Swarthmore College

N/A

N/A

SIGNALING PATHWAYS IN EARLY HEART DEVELOPMENT

"BLUEPRINTS (PHASE III)"

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: RUI: AGE STRUCTURE OF SOCIAL GROUPS AS A CRITICAL DEMOGRAPHIC FACTOR IN THE EVOLUTION OF BEHAVIOR -THIS PROJECT WILL TEST HOW THE AGE OF SOCIAL PARTNERS IN A POPULATION DETERMINES SOCIAL BEHAVIOR AND ADAPTATION. AS INDIVIDUALS AGE, THEIR OWN BEHAVIORAL EXPRESSION CHANGES, MEANING THAT POPULATIONS WITH OLDER MEMBERS REPRESENT A SUBSTANTIALLY DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENT THAN POPULATIONS WITH YOUNGER ONES. POPULATION AGE STRUCTURE CAN THEREBY DETERMINE HOW INDIVIDUALS INTERACT WITH CONSPECIFICS, ALTER WHICH TRAITS DETERMINE FITNESS, AND ULTIMATELY DETERMINE THE STRENGTH AND FORM OF NATURAL AND SEXUAL SELECTION. UNDERSTANDING HOW AGE STRUCTURE GENERATES AND MAINTAINS BEHAVIORAL DIVERSITY REQUIRES A MULTILEVEL APPROACH THAT TESTS HOW INDIVIDUALS CHANGE THEIR CURRENT PHENOTYPIC EXPRESSION, AS WELL AS HOW SELECTION SHAPES BEHAVIOR OVER EVOLUTIONARY TIME. THIS WORK WILL BE THE FIRST TO EVALUATE THE IMPORTANCE OF POPULATION AGE STRUCTURE AS A DEMOGRAPHIC DRIVER OF BEHAVIORAL EVOLUTION. THE PROJECT WILL ADVANCE NSF PRIORITIES IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE BY DEVELOPING AND USING AI-ASSISTED VIDEO TRACKING AND MORPHOLOGICAL MEASUREMENT AND TO QUANTIFY ANIMAL MOVEMENT AND SOCIAL INTERACTIONS AT A SCALE THAT WOULD BE DIFFICULT TO ACHIEVE BY HAND. THESE TOOLS WILL ALLOW THE RESEARCH TEAM TO EXTRACT FINE-SCALE BEHAVIORAL DATA FROM LARGE NUMBERS OF BEETLES AND BUILD A MORE PRECISE UNDERSTANDING OF HOW SOCIAL ENVIRONMENTS SHAPE EVOLUTION. THIS PROJECT FURTHER DEVELOPS A TRAINING PIPELINE TO PROVIDE RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES IN FIELD BIOLOGY FOR UNDERGRADUATES, INCLUDING COMMUNITY-COLLEGE TRANSFER STUDENTS, EXPANDS K?12 EVOLUTION EDUCATION, AND STRENGTHENS PUBLIC OUTREACH IN STEM. USING A WELL-ESTABLISHED INVERTEBRATE MODEL SYSTEM, THE FORKED FUNGUS BEETLE, REPLICATED LABORATORY AND SEMINATURAL FIELD EXPERIMENTS WILL MANIPULATE POPULATION LEVEL DEMOGRAPHIC FEATURES TO EXPLICITLY TEST WHICH FACTORS ARE MOST IMPORTANT IN DETERMINING HOW INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR IS EXPRESSED, HOW SOCIAL NETWORKS FORM, AND WHICH TRAITS ARE FAVORED BY NATURAL AND SEXUAL SELECTION. A SERIES OF BEHAVIORAL ASSAYS WILL EXAMINE HOW SOCIAL EFFECTS ON BEHAVIORAL EXPRESSION SCALE UP FROM INDIVIDUALS TO SOCIAL NETWORKS TO POPULATION PATTERNS OF INTERACTION. DYADIC INTERACTIONS BETWEEN INDIVIDUALS OF DIFFERENT AGES WILL BE USED TO TEST WHETHER AGE DEPENDENT BEHAVIOR RESULTS FROM ONTOGENETIC CHANGES WITHIN FOCAL SUBJECTS OR PLASTIC RESPONSES TO PARTNERS OF DIFFERENT AGES. FOCAL SUBJECTS ASSAYED IN POPULATIONS WITH MANIPULATED AGE STRUCTURES WILL TEST HOW BEHAVIORAL PLASTICITY RESULTS WHEN INDIVIDUALS RESIDE IN GROUP CONTEXTS WITH DIFFERENT AGE STRUCTURES. A MULTI-YEAR SELECTION EXPERIMENT WILL SEPARATELY MANIPULATE OPERATIONAL SEX RATIO, DENSITY, AND AGE STRUCTURE TO QUANTITATIVELY TEST WHICH OF THESE CONTEXTS HAS THE STRONGEST EFFECTS ON INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIAL SELECTION TARGETING SOCIAL BEHAVIOR AND SOCIAL NETWORK PHENOTYPES. 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.

FRC STABILIZATION BY INTERNAL TOROIDAL MAGNETIC FIELD

THIS PROJECT WILL DEMONSTRATE THE PERFORMANCE OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE (GI) TECHNOLOGIES IN COMBINED SEWER OVERFLOW AREAS WHILE TAKING INTO ACCOUNT CO

FY09 YOUTH EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM (YEP)

VIBRATIONAL DYNAMICS AND RELAXATIONS IN GLASS-FORMING LIQUIDS

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: RUI: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ENDOCYTIC TRAFFICKING DURING CELL DIVISION

FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF LOCUS-SPECIFIC PERICENTRIC SATELLITE EXPRESSION

RUI: THE ROLE OF MITOTIC TRAFFICKING IN CELL FATE SPECIFICATION

CAREER: EMERGENCE OF POPULATION DIVERSITY FROM STEM CELL DECISION MAKING IN ASEXUAL PLANARIANS

NOVEL CT'S EQUILIBRIUM, STABILITY, AND DYNAMICS

COMPARATIVE MECHANISTIC STUDY OF DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROTOXICITY OF ORGANOPHOSPHORUS PESTICIDES

COGNITIVE BIASES IN THE PERCEPTION OF SPATIAL ORIENTATION

CAREER: COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE PATHWAYS OF CHILDREN'S ECOLOGICAL SCIENCE LEARNING -SOME CHILDREN IN THE U.S. GROW UP RELATIVELY DISCONNECTED FROM NATURE, WITH FEWER OPPORTUNITIES TO LEARN ABOUT NATURE AND ECOSYSTEMS IN THEIR DAILY LIVES. THIS DISTANCING FROM NATURE, ESPECIALLY DURING CHILDHOOD, COULD BE DETRIMENTAL TO THE FLOURISHING OF FUTURE GENERATIONS, IN PART BECAUSE OF THE SIGNIFICANT POSITIVE EFFECTS OF ACCESS TO NATURAL ENVIRONMENTS ON LIFELONG MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH. THUS, THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO UNDERSTAND HOW CHILDREN AGES 3-12 LEARN ABOUT NATURE AND ECOSYSTEMS IN THEIR DAILY LIVES, BOTH THROUGH THEIR OWN EXPERIENCES AND FROM ADULTS. THIS UNDERSTANDING IS IMPORTANT TO (1) PROVIDE EDUCATORS WITH MORE EFFECTIVE EVIDENCE-BASED STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING CHILDREN ABOUT NATURE, (2) SUPPORT GROWING COMPREHENSION ACROSS CHILDHOOD, AND (3) PREPARE YOUNG LEARNERS FOR FUTURE STEM (SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS) CAREERS. FOR EXAMPLE, KNOWLEDGE OF HOW ECOSYSTEMS WORK AND IMPACT PEOPLE MAY HELP FUTURE STEM WORKERS DEVELOP INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES THAT PROMOTE GREATER ENERGY INDEPENDENCE AND IMPROVE DISASTER PREPAREDNESS. THIS PROJECT USES SEVERAL DIFFERENT SCIENTIFIC METHODS AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES, AND BRIDGES MULTIPLE FIELDS OF RESEARCH, TO SHED LIGHT ON BOTH HOW CHILDREN BUILD THIS KNOWLEDGE, AND HOW BEST TO SUPPORT THEIR GROWING UNDERSTANDING ACROSS CHILDHOOD. THIS INCLUDES WORKING CLOSELY WITH EDUCATORS TO DESIGN AND TEST STEM EDUCATION STRATEGIES THAT MORE EFFECTIVELY TEACH CHILDREN ABOUT NATURE. THE PROJECT ADDRESSES THE UNDERSTUDIED PHENOMENON OF DEVELOPMENTAL CHANGE IN PATHWAYS OF ECOLOGICAL SCIENCE LEARNING BY INTEGRATING THEORIES OF COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE MECHANISMS FROM DISTINCT FIELDS AND CONTRIBUTING TO THE EMPIRICAL KNOWLEDGE BASE USING A VARIETY OF EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS. IT EMPLOYS DESCRIPTIVE, EXPERIMENTAL, AND FIELD STUDY APPROACHES TO UNDERSTAND THE MECHANISMS OF CONCEPTUAL CHANGE UNDERLYING CHILDREN?S LEARNING AND BUILD MORE EFFECTIVE STEM EDUCATION STRATEGIES. THE FIRST PHASE OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT EXAMINES WHETHER AND HOW DIFFERENT SOURCES OF INPUT IN CHILDREN?S DAILY LIVES, INCLUDING DIRECT EXPERIENCES WITH NATURE AND INFORMATION PROVIDED BY ADULTS, RELATE TO DIFFERENCES IN THEIR UNDERSTANDING OF NATURE AND ECOSYSTEMS. THE SECOND PHASE BUILDS ON PHASE ONE INSIGHTS REGARDING INPUT SOURCES MOST STRONGLY ASSOCIATED WITH VARIATIONS IN CHILDREN?S NATURE UNDERSTANDING. CHILDREN'S DIRECT EXPERIENCES WITH NATURE AND THE INPUTS THEY RECEIVE FROM ADULTS WILL BE EXPERIMENTALLY CONTROLLED, VARIED, AND ANY EFFECTS OF THE VARIATIONS WILL BE DOCUMENTED IN DAILY LIFE SETTINGS. THE THIRD PHASE OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT ENTAILS INVESTIGATOR COLLABORATION WITH COMMUNITY PARTNERS TO BRING EFFECTIVE PHASE TWO STRATEGIES OUT OF THE CONTROLLED/TEST ENVIRONMENT AND INTO PRACTICE TO TEACH CHILDREN ABOUT NATURE AND ECOSYSTEMS. DURING PHASE THREE, TWO SEPARATE FIELD STUDIES, IN URBAN AND SUBURBAN COMMUNITIES, FOCUS ON DIFFERENT AGE GROUPS THAT ARE KEY TARGETS FOR NATURE EDUCATION PROGRAMS: PRESCHOOL-AGED AND ELEMENTARY SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN. THE PROJECT IS EXPECTED TO BOTH YIELD SCIENTIFIC FINDINGS ABOUT HOW CHILDREN LEARN ABOUT NATURE AND ECOSYSTEMS, AND EVIDENCE-BASED STRATEGIES (CURRICULA AND OTHER EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES) TO HELP CHILDREN LEARN ABOUT AND BUILD THEIR UNDERSTANDING OF NATURE AND ECOSYSTEMS. THE RESEARCH IS ALSO EXPECTED ENGAGE UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS THROUGHOUT THE RESEARCH PROCESS AT THE INVESTIGATOR?S INSTITUTION, A SMALL LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE WITH NO GRADUATE PROGRAM. THIS CAREER AWARD IS FUNDED BY THE STEM K-12 PROGRAM, WHICH SUPPORTS FUNDAMENTAL, APPLIED, AND TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH ON STEM LEARNING IN BOTH FORMAL K-12 EDUCATION AND INFORMAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS.?IT IS CO-FUNDED BY THE ADVANCING INFORMAL STEM LEARNING (AISL) PROGRAM, WHICH SEEKS TO ADVANCE NEW APPROACHES TO, AND EVIDENCE-BASED UNDERSTANDING OF, THE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF STEM LEARNING IN INFORMAL ENVIRONMENTS. THIS INCLUDES PROVIDING EVERYONE WITH MULTIPLE PATHWAYS FOR ACCESSING AND ENGAGING IN STEM LEARNING EXPERIENCES. 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: RUI: EVOLVABILITY OF SOCIAL NETWORKS

RUI: INVESTIGATING NON-LINEAR TISSUE DEFORMATIONS USING HYDRA MOUTH OPENING AS A QUANTITATIVE IN VIVO MODEL

PLASMA ACCELERATOR ON THE SWARTHMORE SPHEROMAK EXPERIMENT

NUCLEAR PROBES OF CONDUCTIVITY IN NA-ION BATTERY MATERIALS -NON-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION THIS PROJECT EXPLORES CONDUCTIVITY IN LOW-COST SODIUM-BASED MATERIALS FOR USE IN RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES. UNDERSTANDING HOW IONS MOVE IN A BATTERY IS CRUCIAL FOR IMPROVING BATTERY PERFORMANCE, INCLUDING ENERGY DENSITY, OPERATING POTENTIAL, AND CHARGE/DISCHARGE RATES, BUT OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY, IONIC CONDUCTIVITY, AND DIFFUSION IN SODIUM-ION CATHODE MATERIALS IS INCOMPLETE. THIS PROJECT, SUPPORTED BY THE CERAMICS PROGRAM IN THE DIVISION OF MATERIALS RESEARCH AT NSF, WILL INVESTIGATE CONDUCTIVITY WITH EXPERIMENTAL PROBES OF THE NUCLEI OF ATOMS IN COMBINATION WITH TRADITIONAL TOOLS TO STUDY BATTERY MATERIALS. MOSSBAUER SPECTROSCOPY WILL BE USED TO INVESTIGATE THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN ATOMIC NUCLEI AND ITS SURROUNDING ELECTRONS. QUASIELASTIC NEUTRON SCATTERING WILL BE USED TO STUDY THE DYNAMICS OF ATOMS, PROVIDING INFORMATION ABOUT THE DISPLACEMENTS OF ATOMS ON THE LENGTH SCALE OF ANGSTROMS TO NANOMETERS, AND TIME SCALE OF PICOSECONDS TO TENS OF NANOSECONDS. TOGETHER, THESE TECHNIQUES WILL PROVIDE NEW INSIGHTS THAT ENHANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF CONDUCTIVITY IN SODIUM-ION BATTERIES AND PROMOTE THE DEVELOPMENT OF SAFER, HIGHER CAPACITY, AND MORE SUSTAINABLE BATTERY TECHNOLOGIES. SODIUM-ION BATTERIES ARE BEING INVESTIGATED BECAUSE OF THEIR POTENTIAL TO REDUCE RELIANCE ON LITHIUM AND OTHER SCARCE, HIGH-COST METALS. THIS RESEARCH ADDRESSES THE GLOBAL NEED FOR BETTER ENERGY STORAGE SOLUTIONS, AND PROVIDES RESEARCH TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES AND CAREER MENTORSHIP FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS. IT ALSO SUPPORTS THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A REGIONAL CENTER FOR COLLABORATION ON OPERANDO AND IN SITU MOSSBAUER SPECTROSCOPY STUDIES. TECHNICAL SUMMARY THE PRIMARY GOAL OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO STUDY CONDUCTIVITY IN SODIUM-ION BATTERY CATHODES USING NUCLEAR PROBES OF MOSSBAUER SPECTROSCOPY AND QUASIELASTIC NEUTRON SCATTERING TO ADDRESS THE ROLES OF ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY, IONIC CONDUCTIVITY, AND DIFFUSION IN CATHODES. MOSSBAUER SPECTROSCOPY IS A LAB-BASED TECHNIQUE THAT PROBES THE HYPERFINE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE NUCLEUS AND THE SURROUNDING ELECTRONS. EX SITU TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENT MOSSBAUER WILL BE USED TO DETERMINE ACTIVATION ENERGIES FOR POLARON MOBILITY. IN SITU MEASUREMENTS OF MOSSBAUER SPECTRA DURING ELECTROCHEMICAL CYCLING WILL PROVIDE INFORMATION ABOUT PHASE, OXIDATION STATE, AND COORDINATION ENVIRONMENT DURING ACTIVE CYCLING. QUASIELASTIC NEUTRON SCATTERING (QENS) IS A PROBE OF THE DYNAMICAL RELAXATION PROCESS IN A MATERIAL. TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENT QENS MEASUREMENTS WILL BE USED TO STUDY SODIUM DIFFUSION, REVEALING TEMPORAL AND MICROSCOPIC SPATIAL INFORMATION ABOUT DIFFUSING IONS THAT CANNOT BE GAINED WITH OTHER EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES. THESE COMPLEMENTARY NUCLEAR TECHNIQUES, ALONGSIDE OTHER COMMONLY USED TOOLS FOR INVESTIGATING BATTERY MATERIALS, WILL BE USED TO EXAMINE THREE HYPOTHESES ABOUT THE LOCATION AND TRANSPORT OF ACTIVE IONS IN BATTERY CATHODE MATERIALS. THE NEW KNOWLEDGE ABOUT CONDUCTIVITY IN CATHODES WILL ADVANCE FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING OF BATTERY CATHODES AND PROMOTE THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW MATERIALS. THIS RESEARCH PROJECT ALSO TRAINS UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN ENERGY STORAGE RESEARCH AND CREATES A PATHWAY FOR THEIR CONTINUATION ON TO ADVANCED DEGREE PROGRAMS AND CAREERS. 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.

DEVELOPING DYNAMIC AND INTERACTIVE MATERIALS TO TEACH COMPUTING SYSTEMS CONCEPTS TO ALL STUDENTS -THIS PROJECT AIMS TO SERVE THE NATIONAL INTEREST BY BUILDING A COMMUNITY OF COMPUTER SYSTEMS EDUCATION EXPERTS TO DEVELOP AND CONTRIBUTE TO INTERACTIVE ACADEMIC EXPERIENCES FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS. IT WILL ALSO CONTRIBUTE TO HELPING REDUCE THE COST OF HIGHER EDUCATION. THE SIGNIFICANT EXPENSE OF MODERN COLLEGE TEXTBOOKS LIMITS AVAILABILITY TO THOSE WHO CAN AFFORD THEM. AS COMPUTATIONAL THINKING AND PROGRAMMING INCREASINGLY BECOME DESIRED SKILLS, THE COMPUTING COMMUNITY NEEDS LOW-COST CURRICULAR MATERIALS TO MAKE COMPUTING COURSES AVAILABLE TO ALL STUDENTS. ONLINE CURRICULAR MATERIALS ARE READILY AVAILABLE FOR INTRODUCTORY PROGRAMMING COURSES. HOWEVER, SUCH RESOURCES FOR ADVANCED COMPUTING COURSES DO NOT EXIST. TO ADDRESS THIS NEED, THIS PROJECT'S LEADERSHIP DEVELOPED ?DIVE INTO SYSTEMS,? A FREE, ONLINE TEXTBOOK FOR TEACHING ADVANCED COMPUTER SYSTEMS TOPICS. THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO AUGMENT ?DIVE INTO SYSTEMS? WITH DYNAMIC VISUALIZATIONS, INTERACTIVE EXERCISES, AND WORKED EXAMPLES MAKING IT A COMPLETE TEXTBOOK WITH ONLINE RESOURCE THAT WILL INCLUDE EXERCISES FOR STUDENTS AND SUPPLEMENTAL RESOURCES FOR INSTRUCTORS. THE PROJECT?S FOCUS IS ON RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT. ITS MAIN RESEARCH QUESTIONS ARE RELATED TO HOW THE RESOURCES ARE DEVELOPED, HOW WELL THEY ARE WORKING, AND HOW EFFECTIVE THEY ARE AS AIDS TO UNDERSTANDING TEXTBOOK TOPICS. THE PROJECT HAS POTENTIAL TO HELP THE FIELD OF COMPUTING BECOME MORE EQUITABLE BY DEVELOPING A HIGH-QUALITY, FREE, ONLINE TEXTBOOK THAT CAN BE USED BY COLLEGE STUDENTS ANYWHERE. THIS PROJECT, A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT BETWEEN SWARTHMORE COLLEGE AND THE US MILITARY ACADEMY, WILL CONTINUE DEVELOPMENT OF A FREELY AVAILABLE ONLINE TEXTBOOK ON COMPUTING SYSTEMS, INCLUDING SYSTEMS SOFTWARE AND COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE FUNDAMENTALS. PROJECT GOALS INCLUDE FOUR KEY AREAS. A PRIMARY FOCUS IS TO DEVELOP INTERACTIVE EXERCISES FOR EACH CHAPTER IN A COMPUTER SYSTEMS TEXTBOOK THAT ALLOW STUDENTS TO PERFORM KNOWLEDGE CHECKS USING AN OPEN-SOURCE, NSF-FUNDED PROJECT CALLED RUNESTONE INTERACTIVE. SECONDLY, THE PROJECT WILL EXPAND THE RUNESTONE FRAMEWORK TO ALLOW FOR INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS PROGRAMMING, SUCH AS ASSEMBLY CODE EXECUTION AND STACK TRACING. AS A THIRD GOAL, THE POWER OF THE COMPUTER SCIENCE EDUCATION COMMUNITY WILL BE LEVERAGED TO CREATE A RICH ASSORTMENT OF INSTRUCTOR MATERIALS. FINALLY, THE TEXTBOOK CHAPTERS WILL BE AUGMENTED WITH SHORT VIDEOS VISUALIZING KEY CONCEPTS AND EXAMPLES. THE PROJECT WILL DEVELOP, IMPLEMENT, AND EVALUATE EXERCISES FOCUSING ON A SUBSET OF SIX TOTAL TOPIC AREAS EACH YEAR. EXPERT PARTICIPANTS FROM THE COMPUTER SCIENCE COMMUNITY WILL WORK IN SMALLER SUB-TOPIC FOCUSED GROUPS WHICH WILL INCLUDE TOPICS ON C PROGRAMMING (E.G., GDB AND VALGRIND), ASSEMBLY PROGRAMMING, BINARY REPRESENTATION, THE MEMORY HIERARCHY AND CACHING, COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE, OPERATING SYSTEMS, AND PARALLEL COMPUTING AND CODE OPTIMIZATION. THE EVALUATION PLAN FOR THE PROJECT WILL EMPLOY QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE METHODS. FOLLOWING THE MODEL OF EARLY ADOPTER EVALUATION IN PRIOR WORK, THE PIS WILL DISTRIBUTE STUDENT AND FACULTY SURVEYS TO GATHER DATA ACROSS MULTIPLE INSTITUTIONS. THE NSF IUSE: EHR 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 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.

STRENGTHENING SPONSORED RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE AND FACULTY DEVELOPMENT AT SWARTHMORE COLLEGE

RUI: HYDRA WHOLE-BODY INVERSION AS AN IN VIVO MODEL TO STUDY EXTREME EPITHELIAL DEFORMATIONS -EPITHELIAL CELL DEFORMATIONS, INCLUDING BENDING, STRETCHING, AND COMPRESSION, ARE UBIQUITOUS IN NATURE AND IMPORTANT TO STUDY FROM BOTH PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL VIEWPOINTS TO UNDERSTAND THEIR ROLES FOR TISSUE DEVELOPMENT, MAINTENANCE, AND DISEASE. THIS PROJECT STUDIES EXTREME TISSUE DEFORMATIONS IN A NOVEL GEOMETRY IN A SMALL FRESHWATER ANIMAL, HYDRA VULGARIS. HYDRA CONSISTS OF A CYLINDRICAL BODY MADE OUT OF TWO EPITHELIAL CELL LAYERS AND HAS A SINGLE HEAD-FOOT AXIS. HYDRA CAN SPONTANEOUSLY INVERT THE ORIENTATION OF ITS BODY BACK TO ITS NORMAL STATE AFTER HAVING BEEN TURNED INSIDE-OUT. BECAUSE OF HYDRA?S SIMPLE ANATOMY AND REGENERATIVE PROPERTIES, THIS SYSTEM IS UNIQUELY WELL-SUITED TO STUDY EXTREME EPITHELIAL DEFORMATIONS VIA EXPERIMENTS AND MATHEMATICAL MODELING, AND THUS WILL DEEPEN OUR UNDERSTANDING ABOUT HOW LARGE-SCALE TISSUE DEFORMATIONS CAN BE ACHIEVED AND REGULATED. RESULTS FROM THIS PROJECT WILL ALSO INFORM THE ENGINEERING OF SELF-INVERTING CYLINDRICAL SHEETS, WITH POSSIBLE APPLICATIONS IN SOFT ROBOTICS. IN ADDITION, THIS PROJECT CREATES AUTHENTIC RESEARCH EXPERIENCES FOR STUDENTS IN TISSUE BIOMECHANICS AND PROVIDES TRAINING IN QUANTITATIVE SKILLS AND SCIENCE COMMUNICATION, THUS EQUIPPING THE FUTURE WORKFORCE WITH VALUABLE SKILLS FOR CAREERS IN STEM FIELDS AND BEYOND. THIS PROPOSAL WILL QUANTIFY AND MODEL THE EXTREME EPITHELIAL DEFORMATIONS OBSERVED DURING FULL-BODY INVERSION IN HYDRA VULGARIS. WHILE EPITHELIAL BENDING, STRETCHING, AND COMPRESSION, ARE OBSERVED IN ALL ANIMALS, MOST EXAMPLES ARE DEVELOPMENTAL PROCESSES THAT AFFECT A COMPARABLY SMALL GROUP OF CELLS. THIS PROJECT WILL EXPAND OUR EXISTING KNOWLEDGE ON LARGE TISSUE DEFORMATION. WHILE HYDRA?S INVERSION WAS FIRST MENTIONED >200 YEARS AGO, ONLY A FEW DESCRIPTIONS AND DRAWINGS EXIST; THE DYNAMICS AND MECHANISM OF INVERSION ARE UNKNOWN. THIS PROJECT WILL QUANTITATIVELY CHARACTERIZE HYDRA INVERSION DYNAMICS USING LIVE FLUORESCENCE IMAGING WITH AVAILABLE TRANSGENIC HYDRA LINES AND QUANTIFY INVERSION TIME- AND LENGTH SCALES. THE RESEARCHERS WILL MEASURE LOCAL QUANTITIES SUCH AS CELLULAR POSITIONS AND SHAPES, NEURONAL AND MUSCULAR ACTIVITY VIA CALCIUM IMAGING, AND GLOBAL PARAMETERS, INCLUDING THE POSITIONS OF THE FOOT, MOUTH, AND MAJOR FOLD OVER TIME. THROUGH GENETIC, PHYSICAL, AND CHEMICAL MANIPULATIONS, THE RESEARCHERS WILL REDUCE THE SYSTEMS? COMPLEXITY AND DETERMINE THE ?MINIMUM INGREDIENTS? NECESSARY FOR HYDRA INVERSION TO OCCUR. THE EFFECT OF THESE PERTURBATIONS WILL BE QUANTIFIED. FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS WILL BE USED TO NUMERICALLY SIMULATE A MINIMAL SYSTEM THAT SHOULD BE CAPABLE OF INVERSION BASED ON EXPERIMENTAL OBSERVATION. THIS SIMULATION WILL IDENTIFY THE PHYSICAL MECHANISM REQUIRED FOR HYDRA INVERSION, AND IN DOING SO, PROVIDE INSIGHT INTO THE DEFORMATION OF EPITHELIAL BILAYERS. THIS PROJECT WILL DEEPEN OUR UNDERSTANDING ABOUT LARGE-SCALE EXTREME EPITHELIAL DEFORMATIONS AND MAY INFORM NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN ACTIVE SOFT MATTER. 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.

NAVAJO LANGUAGE DIGITAL RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT WITH ELDERS AND VETERAN LANGUAGE TEACHERS TRAINING STUDENT INTERNS [THE NAVAJO LANGUAGE ACADEMY/DIN? BIZAAD NAALKAAH (NLA) REQUESTS FUNDING FOR A THREE-YEAR PROJECT THAT WILL DEVELOP ONLINE DIGITAL LANGUAGE RESOURCES FOR NAVAJO/ DIN? (NAV) OF THE NA-DENE LANGUAGE FAMILY. WE WILL EMPLOY COMMUNITY ELDERS, VETERAN LANGUAGE TEACHERS, LINGUISTS, AND STUDENT INTERNS TO DEVELOP A MINIMUM OF THREE LANGUAGE TOOLS FOCUSING ON DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF NAVAJO GRAMMAR. AT THE SAME TIME, OUR PROJECT WILL ENHANCE THE CAPACITIES OF THE NLA AND NAVAJO TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY (NTU), AND CONTRIBUTE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW GENERATION OF NAVAJO LANGUAGE SCHOLARS. [EDITED BY STAFF]]

SIGNAL-DEPENDENT REGULATION OF CARDIAC PROGENITOR PROLIFERATION - TITLE: SIGNAL-DEPENDENT REGULATION OF CARDIAC PROGENITOR PROLIFERATION PROJECT SUMMARY DECIPHERING SIGNAL-DEPENDENT COORDINATION OF CARDIOMYOCYTE PROLIFERATION DURING PRENATAL GROWTH IS ESSENTIAL FOR THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF CONGENITAL HEART DISORDERS. THE COMPLEXITY OF THIS PROCESS IN VERTEBRATES HAS HINDERED PROGRESS. WE HAVE BEGUN TO EXPLOIT THE EXTREME CELLULAR SIMPLICITY OF CIONA ROBUSTA, A CLOSE EVOLUTIONARY RELATIVE OF THE VERTEBRATES, TO INVESTIGATE POTENTIALLY CONSERVED ROLES FOR SIGNALS IN COORDINATING CARDIOMYOCYTE LINEAGE DIVISION DYNAMICS. OUR CURRENT HYPOTHESIS IS THAT REGIONAL SIGNALS COORDINATE PROLIFERATION ACROSS DISTINCT SUB-POPULATIONS OF CARDIAC PROGENITORS. THIS HYPOTHESIS IS SUPPORTED BY EVIDENCE FROM OUR PRELIMINARY DATA INDICATING THAT - 1) THERE ARE TWO CIONA CARDIOMYOCYTE PROGENITOR POPULATIONS THAT EXHIBIT DISTINCT DIVISION PATTERNS AND PROLIFERATIVE FREQUENCIES, 2) SUB-POPULATIONS OF CARDIAC PROGENITORS EXPRESS DISTINCT SETS OF RECEPTORS AND 3) DISRUPTION OF CANDIDATE SIGNALING PATHWAYS DISRUPTS DIVISION IN ONE OF THESE PROGENITOR POPULATIONS. THE PROPOSED SPECIFIC AIMS FOCUS ON DETERMINING WHETHER REGIONAL SIGNALS DIRECTLY MEDIATE POPULATION SPECIFIC PROLIFERATION PATTERNS OR INDIRECTLY INFLUENCE PROLIFERATION BY REGULATING PROGENITOR LINEAGE FATE SPECIFICATION. OUR EFFORTS WILL INITIALLY FOCUS ON CHARACTERIZING CARDIOMYOCYTE PROGENITOR CELL DIVISION DYNAMICS. WE WILL THEN IDENTIFY CANDIDATE SIGNALING PATHWAYS BY USING OUR SCRNA-SEQ DATA TO ASSESS EXPRESSION OF SIGNALING LIGANDS AND RECEPTORS WITHIN DISTINCT PROGENITOR CELL TYPES AND SURROUNDING CELLS. WE WILL THEN BEGIN TO ELUCIDATE THE ROLE OF CANDIDATE SIGNALS IN CARDIOMYOCYTE LINEAGE DIVISION AND FATE SPECIFICATION THROUGH TARGETED LOSS OF FUNCTION ASSAYS. THESE EFFORTS WILL PROVIDE INTENSIVE RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES FOR A DIVERSE GROUP OF UNDERGRADUATES.

AFTER CHARACTERIZING THE EPOCHS WHICH ARE PROBED MOST PRECISELY BY CURRENT AND FUTURE PLANNED MISSIONS WE WILL HAVE ESSENTIAL INFORMATION TO THEN FOCUS OUR ATTENTION ON OBSERVATIONAL CONSTRAINTS TO THE NEUTRINO SECTOR. IN ADDITION TO ALTERING THE EXPANSION RATE MODIFICATIONS TO THE NEUTRINO SECTOR NATURALLY CHANGE THE EVOLUTION OF INHOMOGENEITIES IN THE UNIVERSE. STUDYING PROBES OF NEUTRINO PHYSICS IS PARTICULARLY INTERESTING IN LIGHT OF RECENT MEASUREMENTS OF THE HUBBLE CONSTANT FROM THE CMB AND TYPE IA SUPERNOVAE. THE INFERRED HUBBLE PARAMETER FROM THESE TWO METHODS ARE IN TENSION AND COULD BE A HINT OF AN ADDITIONAL NEUTRINO SPECIES WITH NONSTANDARD INTERACTIONS. THIS DEVELOPMENT IS PARTICULARLY EXCITING IN LIGHT OF THE EXPERIMENTAL DETECTION OF NEUTRINO MASS NEUTRINO BEAMLINE HINTS OF A NEW SPECIES AND THEORETICAL MODELS FOR THE NEUTRINO MASS WHICH OFTEN REQUIRE THE EXISTENCE OF A NEW LIGHT PARTICLE WITH INTERACTIONS BEYOND THE STANDARD MODEL. WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP THE FRAMEWORK TO TEST THESE MODELS USING UPCOMING COSMOLOGICAL DATA DEVELOPING THE RELEVANT FLUID AND BOLTZMANN FORMALISMS IMPLEMENTING IT COMPUTATIONALLY CONDUCTING FORECASTS AND TESTING MODELS WITH EXISTING MEASUREMENTS.

DECIPHERING THE STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF NON-CANONICAL DNA IMPLICATED IN CANCER

DECIPHERING THE STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF QUADRUPLEX DNA AND DNA-LIGAND COMPLEXES

REU SITE: BUILDING DIGITAL TOOLS TO SUPPORT ENDANGERED LANGUAGES AND PRESERVE ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE IN MEXICO, MICRONESIA, AND NAVAJO NATION

THE MECHANISM OF ACTION OF A NUDC DOMAIN SMALL HEAT SHOCK PROTEIN

ORGANOPHOSPHORUS PESTICIDE BIOACTIVATION AND DETOXIFICATION IN AN INVERTEBRATE RAPID SCREENING MODEL TO STUDY MECHANISMS OF NEUROTOXICITY - OBJECTIVES. ORGANOPHOSPHORUS PESTICIDES (OPS) HAVE BEEN IMPLICATED IN THE DRAMATIC SURGE OF NEURODEVELOPMENTAL PROBLEMS AMONG U.S. CHILDREN. ACUTE OP POISONING IS DUE TO INHIBITION OF ACETYLCHOLINESTERASE (ACHE). CHRONIC EXPOSURE TO ENVIRONMENTALLY RELEVANT OP LEVELS HAS BEEN SUGGESTED TO CAUSE DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROTOXICITY (DNT) VIA ALTERATIONS TO CHOLINERGIC AND NON-CHOLINERGIC TARGETS NECESSARY FOR NERVOUS SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT AND FUNCTION. WE HAVE DEVELOPED A COST-EFFECTIVE BEHAVIORAL HIGH-THROUGHPUT SCREENING (HTS) METHOD FOR DNT STUDIES USING THE ASEXUAL FRESHWATER PLANARIAN DUGESIA JAPONICA, AND SHOWN IT TO BE WELL-SUITED FOR ASSESSING OP NEUROTOXICITY/DNT. WE HAVE ALSO SHOWN THAT THESE PLANARIANS HAVE TWO GENES THAT ARE EVOLUTIONARY ANCESTORS OF MAMMALIAN CHOLINESTERASES, WITH SIMILAR OP INHIBITION KINETICS. THESE PLANARIANS CAN METABOLIZE OPS AT ALL DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES AND EXHIBIT CARBOXYLESTERASE (CE) AND CALCIUM- DEPENDENT PHOSPHORIC TRIESTER HYDROLASE (PTEH) ACTIVITY. TO EXTRAPOLATE PLANARIAN NEUROTOXICITY DATA TO HUMAN NEUROTOXICITY FURTHER CHARACTERIZATION OF THE OP BIOACTIVATION AND DETOXIFICATION PATHWAYS ARE NEEDED. THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO ESTABLISH PLANARIANS AS A MODEL FOR OP DNT. THE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE OF THIS R21 EXPLORATORY/DEVELOPMENTAL GRANT IS TO DETERMINE THE KEY PROTEINS INVOLVED IN OP METABOLISM TO CONTEXTUALIZE PLANARIAN OP SCREENING DATA, ESPECIALLY IN THE CONTEXT OF OP MIXTURES. WE WILL TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT KEY ENZYMES FOR OP BIOACTIVATION AND DETOXIFICATION ARE CONSERVED BETWEEN HUMANS AND PLANARIANS THROUGH 2 AIMS. IN AIM 1, WE WILL IDENTIFY AND CHARACTERIZE OP DETOXIFICATION ENZYMES, CE AND PARAOXONASE (PON). WE HAVE SHOWN THAT CE AND PTEH ACTIVITY EXISTS IN PLANARIANS BUT HAVE NOT YET IDENTIFIED THE RESPONSIBLE GENES. USING STANDARD MOLECULAR BIOLOGY TOOLS, WE WILL IDENTIFY GENE HOMOLOGS, CHARACTERIZE EXPRESSION PROFILES, AND USE RNA INTERFERENCE TO VERIFY FUNCTIONAL SIGNIFICANCE. IN AIM 2, WE WILL IDENTIFY AND CHARACTERIZE THE KEY CYTOCHROME (CYP) P450S RESPONSIBLE FOR OP BIOACTIVATION AND DETOXIFICATION IN PLANARIANS. WE HAVE SHOWN THAT OP BIOACTIVATION EXISTS IN PLANARIANS BUT DO NOT KNOW WHICH CYPS ARE INVOLVED. BECAUSE THERE ARE MANY PUTATIVE CYPS IN THE D. JAPONICA TRANSCRIPTOME AND WE DON’T KNOW A PRIORI WHICH CYPS WILL BE RELEVANT FOR OP BIOACTIVATION, WE WILL FIRST IDENTIFY RELEVANT CYPS USING A CYP INHIBITOR SCREEN. WE WILL EXPOSE PLANARIANS TO EACH OP +/- INHIBITOR FOR 30 MINUTES AND QUANTIFY CHOLINESTERASE ACTIVITY USING AN ELLMAN ASSAY. ONCE WE HAVE IDENTIFIED THE CYP SUBFAMILIES INVOLVED IN OP BIOACTIVATION, WE WILL USE THE SAME STRATEGY AS IN AIM 1 TO IDENTIFY PLANARIAN CYP HOMOLOGS AND TEST FOR THEIR FUNCTIONAL SIGNIFICANCE. IMPACT: THE DATA GENERATED IN THIS PROJECT WILL PROVIDE A FOUNDATION FOR FUTURE MECHANISTIC STUDIES OF OP DNT, ESPECIALLY IN THE CONTEXT OF OP MIXTURES, WHICH HAVE BEEN VASTLY UNDERSTUDIED. BY CHARACTERIZING THE KEY MACHINERY INVOLVED IN PLANARIAN OP METABOLISM, WE CAN CONTEXTUALIZE PLANARIAN OP SCREENING DATA. THIS RESEARCH WILL CREATE UNIQUE OPPORTUNITIES FOR UNDERGRADUATES IN TOXICOLOGY RESEARCH AT SWARTHMORE COLLEGE.

CHORDATE HEART GENE NETWORKS

RUI: DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY OF TURTLE SHELL FORMATION

CHARACTERIZATION OF THE INTERACTION OF M1 AND M2: INFLUENZA A PROTEINS CRITICAL TO VIRAL ASSEMBLY

NOVEL BEHAVIORAL SCREENING TOOL FOR THERAPEUTICS AGAINST ORGANOPHOSPHORUS AGENTS - OBJECTIVES. TERRORIST ACTS OR ACCIDENTAL POISONING INVOLVING ACUTE EXPOSURE TO ORGANOPHOSPHORUS (OP) AGENTS, SUCH AS NERVE GASES AND OP PESTICIDES (OPPS), POSE A SERIOUS THREAT TO INDUCE MASS CASUALTIES. ACUTE OP TOXICITY RESULTS FROM INHIBITION OF ACETYLCHOLINESTERASE (ACHE), CAUSING ACETYLCHOLINE ACCUMULATION AND CHOLINERGIC CRISIS. SYMPTOMS INCLUDE INCREASED SECRETIONS, RESPIRATORY DISTRESS, LOSS OF CONSCIOUSNESS, AND STATUS EPILEPTICUS, CAUSING PERMANENT BRAIN DAMAGE AND DEATH IF UNTREATED. ACUTE OP TOXICITY IS CURRENTLY TREATED WITH ATROPINE AND PRALIDOXIME (2-PAM) TO MITIGATE CHOLINERGIC HYPERSTIMULATION, AND MIDAZOLAM TO STOP EPILEPTIC SEIZURES. THIS TREATMENT REDUCES MORTALITY, BUT ONLY IF ADMINISTERED WITHIN MINUTES OF EXPOSURE AND IS THUS NOT REALISTIC FOR TREATING THE CIVILIAN POPULATION DURING A MASS CASUALTY. MOREOVER, ADVERSE HEALTH EFFECTS MAY REMAIN AFTER TREATMENT. THUS, THERE IS AN URGENT NEED FOR INEXPENSIVE THERAPEUTICS THAT CAN REDUCE MORTALITY AND ALLEVIATE ADVERSE EFFECTS WHEN ADMINISTERED LATER. THE RIGOR OF THE PRIOR RESEARCH IS HAMPERED BECAUSE CURRENT MAMMALIAN SCREENING METHODS ARE SLOW AND EXPENSIVE, RESTRICTING THE NUMBER OF CANDIDATES THAT CAN BE TESTED. HIGH- THROUGHPUT SCREENING (HTS) PLATFORMS THAT CAN RAPIDLY AND CHEAPLY SCREEN POSSIBLE CANDIDATES PROMISE TO ACCELERATE THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW THERAPEUTICS. THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO DEVELOP A COST- EFFECTIVE HTS ORGANISMAL PLATFORM TO STREAMLINE AND ACCELERATE FIRST-TIER SCREENING OF POSSIBLE THERAPEUTICS USING THE PLANARIAN D. JAPONICA. THE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT PLANARIAN HTS IS “FIT FOR PURPOSE” AS A SCREENING TOOL FOR THERAPEUTIC CANDIDATES THAT CAN ALLEVIATE THE SYMPTOMS OF ACUTE OPP EXPOSURE. PLANARIANS ARE SMALL FLATWORMS WITH TRACTABLE, EVOLUTIONARILY CONSERVED NEURONAL CIRCUITS AND A WIDE REPERTOIRE OF COMPLEX BEHAVIORS THAT ARE AMENABLE TO HTS. AS INVERTEBRATES, THEY ARE CONSIDERED A NON-ANIMAL ORGANISM. UNIQUE TO THE PLANARIAN SYSTEM, DEVELOPING ORGANISMS ARE METABOLICALLY COMPETENT AND CAN BE SCREENED FROM EXPOSURE ONSET INTO ADULTHOOD, ALLOWING FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF TOXICANTS IN MIXED POPULATIONS. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH. IN AIM 1 WILL STUDY THE ACUTE TOXICITY OF 2 OPPS OF CONCERN, DIISOPROPYL FLUOROPHOSPHATE AND PARATHION. USING HTS, WE WILL CHARACTERIZE THEIR TOXICITY PROFILES AND EVALUATE LETHALITY, MORPHOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR IN ADULT PLANARIANS AT 30 MINUTES AND 24 HOURS OF EXPOSURE. IN AIM 2, WE WILL VERIFY THAT OPP-INDUCED SEIZURES IN PLANARIANS ARE TRUE SEIZURES BY DEVELOPING QUANTITATIVE METRICS FOR COMPARISON WITH VERIFIED PLANARIAN SEIZURES AND BLOCKING OF OPP-INDUCED SEIZURES WITH MIDAZOLAM. IN AIM 3, WE WILL DEMONSTRATE THAT ACUTE OPP TOXICITY IN PLANARIANS IS RESPONSIVE TO THERAPEUTICS AND THAT OPP-INDUCED SYMPTOMS CAN BE ALLEVIATED USING COMBINATORY TREATMENT WITH ATROPINE, 2-PAM, AND MIDAZOLAM, TO ESTABLISH A BASELINE TO COMPARE TO NOVEL DRUGS. EXPECTED RESULTS. THIS PROPOSAL WILL DEMONSTRATE THE VALUE OF PLANARIAN HTS FOR TESTING THERAPEUTIC CANDIDATES TO TREAT OPP ACUTE TOXICITY. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THIS RAPID ORGANISMAL SCREENING METHOD COULD BE EASILY ADOPTED TO OTHER TEST PARADIGMS, INCLUDING DIFFERENT LIFE STAGES, LENGTHS OF EXPOSURE, AND CHEMICAL DOMAINS.

PLANARIAN BEHAVIORAL SCREENING OF TOXCAST PHASE I CHEMICALS TO DETERMINE CONTEXT OF USE - OBJECTIVES. THE DEVELOPING BRAIN IS HIGHLY VULNERABLE TO CHEMICAL TOXICANTS, BUT <2% OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMICALS HAVE BEEN TESTED FOR DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROTOXICITY (DNT). THIS DATA DEFICIT RESULTS FROM THE EXTREME COST AND TIME REQUIREMENT OF MAMMALIAN TESTING. THERE IS AN URGENT NEED TO DEVELOP HIGH-THROUGHPUT SCREENING (HTS) MODELS TO REPLACE, REFINE, AND/OR REDUCE (“3RS”) VERTEBRATE TESTING. THE DEVELOPMENT OF HTS MODELS IS ESPECIALLY CHALLENGING FOR NEUROTOXICITY (NT) AND DNT WHERE THE FUNCTIONAL RELEVANCY OF ADVERSE OUTCOMES NEEDS TO BE ASSESSED ON THE WHOLE ORGANISM LEVEL. THE OVERARCHING GOAL OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO DEVELOP A COST-EFFECTIVE INVERTEBRATE ORGANISMAL HTS TEST METHOD TO IDENTIFY NT AND DNT TO COMPLEMENT EXISTING IN VITRO TESTS. THE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE IS TO DETERMINE THE APPLICABILITY DOMAIN AND UTILITY OF HTS USING THE ASEXUAL FRESHWATER PLANARIAN DUGESIA JAPONICA AS A FIRST-TIER BEHAVIORAL SCREENING PLATFORM FOR NT/DNT. THIS WILL BE ACHIEVED BY SCREENING THE TOXCAST PHASE I LIBRARY, CONSISTING OF 293 UNIQUE, DATA-RICH COMPOUNDS, AND COMPARING THE RESULTS TO EXISTING DATA FROM MAMMALIAN, IN VITRO, AND ALTERNATIVE ORGANISMAL MODELS. PLANARIANS ARE INVERTEBRATES OF INTERMEDIATE NEURAL AND ANATOMICAL COMPLEXITY COMPARED TO NEMATODES AND ZEBRAFISH AND HAVE TRACTABLE, EVOLUTIONARILY CONSERVED NEURONAL CIRCUITS. PLANARIANS UNIQUELY ALLOW FOR DIRECT COMPARISON OF XENOBIOTIC EFFECTS ON THE ADULT AND DEVELOPING NERVOUS SYSTEMS. WE HYPOTHESIZE THAT PLANARIAN BEHAVIORAL HTS ADDS COMPLEMENTARY VALUE TO EXISTING TESTING METHODS BECAUSE OF ITS UNIQUE STRENGTHS (FULL METABOLISM AT ALL DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES, SCREENING INTO ADULTHOOD, PARALLEL SCREENING OF ADULT AND DEVELOPING ORGANISMS). EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH. IN AIM 1, WE WILL USE THE TOXCAST PHASE I LIBRARY TO PROFILE BEHAVIORAL PHENOTYPES IN INTACT AND REGENERATING PLANARIANS TO IDENTIFY THE NEUROTOXIC EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT CHEMICALS’ DOMAINS. WE WILL FIRST TEST EACH CHEMICAL AT 100 ΜM. CHEMICALS THAT ELICIT EFFECTS AT THIS CONCENTRATION WILL THEN BE TESTED ACROSS 7 CONCENTRATIONS. EFFECTS WILL BE QUANTIFIED AS BENCHMARK CONCENTRATIONS FOR 37 READOUTS OVER TWO TIME POINTS. DEVELOPMENT-SPECIFIC EFFECTS WILL BE EXTRACTED BY COMPARISON OF ADVERSE OUTCOMES IN INTACT VS. REGENERATING PLANARIANS. IN AIM 2, WE WILL COMPARE CONCORDANCE WITH MAMMALIAN GUIDELINE DATA AND PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE TOXCAST PHASE I DATA FROM IN VITRO, NEMATODE, AND DEVELOPING ZEBRAFISH ASSAYS. WE WILL ALSO DETERMINE PLANARIAN HTS PERFORMANCE FOR SPECIFIC CHEMICAL DOMAINS TO ASSESS CONTEXT OF USE. THESE COMPARISONS WILL INFORM ON WHETHER PLANARIAN HTS RECAPITULATES ANIMAL NT/DNT, ADDS COMPLEMENTARY INFORMATION TO NT/DNT IN VITRO TESTS, AND HOW IT PERFORMS COMPARED TO MORE ESTABLISHED NON-ANIMAL ORGANISMAL MODELS. EXPECTED RESULTS: THIS PROJECT WILL EVALUATE HOW THE PLANARIAN SYSTEM CAPTURES THE CHEMICAL SUBSPACE OF THIS CHEMICALLY DIVERSE LIBRARY AND HOW OUR RESULTS COMPARE TO DATA IN EXISTING MODELS. THIS WILL DETERMINE THE CONTEXT OF USE OF THIS PROMISING FIRST-TIER NT/DNT SCREENING SYSTEM AND BOLSTER THE DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPREHENSIVE NON-ANIMAL DNT TESTING BATTERY, TO MEET THE URGENT NEED TO FILL THE DNT DATA GAP AND REDUCE ANIMAL TESTING.

ANALYSIS OF THE INITIATION OF AN HIV BROADLY NEUTRALIZING ANTIBODY LINEAGE IN A SINGLE HOST

CONFORMATIONAL STUDIES OF THE REGION OF INFLUENZA A M2 PROTEIN INVOLVED IN VIRAL BUDDING

DIGITIZING THE SOUND AND SIGHT OF AMERICAN WOMEN'S WORK FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE

MECHANISMS AND CONSEQUENCES OF NUCLEIC ACID SENSING IN ERYTHROID PROGENITORS - PROJECT SUMMARY THIS PROPOSED RESEARCH INTENDS TO ELUCIDATE THE MECHANISMS AND CONSEQUENCES OF NUCLEIC ACID-SENSING IN HUMAN ERYTHROID PROGENITORS AND, ULTIMATELY, THE OUTCOMES OF INNATE IMMUNE ACTIVATION ON ERYTHROID CELL BIOLOGY AND FUNCTION. ERYTHROID CELLS ARE TYPICALLY CONSIDERED INERT OXYGEN TRANSPORTERS, AND THUS THEIR POTENTIAL CONTRIBUTION TO HOST IMMUNITY HAS BEEN LARGELY IGNORED. WHILE ERYTHROPOIESIS TYPICALLY OCCURS IN THE BONE MARROW OF HEALTHY ADULTS, IMMATURE, NUCLEATED ERYTHROID PROGENITORS AND PRECURSORS ESCAPE SEQUESTRATION AND CIRCULATE DURING NORMAL FETAL DEVELOPMENT AND IN RESPONSE TO CRITICAL ILLNESS. RECENT FINDINGS CHALLENGE THE CURRENT PARADIGM THAT ERYTHROID CELLS ARE IMMUNOLOGICALLY INACTIVE, AND INSTEAD SUGGEST THAT CIRCULATING ERYTHROID PROGENITORS ARE IMMUNOMODULATORY. HOWEVER, THERE IS LIMITED KNOWLEDGE OF UNDERLYING MECHANISMS, LEAVING A CRITICAL GAP IN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF INNATE IMMUNITY AND ERYTHROID CELL BIOLOGY. PRELIMINARY RESEARCH FROM THE PI AND HER LAB SUGGESTS THAT HUMAN ERYTHROID PROGENITORS SENSE AND RESPOND TO VIRAL MIMETICS VIA ACTIVATION OF NUCLEIC ACID-SENSING PATTERN RECOGNITION RECEPTORS AND DOWNSTREAM SIGNALING PATHWAYS. THIS PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT ERYTHROID PROGENITORS POSSESS INNATE ANTIVIRAL IMMUNE FUNCTIONS, AND THAT ACTIVATION OF IMMUNE SIGNALING PATHWAYS IN ERYTHROID PROGENITORS IMPACTS DIFFERENTIATION, MATURATION, AND FUNCTION OF MATURE ERYTHROID CELLS. THIS HYPOTHESIS WILL BE TESTED THROUGH SYSTEMATIC INVESTIGATION OF BOTH DNA-SENSING (AIM 1) AND RNA-SENSING (AIM 2) PATHWAYS UTILIZED BY ERYTHROID PROGENITORS TO CONTRIBUTE TO HOST ANTIVIRAL DEFENSE. FURTHER, THESE STUDIES PROPOSE TO CHARACTERIZE THE DOWNSTREAM CONSEQUENCES OF NUCLEIC ACID SENSING ON ERYTHROID CELL FUNCTION AND DEVELOPMENT (AIM 3). THE LONG-TERM GOAL OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO GAIN A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN IMMUNITY, INFLAMMATION, AND RED BLOOD CELL BIOLOGY. ALL OF THE PROPOSED EXPERIMENTS WILL BE CONDUCTED BY UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS UNDER THE CLOSE MENTORSHIP AND SUPERVISION OF THE PI, ENABLING STUDENTS TO GAIN VALUABLE HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE AND BEGIN BUILDING A LONG-TERM CAREER IN BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: RUI: JAMMED GRANULAR MATTER WITHIN NETWORKS OF PINS: STRUCTURE, ELASTICITY, PLASTICITY AND RHEOLOGY UNDER SHEAR

ADAMANTANE DRUG BINDING TO MEMBRANE-BOUND INFLUENZA A M2 PROTEIN

A QUANTITATIVE HIGH RESOLUTION UNDERSTANDING OF HEAT STRESS SENSING AND RESPONSES

RUI: SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF GROUP 13 METAL COMPLEXES DESIGNED FOR THE METAL-LIGAND COOPERATIVE ACTIVATION O-H, N-H, AND C-H BONDS -WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE CHEMICAL SYNTHESIS (SYN) PROGRAM IN THE DIVISION OF CHEMISTRY PROFESSOR CHRISTOPHER GRAVES OF SWARTHMORE COLLEGE IS STUDYING THE DEVELOPMENT OF GROUP 13 METAL COMPLEXES OF NON-INNOCENT LIGANDS. THESE COMPLEXES WILL HAVE THE ABILITY TO PARTICIPATE IN METAL-LIGAND COOPERATIVE BOND-MAKING AND BREAKING OF SMALL MOLECULES. THE METAL-FACILITATED REACTIVITY OF SMALL MOLECULES IS OF FUNDAMENTAL IMPORTANCE TO THE SYNTHESIS OF BOTH FINE AND COMMODITY CHEMICALS. CONVENTIONAL COORDINATION COMPLEXES OF GROUP 13 ELEMENTS ARE HALLMARKED BY THEIR REDOX STABILITY AND LACK THE MULTI-ELECTRON REDOX CHEMISTRY REQUIRED FOR CHEMICAL TRANSFORMATIONS DEPENDENT ON OXIDATION AND REDUCTION UPON WHICH SMALL MOLECULE ACTIVATION IS TYPICALLY BUILT. IN THIS FUNDED WORK, GROUP 13 METALS COMPLEXES OF NON-INNOCENT LIGANDS WILL BE PREPARED. THE COMPLEXES ARE DESIGNED TO UNDERGO SYNERGISTIC REACTIVITY WITH A SMALL MOLECULE AND BOTH THE METAL ION AND LIGAND-BASED ELECTRONS. THIS METAL-LIGAND-COOPERATIVE (MLC) CHEMISTRY AFFORDS THE BOND MAKING/BREAKING THE METAL CANNOT ACHIEVE ALONE. ULTIMATELY, OUR SYSTEM WILL OFFER A NEW CHOICE FOR ACTIVATION OF SMALL MOLECULES WITH EARTH-ABUNDANT GROUP 13 METALS. THIS PURSUIT ALLOWS UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS TO ACQUIRE SPECIALIZED TRAINING IN THE SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF INORGANIC COORDINATION COMPLEXES, AS WELL AS IN PHYSICAL INORGANIC AND ORGANIC TECHNIQUES APPLIED TO UNDERSTANDING THE RELATIVITIES OF THOSE COMPLEXES. THIS RESEARCH PROJECT SEEKS TO DEVELOP A COMPLETE UNDERSTANDING OF THE MLC CHEMISTRY OF THE GROUP 13 METAL COORDINATION COMPLEXES HAVING TRIPODAL NITROXIDE-BASED LIGAND SYSTEMS, (RTRINOX3?)M, TO REALIZE ACTIVATION OF A BROAD RANGE OF H?X (X = O, N, C) BONDS. WE WILL PREPARE (RTRINOX3?)M COMPLEXES ACROSS ALL OF THE GROUP 13 METALS (M = B, AL, GA, IN) THAT SYSTEMATICALLY INCORPORATE ELECTRON-DONATING/-WITHDRAWING SUBSTITUENTS (R) WITHIN THE LIGAND FRAMEWORK. WE WILL FULLY DEDUCE THE ELECTRONIC STRUCTURES OF THE (RTRINOX3?)M COMPLEXES AND WILL ASSESS THEIR LEWIS ACIDITIES USING A SUITE OF COMPUTATIONAL AND SPECTROSCOPIC TOOLS. WE WILL THEN EXPLORE THE MLC REACTION CHEMISTRY OF THE COMPLEXES TOWARD THE ACTIVATION OF A RANGE OF H?O, H?N, AND H?C BONDS. AT THE COMPLETION OF THIS PROJECT WE WILL HAVE DEVELOPED THE KEY STRUCTURE-FUNCTION RELATIONSHIPS THAT UNDERPIN PRODUCTIVE MLC REACTIVITY OF THE (RTRINOX)M COMPLEXES. 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.

INVESTIGATING HOW LIFE SCIENCE STUDENTS DEVELOP LASTING SKILL IN MAKING CONNECTIONS BETWEEN PHYSICS AND BIOLOGY -THIS PROJECT AIMS TO SERVE THE NATIONAL INTEREST BY IMPROVING INSTRUCTION IN THE INTRODUCTORY COLLEGE PHYSICS COURSES THAT ARE TAKEN BY MANY STUDENTS IN THE LIFE SCIENCES AND HEALTH PROFESSIONS. INTRODUCTORY PHYSICS FOR LIFE SCIENCES (IPLS) COURSES ARE DESIGNED TO MAKE PHYSICS ACCESSIBLE AND EXCITING FOR THE THOUSANDS OF STUDENTS WHO TAKE INTRODUCTORY PHYSICS AS A REQUIREMENT FOR ENTERING THE HEALTH PROFESSIONS OR STUDYING THE LIFE SCIENCES. THOSE COURSES EMPHASIZE PHYSICAL CONCEPTS AND COMPETENCIES THAT LIFE SCIENCE PROFESSIONALS HAVE IDENTIFIED AS MOST USEFUL FOR LIFE SCIENCE STUDENTS, AND THE COURSES PRESENT THE CONCEPTS AND COMPETENCIES IN APPROPRIATE BIOMEDICAL CONTEXTS. SINCE PHYSICS IS AN INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT FOUNDATION FOR THE HEALTH PROFESSIONS AND THE LIFE SCIENCES, HELPING FUTURE PRACTITIONERS BECOME MORE SKILLED AND MOTIVATED TO USE PHYSICS IN THEIR WORK HAS GREAT POTENTIAL TO IMPROVE THEIR WORK. PAST STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT IPLS COURSES CAN BE EFFECTIVE AND CAN HAVE A LONG-LASTING POSITIVE IMPACT ON STUDENTS' ATTITUDES TOWARD PHYSICS AND ON THEIR SKILL IN USING PHYSICS TO SOLVE BIOLOGICAL PROBLEMS IN THEIR LATER WORK. THIS PROJECT AIMS TO UNDERSTAND HOW IPLS COURSES ACHIEVE THOSE OUTCOMES AT MULTIPLE INSTITUTIONS. IN PARTICULAR, THE INVESTIGATORS WILL EXPLORE HOW THE TOPICS COVERED, THE PEDAGOGICAL STRATEGIES EMPLOYED, AND THE MESSAGES CONVEYED SHAPE STUDENTS' EXPERIENCES IN THE COURSE. THE CONCLUSIONS OF THIS RESEARCH WILL GUIDE OTHER COLLEGES TO ACHIEVE SIMILAR OUTCOMES AS THEY LAUNCH OR REVISE THEIR OWN IPLS COURSES. THE INVESTIGATORS WILL ADDRESS TWO CENTRAL RESEARCH QUESTIONS: (1) HOW DOES AN IPLS COURSE SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS' INTEREST IN PHYSICS, A SENSE OF SELF-EFFICACY, AND AN INTERDISCIPLINARY IDENTITY (TAKEN TOGETHER, PHYSICS AFFINITY)? (2) HOW DOES AN IPLS COURSE SUPPORT STUDENTS IN SUCCESSFULLY APPLYING PHYSICS TO MODEL AND ANALYZE BIOLOGICAL SITUATIONS? SPECIFICALLY, HOW DO THE COURSE'S CURRICULAR, PEDAGOGICAL, AND INTERPERSONAL ELEMENTS CONNECT TO THE PROCESS OF BECOMING A SKILLED PROBLEM-SOLVER? TO ANSWER THOSE QUESTIONS, THE INVESTIGATORS WILL USE EXISTING SURVEY INSTRUMENTS, STUDENTS' WRITTEN REFLECTIONS, STUDENTS' WRITTEN WORK ON SYNTHETIC TASKS APPLYING PHYSICS TO BIOLOGY, INTERVIEWS WITH STUDENTS, AND OTHER TASKS. SOME PRODUCTS OF THE PROJECT WILL INCLUDE A PHYSICS AFFINITY SURVEY (WHICH WILL INCLUDE ELEMENTS RELATED TO SELF-EFFICACY, ACHIEVEMENT GOALS, INTERDISCIPLINARY ATTITUDES, AND MOTIVATION), REFLECTION PROMPTS AND SYNTHESIS TASKS, A SET OF GUIDELINES FOR IPLS DEVELOPERS AND INSTRUCTORS, AND A SET OF STUDENT DEVELOPMENTAL PROFILES THAT ILLUSTRATE HOW DIFFERENT STUDENTS DEVELOP SKILLS AND PHYSICS AFFINITY IN DIFFERENT WAYS. THE NSF IUSE: EHR 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 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.

EAGER: EXPLORATION OF EVOLUTIONARY MECHANISMS ACROSS MULTIPLE SCALES

EQUIPMENT: MRI: TRACK # 1 ACQUISITION OF AN X-RAY DIFFRACTOMETER FOR RESEARCH AND UNDERGRADUATE TRAINING -THIS MAJOR RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE (MRI) GRANT PROVIDES SUPPORT FOR THE PURCHASE OF AN X-RAY DIFFRACTOMETER THAT WILL ENHANCE TEACHING AND RESEARCH ACTIVITIES AT SWARTHMORE COLLEGE AND OTHER PRIMARILY UNDERGRADUATE INSTITUTIONS IN THE SOUTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA REGION. X-RAY POWDER DIFFRACTION IS ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL AND WIDELY-USED TOOLS FOR MATERIALS CHARACTERIZATION WITH A USER BASE THAT SPANS THE PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS SCIENCE, AND ENGINEERING COMMUNITIES. STUDENTS AND FACULTY ACROSS THE NATURAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING DIVISION AT SWARTHMORE COLLEGE WILL USE THE X-RAY DIFFRACTOMETER IN COURSES THAT SPAN THE INTRODUCTORY AND ADVANCED CURRICULA AND TO CARRY OUT CUTTING-EDGE RESEARCH EXPERIMENTS ON MATERIALS RANGING FROM ENGINEERED NANOMATERIALS TO RECHARGEABLE BATTERY CATHODES. THESE MEASUREMENTS WILL SUPPORT STUDENTS TO GAIN A FUNDAMENTAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE STRUCTURE OF MATERIALS AND EVALUATE THE STRUCTURE OF NEW MATERIALS THAT HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO IMPROVE UPON EXISTING TECHNOLOGIES. SWARTHMORE COLLEGE WILL ALSO WELCOME EXTERNAL USERS FROM PRIMARILY UNDERGRADUATE INSTITUTIONS ACROSS THE SOUTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA REGION TO VISIT SWARTHMORE TO ADVANCE THEIR OWN RESEARCH PROJECTS AND INTRODUCE THEIR STUDENTS TO A WIDELY USED TOOL. THE X-RAY DIFFRACTION SYSTEM AT SWARTHMORE COLLEGE WILL PROVIDE A HIGH-POWERED X-RAY SYSTEM THAT CAN BE FLEXIBLY CONFIGURED TO MEET THE RANGE OF TEACHING AND RESEARCH NEEDS OF CURRENT AND FUTURE FACULTY. THE INSTRUMENT WILL BE EQUIPPED WITH A 1 KW X-RAY SOURCE THAT PROVIDES CAPABILITIES FOR X-RAY DIFFRACTION AND MEASUREMENTS OF POWDERS AND THIN FILMS. AN ADDITIONAL HIGH-TEMPERATURE VACUUM FURNACE WILL ALLOW MEASUREMENTS UP TO 1600 C TO OBSERVE PHASE CHANGES IN MATERIALS. A BATTERY HOLDER WITH AN INTEGRATED POTENTIOSTAT WILL BE USED FOR OPERANDO X-RAY DIFFRACTION MEASUREMENTS DURING ELECTROCHEMICAL CYCLING. ONGOING PROJECTS OF FACULTY THAT WILL IMMEDIATELY BENEFIT FROM THIS INSTRUMENT INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING: (I) CHARACTERIZATION OF ENGINEERED NANOMATERIALS, (II) OPERANDO MEASUREMENTS OF THE CATHODE EVOLUTION IN RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES, (III) THERMODYNAMIC INVESTIGATIONS OF BATTERY CATHODE MATERIALS, AND (IV) STUDIES OF STRUCTURALLY AND MORPHOLOGICALLY ENGINEERED GLASSES. THE X-RAY DIFFRACTION SYSTEM WILL CONSIDERABLY EXPAND THE CHARACTERIZATION CAPABILITIES OF RESEARCH GROUPS AT SWARTHMORE COLLEGE, AND PROVIDE A HUB FOR NEIGHBORING INSTITUTIONS TO OBTAIN HIGH-QUALITY DIFFRACTION DATA AND TRAIN RESEARCH STUDENTS. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: IOS:RUI: HYDRODYNAMIC CONSEQUENCES OF SPINES ON ZOOPLANKTON: FUNCTIONAL MORPHOLOGY OF HORNS AND TAILS ON BARNACLE NAUPLII -ZOOPLANKTON, SMALL ANIMALS THAT DRIFT WITH OCEAN CURRENTS, ARE CRITICAL LINKS IN MARINE FOOD WEBS. MANY DIFFERENT TYPES OF ZOOPLANKTON HAVE ELONGATED SPINES, HORNS, OR HAIRS. THESE STRUCTURES ARE THOUGHT OF AS PREDATOR DETERRENTS OR SENSORY ANTENNAE. THIS PROJECT EXAMINES OTHER ECOLOGICALLY IMPORTANT FUNCTIONS THAT SPINES MIGHT IMPACT: FEEDING, SWIMMING, SINKING, AND DISLODGEMENT FROM SURFACES. THESE FUNCTIONS DEPEND ON HOW ANIMALS INTERACT WITH THE WATER AROUND THEM. THIS STUDY INVESTIGATES HOW SPINES WORK TO ALTER THE MOVEMENT OF THE SURROUNDING WATER AND HOW THAT WATER MOVEMENT VARIES IN THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF THE ?NAUPLIUS? LARVAL STAGE OF DIFFERENT SPECIES OF BARNACLES. BARNACLES ARE A TYPE OF CRUSTACEAN, A GROUP THAT INCLUDES THE COMMERCIALLY IMPORTANT CRABS, SHRIMP, AND LOBSTERS. SINCE ALL CRUSTACEANS HAVE A NAUPLIUS LARVAL STAGE, THIS RESEARCH WILL SHED LIGHT ON HOW THIS COMMON BODY FORM OPERATES, PROVIDING INFORMATION ABOUT FUNCTIONAL TRADEOFFS BETWEEN DIFFERENT BEHAVIORS AND BODY SHAPES. THIS PROJECT -- A COLLABORATION BETWEEN A SMALL, LIBERAL ARTS UNDERGRADUATE COLLEGE AND A BIG RESEARCH UNIVERSITY -- BRINGS TOGETHER STUDENTS AND FACULTY FROM BOTH TO CONDUCT THE RESEARCH AND TO TRAIN UNDERGRADUATES. IN ADDITION, THIS PROJECT CROSSES DISCIPLINARY BOUNDARIES BETWEEN BIOLOGY AND ENGINEERING, SO STUDENTS FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS WILL LEARN HOW TO COMMUNICATE AND COLLABORATE. PRINCIPLES DISCOVERED FROM THIS STUDY CAN INFORM BIO-INSPIRED DESIGN OF AQUATIC MICROROBOTS. THE TYPES OF EXPERIMENTS DESIGNED WILL ALSO BE USED TO DEVELOP NEW SCIENCE CURRICULA. DIVERSE ZOOPLANKTERS BEAR SPINES WITH FUNCTIONS THAT ARE POORLY UNDERSTOOD. THIS STUDY OF THE HYDRODYNAMICS OF DIFFERENT SPECIES OF BARNACLE LARVAE WILL DETERMINE (1) FUNCTIONAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE PRESENCE, LOCATION, AND MORPHOLOGY OF SPINES ON HYDRODYNAMIC FORCES AND TORQUES; (2) FUNCTIONAL CONSEQUENCES OF SPINES AND APPENDAGE KINEMATICS ON THE FORCES AND TORQUES GENERATED, AND ON SWIMMING, SINKING, AND FEEDING PERFORMANCE; AND (3) HYDRODYNAMIC CONSEQUENCES OF THE CHANGE IN BODY DESIGN FROM THE PLANKTONIC NAUPLIUS TO THE SETTLING CYPRID FORM. KINEMATICS AND FLOW FIELDS OF LARVAE WITH DISTINCTIVE MORPHOLOGIES AND ECOLOGY ARE MEASURED USING MICRO-VIDEOGRAPHY AND HIGH-SPEED PARTICLE IMAGE VELOCIMETRY. THIS COMPARATIVE STUDY ON LIVE ORGANISMS IS COUPLED WITH EXPERIMENTS USING DYNAMICALLY SCALED PHYSICAL MODELS TO DETERMINE MECHANISMS BY WHICH SPECIFIC FEATURES CONTROL FORCES AND TORQUES ON, AND FLOW FIELDS AROUND, LARVAE. PHYSICAL MODELS ALLOW PARAMETERS ? SPINE SIZE AND SHAPE; BODY SIZE AND SHAPE; LIMB MORPHOLOGY; AND KINEMATICS -- TO BE VARIED IN WAYS NOT POSSIBLE WITH LIVING ORGANISMS. IN ADDITION TO ELUCIDATING GENERAL PRINCIPLES ABOUT THE HYDRODYNAMIC CONSEQUENCES OF SPINES AT THE POORLY UNDERSTOOD SIZE AND SPEED RANGE OF ZOOPLANKTON ? THE DOMAIN OF INTERMEDIATE REYNOLDS NUMBERS -- THE PROJECT WILL ADVANCE UNDERSTANDING OF HOW TRADEOFFS BETWEEN ECOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS IMPOSE BIOMECHANICAL CONSTRAINTS THAT CAN SHAPE THE EVOLUTION OF FORM. COLLABORATION BETWEEN A PUI COLLEGE AND R1 UNIVERSITY INTEGRATES RESEARCH AND UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION AT BOTH. THE QUESTION-DRIVEN, EXPERIENCE-BASED LEARNING APPROACH INVOLVES RESEARCH TEAMS OF UNDERGRADUATES FROM PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES TO DEVELOP THEIR SKILLS AT INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION. NOVEL INTERDISCIPLINARY COURSE MATERIALS WILL BE DEVELOPED WITH CONTEXT-RICH MODULES FOR TEACHING QUANTITATIVE SKILLS. 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.

RUI: CHARACTERIZING AND OPTIMIZING EXTENSIONS OF LCDM -THIS PROJECT SEEKS TO ADDRESS FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES IN COSMOLOGY, SPECIFICALLY THE DISCREPANCIES IN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE EXPANSION RATE OF THE UNIVERSE AND THE CLUSTERING OF MATTER. THESE INCONSISTENCIES, KNOWN AS THE 'HUBBLE TENSION' AND THE ?SIGMA-8' TENSION, CHALLENGE THE CURRENT STANDARD COSMOLOGICAL MODEL. SCIENTISTS AT SWARTHMORE COLLEGE WILL CONDUCT NEW THEORETICAL WORK TO PROVIDE INSIGHTS INTO THE NATURE OF THESE TENSIONS AND OFFER NEW THEORETICAL EXPLANATIONS. AS PART OF THIS PROJECT, THE PI WILL TRAIN UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN EFFECTIVE SCIENCE COMMUNICATION AND INVOLVE THEM IN RESEARCH ACTIVITIES. THIS EFFORT WILL LEVERAGE EXISTING TRAINING PROGRAMS AND DEVELOP A SCIENCE COMMUNICATION CURRICULUM, FOSTERING A CULTURE OF RESEARCH AND SPREADING KNOWLEDGE OF THE SCIENTIFIC PROCESS. THIS APPROACH NOT ONLY ENHANCES EDUCATION BUT ALSO PROMOTES DIVERSITY AND INCLUSIVITY IN THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY. OVERALL, THIS PROJECT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO ADVANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF COSMOLOGY, ADDRESS FUNDAMENTAL TENSIONS IN THE STANDARD MODEL, AND CONTRIBUTE TO THE TRAINING OF FUTURE SCIENTISTS WHILE PROMOTING EFFECTIVE SCIENCE COMMUNICATION. THE PI WILL ADDRESS TENSIONS IN THE CURRENT STANDARD COSMOLOGICAL MODEL, KNOWN AS LCDM, BY INVESTIGATING EXTENSIONS AND ALTERNATIVE MODELS. THE TENSIONS ARISE FROM INCONSISTENCIES BETWEEN PREDICTIONS MADE BY LCDM AND MEASUREMENTS OF THE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND (CMB) AND THE CLUSTERING OF MATTER. THE PROJECT WILL DETERMINE THE THEORY SPACE AVAILABLE TO MODELS ADDRESSING THESE TENSIONS, CHARACTERIZE THEIR SPECIFIC SIGNATURES ON THE CMB AND LARGE-SCALE STRUCTURE, AND FURTHER EXPLORE THE NON-LINEAR DYNAMICS OF COSMOLOGICAL SCALAR FIELD MODELS. THE PROJECT'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT LIES IN ITS CONTRIBUTION TO THE COSMOLOGICAL RESEARCH COMMUNITY'S READINESS FOR UPCOMING OBSERVATIONS. IT WILL DEVELOP A ROBUST METHOD TO DETERMINE THE PROPERTIES OF MODELS THAT SUCCESSFULLY ADDRESS THE TENSIONS, PROVIDE NEW INSIGHTS INTO CONSTRAINTS USING CURRENT AND FUTURE COSMOLOGICAL DATA, AND EXPLORE THE EFFECTS OF COSMOLOGICAL SCALAR FIELDS ON VARIOUS PHENOMENA. 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.