UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS DARTMOUTH

HIGHER EDUCATION EMERGENCY RELIEF FUND-IHE/INSTITUTION

GRANT PROGRAM

CYBERCORPS SCHOLARSHIP FOR SERVICE: ACCELERATING CYBERSECURITY EDUCATION, SCHOLARSHIP AND SERVICE -THIS PROJECT ESTABLISHES A NEW CYBERCORPS? SCHOLARSHIP FOR SERVICE (SFS) PROGRAM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS DARTMOUTH (UMASS DARTMOUTH). THE PROJECT AIMS TO (1) ADDRESS THE NATIONAL NEED FOR A HOLISTIC CYBERSECURITY EDUCATION, (2) CREATE A SUPPORTIVE ECOSYSTEM FOR ENTERING GOVERNMENT CAREERS, AND (3) RESPOND TO DEMANDS FOR A DIVERSE WORKFORCE WITH MASTER?S-LEVEL PREPARATION IN CYBERSECURITY BY BROADENING PARTICIPATION OF STUDENTS. THE PROJECT PROVIDES AN INTEGRATED EXPERIENCE THAT COMBINES EDUCATION AND APPLIED EXPERIENCES TO INCREASE UNDERSTANDING OF CYBERSECURITY AND WORKFORCE OPPORTUNITIES IN THE GOVERNMENT. IT INCLUDES A COORDINATED PROGRAM OF RECRUITMENT AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES TO PREPARE AND GRADUATE MASTER?S-LEVEL PROFESSIONALS TO MEET THE NEEDS OF THE GOVERNMENT. THE OVERALL OUTCOME WILL BE A DIVERSE GROUP OF SCHOLARS WHO ARE PREPARED FOR GOVERNMENT CYBERSECURITY POSITIONS AND PLACED ON A PATHWAY FOR SUCCESS. UMASS DARTMOUTH IS DESIGNATED AS A NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY AND DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY NATIONAL CENTER OF ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE IN CYBER DEFENSE EDUCATION. THE PROJECT LEVERAGES THIS DESIGNATION, ACCELERATED B.S./M.S. PROGRAMS IN ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE, GRADUATE-LEVEL COURSES IN CYBERSECURITY, ESTABLISHED PARTNERSHIPS WITH GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, AND FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH EFFORTS TO ADVANCE SCHOLARSHIP IN CYBERSECURITY. RESEARCH COMPLETED UNDER THE MENTORSHIP OF UMASS DARTMOUTH FACULTY WILL ADVANCE THE SCIENCE THAT TREATS SECURITY AS A FUNDAMENTAL SYSTEM DESIGN ATTRIBUTE. THE PROJECT WILL IMPLEMENT, ADAPT, AND STUDY EVIDENCE-BASED ACTIVITIES, INCLUDING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PRACTICES, TO RECRUIT AND SUPPORT GRADUATE STUDENTS HISTORICALLY UNDERREPRESENTED IN THE FIELD OF CYBERSECURITY. IN ADDITION, THE PROJECT WILL GENERATE AND DISSEMINATE KNOWLEDGE ABOUT ACTIVITIES AFFECTING RECRUITMENT, STUDENT SUCCESS, AND GRADUATE DEGREE ATTAINMENT BY STUDENTS WITH SPECIALIZED CYBERSECURITY RESEARCH TRAINING. THIS PROJECT IS SUPPORTED BY THE CYBERCORPS? SCHOLARSHIP FOR SERVICE (SFS) PROGRAM, WHICH FUNDS PROPOSALS ESTABLISHING OR CONTINUING SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMS IN CYBERSECURITY AND ALIGNS WITH THE U.S. NATIONAL CYBER STRATEGY TO DEVELOP A SUPERIOR CYBERSECURITY WORKFORCE. FOLLOWING GRADUATION, SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS ARE REQUIRED TO WORK IN CYBERSECURITY FOR A FEDERAL, STATE, LOCAL, OR TRIBAL GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION FOR THE SAME DURATION AS THEIR SCHOLARSHIP SUPPORT.?? THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES AT UMASS DARTMOUTH FOR DISADVANTAGED STUDENTS

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FOR PHOTOVOLTAIC FABRICS

UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS DARTMOUTH UPWARD BOUND PROGRAM. UPWARD BOUND IS A PRE-COLLEGIATE PROGRAM, PROVIDING SUPPORTIVE SERVICES TO FIRST GENERATION/LOW INCOME STUDENTS FOR COLLEGE.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: TEACHING FOR THE ANTHROPOCENE: TEACHER LEARNING AND PRACTICE FOR CRITICAL SYSTEMS THINKING -SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES ARE BOTH A KEY TO SECONDARY STUDENT INTEREST IN SCIENCE AND ALSO A DIFFICULT TERRAIN FOR TEACHERS TO NAVIGATE. PROBLEMS LIKE CLIMATE CHANGE HAVE NOT ONLY SCIENTIFIC BUT ALSO SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND ETHICAL ASPECTS. IN ORDER TO PREPARE STUDENTS FOR FULLY UNDERSTANDING SUCH ISSUES, ATTENTION NEEDS TO BE GIVEN TO HOW TEACHERS CAN BE SUPPORTED AND LEARN FOR EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTION. THIS FOUR-YEAR PROJECT ENACTS AND RESEARCHES A TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM, ?TEACHING FOR THE ANTHROPOCENE,? WITH MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHERS ACROSS THREE SETTINGS (THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, SOUTHERN MASSACHUSETTS, AND LONDON, UK). IT BRINGS A CONCEPT OF CRITICAL SYSTEMS THINKING, WHICH IS A BLEND OF TWO IDEAS. ONE OF THEM IS SYSTEMS THINKING, WHICH REQUIRES STUDENTS TO UNDERSTAND NOT ONLY SCIENTIFIC MECHANISMS OF CAUSE AND EFFECT, BUT ALSO HOW SYSTEMS OF THESE COME TOGETHER TO EXPLAIN NATURAL PHENOMENA. THE OTHER IS CRITICAL THINKING, WHICH CASTS LIGHT UPON WAYS THAT DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES STUDENTS BRING TO CLASSROOMS CAN SUPPORT LEARNING. THIS BLEND ORIENTS THE PROJECT WELL TO BENEFIT SOCIETY FOR SEVERAL REASONS. FIRST, SYSTEMS THINKING IS AN IMPORTANT GOAL GENERALLY ACCORDING TO RECENT RESEARCH IN SCIENCE EDUCATION. SECOND, THE PROJECT COUCHES SYSTEMS THINKING IN ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE, WHICH ARE AREAS OF SOCIAL RELEVANCE AND THEREFORE ATTENTION IN STUDENT LIVES. THIRD, THE PROJECT TAKES A BROAD PERSPECTIVE ABOUT HOW THESE LEARNING GOALS SHOULD BE TAUGHT SO THAT ALL STUDENTS? PERSPECTIVES CAN BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT DURING INSTRUCTION, INCLUDING THOSE HISTORICALLY UNDERREPRESENTED IN STEM. THE PROJECT INVESTIGATES HOW CRITICAL SYSTEMS THINKING MAY ENHANCE TEACHERS? UNDERSTANDING OF SOCIOENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES AND SUPPORT THEM TO INTEGRATE THOSE UNDERSTANDINGS INTO THEIR CURRICULUM AND TEACHING. THE PROJECT ALSO IDENTIFIES POTENTIAL CHALLENGES EDUCATORS MAY FACE AS WELL AS WHAT LOCAL CONDITIONS AND PROGRAM SUPPORTS HELP THEM PRACTICALLY APPLY CRITICAL SYSTEMS THINKING IN THEIR CLASSROOMS. THIS STUDY SERVES DIRECTLY APPROXIMATELY 4000 STUDENTS AND CONTRIBUTES TO BROADER UNDERSTANDINGS OF EFFECTIVE STEM EDUCATION THAT CAN PREPARE A RANGE OF DIVERSE LEARNERS TO TAKE ON THE CHALLENGES OF CURRENT COMPLEX SOCIOENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES. THIS MULTI-SITE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE FOR MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHERS IMPLEMENTS AND EXAMINES HOW CRITICAL SYSTEMS THINKING CAN INFORM SCIENCE TEACHERS? PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICES AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN RELATION TO SOCIOENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES. MORE SPECIFICALLY, THE STUDY EXAMINES 1) HOW THREE COHORTS OF SCIENCE TEACHERS ACROSS THREE DIFFERENT GEOGRAPHIC SETTINGS MAKE SENSE OF AND IMPLEMENT IDEAS FROM TWO-YEAR MULTI-SITE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOCUSED ON CRITICAL SYSTEMS THINKING WITHIN THEIR CURRICULUM AND TEACHING PRACTICES; AND 2) HOW PROGRAM AND CONTEXTUAL CONDITIONS SUPPORT THAT MEANING-MAKING AND IMPLEMENTATION. THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MODEL USES COLLABORATIVE ACTIVITIES LIKE DATA-BASED MODELING, CONTEXTUAL STORYTELLING, AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE TO SUPPORT TEACHERS TO REFINE THEIR CONTENT EXPERTISE AND DEVELOP DEEPER ONTO-EPISTEMOLOGICAL AND ETHICAL UNDERSTANDINGS CRUCIAL FOR ADDRESSING MULTIFACETED SOCIOENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES WITH DIVERSE LEARNERS. THE PROJECT LEVERAGES TWO METHODOLOGIES. FIRST, A MULTI-SITE CASE STUDY METHODOLOGY PROVIDES A HOLISTIC ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF THE INTERVENTIONS ON TEACHING PRACTICES AND CURRICULUM INTEGRATION ACROSS THREE DIVERSE EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS AND AT MULTIPLE LEVELS (INDIVIDUAL TEACHER, LOCAL TEACHER COHORT, AND CROSS-COHORT). SECOND, FUZZY SET QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS PROVIDES AN ANALYSIS OF NECESSARY AND SUFFICIENT CONDITIONS FOR TEACHER MEANING-MAKING AND IMPLEMENTATION ACROSS THE THREE SETTINGS. THIS WORK CONTRIBUTES TO UNDERSTANDINGS OF HOW TO (1) SUPPORT TEACHERS WITH TOOLS TO ENGAGE WITH SCIENCE AS A DISCIPLINE THAT IS DIRECTLY CONNECTED TO SOCIOENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES, AND (2) PROMOTE EQUITABLE TEACHING PRACTICES BY ADDRESSING THE ETHICAL AND ONTO-EPISTEMOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF SCIENCE, ENSURING THAT ALL STUDENTS HAVE ACCESS TO HIGH-QUALITY SCIENCE EDUCATION. THE DISCOVERY RESEARCH PREK-12 PROGRAM (DRK-12) IS AN APPLIED RESEARCH PROGRAM THAT SEEKS TO SIGNIFICANTLY ENHANCE THE LEARNING AND TEACHING OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS (STEM) BY PREK-12 STUDENTS AND TEACHERS. PROJECTS IN THE DRK-12 PROGRAM BUILD ON FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH IN STEM EDUCATION AND PRIOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS THAT PROVIDE THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL JUSTIFICATION FOR FUNDED PROJECTS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

SCHOLARSHIPS TO ACCELERATE ENGINEERING LEADERSHIP AND IDENTITY IN GRADUATE STUDENTS

DEFINING CYTOSKELETAL MECHANISMS DRIVING CELL MOTILITY IN NAEGLERIA - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT ALTHOUGH ACTIN IS HIGHLY CONSERVED THROUGHOUT EUKARYA, THE MECHANISMS USED TO REGULATE ITS ASSEMBLY AND DISASSEMBLY VARY ACROSS PHYLA. PRECISELY TIMED AND PLACED ACTIN ASSEMBLY ORCHESTRATES NEARLY EVERY CELLULAR PROCESS, INCLUDING CELL MIGRATION. WHILE ACTIN-DRIVEN CELL MIGRATION HAS BEEN DEFINED IN SOME DETAIL IN ANIMAL CELLS, IT IS UNKNOWN IF DIVERSE EUKARYOTIC PATHOGENS OPERATE USING THE SAME SET OF RULES. THIS PROPOSAL WILL ADDRESS THE HYPOTHESIS THAT THERE ARE CONSERVED PRINCIPLES OF CELL MIGRATION BY INVESTIGATING NAEGLERIA, WHICH DIVERGED FROM THE “YEAST-TO-HUMAN” LINEAGE OVER A BILLION YEARS AGO. SPECIFICALLY, THIS WORK WILL DEFINE THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE CYTOSKELETON TO CELL CRAWLING IN THE “BRAIN-EATING AMOEBA” NAEGLERIA FOWLERI: A PATHOGEN THAT CRAWLS INTO AND WITHIN THE BRAIN, CAUSING A DEADLY FORM OF MENINGITIS FOR WHICH THERE ARE NO RELIABLE TREATMENTS. DR. VELLE’S INITIAL POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH USING THE COMMONLY-USED, NON-PATHOGENIC MODEL SYSTEM NAEGLERIA GRUBERI HIGHLIGHTS THE POTENTIAL FOR UNIVERSAL RULES OF MOTILITY; N. GRUBERI CRAWLS ON FLAT SURFACES USING THIN, ACTIN- BASED PROTRUSIONS ASSEMBLED BY PROTEINS CALLED THE ARP2/3 COMPLEX. THIS ACTIN AND ARP2/3 BASED MECHANISM IS ALSO HOW ANIMAL CELLS CRAWL ON FLAT SURFACES. HOWEVER, OUTSIDE OF LABORATORY CONDITIONS, CELLS RARELY—IF EVER—CRAWL ON FLAT, UNIFORM SURFACES. ANIMAL CELLS ARE WELL-KNOWN TO SWITCH TO A DIFFERENT MODE OF MOTILITY WHEN CRAWLING THROUGH COMPLEX, RESTRICTIVE ENVIRONMENTS, BUT THIS HAS NOT BEEN TESTED IN NAEGLERIA. BECAUSE N. FOWLERI CRAWL THROUGH NARROW CHANNELS IN THE SKULL AND INTO THE BRAIN, DESPITE NO KNOWN CHEMOTACTIC SIGNALS, DISSECTING CELL MIGRATION IN RESTRICTIVE ENVIRONMENTS IS ESSENTIAL FOR UNDERSTANDING DISEASE. THEREFORE, AIM 1 WILL DETERMINE MECHANISMS OF CELL CRAWLING UNDER CONFINEMENT AT THE LEVEL OF CELL BEHAVIOR. AIM 2 WILL FOCUS ON THE ACTIN NETWORKS IN CELLS; WHILE THE PROTRUSIONS DRIVING N. GRUBERI MIGRATION ON FLAT SURFACES LOOK SIMILAR TO THOSE OF ANIMAL CELLS, DEFINING THE ACTIN ARCHITECTURE USING PLATINUM REPLICA ELECTRON MICROSCOPY (PREM) WILL REVEAL IF THE ULTRASTRUCTURE IS CONSERVED. THIS AIM WILL ALSO PROVIDE CRITICAL TRAINING TO COMPLEMENT DR. VELLE’S BACKGROUND IN LIGHT MICROSCOPY. THE WORLD EXPERT IN PREM, DR. SVITKINA, WILL PROVIDE THIS TRAINING AS A MEMBER OF THE SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE. AIM 3 WILL USE BIOCHEMISTRY—A TECHNIQUE THE APPLICANT HAS NO PRIOR TRAINING IN—TO EXAMINE THE UPSTREAM MECHANISMS OF ARP2/3 COMPLEX ACTIVATION. DR. VELLE HAS RECRUITED DR. BRUCE GOODE, AN EXPERT ACTIN BIOCHEMIST, FOR THIS TRAINING. BECAUSE THE LEADING LABS IN THE FIELD OF CELL MIGRATION FREQUENTLY EMPLOY BOTH MICROSCOPY AND IN VITRO ACTIN BIOCHEMISTRY, THE PROPOSED TRAINING IN PREM AND BIOCHEMISTRY WILL ENSURE THE APPLICANT IS SKILLED IN THE TECHNIQUES REQUIRED FOR SUCCESS. DR. VELLE HAS ALSO RECRUITED DR. MATT WELCH, AN ACTIN EXPERT, DR. MEG TITUS, WHO HAS EXPERTISE IN ACTIN AND AMOEBAE, AND DR. JIM MORRIS, AN EXPERT IN N. FOWLERI, TO HER SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO PROVIDE SCIENTIFIC AND CAREER MENTORING. COLLECTIVELY, THE PROPOSED WORK WILL PROVIDE THE TECHNICAL TRAINING, AND CAREER MENTORSHIP REQUIRED TO LAUNCH DR. VELLE’S CAREER AS AN INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATOR WITH A RESEARCH PROGRAM FOCUSED ON NAEGLERIA’S MIGRATION.

BAA TECHNOLOGIES STUDY/TOPIC 4 - UMASS DARTMOUTH ROADMAP: TECHNOLOGIES FOR COAST EFFECTIVE, SPATIAL RESOURCE ASSESSMENTS FOR OFFSHORE RENEWABLE ENERGY

CAMPUS BASED-FWS

CAMPUS BASED-FWS

EXPLORING THE CONNECTIVITY AMONG OFFSHORE WIND TURBINES AT 22 07

IMPLEMENTATION OF A CONTEXTUALIZED COMPUTING PEDAGOGY IN STEM CORE COURSES AND ITS IMPACT ON UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT ACADEMIC SUCCESS, RETENTION, AND GRADUATION

CAREER: SOFTWARE RELIABILITY AND SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT: MODELING AND ALGORITHMS

CONNECTING UNDERGRADUATES TO BIODIVERSITY INSTRUCTION THROUGH CITIZEN SCIENCE -THIS PROJECT AIMS TO SERVE THE NATIONAL INTEREST BY ESTABLISHING TEACHING PRACTICES THAT SUPPORT ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT WITH REAL-WORLD SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH TO INCREASE STUDENT RETENTION IN THE SCIENCES. COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN FORMAL SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH, OR CITIZEN SCIENCE, HAS TREMENDOUS POTENTIAL TO BE A TRANSFORMATIVE SOCIAL INNOVATION FOR UNDERGRADUATE SCIENCE EDUCATION AND LEARNING. STUDENTS ENGAGED WITH CITIZEN SCIENCE PROJECTS ARE ACTIVE PARTNERS IN THEIR LEARNING, PROVIDING THEM WITH A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE IMPORTANCE OF SCIENCE TO THE COMMUNITY AND INCREASING THE LIKELIHOOD THAT THEY WILL MAINTAIN A CAREER PATH IN THE SCIENCES. ONE MAJOR OBSTACLE TO BRINGING CITIZEN SCIENCE-RELATED CURRICULUM TO UNDERGRADUATES IS THAT FACULTY LACK THE EDUCATIONAL TRAINING NEEDED TO TRANSLATE THEIR SCIENTIFIC EXPERTISE INTO CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES THAT FULLY ENGAGE STUDENTS. THIS WORK WILL REMOVE THIS OBSTACLE BY CREATING A COMMUNITY OF FACULTY AMONG DIVERSE INSTITUTIONS IN THE SOUTH COAST REGION OF MASSACHUSETTS THAT WILL WORK TOGETHER TO DEVELOP CITIZEN SCIENCE PROJECTS, MONITOR HOW THEY EXECUTE THEIR PROJECTS, AND ASSESS THE IMPACTS ON THEIR STUDENTS. USING CITIZEN SCIENCE PROJECTS RELATED TO BIODIVERSITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE, THIS PROJECT WILL TEST A MODEL FOR HOW TO SHIFT FACULTY PARTICIPANTS FROM TRADITIONAL LECTURE TO ACTIVE INVOLVEMENT OF STUDENTS IN REAL-WORLD DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS, RESULTING IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A BLUEPRINT FOR EXPANDING CITIZEN SCIENCE-BASED UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULUM TO OTHER REGIONS OF THE COUNTRY AND TO OTHER SCIENTIFIC SUBJECT AREAS. THUS, IN ADDITION TO MAKING A QUANTUM LEAP IN IMPROVING RETENTION IN UNDERGRADUATE SCIENCE AT A REGIONAL SCALE, THIS PROJECT?S NOVEL EDUCATIONAL APPROACH WILL MAKE A SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TO SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH EFFORTS AIMED AT CONSERVING AND RESTORING NATIVE BIODIVERSITY THREATENED BY HUMAN-INDUCED ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE. RESEARCH HAS SHOWN THAT TEACHING INNOVATIONS THAT INVOLVE ACTIVE PARTICIPATION IN REAL-WORLD SCIENCE EXPLORATION IMPROVES UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT ATTITUDES, ACHIEVEMENT, AND RETENTION. YET, MOST SCIENCE FACULTY, WHILE CONTENT EXPERTS IN THEIR DISCIPLINE, OFTEN LACK PEDAGOGICAL TRAINING NEEDED TO TRANSLATE THEIR SCIENTIFIC EXPERTISE INTO CURRICULUM THAT FULLY ENGAGES THEIR STUDENTS. THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO PROVIDE THIS TYPE OF SUPPORT FOR COLLEGE SCIENCE FACULTY THROUGH THE INCORPORATION OF COMMUNITY-BASED OR ?CITIZEN? SCIENCE INTO THEIR UNDERGRADUATE CLASSROOMS. THE MEANS TO ACCOMPLISH THIS GOAL WILL BE A SERIES OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS (SUMMER INSTITUTES) WHERE FACULTY FROM THE SOUTH COAST REGION OF MASSACHUSETTS WILL GATHER TO LEARN HOW TO CREATE, CONTRIBUTE TO, AND MAINTAIN BIODIVERSITY- AND CLIMATE-FOCUSED CITIZEN SCIENCE PROJECTS IN THEIR UNDERGRADUATE COURSES. BY PROVIDING THE TOOLS FOR FACULTY TO SHIFT FROM A TRADITIONAL LECTURE FORMAT TO THE ACTIVE INVOLVEMENT OF STUDENTS IN REAL-WORLD DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS, THIS PROJECT EXPECTS TO EFFECT A SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE IN STUDENT RETENTION AT A REGIONAL SCALE. THIS PROJECT WILL BE THOROUGHLY DOCUMENTED BY A RESEARCH PLAN THAT INVESTIGATES THE TRANSFORMATIONAL NATURE OF THE PROJECT THROUGH A MIXED METHODS DESIGN. IT INCLUDES RIGOROUS ASSESSMENT AND AN EXPERIENCED ADVISORY BOARD. EDUCATIONAL DATA COLLECTED IN THIS PROJECT WILL BE USED TO ELUCIDATE THE BEST METHODS TO DEVELOP SOCIO-SCIENTIFIC ISSUES-BASED CITIZEN SCIENCE PROJECTS AND DEMONSTRATE A MEANS TO IMPROVE RETENTION IN SCIENCE. THE PROJECTS WILL BE COORDINATED AND SUPPORTED BY THE PI TEAM THROUGH THE KAPUT CENTER FOR RESEARCH & INNOVATION IN STEM EDUCATION WHICH HAS THE INFRASTRUCTURE AND EXPERTISE NEEDED FOR WIDESPREAD COORDINATION AND DISSEMINATION TO CONNECT THE PUBLIC WITH SCIENTISTS. THE NSF IUSE: EDU PROGRAM SUPPORTS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS TO IMPROVE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF STEM EDUCATION FOR ALL STUDENTS. THROUGH ITS ENGAGED STUDENT LEARNING TRACK, THE PROGRAM SUPPORTS THE CREATION, EXPLORATION, AND IMPLEMENTATION OF PROMISING PRACTICES AND TOOLS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

DEVELOPMENT OF A FULLY COUPLED, NONHYDROSTATIC, MARINE INFRASTRUCTURE-RESOLVING ATMOSPHERIC AND OCEAN MODEL SYSTEM IN THE U.S. NORTHEAST

THE PHYSICS OF TURBULENCE-DRIVEN DETONATION INITIATION IN TYPE IA SUPERNOVAE

NURSE FACULTY LOAN PROGRAM

CAREER: FLUID-STRUCTURE-SURFACE INTERACTIONS OF FLEXIBLE BODIES AT THE AIR-WATER INTERFACE

CAREER: DIFFUSIVE AND CONVECTIVE GAS DISSOLUTION OVER SUPER-HYDROPHOBIC SURFACES -SUPERHYDROPHOBIC SURFACES, INITIALLY FOUND ON LOTUS LEAVES, HAVE RECENTLY SHOWN GREAT POTENTIAL TO BE THE NEXT GENERATION OF MULTI-FUNCTION MATERIALS. THESE SURFACES TRAP A LAYER OF GAS BETWEEN THE SURFACE TEXTURES WHEN IMMERSED IN LIQUID, AND CONSEQUENTLY BENEFIT MANY INDUSTRIES FROM SAVING ENERGY IN MARITIME TRANSPORT, TO PROTECTING UNDERSEA STRUCTURES FROM CORROSION AND BIOFOULING. HOWEVER, THE BENEFICIAL GAS COULD BE DISSOLVED IN AMBIENT LIQUID AND MAY LAST ONLY FOR A LIMITED AMOUNT OF TIME, SIGNIFICANTLY LIMITING THE REAL-WORLD APPLICATIONS OF SUPERHYDROPHOBIC SURFACES. THIS PROJECT AIMS TO UNDERSTAND THIS GAS DISSOLUTION PROCESS THROUGH INNOVATIVE EXPERIMENTS AND DEVELOP NEW STRATEGIES TO EXTEND THE LONGEVITY OF GAS. THE RESEARCH EFFORTS ARE WELL INTEGRATED WITH AN EDUCATION AND OUTREACH PLAN INCLUDING FIVE ACTIVITIES: UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT-LEAD ORIGINAL RESEARCH, SUMMER WORKSHOP FOR HIGH-SCHOOL STUDENTS, TABLE-TOP EXPERIMENTS FOR K-12 STUDENTS, CLASS TRIP TO A LOCAL AUTONOMOUS UNDERWATER VEHICLE MANUFACTURER, AND TECHNOLOGY SHOWCASE TO MARINE INDUSTRY IN THE SOUTHEASTERN NEW ENGLAND AREA. THERE IS A LACK OF EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES WHICH SIMULTANEOUSLY MEASURE MASS FLUX, VELOCITY FIELD AND GAS CONCENTRATION FIELD, WHICH ARE THREE KEY PARAMETERS THAT GOVERN THE DISSOLUTION OF GAS FROM THE SUPERHYDROPHOBIC SURFACES TO THE LIQUID. THIS PROJECT FILLS THIS GAP AND MEASURES THE THREE PARAMETERS BY COMBINING THREE ADVANCED OPTICAL TECHNOLOGIES: REFLECTIVE INTERFERENCE CONTRAST MICROSCOPY, PLANAR LASER-INDUCED FLUORESCENCE WITH INHIBITION, AND HOLOGRAPHIC PARTICLE IMAGE VELOCIMETRY. THE FIRST OBJECTIVE IS TO INVESTIGATE THE DIFFUSIVE GAS TRANSFER IN STATIONARY LIQUID. THE RESULTS WILL REVEAL HOW GAS CONCENTRATION IN LIQUID CHANGES AND ULTIMATELY AFFECTS THE MASS FLUX. BY SYSTEMICALLY VARYING THE TEXTURE PARAMETERS (HEIGHT, WAVELENGTH, AND GAS FRACTION), PREDICTIVE MODELS OF GAS LONGEVITY WILL BE ESTABLISHED. THE SECOND OBJECTIVE IS TO EXAMINE THE CONVECTIVE GAS TRANSFER IN LAMINAR AND TURBULENT FLOWS. BY VARYING THE SLIP LENGTH OF THE SAMPLES, NEW SCALING MODELS OF SHERWOOD NUMBER OVER SLIP BOUNDARIES WILL BE PROPOSED. THE THIRD OBJECTIVE IS TO COMBAT THE GAS DISSOLUTION ISSUE BY STUDYING THE IMPACTS OF FOUR PASSIVE AND ACTIVE METHODS ON GAS LONGEVITY: NANO-SCALE ROUGHNESS, RE-ENTRANT GEOMETRY, GAS INJECTION THROUGH A POROUS MATERIAL, AND GAS TRANSFER FROM SUPERSATURATED WATER. THIS PROJECT WILL BE TRANSFORMATIVE AND ADVANCE OUR FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING OF MASS TRANSFER, INTERFACIAL STABILITY, AND FLOW DYNAMICS AT COMPLEX BOUNDARIES OF NOVEL MATERIALS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

INTERNAL WAVES IN ANGULAR MOMENTUM STRATIFICATION (INTRINSIC) -THIS PROJECT WILL USE A SIMPLIFIED MODEL AND A NUMERICAL MODEL TO EXAMINE HOW A 'RAPID' CHANGE IN WATER DENSITY THAT HAS A CURVED SHAPE, A 'CURVED FRONT', MODIFIES THE PROPAGATION AND FATE OF INTERNAL GRAVITY WAVES (IGW) WITHIN THE OCEAN SURFACE BOUNDARY LAYER. THE INVESTIGATORS WILL DETERMINE IF IGW ENERGY INCREASES OR DECREASES WITHIN FINE-SCALE FRONTS THAT ARE CURVED. THEY WILL TEST A NEW HYPOTHESIS THAT PARAMETRIC SUBHARMONIC INSTABILITY, INITIALLY PROPOSED BY THOMAS AND TAYLOR (2014) FOR GEOSTROPHIC FLOW, IS ELEVATED WITHIN CURVED ANTICYCLONIC FRONTS. THE RESEARCH USES A HIERARCHY OF FINE-SCALE SIMULATIONS, WHEREBY ANALYTICAL AND IDEALIZED NUMERICAL MODELS (LEAST COMPLEX) ARE USED TO INFORM AND FACILITATE ANALYSIS OF REALISTIC SIMULATIONS (MOST COMPLEX). PRESENT UNDERSTANDING OF IGW PROPAGATION WITHIN FRONTS ASSUMES A GEOSTROPHIC BALANCE. ALTHOUGH ACCURATE FOR MESOSCALE FRONTS (HORIZONTAL SCALES OF 50-200 KM), FLUID PARCELS WITHIN SUBMESOSCALE FRONTS (HORIZONTAL SCALES OF 0.1-10 KM) OFTEN EXPERIENCE PRONOUNCED CENTRIPETAL ACCELERATIONS OWING TO FRONTAL CURVATURE. THE COMBINED PRINCIPLES OF DENSITY, VORTICITY, AND ABSOLUTE ANGULAR MOMENTUM CONSERVATION HAVE A PROFOUND INFLUENCE ON FLUID PARCEL MOTION AND MODIFY THE IGW DISPERSION RELATION. THE PROPOSED STUDY ADVANCES THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY?S UNDERSTANDING OF IGWS BY EXAMINING THE COMBINED EFFECTS OF THESE CONSERVATION LAWS IN THE CONTEXT OF SEMI-ANALYTICAL, IDEALIZED AND REALISTIC FINE-SCALE, NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS HEAVILY INFORMED BY OBSERVATIONS. THE EXPECTED OUTCOMES OF THIS RESEARCH INCLUDE IMPROVED UNDERSTANDING OF THE ROLE OF CURVED FRONTS ON IGW DYNAMICS AND DELINEATION OF THE LIMITS OF AN ANALYTICAL MODEL. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: PHYLOGENETIC AND PHYSIOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF AMINO ACID NITROGEN ISOTOPES IN PHYTOPLANKTON -PHYTOPLANKTON ARE MICROSCOPIC PLANTS THAT LIVE IN THE OCEAN AND ACT AS THE BASE OF THE MARINE FOOD WEB. THESE MICROORGANISMS USE INORGANIC NITROGEN (N) FROM THE WATER TO MAKE A VARIETY OF AMINO ACIDS. SOME OF THE AMINO ACIDS KEEP THE INITIAL CHEMICAL SIGNATURE (I.E., N ISOTOPE VALUE) OF THEIR N SOURCE. OTHER AMINO ACIDS ARE INVOLVED IN METABOLIC PROCESSES THAT CHANGE THE INITIAL CHEMICAL SIGNATURE (N ISOTOPE VALUE). THESE DISTINCT N ISOTOPE SIGNATURES ARE PASSED ALONG TO ORGANISMS THAT CONSUME PHYTOPLANKTON AND THROUGHOUT THE FOOD WEB. THUS, THE N ISOTOPE VALUES OF INDIVIDUAL AMINO ACIDS CAN BE USED TO OBTAIN THE ISOTOPE VALUE OF N SOURCES SUPPORTING FOOD WEBS AND TO ESTIMATE THE TROPHIC POSITION OF ORGANISMS IN BIOTA, PARTICLES, CORAL SKELETONS, AND SEDIMENTS. BUT, THIS REQUIRES A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF THE N ISOTOPE PATTERNS OF AMINO ACIDS PRODUCED BY PHYTOPLANKTON. THIS PROJECT WILL EXAMINE WHETHER DIFFERENT PHYTOPLANKTON SPECIES PRODUCE AMINO ACIDS WITH DISTINCT N ISOTOPE PATTERNS WHEN USING THE SAME N SOURCE. THE PROJECT WILL ALSO STUDY WHETHER THE N ISOTOPE PATTERNS PRODUCED BY THE SAME SPECIES OF PHYTOPLANKTON CHANGE UNDER DIFFERENT GROWTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS. INFORMATION FROM THIS STUDY WILL IMPROVE THE ABILITY TO USE N ISOTOPE VALUES IN AMINO ACIDS IN ECOLOGICAL AND BIOGEOCHEMICAL STUDIES. THIS COLLABORATIVE PROJECT COMBINES NOVEL RESEARCH WITH BROADER IMPACTS FOCUSED ON ENGAGING THE PUBLIC AND PROMOTING DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION AT VARIOUS LEVELS. THREE GRADUATE STUDENTS AND ONE POSTDOC WILL PARTICIPATE IN THE RESEARCH. RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES WILL BE PROVIDED TO UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS, ESPECIALLY THOSE WITH BACKGROUNDS. STUDENTS WILL BE RECRUITED THROUGH THE MCNAIR AND LOUIS STOKES ALLIANCES FOR MINORITY PARTICIPATION PROGRAM AT TEXAS A&M UNIV. AT CORPUS CHRISTI, A HISPANIC SERVING AND MINORITY SERVING INSTITUTION. TO SHARE RESULTS BROADLY, THE INVESTIGATORS AND STUDENTS WILL GIVE TALKS ABOUT MARINE SCIENCE TO LOCAL K-12 STUDENTS IN CORPUS CHRISTI TX. THE NEW BEDFORD HIGH SCHOOL (IN MA) SUMMER MARINE INTERN PROGRAM WILL BE ENGAGED IN THIS PROJECT. PUBLIC LECTURES WILL BE GIVEN ON THE TOPIC OF ALGAL BLOOMS AND A CHILDREN?S ARTICLE WILL BE WRITTEN ON THE TOPIC OF ISOTOPES. OUTCOMES OF THIS PROJECT WILL ALSO BE INCORPORATED INTO PRESENTATIONS TO THE CHESAPEAKE BAY PROGRAM, MARYLAND HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOM TASK FORCE, AND THE SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE OF THE MARYLAND COASTAL BAYS. THE USE OF N ISOTOPE VALUES OF DIFFERENT AMINO ACIDS (?15N-AA) TO RETRIEVE THE N SOURCE ISOTOPE SIGNATURE OF FOOD WEBS AND ESTIMATE TROPHIC POSITIONS DEPENDS ON INFORMATION ABOUT THE ?15N-AA PRODUCED BY PHYTOPLANKTON AT THE BASE OF THE FOOD WEB WHICH IS STILL POORLY UNDERSTOOD. THIS STUDY SEEKS TO EXPLORE FUNDAMENTAL SCIENTIFIC QUESTIONS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND ?15N-AA PRODUCED BY PHYTOPLANKTON. 1) UNDER THE SAME NITROGENOUS NUTRIENT AND GROWTH CONDITIONS, DO ?15N-AA PATTERNS VARY BETWEEN MAJOR PHYTOPLANKTON GROUPS? ARE THE UNIQUE ?15N-AA PATTERNS IN DIATOMS RELATED TO UNIQUE ASPECTS OF THEIR N METABOLISM? 2) DO CHANGES IN PHYTOPLANKTON PHYSIOLOGY RESULTING FROM NITROGENOUS NUTRIENT AVAILABILITY, N FORM UTILIZED (AMMONIUM, NITRATE, AND MIXED), AND/OR OTHER GROWTH CONDITIONS INDEPENDENTLY PRODUCE SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN ?15N-AA? PHYTOPLANKTON SAMPLES WILL BE COLLECTED FROM CONTROLLED CULTURE (E.G., CHEMOSTAT) EXPERIMENTS AND FROM FIELD STUDIES IN THE GULF OF MEXICO AND CHESAPEAKE BAY, ESPECIALLY DURING NEAR-MONOSPECIFIC BLOOM EVENTS. BY TAKING THE ADVANTAGE OF NEWLY DEVELOPED ANALYTICAL APPROACHES, NEW KNOWLEDGE OF COMPOUND AND INTRAMOLECULAR ?15N OF POLY-N AA SUCH AS ARGININE, ASPARAGINE, GLUTAMINE, AND HISTIDINE IN PHYTOPLANKTON WILL BE GENERATED FOR THE FIRST TIME. THIS GROUND-TRUTHING WORK WILL ADVANCE THE UNDERSTANDING OF ?15N-AA PATTERN PRODUCED BY KEY PHYTOPLANKTON SPECIES CRITICAL TO THE BIOLOGICAL PUMP AND HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS UNDER ENVIRONMENTALLY RELEVANT PHYSIOLOGICAL CONDITIONS. THE EXPECTED OUTCOMES FROM THIS WORK WILL ENABLE NEW APPLICATIONS AND MORE SOPHISTICATED TROPHIC POSITION ANALYSES, STUDIES OF THE EFFICIENCY OF THE OCEAN?S BIOLOGICAL PUMP, AND PALEO-OCEANOGRAPHIC RECONSTRUCTIONS USING AMINO ACIDS PRESERVED IN NATURAL ARCHIVES. THIS PROJECT IS FUNDED BY THE BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL OCEANOGRAPHY PROGRAMS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

REU SITE: ADVANCED INTERDISCIPLINARY MATERIALS RESEARCH FOR MARITIME APPLICATIONS -NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY THIS AWARD ESTABLISHES A NEW RESEARCH EXPERIENCES FOR UNDERGRADUATES (REU) SITE AT UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS DARTMOUTH (UMASSD) TO PROVIDE AN EXCITING RESIDENTIAL SETTING FOR SUMMER COHORTS OF 10 COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS AND INVOLVE IN INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH IN ADVANCED MATERIALS RELEVANT TO MARINE ECONOMY. THIS SUMMER PROGRAM SUPPORTED BY DIVISION OF MATERIALS RESEARCH AND DIVISION OF OCEAN SCIENCES, BEGINS WITH TRAINING SESSIONS ON SAFE LABORATORY PRACTICES, RESEARCH ETHICS, RESEARCH COMMUNICATION SKILLS; AND INCLUDES HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE WITH RESEARCH INSTRUMENTATION, FIELD TRIPS TO LOCAL INDUSTRIES AND NATIONAL RESEARCH LABORATORIES, AND CAREER ADVISING. THE SUMMER RESEARCH PROGRAM CULMINATES WITH AN ORAL SYMPOSIUM, AND OPEN FORUM ON INDUSTRY AND RESEARCH CAREERS WITH INVITED EMINENT MARINE MATERIALS SCHOLARS. THIS INTERDISCIPLINARY SITE INTEGRATES THE EFFORTS OF DEDICATED EDUCATORS FROM FOUR DEPARTMENTS (BIOENGINEERING, CHEMISTRY, CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING, AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERING) WHO HAVE STRONG TRACK RECORDS IN MENTORING STUDENTS FOR RESEARCH. THE ENTIRE SUMMER ACTIVITIES ARE DESIGNED TO FACILITATE COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS TO SEEK JOBS IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS (STEM) FIELDS OR PURSUE EDUCATION IN FOUR-YEAR RESEARCH UNIVERSITY AND DEVELOP MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS WITH FACULTY AND STUDENTS. TECHNICAL SUMMARY INNOVATIVE MATERIALS AND THEIR BROADER USE ARE VITAL TO IMPROVE THE STRUCTURAL RELIABILITY AND LIFE CYCLE PERFORMANCE OF SHIPS AND MARITIME STRUCTURES, TO LOWER THEIR ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT, TO MAKE MARITIME INDUSTRIES MORE VIABLE AT A GLOBAL SCALE AND THUS TO GENERATE AND SUSTAIN EMPLOYMENT. MANY YOUNG SCIENTISTS IN STEM DISCIPLINES ARE NATURALLY FASCINATED BY THESE OUTSTANDING CHALLENGES AS THEY SEARCH FOR A GREATER DRIVE FOR THEIR EDUCATION AND MEANINGFUL WAYS TO SERVE SOCIETY. THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF THIS REU SITE IS TO PREPARE SCHOLARS TO ADDRESS THE CHALLENGES IN ADVANCED MATERIALS AND FILL CRITICAL GAPS IN KNOWLEDGE ON MATERIALS NEEDED TO TRANSFORM MARINE TECHNOLOGIES. THE REU PARTICIPANTS AT THIS SITE CONDUCT INDEPENDENT RESEARCH ON PROJECTS THAT WILL LEVERAGE AND ADVANCE A WIDE RANGE OF STUDIES ON NOVEL MATERIALS CURRENTLY UNDERWAY AT UMASSD, INCLUDING: NONAQUEOUS REDOX FLOW BATTERIES, MULTI-FUNCTIONAL SANDWICH COMPOSITES, FUNCTIONAL COMPOSITE MATERIALS FOR STRUCTURAL ENERGY STORAGE, UNDERWATER SUPER-HYDROPHOBIC SURFACES, TACTILE SENSORS, BIOINSPIRED PHOTONIC MATERIALS, META-MATERIALS, GRANULAR MATERIALS, AND NANOSTRUCTURED SURFACES FOR ANTIFOULING. WITH THE INTER-DISCIPLINARY NATURE OF THESE RESEARCH PROJECTS, FACULTY AND STUDENTS INTERACT AND ADVANCE THE MATERIALS SCIENCE ACROSS DIFFERENT FIELDS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

CSR: SMALL: CASCADING FAILURES MODELING AND MITIGATION IN THE INTERNET OF THINGS -CASCADING FAILURES TAKE PLACE WHEN A SINGLE INCIDENT TRIGGERS SUCCESSIVE MALFUNCTION OF SYSTEM COMPONENTS IN A CHAIN REACTION. WITHOUT TIMELY AND EFFECTIVE MITIGATION MECHANISMS, CASCADING FAILURES OFTEN CAUSE CATASTROPHIC IMPACTS ON THE ENTIRE SYSTEM AND EVEN THE ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY. THERE IS A BIG GAP BETWEEN THE EXISTING CASCADING FAILURE THEORIES AND REALITIES IN THE INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT) SYSTEMS. THIS PROJECT AIMS TO MAKE BREAKTHROUGHS IN THE IOT CASCADING FAILURE AND RELIABILITY RESEARCH TO BRIDGE THE GAP, MITIGATING SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES CAUSED BY THE FAILURES. IN ADDITION, THE PROJECT HAS EDUCATIONAL COMPONENTS WITH THE GOALS TO HELP INCREASE PARTICIPATION OF UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITIES, PARTICULARLY WOMEN IN COMPUTING AND ENGINEERING, AND TO INTEGRATE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION THROUGH NEW CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH TRAINING OF BOTH GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS. THE OVERARCHING OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO ENHANCE THE RELIABILITY AND ROBUSTNESS OF IOT-BASED SYSTEMS BY DEVELOPING EFFICIENT CASCADING FAILURE MODELING AND ANALYSIS METHODS AS WELL AS EFFECTIVE MITIGATION STRATEGIES TO STRENGTHEN IOT SYSTEMS? RESILIENCE TO CASCADING FAILURES. SPECIFICALLY, THE PROJECT WILL (1) DEVELOP NEW COMPREHENSIVE MATHEMATICAL MODELS TO CHARACTERIZE THE COMPLEX PHYSICAL MECHANISM OF CASCADING FAILURES IN IOT; (2) CREATE EFFICIENT AND SCALABLE RELIABILITY EVALUATION METHODOLOGIES TO PROVIDE AN ACCURATE AND FAST PREDICTION OF THE IOT SYSTEM RELIABILITY CONSIDERING IMPACTS OF CASCADING FAILURES AND VARIOUS DEPENDENCIES; (3) DEVELOP INNOVATIVE IN-PROCESS AND MULTI-PHASE MITIGATION MECHANISMS TO EFFECTIVELY RESPOND TO CASCADING FAILURES AND PREVENT OR AT LEAST ALLEVIATE THEIR CONSEQUENCE; AND (4) EVALUATE AND VALIDATE THE PROPOSED RESEARCH USING CASE STUDIES OF REAL-WORLD IOT-BASED SYSTEMS AS WELL AS PUBLICATIONS EVALUATED BY INDEPENDENT PEERS AND EXPERTS. THE PROPOSED CASCADING FAILURE MODELS AND MITIGATION STRATEGIES, AND RELIABILITY ANALYSIS METHODS ARE FUNDAMENTAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE BODY OF KNOWLEDGE ON THE RELIABLE AND ROBUST DESIGN AND OPERATION OF MODERN AND EVOLVING IOT-BASED SYSTEMS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

CAS: SINGLE-MOLECULE SPECIFIC VOLTAMMETRY: QUANTIFYING REACTION PRODUCTS OF ELECTROCATALYSIS AT SINGLE PARTICLE LEVEL -WITH SUPPORT FROM THE CHEMICAL MEASUREMENT & IMAGING PROGRAM, AND PARTIAL CO-FUNDING FROM PROGRAMS IN MACROMOLECULAR, SUPRAMOLECULAR, AND NANOCHEMISTRY; CHEMICAL CATALYSIS; AND CHEMICAL STRUCTURE, DYNAMICS, AND MECHANISMS ? A, PROFESSOR CHANG AND HIS RESEARCH TEAM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS - DARTMOUTH ARE DEVELOPING A NEW CHEMICAL ANALYSIS TOOL TO ENABLE DETAILED STUDIES OF ELECTROCHEMICAL REACTION MECHANISMS ASSOCIATED WITH CONVERSION OF CARBON DIOXIDE (CO2) TO LESS HARMFUL MATERIALS, A PROMISING ROUTE TO MITIGATING CLIMATE CHANGE. SPECIFICALLY, THE TEAM IS DEVELOPING A NOVEL TECHNIQUE, NAMED SINGLE-MOLECULE SPECIFIC (SMS) VOLTAMMETRY, TO PROBE THE PERFORMANCE OF SINGLE NANOPARTICLES AS CATALYSTS FOR CO2 REDUCTION REACTIONS. THE RESEARCH MAY ADVANCE OUR ABILITY TO DESIGN ELECTROCATALYSTS THAT EFFICIENTLY CONVERT CO2 INTO FUELS. A BROAD EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM INTRODUCES THIS RESEARCH TO UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS, AND INCLUDES OUTREACH ACTIVITIES TO INSPIRE UNDERREPRESENTED K-12 STUDENTS IN SOUTH MASSACHUSETTS TO PURSUE CAREERS IN STEM FIELDS. THIS PROJECT AIMS TO DEVELOP A PLATFORM TO QUANTIFY THE PRODUCTS OF ELECTROCHEMICAL CO2 REDUCTION ON SINGLE NANOPARTICLES, AND TO REVEAL THE MORPHOLOGY-DEPENDENT PERFORMANCE AND STABILITY OF NANOELECTROCATALYSTS. CARBON MONOXIDE (CO) FORMATION ON AU NANOPARTICLES IS USED AS A MODEL REACTION. SPECIFICALLY, THE RESEARCH IS ADDRESSING THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES: (1) DEMONSTRATION OF THE ABILITY OF SINGLE-MOLECULE SPECIFIC (SMS) VOLTAMMETRY TO QUANTIFY CO FORMATION ON SINGLE NANOPARTICLES. (2) ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTS OF INTERPARTICLE AND INTRAPARTICLE HETEROGENEITY ON CO FORMATION ON SINGLE ELECTROCATALYSTS. (3) IDENTIFICATION OF THE MECHANISM(S) OF NANOPARTICLE INSTABILITY DURING CO2 REDUCTION REACTIONS. BY COMBINING SMS VOLTAMMETRY, SUPER-RESOLUTION FLUORESCENCE, AND ELECTRON MICROSCOPIES, THE RESEARCH TEAM IS STRIVING TO ELUCIDATE THE MORPHOLOGY-DEPENDENT ACTIVITY FOR CO FORMATION AND SUPER-RESOLVE THE FACET-DEPENDENT ACTIVE SITES ON SINGLE NANOELECTROCATALYSTS. IMPROVED UNDERSTANDING OF THE CORRELATION BETWEEN THE ACTIVITY AND STABILITY OF ELECTROCATALYSTS AND THE ORIGIN OF NANOPARTICLE INSTABILITY IN CO2 REDUCTION ARE PARALLEL AIMS. THESE RESEARCH EFFORTS ARE ENVISIONED TO PROVIDE THE KNOWLEDGE NEEDED FOR RATIONAL DESIGN OF NANOELECTROCATALYSTS FOR CO2 REDUCTION REACTIONS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

REU SITE: ADVANCED INTERDISCIPLINARY MATERIALS RESEARCH FOR MARITIME APPLICATIONS -THIS RESEARCH EXPERIENCES FOR UNDERGRADUATES (REU) SITE AT UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS DARTMOUTH (UMASSD) PROVIDES AN EXCITING RESIDENTIAL SETTING FOR SUMMER COHORTS OF EIGHT COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS TO PARTICIPATE IN INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH IN ADVANCED MATERIALS RELEVANT TO MARINE ECONOMY. THIS PROGRAM BEGINS WITH TRAINING SESSIONS ON SAFE LABORATORY PRACTICES, RESEARCH ETHICS, DESIGN OF EXPERIMENTS, RESEARCH COMMUNICATION SKILLS, AND LIBRARY DATABASES. THIS 10-WEEKS PROGRAM PROVIDES STUDENTS WITH HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE IN INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH, INCLUDING HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT, EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN, AND DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION. THIS PROGRAM ALSO OFFERS FIELD TRIPS TO LOCAL INDUSTRIES AND NATIONAL RESEARCH LABORATORIES, AND WORKSHOPS ON PROFESSIONAL NETWORKING AND CAREER PREPARATION. THE SUMMER RESEARCH PROGRAM CULMINATES WITH A CLOSING SYMPOSIUM, AND AN OPEN FORUM ON INDUSTRY AND RESEARCH CAREERS WITH INVITED EMINENT MARINE MATERIALS SCHOLARS. THIS INTERDISCIPLINARY SITE INTEGRATES THE EFFORTS OF DEDICATED EDUCATORS FROM THREE DEPARTMENTS (BIOENGINEERING, CHEMISTRY & BIOCHEMISTRY, AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERING) WHO HAVE STRONG TRACK RECORDS IN MENTORING STUDENTS FOR RESEARCH. THE SUMMER ACTIVITIES ARE DESIGNED TO ASSIST COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS SEEKING JOBS IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS (STEM) FIELDS OR PURSUING EDUCATION IN FOUR-YEAR RESEARCH UNIVERSITIES, AND TO DEVELOP MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS WITH FACULTY AND STUDENTS. INNOVATIVE MATERIALS AND THEIR BROADER USE ARE VITAL TO IMPROVE THE STRUCTURAL RELIABILITY AND LIFE CYCLE PERFORMANCE OF SHIPS AND MARITIME STRUCTURES, TO LOWER THEIR ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT, TO MAKE MARITIME INDUSTRIES MORE VIABLE AT A GLOBAL SCALE, AND THUS TO GENERATE AND SUSTAIN EMPLOYMENT. MANY YOUNG SCIENTISTS IN STEM DISCIPLINES ARE NATURALLY FASCINATED BY THESE OUTSTANDING CHALLENGES AS THEY SEARCH FOR A GREATER DRIVE FOR THEIR EDUCATION AND MEANINGFUL WAYS TO SERVE SOCIETY. THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF THIS REU SITE IS TO PREPARE SCHOLARS TO ADDRESS THE CHALLENGES IN ADVANCED MATERIALS AND FILL CRITICAL GAPS IN KNOWLEDGE ON MATERIALS NEEDED TO TRANSFORM MARINE TECHNOLOGIES. THE REU PARTICIPANTS AT THIS SITE CONDUCT INDEPENDENT RESEARCH ON PROJECTS THAT WILL LEVERAGE AND ADVANCE A WIDE RANGE OF STUDIES ON NOVEL MATERIALS CURRENTLY UNDERWAY AT UMASSD, INCLUDING: NONAQUEOUS REDOX FLOW BATTERIES, MULTI-FUNCTIONAL SANDWICH COMPOSITES, FUNCTIONAL COMPOSITE MATERIALS FOR STRUCTURAL ENERGY STORAGE, UNDERWATER SUPER-HYDROPHOBIC SURFACES, SMART SOFT TACTILE SENSORS, NANOSTRUCTURED SURFACES FOR ANTIFOULING, SIMULATION AND MODELING OF CORROSION MECHANISM AND INHIBITION IN MARINE ENVIRONMENT, AND MICROBIAL VALORIZATION OF LOBSTER SHELL CHITIN. WITH THE INTER-DISCIPLINARY NATURE OF THESE RESEARCH PROJECTS, FACULTY AND STUDENTS INTERACT AND ADVANCE THE MATERIALS SCIENCE ACROSS DIFFERENT FIELDS. THE PROGRAM WILL BE ASSESSED USING PRE- AND POST-PROGRAM SURVEYS, FEEDBACK FROM MENTORS AND STUDENTS, EVALUATION OF RESEARCH OUTPUTS, AND TRACKING PARTICIPANTS? ACADEMIC AND CAREER PROGRESS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

IMPROVED LENSLESS MICROSCOPE USING A MULTICOLOR MULTIPLEXED APPROACH TO PROVIDE HIGH-THROUGHPUT IMAGES WITH ENHANCED RESOLUTION AND REDUCED NOISE -NONTECHNICAL DESCRIPTION DIGITAL LENSLESS HOLOGRAPHIC MICROSCOPY (DLHM) IS A COMPACT AND COST-EFFECTIVE IMAGING TECHNIQUE THAT ELIMINATES THE NEED FOR TRADITIONAL LENSES. DLHM ENABLES THE OBSERVATION OF TRANSPARENT, UNSTAINED MICROSCOPIC ORGANISMS IN THEIR NATURAL ENVIRONMENTS. IMPROVING THE DLHM TECHNOLOGY WILL SIGNIFICANTLY ENHANCE OUR IMAGING INFRASTRUCTURE AND ABILITY TO OBSERVE ORGANISMS ACROSS A BROAD RANGE OF APPLICATIONS, RANGING FROM HUMAN HEALTHCARE TO ECOSYSTEM MONITORING. IN PARTICULAR, DLHM TECHNOLOGY HAS THE POTENTIAL TO DEEPEN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF MARINE ECOSYSTEM STRUCTURES, DYNAMICS, AND FUNCTIONS. THE INTEGRATION OF DLHM SYSTEMS INTO MOBILE PLATFORMS WILL ENABLE DIRECT OBSERVATION OF AQUATIC MICROORGANISMS THAT PLAY KEY ROLES IN ECOLOGICAL PROCESSES AND GLOBAL BIOGEOCHEMICAL CYCLES. IN ADDITION TO ITS SCIENTIFIC IMPACT, THIS PROJECT WILL PROMOTE WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING. EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES WILL INCLUDE WORKSHOPS AND OUTREACH PROGRAMS THAT WILL INTRODUCE STUDENTS TO OPTICS AND ENVIRONMENTAL SENSING. TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION CURRENT DLHM SYSTEMS ARE LIMITED BY TRADE-OFFS BETWEEN SPATIAL RESOLUTION AND FIELD OF VIEW, AS WELL AS BY HIGH COMPUTATIONAL DEMANDS FOR IMAGE RECONSTRUCTION. THE PROPOSED DLHM SYSTEM ADDRESSES THE UNMET NEED FOR LENSLESS IMAGING BY DESIGNING, INVESTIGATING, AND EVALUATING AN ADVANCED DLHM SYSTEM, WHICH FEATURES A LARGE IMAGING VOLUME BY MULTIPLEXING MULTIPLE ILLUMINATION SOURCES, IMPROVED RESOLUTION, REDUCED NOISE, AND RAPID LOCALIZATION AND CLASSIFICATION OF MICROSCOPIC SAMPLES BY EXPLOITING MODERN AI IMAGING PROCESSING MODELS. AS AN APPLICATION, WE WILL EVALUATE THE CAPABILITY OF THE PROPOSED DLHM SYSTEM TO MONITOR BIODIVERSITY ON WATER COLUMNS IN REAL TIME. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: GLOBAL ESTIMATES OF ENERGY PATHWAYS AND STIRRING BY INTERNAL WAVES AND VORTICAL MODE

CONSERVATIVE DISCONTINUOUS GALERKIN METHODS WITH IMPLICIT PENALTY PARAMETERS AND MULTISCALE HYBRIDIZABLE DISCONTINUOUS GALERKIN METHODS FOR PDES -THIS PROJECT CONCENTRATES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF NOVEL COMPUTATIONAL METHODS FOR EFFICIENTLY SOLVING PROBLEMS THAT HAVE CONSERVED PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OR HIGHLY OSCILLATORY WAVE SOLUTIONS. THE NEW CONSERVATIVE METHODS CAN PRESERVE PHYSICALLY INTERESTED QUANTITIES AND ALLOW ACCURATE AND STABLE SIMULATIONS OVER A LONG TIME PERIOD. THEY WILL BE USEFUL FOR APPLICATIONS IN VARIOUS FIELDS, SUCH AS FLUID DYNAMICS, NONLINEAR OPTICS, PLASMA PHYSICS, AND BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATES. THE NEW MULTISCALE METHODS CAN ACCURATELY AND EFFICIENTLY CAPTURE HIGHLY OSCILLATORY WAVE SOLUTIONS. THEY WILL HAVE A POSITIVE IMPACT IN THE STUDY OF QUANTUM MECHANICS AND GREAT POTENTIAL IN APPLICATION TO THE DESIGN OF ULTRAFAST AND LOW CONSUMPTION NANOSCALE ELECTRONIC DEVICES. THE METHODS DEVELOPED IN THE PROJECT WILL HELP PEOPLE UNDERSTAND THEORETICALLY UNRESOLVED ISSUES AND PROVIDE NEW FRAMEWORKS FOR DEVISING COMPETITIVE NUMERICAL ALGORITHMS FOR SOLVING OTHER COMPLEX PROBLEMS. THE PROJECT WILL ALSO INVOLVE MENTORING AND TRAINING OF UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS, INCLUDING THE TRADITIONALLY UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS. IT WILL PROVIDE STUDENTS GREAT OPPORTUNITIES TO INTEGRATE RESEARCH INTO THEIR EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE. THE PROJECT INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING TOPICS: (1) IN-DEPTH INVESTIGATION OF THE NOVEL CONSERVATIVE DISCONTINUOUS GALERKIN (DG) METHOD WITH IMPLICIT PENALTY PARAMETERS FOR THE KORTEWEG-DE VRIES (KDV) EQUATION, (2) DEVELOPMENT OF CONSERVATIVE DG METHODS VIA IMPLICIT PENALIZATION FOR MORE COMPLICATED WAVE MODELS WITH CONSERVATION PROPERTIES, INCLUDING THE HIROTA-SATSUMA COUPLED KDV SYSTEM, THE SCHRODINGER-KDV SYSTEM, THE ABCD-BOUSSINESQ SYSTEM, AND THE TWO-DIMENSIONAL ZAKHAROV-KUZNETSOV (ZK) EQUATION AND KADOMTSEV-PETVIASHVILI (KP) EQUATION, (3) DESIGN, ANALYSIS, AND IMPLEMENTATION OF HYBRIDIZABLE DISCONTINUOUS GALERKIN (HDG) METHODS WITH MULTISCALE BASIS FOR EFFICIENTLY CAPTURING HIGHLY OSCILLATORY SOLUTIONS OF SCHRODINGER EQUATIONS ON COARSE MESHES. THE NOVEL IDEA IN THE FIRST TWO TOPICS IS TO ENFORCE CONSERVATION PROPERTIES VIA IMPLICIT PENALIZATION, AND THIS CAN BE GENERALIZED TO OTHER TYPES OF PROBLEMS THAT FEATURE CONSERVATION OF PHYSICAL QUANTITIES. THE METHODS IN THE THIRD TOPIC INTEGRATE THE EFFICIENT HDG FRAMEWORK AND THE MULTISCALE NON-POLYNOMIAL BASIS FUNCTIONS, WHICH MAKES THEM PERFORM BETTER THAN TRADITIONAL FINITE ELEMENT METHODS FOR SCHRODINGER EQUATIONS ON BOTH COARSE MESHES AND FINE MESHES. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

DEVELOPING HIGH ORDER STABLE AND EFFICIENT METHODS FOR LONG TIME SIMULATIONS OF GRAVITATIONAL WAVEFORMS -GRAVITATIONAL WAVES WERE PREDICTED BY EINSTEIN A CENTURY AGO. STILL, THEY HAD NEVER BEEN DIRECTLY OBSERVED BEFORE THE NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING DISCOVERY OF BLACK HOLE AND NEUTRON STAR BINARY SYSTEMS BY THE US-BASED LASER INTERFEROMETER GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE OBSERVATORY (LIGO) DETECTORS IN 2015. THIS DETECTION HERALDED A MAJOR SCIENTIFIC TRANSFORMATION IN THE GRAVITATIONAL WAVE ASTROPHYSICS FIELD, WHICH LED TO AN URGENT NEED FOR ADVANCED COMPUTATIONAL MODELS THAT WILL PLAY A CRITICAL ROLE IN THE FUTURE SUCCESS OF LIGO AND UPCOMING SPACE-BORNE MISSIONS LIKE LASER INTERFEROMETER SPACE ANTENNA. HIGH-ACCURACY GRAVITATIONAL WAVE SIMULATIONS ARE NEEDED TO PRODUCE THE EXPECTED GRAVITATIONAL WAVE SIGNAL EMITTED FROM THESE SYSTEMS OVER HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF ORBITAL CYCLES, WHICH ARE REQUIRED TO FILTER NOISY DATA. THE MAIN OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP NEW COMPUTATIONAL TECHNIQUES TO ACCURATELY AND EFFICIENTLY SIMULATE GRAVITATIONAL WAVES THAT WILL ALLOW SCIENTISTS TO MAXIMIZE THE SCIENTIFIC OUTPUT OF CURRENT AND FUTURE DETECTORS. THESE EFFORTS OPEN A WINDOW INTO THE UNIVERSE AND CAPTURE THE INTEREST OF THE GENERAL PUBLIC AS WELL AS A YOUNGER GENERATION OF SCIENTISTS. PREVIOUS RESEARCH PROJECTS BY THE INVESTIGATORS HAVE BEEN DISCUSSED IN THE GENERAL MEDIA, AND THIS WORK WILL CONTINUE TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN OUTREACH TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC. THE COMPUTATIONAL SKILLS THAT THE STUDENTS DEVELOP ARE BROADLY APPLICABLE AND, THEREFORE, WOULD ALLOW THEM ACCESS TO VARIOUS CAREER OPTIONS, INCLUDING IN AREAS OF URGENT NATIONAL NEED. THE PROJECT AIMS TO DEVELOP ADVANCED MATHEMATICAL AND COMPUTATIONAL MODELS TO ACCURATELY SIMULATE LARGE-MASS-RATIO BINARY BLACK HOLE SYSTEMS, WHICH ARE CRUCIAL FOR DETECTING GRAVITATIONAL WAVES. IN PARTICULAR, IT WILL DEVELOP EFFICIENT AND STABLE HIGH-ORDER METHODS THAT CAN HANDLE THE HIGHLY SINGULAR SOURCE TERMS OF THE S = ?2 TEUKOLSKY MODEL, INCLUDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL ALGORITHM USING A DISCONTINUOUS GALERKIN SCHEME AND A MIXED PRECISION 2D WEIGHTED ESSENTIALLY NON-OSCILLATORY SCHEME. WORK WILL ALSO FOCUS ON DEVELOPING HIGH-ORDER, POSITIVITY-PRESERVING TIME-STEPPING METHODS WITH MINIMIZED PHASE AND DISPERSION ERRORS TO ENHANCE THE ACCURACY OF THE SIMULATIONS. THE RESEARCH OUTCOMES WILL SIGNIFICANTLY IMPACT THE FIELD OF GRAVITATIONAL WAVE DISCOVERIES BY ENABLING THE MODELING OF HIGHLY REALISTIC ASTROPHYSICAL SCENARIOS THAT WERE PREVIOUSLY INFEASIBLE, SUCH AS SYSTEMS IN WHICH BOTH BLACK HOLES ARE RAPIDLY SPINNING IN THE EXTREME MASS RATIO LIMIT. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

PROJECT TITLE USE AND VALIDATION OF MICRO UNCREWED UNDERWATER VEHICLES FOR WATER OBSERVING SYSTEMSPROJECT PERIOD 03 01 2023 THROUGH 08 31 2024THE UMASS DARTMOUTH SCHOOL FOR MARINE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (SMAST) WILL FIELD TEST AND VALIDATE A 5 VEHICLE JAIABOT HYDRO UNCREWED UNDERWATER VEHICLE (UUV) SYSTEM AGAINST TRADITIONAL SAMPLING AND ANALYTICAL APPROACHES FOR WATER QUALITY MONITORING. FIELD TESTS OF THE JAIABOT HYDRO WILL MEASURE CONDUCTIVITY, TEMPERATURE AND DEPTH BOTH IN PROFILE AND DURING TRANSIT. THE SYSTEM S USER INTERFACE WILL ENABLE LOCATION, SHORT RANGE TELEMETRY, AND POINT TO POINT MISSION PLANNING AND EXECUTION. DRIFT MEASUREMENTS OF SURFACE AND SUBSURFACE VECTORS WILL FURTHER BE MADE FOR QUICK CHARACTERIZATION OF FLOW FIELD PREDICTION VALIDATION. FINALLY, FULL WATER DEPTH VEHICLE DIVES WILL BE USED TO MEASURE BOTTOM DEPTH AND THEREBY BATHYMETRY AS A FUNCTION OF GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION.FOLLOWING SUCCESSFUL FIELD VALIDATION TESTS IN A VARIETY OF LOCAL ENVIRONMENTS (RIVERS, TIDAL RIVERS, ESTUARIES, LAKES AND OPEN WATER EMBAYMENTS) THE 5 VEHICLE UUV SYSTEM (FROM MISSION PLANNING, TO EXECUTION, TO DATA DOWNLOAD) WILL BE DEPLOYED FOR DEMONSTRATION AND FIELD VALIDATION PURPOSES IN THE DELAWARE RIVER NEAR PHILADELPHIA, PA. ADDITIONALLY, AS PART OF SENSOR DEVELOPMENT FOR FUTURE APPLICATIONS, SMAST WILL WORK WITH JAIA ROBOTICS IN COLLABORATION WITH UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA RESEARCHERS TOWARD INCORPORATING A MICRO MODEM CAPABILITY INTO THE JAIABOT. THE COMBINED PROJECT TEAM WILL COLLABORATE WITH THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY STAFF ON TESTING AND EVALUATING THE SYSTEM TO HELP WITH DEVELOPING SALIENT CHARACTERISTICS FOR UUVS IN LARGE RIVERS SUCH AS THE DELAWARE.FIELD VALIDATION OF A 5 VEHICLE JAIABOT HYDRO SYSTEM WILL ENABLE THE TEAM TO BECOME FAMILIAR WITH THE JAIABOT SYSTEM, INCLUDING OPERATION AND DATA RECOVERY, INCLUDING MISSION PLANNING, SYSTEM OPERATION, SENSOR SELECTION AND KEY PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS IN ORDER TO DEVELOP DESIRED SALIENT CHARACTERISTICS FOR FUTURE USE. THE LONG TERM GOAL OF THIS EFFORT IS TO FACILITATE THE INTEGRATION OF AUTONOMOUS WATER QUALITY SAMPLING INTO ONGOING WATER OBSERVING SYSTEMS, WITH THE GOAL OF ENHANCING THEIR CAPABILITIES FOR FIELD OBSERVATIONS AND MONITORING.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: DESIGNING SOLID BOOSTERS AND ELECTROLYTES FOR REDOX-TARGETING FLOW BATTERIES -REDOX FLOW BATTERIES (RFBS) ARE CONSIDERED ONE OF THE MOST PROMISING ENERGY STORAGE TECHNOLOGIES TO ENABLE THE TRANSITION TOWARD A CARBON-NEUTRAL ELECTRICITY GRID. RFBS OFFER MANY BENEFITS FOR GRID APPLICATIONS, INCLUDING ABILITY TO DECOUPLE ENERGY AND POWER RATINGS, THE ASSOCIATED, UNPRECEDENTED SCALABILITY, AND THE COST-EFFECTIVENESS IN LONG-DURATION STORAGE. HOWEVER, LOW SOLUBILITY OF THE REDOX ACTIVE SPECIES IN THE ELECTROLYTE HAVE SO FAR PRESENTED CHALLENGES. ONE PROMISING APPROACH TO ADDRESS THIS LIMITATION IS THE UTILIZATION OF SOLID CHARGE STORAGE (BOOSTER) MATERIALS IN THE TANKS TO REVERSIBLY REDUCE OR OXIDIZE DISSOLVED SPECIES IN THE ELECTROLYTE VIA INDIRECT REDOX-TARGETING REACTIONS. IN THIS WAY, THE CAPACITY IS NO LONGER DEPENDENT ON THE CONCENTRATION OF SOLUBLE SPECIES BUT RATHER THE QUANTITY OF SOLIDS IN THE TANKS. THIS CONCEPT DEMONSTRATES THE PROMISE FOR EXPLOITING THE UNIQUE BENEFITS OF SOLID- AND LIQUID-PHASE REDOX CHEMISTRY, COMBINING THE HIGH-ENERGY-DENSITY OF THE FORMER WITH THE SCALABILITY AND SAFETY OF THE LATTER. SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RESEARCH WILL CONTRIBUTE TO ADDRESSING THE KEY OBSTACLES TO WIDESPREAD ADOPTION OF RFBS. THIS WILL ENABLE GREATER UTILIZATION OF RENEWABLE SOURCES AND REDUCE ENERGY RELATED EMISSIONS. IT WILL PROVIDE GRID RESILIENCE AND FLEXIBILITY BY EFFECTIVELY MANAGING UNWANTED FLUCTUATIONS WITH DECOUPLED ENERGY DEMAND AND SUPPLY. THE RESEARCH PROJECT INCLUDES PEDAGOGICAL ASPECTS OF BENEFICIAL SOCIETAL IMPACT. ITS INTEGRATED, INTERDISCIPLINARY NATURE WILL AID IN TRAINING A DIVERSE ENERGY SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING WORKFORCE TO BE LITERATE IN MULTIPLE ASPECTS OF MATERIALS RESEARCH. CURRICULUM ENHANCEMENTS AND OUTREACH WILL BENEFIT THE EDUCATION OF A RANGE OF UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS AND MENTOR SECONDARY AND COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS, ESPECIALLY THOSE OF UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITY GROUPS, TOWARD STEM CAREERS IN THE STRATEGIC AREA OF SUSTAINABLE ENERGY. THIS RESEARCH PROJECT WILL PROVIDE AN IN-DEPTH UNDERSTANDING OF THE NATURE OF INDIRECT REDOX TARGETING REACTIONS BY INVESTIGATING THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES, I.E., THERMODYNAMICS, REACTION KINETICS, AND MASS AND CHARGE TRANSPORT. TWO SPECIFIC PRINCIPLES UNDERPINNING THE APPROACH ARE: (1) METAL HEXACYANOMETALLATES (MHCMS) POSSESS BOTH COARSE AND FINE ADJUSTMENTS TO REDUCTION POTENTIAL (E?), WHICH CAN BE TUNED TO MINIMIZE THE GAP IN REDUCTION POTENTIAL BETWEEN MEDIATORS AND BOOSTERS, (2) BECAUSE THE ENERGY DENSITY OF REDOX TARGETING FLOW BATTERIES IS SET BY THE QUANTITY OF BOOSTER MATERIAL, RATHER THAN THE CONCENTRATION OF ACTIVE MATERIALS IN THE ELECTROLYTE, MODERATE CONCENTRATION OF BOTH ANOLYTE AND CATHOLYTE CAN BE USED IN A COMPOSITIONALLY SYMMETRIC ELECTROLYTE. THE EFFECTS OF INTERCALATION CATIONS ON E? WILL BE PROBED, AND THERMODYNAMIC AND KINETIC INFORMATION FROM THESE STUDIES WILL BE IMPLEMENTED IN A COMPUTATIONAL MODEL TO PROVIDE FIRST-PRINCIPLES KNOWLEDGE. THE RESULTING KNOWLEDGE WILL ALSO PROVIDE INSIGHTS INTO OTHER ELECTROCHEMISTRY-RELATED FIELDS UTILIZING THE INDIRECT REDOX TARGETING REACTIONS, SUCH AS WATER ELECTROLYSIS AND FUEL CELLS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: DECIPHERING THE MECHANISMS OF MARINE NITROUS OXIDE CYCLING USING STABLE ISOTOPES, MOLECULAR MARKERS AND IN SITU RATES -NITROUS OXIDE (N2O) IS A POWERFUL GREENHOUSE GAS, AND A DRIVER OF OZONE DEPLETION IN THE STRATOSPHERE. MARINE LOW-OXYGEN REGIONS ARE IMPORTANT FOR N2O CYCLING AND ARE A LARGE SOURCE OF N2O TO THE ATMOSPHERE. THE ARABIAN SEA IN THE NORTHWEST INDIAN OCEAN HOSTS ONE OF THE WORLD?S LARGEST LOW-OXYGEN ZONES, BUT IT IS LESS WELL-STUDIED THAN OTHER REGIONS. IN PARTNERSHIP WITH OTHER RESEARCHERS IN THE U.S. AND INDIA, THIS TEAM WILL COMBINE GEOCHEMICAL AND MICROBIAL ECOLOGY APPROACHES TO STUDY N2O CYCLING IN THE ARABIAN SEA. THE PROJECT WILL SUPPORT ONE POSTDOCTORAL INVESTIGATOR AND TWO GRADUATE STUDENTS. SEVERAL UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS WILL PARTICIPATE IN THE LABORATORY AND AT SEA. ONE MS STUDENT FROM THE COCHIN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (CUSAT), LOCATED IN KOCHI, KERALA, INDIA WILL ALSO BE INVITED ON AT LEAST ONE OF THE RESEARCH CRUISES AND PARTICIPATE IN A 6-WEEK INTERNSHIP IN THE MARINE STABLE ISOTOPE BIOGEOCHEMISTRY LABORATORY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA. THE U.S. POSTDOC AND GRADUATE STUDENTS WILL PARTICIPATE IN A 10-DAY REGIONAL TRAINING PROGRAM IN BIOGEOCHEMISTRY FOR EARLY CAREER RESEARCHERS IN INDIA. THE PROJECT TEAM WILL CONDUCT PUBLIC OUTREACH FROM SEA. THEY WILL ALSO PRODUCE A FREELY AVAILABLE E-LECTURE ON NITROGEN CYCLING IN LOW-OXYGEN ZONES. THIS PROJECT WILL ADVANCE CURRENT UNDERSTANDING OF THE MICROBIOLOGY AND BIOGEOCHEMISTRY OF N2O PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION IN MARINE OXYGEN DEFICIENT ZONES (ODZS) BY QUANTIFYING RATES AND IDENTIFYING MAJOR SOURCES IN THE ARABIAN SEA USING NATURAL ABUNDANCE STABLE ISOTOPIC AND ISOTOPOMER DATA, 15N-LABELED INCUBATIONS, AS WELL AS GENOMIC AND METATRANSCRIPTOMIC METHODS. FIELD WORK IS PLANNED FOR THE SUMMERS OF 2024 AND 2025. THE FIRST FIELD ACTIVITY WILL BE DURING A CRUISE OF OPPORTUNITY FUNDED BY THE OFFICE OF NAVAL RESEARCH (ONR) AS PART OF THE ARABIAN SEA TRANSITION LAYER (ASTRAL): EXCHANGE ACROSS THE AIR-SEA INTERFACE PROGRAM. FOUR SHIP DAYS SUPPORTED THROUGH THIS NSF AWARD WILL ENABLE BIOGEOCHEMICAL SAMPLING AT TEN STATIONS. IN 2025, A FOUR-WEEK DEDICATED RESEARCH EXPEDITION WILL FOCUS ON IN-SITU INCUBATION RATE EXPERIMENTS AT TWO STATIONS. BOTH EX-SITU AND NOVEL IN-SITU 15N-INCUBATIONS, WHICH MAINTAIN NATURAL TRACE-LEVEL O2 CONCENTRATIONS, WILL BE USED. KINETIC EXPERIMENTS WILL ALSO BE PERFORMED TO DETERMINE THE EFFECT OF SUBSTRATE ADDITION DURING 15N- LABELED INCUBATIONS. COMBINATION OF THESE APPROACHES WILL REVEAL DOMINANT PATHWAYS OF N2O PRODUCTION AND N2O CONSUMPTION AS WELL AS THE MICROORGANISMS MEDIATING THESE PROCESSES ALONG VERTICAL O2 AND PRODUCTIVITY GRADIENTS IN THE ARABIAN SEA ODZ. FINDINGS WILL ALLOW INFERENCES REGARDING LARGER SCALE FORCINGS AND IMPACTS OF FUTURE CLIMATE CHANGE. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

IGF::OT::IGF USE OF NORTHEAST COASTAL OCEAN FORCAST SYSTEM

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: CISE-MSI: DP: OAC: INTEGRATED AND EXTENSIBLE PLATFORM FOR RETHINKING THE SECURITY OF AI-ASSISTED UAV PARADIGM -UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES (UAVS), OR DRONES, ARE WIDELY ADOPTED TO SUPPORT A SPECTRUM OF MILITARY, CIVILIAN, AND COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS. WITH THE RAPID DEVELOPMENT OF AI TECHNIQUES, THE AI-ASSISTED UAV PARADIGM BECOMES PROMISING TO ENHANCE VARIOUS UAV OPERATIONS IN TERMS OF INTELLIGENCE, EFFECTIVENESS, AND EFFICIENCY. AT THE SAME TIME, THE INTEGRATION OF AI AND UAVS ALSO RAISES NEW SECURITY AND SAFETY CONCERNS. THIS PROJECT WILL INVESTIGATE AND DEVELOP A NOVEL INTEGRATED AND EXTENSIBLE PLATFORM TO PROMOTE SECURITY RESEARCH THAT UNCOVERS VULNERABILITIES AND DESIGNS COUNTERMEASURES TOWARD THE AI-ASSISTED UAV PARADIGM. IN ADDITION, THIS PROJECT WILL NOT ONLY BUILD AND PROMOTE RESEARCH CAPACITY AND RESOURCES FOR RESEARCHERS AT CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SAN MARCOS - A MINORITY-SERVING INSTITUTION, BUT ALSO PROVIDE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION EXPERIENCE TO A LARGE NUMBER OF UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITY STUDENTS. THIS PROJECT WILL FIRST DESIGN AND DEVELOP A RESEARCH PLATFORM FOR THE SECURE INTEGRATION OF AI AND UAVS. BY LEVERAGING THE PLATFORM, THIS PROJECT WILL THEN INVESTIGATE TWO DIRECTIONS OF THE SECURE AI-ASSISTED UAV PARADIGM, INCLUDING (1) SECURITY ANALYSIS OF AI-ENABLED UAV ANOMALY DETECTION AND (2) ROBUST AI-ASSISTED UAV OPERATIONS IN ADVERSARIAL ENVIRONMENTS. THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THIS PROJECT WILL BE THREEFOLD: (1) OBTAIN AN IN-DEPTH UNDERSTANDING OF POTENTIAL VULNERABILITIES INTRODUCED BY THE INTEGRATION OF AI AND UAV, (2) EXPLORE THE POSSIBILITY OF CONSTRUCTING EFFECTIVE ATTACKS TO EXPLOIT VULNERABILITIES AND PROVIDE THE MEASUREMENT OF IMPACTS OF THESE EXPLORATIONS, AND (3) IMPROVE THE SECURITY AWARENESS AND DEFENSE APPROACHES OF THE PREVALENT RESEARCH TREND IN THE INTEGRATION OF AI AND UAVS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: INVESTIGATING THE ASYMMETRIES AND TEMPORALLY VARYING NATURE OF GULF STREAM RING FORMATION

MECHANISM OF GAS DEPLETION ON SUPER-HYDROPHOBIC SURFACES IN TURBULENT FLOWS

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: ORCC: CARRYOVER EFFECTS OF MULTIPLE CLIMATE CHANGE STRESSORS IN OYSTERS: MECHANISMS AND CONSEQUENCES ACROSS STAGES OF ONTOGENY -CLIMATE CHANGE IS EXPOSING SPECIES TO MULTIPLE STRESSORS THAT AFFECT THEIR ABILITY TO GROW, REPRODUCE, AND PROVIDE ECOSYSTEM SERVICES THAT BENEFIT HUMANS. HOWEVER, REPEATED EXPOSURE TO THE SAME STRESSORS OVER AN ORGANISM?S LIFETIME MAY ALLOW SOME SPECIES TO ACCLIMATE AND AVOID THESE NEGATIVE EFFECTS, ESPECIALLY IF THE INITIAL EXPOSURE OCCURS WHEN AN INDIVIDUAL IS YOUNG. THIS STUDY USES OYSTERS TO EXPERIMENTALLY TEST HOW EARLY LIFE EXPOSURE TO OCEAN WARMING AND LOW DISSOLVED OXYGEN AFFECTS OYSTERS? RESPONSES TO THESE SAME STRESSORS LATER IN LIFE. THE EASTERN OYSTER IS AN ECONOMICALLY IMPORTANT SPECIES THAT PROVIDES ECOSYSTEM SERVICES TO HUMANS SUCH AS REDUCING NITROGEN LOADING TO COASTAL SYSTEMS AND PROTECTING SHORELINES FROM STORMS. BUT OYSTER SURVIVAL AND GROWTH ARE NEGATIVELY AFFECTED BY DECLINING DISSOLVED OXYGEN CAUSED BY HIGH NUTRIENT RUNOFF FROM LAND AND RISING ATMOSPHERIC CARBON DIOXIDE AND TEMPERATURE. THE FINDINGS WILL IMPROVE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF HOW REPEATED STRESS EXPOSURE AFFECTS SPECIES? RESPONSES TO CLIMATE CHANGE, AND WHETHER REPEATED EXPOSURE IS A TOOL THAT CAN BE HARNESSED TO IMPROVE FOOD AND JOB SECURITY IN AQUACULTURE AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT. THIS POTENTIAL STRATEGY WILL BE SHARED WITH AQUACULTURE STAKEHOLDERS THROUGHOUT MARYLAND IN A SERIES OF WORKSHOPS. IT WILL ENGAGE GRADUATE STUDENTS AND UNDERGRADUATES IN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. IT WILL ALSO INTRODUCE ELEMENTARY THROUGH HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TO THE CONCEPTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE IMPORTANCE OF MARINE ECOSYSTEMS TO HUMAN WELL-BEING THROUGH THE DEVELOPMENT AND DISTRIBUTION OF SCIENCE-TO-GO MODULES THAT PROVIDE AT-HOME SCIENCE ACTIVITY KITS ON TOPICS RELATED TO THE PROJECT. PHENOTYPIC PLASTICITY IS AN IMPORTANT COMPONENT OF ORGANISMAL RESPONSES TO CLIMATE CHANGE, BUT IS TYPICALLY EXAMINED ONLY IN RELATION TO AN INDIVIDUAL?S CURRENT ENVIRONMENT. HOWEVER, ORGANISM PHENOTYPES ARE FREQUENTLY INFLUENCED BY PAST ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERIENCES SUCH AS THOSE THAT OCCUR EARLY IN LIFE, BUT LITTLE IS KNOWN ABOUT HOW THESE ?WITHIN-GENERATION CARRYOVER EFFECTS,? OR THE MECHANISMS THAT DRIVE THEM, PERSIST AND CHANGE ACROSS ORGANISM ONTOGENY. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL EXPLORE HOW EARLY LIFE EXPOSURE TO TWO INTERACTING CLIMATE CHANGE STRESSORS ? HYPOXIA AND WARMING ? IMPACTS EASTERN OYSTER (CRASSOSTREA VIRGINICA) FITNESS AS WELL AS THE POTENTIAL MECHANISMS AND ECOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES OF THESE CARRYOVER EFFECTS ACROSS MULTIPLE YEARS AND AT MULTIPLE POINTS DURING ONTOGENY. THIS STUDY INVOLVES A SERIES OF MANIPULATIVE EXPERIMENTS IN THE LAB AND FIELD (ON AN AQUACULTURE FARM) AND ANALYZES OYSTER FITNESS, MICROBIOMES, METHYLOMES, AND NITROGEN CONTENT AT EACH ONTOGENETIC STAGE. THE NEED TO UNDERSTAND PLASTICITY THROUGH TIME AND THE LASTING INFLUENCE OF PAST ENVIRONMENTS ON ORGANISM TRAITS IS CRITICAL TO ACCURATELY PREDICT ORGANISMAL RESPONSES TO CLIMATE CHANGE. BECAUSE CLIMATE CHANGE IS INCREASING THE LIKELIHOOD THAT ORGANISMS WILL BE EXPOSED TO THE SAME STRESSORS REPEATEDLY OVER THEIR LIFETIMES, WITHIN-GENERATION CARRYOVER EFFECTS MAY PLAY AN INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT ROLE IN ADAPTIVE RESPONSES. CARRYOVER EFFECTS MAY BE A MEANS OF QUICKLY ACCLIMATING ORGANISMS TO FUTURE ENVIRONMENTS THAT CAN BE USED IN CONJUNCTION WITH SELECTIVE BREEDING TO CREATE MORE RESILIENT ORGANISMS. THIS RESEARCH WILL THUS GENERATE DATA ON A POTENTIAL STRATEGY FOR ADDRESSING EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON AQUACULTURE AND COASTAL SYSTEMS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

REDUCED BASIS ENHANCEMENTS OF NEURAL NETWORKS AND THEIR APPLICATION TO QUANTUM MATERIALS SIMULATION -THIS PROJECT COMBINES TWO TYPES OF NUMERICAL TECHNIQUES, ONE TRADITIONAL AND THE OTHER NASCENT, IN THE CONTEXT OF EFFICIENT MULTI-PARAMETRIC SIMULATIONS. THE PROJECT AIMS TO DEVELOP A NEW ALGORITHM BASED ON DEEP NEURAL NETWORKS THAT WILL BE APPLIED TO THE SIMULATION OF QUANTUM MATERIALS IN THE FIELD OF TWO-DIMENSIONAL MATERIALS TWISTRONICS TOWARD A FAST AND ACCURATE CONFIGURATION-TO-PERFORMANCE MAP. OUTCOMES OF THIS PROJECT ARE EXPECTED ALSO TO BENEFIT THE GREATER SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY THAT UTILIZES SUPERVISED MACHINE LEARNING FOR PARAMETERIZED MODELS. SOFTWARE ASSOCIATED WITH THIS PROJECT WILL BE MADE FREELY AVAILABLE. THE PROJECT INVOLVES DEVELOPMENT OF GRADUATE COURSEWORK AND THE TRAINING OF UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS THROUGH INVOLVEMENT IN THE RESEARCH. THE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE BEHAVIOR OF A SYSTEM EFFICIENTLY AND ACCURATELY UNDER VARIATION OF MANY UNDERLYING PARAMETERS IS UBIQUITOUS YET CHALLENGING DUE TO THE PROHIBITIVELY HIGH COMPUTATIONAL COST. TWO TECHNIQUES STAND OUT IN ADDRESSING THIS CHALLENGE, THE MORE TRADITIONAL REDUCED BASIS METHOD AND THE NEWER DEEP NEURAL NETWORKS. THIS PROJECT AIMS TO COMBINE THESE TWO TECHNIQUES TO BUILD AN ANALYSIS-DRIVEN COMPUTATIONAL EMULATOR FOR THE PARAMETER-TO-SOLUTION MAP OF PARAMETERIZED PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS AND TO APPLY THE RESULTING ALGORITHM TO THE FIELD OF 2D MATERIALS TWISTRONICS. THE FIRST THEME OF THE PROJECT INVOLVES REDUCING THE GENERALIZATION GAP (PERFORMANCE OF THE TRAINED NETWORK ON DATA UNSEEN DURING TRAINING) OF CERTAIN MACHINE LEARNING ALGORITHMS BY TAPPING THE POTENTIAL OF A RIGOROUS MATHEMATICAL APPROACH IN JUDICIOUSLY GENERATING COMPUTATIONALLY CHEAP TRAINING DATA IN AN INTRINSICALLY MULTI-LEVEL AND MULTI-RESOLUTION FASHION. THE FOCUS OF THE SECOND THEME IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF NOVEL NUMERICAL DISCRETIZATIONS AND THEIR CORRESPONDING FAST ALGORITHMS FOR A CLASS OF NONLINEAR PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS THAT HAS DIRECT APPLICATION IN OPTIMAL MASS TRANSPORT. FINALLY, THE PROJECT AIMS TO PROVIDE A SYSTEMATIC AND RIGOROUS STUDY OF PARAMETERIZED 2D MATERIALS SIMULATION, INCLUDING THE RECENTLY DISCOVERED MAGICAL ANGLE TWISTED BILAYER GRAPHENE. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: HARNESSING THE CHIRALITY MATCHING PRINCIPLE FOR ENHANCED CATALYTIC REACTIVITY -WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE CHEMICAL CATALYSIS PROGRAM IN THE DIVISION OF CHEMISTRY, HARBIN MAO AND HAO SHEN OF KENT STATE UNIVERSITY (KSU) AND WEI-SHUN CHANG OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS, DARTMOUTH (UMASSD), ARE STUDYING HOW CHIRALITY (NON-SUPERIMPOSABLE MIRROR CONFIGURATIONS) MATCHING CAN BE USED TO ENHANCE CATALYST DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE. DEVELOPING CATALYSTS WITH BETTER EFFICIENCY TO CARRY OUT A CHEMICAL REACTION WOULD BE CONSEQUENTIAL FOR A VARIETY OF FIELDS INCLUDING SYNTHETIC CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS SCIENCE, AND BIOMEDICAL SCIENCE. IN THE PROPOSED RESEARCH PROJECT, CHIRALITY MATCHING BETWEEN THE GOLD CORE AND THE COATING MATERIAL (I.E., DNA) WILL BE EXAMINED IN AN EFFORT TO OPTIMIZE THE CATALYTIC EFFICIENCY OF SUCH SYSTEMS. THIS RESEARCH PROJECT AIMS TO SYNERGIZE EXPERTISE IN DNA BIOMATERIALS WITH EXPERTISE IN FORCE-BASED SINGLE-MOLECULE BIOPHYSICS (MAO) AND IN SINGLE-MOLECULE FLUORESCENCE AND IN CATALYSIS (SHEN), AND IN SINGLE PARTICLE SPECTROSCOPY AND MICROSCOPY (CHANG). THIS INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENCE IS EXPECTED TO PROVIDE A RICH LEARNING ENVIRONMENT FOR A DIVERSE RESEARCH TEAM THAT INCLUDES MEMBERS OF UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS ACROSS ITS HIGH-SCHOOL, COLLEGE, AND GRADUATE STUDENT MEMBERS. THESE STUDENTS WILL CLOSELY INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER VIA JOINT RESEARCH MEETINGS AS WELL AS FREQUENT VISITS BETWEEN KSU AND UMASSD. IN THIS RESEARCH PROJECT, THIS HIGHLY COLLABORATIVE TEAM PROPOSES THAT CHARGE TRANSFER EXISTS WITHIN A CATALYST DURING A CATALYTIC REACTION, WHICH COULD BE MODULATED BY MATCHING THE CHIRAL COMPONENTS IN THE CATALYST. A MODULAR ARTIFICIAL ENZYME, ?CORONAZYME?, HAS BEEN DEVELOPED AS THE PLATFORM TO TEST THE HYPOTHESIS. THIS CORONAZYME CONSISTS OF A GOLD NANOPARTICLE AS A CORE AND DNA AS A COATING MATERIAL, WITH EACH COMPONENT ASSUMING LEFT-HANDED OR RIGHT-HANDED CHIRALITY. THE MATCHING OF THE CHIRALITY IN COMBINATION WITH EXTERNAL CIRCULARLY POLARIZED LIGHT EXCITATION COULD YIELD NOVEL CATALYSTS WITH SUPERIOR PERFORMANCES TO THEIR PREDECESSORS. THE RESEARCH PROJECT AIMS TO ESTABLISH THIS CHIRALITY MATCHING PRINCIPLE, WHICH, IF SUCCESSFUL, CAN LIKELY BE EXTENDED TO THE FIELDS BEYOND CATALYSIS, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE MOLECULAR RECOGNITION EMPLOYED IN MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT AND SENSING APPLICATIONS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

THIS PROJECT WILL MODEL THE STRUCTURE OF SEAFOOD SUPPLY CHAINS IN NEW ENGLAND, INCLUDING ENVIRONMENTAL AVAILABILITY/CONDITIONS, GOVERNANCE PROCESSES AND MARKETING PATHWAYS FOR DIFFERENT SPECIES AND PRODUCT TYPES, AND DETERMINE WHAT FACTORS INFLUENCE THE ABILITY OF THE SYSTEM TO ADAPT TO SHOCKS AND PRODUCE BENEFITS TO THE NATION IN TERMS OF FOOD PRODUCTION.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: ACCURATE AND STRUCTURE-PRESERVING NUMERICAL SCHEMES FOR VARIABLE TEMPERATURE PHASE FIELD MODELS AND EFFICIENT SOLVERS -THE PROJECT AIMS TO DESIGN AND STUDY HIGHLY EFFICIENT, POSITIVITY-PRESERVING, AND ENTROPY-STABLE NUMERICAL SCHEMES FOR VARIABLE-TEMPERATURE PHASE FIELD EQUATIONS WITH SINGULAR ENERGY POTENTIALS. THE RESEARCH WILL PROVIDE AN UNDERSTANDING OF TWO-PHASE FLOWS AND PHASE SEPARATION IN BATTERY SYSTEMS AND OTHER ENERGY DEVICES WHERE TEMPERATURE VARIATION WOULD BE SIGNIFICANT, AFFECTING THE PERFORMANCE AND DURABILITY OF THE SYSTEMS. THE PROJECT WILL ENHANCE GRADUATE STUDENT TRAINING THROUGH CUTTING-EDGE TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES IN SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING, MODELING, AND NUMERICAL ANALYSIS. THE RESEARCH WILL PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES TO INCREASE PARTICIPATION FROM UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS IN STEM AND ENHANCE THE EMERGING INTERDISCIPLINARY GRADUATE PROGRAM. THE RESULTS WILL BE DISSEMINATED THROUGH A MONOGRAPH, AND THE ALGORITHMS AND SOFTWARE WILL BE FREELY AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC. IN MORE DETAIL, THE PROJECT WILL DEVELOP NUMERICAL SCHEMES ADDRESSING THREE IMPORTANT PROPERTIES BY DESIGN: POSITIVITY-PRESERVING, ENERGY/ENTROPY STABILITY, AND UNCONDITIONALLY UNIQUE SOLVABILITY. FOR THE VARIABLE-TEMPERATURE MODELS STUDIED HEREIN ? NAMELY, GRADIENT FLOWS WITH SINGULAR POTENTIALS ? POSITIVITY IS AN IMPORTANT AND NONTRIVIAL ISSUE FOR BOTH THEORETICAL AND NUMERICAL ANALYSES. THIS RESEARCH WILL PROVIDE THEORETICAL NUMERICAL ANALYSIS ALONGSIDE OF MODEL BUILDING FOR A COMPREHENSIVE CLASS OF VARIABLE-TEMPERATURE PHASE FIELD MODELS. THE PROJECT WILL BE THE FIRST ATTEMPT TO PROVE THE CONVERGENCE OF ANY NUMERICAL SCHEME FOR THE MODEL SYSTEMS. THE NUMERICAL METHODS WILL BE APPLICABLE IN LARGE-SCALE, MULTI-DISCIPLINE, MULTI-PHYSICS SCIENTIFIC SIMULATIONS. THE ALGORITHMS AND SOFTWARE WILL IMPACT RESEARCH IN SEVERAL AREAS, INCLUDING ATOMIC-SCALE PHASE TRANSITIONS, COMPLEX BIOLOGICAL GROWTH AND CANCER, AND MULTI-PHASE IONIC FLUIDS USED IN ENERGY STORAGE/CONVERSION. THE CONCEPT OF PRECONDITIONING, WHICH IS VITAL FOR NONLINEAR SCIENTIFIC PROBLEMS, WILL POTENTIALLY FORM A NEW FRONTIER IN DATA SCIENCE. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

CAMPUS BASED-FSEOG

CAREER: THREE-DIMENSIONAL SUPER-RESOLUTION LIGHT MICROSCOPY OF THICK, UNPROCESSED BIOLOGICAL SAMPLES -AN AWARD IS MADE TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS TO DEVELOP AN INNOVATIVE IMAGING SYSTEM FOR UNSTAINED CELLS, TISSUES, AND ORGANS. CURRENT IMAGING SYSTEMS CANNOT IMAGE THICK SAMPLES WITH HIGH RESOLUTION. THIS PROJECT WILL OVERCOME THIS LIMITATION BY DEVELOPING AN INSTRUMENT THAT WILL PROVIDE THICK-SAMPLE IMAGING WITH HIGH RESOLUTION. THIS PROJECT WILL INTEGRATE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION TO STIMULATE INTEREST IN OPTICAL ENGINEERING, PROVIDING STUDENTS WITH A UNIQUE SET OF SKILLS FOR SUCCEEDING IN THEIR PROFESSIONAL CAREERS. OPTICAL ENGINEERING IS THE FIELD OF STUDY THAT FOCUSES ON THE DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF OPTICS AND PHOTONICS, INCLUDING INSTRUMENTATION. IN THIS PROJECT, FIVE EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES ARE FOCUSED ON TRANSFERRING THE KNOWLEDGE OF OPTICAL ENGINEERING. THESE EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING: (1) AN ONLINE OPTICAL ENGINEERING CERTIFICATE; (2) A SUMMER WORKSHOP IN ADVANCED OPTICAL MICROSCOPIC TECHNIQUES; (3) THE CREATION OF A STEM CLUB IN LAUSANNE COLLEGIATE SCHOOL SO HIGH-SCHOOL STUDENTS CAN DEVELOP SCIENCE PROJECTS THAT ARE GENERALLY NOT POSSIBLE IN SCIENCE CLASSROOMS; (4) A PARTNERSHIP WITH THE PINK PALACE MUSEUM TO EXPOSE THE PUBLIC TO OPTICS AND MICROSCOPY; AND (5) SUMMER INTERNSHIPS TO UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS, EXPOSING THEM TO RESEARCH ACTIVITIES AND NEW CAREER PATHS. THIS PROJECT HAS SEVERAL BROADER IMPACTS. THE MOST IMPORTANT BROADER IMPACT IS THE ENHANCEMENT OF THE IMAGING INFRASTRUCTURE FOR BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND EXPANDING OUR KNOWLEDGE OF CELL BEHAVIOR. ANOTHER SIGNIFICANT BROADER IMPACT IS THE INCREASE IN CAREER OPPORTUNITIES FOR UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS. DURING THIS PROJECT, THE PI WILL CREATE RESEARCH, EDUCATION, AND SCIENTIFIC OUTREACH VIDEOS USING THE YOUTUBE PLATFORM. THESE VIDEOS WILL PROVIDE HANDS-ON DEMONSTRATIONS OF BUILDING IMAGING SYSTEMS AND THE USE OF OPTICAL TOOLS TO ALIGN THEM. STUDENTS INVOLVED IN THIS PROJECT WILL PARTICIPATE IN THESE VIDEOS, ALLOWING THEM TO DEVELOP A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE TOPIC AND IMPROVING THEIR COMMUNICATION SKILLS. THE VIDEOS WILL BE AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH AND SPANISH AUDIO TO SUPPORT THE EDUCATIONAL GROWTH OF HISPANIC STUDENTS ACROSS THE UNITED STATES. AVAILABLE METHODS OF LIGHT MICROSCOPY DO NOT ENABLE THREE-DIMENSIONAL (3D) SUPER-RESOLUTION (SR) IMAGING OF THICK (>50 ?M) BIOLOGICAL SAMPLES WITHOUT STAINING. THIS LIMITATION RESULTS IN A SIGNIFICANT GAP IN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF DYNAMIC CHANGES OCCURRING IN THE 3D CELL-SHAPE AND BEHAVIOR OF UNSTAINED SPECIMENS. THIS PROJECT WILL ENABLE BIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATORS TO ADVANCE THEIR KNOWLEDGE OF A LARGE NUMBER OF BIOLOGICAL QUESTIONS RELATING TO CELL GROWTH AND DYNAMICS AS WELL AS FOR INVESTIGATING CELL BEHAVIOR IN THICK TISSUE SLICES. THE INTELLECTUAL MERIT OF THE PROPOSED IMAGING SYSTEM INCLUDES NOVEL ADVANCES IN HARDWARE AND COMPUTATIONAL METHODS. THE EVALUATION OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM WILL BE PERFORMED USING CALIBRATED MANUFACTURED OBJECTS AND RELEVANT BIOLOGICAL SPECIMENS INCLUDING HUMAN NEUROBLASTOMA CELLS, PRIMARY MURINE STEM CELLS, AND MURINE BLASTOCYSTS. THE INTERDISCIPLINARY TEAM INVOLVED IN THIS PROJECT WILL SYSTEMATICALLY COMPARE IMAGES OBTAINED WITH THE PROPOSED SYSTEM WITH IMAGES FROM EXISTING METHODS INCLUDING CONFOCAL MICROSCOPY, THE LIONHEART FX SYSTEM, AND THE NANOLIVE PLATFORM. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: THERMAL DRAWING OF COMPOSITE FIBERS FOR WEARABLE ENERGY STORAGE TEXTILES -THIS GRANT SUPPORTS RESEARCH THAT WILL ADVANCE THE FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE MANUFACTURING PROCESS OF MULTIFUNCTIONAL COMPOSITE FIBERS THROUGH THERMAL DRAWING TO ENABLE ENERGY STORAGE TEXTILES FOR NEXT-GENERATION WEARABLE ELECTRONICS AND SMART TEXTILES. THERMAL DRAWING, A MANUFACTURING PROCESS THAT PULLS FIBERS OUT OF MELTS, IS THE MOST COMMONLY USED FIBER PRODUCTION METHOD IN THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY. ITS CAPABILITY OF MANUFACTURING MULTIFUNCTIONAL COMPOSITE FIBERS HAS BEEN LIMITED DUE TO ITS SUSCEPTIBILITY TO MELT FRACTURE. THIS RESEARCH WILL FILL THE KNOWLEDGE GAP ON HOW THE COMPOSITION AND NANOSTRUCTURES OF THE COMPOSITES AFFECT THE FAILURE MECHANISMS DURING THE THERMAL DRAWING PROCESS. WITH THE NEW FUNDAMENTAL KNOWLEDGE, COMPOSITES CONTAINING NANOSTRUCTURED CARBON ELECTRODES AS THE FILLER AND POLYMER ELECTROLYTES AS THE MATRIX WILL BE DESIGNED AND PROCESSED INTO WEARABLE FIBERS. SUCH COMPOSITE FIBERS CAN BE WOVEN INTO ENERGY STORAGE TEXTILES TO SERVE AS THE POWER SOURCE FOR WEARABLE ELECTRONICS AND SMART TEXTILES IN MANY CONSUMER, MEDICAL, AND MILITARY APPLICATIONS. THIS RESEARCH WILL PROMOTE US MANUFACTURING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND HELP PRESERVE US TECHNOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC DOMINANCE IN WEARABLE AND SMART ELECTRONICS. THE RESEARCH TASKS WILL BE USED TO TRAIN HIGHLY SKILLED ENGINEERS AND SCIENTISTS IN STEM FIELDS FOR THE US MANUFACTURING WORKFORCE. THE OUTREACH ACTIVITIES ASSOCIATED WITH THIS RESEARCH WILL PROMOTE THE EARLY EXPOSURE OF K-12 STUDENTS, ESPECIALLY THOSE FROM WOMEN AND UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITY GROUPS, TO STEM. WHILE THERMAL DRAWING IS A VERSATILE TOOL CAPABLE OF SCALABLE MANUFACTURING OF MULTIMATERIAL MULTIFUNCTIONAL FIBERS, IT HAS YET TO ACHIEVE ITS FULL POTENTIAL IN MANUFACTURING COMPOSITE FIBERS DUE TO THE LIMITED UNDERSTANDING OF ITS FAILURE MECHANISM. THIS RESEARCH DESIGNS AND EXPERIMENTS ON NEW ELECTRODE-ELECTROLYTE COMPOSITES WITH ONE-DIMENSIONAL CARBON NANOMATERIALS AND SOLID POLYMER ELECTROLYTES AND SEEKS TO UNDERSTAND THE FUNDAMENTAL FAILURE MECHANISMS DURING THE THERMAL DRAWING OF SUCH COMPOSITES. THE FAILURE MECHANISM WILL BE ELUCIDATED USING TRANSPORT PHENOMENA MODELING AND IN-PROCESS RHEOLOGICAL MEASUREMENTS. AS A RESULT, THE RESEARCH WILL ELUCIDATE 1) THE CURRENTLY UNKNOWN STRUCTURAL EFFECTS OF ONE-DIMENSIONAL NANOFILLERS ON THE RATE-LIMITING FAILURE MECHANISMS DURING THE THERMAL DRAWING PROCESSING OF COMPOSITE FIBERS, AND 2) THE WIDELY OBSERVED BUT UNEXPLAINED PROCESS EFFECT OF THERMAL DRAWING ON THE ALIGNMENT AND DISPERSION OF THE NANOFILLERS IN THE PRODUCED COMPOSITE TEXTILE FIBERS. THIS BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE FAILURE, ALIGNMENT, AND DISPERSION MECHANISMS WILL PROVIDE A NEW SOLUTION TO PRODUCE SUPERCAPACITOR-TYPE ENERGY STORAGE TEXTILES AND ENABLE THE CONTINUOUS MANUFACTURING OF NEW FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS AND DEVICES USING THERMAL DRAWING FROM A PREFORM. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: BUILDING A CYBERSECURITY MINDSET THROUGH CONTINUOUS CROSS-MODULE LEARNING -THIS PROJECT AIMS TO SERVE THE NATIONAL INTEREST BY DEVELOPING A STRONG CYBERSECURITY WORKFORCE. THE U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS PROJECTS THAT THE GROWTH RATE OF EMPLOYMENT IN CYBERSECURITY WILL BE 35% FROM 2021 TO 2031, A RATE THAT EXCEEDS THE AVERAGE GROWTH RATE OF ALL JOBS AT 5%. MEETING THE DEMAND FOR QUALIFIED CYBERSECURITY PROFESSIONALS REQUIRES TEACHING BOTH TECHNICAL CYBERSECURITY SKILLS AND DEVELOPING A CYBERSECURITY MINDSET. THIS PROJECT WILL DEVELOP CYBERSECURITY MODULES USING THE THREAT-DRIVEN APPROACH RESULTING IN A TRANSFERABLE LABORATORY FRAMEWORK WITH HANDS-ON CYBERSECURITY EXERCISES. THE FRAMEWORK WILL UTILIZE THE BUILD IT, BREAK IT, AND FIX IT? CONCEPT WHERE STUDENTS BUILD APPLICATIONS BASED ON NON-CYBERSECURITY COURSE CONTENT, THEN BREAK THE APPLICATIONS BY DISCOVERING AND EXPLOITING VULNERABILITIES, AND THEN FIXING THE APPLICATIONS USING APPROPRIATE CYBERSECURITY PRACTICES. THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO ENABLE EFFECTIVE CROSS-MODULE LEARNING THAT PROMOTES CYBERSECURITY EDUCATION FOR COMPUTER SCIENCE STUDENTS AND HELPS THEM BUILD A CYBERSECURITY MINDSET. THE PROJECT INTENDS TO INVESTIGATE EFFECTIVE LEARNING PATHS FOR CYBERSECURITY CROSS-MODULE LEARNING BY 1) IDENTIFYING APPROPRIATE NON-CYBERSECURITY COMPUTER SCIENCE COURSES IN WHICH CYBERSECURITY MODULES CAN BE INTEGRATED, 2) DESIGNING MULTI-LEVEL INTEGRATION STRATEGIES, AND 3) EXPLORING POTENTIAL LINKAGES AMONG DIFFERENT COURSES AND MODULES. THIS PROJECT PLANS TO DEVELOP CYBERSECURITY MODULES WITH CURRICULUM MATERIALS USING THE THREAT-DRIVEN APPROACH TO SUPPORT CROSS-MODULE LEARNING. THIS PROJECT ALSO INTENDS TO TAILOR AND TRANSFORM LEARNING MODULES AND TOOLS TO SUPPORT K-12 OUTREACH VIA WEBINARS, SUMMER CAMPS, AND ONLINE REPOSITORIES. THE NSF IUSE: EDU PROGRAM SUPPORTS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS TO IMPROVE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF STEM EDUCATION FOR ALL STUDENTS. THROUGH THE ENGAGED STUDENT LEARNING TRACK, THE PROGRAM SUPPORTS THE CREATION, EXPLORATION, AND IMPLEMENTATION OF PROMISING PRACTICES AND TOOLS. THIS PROJECT IS ALSO SUPPORTED BY THE NSF IUSE:HSI PROGRAM, WHICH HAS THE GOALS OF ENHANCING THE QUALITY OF UNDERGRADUATE STEM EDUCATION, AND INCREASING THE RECRUITMENT, RETENTION, AND GRADUATION RATES OF STUDENTS PURSUING ASSOCIATE?S OR BACCALAUREATE DEGREES IN STEM. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.

THE ASTROPHYSICS OF HELIUM-IGNITED BINARY WHITE DWARF TYPE IA SUPERNOVAE -STARS LIKE OUR SUN WILL END THEIR LIVES AS DENSE REMNANTS CALLED WHITE DWARFS. BUT JUST AS WOOD THAT BURNS TO CHARCOAL CAN CATCH FIRE AGAIN, THESE REMNANTS CAN SOMETIMES IGNITE ONCE MORE?OCCASIONALLY IN A POWERFUL EXPLOSION. THE BRIGHTEST OF THESE EVENTS, KNOWN AS TYPE IA SUPERNOVAE, RELEASE MORE ENERGY IN A FEW SECONDS THAN OUR SUN WILL OVER ITS ENTIRE LIFE. ASTRONOMERS RELY UPON THESE EXPLOSIONS, OBSERVED IN DISTANT GALAXIES, TO MEASURE THE EXPANSION OF THE UNIVERSE. TO BETTER UNDERSTAND HOW TYPE IA SUPERNOVAE EXPLODE, A TEAM FROM UMASS DARTMOUTH WILL USE LARGE COMPUTERS TO SIMULATE THESE STELLAR EXPLOSIONS. THE OUTCOMES OF THESE SIMULATIONS WILL TEST WHETHER THESE SUPERNOVAE ORIGINATE FROM THE MERGER OF TWO WHITE DWARFS. THE INVESTIGATOR WILL TRAIN ONE PHD STUDENT AND THREE UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN CUTTING-EDGE SIMULATION METHODS ON HIGH-PERFORMANCE SUPERCOMPUTERS. THE INVESTIGATOR WILL HOST A VIRTUAL SUMMER SESSION TO INTRODUCE UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS TO HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING. HE WILL ALSO ENGAGE THE PUBLIC THROUGH OUTREACH EVENTS AT A LOCAL OBSERVATORY. THIS PROJECT WILL CARRY OUT A THEORETICAL INVESTIGATION INTO HELIUM-IGNITED BINARY WHITE DWARF MERGERS AS PROGENITORS OF TYPE IA SUPERNOVAE (SNE IA), WITH A PARTICULAR FOCUS ON THE RECENTLY DISCOVERED DYNAMICALLY-DRIVEN DOUBLE DEGENERATE DOUBLE DETONATION (D6) CHANNEL AND ITS VARIANTS. THE RESEARCH WILL EMPLOY STATE-OF-THE-ART 3D HYDRODYNAMICAL SIMULATIONS TO STUDY HOW THESE SYSTEMS EVOLVE, DETONATE, AND PRODUCE OBSERVABLE SIGNATURES. THE PROJECT WILL UTILIZE THE NEW OPEN SOURCE FLASH-XNET CODE FRAMEWORK TO MODEL THE COMPLEX HYDRODYNAMICS OF THESE MERGERS, INCLUDING GPU-ACCELERATED EXTENDED NUCLEAR BURNING NETWORKS. IT WILL ALSO GENERATE SYNTHETIC LIGHT CURVES AND SPECTRA FOR COMPARISON WITH OBSERVATIONS. THE RESEARCH WILL PROVIDE POTENTIALLY TRANSFORMATIVE INSIGHTS INTO THE FATE OF SURVIVING SECONDARY WHITE DWARFS IN HELIUM IGNITED BINARY WHITE DWARF SYSTEMS, AS WELL AS ANY CHARACTERISTIC IMPRINTS THE SECONDARY MIGHT LEAVE UPON THE NUCLEOSYNTHETIC YIELDS AND LATE-TIME SPECTRA. IT WILL FURTHER DETERMINE THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH THE SECONDARY WHITE DWARF WILL DETONATE, EITHER PARTIALLY OR ENTIRELY, AND CHARACTERIZE THE NUCLEOSYNTHETIC YIELDS, SYNTHETIC SPECTRA, AND LIGHT CURVES OF THESE EVENTS. IT WILL ALSO CALCULATE THE THERMODYNAMIC STRUCTURE AND KINEMATICS OF THE SURVIVING SECONDARIES. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

RAPID, HIGH-FIDELITY NUMERICAL MODELS OF GRAVITATIONAL WAVES FROM GENERIC BINARY BLACK HOLE MERGERS

ERI: AN ADAPTIVE INCREMENTAL DEEP LEARNING ARCHITECTURE FOR REAL-TIME INFERENCE OF RF SIGNALS IN DYNAMIC SPECTRUM SHARING ENVIRONMENTS -5G AND BEYOND, THE NEXT GENERATION OF WIRELESS COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY, WILL PROVIDE HIGHER CAPACITY, FASTER SPEEDS, AND WORLD-WIDE CONNECTIVITY, TRANSFORMING THE WAY WE LIVE, WORK, LEARN AND ENTERTAIN. THE DEVELOPMENT OF 5G ALONE IMPACTS OUR ECONOMY AND WORKFORCE BY CONTRIBUTING $1.4 TO $1.7 TRILLION TO US GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT OVER THE NEXT DECADE AND CREATE 4.6 MILLION 5G-RELATED JOBS THROUGH 2034. THE DRAMATIC GROWTH AND EVER-INCREASING FUNCTIONALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF WIRELESS DEVICES HAS CROWED THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM. DYNAMIC SPECTRUM SHARING IN 5G AND BEYOND CAN MEET THE DEMANDS OF SCARCE SPECTRUM, UNPRECEDENTED TRAFFIC, AND BETTER QUALITY OF SERVICE. FOR EXAMPLE, UNLICENSED AND LICENSE-AIDED BANDS, SUCH AS 2.4 - 5 GHZ INDUSTRIAL, SCIENTIFIC AND MEDICAL BANDS, 6 GHZ RADIO FREQUENCY BANDS, 60 GHZ MILLIMETER WAVE BANDS, ARE BEING SHARED FOR COMMERCIAL AND SCIENTIFIC USE. HOWEVER, DYNAMICALLY SHARING SPECTRUM POSES ADDITIONAL CHALLENGES TO SHARE AUTONOMOUSLY, RELIABLY, AND SECURELY AMONG CIVILIAN, GOVERNMENT, AND DEFENSE. THEREFORE, LEARNING SURROUNDING WIRELESS SIGNALS IS ESSENTIAL TO SUPPORT WIRELESS USER COEXISTENCE OVER SHARED SPECTRUM. THIS PROJECT FOCUSES ON DEVELOPING AN ADAPTIVE INCREMENTAL DEEP LEARNING ARCHITECTURE TO INFER RADIO FREQUENCY SIGNALS IN DYNAMIC SPECTRUM SHARING ENVIRONMENTS IN REAL TIME. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL PROVIDE RECOMMENDATIONS TO INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS (IEEE) STANDARD P1900.8 ON CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING THE PERFORMANCE OF MACHINE LEARNED SPECTRUM AWARENESS MODELS. THE INTEGRATION OF RESEARCH AND EDUCATION ACTIVITIES AND OUTREACH ACTIVITIES WILL BROADEN PARTICIPATION OF UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS FIELDS AND BENEFIT LOCAL COMMUNITY COLLABORATIONS THROUGH SERVICE LEARNING-BASED CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT. THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP AN INCREMENTAL DEEP LEARNING ARCHITECTURE FOR ADAPTIVELY AND EFFICIENTLY DETECTING, CLASSIFYING, AND DEMODULATING RADIO FREQUENCY SIGNALS IN DYNAMIC SPECTRUM SHARING ENVIRONMENTS IN REAL TIME WITH ONLINE LEARNING CAPABILITIES. THE PROPOSED INCREMENTAL DEEP-LEARNING ARCHITECTURE WILL (1) ADAPTIVELY LEARN A WIDE RANGE OF WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SCENARIOS, STARTING FROM A SMALL DATASET WITH LIMITED KNOWN SIGNALS OR SCENARIOS AND THEN INCREMENTALLY LEARNING NEW SIGNALS OR SCENARIOS AS WELL AS UPDATING THE DEEP LEARNING NETWORK IN AN ONLINE MANNER WITHOUT INTERRUPTION TO RE-TRAIN THE WHOLE NETWORK AND A MAN-IN-THE-MIDDLE TO LABEL THE SIGNAL; (2) ADVANCE SELF-LEARNING THE SPECTRUM INCLUDING SPECTRUM SENSING, SIGNAL CLASSIFICATION AND RADIO FREQUENCY PARAMETER CHARACTERIZATION IN REAL-TIME; AND (3) IMPROVE DEEP LEARNING-BASED SIGNAL DEMODULATION WITH THE ADAPTIVE INCREMENTAL LEARNING, WHICH CAN REPLACE CONVENTIONAL BLOCK-BASED DEMODULATION PROCESSES AND PRESERVE THE SAME PERFORMANCE WITH HIGH FLEXIBILITY. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.