biomaterials that can stimulate wound healing and serve as scaffolds for engineered tissues, climate-friendly manufacturing of cells and proteins, color-changing materials inspired by butterfly wings, systems for energy harnessing and storage that are inspired by living systems, and autonomous robot swarms modeled after schools of fish that can be used for environmental and infrastructure monitoring, like engine inspections and tidal patterns.

Leading researchers gathered to talk about the potential to advance bioinspired design through NSF’s Convergence Accelerator program. (Photo courtesy of Jeremy Steinbacher)

The workshop connected 40 different stakeholders with diverse interests across bioinspired design– including researchers and policymakers from academic, nonprofit, government and other institutions, and representatives of organizations like nonprofit research group Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub, biotech firm Gingko Bioworks and federally funded bioindustrial manufacturing research institute BioMADE. Participants met to identify the most promising opportunities for translating bioinspired research into industry applications–and the most difficult barriers to doing so, such as funding or prototyping. And they identified some of the most advanced current research projects that could offer benefits in the next few years if accelerated through this program.

“There’s a huge opportunity to promote translational work and ignite bioinspired design efforts across the nation,” she says.

����������ܲ���’s , assistant professor of biomedical and chemical engineering in the , also attended the workshop. Monroe specializes in using bioinspired design to create materials for treating wounds that stop bleeding more quickly and promote longer-term healing. She collaborates with military and civilian clinicians with a goal of translating her technologies into improved options for traumatic and chronic wounds.

Manning will continue to spearhead follow-up work from the group, including the NSF report, which Manning expects to submit before the end of the year. The NSF will then review it as it selects its next cohort of Convergence Accelerator tracks. If bioinspired design becomes a Convergence Accelerator track, research teams will be able to apply for NSF grants and participate in programming to learn how to bring products to market.

This story was written by Emily Halnon.

Prema Kurien

For more than three decades, sociologist Prema Kurien has explored the relationship between international migration, race, ethnicity and religion with a focus on migrants from India and other countries in South Asia.

She is the author of three award-winning books and more than 60 other publications.

And, her research has been funded by high-profile organizations such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Wilson Center and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

These and numerous other scholarly accomplishments—coupled with Kurien’s interdisciplinary approach, leadership and mentorship of students—made her an apt choice when it came time to select a director for the (SAC) in the .

“Prema has a national and international reputation as a scholar of the region,” says Brian Taylor, professor of political science and director of the Moynihan Institute. “She’s the right person to lead the center at this time.”

Kurien, professor of sociology, took the helm as director of the SAC during the fall semester amid welcome news: The SAC and Cornell University—longtime consortium partners—have been awarded $1.05 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Education. The funding will be disbursed over the next four years and enables the SAC to continue as a Title VI National Resource Center (NRC) and provides students with Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships.

The consortium is the only NRC at Syracuse University and one of just six South Asia NRCs nationwide. “Being distinguished as an NRC gives us a great deal of opportunity to conduct programming with respect to one of the world’s most dynamic regions,” says Taylor. “It also gives faculty and students here at SU visibility as part of a prominent university consortium and helps them advance their scholarship as well as others’ knowledge about the region.”

The NRC funds support activities such as the New York Conference on Asian Studies. Held in October 2022, it drew 135 scholars from 15 countries to Syracuse University to share perspectives on pressing issues in Asia—everything from the successes and failures at mitigating COVID-19 and protests against military regimes to the takeover of Afghanistan by Taliban forces. “Our students and faculty benefited from exposure to a range of perspectives and expertise from both established and more junior scholars working on Asia, including South Asia,” says Taylor.

In addition to events, the funds support field research, internships, curriculum development grants and outreach activities with area schools and community colleges.

The FLAS funding, meanwhile, supports fellowships for students to study South Asian languages such as Hindi as well as area studies courses. The fellowships are for the academic year or can cover intensive summer training at the American Institute of Indian Studies in India or the South Asia Summer Language Institute at the University of Wisconsin. Across the four years of the FLAS grant, 32 University students will benefit from learning more about South Asia–many of them going on to jobs where such knowledge is highly useful, says Kurien.

“South Asia is a large, geopolitically, economically and socially important region of the world,” she adds. “Having a pipeline of students proficient in South Asian languages is important to maintain connections between the U.S. and people in the region.”

Kurien joined Maxwell in 2003. She is the founding director of the Asian/Asian American Studies program, former chair of the sociology department and has long served as a senior research associate with the SAC. In addition, she has chaired the Asia and Asian American section of the American Sociological Association and served as president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.

“I look forward to making the South Asia Center an inclusive, welcoming space for students and faculty at Syracuse University and the wider community and to supporting research as well as intellectual and social exchanges,” she says. “The recent grants make it possible for us to continue and advance programming aimed at these goals.”

Shikha Nangia

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $3.6 million grant to a team of researchers from five universities in a project titled “Collaborative Research: Growing Convergence Research: Infection-Resisting Resorbable Scaffolds for Engineering Human Tissue.” Syracuse University researchers have teamed up with partners at Stevens Institute of Technology, Binghamton University, City College of New York and the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School on the project.

The project will address the development of healthy tissue and how to mitigate the risk of infection in implantable devices as new biomaterials are being developed to replace failed, damaged or defective body parts.

Dacheng Ren

The Syracuse University team is led by Shikha Nangia, associate professor of biomedical and chemical engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS), and Dacheng Ren, associate dean of research and Stevenson Endowed Professor of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering in ECS.

“The novelty of this project is the cross-disciplinary convergence of microbiology, polymer science, computational biochemistry and biomaterials science,” says Nangia.

Another aspect of the project is to train the next generation in infection control. “The Ph.D. and undergraduate students in the research labs will travel to partner institutions during summer and gain immersive research experience in a new lab to broaden their expertise,” Nangia added.

“I am very excited about this opportunity. This project team includes researchers from five institutions, who have been working together over the past several years. It is a great example of how researchers from different disciplines can work together to solve challenging problems through convergence science,” says Ren.

In total, the awards combine for more than $460,000 in support for academic year 2022-23 (based on the annual value of each multiyear grant). This represents an increase of about 20% over last year.

“These grants from NSF reflect the high esteem that our faculty are held in by the mathematical community, and the impact of their research on the field,” says Graham Leuschke, professor and chair of mathematics in the College of Arts and Sciences. “We’re proud of the recognition that their scholarship has brought them. These grants are important accomplishments, and the support will allow our faculty to go on to even greater heights.”

Highlights of the grants include (in chronological order by award date):

Onninen

��received a three-year NSF grant, beginning June 2022, for his work on��. The project will explore energy-minimizing deformations and their applications to the study of non-linear elasticity—which examines how physical materials warp, bend or are otherwise altered in response to stress—and will further develop analytic and geometric tools to address the mathematical challenges the resulting constraints present.

“In a very simplistic illustration, suppose a blacksmith is hammering a hot piece of iron or steel to create a new shape,” says Onninen. “When to stop hammering? Every stroke creates an element of the energy-minimizing sequence of homeomorphisms. If the weak limit fails to be invertible, then it tells us when to stop hammering prior to the conditions favorable to the formation of cracks.”

The project will include research opportunities for graduate students over its three-year duration.

Coman

��was awarded a three-year NSF grant, beginning this July, for his project,��. The project aims to advance knowledge and understanding in the areas of complex analysis (which studies functions depending on variables that are complex numbers), complex geometry and potential theory. These critical areas of study provide powerful tools for solving important problems in fields of pure and applied mathematics (such as image and signal processing) and physics.

“I will study spaces of sections of holomorphic line bundles and the asymptotics of the related Bergman kernel functions, for example, which in physics terms are related to the quantum mechanics of particles in a magnetic field,” says Coman.

Coman will work together with colleagues at the University of Cologne, Germany, and Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse, France, for part of the research. And two current mathematics Ph.D. students, Melody Wolff and Jesse Hulse, will receive summer support under the grant.

Shen

��was another recipient of a three-year NSF grant, for his��. There is a growing problem of overly large data sets in such fields as information technology, nanotechnology, biotechnology, civil infrastructure and environmental science, and an increasing demand for competent data processing models. Shen is leading an effort to develop a more computationally efficient approach to optimizing data.

“The success of the proposed research will provide the opportunity for many useful and interesting applications in mathematics, computer science and medical communities,” says Shen. “Our medical collaborator at MSKCC [Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center] has shown great enthusiasm in developing our methods for medical image reconstruction when low radiation doses are used in emission computed tomography.”

The projects will heavily involve graduate students, helping prepare them for the significant challenges that will continue to be posed by the big-data era. “Since the work has a strong relevance with industry, medical sciences and defense, the educational component of the proposed research will pave the way for job opportunities for students who take part,” Shen says.

Miller (left) and Wehrli

Mathematics Professor�� and Associate Professor received an NSF grant to host the on Oct. 22 at Syracuse. The one-day, in-person conference brought together researchers from New York state and nearby regions, working in various areas of topology—primarily algebraic and low-dimensional—with the hopes of building a cohesive topology community in the region. Three distinguished young researchers, ��(Columbia University),�� (Swarthmore) ���Ի�����(University of Massachusetts—Amherst) served as plenary speakers, and there were an additional 14 talks within parallel afternoon sessions.

The conference was the third installment of the UNYTS series, founded in 2017 by Miller and Wehrli, together with professors Inna Zakharevich of Cornell University and Adam Sikora of the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Story by Laura Wallis

Kari Segraves, professor of biology, is helping shape NSF research priorities as a program director of NSF’s Population and Community Ecology Cluster.

Across laboratories in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), the cutting-edge research taking place is made possible with support from federally funded grants. In the last year alone, A&S researchers have received nearly $24 million in support from institutions including the National Science Foundation (NSF). For biology Professor��, the NSF has played a crucial role in her career, starting from her time as a graduate student all the way to her current position as a faculty member. Since joining the ��in 2005, Segraves has served as principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on five different NSF grants totaling over $2.2 million.

Support from the NSF has helped Segraves build a robust research lab which focuses on understanding how interactions between different species affect their ecology and evolution. Specifically, researchers in her group study mutually beneficial interactions, which occur when species trade resources or services in exchange for commodities that are difficult for them to obtain on their own. An example is the interaction between plants and pollinators, where the plant is pollinated, and the honeybee gets nectar as a food reward. Her group is working to advance understanding of these relationships because they are critical to the formation and structure of ecological communities, which are under stress around the world due to climate change. Studying these interactions give researchers a better understanding of how species are at risk.

Segraves will now pay forward the research opportunities granted to her through the National Science Foundation as she serves as a program director for the NSF’s����in the Division of Environmental Biology (DEB). The DEB supports fundamental research on populations, species and communities. In this role, Segraves will shape the direction of PCE research and help set federal research priorities in ecology.

The NSF requested that Segraves, a leader in the field of evolutionary ecology, apply for the position, where she will make funding recommendations for research proposals that fit into the PCE program and advance efforts to diversify STEM. She will also mentor principal investigators to improve their proposals and provide advice on funding opportunities for which they can apply. In addition, Segraves will work with other program directors across the foundation, including the Building Research Capacity program, which supports new faculty and focuses on diversifying research experiences. Segraves says fostering equity, inclusion, diversity, and accessibility is one of the more exciting aspects of the job.

“As a mentor of students from underrepresented groups in STEM and a woman in science, I deeply appreciate the need for us to level the playing field,” says Segraves. “I also argue that by doing so, we will witness an overall improvement in the quality of science because we will be melding diverse perspectives and learning better ways to approach problems.”

Segraves is on leave for the 2022-23 academic year while serving as a PCE program director in Alexandria, Virginia. She says helping to set the funding recommendations and seeing the latest in cutting-edge research from across the country will enhance her own work at Syracuse University.

“I’m excited for the chance to learn more about NSF and serve the broader scientific community,” she says. “I also think that this experience is going to rejuvenate my own research program. It will most certainly give me a unique perspective on the exciting research that is being done in the U.S. in the next 5 to 10 years.”

No researcher is an island.

While scientists and academics certainly find themselves toiling alone in laboratories and behind computers at times, it is collaboration—consulting, borrowing from and building upon the research of others—that really drives discovery.

And in the field of low-temperature geochemistry—which studies geochemical processes that occur just at or beneath the Earth’s land surface and examines time-sensitive questions related to climate change—the process of gathering available data can be frustratingly slow.

This is due to the fact that datasets from different sub-disciplines are deposited in multiple databases and can vary significantly from each other in format. The datasets must be brought into alignment with each other so that “apples to apples” analyses can happen. What’s more, these datasets are not always published in searchable or discoverable form. And widely used search engines aren’t useful in these scenarios because of the highly specialized nature of the research.

EES Professor Tao Wen is part of an NSF-funded project to create efficient scientific search engines.

This is the problem��, assistant professor in the College of Arts and Sciences’��, and colleagues are working to address with the Democratized Cyberinfrastructure for Open Discovery to Enable Research (DeCODER) project—a joint effort of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), the San Diego Supercomputer Center, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Syracuse University, Virginia Tech, Texas A&M and the University of California, Berkeley.

The combined team of software cyberinfrastructure scientists and geoscientists began their four-year project on Oct. 1 and will endeavor to standardize and unify the descriptions of data and tools, facilitating the creation of efficient scientific search engines.

Wen was awarded a for his part in the project. He will lead the low-temperature geochemistry team, working in tandem with Professor Shuang Zhang of Texas A&M and graduate and undergraduate students from both schools.

Wen’s team studies low-temperature geochemistry – chemical processes that occur in the Earth’s surface environments. The above diagram depicts how carbon atoms ‘flow’ between various ‘reservoirs’ in the Earth system. (Courtesy: UCAR)

The initial work of the project will be expanding on the already successful����framework, enabling the geoscience community to adopt science-on-schema—an established, agreed-upon vocabulary for scientific datasets—to share data and codes.

“Ultimately, we are further developing and deploying DeCODER in three additional Earth and environmental science disciplines: ecological modeling, low-temperature geochemistry and deep-sea observation,” Wen says. “These three scientific disciplines very well cover the scientific questions related to climate change and global warming.”

After the data set and search engines are in place, Wen’s team will move into a “test-run” phase, applying the tool to specific low-temperature geochemistry questions, and reaching out to the scientific community for feedback.

“This grant will put Syracuse University on the frontier of both low-temperature geochemistry and cyberinfrastructure development,” Wen predicts. “Syracuse University students will be able to work on not only the DeCODER development in low-temperature (geochemistry) but also the subsequent application of DeCODER in low-temperature geochemistry-related scientific questions. DeCODER will facilitate and push forward the study of scientific questions in the future for earth scientists and beyond.”

Story by Laura Wallis

Artist rendering of a neutron star merger. (Courtesy: NSF LIGO; Sonoma State University; A. Simonnet)

In 2015, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) observed the first detection of gravitational waves—ripples in the fabric of spacetime created by the cataclysmic collision of two black holes. The ��played a leading role in this monumental discovery that confirmed a major prediction of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Since this first discovery, LIGO has detected dozens more black hole collisions and observed the collision of two neutron stars,��. Today, physicists in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) are working to design Cosmic Explorer: a next-generation gravitational-wave observatory capable of seeing much further into the Universe and observing with higher precision than ever before.

Duncan Brown

Among those physicists is��, Charles Brightman Endowed Professor of Physics and Syracuse University’s vice president for research. Brown was recently awarded a (NSF) to develop advanced algorithms and computational techniques to explore how astrophysical information can be extracted from the signal-rich data of future detectors.

Gravitational waves are produced by the universe’s most violent and energetic processes. When two black holes collide or massive stars explode at the end of their lifetimes, they create waves in spacetime that can be observed using gravitational-wave detectors. Cosmic Explorer will be sensitive enough to study the collisions of the remnants from the first stars that formed in the universe. But to meet the target build date in the mid-2030s, investment in technology development is needed now.

Brown will use the NSF funding to develop new algorithms to detect signals with Cosmic Explorer and understand the astrophysics encoded in the observed waves. This research will also help estimate the computational resources required to fully exploit the science potential of next-generation detectors, as well as educate a community of researchers that is ready to explore the universe within this new observational window.

“Gravitational-wave astronomy is an amazing field,” says Brown. “With Cosmic Explorer, humanity will go from its first glimpse of the gravitational-wave sky to detecting every black hole merger in the universe within a single human lifetime. We need to start preparing now for the exciting data deluge that Cosmic Explorer will bring.”

Through the educational component of this grant, undergraduate and graduate students in A&S’ physics department will learn computational skills that advance the competitiveness of the U.S. STEM workforce. This award will also support an effort to bring high-performance computing to school districts in rural Pennsylvania and promote STEM education in K-12 schools.

You may not know it, but every second 100 billion extremely tiny, invisible subatomic particles called neutrinos pass through every square centimeter of your hand. Physicist says the reason you didn’t notice is because they rarely interact with matter, so most of those neutrinos moving through your palm, and the entire Earth, come and go without a trace before zooming back off into the universe.

A&S physicists Mitch Soderberg, left, and Denver Whittington have been awarded grants from the National Science Foundation and Department of Energy to fund their neutrino research.

Neutrinos are produced by nuclear reactions and radioactive decay from sources all around us, including the sun, the atmosphere, nuclear reactors and particle accelerators.

“We know neutrinos and their antimatter versions, antineutrinos, would have been around in the early universe, and we want to know if subtle differences in the way they interact could have led to matter coming to be dominant over antimatter in the universe,” says Soderberg, professor and associate chair of physics in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S).

Nearly 14 billion years ago a tiny, dense, fiery region of space expanded and cooled to become the universe we know today, an event known as the Big Bang. The Big Bang should have created equal amounts of matter and antimatter, which are particles identical in almost every way except for their electrical charge. If that happened, the particles of matter and antimatter would have annihilated one another resulting in a universe containing nothing but leftover energy. Instead, a tiny portion of matter—about one particle per billion—managed to survive.

Understanding how neutrinos—one of the most fundamental, abundant and lightest subatomic particles with mass—interact may be the key to determining why our universe exists. By studying those interactions, Syracuse researchers hope to understand the answers to really big questions, such as why all of the “stuff” in the universe, including stars, planets and people, are made out of matter and not antimatter.

Stefan Ballmer

At the same time, members of the Advanced LIGO team are continuously working on refinements for future observation periods years ahead. , professor of physics in the College of Arts and Sciences, was a member of the team that helped design and build the LIGO detectors.

To continue that work, Ballmer was recently awarded a $555,000 to develop technology for sensing optical cavity mismatches and actuators for suspensions for the next generation detector, a renewal of funding for detector technology for gravitational-wave astrophysics.

The award also provides support for Ballmer’s doctoral students, including Elenna Capote, who is currently on site in Hanford, helping tune the detector alignment and control systems to make sure the detector performs as designed.

“These detectors are complicated machines with thousands of control loops keeping four main mirrors and an additional 30 suspended mirrors aligned and controlled in length to keep the light resonant,” Ballmer says. “Every time you make a change, it really becomes a new detector that has to be re-tuned.”

How LIGO Works

LIGO uses a pair of giant laser detectors called interferometers, located 1,900 miles apart in Hanford, Washington, and Livingston, Louisiana. Each detector contains two 2.5-mile-long vacuum arms—tubes that run perpendicular to one another. A powerful laser beam is split into two and sent down the arms. Mirrors at the end reflect the light back to where the laser beam was split. Since the arms are the same length, the light should take exactly the same time to travel to the mirror at the end of each tunnel and back. But if a gravitational wave passes through Earth, it changes the distance between the mirrors, causing the light beams to return at different times.

By comparing both beams, LIGO is able to measure the stretching of spacetime caused by gravitational waves, a seminal observation first made in 2015 with the first physical confirmation of a gravitational wave generated by two colliding black holes, nearly 1.3 billion light years away.

According to Ballmer, the higher the laser power in the 2.5-mile-long arms, the more accurately scientists can determine the motion of the arm. But the amount of laser power that can be used is currently limited by imperfections in the detectors’ optical system. “The optical phase front of the laser coming back from the detector can get distorted by thermal effects in the mirrors,” he says.

Innovating LIGO

Physics graduate students Elenna Capote (front) and Varun Srivastava (back) working on site at LIGO Hanford in Washington state.

Ballmer is working on a diagnostic camera that records thermal distortions in the detector, allowing scientists to determine their cause and effect. While a prototype camera was developed under a previous award, “this continued support is for deploying that camera and miniaturizing it, making it easier to use on the site,” he says.

The award also supports collaborative research with scientists at MIT to redesign the test mass suspensions for the current detectors to use heavier masses. “Random arrival photons push the test masses around, so the heavier the test masses are, the less they move when they get randomly hit by a photon,” Ballmer explains. “Going to heavier test masses is a way to increase low frequency sensitivity.”

Previous research has focused on new coatings for the mirrors. Under the current grant, Ballmer is also exploring research and development to integrate these coatings on the detector. “The new coatings have much lower thermal noise, but do not work with some auxiliary laser frequencies in the detector. Changing the mirror coatings thus requires other changes in the detector, and so the R&D that’s going under this award is to prototype the new detector systems compatible with the new types of coatings,” he says.

In addition to being used to upgrade the LIGO detectors in its fifth or sixth observation cycle, Ballmer says these developments can be used as a baseline for the next generation of detectors.

Ballmer was a principal investigator on the Cosmic Horizon Explorer Study, a project planning for the third generation of detectors, which will have 10 times the sensitivity of Advanced LIGO. The Cosmic Explorer will push the detection range of black hole and neutron star mergers out into cosmic distances. “We will actually see mergers happening from the very first stars that formed in the universe,” he says.

The 100-page study will inform next steps in NSF funding decisions on the project, which Ballmer says will likely focus on the site proposal and development of the conceptual design for the detector. “We’ve all just seen these beautiful images from the James Webb telescope showing the furthest and earliest galaxies of lights. So, with the Cosmic Explorer, if there are black hole mergers in those early galaxies, we would see them,” he says.

About Stefan W. Ballmer

Ballmer joined Syracuse University in 2010. Leading up to his contributions to LIGO’s Nobel Prize-winning work, he received an NSF CAREER Award in 2013 to support detector technology in the era of gravitational wave astrophysics, providing $860,000 of research funding over five years.

In October 2021, Ballmer was named a (APS), for his critical role in the design and commissioning of the Advanced LIGO detectors and the scientific interpretation of their observations, leadership in the development of third-generation gravitational-wave detectors and mentoring of the next generation of gravitational-wave experimenters.

A native of Switzerland, Ballmer has held a visiting associate professor position at the University of Tokyo; a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan; and a Robert A. Millikan Fellowship at Caltech. He earned a Ph.D. from MIT and a master’s degree from ETH Zurich in Switzerland. An aviation enthusiast, Ballmer enjoys flying in his spare time, is an instrument flight instructor and holds a commercial pilot license.

The NSF award is providing the funding to a consortium of 10 academic institutions for the implementation and execution of the IN I-Corps Hub program. The program aims to expand the nation’s geography of innovation by creating a cohesive innovation ecosystem that delivers inclusive models of education and workforce training designed for and by innovators in rural regions and small cities. The region that includes Syracuse University stretches from New Hampshire to West Virginia and represents large portions of the U.S. that are largely rural, economically underserved and working to restore economic vitality.

Syracuse University is joined by hub lead Cornell University and hub partner institutions Dartmouth College, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), SUNY Binghamton, SUNY Buffalo, University of Pittsburgh, University of Rochester, University of Vermont and West Virginia University. Each institution will be hosting regional I-Corps courses and contributing to programming and curriculum strategy in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The grant captures activities taking place across the Syracuse University campus, including at the College of Law’s Innovation Law Center; the College of Engineering and Computer Science and its Center for Advanced Systems and Engineering; and the Martin J. Whitman School of Management.

Gretchen Ritter, vice chancellor, provost and chief academic officer, says the University is excited to partner with the NSF and other colleges to boost entrepreneurism and contribute academic programming and curriculum development in that field.

“The University has a long and distinguished reputation as a leader in entrepreneurship education, evidenced by the many innovative programs in place across our campus,” Ritter says. “We are pleased to lend our expertise and capacities to the I-Corps program goals. Given our institutional priority to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, we are gratified to see that a special program focus is assuring equitable access to resources and talent development among groups that have traditionally been underrepresented in STEM field education.”

Duncan Brown, vice president of research, says the program provides new opportunities, both interdisciplinary and cross-school collaboration on campus and dynamic partnerships with other colleges that emphasize innovation, entrepreneurship and local economy initiatives.

“We are pleased to join with these institutions and the NSF in this initiative and the University looks forward to the many ways our faculty and leadership can enhance STEM learning and market innovation through this collaboration,” Brown says.

New Tech for Society

Founded by the National Science Foundation in 2011, I-Corps programming nationwide empowers researchers to combine their technical and scientific knowledge with an entrepreneurial mindset to develop new technologies and startups that benefit society. The I-Corps curriculum addresses the knowledge gap between the skills needed to develop an innovative technology in a lab and the skills needed to bring that technology to market. With a core tenet of customer discovery, participants in I-Corps courses work to connect with potential customers and ensure the solutions they are developing fill an existing market need.

Campus Leads

Alexander McKelvie

Alexander McKelvie, interim dean and professor of entrepreneurship in the Whitman School, is the principal investigator for the Syracuse University portion of the grant. Todd Moss, chair of the Department of Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises and the Pettinella Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship in the Whitman School, is the research lead for the program. Pramod Varshney, distinguished professor of electrical engineering and computer science and director of CASE, is the faculty lead.

“We are delighted to collaborate with these partner institutions in the interior northeast region on this transformational program,” says McKelvie. “The combination of practical teaching and academic research reflects the ‘sweet spot’ of the strengths of Syracuse University’s entrepreneurship model. It is also gratifying that Todd Moss has been selected to the be research lead for the program, and that the work aligns closely with the expertise of multiple Whitman School faculty members. This reflects Whitman’s academic standing in the field.”

Todd Moss

Syracuse University is a recognized leader in the field of entrepreneurship. Its entrepreneurship programming includes applied education in the community, such as through the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans, the WISE Women’s Business Center, the South Side Innovation Center, the Innovation Law Center and the Blackstone Launchpad, among other programs. Its leadership in the field is also reflected as a globally ranked academic research unit having 11 tenure-track faculty housed at the Whitman School, many of whom are thought leaders in their entrepreneurship fields, as well as multiple other scholars across campus. The University has hosted a number of I-Corps courses in recent years in collaboration with the UNY I-Corps Node.

DEIA Focus

Pramod Varshney

A mission-critical element of the IN I-Corps Hub’s approach to entrepreneurship is the creation and administration of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) initiatives. IN I-Corps officials report that STEM researchers in underrepresented groups face heightened barriers to success and creating equitable access to resources and talent development is crucial to ensuring the most innovative deep-tech developments are being discovered and amplified. Hub leadership and partners are working to actively create opportunities to support the development of STEM research talent who are women, veterans, people of color and individuals with disabilities. These initiatives will include collaborations with such organizations as the National GEM Consortium’s and.

The IN I-Corps Hub joins eight other I-Corps Hubs within the (NIN). ��The hub will regularly offer regional courses designed to support geographically dispersed participants in learning the I-Corps method of customer discovery and applying it to real-world opportunities, while still remaining connected to their home institutions and communities.

The Interior Northeast Hub launches officially on Jan. 1, 2023. STEM researchers interested in learning about opportunities to participate in regional I-Corps courses at Hub institutions will be able to look for that information on the program website.

Through a National Science Foundation (PAARE) grant of more than $1 million, Syracuse University will help create a new research and education program intended to diversify the field of gravitational-wave astrophysics, specifically to increase the number of Hispanic/Latinx students to the field.

A&S physicists Stefan W. Ballmer and Georgia Mansell are part of an NSF-funded project to help diversify the field of gravitational-wave astrophysics.

The program builds on an existing collaboration between California State University Fullerton (CSUF), a primarily undergraduate Hispanic-serving institution, and Syracuse University. The existing PAARE program has supported eight graduate students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds to graduate with a Ph.D. in physics from Syracuse University. The new award expands the existing CSUF-Syracuse program to two additional Ph.D.-granting partners: Northwestern University and Washington State University.

This program will provide a clear pathway for CSUF students to enter doctoral programs at these three partner universities, including financial and academic support as they transition. The program intends to provide students with a long-term road map for their STEM careers and ensure that admitted students complete the Ph.D. degree and facilitate their becoming leaders in gravitational-wave astrophysics by providing sustained mentoring and actively fostering partnership opportunities.

CSUF is the lead institution on the grant. Principal investigators at Syracuse University are , professor of physics, and , assistant research professor of physics, both integrally involved with the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), which provided the first direct observation of gravitational waves in 2015.

“Diversifying the astrophysics community is critically important, enabling a new crop of gravitational wave physicists and enriching the field,” says Mansell. “I’m proud to be involved in the PAARE grant, grateful to be part of a team that puts in the work when it comes to DEI, and happy that the NSF is investing in this initiative.”

Ballmer expects the first graduate students to begin graduate study at Syracuse through the partnership in 2023. “The program will provide a pathway and dedicated support for students all the way to their doctoral degree,” he says.

Ballmer was a member of the team that helped design and build the Advanced LIGO and has NSF funding to continue to develop upgrades. He is also principal investigator on the Cosmic Horizon Explorer Study, planning for the next generation of detectors.

Mansell joined Syracuse University in January 2021 and is currently working at the LIGO site in Hanford, Washington, preparing the detector for its upcoming observational run next year. She will be on campus to establish her own lab in spring 2023.

“I am excited to be involved because I’ve worked with some of the current PAARE students who have come to the site through the LIGO collaboration’s fellows program,” says Mansell. “I am hoping future PAARE students will come and work in my lab at SU, once it’s set up.”

Dotger’s fourth NSF award, “The Simulation Physiology (SIM-Physio) Data Science Model: Engaging STEM Undergraduates in Data Science Practices” will provide undergraduates with hands-on training on how to ethically collect, analyze, and publicly communicate complex, human-generated data, gathered from subjects in CEPP’s programs.

Professor Benjamin Dotger

Dotger is joined in the research project by co-principal investigators , associate professor of exercise science in the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics; , associate professor of exercise science and director of the Human Performance Laboratory in the Falk College; and , Dean’s Professor in the School of Education’s Department of Counseling and Human Services. , associate professor in the School of Information Studies, is a project advisor.

“The founding director of SOE’s new , Professor Dotger has an impressive track record of securing NSF funding,” says Beth Ferri, professor of inclusive education and disibility studies and the SOE’s associate dean for research. “This SIM-Physio data science project is designed to help undergraduate students in STEM fields learn to collect and analyze and then communicate biomedical data to laypersons in a highly-structured, hands-on learning environment involving real-time data collection and analysis. The project—involving students and faculty from the School of Education, Falk College and iSchool—shows the CEPP’s potential to leverage Professor Dotger’s leadership in developing and implementing experiential learning models and applying them to an ever-widening set of instructional contexts, across the University and beyond.”

The SIM-Physio project will pair—one on one—undergraduates preparing to enter science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields with real human subjects, drawn from students engaged in clinical simulations, a core research and practice component of CEPP, . Clinical simulations consist of live and recorded interactions that approximate a challenging professional interaction, such as between a student teacher and a trained actor portraying a concerned parent. Currently, CEPP offers clinical simulations for teacher preparation, counselor education, and professional development for school leaders and military veterans navigating the college experience ().

Because simulations reproduce challenging, high-stakes professional interactions, they offer ample opportunity for SIM-Physio students to collect physiological data. Learners in high-stakes environments often experience minor sign of stress, such as increased perspiration, respiration rates, blood pressure and heart rate. SIM-Physio students will be tasked with collecting and analyzing the physiological data—according to ethical human research guidelines—at seven points during a semester: a baseline measurement followed by six simulations. After analysis, each SIM-Physio student will be challenged to communicate the data back to the human subject they are paired with.

“STEM undergraduates planning to enter the fields of biology, data analytics, exercise science, neuroscience, nutrition science, pre-health/pre-med, psychology, and sports science must practice accurately collecting and analyzing human physiological data, as well as communicating complex data to the general public,” says Dotger. “This project’s fundamental objective—guiding STEM undergraduates in learning the three basic data science practices associated with human subjects—aligns with the National Science Foundation’s emphasis on developing the 21st century data science workforce.”

Derived from medical education’s use of standardized patients, the potential for clinical simulations to revolutionize professional training across multiple fields is explored in Dotger’s book, “” (Harvard, 2022), co-edited with SOE Interim Dean Kelly Chandler-Olcott. The book illustrates how simulations are deployed in mathematics and science education, physical education, educational leadership, counseling and inclusive education.

The SIM-Physio data science project represents an evolution of CEPP’s experiential learning model. “This project is centered on leveraging an existing learning environment—clinical simulations to prepare educators—and these students’ resulting physiological data in order to prepare STEM undergraduates who are learning basic data science principles,” says Dotger. “That’s two learning groups—teacher candidates and STEM undergraduates—impacted at the same time. Refinement of this data science pedagogical model offers opportunities to expand simulations into biomedical training programs.”

This project is a continuation of research that Dotger began in 2016—”Exploring Physiological Responses to Clinical Simulations”—funded in part by the SU Office of Research Internal Grant Program, a precursor to the .

“This NSF award is an excellent example of the ongoing benefits of intramural grant funding,” says Interim Vice President for Research Ramesh Raina. “Professor Dotger has continued to grow and leverage a $7,500 institutional investment for a collaborative project with SUNY Upstate Medical University into a large interdisciplinary federal grant that broadens experiential STEM learning for our undergraduates.”

According to Dotger, “Investments in initial research allowed me and my collaborators to conduct a proof-of-concept and collect some pilot data, both of which were included in the broader NSF proposal.”

“When temperature and humidity produce the right conditions, mushrooms grow out of the mycelium network that has existed beneath the ground,” says Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Zhao Qin.

Professor Zhao Qin

Qin has been researching the structure of mycelium and the potential for it to be used in other adhesive applications. He sees it as an interface between material science, civil engineering and environmental engineering.

“It is like a glue that integrates wood chips and waste material and then assimilate all these pieces together,” says Qin. “Around cliff areas, people are looking to stabilize the soil. Mycelium is doing this all the time.”

Qin received a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award for his project, “Multiscale Mechanics of Mycelium for Lightweight, Strong and Sustainable Composites.” He seeks to reveal the fundamental principles that govern the multiscale mechanics of mycelium-based composites and integrate research into an educational program. Mycelium, produced during mushroom growth as the main body of fungi, plays an essential role in altering soil chemistry and mechanics, enabling a suitable living environment for different plant species.

He and his research team are building a computational model to show how mycelium blends wood chips and waste into complex microfiber structures.

“Once we have a computational model we can optimize the process,” says Qin. “We plan to generate the culture for Mycelium to grow in the lab. Then we generate conditions like temperature or pressure so we can characterize the strength of the material.”

When temperature and humidity produce the right conditions, mushrooms grow out of the mycelium network that has existed beneath the ground.

Eventually, Qin wants to take these natural materials into the lab to see if it can be processed into a composite for infrastructure uses.

“A composite version of mycelium could require less energy to produce and be biocompatible,” says Qin. “It could be used for construction – think about similar properties to medium-density fiberboard�� but integrated by a mycelium network rather than an adhesive. We want to see what is possible once we know how the mycelium achieve these mechanical properties.”

Qin says Syracuse University is the perfect environment for his research. He will be collaborating with��Professors Daekwon Park and Nina Sharifi from the School of Architecture.

“This is a fantastic research institution. My colleagues here in Engineering and Computer Science and the School of Architecture are very supportive, we have excellent facilities and outstanding graduate students,” says Qin. “Once we set the recipe for these materials, we can apply that to real world applications in construction and architecture.”

“Our department is thrilled to see Dr. Qin’s work recognized by the NSF,” says civil and environmental engineering department chair Andria Costello Staniec. “His work is significant for modeling of bioinspired materials and will contribute to the development of eco-friendly composite materials that have wide applications in civil engineering and beyond.”

As part of the NSF grant, Qin is involving K-12 students in research and also plans to develop an educational exhibit related to mycelium study at the Museum of Science and Technology in downtown Syracuse.

“We will design educational programs that will help aspiring young engineers and scientists to learn by playing,” says Qin.

“Dr. Qin’s research is an outstanding example of the kind of research that ECS seeks to grow,” said College of Engineering and Computer Science Dean J. Cole Smith. “He is showing how to leverage his foundational excellence in science and engineering to construct effective composite materials. Furthermore, he is engaged in deep collaborations with some of our truly fantastic colleagues in the School of Architecture. I am so personally excited to see Dr. Qin recognized for the promising and innovative researcher that he is.”

The highly competitive NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program supports early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization. Activities pursued by early-career faculty should build a firm foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research.

Four of the awardees are faculty at the : Assistant Professors , ,�� and . Eftekharnejad and Fioretto are members of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Qin and Zeng teach in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Five other honorees are on the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences: , assistant professor of chemistry;��, assistant professor of psychology; , assistant professor of psychology; , assistant professor of chemistry; ���Ի���, assistant professor of mathematics.

“Syracuse University takes great pride in the National Science Foundation’s presentation of this high number of early-career awards,” says , vice chancellor, provost and chief academic officer. “These prestigious grants recognize the value of current research and the long-term professional potential of our faculty. We regard them as innovative researchers and tremendous assets to their departments and schools and congratulate them. We look forward to watching their research careers continue to flourish as they educate the next generation of scientists and innovators.”

��Engineering and Computer Science Faculty

Sara Eftekharnejad

Eftekharnejad’s project, “Modeling and Quantification of the Interdependent Power Grid Uncertainties,” examines how conditions impact the U.S. electric power grid and looks at developing better methods of predicting grid disruptions. She is using statistical modeling of power grid failures to help predict power outages within rapid timeframes. Another focus is modeling power-generation uncertainties from various types of energy supplies, including those that are weather dependent. are working on using system measurements of grid status and condition uncertainties to find a dynamic model that adjusts in real time to help predict power outages before they occur.

Ferdinando Fioretto

In his project, “End-to-End Constrained Optimization Learning,” Fioretto is researching new models for solving computer optimization problems by accelerating data-driven learning. In that effort, are approximating near-real-time integration of constrained optimization principles into machine learning algorithms. Optimized algorithms can improve an array of computer-based processes used in industrial applications that affect everyday life, such as meeting electricity demands efficiently, matching organ donors with receivers, scheduling flights and finding a nearby driver at a ride-sharing service.

Zhao Qin

Qin’s project, “Multiscale Mechanics of Mycelium for Lightweight, Strong and Sustainable Composites” seeks to reveal the fundamental principles that govern the multiscale mechanics of mycelium-based composites and integrate research into an educational program. Mycelium, produced during mushroom growth as the main body of fungi, plays an essential role in altering soil chemistry and mechanics, enabling a suitable living environment for different plant species.

Teng Zeng

Inland lakes in the northeastern United States have shown inconsistent trends of browning, a shift toward darker water color. Many of these lakes also receive inputs of organic contaminants originating from human activities within the lake watersheds. For “Impacts of Lake Browning on the Photochemical Fate of Organic Micropollutants,” Zeng is studying the sunlight-driven transformation of organic contaminants in the context of browning. The project is a collaboration with a volunteer lake monitoring and education program. He plans to develop new data and knowledge that will support development of adaptative lake monitoring programs and water treatment practices.

Arts and Sciences Faculty

John Franck

For “,” Franck is developing instrumentation and software to explore how��properties of water at nanoscale levels control cell functions. He is making and isolating proteins and labeling them with molecular tags, then using quantum spin physics to develop and interpret their measurements. Mapping non-uniform behavior of water at the nanoscale level can improve understanding of how the tiniest machinery inside cells is structured and operates. That knowledge could lead to the design of better drugs and materials.

Brett Jakubiak

Jakubiak’s research, “”��gauges how affectionate physical contact—apart from verbal expressions of affection—impacts individuals psychologically. The research examines the unique benefits of affectionate touch, why affectionate touch has such benefits and who benefits from engaging in affectionate touch and in what contexts. Jakubiak says the project’s goal is to advance knowing how people think about and navigate close relationships to protect and enhance personal and relationship well-being.

David Kellen

In his project, “,” Kellen is developing a body of experimental data and analysis methods to formulate a single validated account of recognition memory. The project will help refine current understanding of how people remember and develop measurement tools for practitioners and researchers to better assess memory across the lifespan. Comparisons could be used in clinical applications for populations such as people with Alzheimer’s disease.

Davoud Mozhdehi

For “,” Mozhdehi is researching the replication of water-based emulsions to reduce and perhaps eliminate the need for oil-based surfactants in the manufacture of many common products. He says aqueous emulsion technology could potentially replace traditional oil-based emulsions in food processing, cosmetics, biosensing and delivery of pharmaceuticals. The research involves trying to recreate the water-in-water emulsions human cells sometimes temporarily develop to prolong the time that two water-based layers can stay separated.

Minghao Rostami

Rostami’s research, “,” examines the “swimming” processes of micro-organisms (such as bacteria, sperm and algae) to harness their motility systems. Her specialty in computational fluid dynamics will help with the development of data-driven models and computationally efficient algorithms to simulate the movements of microswimmers. She plans to produce a 3D interactive visual computing system as a tool to study the hydrodynamics of swimming microorganisms.

Early Career Awards

For the , having five faculty named at one time marks a record number of such NSF awardees at the school, says Alan Middleton, College of Arts and Sciences associate dean of research and scholarship. “The honor affirms the outstanding potential for these newer faculty members to make novel contributions to both research and education. They are a testament to the college’s and University’s standing as a premier destination for research excellence,” he says.

Jae Oh, the David G. Edelstein Professor for Broadening Participation and chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), agrees. “Receiving an NSF CAREER award is an important accomplishment and recognition for new faculty. The EECS department has been regularly producing CAREER awardees in recent years, and we expect this trend to continue in many future years,” he says.

Four Syracuse University students have been awarded prestigious graduate research fellowships through the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), and two students were recognized with Honorable Mentions. The fellowship recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees in the U.S. The five-year fellowship includes three years of financial support, including an annual stipend of $34,000.

The 2022 recipients of the NSF GRFP are:

• Katelyn Bajorek ’21, an alumna of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs with degrees in history and anthropology and member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program;
• David Coghiel ’22, a civil engineering major in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS);
• Odlanyer Hernández de Lara, a Ph.D. student in anthropology in the Maxwell School; and
• Zhuoqi Tong ’22, a double major in applied mathematics and bioengineering in the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering and Computer Science and member of the Renée Crown University Honors Program.

Katelyn Bajorek ’21

Bajorek studies medieval history and human osteology, with a research focus on the intersections of medieval medicine and religion. This fellowship will allow her to pursue her Ph.D. in medieval studies at Cornell University and provide important professional advancement resources to further her academic career. With a passion for fieldwork, Bajorek hopes to one day work as an archaeological field director at medieval cemetery sites.

“As a child, I was fascinated by books about dinosaurs and Egyptian mummies,” she says. “An archaeological field school with Dr. Guido Pezzarossi in 2018 showed me that a career in archaeology was possible in real life. I envision that a significant portion of my career will be spent leading excavations. I eventually want to become a professor of medieval archaeology, where I can direct a teaching lab of new generations of students.”

David Coghiel ’22

Coghiel’s interest in civil engineering blossomed as he was growing up in New York City, where construction projects were a constant presence. He recalls being curious about what was being developed and excited about seeing the finished products. “I realized that all projects were meant to keep people safe and healthy—and as I got older, I decided that I wanted to use my passion for engineering to help create a safe and sustainable future for all,” he says.

With the support of the NSF GRFP, Coghiel plans to conduct research on the environmental impacts of carbon dioxide emissions from construction sites and determine whether there are more sustainable practices to implement in construction scheduling. During his undergraduate career, he participated in mentorship via the WellsLink Leadership Program and worked as a lab assistant under ECS professors Cliff Davidson and Svetoslava Todorova, both experiences he says will positively impact his career.

“Working directly with engineering professors taught me numerous practices that I plan to implement in my own research project and future engineering career,” Coghiel says.

Through his research, he seeks to find ways to provide healthier airspaces for all, especially underserved communities that are often adversely affected by construction pollution.

Odlanyer Hernández de Lara

Hernández de Lara has been interested in archaeology since volunteering with the Cuban Speleological Society in his home country of Cuba. Pursuing his Ph.D. in anthropology with a focus on historical archaeology, his research interests include conflict and battlefield archaeology and the archaeology of the contemporary past, heritage and memory. Hernández de Lara says the NSF fellowship will support his doctoral research, and potentially open the door for future grants to continue developing his research project.

“I have met great professionals at SU who have expanded my limits in unexpected ways,” says Hernández de Lara. “Interacting with professors and other graduate students in the Department of Anthropology and the Maxwell School as a whole contributed to shaping my approach to the discipline, and life in general.”

He hopes to ultimately become a college or university professional, with a significant interest in museums, historic preservation agencies and other public service positions in archaeology.

Zhuoqi Tong ’22

Tong will graduate from Syracuse next month and go on to pursue a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He was drawn to biomedical engineering and a research interest in immunoengineering from an early age and aspires to have a long career working toward defeating cancer and other diseases.

“The NSF fellowship provides students and their graduate institutions with a generous amount of money to support independent and creative research, giving students more flexibility to explore research directions which may not be fully supported under a faculty grant,” Tong says. “Now I can carefully think about what I want to do research on for my Ph.D., finding gaps in the existing research on cancer treatment options and aligning my research accordingly.”

He acknowledges his work in the lab of professor Jay Henderson, as well as mentorship from professor Henderson and professor Julie Hasenwinkel, as being crucial for his success. Tong’s long-term goals are to teach and mentor undergraduate and graduate students as a professor of biomedical engineering and to start his own lab to continue next-generation cancer research with curative potential.

Abigail McCarthy and Karma Thomas

Two students also received Honorable Mentions in this year’s NSF GRFP competition. Abigail McCarthy, a master’s student in Earth sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, is researching new methods to evaluate flood risk using high-throughput computing, especially regarding flood risk for socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. Karma Thomas is a Ph.D. student in biology in the College of Arts and Sciences and member of the Althoff Lab, whose research interests include the ecology and evolution of insects and their interactions with plants.

Upcoming Learning Opportunities for Faculty

The associate provost for academic affairs and the Center for Fellowship and Scholarship Advising (CFSA) will host several faculty sessions to share ideas about how to increase the number of Syracuse University graduate and undergraduate students applying to the NSF GRFP. The sessions are as follows:

• Tuesday, April 26, 3 p.m., Katzer Collaboratory-347 Hinds Hall
• Tuesday, May 3, 3 p.m., Katzer Collaboratory-347 Hinds Hall
• Monday, May 9, 2 p.m., 243A Hinds Hall

Any of the three sessions can also be joined . CFSA staff will provide a brief overview of the NSF GRFP award and the support the University currently offers to students undertaking the application. The majority of each session will be devoted to learning about faculty experiences with the program and discussing ideas to increase the number of applications.

Students interested in learning more about or applying for the next NSF GRFP award cycle or any other nationally competitive scholarships and fellowships should visit the or email cfsa@syr.edu for more information.

SUSTAIN scholars at Camp Talooli, where they took part in team building activities, hiking, archery, kayaking and an astronomy lesson with the camp director. (Courtesy: John Tillotson)

In 2017,��, associate professor and department chair of the����in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), set out to improve upon the country’s retention rate of college science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) majors among underrepresented students through a new program combining scholarships, professional development and socialization opportunities.

“Typically, only about 40% of students who enter college with the intention of being a STEM major graduate with a STEM degree,” Tillotson says. Often students will change course in their first year. To his delight, though, this program—SUSTAIN, the Strategic Undergraduate STEM Talent Acceleration Initiative—retained 93% of its STEM majors in its first year.

Now in its fifth year, SUSTAIN is looking to build an enduring program upon the strong foundation of its original National Science Foundation grant. Like Tillotson, donors have also been delighted by the results of SUSTAIN, funding it with significant gifts and working to establish an endowment, to, as Tillotson puts it, “keep it going forever.”

What’s New

Thanks in part to that donor support, SUSTAIN has undergone some exciting changes this year.

First, more students are now being served. A&S welcomed its second cohort of SUSTAIN scholars in fall 2021. While the first cohort was 28 students who went through their four years together, 10 new students will now enter every year, with the result that there will always be 40 SUSTAIN students on campus.

Second, students in more majors can now participate. The original NSF grant funded students in A&S’ largest STEM majors: biology, chemistry, biochemistry, biotechnology, neuroscience and forensic science. Thanks to the expanded resources made possible by SUSTAIN donors, the program now includes all A&S STEM majors, adding mathematics, physics, and Earth and environmental sciences. In addition, the Earth and environmental sciences department has committed funds from its own endowment for three additional students per year, bringing the total number of SUSTAIN scholars on campus to 52 over four years.

Besides the financial stipend—$5,000 per year for the first two years—SUSTAIN scholars receive support in virtually every aspect of undergraduate life. They are brought to campus early, before the start of their freshman year, to get to know each other and the professors in the program. “There are lots of team-building activities,” says Tillotson.

Graduate Nori Zaccheo ’21 credits SUSTAIN for giving her a sense of balance amid her very challenging coursework. “I am somebody who felt guilty if I did anything that wasn’t focused on my education, even watching a TV show, like I was wasting time not studying,” she says. “SUSTAIN did a lot of fun non-academic activities, which forced me to stop and relax.”

Graduate Barrington Bucknor ’21 maintains that these early bonding activities helped with later coursework. “With all these [difficult] subjects and classes that we were going through, we were doing it together. If there was every anything I struggled with, someone else would help me, and vice versa.”

All SUSTAIN scholars have the opportunity to do early-immersion research in their freshman and sophomore years. They are paired with faculty mentors and can start working in a lab. “This is a powerful experience, because most undergraduates don’t have a chance to get into STEM research until their junior or senior year,” says Tillotson.

Bucknor, like others, appreciated this aspect. “I had the opportunity to go to Europe to do an internship in the summer of 2019, and that was only because I had had the background of having done research [in] my first two years of college,” he says. “As a kid, you imagine that you’d like to see the world, but I had no idea how. [My family had just emigrated to the United States] only two years prior, and I hadn’t been planning on it anytime soon, but there I was, with the opportunity to visit a whole different continent.”

New to the program next year, as a result of having new scholars enter annually, will be sophomores buddying up with freshmen for additional support, or “near-peer mentoring.” Junior and senior years, students will shift their focus from adjustment to campus life to career development.

“We’re working with partners from the Corning Foundation, and hope to set up similar meetings with Bristol Myers, and Syracuse Research Corporation, to create a series of job shadowing and STEM internship opportunities,” says Tillotson. “Maybe down the road these STEM-focused companies would consider contributing scholarship funds, and hosting SUSTAIN scholars as interns and job shadowers, with the understanding that some of our graduates could seek employment with those companies and stay in this region.”

The Inspired and Inspiring People Behind the Program

The generous donors who provided funding to support the program beyond its initial NSF grant-funded inception include:

• Nina Fedoroff ’66, a summa cum laude graduate and recipient of Syracuse University’s George Arents Pioneer Medal in 2003. Fedoroff was science and technology advisor to Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton, and was awarded the National Medal of Science by President George W. Bush;
• The late Marylyn Grabosky ‘62, a native of Liverpool, N.Y., who graduated magna cum laude from Syracuse University as a philosophy major and “was a lifelong champion of women and diversity,” says her wife Laura Desmond. “Marylyn wanted to give support to people with real talent who might not always get the opportunity, the break, the access.”
• College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Advisory Board member Ed Mitzen ‘88 and his charitable foundation, Business for Good;
• College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Advisory Board member Laura Feldman ’81;
• Owen Lewis ’66, ’73 Ph.D.;
• Randi Rossignol ’75; and,
• Michael ’71, ’73 MBA and Deedee ’73 Giersch.

“I was precisely one of those very poor single parents who wanted to do science,” says Fedoroff, who made her name in the field of molecular biology, studying plant transposons and writing extensively on genetic modification. She credits a $1,000 grant in aid from Syracuse University in her senior year as being pivotal in allowing her to finish her degree. “It doesn’t sound like much now, but it made a huge difference at the time. When I got to know A&S Dean Karin Ruhlandt, I immediately became interested in contributing. It was already on my agenda to establish something like that at Syracuse, since Syracuse had helped me so much.”

Thanks to the vision of its founders and the generosity of its supporters, SUSTAIN has taken on an incredible momentum, benefiting students who also “just want to do science.”

Nori Zaccheo

Nori Zaccheo ’21
A lifetime interest in science blossoms into a career.

“I came in interested in forensics. The good thing about Syracuse is they make you pair forensics with another science, because forensics is an applied science. So in undergrad I did both forensics and chemistry, and graduated in three years. I spent my fourth year at Syracuse in grad school, getting my master’s degree, working in the bio forensics lab with Professor Michael Marciano.

Though I was committed to STEM, SUSTAIN, really helped, financially. Honestly, there’s no better forensic education than Syracuse, and I don’t know that I would have been able to afford it without SUSTAIN. There was that risk of me just giving up on forensics, transferring somewhere else and getting just a chemistry degree. And I also had so much support throughout my really hard chemistry classes. I know a lot of people who started out as chem majors who weren’t in SUSTAIN and ended up switching.”
Zaccheo is currently working as a science tutor.

Barrington Bucknor

Barrington Bucknor ’21
A new immigrant solidifies his journey into medicine.

“I was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, and moved to the U.S. in 2015. One of the biggest supports from SUSTAIN was getting paired with a research mentor so early on. A person like myself, coming in as an immigrant, I didn’t have a strong educational support in my family, so this supplemented that gap.

I enjoyed listening to the different speakers and learning how they created their path to reach their final destination. A lot of speakers talked about going into college as premeds but once they realized there was more to do in the medical field, other than being a physician or provider, they created their own path. Hearing that there are other opportunities, even if I decided I didn’t want to be a doctor later on, reinforced that there were opportunities, but also forced me to confront my own feelings about my future, and made me more sure that actually, I really did want to practice medicine.”

Bucknor is currently a research specialist in the auditory neuroscience lab at the University of Pennsylvania.

Olivia Santiago

Olivia Santiago ’21
A STEM-curious polymath finds her way.

“The most pivotal part of SUSTAIN for me was the career exposure and mentorship. It helped me realize that I didn’t want to be a scientist for the rest of my life, but I am a science-driven person. I ended up with two degrees, as a biotechnology major, and in Spanish literature and culture.

I remember one speaker in particular who came to campus. There was one woman who didn’t work in the hard sciences but did have the hard science background. She really liked talking to people. I identified with that—I had always wanted a career that was very client-facing, interacting with people. That was affirming—I saw a possibility for myself. A lot of the speakers were affirming for me even for me to listen and realize, wow I really don’t want to do that; figuring that out can sometimes be just as helpful if not more.”

Santiago is now a law student, pursuing patent law, which requires a science degree.

Story by Lesley Porcelli

Lawrence Mouillé

Lawrence Mouillé will join the College of Arts and Sciences’ (A&S) in July 2022 for a three-year appointment as a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded postdoctoral fellow.

The Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (MSPRF—pronounced “mouseproof”) is among the most prestigious awards in the math community, created by the NSF to “support future leaders in mathematics and statistics by facilitating their participation in postdoctoral research environments that will have maximal impact on their future scientific development.” Approximately 30 MSPRFs are granted annually across all areas of mathematics, and this is the first for the Syracuse mathematics department.

Currently, Mouillé is a G.C. Evans Instructor in the Department of Mathematics at Rice University; he earned a Ph.D. in 2020 from the University of California, Riverside. His areas of interest include Riemannian geometry, metric geometry and mathematics education.

The MSPRF is granted via a process in which a candidate presents a project with the support of a senior scientist with whom they wish to work; Mouillé chose Lee Kennard, assistant professor of mathematics in A&S, as his host and mentor. Both specialize in geometry and topology. “We study how curvature influences the global shape of a manifold,” explains Mouillé. “Kennard is expert on that. [Working together] will prove to be beneficial to both of us.”

Professor Kennard echoes that sentiment, and explains that the pair have been pondering a collaboration since 2019, when Mouillé visited Syracuse at Kennard’s invitation, to speak at a geometry and topology seminar.

“I’m excited he’s coming here, and we will be able to work closely,” says Kennard. “Being in the same place—to talk, write on paper or a whiteboard—for math research, is so important and effective. That’s something we’ve really been missing during the pandemic.”

“Postdocs are an essential ingredient to a modern research department in mathematics,” says Graham Leuschke, professor and department chair of mathematics. “They bring vigor, new ideas, and fresh perspectives, while enhancing the research of the tenure-track faculty…as well as the reputation of the department as a center for excellence in research.”

And, he explains, the fact that Mouillé applied to work with Kennard is a testament to the strength of department’s faculty.

“[Professor Kennard] was recently awarded an NSF grant to support his research,” Leuschke notes. “This MSPRF, awarded through a national competition, further indicates the high regard in which his work is held, and that he is seen as a potential leader in his field.”

Indeed, this appointment is just the latest in a string of notable accomplishments within the Syracuse math department. Of the ten current faculty hired since 2011, six have current NSF grants, including two, awarded to Professors William Wylie and Minghao Rostami, CAREER grants—five-year grants that are among NSF’s most distinguished and competitive.

That reputation and stellar faculty is part of what drew Mouillé to Syracuse. “When I visited in 2019, [both] Professor Kennard and Professor Wylie suggested directions for my research program that have proven to be fruitful. My hope is that we can continue to work synergistically to make further advances in differential geometry.”

Two versions of the MSPRF are offered to awardees: research fellowships and research instructorships. Mouillé chose the research instructorship and as such will be teaching several courses during the second two of his three years at Syracuse. “Teaching is a very valuable part of my experience,” he explains. “I really appreciate the time I get to spend with undergraduates, helping them to understand mathematics and how it fits in to their studies in other areas.”

Story by Laura Wallis

Opioid use disorder is one of the leading public health problems in the United States. Dessa Bergen-Cico has spent her career working to combat addiction and find solutions that work.

“Trauma, stress and addiction are all related. To have sustainable recovery from addiction, we have to help people understand what they are feeling, what contributes to their stress and learn healthy ways of regulating emotions,” she says.

Dessa Bergen-Cico

is a professor in the department of public health at Falk College. There, she coordinates the addiction studies program. She is also a faculty member in the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program.

The rate and cost of relapse for people in recovery is high, with a large risk of fatal overdose. Opioids create physical dependency and change people’s brains in terms of how they process reward and motivation, self-regulation and how people react to stress. Even years after discontinuing drug use, stress and anxiety can trigger the urge to use opioids and other drugs.

Research has found that mindfulness-based strategies can prevent relapse and foster sustainable recovery. “We are trying to demonstrate how and why it works. Our preliminary research, which was funded by two CUSE (Collaboration for Unprecedented Success and Excellence)��grants, measured changes in neural correlates associated with stress addiction and trauma,” says Bergen-Cico. “We found significant changes with a relatively short period of practice for key areas of the brain related to attention, working memory and emotional regulation.” Neural correlates are brain activity that corresponds with specific regions of the brain and are associated with similar brain functions.

Asif Salekin

“The findings from both CUSE grants helped pinpoint how and why mindfulness can help change the stress reactions that can lead to the development of an addiction as well as increased risk of relapse. We used fNIRS (functional near infrared spectroscopy) sensors to measure areas of the brain that regulate the ‘stop’ and ‘go’ signals that contribute to addiction. Using data from the fNIRS sensors, we were able to identify patterns of change in regions of the brain associated with the stress response. The data from the fNIRS sensors enabled us to measure significant changes in the mindfulness intervention study participants that were present before changes in self report measures,” says Bergen-Cico.

Bergen-Cico is working with , assistant professor in the College of Engineering and Computer science and a larger team at Syracuse University and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst to validate whether they can reliably predict the stress response in a larger group of participants. “By comparing results across three cohorts and interventions, we’re hoping to determine if making participants aware of the physiological stress response can cue them to interrupt the stress cycle using mindfulness and other cognitive behavioral techniques,” says Bergen-Cico. “The National Science Foundation award will fund this stage of the research.” The grant itself was awarded to Prof. Salekin, who serves as the principal investigator.

“In partnership with Professor Asif Salekin in the College of Engineering and Computer Science and his ongoing NSF-supported research, Professor Bergen-Cico’s investigation in addiction recovery demonstrates both the need for research in areas such as addiction, trauma and mindfulness, as well as the vast potential impact research has to inform policy and practice and improve our broader health as a population” says Falk College Dean Diane Lyden Murphy. “In addition, our faculty integrate new research and theory into the classroom, preparing students for successful careers as allied health workers, social service managers, policymakers and advocates.”

“Our ultimate hope is that we can provide a sustainable recovery tool that gives people insight into their own physiological and psychological reactivity to stress and life outside of a structured rehabilitation setting,” Bergen-Cico says. “We know that applying these techniques consistently, over time can help sustain people’s abstinence. If we can create a wearable or in-home monitoring device that predictably detects the stress responses that lead to cravings and then cues the use of cognitive and mindfulness techniques, it could be an important tool for sustainable recovery from addiction.”

Tripti Bhattacharya, Thonis Family Professor�� of earth and environmental sciences, recently served as one of eight leading climate scholars on a panel to identify potential future paleoclimate research directions that will help advance understanding of current and future change in the Earth’s climate system. The results, recently featured in a distributed by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), will help shape funding through the National Science Foundation and spark important discussions about the future of paleoclimate research.

Tripti Bhattacharya

Bhattacharya, who has taught at the University since 2018, was nominated to be on the panel by members of the international paleoclimate science community. The group’s discussions led to a report highlighting emerging scientific areas of interest to paleoclimatologists, including hydroclimate during past warm periods, connections between the biosphere, marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and the carbon cycle, which is the exchange of carbon between reservoirs stored in rocks, living matter, the ocean and the atmosphere. The burning of fossil fuels has accelerated the amount of carbon being released into the atmosphere and is disrupting the carbon cycle’s balance. The panel emphasized the significance of focusing future research on human-relevant timescales and extreme events to make paleoclimate research more relevant to the nexus of science and decision-making.

Solar panels generate electricity only during daylight hours so the charging times of battery energy storage systems and electric vehicles need to be better optimized to release the burden on the power grid.

“Sometimes people who have solar panels and an electric vehicle actually use more energy than before,” says Dong. “Our recent research shows residential solar customers had an 18% increase in their electricity consumption—in part because they viewed it as free. This is contradictory to the intention of installations of distributed energy resources in buildings”

Dong and University of Maryland public policy professor Lucy Qiu received a $500,000 National Science Foundation grant to study the changes in actual electricity consumption and technology-using behaviors of residential consumers due to co-adopting distributed solar photovoltaics, electric vehicle in-home chargers, and battery storage units. Preliminary work from Dong’s team shows that as more people co-adopt solar panels and in-home EV chargers, the effect could be potentially disruptive and challenge management of the United States electrical grid.

Mechanical and aerospace engineering Professor Bing Dong (center). [Image taken prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.]

Small changes like doing laundry during the peak hours of solar electricity production or off-peak hours later at night could help avoid putting a burden on the electrical grid. The NSF wants to know if consumers will change their behaviors and what strategies would help them adapt.

“What we need is the social aspect,” says Dong. “You can do a lot of engineering optimizations, but you need to see how people will actually react and behave.”

Many people operate on fixed schedules that are set by work or school and Dong says this needs to be factored into decisions as well. The research will also look at different behaviors in different geographic areas and socioeconomic groups.

“Social aspects, specifically occupant behavior, are so important in engineering design and operation,” says Dong. “The NSF wants to know how people will actually use energy when they design a smart building. This project will advance the research in grid-interactive efficient buildings and transform the current power grid operations”

The study also has support from National Grid and the Energy Power Research Institute in California.

The National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) 2020 Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate (MPS) bi-annual brochure highlighted research by Tomasz Skwarnicki, professor of physics in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), and a team of his collaborators. The brochure featured the group’s discovery of new details on the sub-structure of the pentaquark.

Tomasz Skwarnicki

Every two years, the NSF publishes an MPS brochure that describes each of their five divisions, which include astronomical sciences, chemistry, materials research, mathematical sciences and physics.

While initially slated for release in 2020, the latest edition is being circulated now due to delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

MPS funds about $1.4 billion in research each year with the Division of Physics spending about $290 million. Only two research highlights from each division are featured in the brochure, making this a notable accomplishment for Skwarnicki and the A&S physics department.

In 2019, Skwarnicki was part of a team that uncovered new information about a class of particles called pentaquarks. Quarks are sub-atomic particles that combine to form the atoms that make up matter.

A pentaquark is a particle containing five quarks. Skwarnicki and his international collaborators, operating the Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN located near Geneva in Switzerland, determined that rather than being composed of five quarks bonded tightly, pentaquarks are instead composed of two smaller structures with one containing three quarks and its partner the other two.

Illustration of the possible layout of the quarks in a pentaquark particle. This image was featured in the 2020 Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate (MPS) bi-annual brochure. (Courtesy: Daniel Dominguez/CERN)

“To be selected one of the two most significant results in the last two years over such a large scope of research funded by NSF speaks to the importance of these results, also reflected in the large number of citations in follow-up physics papers published in physics journals and attention of popular science media,” says Skwarnicki. “These results truly advanced our understanding of structures existing at the smallest scale humans are able to probe.”

Skwarnicki’s results were cited in 370 physics journals and he was quoted in articles by , and .

Skwarnicki’s work is featured on page 22 of the .

Stefan Ballmer

Jennifer Ross

Jennifer Ross, professor and department chair of physics in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), is among a team of researchers that was recently awarded a $1.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to design and create next-generation materials inspired and empowered by biological cells.

The project, led by Rae Robertson-Anderson, chair and professor of physics and biophysics at the University of San Diego, also includes physicists, biologists and engineers from the University of California Santa Barbara, the University of Chicago and Rochester Institute of Technology. Its goal is to create self-directed, programmable and reconfigurable materials—using biological building blocks including proteins and cells—that are capable of producing force and motion. This research could pave the way for future materials applications ranging from self-healing bridges and self-propulsive materials to programmable micro-robotics, wound healing and dynamic prosthetics.

According to Ross, the team’s work is inspired by biological materials that have the ability to heal, form and reform, and respond to their environment. But where inherently soft biological materials degrade easily, the group’s proposed hybrid composite material—a mix of synthetic and biological parts—would produce a durable system that can autonomously cycle. An example could be a road made of a material that could release molecules and self-repair each night.

Soundarajan has received a (NSF) CAREER Award for her research on algorithms for network analysis. The grant is a single investigator award intended to support Soundarajan’s professional development. In addition to providing funding for research, it will support a number of non-research service projects.

“Anytime I get a grant it feels great because it is validation from the larger scientific community,” says Soundarajan. “This one especially because it is tied to me as an individual and not just the project. It feels like I am being validated as a scientist. It means a lot.”

Sucheta Soundarajan

Although the award is an individual accomplishment, it is supporting research that has potential to benefit communities around the world. Increasingly, information is becoming acquired from network analysis and what scientists are finding is that despite algorithms not having access to protected attributes like age, disability, gender identification, religion and national origin, they still end up discriminating against these groups.

“What we’re seeing is that people from these minority and disadvantaged groups are being wrongfully discriminated against at a higher rate,” says Soundarajan. “We want to create algorithms that automatically find people central within a network but do it in a way that is fair.”

Soundarajan says criminal sentencing and lending are two examples of areas where algorithms are used to make crucial decisions and where scientists have detected potential wrongful discrimination. Another example of a fairness issue is the way we connect with each other on social platforms. Friendship recommendation algorithms can exacerbate a tendency for people to seek out those who are similar to themselves.

“Taken to an extreme, if people follow these recommendations, people end up in silos where they only connect to people who are like them and that is how you end up with echo chambers,” Soundarajan says.

Outside of her research, Soundarajan will have the opportunity to hire a graduate student to help develop ethics-based modules that can become part of computer science courses with the hope it will help students develop ethics-focused thinking.

“We’re going to design these labs where we will give students a data set and they will apply some algorithms to it and then they will look at the results and they will have to think about if these results are fair,” says Soundarajan.

Soundarajan will also look into developing continuing education for lawyers. She hopes to create classes that focus on explaining how algorithms can cause discriminatory issues.

Committing her time and talent to something societally meaningful is important to Soundarajan. She credits the support she has received throughout her life as a factor in choosing her research area, and she recognizes the help she has received from members of her department contributed to her latest achievement.

“There has been so much invested in me as a scientist, I feel like I have the moral obligation to do something that benefits everybody,” Soundarajan says. “I have been really fortunate to be surrounded by people who really want to see me succeed and that’s been true at Syracuse University as well. People have given me their time, spending hours reading the proposal that got me this award, and that means a lot to me.”

Nanoparticles are tiny particles, made of only a few hundred atoms, that are helping to create the world’s newest “smart” surfaces and systems. Nanoparticles are playing a key role in the development of such cutting-edge consumer products as transparent sunscreens and stain repellent fabrics. They are also being designed for biomedical applications like drug delivery inside the body.

Sounds like a miracle substance, right? The hurdle is that identifying one in the lab is akin to finding a needle in a haystack. Out of a potential pool of hundreds of thousands of nanoparticles, only a few may actually be viable—meaning they are the right size and will work within a specific temperature range (e.g., body temperature). So how can researchers facilitate the process? Machine learning.

Davoud Mozhdehi (left) and Shikha Nangia

Davoud Mozhdehi, assistant professor of chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), and Shikha Nangia, associate professor of biomedical and chemical engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS), have been awarded a to develop a machine learning approach to aid in the discovery and design of new smart nano-biomaterials.

This project stems from the team’s recent effort to . When the group used their theories to make a prediction about the size and stability for the particles to work at certain temperatures, they found out that their model was wrong. Undaunted, that setback motivated them to delve deeper into finding a new way to come up with predictive rules to guide the design of nanoparticles.

Thanks to a , Mozhdehi and Nangia collected preliminary data that contributed to a key part of their new proposal, which established the feasibility of using computers to predict the functional properties of nanoparticles. Their current project combines inputs from simulations and experiments, and uses machine learning to sort through vast amounts of data to better predict the properties for a nanoparticle to respond at specific temperatures.

Their collaborative project will integrate experiments from Mozhdehi’s lab that explore physical properties such as size and shape, and computational simulations from Nangia’s lab.

By incorporating machine learning, Nangia and her students will design algorithms to simulate millions of variations of nanoparticles, based on data from previous experiments and simulations, to speed up the design of temperature responsive nanoparticles. This integrated approach can reduce the design time by 100 to 1,000 times. That is, the work that used to take one year can now be done in one to four days with their new approach.

The team’s method will look to identify patterns in the data in order to determine which nanoparticles are stable at the precise temperatures. Researchers compare their process to Google and Facebook’s algorithms that comb through millions of user datapoints in order to group individuals based on the links they select and the items they purchase online. Their algorithms will cluster particles which look different but behave the same way—like different individuals who click on the same link. Their goal is to extract attributes and evaluate what made certain particles similar and what made them dissimilar in order to develop theories to help model stable nanoparticles.

Once they know more about functional temperatures, Mozhdehi’s lab will then run experiments to determine physical characteristics such as possible size and shape of the nanoparticles. Their results can then be applied back to the machine learning arm of the project to better calibrate those results.

Mozhdehi and Nangia, both members of the , are hopeful that this project will establish a cost-effective method to drive rules that will one day lead to the development of nanoparticles that are stable at a wide range of temperatures. Researchers say this foundational research could lead to the development of future nano-biomaterials that can deliver therapeutic drugs directly to cancerous growths and damaged organs.

Sajag Poudel

Mechanical and aerospace engineering Ph.D. student Sajag Poudel and Professor Shalabh Maroo in the College of Engineering and Computer Science were����a National Science Foundation (NSF)����grant to support Poudel’s research internship at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the Fall 2021 semester.

Oak Ridge will provide Poudel with the opportunity to explore potential ways to reduce energy waste from power generators and improve thermal management in buildings.

“We are hoping to break the limit of where we can go,” says Poudel. “It will help us be able to solve different issues related to energy.”

Poudel will be researching new types of devices that can be used in heat transfer and energy management to enhance efficiency. Oak Ridge has some of the best facilities in the world for testing energy conversion devices up to 1500 degrees Celsius.

“We can go to the micron or nanometer scale to understand the physics of heat transfer as we develop new ideas,” he says. “If we can reduce the associated losses, a lot of energy can be saved.”

“This is a wonderful opportunity for Sajag to further advance his skill set, knowledge base and experience before he graduates with his doctoral degree next year,” says Maroo. “He took the initiative in reaching out to national labs, NASA and industry for internship opportunities and I applaud his efforts. Sajag also had interest in collaborating from NASA AMES but did not pursue further as it was remote-only. I am thankful to NSF for supporting his internship at Oak Ridge.”

Quinn Qiao

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Professor Quinn Qiao and a research team from the College of Engineering and Computer Science received a $1.5 million award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and industry members to develop an Industry/University Collaborative Research Center (IUCRC) for solid-state electric power storage with a site at Syracuse University. The University will partner with South Dakota School of Mines and Technologies and Northeastern University to build this NSF-sponsored center. The center will focus on developing eco-friendly, safe and economically feasible all-solid-state energy storage technology for portable and medical applications, automotive industry, centralized and decentralized electric grids, military applications, and energy security.

Potential research projects will include materials design and testing with particular focus on interface engineering, solid electrolytes development, electrode materials synthesis, advanced mathematical modeling, and in-situ imaging to characterize performance, manufacturing process testing, battery system development and fabrication of intrinsically combined solar/battery devices. In addition to the study of traditional materials, the center will also explore those relevant to earlier stage design and development of promising newer glass ceramic materials.

“Energy storage is critically needed to deploy renewable energies such as solar and wind, as well as development of electric vehicles,” says Qiao. “Energy storage allows clean energy to be available when sunlight is unavailable at night or on cloudy days, or when wind is not sufficient. Current lithium batteries typically use liquid electrolytes that may lead to safety issues from explosions or fires. This NSF IUCRC will provide Syracuse University a great platform to work with industry partners, which offers numerous opportunities for our faculty and students. Industry members will also help guide the research directions and projects that will lead to commercialization of solid-state batteries. This center will also help us to build the Cluster for Materials for Energy Applications.”

The center will work closely with industry partners in New York, across the United States and globally to develop high capacity, fast charging, safe and cost-effective solid-state batteries. The batteries developed by the center will be aligned with the energy storage set by the state of New York: 1,500 megawatts of energy storage by 2025 and 3,000 megawatts by 2030.

Qiao will be the principal investigator and site director for the NSF award. Mechanical and aerospace engineering professors Jeongmin Ahn, Bing Dong, Shalabh Maroo, Weiwei Zheng, Teng Zhang and Jianshun Zhang will be co-co-principal investigators or senior investigators.

“Mechanical and aerospace engineering faculty have a tradition of conducting quality research in energy systems,” says Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department Chair Young B. Moon. “With the establishment of this center, the faculty plans to elevate the research to the next level of international prominence working with other faculty members at Syracuse University.”

“We are very excited about this new IUCRC center,” says Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs Dacheng Ren. “It extends our established strength in energy research and elevates it to a higher level. Besides research innovation, the center also brings industry insights and new training opportunities for our students.”

“This center positions Syracuse University on the leading edge of solid-state power storage. It is not only a fast-growing field, but an increasingly important one as we look to meet the need for safer, higher capacity batteries,” says College of Engineering and Computer Science Dean J. Cole Smith.

The discussion series to raise public awareness of PTSD and its effective treatments is free and open to the public. It takes place in conjunction with the Trauma Research Education for Undergraduates program, a joint effort by Syracuse University, SUNY Upstate Medical University and SUNY Oswego to improve access to research experiences for groups typically underrepresented in research.

The project, “Training Diverse Undergraduate Teams of Veterans and Non-Veterans to Conduct Trauma Research with Veterans,” is directed by Brooks B. Gump, Falk Family Endowed Professor of Public Health, and co-directed by Professor Karen Wolford, who also coordinates the interdisciplinary graduate certificate program in trauma studies at SUNY Oswego.

The discussion series includes:

• Wednesday, May 26, at 2 p.m. ET, virtual, :��Scott Aubin, U.S. Air Force veteran, PTSD awareness instructor, “Dealing with unrecognized PTSD”

• Wednesday, June 2, at 2 p.m. ET, virtual, : Kyle Possemato, clinical research psychologist, Syracuse VA Center for Integrated Healthcare, “Novel Interventions to Engage Veterans with Unmet Mental Health Needs in Care”

• Monday, June 9, at 2 p.m. ET, virtual, : Thom DeLara, professor of practice and chair of Falk College’s Department of Marriage and Family Therapy, “Systems Theory, Trauma and Research”
• Wednesday, June 16, at 2 p.m. ET, virtual, : Keith A. Alford Ph.D., Syracuse University’s Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, “Racial, cultural and ethnic response differences to PTSD”

• Wednesday June 23, at 2 p.m. ET, virtual, : Lt Col. Ian Stewart, M.D., FACP, FASN, U.S Air Force, Medical Corps, Bethesda, Maryland, “Long-term mental and physical health after combat trauma”

• Wednesday June 23, at 3 p.m. ET, virtual, : Jeffrey T. Howard, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Public Health, College for Health, Community and Policy, University of Texas at San Antonio, “Military Exposures and Accelerated Aging:�� Understanding Trauma as a Chronic Disease”

Supported by a National Science Foundation Research Education for Undergraduates grant and the (IVMF), this REU program spans one year, including an intensive six-week summer program in June. This program provides research training to increase skills in conducting trauma research while increasing a student’s ability to gain admission to competitive graduate programs.

“Through a competitive national review process, we have selected a group of student veterans and traditional students to complete this research training this summer,” says Wolford. “The students will be paired on teams with mentors to research PTSD and will later present their research at national conferences.”

“As part of this research training, we invite guest speakers who have expertise in the area of PTSD to inform our research trainees on cutting edge developments on traumatic stress research. We open these expert talks to the community as part of the June Posttraumatic Stress awareness month, which is an ongoing national effort to educate about PTSD,” Wolford adds.

For more information about the speakers or REU program, contact Moise Laub at mplaub@syr.edu or visit��.

After it is cooked, the noodles look and taste like traditional pasta, but the flat redesigned noodles can be fit into more compact packaging. Smaller packages requiring less material would reduce waste and save space during transportation. Moreover, these shape-shifting carbs could lead to lower carbon emissions.

“Cooking pasta takes energy. This method can shorten the cooking time and that could also contribute to sustainability,” says Teng Zhang, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science and a co-author of the study.

The project has been a long-term between Zhang and Lining Yao, director of the Morphing Matter Lab at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), other researchers at CMU and Zhejiang University. To achieve morphing, grooves are strategically pressed into the surface of smooth, flat dough. In boiling water, the modified grooved side of the dough expands less than the smooth side, thereby morphing the dough into more familiar contorted and tubular noodle shapes.

Yao’s team learned grooves in the pasta would be an effective way to control the shape morphing, but initially they could not explain why. Zhang developed a computer model to answer that question.

“The modeling and simulation of pasta morphing was very challenging. Sometimes you would run a simulation and the simulation would just stop,” says Zhang. “It took us a long time to find the right platform and the right code to set up the model to get a result.”

Zhang’s model uncovered the working mechanism of the research team’s grooved-based approach, which could be a practical solution for the food industry. The next challenge from a modeling standpoint will be to develop a more complex and accurate model that will look at how production of the pasta and cooking technique influence the material structure.

“Now we want to improve the accuracy of the model by looking at how the manufacturing process and the cooking process will modify the material property,” says Zhang. “We want to include the whole process in the modeling platform.”

Zhang’s research was funded by the National Science Foundation.

Epifluorescence image of extracellular vimentin (green), here seen with the protein actin (red) and DNA (blue), speeds up delivery of SARS2 to the cell. (Courtesy: Maxx Swoger and Alison Patteson)

As vaccines are distributed worldwide to fight the pandemic, important research at Syracuse University may uncover ways to block it and similar viruses in the future. Alison Patteson, assistant professor of physics, and Jennifer Schwarz, associate professor of physics, recently completed a study that tested the ability of certain antibodies to block SARS2 from entering cells by way of cell-surface vimentin, a protein that is also a pathway for the virus to enter the body. The study was funded by a $196,000 National Science Foundation RAPID Response Research initiative grant.

While bacterial pathogens such as Salmonella and E. coli can survive on their own without a host cell to infect, viruses must get inside cells to replicate and use that cell’s own biochemical machinery to build new virus particles and spread to other cells. But in order for this process to start, the virus must find a way to first adhere to the surface of a cell.

There are two main ways the SARS2 virus enters human cells. When someone infected with coronavirus coughs, sneezes, sings, talks, or breathes, the tiny particles they expel are projected into the air. Then, another person inhales those particles into their nose, mouth, airways and lungs. When these particles enter the lungs, they begin searching for cells to attach to. In the case of the SARS2, a spike protein in the virus searches for a cellular receptor called ACE2 to adhere to. Think of the spike protein and cellular receptor like two pieces of Velcro. Once attached, the virus can enter the cell through membrane fusion (where the virus particle merges with the host cell) or endocytosis (where the virus particle is engulfed into the host cell).

Patteson, Schwarz and a team of researchers have identified an important protein in this process called vimentin. Vimentin is a key internal structural protein present in many cell types that protects its nucleus against deformation, rupture and DNA damage. They have uncovered that this molecule also lives on the outside surface or the cell, where it adheres to the spike protein in the virus and helps speed up its delivery to the ACE2 receptor of the cell, acting as a mediator. Finding an antibody that would prevent vimentin and its attached virus spike protein from connecting to the cell surface could halt one of the common ways people contract COVID-19.

Alison Patteson and Jennifer Schwarz

Patteson and Schwarz became interested in investigating this topic after reading reports of vimentin being implicated in SARS1, a respiratory illness that affected many people worldwide in 2003. Their cutting-edge research is one of the first to show that antibodies against vimentin can block cellular uptake of the SARS2 coronavirus.

In a research collaboration with Nascent Biotech, a company currently developing human anti-vimentin antibodies for clinical cancer studies, they reported positive results demonstrating that the same antibodies against vimentin can block up to 80% of host cell invasion. Their results suggest a new target and therapeutic strategy to reduce SARS-CoV-2 attachment and entry into the cell, which could reduce the spread of SARS2.

The Patteson Group is now in the planning stages to test the antibody in living models. According to Dr. Navpaul Singh, Nascent Biotech chief medical officer over viral research, if the anti-vimentin antibody prevents uptake of the virus in animal models, the next logical step would be to test it in humans. “If we have success in humans, we then have a successful therapeutic strategy against COVID-19,” he notes.

Patteson says potential therapeutics could be administered in two ways. One is a nasal spray, which would be used after possible exposure to the virus. The spray would reduce or prevent the virus-carrying vimentin from attaching to the surface of a cell. Another is intravenously, where the antibody would be combined with an antiviral medication like Remdesivir, which prevents the replication of the virus for patients already suffering from COVID-19. Anti-vimentin antibodies could prevent further uptake of the virus to cells in the body.

While these treatments are still in the early stages of development, the team’s breakthrough shines a light on a new way to halt SARS2 and future viruses from entering the cell. Preventing viral invasion of cells using anti-vimentin antibodies could be another tool, along with vaccines, to eventually bring the virus—and future pandemics—under control.

This opportunity will comprehensively address both practical and conceptual aspects that are important to writing competitive grant proposals to NSF. In this two-day program, Lauren Broyles from the Grant Writers’ Seminars and Workshops will emphasize proposal idea development, identification of the appropriate program office, how to write for reviewers, and a detailed breakdown of proposal components. The content includes material for applications to NSF, although much of the workshop is applicable to other funding agencies. This workshop is appropriate for faculty members, postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and administrative staff who have had some exposure to writing grant applications, either through training, mentoring, or personal experience. All participants will receive an extensive handout, as well as a hardcopy of The Grant Application Writer’s Workbook.

This workshop is open to Syracuse University faculty and staff and our colleagues at SUNY-ESF and SUNY Upstate. The Graduate School sponsored fees for the first 100 eligible Ph.D. students, all slots of which are now full.

Fees:

• Syracuse University Faculty and Staff: $100
• SUNY ESF and SUNY Upstate Registrants: $150

“At Berkeley I was working on a biomaterial-based platform for cell micropatterning—basically we lay down a pattern and human pluripotent stem cells will grow and differentiate as directed by that pattern. When you have a technology you ask, ‘What can we use it for?,’” says Ma.

Induced pluripotent stem cells, reprogrammed from adult human cells, have the potential to develop into any kind of cells in the human body based on biochemical signaling and cues from the physical environment. That’s where the new technology came in.

Zhen Ma

In talking to some of his physician colleagues at UC Berkeley, Ma learned that very little is known about how various drugs affect the development of a human embryo; there’s no way to test the effects ethically in a living system. That got him thinking about whether this biomaterial system could be used to understand how the heart forms in the earliest phases of development. One of the major applications of cell micropatterning and related biomaterial systems is to develop organoids—tiny, self-organized, three-dimensional tissue cultures that are derived from stem cells. These cultures can be crafted to mimic much of the complexity of an organ or to express selected aspects of that organ, such as producing only certain kinds of cells.

At Syracuse University, Ma set up his lab and got to work developing and refining a cardiac organoid model. Using both biochemical and biophysical cues, stem cells are “trained” beginning with a 600 micron diameter pattern that creates a circular colony of stem cells. They then grow and self-assemble in a 3-dimensional chamber. Knowing that changing the shape of that chamber changes the cues that tell the cells how to develop, Ma sought to mimic the developmental shapes of a human heart as they occur naturally during fetal development. “The first stage in the heart’s development is a linear tube of tissue, so we started there,” he says.

His proof of concept earned a prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER award of more than $400,000 over five years, to continue to develop what Ma calls “heart embryonic development on a chip.” He says, “The goal is to optimize the biochemical and biophysical cues in the system that allows us to create a consistent model over and over. We want to hold everything constant in these living tissue models so we’re confident that changes result from the outside variable we’re testing.”

Studying how drugs affect fetal heart development hasn’t been feasible in a living system until this technology was developed. As he is developing a consistent model, Ma is now moving forward with testing between 30-40 well-known drugs with the goal of developing a risk classification for medications that might be taken during pregnancy. His research has been boosted by a $2.3 million grant over five years from the National Institute of Children’s Health and Human Development (part of the National Institutes of Health) to evaluate the specific effects of how these drugs might disrupt the formation of the correct three-dimensional structures and the capabilities that cardiac tissue has for contracting and expanding.

“We’re really excited because this could provide a pioneering breakthrough in drug discovery, regulation, and safe prescribing during pregnancy,” Ma says.

Zhen Ma

As a new father himself, Ma understands that doctors don’t really know whether a particular drug might hurt a developing fetus. There have been multiple studies of commonly prescribed drugs, such as antidepressants, on fetal health. Yet there are still many unanswered questions. This means that many women don’t have information they need to make decisions during pregnancy and forces difficult decisions as doctors try to balance risks while ensuring maternal and fetal health.

“It’s really exciting to begin work on the real practical application of this model,” says Plansky Hoang, who completed a Ph.D. at Syracuse University this past year and is now a postdoctoral fellow in the Ma Lab. “There’s the potential to really understand what goes wrong in fetal development that leads to birth defects–whether as the result of exposure to a drug or a genetic factor.” As a postdoctoral fellow, Hoang hopes to better understand how different cell types work in the model and whether it will be possible to model genetic diseases that give rise to congenital heart defects.

Ma’s lab has benefited from the development of the and the collaborations available across the University. He’s collaborating with , assistant professor of biomedical and chemical engineering, on a project that was awarded one of BioInspired’s first six seed grants. Their goal is to create microgels, materials formed from a network of crosslinked polymers, that will enable them to develop a synthetic model of a blastocyst—one of the earliest structures formed in mammalian development. Because this is the point in development where human embryonic stem cells begin to differentiate, the ability to develop a synthetic model could have many uses in basic scientific research. The goal of BioInspired seed grants is to fast-track promising research ideas, funding proof of concept or preliminary studies allowing faculty to generate the data that will result in external funding.

“The more we can work on this technology, the more applications it may have,” says Ma. “Combining materials and living systems is opening doors to solving problems with applications we couldn’t have imagined just a decade ago.”

This research is funded by National Science Foundation, Award# 1943798 and National Institutes of Health/DHHS, Award #1R01HD101130-01.

A wide variety of workshops will help faculty, postdocs and graduate students hone their grant writing skills; tailor grant proposals to the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Science Foundation; get advice from industry professionals on publishing in the humanities; help researchers learn about support services provided by the University, including finding funding sources; and get tips on writing a successful CUSE grant proposal or advice on improving specific grant components.

“The events planned for Spring 2021 have been developed based on feedback to a survey that we fielded in December,” says Ramesh Raina, interim vice president for research. “These workshops are designed to address what Syracuse University faculty have told us would be most useful. We hope to continually gather feedback and develop programming that is timely, relevant and useful to faculty, postdocs and graduate students across all disciplines.”

Highlights include:

“,“ to be held March 11 and 12.�� Note that registration must be received by Feb. 15. This workshop will comprehensively address both practical and conceptual aspects that are important to writing competitive grant proposals to the NSF. The Office of Research has provided the funding for overall workshop, but registrants must pay for the workbooks which accompany the workshop. The fee is $100 for Syracuse University faculty, staff and graduate students. The Graduate School sponsored fees for the first 75 eligible Ph.D. students, all slots of which are now full. The workshop is open to faculty and graduate students at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and SUNY Upstate Medical University for a fee of $150.

““ to be held on Feb. 19. Sponsored by the Syracuse University Humanities Center, Office of Research and College of Arts and Sciences, the workshop features two editors from Stanford University Press. The editors have also set aside additional time for one-on-one consultation with faculty who have questions related to their specific humanities book projects.

will be held on March 19. The virtual workshop is hosted in collaboration with the Central New York Humanities Corridor and the Syracuse University Humanities Center and will be open to all members of Central New York Humanities Corridor institutions.

A full list of events can be found on the����or by downloading this��.�� Preregistration is required but can be completed up to the day of the event for most sessions. Many events will be recorded and posted with slides to the Office of Research webpage.

For questions about any of these events, please email vpr@syr.edu

This year, both NSF MRI acquisition grants submitted by Syracuse University faculty members from the College of Engineering and Computer Science and the College of Arts and Sciences were funded.�� In Engineering and Computer Sciences, ��faculty members Teng Zeng, Jianshun Zhang and Charles Driscoll contributed to the successful grant.�� In Arts and Sciences, faculty members Davoud Mozhdehi, Rachel Steinhardt, Tripti Bhattacharya and Christopher Junium were awarded funding. These grants will enable the University to purchase two new chromatography-mass spectrometers on campus. The equipment will allow researchers to analyze and study the composition of a larger compound by separating out its parts. This technology will contribute to a wide range of interdisciplinary study, ranging from global climate change to human tissue engineering.

If recent history is any indication, these instruments will have a tremendously positive impact for faculty and students in the years to come. Past NSF equipment grants have promoted research, student training and collaboration at Syracuse University and neighboring institutions.

Professors Dacheng Ren in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) and Duncan Brown in the College of Arts and Science (CAS) are two of previous PIs wining MRI in 2013 and 2010, respectively. In the decade since these awards, these advanced facilities improved the student experience and expanded the research capacity across the University, contributing to the innovation in bioscience and biomaterials, and discovery of pentaquarks and gravitational waves.

Dacheng Ren

Today, Ren helps other faculty submit their own grant proposals for new equipment. He says keys for successful proposals are making a case new equipment will meet an unmet need in research, enable more collaboration, and improve student training. “It is a great funding mechanism if you can demonstrate a good plan.”

Ren, a Stevenson Endowed Professor in the Department of Biomedical and Chemical engineering is the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs at ECS. ��He primarily focuses on biomedical research investigating antifouling materials, medical device-associated infections, and novel biofilm inhibitors.

Ren’s grant financed a fluorescence-activated cell sorter. “Whenever you go to a hospital to do your annual physical blood work, they do the cell count and they come back with numbers of blood cells,” explains Ren. “It is actually the same concept, although the machine is not as sophisticated as ours.” Ren says work with cells, like biological experiments or engineering designs, researchers can draw insights by separating cells in a rather complicated mixed population. The cell sorter enables researchers to not only count cells, but also separate, collect, and study individual populations specifically. “There’s a lot of need for that,” says Ren. When Ren first arrived on campus 15 years ago, Syracuse University did not have such equipment. “It is necessary to have a cell sorter on campus to enable related research.” Ren was convinced to apply for funding that would not only make research on campus more readily reachable but also enhance student training. Ren received the grant from NSF in 2013 with his co-PIs, some are still at Syracuse including Pranav Soman (ECS) and Katharine Lewis (CAS). Users’ research ranges from biochemical and physical processes and controlling cell functions to the development of new technologies for biomedical applications. Now this cell sorter is a core facility benefiting researchers from Syracuse University and the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and Upstate Medical University. “I think it’s a kind of enabling resource that can serve a broader community,” says Ren.

Besides research, the sorter has been shown to numerous visitors and used to promote student learning. For example, Ren has used the cell sorter to teach sophomores and juniors in his engineering classes. “We’re not unique, but it’s not very common to have such resource available for classes.” Ren says most cohorts benefit from using this rather expensive equipment. “It certainly helps a student to broaden their horizons to see the power of advanced technologies and career opportunities.”

Duncan Brown

Similarly, the grant that Duncan Brown, Charles Brightman Endowed Professor of Physics, received helped fill a gap in the research infrastructure on campus. In 2010, Syracuse University did not have a significant amount of large-scale campus computing and Brown’s field, gravitational wave astronomy, requires it. He initially built and operated a computer cluster of 300 cores and used the preliminary results to demonstrate to the NSF that researchers on campus could successfully operate a cluster. The proposal for the NSF grant was joined by the high-energy physics group, another big user of research computing on campus.

The NSF Grant supported the design, construction, and commissioning of a high-throughput computing cluster in the Syracuse University Green Data Center. PhD candidates, graduate and undergraduate students in the Syracuse gravitational-wave and high-energy physics groups over the years have been involved in the instrument development and the research that this award enabled. They gained valuable training in cutting-edge computational skills. In 2016, Samantha Usman ’16 wrote her thesis on the analysis pipeline the LIGO Scientific Collaboration used to detect the first gravitational-wave signal The High-Energy physics group used the cluster to contribute discovery of the pentaquark in 2019.

While the original equipment purchased by the NSF grant have been since decommissioned, their impact is still felt. “That cluster really let us step up our game and be a big player in computing. And not only led to Syracuse University being a major player in a lot of the gravitational wave discoveries, but also really establishing the research computing effort that Syracuse University’s Information Technology Services is now leading,” says Brown. Both faculty and student users from all over campus have benefited from the increased computing capacity. “Having our own cluster allows us to have an undergrad just throw that code at the cluster and see what happens,” says Brown. Undergraduates can experiment. Rather than spending weeks optimizing an algorithm, students are encouraged to get results through trial and error, says Brown. He has also used the computer clusters in his computational physics class, and nine undergraduate students have written theses or published papers. “It has been a real boon for both the undergraduate and graduate students having this type of local resource.”

Syracuse University’s growing success with NSF equipment grants is a demonstration of University’s commitment to research excellence and student success. Over the past decade, SU has been awarded $4.4 M MRI funds from NSF and provided $1.9M cost share. “We’re all in one institution, and the equipment grants act as catalysts for discovery,” says Ren. “They bring many positive impacts on research and teaching; some are far beyond what can be measured by dollars.”