NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION update

Check out the latest from NSF’s Science Matters blog - July 31, 2020 08/03/2020 Fri, 31 Jul 2020 When science meets art: 6 NSF research projects that turn STEM into STEAM There's beauty in science. Throughout history, scientists have been inspired by the elegant designs of nature and are fascinated today by new pictures of atomic structures and galactic black holes. Yet this overlap between science and art is often overlooked. By adding art in their work, NSF-funded researchers are breaking traditional boundaries to transform STEM -- science, technology, engineering and mathematics -- into STEAM! tinue Reading New NSF engineering research centers focus on health, transportation, quantum tech and agriculture August 04, 2020 The U.S. National Science Foundation is pleased to announce the creation of four new engineering research centers. These new centers will focus on extending the viability of cells, tissues, organs and organisms; designing sustainable infrastructure for electrified vehicles; creating building blocks of the quantum internet; and realizing precision agriculture. "For the last 35 years, engineering research centers have helped shape science and technology in the United States by fostering innovation and collaboration among industry, universities and government agencies," said NSF Director Dr. Sethuraman Panchanathan. "As we kick off a new generation of centers, NSF will continue to work with its partners to ensure the success of these collaborative enterprises and the transformative, convergent research impact they produce." NSF is investing $104 million in four new centers over the next five years. Each center has a specific research focus: NSF Engineering Research Center for Advanced Technologies for Preservation of Biological Systems aims to stop biological time by designing methods to cryogenically cool, hold and re-warm living materials without harm, extending our ability to bank and transport them. The center involves four partner universities: University of Minnesota (lead); Massachusetts General Hospital; University of California, Berkeley; and University of California, Riverside. NSF Engineering Research Center for Advancing Sustainability through Powered Infrastructure for Roadway Electrification seeks to create sustainable, equitable and widespread electrification of vehicles by creating low-cost, ubiquitous, and worry-free charging. The center involves four partner universities: Utah State University (lead), Purdue University, University of Colorado and University of Texas at El Paso. NSF Engineering Research Center for Quantum Networks aims to create foundations for the future quantum internet by developing key quantum technologies and new functional building blocks connecting quantum processors over local and global scales. The center involves four partner universities: University of Arizona (lead), Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale University. NSF Engineering Research Center for the Internet of Things for Precision Agriculture seeks to ensure food, energy and water security with new systems to increase crop production while minimizing energy and water use and environmental impacts of agricultural practices. The center involves four partner universities: University of Pennsylvania (lead); Purdue University; University of California, Merced; and University of Florida. Since the program's inception in 1985, NSF has funded 75 centers and will support 18 in this fiscal year, including the four new centers. Each center receives NSF funding for up to 10 years. During this time, centers build partnerships with industry, universities, and other government agencies that sustain them into the future. The centers also build an innovation ecosystem and culture of inclusion to help propel impacts from convergent research and technologies. More information about the NSF engineering research centers can be found on NSF's website. NSF recognizes innovative science of chemist and aeronautical engineer as 2020 Waterman awardees 08/05/2020 NSF recognizes innovative science of chemist and aeronautical engineer as 2020 Waterman awardees Researchers aim for advances that rethink medical treatments, wind power August 05, 2020 WASHINGTON – A chemist who is zooming in on microbes in the human body to understand their influence on human lives and an engineer who looks to animals to build better wind turbines and other technology have earned this year’s prestigious NSF Alan T. Waterman award. Emily Balskus, a Harvard University chemist, and John O. Dabiri, a California Institute of Technology aeronautical engineer, have earned the nation's highest honor for early career scientists and engineers. The annual award recognizes researchers age 40 or younger who demonstrate exceptional individual achievements in scientific or engineering research in NSF-supported fields. This is the fourth year NSF has chosen to honor not one, but two researchers. “This year’s scientific pioneers are innovators who are creatively addressing some of the most challenging scientific questions,” said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan. “Emily Balskus has opened up novel ways to explore and exploit the chemistry and biology of microbes that live in our bodies and how they are linked to our health. And we’re already seeing the potential impact. John Dabiri has looked to the fluid mechanics of sea life for inspiration to build better wind farms that appear to boost efficiency with a much smaller footprint.” Tapping our own microbiome’s ‘chemists’ Throughout Balskus’ scientific career, she has worked on scientific problems that excite her most, which began with developing new chemical reactions in the lab as an organic chemistry graduate student to now uncovering new enzymes and molecules from biological systems. “I’m very interested in biological questions, but I always approach these problems with the eyes of a chemist, trying to think very deeply about reactivity and structure,” she explained. Balskus is most known for integrating chemistry and microbiology to understand how microbes from the gut are linked to human health and disease. “My work has focused on how microbes perform chemistry – what are the specific catalysts, or enzymes they use to perform chemical transformations linked to health and disease?” she explained. Balskus and her team have found novel, creative ways to “peek inside” the genome sequences who exist in our gastrointestinal tract to discover chemical reactions and molecules that are implicated in diseases like colon cancer, inflammatory bowel disease and diabetes. Her breakthroughs have transformed how other scientists approach this important line of research that has potential important applications in medicine. “Through receiving this award, I hope I can bring greater attention to microbes and the important roles they play in all aspects of our lives and to how chemistry can help us understand the microbial world as well as our own,” Balskus said. “I also hope that my work highlights the promise of interdisciplinary science and encourages other scientists, especially trainees, to be curious and open to exploring areas of science outside their comfort zones.” Balskus received her Ph.D. in chemistry and chemical biology from Harvard in 2008. Looking to the sea to build a better wind turbine, help detect heart problems It takes more than a trip to the beach to understand the humble jellyfish and how they propel themselves, but they caught Dabiri’s attention, and since then he has built real-life models from algorithms of their movement and gone on to look at swimming in other marine animals. His work on schools of swimming fish led to a more efficient design for wind farms. Dabiri’s research in animal locomotion and fluid mechanics transcends disciplines with innovative applications in biology, energy, and the environment. “Fluid dynamics is by some measures an old field,” he said. “The governing equations were formulated almost 200 years ago and yet, we are only now beginning to appreciate the myriad ways in which fluid dynamics plays a central role in biological systems, from aquatic ecosystems to human health.” By linking the swimming of marine animals to fluid dynamics of the human heart, Dabiri discovered that efficient swimming in animals like jellyfish and squid leads to vortex formation similar to vortices created in a healthy human heart. Conversely, escape swimming in animals leads to vortex patterns that are similar to those of the human heart suffering from cardiac disease. Identifying these patterns provides a path to rethinking how to diagnose and treat heart disease and potentially at earlier stages. And by applying fluid dynamics lessons learned from the vortices formed in a school of fish, Dabiri has changed the way we think about the direction and design of wind turbines. Rather than big hulking windmills, his design looks more like a vertical cell tower, is lower to the ground and is set among more tightly formed arrays, taking far less space than current wind turbines. “This award is a tribute to the diverse, creative, and resilient group of students whom I’ve been honored to mentor throughout my career,” Dabiri said. “Being selected for the Waterman award encourages us to continue chasing tough problems even in the face of possible failure, knowing that the science we learn along the way is still valued by the research community.” Dabiri received his Ph.D. in bioengineering with a minor in aeronautics from Caltech in 2005. The Waterman Award will be presented to both recipients at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. at a later date. In addition to a medal, awardees each receive a $1 million over five years for research in their chosen field of science. NSF expands quantum education to students nationwide in collaboration with industry and academic leaders August 05, 2020 The U.S. National Science Foundation and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy are spearheading the National Q-12 Education Partnership with industry and academia to provide training and tools to students ready to become the future quantum workforce. This initiative expands quantum education to students in middle and high school across the country. "In the coming decades, quantum systems are poised to drive our nation's industrial base, economic strength and national security," said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan. "Achieving that vision requires a workforce educated and trained in quantum information science and engineering. Through close collaboration with academia, industry, and partner agencies, the National Q-12 Education Partnership will increase the technical literacy of students, expanding inclusion and broadening participation for a future workforce that will bring benefits to all of us." NSF is advancing quantum education by investing nearly $1 million in QIS education efforts, including establishment of the Q2Work Program aimed at supporting learners and educators in quantum information science and technology. This collaboration of top industry and academic leaders provides opportunities to develop a knowledgeable and motivated quantum workforce. These efforts also include: Cross-Discipline Approach to Quantum Computing in High Schools: Building towards a Quantum Computing Workforce, which focuses on three activities: summer workshops for teachers, building the community of educators involved in deployment of quantum content at schools and organizing a meeting of stakeholders. Preparing Secondary Teachers to Teach Quantum Information Science built around providing content and support for teachers to develop a sense of how quantum information science and technology affects their students, and how to support understanding of quantum concepts. Dear Colleague Letter: Advancing Educational Innovations that Motivate and Prepare PreK-12 Learners for Computationally-Intensive Industries of the Future, which calls for proposals built around preparing a workforce for industries relying on quantum information science and artificial intelligence. "Quantum information science is a critical industry of the future where America must lead the world, and yet students don't typically learn about QIS until college. Under President Trump's leadership, the United States has prioritized quantum research and development, and now we will be among the first in the world to make QIS education tools and resources available to K-12 students and educators nationwide. Through strong public and private sector commitment, we look forward to advancing our Nation's workforce and leadership in this key emerging technology," said Michael Kratsios, U.S. Chief Technology Officer. Learn more about the collaborative partnership in quantum education and Q12 education by visiting q12education.org Fri, 07 Aug 2020 Bringing you the quantum future—faster You’re going to live in a quantum future. Sooner than we may once have imagined, new technologies will leverage quantum properties to create faster, more secure communications, powerful computers, sophisticated and compact sensors, and even new industrial materials. These developments, rooted in quantum discoveries, hold the potential to stimulate economic growth, strengthen national security, and improve the health and well-being of individuals around the world. But just how distant is this future, and what will it take to get there? The shift to a quantum world won’t happen overnight. The digital revolution began immediately after World War II, but it took several more decades of fundamental discoveries and advances before digital technologies such as computers became commonplace in our homes and offices. Today, we are on the cusp of a similar revolution—one in quantum technologies. We can expect innovative applications of quantum principles to emerge at an accelerated pace over the next few decades... Continue Reading