research projects 2023

The Mercury Project The Mercury Project: 2023 Call for Proposals

In Fall 2021, the Social Science Research Council launched the Mercury Project , mobilizing social and behavioral scientists in a search for cost-effective and scalable solutions to build vaccination demand and healthier information environments.

With $25M in funding from The Rockefeller Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, and the National Science Foundation, the teams in the Mercury Project consortium are evaluating a portfolio of interventions in 17 countries that vary in settings, target populations, and risk/reward ratios, with the goal of identifying those interventions that most cost-effectively and scalably increase science-based health decision making.  

We are excited to announce a new call for proposals with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Mercury Project now invites proposals to evaluate the causal impacts of online or offline interventions designed to increase demand for vaccinations consistent with national priorities, including childhood vaccines, HPV, polio, measles, and Covid-19 vaccinations, in low- and lower-middle income countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Applicants are encouraged to consider the Mercury Project’s Research Framework in developing proposals. Preference will be given to projects that:

• evaluate the effects of interventions on behavioral outcomes, including vaccination uptake;
• evaluate interventions that are designed and delivered in collaboration with governmental, NGO, and/or corporate partners;
• have demonstrated potential to be cost-effective at scale;
• include researchers and research institutions located in the countries in which the study is being conducted.

Proposed projects may have a duration of up to 30 months. Primary applicant organizations must be tax-exempt organizations or the equivalent in the local context (e.g., nonprofit organizations, universities, governmental units). Proposed budgets should be appropriate to cover project costs, with indirect costs not exceeding 15% of direct costs. 

Proposals will undergo confidential peer review by a panel of scientific experts. Proposals will be evaluated on the basis of scientific merit, potential to cost-effectively increase vaccination demand at scale, and research team inclusivity. Proposals will be reviewed on a rolling basis; we encourage applicants to submit proposals earlier rather than later. Applications will not be accepted after May 1, 2023.

Proposal Requirements

Applicants will be asked to provide the following information through the Mercury Project application portal.

• Identities of primary applicant organization and any proposed subaward organizations, including organizations’ tax-exempt (or equivalent) status;
• Identities of principal and co-investigators, including disciplinary and institutional affiliations, links to investigator websites or CVs, and contact information for principal investigator;
• Project description, including intervention design, proposed strategy to make causal inferences (e.g., randomized controlled trial or quasi-experimental design), potential causal mechanisms, sample size and power analysis, outcomes of interest, evidence for likely cost-effectiveness at scale, project duration and timeline, discussion of ethical considerations (6 pages maximum);
• Letters of collaboration from implementing partners;
• Project budget and budget narrative, with indirect costs not exceeding 15%.

Mercury Project Research Consortium

Grantees will be expected to participate in the Mercury Project research consortium, including regular monthly virtual research team meetings, at least one in-person convening of grantees and other invited parties, and the development of research and policy briefs written for policy impact. Additional funding for these activities will be provided by the Mercury Project.

If you have questions, please review the FAQ page . Please note that we cannot review materials in advance of submissions. For further questions not addressed in the FAQs, please contact [email protected] . 

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2023 Research Projects

Welcome to the 2023 research projects page..

ANT-01: What Causes Diabetes Myelitis Among Young Americans?

Primary mentor:  Prof. Amarasiri De Silva

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Mary Beth Pudup

Location:  100% remote and online

Number of interns:  3

Project description:

This research project involves a learning activity known as qualitative research in anthropology. The interview data in this research project focus on people’s perception of diabetes problems, especially why young Americans get diabetes. The project will provide training on interviewing skills at the beginning. The mentor will train the SIP interns to collect and analyze interview data from the communities close to the interns. The interview data will be collected using audio scripts, notes, or both. The mentor will discuss the tools that are used for data collection, and the interns will be trained to use these tools. Data coding and analysis will be done using a textual data analysis program called Atlas/Ti. The SIP interns who are interested in video making will be encouraged to document the interview process and the key factors emerging from the interview.

In this research project on diabetes among young people in California, the SIP mentor and interns will do interviews with individuals to find out about how young people got affected with diabetes mellitus. The interns will do in-person interviews, conduct video chats, and collect data using social media such as WhatsApp, and Google searches. The interns will also collect literature on the subject, review these materials, and write short statements on the findings. The interns will be trained to do qualitative data analysis. The interns’ end-of-program presentation will be an essay based on their collected data.

Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None

ANT-02: Tragic Technology Layoff and the Non-Immigrant Indian Diaspora

Primary mentors:  Prof. Annapurna Devi Pandey, Urvi Vyas

Number of interns:  5

The Indian diaspora, one of the most vibrant and dynamic, is the largest in the world, with 18 million people from the country living outside their homeland in 2020. There are about 4.2 million Indians in the US, and the community is known for its diversity in terms of language, religion, region, class, caste, gender, and sexuality. Today, Indian Americans are a mosaic of recent arrivals and long-term residents. While most are immigrants, a rising share is born and raised in the United States. Many Indian immigrants have brought with them identities rooted in their ancestral homeland, while others have eschewed them in favor of a non-hyphenated “American” identity. Despite the overall professional, educational, and financial success many Indian Americans enjoy, this has not innoculated them from the forces of discrimination, polarization, and contestation over questions of belonging and identity. How do the vastly diverse groups of Indian Americans perceive their own ethnic identity? How do they respond to the dual impulses of assimilation and integration? How might their self-conception influence the composition of their social networks?

In this research project, the SIP mentor and SIP interns will collect stories about the recent tech layoff on the specific visa holders from India, e.g., H-1B and H-4 types. In this research project, the SIP interns will collect personal stories of the experiences of the Indians on H-1B and H-4 visas by using in-person interviews, video chats, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and Zoom. The interns will interview recruiters, entrepreneurs, and tech specialists and will do a review of literature on the subject. The interns will create a digital story for their final presentation.

URL:  https://anthro.ucsc.edu/courses/profiles/apandey.html

AAI-01: UNet and GANs in Medical Images

Primary mentor:  Nahid Nasiri

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Gabriel Elkaim

UNet is a convolutional neural network architecture that expanded with few changes in the CNN architecture. It was invented to deal with biomedical images where the target is not only to classify whether there is an infection or not but also to identify the area of infection. On the other hand, medical images suffer from lack of enough images for deep learning purposes. To compensate this problem, we will study Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) which is one of the vital efficient methods for generating a massive, high-quality artificial picture. GANs is a class of generative models that was introduced by Goodfellow et al. It is one of the most-cited papers in computer science (nearly 26000 at the time of writing of this proposal), which proves this method’s popularity and importance in the machine learning and deep learning fields. Yann LeCun, who is a pioneer in the modern revolution in deep neural networks, declared GANs as “the most interesting idea in the last 10 years in machine learning.” For diagnosing particular diseases in a medical image, a general problem is that it is expensive, usage of high radiation dosage, and time-consuming to collect data. Hence GAN is a deep learning method that has been developed for the image to image translation, i.e. from low-resolution to high-resolution image, for example generating Magnetic resonance image (MRI) from computed tomography image (CT).

The SIP interns’ tasks will include: (1) Python programming every week; (2) machine learning frameworks such as TensorFlow and Keras; (3) data collection and augmentation; (4) the most advanced topics in deep learning — i.e., UNet and GANs; (5) critical reading of research papers; and (6) being familiar with machine learning for medical purposes.

Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Computer programming

AAI-02: Behavior Modeling with Reinforcement Learning

Primary mentor:  Golam Md Muktadir

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Jim Whitehead

Location:  In person/hybrid on the UCSC campus

Reinforcement Learning (RL) is a subdomain of Machine Learning (ML), where intelligence is learned without supervision. RL has successfully been applied in robotics, finance, design, etc. In the mentor’s research, RL is used to model human behavior for simulation.

The SIP interns will learn some algorithms and applying them in real-world experiments.

AAI-03: Artificial Intelligence in Self-Driving Cars

Primary mentor:  Majid Moghadam

Number of interns:  4

Self-driving cars use a stack of multiple sensors to observe the environment and make decisions. Artificial intelligence algorithms in recent years have helped these vehicles to improve their intelligence significantly. In this research project, the SIP interns will learn how self-driving cars see, think, and take actions using AI algorithms. The interns will involve in simple Python programming tasks to build an AI agent that plays a game just like humans do.

The SIP interns will: (1) learn about how self-driving cars observe, make decisions, and take actions; (2) learn about the basics of Deep Reinforcement Learning algorithms; (3) get hands on Python programming; (4) create simple game environments in Python; (5) train Reinforcement Learning algorithms for a small game in Python; and (6) learn how Deep Reinforcement Learning algorithms can be used on self-driving cars to make decisions. The interns will need access to a laptop for this research project.

AAI-04: Applications with ChatGPT

Primary mentor:  Brian Mak

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Jeff Flanigan

ChatGPT has taken the world by storm in the past few months, making an impact on culture and providing services to everyday people that no AI model has done before. From content creation, to drafting emails, to helping people write their code, ChatGPT has become an essential tool for the modern era in the blink of an eye. In this research project, the SIP mentor and interns will introduce concepts underlying how and why ChatGPT works, as well as how to access it in a programmatic way using Python.

With guidance from the mentor, the SIP interns will design and implement an application using ChatGPT as a backend. The interns will learn about the strengths and limitations of modern NLP models, and the ideas and mathematics that power them. The interns will also learn the programming skills needed to effectively deploy them like Python, the OpenAI api, Unix/Shell scripting, and git version control.

Required skills for interns prior to acceptance:  None

URL: https://jflanigan.github.io/

AAI-05: Autoencoders in Space Optical Communications

Primary mentors:  Abdulaziz Alatawi, Abdo Fikky

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Zouheir Rezki

Autoencoders are neural networks that can learn a compressed representation of the input data, called the latent code, through unsupervised learning. This code is a summary or compression of the input that can be used for a variety of tasks, such as image generation, anomaly detection, and dimensionality reduction. This research project focuses on autoencoders. The SIP interns will use Python libraries like PyTorch and TensorFlow to study research papers and reproduce results. This will help the interns gain practical experience in implementing end-to-end performance systems in wireless communication systems and understand other applications of autoencoders. Additionally, the interns will receive a good introduction to the Python programming language and space optical wireless communications. The SIP interns will periodically present their progress to ensure a good learning process.

To start, the SIP interns will receive a specific schedule for the first two weeks to learn Python programming. The coursework will entail completing exercises, watching videos, and receiving a comprehensive introduction to wireless communications. Additionally, the interns will be asked to submit daily progress reports on their assigned tasks. The interns will also be required to read the mentors’ published GLOBECOM paper to understand the system model right from the beginning.

Starting in week #3, the SIP interns will be taught how to implement autoencoders in wireless communications and create plots for (Bit Error Rate) BER results and constellation diagrams presented in the GLOBECOM paper. Through reading technical papers, the interns will focus on improving the published research work by introducing security constraints and improving BER results compared to state-of-the-art models. In addition, the interns will explore different fading channel scenarios and develop a system that can function effectively not only in specific channel conditions but also in various channel scenarios. Additionally, it would be valuable to compare the proposed autoencoder solutions for various channel conditions with the federated learning approach.

AAI-06: Autonomous Driving and Human+AI Team Up

Primary mentors:  Vanshika Vats

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. James Davis

The autonomous driving (AD) domain has made a significant progress in the last few years, taking help of a network of sensors to collect information about the surroundings and make decisions. However, there is a long way to go and a long time before we see completely automated self-driving vehicles (SDVs), as we cannot afford to have them make mistakes when the people’s lives are at stake. Given the fact that humans are more rational in making these complex decisions, incorporating human intelligence can greatly benefit the decision making of SDVs.

In this research project, the SIP interns will learn about how an AD vehicle “sees” and “senses” its environment, which leads to the formation of multiple advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) features, and will explore how humans can contribute to the whole AI pipeline. The interns will spend the first two weeks learning about the basics of AD and how one collects and processes data from different sensors. The concept of machine learning will be introduced and how it is used to make decisions in autonomous vehicles. The mentor and interns will then brainstorm about incorporating human intelligence in AD. The SIP interns will be asked to come up with various ideas for human+AI team up followed by discussions and feedback sessions.

URL: https://sites.google.com/ucsc.edu/vis/

AAI-07: Human-in-the-Loop in Autonomous Vehicle Object Recognition

Primary mentors:  Marzia Binta Nizam

The goal of this research project is to investigate if human computation can improve the accuracy of object recognition algorithms in autonomous driving systems. Object recognition is a critical component of autonomous driving systems, as it enables the vehicle to identify and respond appropriately to objects in its environment such as other vehicles, pedestrians, and obstacles.

In this research project, the SIP interns will design experiments to test the accuracy of object recognition algorithms in autonomous vehicles with and without human input. Human computation can involve tasks such as labeling images, identifying objects in real-time video streams, or providing feedback on the accuracy of the algorithms. The interns will then compare the results of these experiments to determine if human computation improves the accuracy of the object recognition algorithms in autonomous vehicles. The interns will also investigate the effectiveness of using crowdsourcing to annotate data for machine learning algorithms. The interns will compare the results of crowdsourced data annotation to expert annotation and explore the impact of different factors such as task design, incentives, and quality control on the accuracy of crowdsourced data annotation.

ACS-0 1: Art and Science: Visual Storytelling Through Archives, Research, and Design

Primary mentor:  Saul Villegas

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Jennifer Parker

This research project is designed to provide students with an in-depth look at the environmental issues facing California’s Central Valley. Through the use of digital tools, the SIP interns will explore the scientific, artistic, and cultural aspects of the region’s unique environment. The interns will learn about the area’s natural resources, the impact of human activity, and the current efforts to protect and conserve these resources. The project will incorporate research and digital world-building to give the interns an up-close look at the region’s unique flora and fauna. Additionally, the interns will learn the basics of digital media production to create their own projects that address a unique approach to creative research processes. Through this research project, the SIP interns will develop an appreciation for the environment and its role in the lives of all living organisms. At the conclusion of the research project, the interns will produce a final exhibition of their works, providing an interactive platform to engage with the Central Valley’s ecology.

The SIP interns will develop research assets such as speculative design and learn to create digital assets for virtual 3D world-building to be viewed on a computer browser, phone, or tablet. Speculative design, sometimes called critical design or design fiction, asks us to zoom out beyond user-centered design and ask what the effects of our designs could be on future societies. Outcomes from this research will be published as a virtual exhibition through the OpenLab Collaborative Research Center . Creating a virtual hub on Mozilla Spoke will allow for active participation in exhibiting their research for a diverse community while investigating virtual spaces that reimagine the cultivation practices as both sustainable and not sustainable.

URL: https://www.modernobysaulvillegas.com/

ACS-02: Visualizing Plastic: Arts-Based Research on Microscopic Pollution

Primary mentor:  Annika Berry

What comes to mind when we hear “plastic pollution”? Water bottles washed onto beaches, overflowing trash bins, litter on the side of the road? In this research project, the SIP mentor and SIP interns will zoom in to consider plastic pollution on a microscopic scale, as it exists across our food chains, bloodstreams, endocrine systems, and as a sedimentary layer in our fossil record. Using digital tools, including AI image generation and animation techniques, the research group will explore new ways to visualize, confront, and communicate the accumulation of micro and nanoplastics in our environment. The SIP interns will learn how to conduct research, develop a story, write a script, create digital assets, and learn image and animation techniques and editing processes to communicate science to larger public audiences.

The SIP interns will conduct research, develop a story, write a script, create digital assets, learn image-production and animation workflows, experiment with AI visualization tools, and utilize Adobe Suite Programs.

URL:  https://openlabresearch.com

ACS-03: The Spaces in Between

Primary mentors:  Prof. José Carlos Espinel, Prof. Raja GuhaThakurta

Number of interns:  11

This interdisciplinary research project will explore storytelling in the visual arts through a variety of media including pencil drawing, pen and ink, reliefs, sculpture, and 3D printing. The storytelling aspect of the project will be just as important, if not more important, than techniques and execution. The process of 3D modeling through the computer, which will be explored with Prof. Espinel, will open up a vast universe of creative options. These models will later be printed through different systems and materials, and will provide the SIP interns with technical as well as analytical skills that will be key in the near future. The pencil/pen-and-ink drawing technique that the SIP interns on this project will explore with Prof. GuhaThakurta is the use of a “substrate” of handwritten/hand drawn words/phrases, thematic patterns, symbols, and/or mini drawings to create the shading that will make the image appear realistic when viewed from a distance.

Each SIP intern on this project will be expected to create at least a few (and perhaps several) pieces of 2D and 3D art in the course of the eight weeks of the summer program. 3D pieces will be related to the topic “life beyond earth”, which will be discussed in group meeting and the mentors will let the interns imagine new ways of life. The SIP interns will be expected to design and create three to seven 3D models, including reliefs and sculptures. The interns will also create 2D artworks featuring their 3D models (3D rendering of still image or video). They will 3D-print one to three 3D models. Finally, each 2D pencil drawing, pen and ink, and/or other dry or paint media art piece will be based on a personal theme, topic, and/or event of the intern’s choosing.

URL:  www.ucm.es/jcespinel ; https://www.ucolick.org/~raja/art/

ACS-04: Gender, Cyberspace, and Art Practice

Primary mentors:  Jingtian Zong

This research project examines the complex relationship between gender and cyberspace, following the early spirit of cyberfeminism. Could we escape gender in a virtual space? How do gender and the Internet shape each other? How does contemporary technology enable and, sometime, hinder revolutionary changes? Drawing inspiration from historical and recent cyberfeminism theories and practices, the SIP interns will learn how to conduct research and address their own understanding of gender and cyberspace through web art, audiovisuals, and other digital mediums.

The SIP interns will:

• Conduct research on topics including but not limited to cyberfeminism, gender identity, and online censorship in their own chosen cultural context;
• Make individual digital art projects (web art, audiovisuals, games, etc.) to address issues around gender and cyberspace; and
• Build a collective archive of the research and/or a platform to display the outcome art pieces.

URL:  https://openlabresearch.com/

ACS-05: Computational Narrative Cinema

Primary mentor:  Allen Riley

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Rick Prelinger

Number of interns:  3 + TSIP

This research project will be a good fit for SIP/TSIP interns who are interested in art and technology. During the summer, the interns will work together in a studio setting and learn how to use tools such as large language models, computer-controlled cameras and video mixers, and command-line video editing to create videos with a narrative storyline. The SIP mentor and interns will explore a science fiction premise that presents a fantastical reimagining of the history and future of communication technology, and will research and adapt methods from conceptual art, Fluxus, and social practice art. By doing so, the research group will examine how art can be used as a means of social critique and collaboration.

The SIP/TSIP interns will develop skills in media production, collaboration, and critical thinking by reflecting on these representations of technology and engaging in collaborative, computationally-assisted video production. The research project will emphasize the importance of technical skills and imaginative narrative storytelling, as well as the role of activity design and participation derived from contemporary art practices.

AST-01: Comparison of Spec2D vs. PypeIt

Primary mentors:   Shreyanshi Garg, Chien-Chu (Charity) Wei

Secondary mentor:  Dr. Lara Cullinane

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Raja GuhaThakurta

Number of interns:  6

Astronomical spectra are measured with the help of a spectrograph. Specifically, the mentor’s research group mostly uses the DEIMOS instrument on the Keck II 10-meter telescope on the summit of Maunakea on the Big Island of Hawaii. A spectrum spreads a star’s light out using something similar to a prism, and then takes a picture of that spread out light. The tricky bit comes from turning that CCD picture, which just shows the number of photon counts in each pixel, into something that one can use scientifically. Astronomers generally use data reduction packages to do this, but something they are interested in studying is how different the results from different data reduction packages are. Such a comparison will be the focus of this research project, and is important not only for the mentor’s research group, but for the broader astronomy community that relies on the results of these spectroscopic data reduction pipelines.

For the most part, the mentor’s research group uses spectroscopic data that have been reduced using an older IDL-based software package called Spec2D, which produces 1D spectra but doesn’t the user give much insight into the intermediate stages of the data reduction process. The exciting revolution over the last few years has come with the development of the newer, more user friendly, Python-based code, PypeIt. The mentors would like the SIP interns to help the group answer and address the following questions: (1) How different are the output 1D spectra from Spec2D vs. PypeIt? (2) If they are different, which data reduction package is doing a better job of extracting spectra? (3) What are the main limitations/problems that one runs into with 1D spectra that have been reduced using PypeIt? (the mentor’s group has a good sense of the data reduction problems associated with Spec2D, but don’t know what these are for PypeIt) (4) Once the research group better understands output 1D spectra from PypeIt, they would like to go back through all of their data collected over the last two decades, and re-reduce them using PypeIt.

URL:  https://pypeit.readthedocs.io/en/latest/cookbook.html , https://app.ubinum.com/lab/raja-uco-lick-observatory

AST-02: What Happens Around Supermassive Black Holes

Primary mentor:  Prof. Martin Gaskell

Astronomers now believe that every large galaxy contains a supermassive black hole in its center. Because of the tremendous energy released as the black hole grows by swallowing gas, these black holes can be readily detected as so-called “active galactic nuclei” (AGNs) back to very early times in the Universe. The details of how supermassive black holes form and grow and how this is related to the formation of normal galaxies is one of the central mysteries of contemporary astrophysics. The mentor’s research group is analyzing spectra and spectral variability to try to understand how AGNs produce the intense radiation seen, what the structure of material around the black hole is like, and how supermassive black holes grow.

The SIP interns will analyze multi-wavelength data taken from X-ray and ultraviolet satellites together with data taken from ground-based telescopes. The interns will compare these emissions with theoretical models and study how they vary with time. The SIP interns should have a laptop (PC preferred) with an external mouse and Microsoft Excel installed on the laptop.

URL:  https://www.astro.ucsc.edu/faculty/index.php?uid=mgaskell

AST-03: How Often Do Quasars Masquerade as RR Lyrae Candidates in Time Domain Photometric Surveys

Primary mentor:  Kayla Bartel

Secondary mentor:  Yuting Feng

It was long thought that galaxies are so-called “island universes.” Recently, however, more and more distant stars have been discovered in the halo of our Milky Way galaxy, and their distance suggests that the halos of galaxies are much larger than previously thought, implying that galaxies in our Local Group are comparable in size to the typical distance between them. These distant stars are a particular class of variable stars called RR Lyrae, which have very identifiable patterns of temporal variation in brightness and also happen to be excellent standard candles (i.e., they all have roughly the same intrinsic luminosity). These are two major reasons why these stars are used to study Galactic structure. To further our understanding of our own Milky Way galaxy and RR Lyrae stars, it is crucial to identify clean samples of them in large astronomical time-series photometric data sets. The photometric variations of RR Lyrae can be confused with the light curves of other types of photometrically variable astronomical objects such as distant quasars and active galactic nuclei (AGNs), so it is often necessary to visually vet the light curves. The identification of and discrimination between different kinds of variable objects can be assisted by computer algorithms that search for certain qualities present in the light curves of these variable objects. The broader goals of this research project are to better quantify the purity (degree of quasar/AGN contamination) and completeness of RR Lyrae in large time-domain surveys.

• Run thousands of simulated quasar/AGN and RR Lyrae light curves through two stages of Yuting’s automated RR Lyrae search via empirical template fitting: (1) initial broad/coarse periodogram search and (2) subsequent Zoomed-in/fine periodogram search;
• Compute the statistics of simulated quasars/AGNs with high scores and simulated RR Lyrae with low scores (using some standard score threshold to define high vs. low scores); and
• Visually vet unfolded and folded light curves of a small, but representative subset of objects in each of the above two categories.

URL:  https://app.ubinum.com/lab/raja-uco-lick-observatory

AST-04: Exploring the Kinematics and Substructure of M31 and M32: A Comparative Analysis of SPLASH and DESI Surveys

Primary mentor:  Rohit Raj (Juniata College, PA)

Number of interns:  3 + CSIP

The Andromeda galaxy (M31) and its satellite galaxy M32 are two of the closest and most studied galaxies in the sky. However, there is still much we don’t know about their formation and evolution. This research project offers a unique opportunity to compare two cutting-edge astronomical surveys: the SPLASH and DESI surveys of M31 and M32. By comparing the kinematics and substructure of these galaxies as measured by these two surveys, the mentor and SIP/TSIP interns will gain insights into the history of these two galaxies, their merger and accretion events, and the distribution of dark matter in their halos. This research project is ideal for SIP/TSIP interns who are interested in galaxy formation and evolution, spectroscopic techniques, and data analysis. The interns will work with real data and learn how to manipulate, analyze, and interpret large datasets, while contributing to our understanding of the Universe.

The SIP/TSIP interns on this research project will carry out the following data analysis tasks: (1) use existing source photometry and astrometry catalogs derived from PHAT/PHAST survey Hubble Space Telescope images asking with the ground based seeing FWHM to determine the fractional contribution of each star to each Keck/DEIMOS slit in the SPLASH survey and each DESI fiber; (2) compare the predicted (HST) vs. observed (SPLASH and DESI) spectral continuum strength; and (3) compare the SPLASH and DESI spectra.

URL: https://app.ubinum.com/lab/raja-uco-lick-observatory

AST-05: Time-Series Spectroscopy of RR Lyrae Stars in the Milky Way

Primary mentor:  Yuting Feng

RR Lyrae stars are important tracers in the study of the structure of our Milky Way galaxy because of two characteristics: (1) they have a characteristic pattern of periodic brightness variations; and (2) they are “standard candles”, meaning that they all have roughly the same time-averaged luminosity. Moreover, the stellar pulsations that RR Lyrae undergo provide insight into the interior structure of stars and the stellar evolutionary processes of stars that are located in the so-called “instability strip” in the Herzsprung-Russell diagram. This research project will explore spectra of relatively faint RR Lyrae in the Milky Way stellar halo to better understand: (a) how to use these stars as kinematical/dynamical tracers of the Milky Way’s dark matter halo; and (b) how to connect the kinematics of these RR Lyrae stars with their brightness variation, to better understand the physics of their stellar pulsations.

(1) Explore mathematical methods like cross-correlation (Python based) to extract the velocities from the Keck/ESI spectra of faint RR Lyrae stars; and

(2) Use literature results to calibrate these velocities to the center of mass velocities, which could better represent the dynamical movement of RR Lyrae stars in response to the gravity of the (mostly) dark matter in the Milky Way halo.

Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Computer programming, statistical data analysis

AST-06: Broad Emission-Lined Luminous Sources (BELLS)

Primary mentor:  Olivia Gaunt (Tufts University, MA)

Secondary mentor:  Preksha Sethia (University College London, UK)

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Raja Guhathakurta

Number of interns:  4 + TSIP

The Triangulum Galaxy (M33) is the third largest member (by mass) of the Local Group. M33 is a dwarf spiral galaxy well-known for its active star-forming regions that are rich in the ionized gas phase of the interstellar medium (ISM). While inspecting spectra from the Triangulum Extended (TREX) survey, the mentor’s research group discovered six point-like broad emission lined luminous sources (BELLS) in and around the central star-forming region of M33. The SIP/TSIP interns will use Python spectroscopic data analysis techniques to detect and carry out an investigation into the nature of this mysterious set of rare emission lines in M33 and other rare/weak emission lines in both M31 and M33. The interns will also have the opportunity to work with brand new observational data taken in Nov. 2022!

The SIP/TSIP interns will develop their own Python code and use existing Python code to work with spectroscopic data from the DEIMOS spectrograph on the Keck II 10-meter telescope. This research project will initially involve processing of the 1D spectroscopic data to remove the effects of the Earth’s atmosphere (airglow) and instrumental signatures, subsequent analysis of the 2D spectra, and the creation and critical analysis/interpretation of a series of data diagnostic plots.

Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None, computer programming and statistical data analysis recommended

AST-07: The Kinematics, Physical Conditions, and Chemical Abundances of Ionized Gas in the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and a Comparison to the Triangulum Galaxy (M33)

Primary mentor:  Aparajito Bhattacharya (St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata, India)

The space between stars within galaxies is filled with interstellar medium (ISM), a cocktail of various gases and cosmic dust. In the vicinity of massive stars, and in star-forming regions, these gases get ionized and give off characteristic ISM spectral emission lines. The Andromeda galaxy (M31) and the Triangulum galaxy (M33) are spiral galaxies in the Local Group with active star forming regions. They provide an excellent opportunity to study the dynamical properties, physical conditions (e.g., density, temperature), and chemical composition of the ISM, through emission lines.

In this research project, the SIP interns will use data from the DEIMOS spectrograph of the Keck II 10-m telescope collected by the mentoring team as part of the Spectroscopic and Photometric Landscape of Andromeda’s Stellar Halo (SPLASH) survey and the Triangulum Extended (TREX) survey. The kinematics of the ionized gases due to rotational dynamics of the galactic disk, and any deviation from it, will be measured using the Doppler shift of ISM emission lines. The SIP interns will also study the chemical abundances of various components of ISM, and look for rare emission lines In the Keck spectra (RELIKS).

AST-08: Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey Deep Fields: Phase Distance Correlation (PDC) Periodograms of Variable Star Candidates

Primary mentor:  Manjima Talukdar (St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata, India)

Studies of the density profile, substructure, and kinematics of the Milky Way’s extended stellar halo provide an insight to our galaxy’s formation and accretion history. It has long been recognized that RR Lyrae, a type of periodic variable stars commonly found in globular clusters, are arguably the most reliable tracers of the Milky Way’s stellar halo. Their relatively high luminosity and periodic pattern of photometric variation distinguish them from other astronomical sources of comparable apparent brightness and color, and make them excellent standard candles. They can also be used to measure the chemical abundance of the halo. The Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS) is a deep, multi epoch photometric survey of four 1 square degree fields in the five photometric bands (ugriz filters) with excellent depth and exquisite cadence. In this research project, SIP interns will use the deep fields component of CFHLS database to study the short-period variable stars.

The SIP interns will carry out the following tasks: (1) phase distance correlation (PDC) analyses of five-band time-series photometric data to search for different types of periodic variable stars in the CFHTLS deep field database; and (2) characterization of the pulsation and other properties of different types of variable stars found in the CFHTLS Deep Fields database.

AST-09: Automating a Multiwavelength Analysis of the Blazar Mrk 421

Primary mentor:  Dr. Olivier Hervet

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. David Williams

Blazars are the brightest stationary sources in the Universe. Their powerful plasma jets powered by feeding supermassive black-holes emit radiation across the whole electromagnetic spectrum, from low radio frequencies to very-high-energy gamma rays. The general behavior of these sources is still puzzling to the scientific community, especially on how they seemingly erratically produce massive flares with complex counterparts. At UCSC, the mentor’s research group is tackling this issue by organizing a dense monitoring campaign of one of the brightest blazars, Mrk 421, over multiple years and with various telescopes. Having already gathered a large amount of data, the research group now needs to organize, analyze, and diffuse this dataset to the scientific community. The research group plans to develop an automatic pipeline at UCSC that will analyze new data every day and centralize the results onto a web platform.

The SIP interns will continue ongoing work started last year on implementing automatic analysis pipelines on our local computer cluster at UCSC. Each intern will be in charge of analyzing data from different observatories. There will be very high energy data from the VERITAS observatory in Arizona, gamma-ray data from the NASA space telescope Fermi-LAT, X-ray and UV data from the NASA space telescope Swift and additional optical data. The interns will also contribute to developing a web page that will display the combined results of these analyses to build lightcurves and broadband spectral energy distributions of Mrk 421. If time allows, the interns will participate in testing theoretical models on these data. By working on a local computer cluster and web implementation, the SIP interns will develop skills in Linux-bash commands, Python scripts, and HTML language. The interns will also get insights into statistical data analysis, astrophysical ideas, and the operation of multiple kinds of telescopes.

Required skills for interns prior to acceptance:  Computer programming

URL: https://www.olivierhervet.com/

AST-10: Optimization of Data Cleaning for the Schwarzschild-Couder Telescope Camera

Primary mentor:  Miguel Escobar Godoy

Secondary mentor:  Dr. Olivier Hervet

The Universe emits electromagnetic (EM) radiation of varying energy scales and it is necessary to observe it through all the different energy spectrum in order to understand it. The most energetic form of EM radiation are very-high-energy-gamma rays. Although Earth’s atmosphere is opaque to gamma-rays, these interact with nuclei in the atmosphere to produce a shower of particles that travel faster than the atmospheric speed of light and induce Cherenkov radiation which in turn can be detected by Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs). At UCSC, the mentor’s research group is working on the commissioning of the ground based Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA); the next generation of IACTs. A candidate telescope for CTA is the Schwarzschild-Couder Telescope (SCT) which is comprised of a finely pixelated camera which leads to excellent image resolution. This, in turn, means large volumes of data will be collected that need to be efficiently read out. It is of utmost importance to develop algorithms that will filter out useful events and discard other background events. The mentor’s research group’s task at UCSC is to develop and study algorithms that optimally implement cleaning and reduction methods on simulated data with the goal of eventually applying this to real data.

The SIP interns will continue ongoing work of testing out different cleaning and data reduction methods on our local computer cluster at UCSC. The intern will try out these methods on the most updated version of simulated CTA data. In addition, these methods allow for variation of many parameters that can be fine tuned in order to get the best result. The interns will study which parameters optimize these methods. The students will also study how the different cleaning and reduction methods as well as the variation of parameters inside these methods affect the Hillas parameters. The Hillas parameters are values associated to the image generated in the camera of an IACT that are used to extract information of the gamma-ray such as its direction and energy. If possible and time allows, the student will study the instrument response functions (IRFs) and how they vary based on the cleaning/reduction methods. IRFs gives you information on the performance of your telescope as a function of different parameters. All of these tasks involve the use of a Linux computer as well as ctapipe, a python based framework for low-level processing algorithms of CTA data. The interns will develop skills on Linux-bash commands, Python scripting as well as learn different aspects of astroparticle physics from how an IACT works to the scientific studies that can be performed through gamma-ray astrophysics.

AST-11: Probing a Nearby Galaxy Group With a Fast Radio Burst

Primary mentor:  Sunil Simha

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. J. Xavier Prochaska

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration radio-transient sources that are gaining popularity as probes of ionized gas in recent years. Their short-duration pulse is modulated as it travels through plasma in the foreground Universe. For example, the pulse is dispersed, like sunlight traveling through a prism, and this results in a time delay in the arrival of the lower frequency components of the pulse compared to the higher frequencies. This can be measured accurately, informing us of the total column density of free electrons along the line of sight. In this research project, the SIP mentor and SIP interns will focus on one FRB sightline, which is known to intersect a nearby (<20 Mpc) galaxy group. The aim is to infer the nearby galaxy group’s contribution to the FRB dispersion from public photometry and distances to galaxies. The research team shall further infer the contribution of other foreground galaxies targeted using the Gemini/GMOS spectrograph. This research project will ultimately factor into the ongoing FLIMFLAM survey and further our understanding of the distribution of ionized gas in cosmological distance scales.

The SIP interns will work on the following tasks: (1) Search existing public data archives for galaxy properties (masses and distances) of the members in the nearby group; (2) Reduce the Gemini/GMOS spectra of galaxies targeted in the field (time permitting); (3) Estimate the spectroscopic redshifts and thus infer distances to the GMOS galaxies; and (4) Infer the fraction of the FRB dispersion arising from the galaxies studied above.

AST-12: Time-Series Spectroscopy of RR Lyrae Stars in the Milky Way

Primary mentor:  Joey Salinas

Secondary mentors:  Roy Doyel, Yuting Feng

RR Lyrae stars are important tracers in the study of the structure of our Milky Way galaxy because of two characteristics: (1) they have a characteristic pattern of periodic brightness variations; and (2) they are “standard candles”, meaning that they all have roughly the same time-averaged luminosity. Moreover, the stellar pulsations that RR Lyrae undergo provide insight into the interior structure of stars and the stellar evolutionary processes of stars that are located in the so-called “instability strip” in the Herzsprung-Russell diagram. This research project will explore time-series spectra of relatively bright RR Lyrae in the Milky Way to better understand: (a) how to use these stars as kinematical/dynamical tracers of the Milky Way’s dark matter halo; and (b) the physics of stellar pulsations. Over the last few years, the mentor’s research team has obtained time-series spectra for about a dozen stars using the ESI spectrograph in echellette mode and the DEIMOS spectrograph with the 1200G and 600ZD gratings.

The SIP interns will carry out the following data analysis tasks on the RR Lyrae time-series spectroscopic data set: (1) Measure the Doppler shift of individual Balmer absorption lines and metal absorption lines for each spectrum (multiple spectra for each star); (2) Plot velocity as a function of pulsation phase for the different Balmer absorption lines and metal absorption lines for each star; and (3) Compare the velocity curves with model predictions and other empirical data in order to develop a prescription for converting an instantaneous velocity measurement into the center-of-mass velocity.

AST-13: The Kinematics of the Enigmatic Ultra Compact Dwarf Galaxy M32 and the Southern Disk of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31)

Primary mentor:  Douglas Grion Filho

The Andromeda galaxy (M31) and the dwarf satellite galaxies that orbit it offer a (relatively speaking!) close-up view of galaxy formation and evolution. The ultra-compact dwarf (UCD) satellite M32 is a rare kind of galaxy and its nature and origin remain poorly understood. M32 is superposed against the southern portion of the disk of M31. In Fall 2022, the mentor’s research group obtained a large volume of spectra of M31 and M32’s resolved stellar population using the DEIMOS spectrograph on the Keck II 10-meter telescope in Hawaii. These spectra, along with spectra from other parts of M31’s disk obtained over the last decade or more, will be useful for placing observational constraints on the past, ongoing, and future tidal interaction between M31 and M32.

The SIP interns will: (1) learn to vet the Fall 2022 Keck DEIMOS multi object spectra of M31 and M32’s resolved stellar population and classify radial velocity measurements as secure, marginal, or unreliable; (2) analyze the stellar kinematics of M32 and M31’s southern disk and compare the latter to HI kinematics; and (3) compare and contrast the stellar kinematics (i.e., asymmetric drift, velocity dispersion) of the southern and northern portions of M31’s disk.

BME-01: Comparative Genomics of Encephalitozoon Hellem Strains

Primary mentor:  Anne Caroline Mascarenhas Dos Santos (Illinois Institute of Technology, IL)

Faculty contact:  Prof. Jean-Francois Pombert (Illinois Institute of Technology, IL)

UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Raja GuhaThakurta

Microsporidia are a group of understudied fungi-related obligate intracellular parasites and the human-infecting species (e.g., Encephalitozoon spp.) are classifed as category B priority pathogens by the CDC. The Encephalitozoon species is known to have the smallest known eukaryotic genomes, which makes them excellent candidates to study parasitism from a genomic perspective. In this research project, the mentor’s research group has sequenced the Encephalitozoon hellem 50451 genome with long- and short-read sequencing technologies. The research group aims to assemble and annotate the genome using freely available tools, and perform comparative genomics analysis between different E. hellem strains, which could help in the development of future outbreak traceability approaches.

The SIP interns will be responsible for carrying out all of the data analysis. The interns will filter sequencing data, assemble them, verify fragmentation of assembly, and assess genetic distances through read mapping and variant calling. The interns will need to learn Linux/bash command line operations in order to navigate the remote servers.

URL:  https://www.pombertlab.org

BME-02: Molecular Docking and Molecular Dynamics Study of TcmN Ligands

Primary mentor:  Veronica Silva Valadares (Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil)

Faculty contacts: Prof. Adolfo Henrique de Moraes (Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil), Prof. Haribabu Arthanari (Harvard Medical School, MA)

The N-terminal Tetracenomycin aromatase/cyclase (TcmN), an enzyme derived from Streptomyces glaucescens, is involved in polyketide cyclization and aromatization. Polyketides are diverse class metabolites with various pharmaceutical applications. Because TcmN is a promising enzyme for in vitro production of polyketides, it is important to understand the principles underlying TcmN interaction with its ligands and identify conditions that optimize TcmN function. In this research project, the mentor’s research group has identified point mutations that might enhance the protein’s thermal stability. The research group will use molecular docking and molecular dynamics studies to compare mutants’ interaction with TcmN ligands.

The SIP interns will be responsible for carrying out all of the data analysis. The interns will review the structure of both protein and its ligands, prepare the simulation system, run the simulations, and analyze the results. The interns will need to learn Linux command line operations to navigate the remote servers.

BME-03: Computational Biology to Study Neuroblastoma, a Pediatric Cancer

Primary mentor:  Dr. Gepoliano Chaves

Number of interns:  7

Neuroblastoma, a pediatric cancer of the neural crest tissue, accounts for 7% of malignancies diagnosed in children, but 15% of all pediatric oncology deaths. Therefore, understanding the biological mechanisms that drive aggressive neuroblastoma may help develop therapy to improve outcome in patients. As tumors grow, there is increased necessity of blood and nutrient supply, provided through the formation of blood vessels in a process called angiogenesis, which aimes to nourish cancer cells. However, tumor growth is so much faster than normal cell growth that cancer cells exceed oxygen supply levels, creating a hypoxic condition at the tumor microenvironment. Hypoxia is a biological factor thought to contribute to aggressiveness. The mentor’s lab has identified important molecular players for the transduction of the hypoxia signal from the tumor microenvironment to the interior of the cells, particularly the cellular nucleus, where gene expression control is maintained. The mentor’s lab has contributed to the identification of ten-eleven-translocation (TET) enzymes and the product of their activity, 5-hydroxymethyl-cytosine (5-hmC), as factors mediating tumor modifications in response to the hypoxia stimuli. In this research project, the SIP mentor and interns will investigate patterns of gene expression in neuroblastoma tumors and cells, using publicly-available data and data from the mentor’s lab to characterize the biology driving neuroblastoma aggressiveness.

• Download publicly available neuroblastoma datasets; • Interact with R and other computer programs to extract biological information; • Determine what relevant information to show to the SIP community audience and professional scientific audience; • Present research data; and • Write scientific papers for junior science journals.

CHE-01: Electrochemistry and Energy Storage

Primary mentor:  Ella Davidi

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Yat Li

Advanced Supercapacitors for energy storage: Electric charge can be stored in a double-layer capacitor. Double-layer capacitance appears at the interface between a conductive electrode and an adjacent liquid electrolyte. At the boundary of these two layers, charge with opposing polarity forms, one at the surface of the electrode, and one in the electrolyte. These two layers, electrons on the electrode and ions in the electrolyte, are typically separated by a single layer of solvent molecules that adhere to the surface of the electrode and act like a dielectric in a conventional capacitor. In this research project, the SIP mentor and interns will use 3D printing techniques to print carbon based Supercapacitors, and will demonstrate double layer characterization using electrochemical measurement.

In this research project, the SIP interns will work on reading academic literature and performing the following experiments in the lab:

• Making electrolyte solutions;
• Setting up electrochemical cells;
• Preforming electrochemical measurements; and
• Analyzing results of experiments.

URL:  https://li.chemistry.ucsc.edu/

CHE-02: Ruthenium-Based Electrocatalysts for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

Primary mentor:  Bingzhe Yu

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Shaowei Chen

Hydrogen (H2) has been considered as a potential candidate to substitute fossil fuels in the future due to its renewability and cleanliness. Currently, although Platinum (Pt)-based nanomaterials are deemed to be the best electrocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in acidic electrolytes, their limited availability and high cost significantly impede their large-scale applications in energy relevant conversion devices. Recently, ruthenium (Ru) has attracted widespread attention due to its remarkable activity in alkaline HER and lower price compared to Pt. Deeper research is necessary in order to make progress in this field of research. The mentor will teach the synthesis of nanomaterials and the basic experimental methods of electrochemistry.

• Learn and practice lab safety;
• Conduct simple experimental operations;
• Learn how to synthesize nanomaterials; and
• Learn how to use an electrochemical station.

URL:  https://chen.chemistry.ucsc.edu/

CHE-03: Nanocatalysts for Electrochemistry

Primary mentor:  Dingjie Pan

The recent hydrogen production in industry still depends on natural gas. Water constitutes 71 percent of the earth but the high energy barrier fir water splitting has limited the extent of its application. The SIP interns will spend this summer to learn how to design, synthesize, and analyze new electrocatalysts for water splitting.

The SIP interns will conduct electrochemistry experiments, prepare samples for characterization, and carry out data analysis.

CHE-04: Isolation of Natural Products

Primary mentors:  Leah Bouthillette, Rebecca Pelofsky

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. John MacMillan

Natural products or secondary metabolites are evolved to serve a biological role in nature and therefore are structurally diverse and complex. These molecules have been harnessed for medicinal purposes in addition to inspiring chemists to produce new kinds of reactions and molecules. Our lab has a large collection of marine bacteria in addition to a fraction library which has been used for projects involving anti-cancer and mosquitocidal drug activity, novel kinds of labeling for non-enzymatic chemistry discovery, and the discovery of novel biosynthetic mechanisms. Isolation and analytical methods will be used in this project to study these molecules further and learn more about their structure and how they are made.

The SIP interns will learn how to use instrumentation for purifying organic compounds: high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC); nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy; liquid-chromatography mass spectrometry (LC/MS); fermentation and culturing of marine microbes; and gene cluster identification and knock outs.

URL:  https://macmillanlab.sites.ucsc.edu/

CHE-05: Designing High-Energy-Density Rechargeable Zinc Batteries

Primary mentor:  Xinzhe Xue

Aqueous zinc batteries (AZBs) are considered to be one of the most attractive candidates for the new generation of energy storage, due to their high capacity and safety. To date, different kinds of cathode materials, electrolytes, and structurally engineered electrodes have been exploited to achieve higher energy density. It is critical to review the state-of-the-art AZB systems, identify the fundamental questions that limit the device’s performance, and design materials to tackle these scientific and technological challenges.

The SIP interns will: (1) read the scientific literature to review the challenges and opportunities of aqueous zinc batteries, and understand the mechanisms and design principles of high energy density AZBs; (2) design an electrode or electrolyte system for high energy density AZBs; (2) design experiments to fabricate and test the materials; and (4) analyze the electrochemical behaviors obtained from the electrochemical tests.

CHE-06: Optimizing Hematite for Electrochemical Devices

Primary mentor:  Samuel Eisenberg

Iron (III) oxide (hematite) is a semiconductor material with promising energy generation and storage applications due to its low cost, non-toxicity, and stability. By manipulating its nanostructure and composition, many important physical properties can be tuned. Improving the material’s light-absorbing ability, conductivity, and capacitance will allow hematite to be introduced in industrially feasible clean electrochemical devices.

The SIP interns will assist in preparing reagents and solutions, synthesizing semi-conductor materials, analyzing samples using various spectroscopic, microscopic and electrochemical techniques, and processing the resultant data to draw conclusions on our experiments.

URL:  https://li.chemistry.ucsc.edu/people

CHE-07: Structural-Engineered Catalytic Materials for High-Rate Alkaline Water Splitting

Primary mentor:  Qiu Ren

Alkaline water splitting (AWS) is a promising technology for green hydrogen production. To generate hydrogen at industrial scale, AWS needs to be operated at a high current density. However, the formation of large amounts of gas bubbles (hydrogen and oxygen gases) on catalytic electrodes limits the maximum current density and thus productivity of AWS. In this project, we aim to tackle this challenge by building architected electrodes to facilitate bubble generation, detachment and releasing during high-rate AWS. This research project involves the design and fabrication of novel catalytic materials, electrochemical measurements and data analysis. The SIP interns will learn the basic knowledge of electrochemistry and catalysis, and design new catalytic electrodes.

(1) Read the literature to understand the challenges and opportunity of AWS for green hydrogen production, the importance of mitigating bubble issues, and the basic knowledge of electrocatalysis; (2) Design a catalytic electrode for facilitating bubble generation, detachment, and releasing bubbles in high-rate AWS; (3) Design experiments to fabricate and test the designed electrodes; and (4) Analyze the structural characterization and electrochemical data obtained from experiments.

URL: https://li.chemistry.ucsc.edu/

CPM-01: Educational Technologies and Research Ideation

Primary mentor:  Dustin Palea

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. David Lee

Over the summer we’ll be working on two projects. The first project asks: How might we design systems that scale experiential learning? To investigate this question, we’re working on building a crowd annotation platform called Annota. This web application introduces learners to the qualitative coding process by allowing them to make annotations on interview transcripts. Importantly, they are not only practicing their annotation skills but (we believe) that they are also producing valuable data that can then be used to help other learners i.e. learnersourcing. Rather than teaching through traditional methods which can be costly and thus limited (e.g. apprenticeship learning), our hope is to provide more opportunities to learners who can instead rely on technology and their peers. The second project, related to the first, is interested in developing generalizable ways that computational systems and crowds of people can work together to produce educational resources that help provide mentorship at scale. This project is still in its very early stages, meaning that it’s a great opportunity to learn how researchers generate and evaluate ideas (important for those interested in potentially going to grad school and/or contributing to scientific research).

There is a wide range of tasks for the SIP interns to engage in, including the following: (1) web development: HTML, CSS, Javascript, Angular web framework, and Google Firebase; (2) UX design and research: UI design in Figma, designing and conducting user surveys and interviews, analyzing qualitative data; and (3) research: scoping out a research idea – articulation of ideas, reviewing related work, etc. Prior experience is certainly a bonus, but isn’t required as the mentor will be teaching the interns all the skills they need.

URL: https://tech4good.soe.ucsc.edu/#/

CPM-02: Public Interest Technology

Primary mentor:  Amelia Wang

As higher education today lacks experiential learning and community engagement, the mentor’s aim is to design/help support computational ecosystems for community-engaged learning. This research project focuses on the development, design, and evaluation of a platform to help support alignment in student/community collaborations.

The SIP interns will be expected to develop skills in interviewing and analysis to help evaluate the mentor’s platform with possible additions of project design, UI/UX design, and/or platform/code development.

URL:   https://tech4good.soe.ucsc.edu/#/

CPM-03: Game-Making Tools Survey

Primary mentor:  Jared Pettitt

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Nathan Altice

There are many different tools used to produce different kinds of video games, from casual tools like Twine, to professional tools like Unity 3D. These tools have, built into their design, certain affordances or expectations that shape what people tend to make using them. The mentor is working on research regarding game-making software, and this research project is a survey of different game-making tools, by using the tools to produce small games and then evaluating them afterwards. If the SIP interns are interested in making games, either in learning how to use high-level software, or just want to learn how to do it because it seems fun (it is), then they will definitely find this research project interesting to work on!

The SIP mentor and interns will be using several design game creation tools to make small games over the course of the summer, while evaluating how using the tool feels and how its design affects what they make using it. There are many tools that do not require any kind of programming or video game knowledge at all, so if the interns are at all interested but feel that they may not know enough to be helpful, they should not worry about that! The SIP interns will be learning, making games with, and evaluating several of the following tools, depending on their programming skill level: Twine, Bitsy, Pico-8, Unity 3D, Unreal Engine, and GameMaker.

CPM-04: Designing Technologies for Facilitating Youth Career Exploration and Identity Formation

Primary mentor:  Hayat Malik

UCSC faculty contact: Prof. David Lee

Project description: Starting career assessment and exploration early is critical for youth and students. To support youth in their career journey, we employ multiple methods that leverage social media and online platforms to assist youth in self reflection of their aspirations and seek out in-depth information about potential career options. We design technologies that aim to bridge the disconnect between youth with their parents and mentors and encourage them to develop their vocational identity.

The SIP interns can partake in a variety of the following tasks: 

(1) Research work — scoping out prior research work, analyzing qualitative or quantitative data, designing user studies (surveys/interviews), and designing usability/evaluation studies of certain platforms;

(2) UI design —designing user interfaces on Figma, and sketching/brainstorming possible design decisions for platforms; and

(3) Web development — developing user interfaces (HTML/CSS), and developing a platform (Angular/Firebase).

URL:  https://tech4good.soe.ucsc.edu/

CPM-05: Embodied Game Design

Primary mentor:  Samuel Shields

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Edward Melcer

Video games have a unique ability to create a feeling of embodiment in players. That sense of embodiment, in turn, can be used to help people. The ALT Games lab focuses on using games and their unique emergent properties to create positive outcomes in user’s lives. Interns in this group will have the option of contributing on any of the following projects:

(1) A game to teach trauma-informed yoga as a PTSD intervention; (2) A generative AI system that produces video games based on player sentiment; and (3) A study that investigates player perception of balance.

The SIP interns will be exposed to a basic style of project management and will have the option to contribute where their talents are — work is available in art, design, research, and coding. Background in any of the aforementioned areas will give the interns the most value from contributing, as will a love for games!

The SIP interns can contribute in one or more of the following ways:

(1) Creating visual effects and assets for ongoing projects; (2) Creating audio effects and assets for ongoing projects; (3) Improving, Replacing, or Adding new AI features in ongoing projects; (4) Performing UI/UX design and User Testing; and (5) Creating new data analysis strategies.

URL: https://altgameslab.soe.ucsc.edu/

CPM-06: Conversational Interface Design for Large-Scale

Primary mentor:  Kehua Lei

The goal of this research project is to explore novel conversational user experience (UX) design for communication with a large group of people. The mentor’s research group now has two research directions. The first is building a survey platform that blends qualitative and quantitative data collection. It also allows users to collaborate and build on others’ responses. The second one is building a platform for expressing and building gratitude in online communities.

The SIP interns will carry out some or all of the following tasks: (1) designing user interfaces for one of the platforms; (2) learning how to develop platforms; (3) running tests of the platform; and (4) conducting an evaluation on the platform through surveys and/or interviews.

CPM-07: Social Emotional Tech With a Focus on Maker Hardware

Primary mentor: James Fey

UCSC faculty contacts:  Prof. Katherine Isbister, Prof. Raquel Robinson

As part of an on going series of research through design activities into technology with a social emotional focus, the mentors propose a research project in which the SIP interns will create a series prototype designs aimed to create a way of communicating emotional state to others nonverbally through different methods of input and output. The mentors will guide this design process but the interns will have a high degree of freedom when it comes to execution.

—Conduct background research into the existing state of the art of notifications and nonverbal and non-textual communication;

—Engage in practical design research activities;

—Create working prototypes using commonly available maker hardware or mobile devices; and

—Use project management tools such as Asana and Slack/Discord to keep all team members apprised of project tasks and projects.

URL:  https://setlab.soe.ucsc.edu/about/

CPM-08: Acculturative Game Design with Latine Community

Primary mentor:  Samantha Conde

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Sri Kurniawan

The mentor offers an exciting project that will enable interns to gain valuable experience in developing an application/game that aims to reduce acculturative stress among first-generation Latine-Americans. The primary objective of the application is to facilitate communication and bridge the gap between different generations and values surrounding identity and sexuality. The interns will have the unique opportunity to design and develop an application/game based on the findings from a focus group conducted by the mentor that covers critical topics such as acculturative stress, intergenerational relationships, communication strategies, and games.

There are a variety of opportunities for the SIP interns to work on this research project based on their interests and expertise. These opportunities include: (1) collaborating with the mentor and other interns to design game mechanics and create storyboards that align with research findings; (2) utilizing game development software (Unity with Windows Laptop) to design and create application/game prototypes; (3) utilizing graphics design software to create assets for the application; and (4) utilizing UI Design tool (Figma) to design the layout of the application. In addition, if time permits, the interns may also have the chance to participate in the early stages of conducting usability testing to evaluate the effectiveness of the application/game.

Required skills for interns prior to acceptance:  None, computer programming experience is recommended

URL: https://assist.soe.ucsc.edu/people

CPM-09: Generating Interesting Scenarios in the CARLA Simulator for Testing Autonomous Vehicles.

Primary mentor:  Ishaan Anil Paranjape

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Kate Ringland

Ensuring safety of autonomous vehicles in simulation before deploying in the real world requires testing on a large number of scenarios. Identifying interesting scenarios is crucial since the range of possible scenarios is very large. We will be using a major open sourced simulator — CARLA and programming in python to find and generate interesting scenarios automatically. Characterizing scenarios as interesting or not is an open research question which will be explored during the internship! This will be done by interns reading research papers and going over different kinds of data related to scenario based testing of autonomous vehicles.

The SIP interns will: (1) explore the CARLA simulator and its features; (2) program the movement of some cars and pedestrians in the simulator; (3) parse data and extract interesting scenarios; (4) run these scenarios in CARLA; and (5) evaluate a vehicle’s response to these scenarios. The following laptop specifications are needed: Ubuntu or Windows, 200 GB or more disk space, and a separate GPU with 8 GB or more memory.

CPM-10: Agent-Based Modeling Systems Survey

Primary mentor:  Kyle Gonzalez

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Michael Mateas, Prof. Noah Wardrip-Fruin

Agent-based modeling is a form of computer simulation where the user designs and observes artificial agents interacting with each other in a shared environment. It is the basis for computer games like Dwarf Fortress or The Sims, where playful stories emerge organically from the simulation. It is also used widely across the social, life, and human sciences in order to create accurate models of the world and develop better theories. The mentor is researching how different approaches to agent-based modeling structure what we feel and know, and using this to develop critical and experimental games that support new kinds of experiences.

Over the course of the summer, the SIP interns will be working with several agent-based modeling systems and games and evaluating the process and experience of using them. The interns will also design and program their own creative visual computer simulations in p5.js with the guidance of the mentor.

CPM-11: Surveys and Digital Ethnography of ADHD Content on Social Media

Primary mentor:  Tessa Eagle

UCSC faculty contact:  Dr. Kate Ringland

Despite a common misconception that Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a childhood disorder, symptoms often persist into adulthood and many adults remain undiagnosed for a variety of reasons. Increased adoption of social media such as Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter has led to increased representation of neurodivergent community members with ADHD. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and increased social media use, many have come to recognize themselves in content made by social media members with ADHD and thus sought diagnoses of their own. Social media provides a valuable source of information, first-hand experiences, support, and validation through shared experiences. This project will look at data collected from social media platforms and surveys to see how identity presentation and content choices differ across apps. There is also the potential to look into ADHD-related ads for online services promising diagnosis and treatments and to survey users of these services to determine the benefits and potential problems.

The SIP interns will work on survey development, data collection, data analysis, data visualization, and qualitative research methods.

URL: https://www.misfit-lab.com/

CPM-12: Scenario Generation for Autonomous Vehicles

Primary mentor:  Abdul Jawad

Scenario-based testing of autonomous vehicles (AVs) in virtual environments has become an essential component of vehicle safety validation efforts because it is scalable, cost-effective, and safe. Critical and challenging scenarios for AVs are the key part of scenario-based testing. The recent trend for generating these critical and challenging scenarios is using game engine-based simulation tools such as CARLA (an Unreal game-engine-based simulator) and Apollo (a Unity game-engine-based simulator). This research project will explore techniques for generating critical and challenging scenarios in the open-source simulation tool CARLA. Specifically, critical scenarios that arise due to human limitations (cognitive, perceptive, motor, etc.) will be the core interest of the research project. The SIP interns will get involved in programming in Python. The interns will explore existing literature in related fields: AV testing, driver behavior modeling, and scenario generation.

In this research project, the SIP interns will conduct the following tasks: (1) Short literature review to get familiar with the research; (2) Learn to write programs in Python; (3) Learn how to use the Unreal game engine; and (4) Write a short paper at the end of the project.

Required skills for interns prior to acceptance:  Computer programming, statistical data analysis 

CPM-13: Virtual Reality (VR) Games for Sensory Rehabilitation

Primary mentor:  Rohan Jhangiani

This research project focuses on building virtual reality (VR) games for people with conditions that might affect their senses. The game is a continuation of the mentor’s research group’s previous work that used VR to help aid in the treatment of amblyopia. This research project relies on existing research around vision rehabilitation, smell rehabilitation, and serious games. The interns will also use the Unity game engine to develop novel immersive games to aid in sensory rehabilitation.

The SIP interns can expect to gain knowledge in virtual reality, serious games, and assistive technologies through conducting literature reviews early in the program. The interns will also learn about the VR game development process in the Unity Game Engine.

CPM-14: Game-Like Tutorials for Art Software

Primary mentor:  Andrew Dunne

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Eddie Melcer

To teach their players how to play, video games employ interactive tutorials built into the games themselves. There is a large amount of design work around creating game tutorials that both teach and entertain players. Meanwhile, art software such as Photoshop or Blender often require users to learn the programs through external means such as Youtube tutorials. Would built-in gamelike tutorials for art software be more effective than current second-hand teaching methods? This research project aims to build a game-like tutorial for art software, and to see how effective game-like tutorials are for teaching everything from simple actions (e.g., ‘how to change the color of the paintbrush’) to abstract concepts (e.g., ‘how does using different brush textures affect how people perceive art?’). Hopefully, this research project will lead to better and more fun software tutorials!

The SIP/TSIP interns will:

—Study examples of video game and art software tutorials; —Find and read research papers about tutorials, educational games, and other related topics; —Discuss progress and ideas with others on the project; —Design (brainstorm, plan, test, document) and build (program, make UI and other visual/audio assets) an interactive tutorial for some piece of art software; and —Practice presenting findings in unique ways.

CPM-15: A Review of Engagement with Failure in Behavior Change Apps

Primary mentor:  Rebecca Lietz

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Steve Whittaker

Changing behaviors is a difficult process for individuals. It is even more difficult to deal with failed attempts at change, often repeatedly. Many fitness trackers, habit-building apps, and other behavior change technology are supposed to help users enact lasting changes in their lives. But how do they engage with users when they fail? This research project investigates how popular behavior change apps address failure and how those approaches compare to people’s actual lived experiences when they fail. To achieve this, the SIP/TSIP interns will review various features of existing behavior change apps, analyze their general approaches to failure, and assess how well they reflect people’s lived experience.

The SIP/TSIP interns will gain experience with data collection and analysis. The interns’ tasks will include: (1) reading relevant literature; (2) researching and reviewing popular behavior change technologies (e.g., fitness and diet trackers, habit-building apps) and how they address failure; and (3) analyzing and contextualizing the collected data.

CPM-16: AI Anatomy Visualization

Primary mentor:  Henry Zhou

UCSC faculty contacts:  Prof. Michael Mateas, Prof. Noah Wardrip-Fruin

Artificial intelligence (AI) with machine learning has been a hot topic of discussion in recent months, with the rise of text-to-image generation and ChatGPT. However, what is often ignored behind this excitement are the real humans and social consequences behind the acceleration of technology development. This research project aims to enable interns to create visualizations of how AI models are made, similar to the artwork “Anatomy of an AI System”, or other artworks that could bring forth issues regarding social justice in AI.

The SIP interns will learn to research articles on recent AI models and understand their production processes. The interns will also learn to program in p5.js and create visualizations. The interns’ final research projects will be simple web visualizations of the production processes of an AI model of their choice. This research project aims to familiarize interns with societal issues about AI and to develop basic programming skills for creating web visuals.

CPM-17: Exploring Neurodivergent-Led Media Practices to Reframe Design Principles for Neurodiverse Multimodal Learning

Primary mentor:  Yihe Wang

This research project aims to explore the online video tutorial (e.g., YouTube videos) viewing habits of neurodivergent (ND) individuals (e.g., ASD, ADHD, and ASP) to redefine design principles for tailored multimedia learning experiences. ND people may have different preferred learning styles than neurotypical people. For instance, studies have indicated that captions can enhance audio-visual material retention for individuals with ADHD. However, the knowledge construction view of multimedia learning, coupled with the dual channel assumption, predicts that learning will decrease with captions due to the need to process redundant information (i.e., the redundancy principle). By studying neurodivergent individuals’ video tutorial learning habits, we can gain insights into their cognitive processing of multimedia learning materials and use these findings to reframe design principles that promote inclusive and effective multimodal learning experiences.

In this research project, the SIP interns will conduct the following tasks: (1) identify and analyze existing media practices initiated by neurodivergent individuals; (2) develop a set of design guidelines and recommendations; (3) create prototype multimodal learning materials that integrate the identified design principles; and (4) conduct pilot testing with neurodivergent individuals for feedback and validation.

CPM-18: Exploring Novel Contexts for the Wave Function Collapse Algorithm

Primary mentor:  Bahar Bateni

The Wave Function Collapse (WFC) algorithm is a tile-based method for generating content by following rules derived from the given examples. By incorporating statistical heuristics, the algorithm can enhance the results obtained from constraint solving. In this project, the interns will focus on utilizing novel heuristics for WFC and evaluating the impact of these heuristics on the quality of outcomes. The evaluation process will be done on various data types, including 2D data such as images and 3D data such as Minecraft structures.

The SIP interns’ tasks will include: (1) Python programming; (2) data collection; (3) visualization of data; (4) analyzing statistical properties; and (5) using statistical evaluation methods.

CPM-19: Social Superpower Tools to Support VR Meetings

Primary mentor:  Anya Osborne

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Katherine Isbister

Number of interns:  2 + CSIP

This research project explores building social virtual reality (VR) technology to improve networked meetings in VR. The mentor’s research team has developed five experimental tools that they have identified as promising for supporting productive collaboration and social connection among remote and hybrid teams. These “Social Superpower Tools” include richly embodied and specialized techniques for balancing conversation, signaling emotion, crafting environments, shaping self-presentation, and managing time in VR meetings. The mentor will introduce these tools, including core human-computer interaction (HCI) methodologies that the mentor’s group has used to test the tools in the field with real teams. The SIP interns will try out these tools firsthand, using VR headsets, and apply this knowledge to generate ideas for social media posts based on their experience of using these tools.

The SIP interns should have access to VR Headsets (e.g., Meta Quest 1 or 2) and will conduct the following tasks: (1) literature review to get familiar with social VR research; (2) explore meeting sites in the existing consumer-facing social VR apps of their choice, individually or as a group; (3) try out the mentor’s group’s custom-built social VR environments in Mozilla Hubs; and (4) create a series of posts to be published on social media about their experience of using social superpower tools in VR (YouTube, Twitter, etc.)

URL:  http://info.socialsuperpowers.net/

CSE-01: Internet Protocol Design; Development of a Shortest-Path Loop-Free Routing Protocol (Design and Simulation)

Primary mentor:  Carl Ramfelt

Secondary mentor:  Firouz Vafadari

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. J. J. Garcia-Luna-Aceves

Today’s Internet applications demand a fast and reliable connection with less delay and real-time connection than ever before. Nevertheless, the currently used protocols cannot satisfy these needs. The problem is rooted in these protocols’ mechanisms, which make them useless for real-time applications. Most of them suffer from an integral part of graph theory, the Routing Loops, and facing a cyclic path while trying to detect the shortest route to the destination or, worse than that, blocking of a path will lead to no convergence. Our approach is to re-correct the mechanism of currently used protocols with innovative solutions and introduce a Loop-less shortest-path routing protocol with fast convergence and minimum path blocking. The interns will learn the basics of computer networks. The mentor will provide them with the network protocol categories and famous shortest-path algorithms. The interns will then diagnose the issues of well-known protocols and understand how our research addresses them. Eventually, the interns will implement and simulate the network protocols using NS3 and NetAnim while they learn how the protocol works.

In this research project, the SIP interns will follow a unique path of research and study to understand how to design network protocols that are the bases of the internet. Initially, the interns will learn the basics of computer networks (similar to CCNA). They will learn the network layers, IP, transport layer protocols, and SSH connection to a remote Linux server. Afterwards, the interns will learn about the newly designed protocols by the CCRG lab at UCSC that will replace the currently used ones and change how people communicate worldwide. The interns will use NS3 (Network Simulator V3) to implement simple network topologies and then move to the simulation of the CCRG’s newly designed protocols. Furthermore, the interns will learn the problems of currently used protocols while following the intriguing part of addressing them to develop a high-speed shortest-path loop-free one.

URL:  https://ccrg.ucsc.edu

CSE-02: Human-like Text Generation with Long Short-Term Memory Recurrent Neural Networks

Primary mentor:  Saeed Kargar

UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Faisal Nawab

The potential of artificial intelligence to emulate human thought processes goes beyond passive tasks such as object recognition and mostly reactive tasks such as driving a car. A large part of artistic creation consists of simple pattern recognition and technical skill. Our perceptual modalities, our language, and our artwork all have statistical structure. Learning this structure is what deep-learning algorithms excel at. Machine-learning models can learn the statistical latent space of images, music, and stories, and they can then sample from this space, creating new artworks with characteristics like those the model has seen in its training data. Latent space sampling can become a brush that empowers the artist, augments our creative affordances, and expands the space of what we can imagine [1,2]. This summer, the SIP mentor and interns wii work on a research project that aims at exploring how Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) can be used to generate sequence data. In this interesting and advanced deep learning project, the research group will study and implement a couple of most popular yet challenging and advanced tasks in natural networks. For example, the group will use RNNs, and specifically, LSTMs to generate human-like screenplays. Furthermore, the research group will use similar techniques to other types of sequence data, such as sequences of musical notes to generate new music, to time series of brush-stroke data (for example, recorded while an artist paints on an iPad) to generate paintings stroke by stroke, and so on.

[1] Chollet, Francois. Deep learning with Python. Simon and Schuster, 2021. [2] Santhanam, Sivasurya. “Context based text-generation using lstm networks.” arXiv preprint arXiv:2005.00048 (2020).

To implement this research project, the high school SIP interns will learn various skills, tools, and concepts such as: (1) data mining; (2) advanced libraries and open-source platforms such as TensorFlow, Keras, and OpenCV; (3) designing and implementing advanced deep learning models; (4) using pre-trained models and getting familiar with transfer learning; (5) implementing advanced neural networks such as RNNs, GRUs, and LSTM; and (6) designing and implementing advanced and challenging projects such as text generation, music generation, and so on. The main applications of this research project include sentiment analysis, language modeling, speech recognition, and video analysis. This summer, the interns will learn designing and implementing a real-world application of deep learning models, specifically Recurrent Neural Networks and Long Short-Term Memory. To this end, the SIP interns will learn various deep learning concepts and tools — e.g., using the TensorFlow and Keras libraries, pre-trained models such as the MobileNet network, and popular online tools such as Google Colab and Jupyter notebook to solve programming problems. Furthermore, the interns will learn how to read research papers that have been published recently and implement them.

URL:  https://edgelab.ics.uci.edu

CSE-03: Implementing Neural Network from Scratch to Using Library (PyTorch)

Primary mentor:  Pooneh Safayenikoo

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Andrew Quinn

Deep learning is the next wave of Artificial Intelligence (AI). it has a wide range of applications from image classification and speech recognition to natural language processing. Deep learning has also garnered a lot of attention recently in the context of small devices such as phones, robots, and self-driving cars. Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are used to solve highly non-linear problems like recognition, classification, and segmentation. The solution is mostly obtained using a network of deep convolutional and/or fully connected layers with many filters in each layer.

In this research project, the SIP interns will learn how neural networks work and how they can implement a simple neural network in Python. The interns will also learn how to build and deploy a real-world deep learning model application this summer. To achieve this goal, the interns will learn about numerous deep learning ideas and tools, such as the PyTorch libraries, pre-trained models from the small networks like LeNet-5 to bigger networks like ResNet, popular datasets like MNIST, and CIFAR datasets, and the use of GitHub and Jupyter notebooks to tackle programming challenges. The interns will also learn how to read research papers and put them into practice.

CSE-04: Origami Robot: Modeling and Simulation

Primary mentor:  Samira Zare

UCSC faculty contact:   Prof. Mircea Teodorescu

Deployable structures have gained increasing interest as potential alternatives to rigid structures in various applications where payload size is restricted. From solar panels used in space exploration to medical devices for minimally invasive surgeries, these innovative structures offer the ability to adapt and change their shapes based on their environment. For instance, solar origami panels can fold and compact for easy transportation, and then unfold and deploy to their final structure for maximum efficiency. The mentor’s research group is actively involved in the design, modeling, and development of deployable structures using Autodesk Inventor, a popular computer-aided design (CAD) software, and Python, a widely used programming language for scientific computing and data analysis. Through dynamical simulations in Autodesk Inventor and Python-based analysis, the mentor’s research group aims to gain insights into the movements and behaviors of deployable structures. This research project provides the SIP interns an opportunity to gain hands-on experience in the design, modeling, and analysis of deployable structures, utilizing cutting-edge software and programming tools. The SIP interns will work closely with the mentor’s research group and contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the field of deployable structures, while developing valuable skills in CAD, simulation, data analysis, and programming using Python.

(1) Designing and modeling deployable structures using Autodesk Inventor, taking into account geometric configurations and kinematics; (2) Developing dynamical simulations in Autodesk Inventor to replicate real-world conditions and environments, and observing the movements and behaviors of deployable structures under different scenarios; (3) Using Python for data analysis of simulation results, including calculations of key parameters such as displacements; (4) Generating visualizations, such as plots and animations, using Python to aid in the interpretation and communication of research findings; (5) Collaborating with the research group to analyze and interpret the simulation data, and contributing to discussions and brainstorming sessions; (6) Keeping up-to-date with the latest advancements in the field of deployable structures, and integrating new insights and techniques into the research work.

CSE-05: Citizen Science Mobile Apps with Integrated Machine Learning Models

Primary mentor:  Fahim Hasan Khan

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Alex Pang

Citizen science involves the participation of non-scientists in data collection according to specific scientific protocols and in the process of using and interpreting that data. Increasingly, citizen science platforms are going mobile with the growing power of mobile computation. The mentor’s research involves developing an open-source software platform that allows a domain researcher to quickly create a citizen science mobile app with integrated machine learning (ML) models for collecting data with real-time analysis. The mentor is currently working on creating ML-powered mobile apps and server-side infrastructures of the citizen science platform.

In this research project, the SIP interns will help the mentor to develop and test citizen science mobile apps and use them to collect data. The collected data will then be used for more training and optimization of machine learning (ML) models.

URL:  https://www.fahimhasankhan.com

CSE-06: Building Question Answering Models Grounded in Semantics

Primary mentor:  Geetanjali Rakshit

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof Jeffrey Flanigan

With the current breakthrough in large language models such as ChatGPT, natural language processing (NLP) has garnered interest from people in all walks of life. NLP is about making computers learn language. It encompasses a lot of exciting problems like algorithms to teach a computer to translate input from one language to another, for example, English to French (machine translation), have a computer predict if a restaurant review written by someone is positive or negative (sentiment analysis), and so on. The goal of this research project is to build automated question answering systems/models grounded in semantics. The project will include working with existing rule-based models as well as state-of-the-art models to generate data for question answering, quality validation and evaluation of the generated data, as well as training models on this data on various kinds of model architectures.

The SIP interns working on this research project will help with data generation and working with deep learning models for question answering/reading comprehension tasks. The focus will be on analyzing these data, creating automated tests to check the quality of data, and using the data to train new models. The interns will learn to program in Python, work with real-world datasets, understand relevant concepts from natural language processing, and see these concepts in action by running state-of-the-art models. Based on the level of interest and preparedness of the interns, the mentor and interns may also do training of deep learning based models.

URL: http://users.soe.ucsc.edu/~geet

CSE-07: Movement Data Animation

Primary mentor:  Whitney Hansen

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Chris Wilmers

The purpose of this research project is to explore new and descriptive methods of animating and visually presenting movement data. The mentor is analyzing African wild dog GPS data for multiple research projects, and needs help investigating the newest R packages and visualization techniques that can showcase their research. This research project will involve learning how to process animal GPS data, utilize R and RStudio to handle and manipulate data, researching methods of data visualization, and learning plotting and graphics. While the mentor has a strong background in coding and GPS data visualization, they do not know what packages are out there or the best way to visualize their data yet. This research project is for independently motivated, problem-solving interns who are willing to execute tasks on their own initiative and think outside the box. Ideally, these interns have a strong interest in wildlife/conservation, science communication, and coding in R.

The high school SIP interns will:

—Process GPS movement data in R; —Carry out data wrangling in R; —Research R packages for data visualization; —Test animation techniques for GPS data; —Troubleshoot R packages on example data; and —Create figures, movies, and other visualization graphics demonstrating key wild dog movement processes.

URL: kwhitneyhansen.com

CSE-08: Applicable Data Analysis: From Scratch to Hatch

Primary mentors:  Li Liu, Zichao Li

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Yuyin Zhou

The primary objective of this research project is to offer interns a comprehensive introduction to data analysis, covering the fundamental areas of data collection, data processing, and data visualization. Each module of the project will feature a lecture-style presentation followed by hands-on exercises, allowing participants to put the concepts and techniques learned in the presentation into practice. The project will also provide tutorials on popular data analysis tools like Python and Excel. In addition to the lectures and exercises, the research project will provide opportunities for the high school SIP interns to create their own data analysis applications. This will allow the interns to apply their skills and creativity in practical and innovative ways. The interns will be encouraged to explore their areas of interest, such as climate change, healthcare, social media computing, and more, and apply data analysis techniques to solve real-world problems. Overall, this research project will equip interns with essential data analysis skills and provide them with an opportunity to apply these skills in a practical setting. By the end of the research project, the interns will have a better understanding of data analysis and the ways it can be used to tackle real-world challenges.

(1) Learn basic data analysis tools;

(2) Identify real-world problems where data analysis can help; and

(3) Implement a demo solution using data analysis techniques.

URL:  https://leolee7.github.io/

CSE-09: Event-Centric Reasoning with Large Language Models

Primary mentor:  Rongwen Zhao

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Jeffrey Flanigan

Natural language processing (NLP) helps machines interact with humans in natural language and perform language-related tasks. Recently, a series of large language models (LLMs) created by OpenAI has attracted a great amount of attention not only from the NLP community, but also the other fields. They have been shown to be able to solve various NLP tasks, even requiring human-level reasoning. Although with the remarkable advances of LLMs, reasoning about events and the state of entities with the dynamic contexts remains challenging since models need to figure out the required implicit information and related commonsense knowledge of these events and entities. The goal of this project is to annotate an event-centric reasoning dataset and evaluate the annotated dataset with LLMs.

The SIP interns working on this research project will help the mentor annotate a high-quality event-centric reasoning dataset that requires various commonsense knowledge. The annotated dataset will be used for fine-tuning a pre-trained model or evaluating the capability of the recently released LLMs. The interns will learn to program in PyTorch and other deep learning libraries. The interns will learn how to fine-tune pre-trained models and design prompting techniques for LLMs.

CSE-10: Computer Vision: Indoor Spatial Understanding

Primary mentor:  Yunqian Cheng

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Roberto Manduchi

This is a research project on indoor spatial understanding using computer vision. This research project is designed to introduce the high school SIP interns to the exciting field of computer vision, with a particular focus on indoor spatial understanding. Through a combination of lectures, exercises, and participation in a real research, the interns will gain a comprehensive understanding of the fundamental concepts and techniques involved in this area. In the first module of this research project, the interns will learn about edge detection, projective geometry, image processing, as well as data collection and analysis. The interns will also gain exposure to popular tools like Python and OpenCV. The lectures will be followed by hands-on exercises that will enable the interns to put their newly acquired knowledge into practice. In the second module of the research project, the interns will contribute to collecting and labeling video data that will be used to train machine learning algorithms for geometric reconstruction. Throughout the research project, the interns will be encouraged to explore their interests and apply their newly acquired skills to real-world problems. By the end of the research project, the interns will have a deeper understanding of computer vision and will be able to apply their skills to tackle real-world challenges related to scene understanding and image analysis. The interns will also have developed valuable skills in problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaboration that will serve them well in their future academic and professional pursuits.

—Learn basic computer vision through lecture and exercises; —Perform data collection online or using smart phone cameras; —Learn how to use simple data processing tools/scripts (Python knowledge will be greatly appreciated); and —Use labeling tools to generate high-quality annotations.

Required skills for interns prior to acceptance:  None; computer programming experience in Python is highly recommended

CSE-11: Exploring the Limitations and Pragmatic Usages of the New Bing Search

Primary mentor:  Changmao Li

The new Bing search, combined with ChatGPT, promises to deliver improved search results and a better user experience. However, there can be factually incorrect results, and users may not know how to effectively query it to obtain better results. This research project aims to investigate the limitations and pragmatic uses of the new Bing search. Specifically, the SIP mentor and interns will examine the following research questions: (1) How can ChatGPT augment the traditional Bing search by overcoming some of its limitations, particularly in terms of providing personalized and contextualized responses? (2) After augmentation with ChatGPT, what are the limitations, particularly in terms of inaccurate/incorrect search results or making up factual content, or other limited capabilities? (3) In what conditions should users choose to use the new Bing search instead of traditional search engines such as a Google search? and (4) How can users use the new Bing search wisely in the sense of constructing better queries?

The SIP interns will collect search queries from a diverse set of use cases and topics and apply these queries on Google search, the traditional Bing search, and the new Bing search and obtain the outputs. The interns will analyze the results in detail in order to answer first three of the above questions. The interns will then systematically investigate the design of queries for the new Bing search, and come up with recommendations for its effective use.

CSE-12: Quantum Secret Key Agreement

Primary mentor:  Archana Singh

Secondary mentor:  Xinyi Wu

Quantum secret key agreement is a secure communication protocol that uses quantum mechanics to create a shared secret key between two parties. The protocol involves the exchange of qubits, which cannot be measured without being disturbed, ensuring that any eavesdropping attempts are detected. The matching qubits are then used to generate a shared secret key that can be used with symmetric encryption algorithms to encrypt messages. This ensures that only the intended recipient can decrypt and read the message, making it secure against interception. Quantum secret key agreement is a promising technology for secure communication in the age of quantum computing.

Through this research project, the SIP interns will learn the basic principles of quantum communication that set it apart from any classical communication, providing better data security. The interns will learn to read academic papers in the field effectively and to turn their ideas into research work using mathematical modeling and Qiskit programming (a package in Python for quantum computing).

CSE-13: Deep Learning – Model Pruning for Deployment

Primary mentor:  Sathyaprakash Narayanan

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Jason Eshraghian

The Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) is a highly effective deep learning architecture designed primarily for image recognition and classification tasks. In recent years, there has been a surge in the complexity and size of CNN models, which has led to increased computational requirements and resource consumption. To address these challenges, this research project aims to study and develop efficient techniques for training and pruning CNN models without compromising their accuracy and performance. Training and pruning CNN models can lead to smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient networks, which are highly desirable in edge devices and real-time applications. Model pruning involves the removal of redundant neurons or connections in the network, which reduces the overall model size and computational requirements. Various pruning techniques, such as weight pruning, neuron pruning, and filter pruning, will be explored in this research project.

The SIP interns’ tasks will include: (1) Python programming every week; (2) exploring machine learning (ML)/deep learning (DL) frameworks such as Pytorch; (3) data augmentation (4) critical reading of research papers; and (6) DL model building. The interns will compare the results of model pruning, quantization, and knowledge distillation.

CSE-14: Studying and Applying Decentralized Edge Intelligence to Real-World Applications

Primary mentor:  Harikrishna Kuttivelil

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Katia Obraczka

Edge intelligence is a growing paradigm of artificial intelligence (AI). Instead of utilizing large, central entities (such as data and compute centers like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, etc.) as is done in most modern AI, edge intelligence is about how we can move AI systems and algorithms closer to the “edge of the network”, i.e., the devices at the very end of the network such as our phones, tablets, other consumer devices, sensors, etc. Edge intelligence systems must consider the numerous constraints of these limited devices and environments, execute their processes efficiently in the face of dynamic environments, and retain the performance of larger, more performant systems. In this research project, the mentor’s research group is focused on the application of decentralized and clustered edge intelligence to real-world applications around us. However, in order to do so, the group must be able to model these real-world situations. In this research project, the SIP mentor and interns will study interesting applications and find datasets to properly model them. The group will learn and utilize data pre-processing to make those datasets useful to use. The group will create ML/AI models to learn from that processed datasets. Finally, the group will use existing edge intelligence frameworks to observe how edge intelligence can help or hurt these selected applications.

The SIP interns will: (1) analyze existing research works on edge intelligence and applications; (2) identify key features of edge intelligence systems and map them onto potential application scenarios in which edge intelligence can be applied; (3) identify potential application scenarios to deploy edge intelligence in and find relevant datasets; (4) pre-process their discovered datasets such that they can develop and train ML/AI models; (5) use existing frameworks to take their ML model and data and apply it to in the context of edge intelligence and observe the behaviors of the resulting system; and (6) analyze the performance of resulting edge intelligence systems and draw conclusions about the effectiveness of their application scenarios.

CSE-15: 3D Human Face Capture and Reconstruction

Primary mentor:  Jiahao Luo

Three-dimensional (3D) human face models find a wide range of applications in scenarios such as 3D avatars, biometric identification, photo editing, and film production. The main propose of this research project is to help with 3D human face reconstruction and visualization.

In this research project, the SIP interns will learn the basic principles of state-of-the-art 3D human face technology. Depending on their experience and interests, the interns will also get involved in some subset of the following: 3D data capture, synthetic data generation, face model reconstruction, 3D rendering, and/or animation.

Required skills for interns prior to acceptance:  Computer programming, statistical data analysis

CSE-16: Image Classification Using Grad-CAM

Primary mentor:  Sijia Zhong

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Leilani Gilpin

Image classification is a supervised learning problem: one defines a set of target classes (objects to identify in images) and trains a model to recognize them using labeled example photos. Image classification is a great example of machine learning and includes many steps — e.g., preparing datasets, training, and testing. The SIP interns will create an image classifier in order to deepen their understanding of machine learning project. After creating an image classifier, the interns will be introduced to a tool named Grad-CAM. The Grad-CAM technique utilizes the gradients of the classification score with respect to the final convolutional feature map, to identify the parts of an input image that most impact the classification score. This task will help the SIP interns visualize how the image classifier works.

In this research project, the SIP interns will learn how to create an image classifier and apply the Grad-CAM techniques to the classifier. The interns will carry out the following tasks: (1) prepare a dataset; (2) train and save a model; (3) test the model; and (4) apply Grad-CAM to the model. The SIP interns will use Python for the coding tasks. If needed, this research project will start with a basic tutorial on Python.

CSE-17: Deep Learning Algorithms for 3D Reconstruction of Stem Cells

Primary mentor:  Hamed Tangestani

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Ali Shariati

The comprehensive understanding of molecular spatial statistics in organoids is crucial for gaining insights into the intricate cellular processes and for the advancement of regenerative medicine. Given the inherent complexity, conventional methods fall short, prompting the need for innovative approaches. This research project intends to fulfill this need by utilizing deep learning models for precise segmentation of stem cells in microscopic images, followed by their 3D reconstruction. This approach enables the mentor’s research group to decipher the intricate spatial distribution and organization of stem cells within organoids. Thus, through the intersection of deep learning and 3D visualization, the mentor’s research group aims to bring new depths to the understanding of molecular spatial statistics.

In this research project, the mentor will introduce the SIP interns to the mathematical concepts underlying deep learning. Through Python, step by step, the mentor and interns will construct a deep learning model for biomedical images in stem cell organoids.

CSE-18: Scaling Python and Machine Learning Applications with the Ray Framework

Primary mentor:  Soroush Zare

Machine learning (ML) is a set of techniques that allow computers to learn specific tasks. With the new wave of artificial intelligence (AI) and ML applications, it is becoming more challenging to have solutions that work as the workload gets bigger. One way to make such applications scalable is to distribute the workload to different workers, each of which might run on a different computer core to allow parallelization, which can in turn greatly increase the speed.

In this research project, the SIP interns will learn about the Python programming language and the Ray framework (available for Python) which is used to scale Python and AI workloads. The mentor and interns will go through the process of setting up Ray, discuss how it works internally, and also see examples of programs integrated with Ray to allow speedups. The SIP interns will also be assigned some problems to write in Python and incorporate them with Ray to ensure they can apply the concepts they have learned.

CSE-19: Applying Reinforcement Learning Algorithms in Simulated Car Lane Following

Primary mentor:  Oliver Chang

Deep reinforcement learning (DRL) is becoming an increasingly powerful way to train intelligent agents to achieve complex tasks. Reinforcement learning (RL) is a branch of machine learning that teaches an agent through rewards or punishments through interactions in an environment. In particular, policy gradient (PG) methods are promising in autonomous driving because they do not need well-annotated data. Instead, they use a convolutional neural network as a controller and update the parameters based on the reward outcome from the environment. However, PG methods are unstable and take a long time to train. The mentor is interested in applying a potentially better PG algorithm called proximal policy optimization (PPO) to various DRL tasks. Implementing PPO to a wide array of RL tasks like playing Pac-Man, spider walking, and car racing would solidify PPOs promise as a stable PG algorithm.

The first task for the SIP interns is to pick a gym environment that they find interesting. Gym is a Python extension that makes it easy to access myriad environments like Atari games, physics tools, and 3D motions like spider-walking. Then, the interns will play around with an environment of their choice and report what is included; what do the rewards and states look like? Next, the SIP interns will implement and assess a simple PG algorithm. Finally, the interns will apply the PPO algorithm and see if there is improvement over the simple algorithm.

DAN-01: Finding Norma: In Search of Feminist Media Archives From the 1970s

Primary mentor:  Livia Perez

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Mark Nash

Feminist videos, short films, home movies, still works, and alternative formats are less known in audiovisual historiography than mainstream pieces such as feature films. The precariousness resulting from the radical choice of media (e.g., first generation videotapes) or the innumerable obstacles in conserving these works makes us unaware of a large part of these images, particularly those produced by queer and black artists and activists. In this research project, the SIP mentor and interns will go over film archives to mine from the feminist movement in the United States during the 1970s. Through this research project, the SIP interns will receive training on several aspects of archival material research for documentary filmmaking such as crafting a narrative, pre-production planning, and still and moving image editing. Additionally, the SIP interns will be taught methods for conducting non-fiction research and archival research. The archives have extensive, diverse research materials, such as photographs, film footage, newspapers, online articles, paintings, letters, journals, and diaries.

In this research project, the SIP interns will collaborate on excavating archival research (films, videos, photographs, documents and papers) to develop an artistic curatorial project that will unfold in a future exhibition and a documentary feature film. These materials and data will complement the archival research on neglected media, especially those produced by women, queer, and BIPOC people, that the mentor of this research project has been doing for the last three years.

Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Computer programming, field work

No research projects posted yet.

EEB-01: The Role of Oxytocin in Social Competence

Primary mentor:  Megan Molinari

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Suzanne Alonzo

Oxytocin is a hormone that is involved in social interactions across diverse animal groups including fish, amphibians, birds, and mammals. Despite being very important in social interactions, the way oxytocin works is still debated due to the differing effects oxytocin can have on animal behavior- sometimes increasing cooperation while in other cases increasing aggression towards other individuals. One theory behind the influence of oxytocin is that it may help animals pay attention to the social cues of their peers, allowing them to make the appropriate social decision (which is known as social competence). This project will test the impact of oxytocin on the behavior of a fish species with complex social behavior, the ocellated wrasse (Symphodus ocellatus), to see if it increases social competence in this species.

Male ocellated wrasse form complex social relationships during the reproductive season, in which two individuals form temporary relationships where they have to balance competition and cooperation. The mentor will record the social interactions between pairs of male ocellated wrasse in the wild. The mentor will then inject oxytocin into one individual in this relationship and take another recording of the social interactions between the two males. The SIP interns will help the mentor analyze this behavioral footage, learning skills on how to define and measure animal behavior. The mentor and interns will then analyze this behavioral data to determine if oxytocin helps the male ocellated wrasse make the appropriate decision given the social cues they receive, learning skills in statistical analysis and R code.

EEB-02: Diving Performance of Semi-Aquatic Garter Snakes Over Ontogeny

Primary mentor:  Elsie Cecilia Carrillo

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Rita Mehta

Garter snakes are excellent models for studying the physiology, behavior, and evolution of a semi-aquatic lifestyle. Some garter snakes experience ontogenetic shifts in their foraging ecology, feeding on more aquatic prey as they grow. The mentor’s research group is interested in investigating if garter snake diving performance changes over ontogeny in two species of garter snakes, one more aquatic and the other more terrestrial. The SIP mentor and interns will analyze video footage for three experimental assays: (1) breath-hold ability, (2) bradycardic response, and (3) swim speed/proportion of surface swims/dives. This research will help the mentor’s group understand what it takes to be semi-aquatic.

The SIP interns will analyze video footage for two species of garter snakes across three experimental assays for the first two years of life. For the first assay “breath-hold ability,” the intern will record the maximum submergence time in seconds. For the second assay, the intern will log time and heart rate in a “simulated dive” where the head of the garter snake is submerged while a fetal doppler is placed over the heart. In the third assay, the intern will analyze swimming speed using the program Tracker and also log the proportion of surface swims to dives over a two-minute period in a small wading pool. The interns will also learn how to take snake measurements using the software Serpwidget.

ECO-01: Bid-Ask Spreads in the Laboratory

Primary mentor:  Vivian Zheng

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Kristian Lopez Vargas

Project description: The goal of this research project is to look at the behavior of individuals in the context of setting bids and asks in asset markets under different market settings.

Tasks: The SIP interns will: (1) write computer code to program economic games; (2) help conduct laboratory experiments; and (3) carry out basic analysis of data.

URL:  https://vivianz.sites.ucsc.edu/

ELE-01: Learning-Based Framework for Heart Disease Identification

Primary mentor:  Xinyi Wu

Project description: Computer-assisted test interpretations have efficiently supported doctors in addressing early diagnosis of heart disease during routine examinations. In particular, an electrocardiogram (ECG), one of the most popular cardiac tests, is a quick and painless tool for early diagnosis. It presents the status of the patient’s heart condition, depending on precision of test interpretation. The objective of this research project is to substantially enhance heart disease identification via a comprehensive learning-based framework leveraging physical tests such as ECG test, cardiac stress test, etc.

Tasks: This research project will be conducted using Python programming software. The SIP interns will:

(1) Gain knowledge about an electrocardiogram (ECG);

(2) Learn about signal processing methods, machine learning,  and deep learning; 

(3) Develop a detection model for ECG signals;

(4) Develop a multi-label classification model based on deep learning methods; and

(5) Develop a multi-label forecasting model based on deep learning methods.

ELE-02: Decentralized Energy Management in Smart Grids

Primary mentor:  Fargol Nematkhah

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Yihsu Chen

High penetration of distributed energy resources (DERs) such as photovoltaic (PV) panels into electric grids along with the proliferation of new loads such as electric vehicles are challenging the traditional methods of operation and transforming the conventional grid into a cyber-physical system called the smart grid. Accordingly, the distributed nature associated with DERs calls for distributed management schemes where resource owners would be able to make decisions autonomously while satisfying the grid’s needs such as supply-demand balance and transmission lines’ capacity. To get a glimpse of how such schemes might work, consider the scenario where a PV panel has created more power than expected for the next five minutes; the surplus power can be used by another consumer at a different location who is in need of power while respecting the operational constraints of the grid. This method of power provision unburdens the electric grid and offers economic opportunities for resource owners. This summer, the SIP interns will gain insight on the basic principles of electric grid operation and get familiar with the classic and novel optimization problems in the context such as economic dispatch, unit commitment, and optimal power flow. They will learn to effectively read academic papers of the field and to transform their ideas into research work through mathematical modeling and computer programming.

The SIP interns’ tasks/summer research experience will include;

(1) Basic principles of operation and energy management in electric grids;

(2) Electricity markets and the governing economic mechanisms;

(3) Novel transformations in energy sector and the smart grid concept;

(4) Basics of optimization and mathematical modeling;

(5) Optimization programming;

(6) Critical literature review; and

(7) Effective collaboration in research teams.

URL:  https://people.ucsc.edu/~ychen225/

ELE-03: Finite Element Simulation of Fluorescent Dielectric Nanoparticle Trapping Under the Influence of Electrostatic Field and Their Corresponding Fluorescence Signal Extraction for Biosensing Quantification.

Primary mentor:  K B M Rakib Hasan

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Ahmet Ali Yanik

Fluorescence-based disease detection techniques have been in the heart of the conventional disease diagnostics. Different clinical diagnostic tools like ELISA, RT-PCR, digital ELISAs use fluorescence-based modality for biosensing quantification. On the other hand, electrophoresis and dielectrophoresis are among the most popular particle trapping methods capable of trapping different polarized/nonpolarized bioparticles on sensor surfaces. Interdigitated electrode (IDE) is the one of the most used sensors for an electrophoretic/dielectrophoretic fluorescent bioparticle trapping, which provides a periodic fluorescence readout convenient for target quantification. In this project, the interns will be guided to obtain an optimum IDE geometry using a finite element method-based simulation tool in order to achieve a high signal-to-noise ratio in the fluorescence readout. The mentor’s research group has invented a fluorescence-based bioparticle detection technique using electrophoretic trapping of dielectric nanoparticles followed by a digital image processing-based algorithm for their quantification from the raw fluorescence images taken via epifluorescence imaging. During the last part of the project, the SIP interns will be guided to learn the conventional image processing toolboxes like ImageJ and MATLAB used for background subtraction and signal extraction for quantification.

The SIP interns will: (1) learn COMSOL Multiphysics for finite element method-based modeling of an electrophoretic nanoparticle trapping on IDE surface; and (2) learn ImageJ and MATLAB for post-processing and signal extraction from the raw fluorescence images.

URL: https://www.yaniklab.science/home

ELE-04: Modeling of Biosensors and Performance Analysis

Primary mentor:  Kamrun Nahar Shushama

Biosensors are playing important role in early stage disease detection. They are used in many industry applications, such as medical diagnostics like, Covid- 19 detection, enzyme detection, food safety, environmental monitoring etc. There are different types of biosensors based on their working principle e. g surface plasmon resonance based biosensor, electrochemical based biosensor, nanopore based biosensor, fluorescence based biosensor etc. These biosensors are used depending upon their application areas and the advantages they are providing. In this project, we will do literature review of different types of biosensors, learn their advantages and limitations. Then we will do modeling of one type of biosensor; how to do modeling, performance analysis. We will get introduced with softwares like MATLAB and COMSOL for modeling and performance analysis.

The SIP interns will work on the design of a biosensor. The interns will do literature review of different types biosensor, learn about transfer matrix method, learn MATLAB and COMSOL software simulation.

ELE-05: Analytical Performance Analysis of Nanopore Sensors

Primary mentor:  Reefat Inum

The nanopore field has made great strides over the past twenty years, starting with the detection and characterization of biomolecules ranging from nucleic acids to protein complexes. One high-impact prospect that has only recently started to be addressed is the potential for nanopores to provide a platform for disease biomarker identification and quantification from clinical samples. In comparison to their biological counterpart, solid-state nanopores hold great promise in this type of application because of their mechanical robustness and durability due to suitable supporting membranes, tunable pore size and geometry to fit various targets of interest, and ease of integration with customizable flow-cells and precision current amplifier. However, detection and quantification of target protein biomarker using solid-state nanopores isn’t without any challenges. To achieve the best signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), it’s important to optimize the ratio of pores to particles, as well as the electrolyte solution’s conductivity, pH, viscosity, and other factors. Additionally, it’s necessary to adjust the pore geometry and surface charge of the target analyte to ensure enough translocation events occur within a short timeframe. The mentor’s research group is working on developing a high throughput nanopore sensor. The interns will work on the analytical modelling with the mentor to optimize the parameters for the experimental protocol.

The SIP interns will have three main tasks: (1) learn about the working principles and applications of nanopore sensors; (2) gain a fundamental understanding of how to mathematically model a nanopore sensor; and (3) use the analytical model to carry out performance analysis and determine the optimal sensor design parameters. During this process, the interns will also be introduced to the basics of MATLAB programming and the COMSOL software.

URL:  https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=V3woP9sAAAAJ

ENV-01: Monitoring in the Santa Cruz Mountains

Primary mentor:  John Morgan

Camera traps are an important tool for wildlife research and conservation. Camera traps enable researchers to detect the presence of elusive species, estimate population sizes, and record behaviors that would otherwise be nearly impossible to observe. In the Santa Cruz Mountains camera traps are used to remotely monitor the presence of wildlife species, including mountain lions and their prey. This summer, interns will help the Santa Cruz Puma Project process images collected from camera traps deployed in a grid across the Santa Cruz Mountains. Interns will help calculate the relative abundance of species in the study area and make predictions about how environmental and anthropogenic factors affect species abundances.

The SIP interns will primarily be responsible for identifying species present in photos captured using camera traps deployed in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The interns will gain experience managing and processing data and performing basic analyses to estimate species abundance and temporal patterns. The interns will then explore how these patterns might change spatially based on environmental and anthropogenic factors.

FDM-01: Tuning in – Reading Works in Sound and Moving Image

Primary mentor:  Merve Genç

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Yiman Wang

This research project focuses on a body of contemporary artworks from the last five decades, considering how sound and moving images have been used to tune into the world that we live in. Using a variety of writing and critical reading skills, the group will be producing a body of writing on artworks selected by the mentor, to be complemented by works that the SIP interns will bring in, to produce a body of writing in which the group will have engaged with the specific qualities of each work while connecting these works to the larger historical and social structures in which they emerged.

The SIP interns will: (1) conduct historical and social research surrounding artworks; (2) write on artworks; (3) give feedback on writing; (4) engage in weekly discussions; and (5) contribute with artworks of their own choosing.

HIS-01: History from Below and to the Left

Primary mentor:  Carlos Cruz

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Grace Peña Delgado

Is history an objective study where the historian is far removed from the object of study? The writing of history, whether scholars want to acknowledge it or not, is deeply conditioned by political, personal, and moral conditions along with the temporal and spacial conditions that shape our lives. Historians as writers take stands by choosing certain words, vocabulary, and choice of evidence, along with conceptual categories. More importantly, however, are the silences and omissions. What does it mean to do history from below and to the left? Drawing from histories that refuse to objectify communities of struggle, this research project will explore how historians can construct stories based on narratives that revolve around feeling and thinking, that centers the autonomy of the individual as well as the communities that shape their lives and push back on oppressive racial patriarchal capitalist conditions. The SIP mentor and interns will discuss and consider the aims and methods of social history along with class, gender, and race in order to determine what history from below and to the left can look like for the research group, especially as it relates to the Mexican Revolution of the 20th century.

The SIP interns will read primary historical sources about gender, class, labor struggle, and its intersection with Indigenous peoples. The interns will learn to retrieve scholarly journals and write critical reviews. Moreover, the SIP interns will assist the mentor with identifying key texts through digital archives and classifying them. This task will teach the interns to engage and analyze digital archival research as a historical methodology. The SIP interns will have an opportunity to engage in their own personal histories research mini-project by utilizing historical databases to create their own “histories from below and to the left.” The mentor will encourage the interns to present their findings to one another to encourage the practice of the everyday public historian.

LAL-01: Kids and Care Work: Latinx Mixed-Status Family Affective Landscapes and Children’s Emotional Labor

Primary mentor:  Karina Ruiz

UCSC faculty contact:  Dr. Jessica K. Taft

This research project analyzes newly collected original qualitative data including participant observations, interviews, and focus groups. Completing initial coding and analysis, the SIP interns will learn about how children in Latinx mixed-status families learn and practice emotional labor skills across home and community contexts.

The SIP interns will work on literature review, qualitative coding, and qualitative analysis.

LIN-01: The Phonetics of Voice in Santiago Laxopa Zapotec

Primary mentor:  Mykel Brinkerhoff

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Grant McGuire

In order to gain an understanding of what is possible in human languages, linguists often conduct linguistic fieldwork. This fieldwork consists of collecting wordlists, stories, sentences, and grammatical judgements. This project is concerned with probing questions about what sounds exist in the world’s languages and how these sounds interact with each other. One such research question has to do with what phonetic principles determine how these sounds are organized in the minds of speakers to the exclusion of other sounds. This research project will be using data collected during the summer of 2022 to investigate what are the characteristics that define the different types of vowels in Zapotec. In Zapotec, each vowel appears with one of four different modes or voice qualities: breathy, checked, laryngealized, and model. Depending on which voice quality is used, this can indicate whether one is talking about fish or snakes (bal vs. bahl) or a marketplace or a rifle (ya’a vs. yah). Preliminary research seems to indicate that only two acoustic measurements are necessary to differentiate the four voice qualities. This research project will determine if those acoustic measurements are the only acoustic measurements that are necessary to classify the different voice qualities.

The SIP interns will be asked to assist with annotating and analyzing audio recordings collected from 18 native speakers of Santiago Laxopa Zapotec. This will consist of the interns learning: (1) how to segment audio into meaningful parts; (2) measure meaningful acoustic information; and (3) how to annotate the audio files, and (4) how to perform statistical analyses on those measurements. Additionally, the interns will learn how to maintain and enter information into a corpus designed to facilitate phonological and phonetic analyses. While completing these tasks, the interns will learn what linguistics is and some of the areas of human language that linguists explore.

Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: Statistical data analysis, field work

URL:  https://www.mlbrinkerhoff.me

LIT-01: Mapping Queer and Feminist Literary Montreal

Primary mentor:  Arielle Burgdorf

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Carla Freccero

Montreal has a rich history of queer and feminist meeting places, but unfortunately many of them no longer exist. However, traces of these underground spaces remain in the literature of Montreal, which depicts cafes, lesbian bars, salons, and bookstores that served as points of connection, creation, and liberation for women during the 1980s and 1990s. This project will create a cartography of queer and feminist spaces in Montreal in the 1980s and 1990s through its francophone and anglophone literature. Possible authors might include: Nicole Brossard, Gail Scott, Marie-Claire Blais, Louky Bersianik, and France Théoret. The end result will be a visual representation of different annotated areas from queer and feminist history found in novels and short stories from Montreal, chosen based on each intern’s interests. The research project also brings up the issue of linguistic divisions and segregation within subcultures. The map acts as a queer, intersectional intervention into normative time and gentrification, providing a window into a transgressive past and offering ideas to inform the city’s future.

The SIP interns will have the opportunity to research the history of queer and feminist spaces in Montreal through the lens of literature, identify relevant literary materials within a specific timeframe (1980s-1990s), read literature with a critical eye towards data collection, determine which primary sources are reliable and trustworthy for research, search library resources/databases, gain a familiarity with archival science, create annotated bibliographies, gain a familiarity with citation programs such as Zotero, (if possible) read materials in English and French and/or translate relevant sections of the materials, use map-reading skills to identify the locations of former queer and feminist spaces, add data findings to a collective map using programs or software such as ArcGIS StoryMaps, pinpoint important geographic spaces and provide accompanying annotations of each data point, and respond to/be in conversation with the other interns while sharing information with one another.

LIT-02: Translating and Adapting the World of Hunter x Hunter

Primary mentor:  Zoë Sprott

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Renée Fox

This research project analyzes Yoshihiro Togashi’s manga and anime series Hunter x Hunter in its various adaptations and English translations. The goal of this research project is to better understand how Togashi engages in world-building and how his worlds have been translated across texts. The SIP interns will engage with one version of Hunter x Hunter, provide notes and observations, and work together to highlight similarities and differences among the texts. Working closely with their mentor, the interns will also have the opportunity to focus on particular aspects of Hunter x Hunter, such as fashion, gender, or immigration, and explore them in more depth.

The SIP interns will be assigned one version of Hunter x Hunter to read/watch and are responsible for taking comprehensive notes on their observations, reactions, and questions. Together with the mentor, the interns will engage in group discussions around the many versions of the text. Individually (with guidance from the mentor), each intern will develop a specific area of interest within the text, which they will have the opportunity to explore in more depth. No language fluency outside of English is required, but Japanese language learners are especially encouraged to apply.

URL:  https://literature.ucsc.edu/

LIT-03: The Experience of Chronic Pain and the “Pain Gap” in Western Medical Practice

Primary mentor:  Katherine Rogers

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Hunter Bivens

It can take 6 or more visits and 8 or more years to be diagnosed with endometriosis, a chronic pain condition affecting, by some estimates, 1 in 10 people who menstruate. Those facing the pain are often told the pain is in their heads before they are taken seriously. This example shows a persistent problem in Western medicine – that some people’s pain is believed and responded to with treatment, and some are not (a phenomenon commonly known as the “pain gap”). This research project takes a multidisciplinary approach to questions of pain and agency. It interacts with fields like medical anthropology and disability studies to better understand what types of pain are taken seriously in medical practices today. This is an especially important question for certain marginalized identity groups, including women, people of color, and trans people, who often face medical discrimination. Research questions include: Whose pain is listened to and treated and why? What does chronic pain do to the body and the conception of the self?

The SIP interns will get a grounding in concepts like the “pain gap” and the history of medicine (especially gynecology) and will work with the mentor to develop a research agenda that includes medical studies, theoretical texts, and “life writing” to answer a targeted research question. To foster independent research skills, each intern will choose a different chronic pain diagnosis and evaluate the barriers to treatment for people with that disease or disorder. With assistance from the mentor, by the end of the project, each intern will demonstrate an understanding of diagnostic criteria and current treatment plans for that ailment, the population impacted most commonly by the disease, and will be able to speak about the lived experience of the patients with that disease. This process will develop research skills as well as teach technical reading and writing. This will advance interns’ critical thinking and independent research skills in a supportive, interdisciplinary environment. The interns will leave the program with a better sense of the field of science and medical studies in the humanities.

LIT-04: Reconfiguring Displacement and the “American Dream” through Borderland Stories

Primary mentor:  Maria Pachon

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Micah Perks

Every year, thousands of migrants attempt to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. To understand the challenges, contradictions, and complexities of what happens at the border, it is important to access migrants’ experiences. The purpose of this research project is to explore the potential of storytelling to capture the complexity of borderland experiences, question fixed national identities, subvert stereotypes, and portray the heterogeneity of the Latinx community. What are the narrative strategies and media that border communities are using to tell their stories? How does their experience of dislocation and relocation affect their relationship with language? How can a border writing be defined? What is the link between storytelling, survival, community building, and collective memory? How has the perception of the “American Dream” changed over time? How can personal stories resist the official narrative about migration?

The SIP interns will: (1) read critical literature on migration, border studies, displacement, memory, transnationalism, and appropriation; (2) explore the creative possibilities and limitations of crossing geographical and language borders; (3) collaborate on the archival research of borderland stories; (4) identify common narrative strategies and themes; and (5) write their own creative piece about migration, and come up with strategies to make space and establish a conversation with the immigrant stories they read without appropriating them.

URL:  https://creativewriting.ucsc.edu/creativecritical/list-page-grad-page.html

LIT-05: Bug Lit! Insects in Literature and Culture

Primary mentor:  Shane Baker

Perhaps no other nonhuman form of life has captured the human imagination more than the phylum of insecta (by far the largest phyla of the kingdom animalia). Their predation methods, mating rituals, ancientness, and sometimes uncanny appearance astonish and terrify us. Objects of fear and loathing but also wonder and delight, they have operated for thousands of years as suppliers of symbolic meaning, as ubiquitous on the Earth’s dry surfaces as they are in myth, folklore, literature, and film. We have a love-hate relationship with them: They remind of us death, but also regeneration; they plague and pollinate our crops; they eat us and we eat them. Utilizing some of the research methods of anthropology in addition to literary theory, this research project emphasizes literature — the poem, the short story, the fable, and literary naturalistic description — as a lens through which to view the history of cultural reflection on us and them , the human and the insect. Participation in the research project acts as an introduction to the work of cultural entomology, which is the study of how insects have shaped human societies through the analysis of their representation in cultural artifacts. The SIP interns will also learn the basics of biological taxonomy.

The SIP interns will: (1) search for and aggregate the appearance of various insects in literature and media; (2) be led on a tour through the UCSC Campus Natural Reserve, where they will observe, identify, and document insects in the wild; and (3) read some selections from literary texts that depict insect life and discuss their possible meanings.

MET-01: Microbial Induced Corrosion

Primary mentor:  Mitchell Rocereto

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Chad Saltikov

Engineered surfaces such as metal and concrete piping are susceptible to microbial influenced corrosion resulting in massive economic losses and increased threats to human and environmental health. Leaky gas and oil pipelines and failures are often attributed to uncontrolled growth of microbes that accelerate metal corrosion. This research project will address the microbial influenced corrosion (MIC) problem by taking a “green” approach to combating microbes known to cause corrosion. The approach will be to isolate and characterize microbial biofilms that inhibit and protect metal surfaces from microbes known to cause corrosion through a process known as MIC. The specific aims of this research project are to: (1) develop an electro-chemical screening platform for quantifying anti-MIC properties of microbial biofilms cultured from diverse environmental sources; and (2) characterize the mechanisms for anti-MIC activities using microscopy, metabolomics, and genomics.

The SIP interns will help collect and screen environmental samples for anti-corrosion biofilm forming microbes. Microbiological techniques will be used to grow and propagate these microbes for further MIC testing. Interns will also learn anaerobic technique and how to use anaerobic bacterial equipment. Interns will also learn data analysis and how to sort genomic data and reference databases to determine taxonomy. Interns will also get experience with R studio and Python in data analysis. Interns will also learn more about microbial induced corrosion and how it affects certain materials. Learning how to read scientific papers as well as breaking them down will also be looked at.

Required skills for interns prior to acceptance:  Lab work

URL: https://sites.google.com/ucsc.edu/ucsc-saltikov-lab/

MET-02: Toxin-Antitoxins and Their Molecular Targets’ Co-Evolution

Primary mentor:  Caison Warner

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Manel Camps

Toxin-antitoxin systems are unique systems found across prokaryotic organisms. These systems are associated with antibiotic resistance, virulence and persistence. We aim to find if there is an evolutionary co-selection pressure between the toxin and its targets. The implication would change the way these systems are understood and classified.

The SIP interns can expect to generate the following:

—Multiple sequences alignments (MSA); —Protein and host phylogenetic trees; —Various graphs and heat maps; and —Literature search and protein homology search.

The interns must have either a Mac or a Windows laptop with Linux installed on it.

MET-03: RNA Sequencing Analysis of Arsenic Exposure on Citrobacter sp TSA-1

Primary mentor:  Juliana Nzongo

There is an urgent need to understand the risk factors associated with arsenic exposure and human health. One such emerging risk factor is the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) microbiome. The GIT microbiome is vital for digestion, proper nutrient absorption and regulation of the immune system, and is the first line of defense against ingested toxicants. This research project is focused on investigating arsenic detoxification in gastrointestinal bacteria isolated from Termite hindgut. The SIP mentor's lab strives to understand the mechanism of arsenic detoxification in bacteria exposed to environmental and gastrointestinal stimuli.

This summer, the SIP interns, their graduate student mentor, and faculty advisor will use bioinformatic tools to analyze RNA sequencing data. The interns will learn to use programs like Geneious, Python, and Google Colab. The interns will learn basic microbial genetics to help us understand how our organism behaves when exposed to Arsenate or Arsenite.

MCD-01: Elucidating the Genetic Basis of Antibiotic Resistance in Fluoroquinolones

Primary mentor:  Amanda Carbajal

Bacteria are evolutionarily old microbes that have developed a myriad of unique and poorly understood genetic manipulations to achieve survival and evolution whether it’s in a human host or in the environment. They threaten human health in the sense of their success of antibiotic resistance, caused by selection of random mutations within their genome. Two aspects of bacterial biology include the unique mobile genetic element of a plasmid, an independent genetic tool that can be passed on and used “as needed” through horizontal gene transfer, yet little is known specifically about how plasmids help bacteria. This project is driven by the goal to understand how plasmid biology specifically allows E.Coli to be so successful, so that new target therapies may be developed to target and minimize the superbug phenomena.

The SIP interns’ primary task will be to develop a helpful in-house database of the known data on plasmids and biofilm formation mechanisms of action with respect to each species of bacteria. This database will be used to track genetic and mechanistic comparisons among the different strains and how they utilize plasmids. The interns’ secondary tasks will include learning what it means to be a scientist from reading peer-reviewed scientific journals, identifying strong and weak studies, and methods used in the field to achieve the proving of a hypothesis. The interns will learn to network, collaborate, communicate and see a project through. The interns will learn about a field that is emerging that few, if any other labs, are working on.

MCD-02: Homeostatic Sleep Mechanisms

Primary mentor:  Stefan Abreo

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Yi Zuo

Sleep, which is dictated by circadian and homeostatic mechanisms, is impaired in 50 to 70 million adults in the US and, when impaired, has been shown to severely increase the risk of mental and physiological maladies like depression, anxiety, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Homeostatic sleep processes, the regulatory mechanisms that compensate for extended periods of wakefulness, are greatly understudied. My project will show that waking-associated increases in neuronal DNA damage increase the pressure towards sleep, and identify new molecular targets for therapeutics.

The SIP interns will gain experience in PCR genotyping, stereotactic surgery, murine behavioral protocols and analysis, intracardiac perfusions, neural tissue preparation, immunofluorescence, confocal microscopy, and data consolidation. The interns are expected to be meticulous note-takers, have good time management skills, and have the motivation to review scientific literature and ask as many questions as they can!

URL:  https://www.zuolab.org/

MCD-03: Neuronal Population Encoding

Primary mentor:  Brian Mullen

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. David Feldheim

The Feldheim lab is interested in the superior colliculus (SC), a structure in the midbrain where visual, auditory, and somatosensory information are integrated to initiate motor commands. Sensory integration is key to perceiving and responding to our environment, however each individual neuron lacks consistency between individual trials to give a complete understanding of the environment. The population of neurons, i.e. circuit, will better inform the organism of its perceptions. As such, our lab has performed electrophysiogical recordings of neurons on awake mice while recording from the SC, while presenting various visual and auditory stimuli.

When the researchers place the electrodes into the brain, they do so blindly. After the experiment, they dissect out the brain and stain the tissue to reveal the location of the probes. To understand the data fully, the research group need tools to align the location of the electrodes to an established mouse atlas. This will assist in the research group’s interpretations of the data. This summer, the SIP mentors and SIP/TSIP interns will be building a graphic user interface (GUI) in Python to align the electrophysiological probe placement to a known mouse atlas.

Required skills for interns prior to acceptance:  Computer programming, lab work, statistical data analysis

URL: https://feldheimlab.mcdb.ucsc.edu/

MUS-01: Music, Experimental Video, and Storytelling

Primary mentor:  Nina Barzegar

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Ben Leeds Carson

The focus of this research project is on exploring the relationship between music, motion picture, and personal storytelling. The mentorship aims to deepen the interns’ understanding of this concept and empower them to create impactful sonic designs for experimental video productions. Throughout the research project, the SIP interns will immerse themselves in the world of experimental storytelling, drawing from their own experiences, cultural backgrounds, emotions, and memories. The interns will analyze the themes, moods, and narratives within their stories to discover how music can enhance and amplify their video experience. By exploring different musical elements, techniques, and instruments, the SIP interns will develop expressive possibilities that align with their personal narratives. Additionally, the research project will cover technical aspects of music and sound design for motion pictures, emphasizing how sonic elements contribute to the overall narrative and audience experience. Collaborative exercises and workshops will enable the interns to experiment with composing and designing soundscapes that enhance the dramatic impact of their explored stories. Ultimately, the research project will culminate in the interns applying their acquired knowledge and analytical skills to create a short video accompanied by a thoughtfully crafted sonic design.

The SIP interns’ tasks will include: (1) learning and research — exploring music, motion picture, and storytelling concepts through research and examples; (2) creative exploration — reflecting on personal experiences to generate ideas and experimenting with storytelling techniques; (3) Logic Pro training — learning the basics of using Logic Pro, a software for music composition and editing; (4) video production — planning and capturing video footage, and creating visual compositions; (5) sound design — applying music and sound to enhance the video’s mood and narrative within Logic Pro; (6) editing and integration — combining video and sound elements in video editing software; and (7) presentation and reflection — sharing their completed video projects and reflecting on the creative process.

OCS-01: Detection and Attribution of Chlorophyll Trends in the North Pacific

Primary mentor:  Dongran Zhai

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Claudie Beaulieu

Global climate change increasingly affects marine ecosystems, altering their physical, chemical, and biological environment. Based on coupled model projections, a global decline in primary productivity is expected due to changes in temperature, light, nutrients, and grazing. A decrease in primary productivity has the potential to reduce CO2 uptake by the gyres, with ramifications for the global carbon cycle. The concentration of chlorophyll-a is an important proxy for ocean primary production. This project is mainly about statistically detecting a change in the North Pacific subtropical gyre in satellite chlorophyll and determining the underlying cause(s). We will analyze satellite chlorophyll over 1998-2022 in the North Pacific subtropical gyre to quantify recent change and uncertainty.

The SIP mentor and interns will characterize the signal of observed change and test whether the signal detected is larger than the natural variability of chlorophyll observed in the region. Then, the research group will retrieve coupled model simulations of chlorophyll over that region and perform an attribution of the observed decline. As such, the reearch group will determine the expected signal of change in chlorophyll with and without anthropogenic forcing and quantify its contribution to the change detected in observations. This work will be conducted using the R computing software. The interns will: (1) learn the skills of data analysis and visualization; (2) gain experience about deal with satellite data and coupled model simulations; and (3) master R computing software.

URL:  https://beaulieu.sites.ucsc.edu/

OCS-02: Nature-Based Climate Adaptation in San Francisco Bay

Primary mentor:  Rae Taylor-Burns

UCSC faculty contact:  Dr. Borja Reguero

Climate change is raising global sea levels and threatening coasts around the world with increased risk of flooding. The population bordering San Francisco Bay accounts for two-thirds of future flooding impacts in California. There is evidence for the beneficial role that wetlands can play in reducing flood risks, in addition to providing other co-benefits. Restoring marshes can help communities adapt to sea level rise. High and rising flood risk and opportunity for wetland conservation and restoration make San Francisco Bay a perfect study site for to assess the potential for marshes as nature-based solutions for flood defense. This research project will assess how marsh habitat conservation and restoration can protect the county’s levee system from overtopping, breaching, and hydraulic failure. The Coastal Resilience Lab at UCSC is looking for SIP interns to work with the primary mentor to advance this work through with various computer tasks. The interns will gain skills in mapping and coding.

The SIP interns will gain mapping and coding skills. The interns will assist with making maps using QGIS or Arc GIS. The interns will assist with data analysis using Python or Matlab. The interns will become familiar with hydrodynamic models.

URL:  https://www.coastalresiliencelab.org/

PHY-01: Study of Two-Dimensional Semiconductor Devices

Primary mentor:  Carlos Gonzalez

UCSC faculty contacts:  Prof. Jairo Velasco, Jr., Prof. Aiming Yan

Recent experimental studies of two-dimensional (2D) materials, otherwise known as van der Waals heterostructures, have shown promising results for the creation of new devices that exhibit exciting electronic, magnetic, and optical properties. One such group is the transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) family which can manifest as either conducting or semiconducting. Semiconducting TMDs show promise to replace silicon as the semiconductor in electronic devices, allowing for smaller and more flexible electronics. In this project, we will be fabricating stacks of 2D materials to further study the properties of TMDs through various methods.

In this research project, the SIP interns will get the opportunity to get hands-on experience in a research lab. They will learn fabrication of 2D materials, such as scotch-tape exfoliation and material synthesis. These materials will then be characterized through different methods to observe their physical properties, observing first-hand the miniscule size of the materials that are studied. Finally, these materials will be fabricated into devices to observe the electronic properties exhibited. Research into assigned papers on 2D materials will assist the understanding of the methods and observations in the lab.

URL:  https://jvjlab.sites.ucsc.edu/

PHY-02: Transfer Matrix Modeling Optical Properties of Short-Period Aluminum Oxide-Copper Multi-Layered Nanocomposites

Primary mentor:  Soren Tornoe

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Nobby Kobayashi

Semiconductors are the heart of modern-day computers, and Moore’s law is starting to break down (i.e., transistor density is no longer doubling every two years). As such, new approaches and materials are needed for the next generation of semiconductors to keep the technology advancing as rapidly as it has in the past. Through the use of sputtering atomic layer augmented deposition (SALAD) – the combination of physical vapor deposition (PVD) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) techniques used to make thin films – aluminum oxide-copper mirrors were produced that showed optical properties similar to semiconductors; however, these unique optical properties cannot be well described by conventional methods. The goal of this research project is to model these optical properties and therefore understand the unique physics that has been presented.

The SIP interns will model and optimize the optical properties of short-period aluminum oxide-copper multi-layered nanocomposite mirrors by writing code using a programming language like MATLAB/GNU Octave and developing transfer matrices to calculate the reflective properties of the coated mirror. The mentor will teach a basic understanding of light interactions on multilayered thin film structures as well as go over the principles behind creating transfer matrices and why they are an optimal means of calculation for multilayered optics. Computer programming experience is strongly recommended but not required.

Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None, computer programming experience strongly recommended

PHY-03: Study of Defect-Induced Magnetism in Few-Layer MoS 2

Primary mentor:  Hem Prasad Bhusal

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Aiming Yan

Inducing magnetism in non-magnetic two-dimensional (2D) materials provides a unique opportunity to realize magnetism in the 2D limit. Previous studies have shown that defects in some transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) materials can exhibit promising 2D magnetism. In this research project, the SIP mentor and interns will create triangular defects (antidots) in a few-layer molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ), one of the most popular semiconductors TMD materials. After that, the group will characterize the defects using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and fabricate field-effect transistor (FET) devices out of MoS 2 having antidots. Finally, the group will measure the sample in the cryostat to study 2D magnetism. This study promises to provide an experimental way of exhibiting 2D magnetism in non-magnetic 2D materials.

This research project mainly involves experimental work in the lab. The first step in the experiment is to prepare the sample for the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) study. The SIP interns’ help during sample preparation is crucial. For this project, the interns will perform the mechanical exfoliation (using scotch tape) of bulk chromium trihalides and bulk graphites to get few-layer flakes. In the next step, the interns will use the optical microscope to characterize the thickness and size of the obtained flakes. Furthermore, the interns will learn and help in Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) characterization to estimate the layer numbers of the flakes. Finally, the interns will learn how to transfer flakes to make heterostructures and then stamp down the heterostructure onto a TEM substrate. Then, the sample will be ready for TEM study for structural characterization.

URL: https://ayanlab.sites.ucsc.edu

PSY-01:  Perceptual Strategies and Emotion Recognition in Individuals With Different Levels of Autistic Traits

Primary mentor:  Golnoosh Soroor

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Nicolas Davidenko

The mentor’s research group is using eye tracker and Matlab to test if they can change the strategies of face perception and see if it can help to improve emotion recognition. The research group wants to know if these strategies are different in individuals with autistic traits, using eye-tracker, and if the group can help individuals improve their skills in emotion understanding. In the next research project, the mentor’s research group will probably work with children with autism to find out about the development of face perceptual strategies and see if the research group can improve face and emotion recognition in clinical population.

URL:  https://psychology.ucsc.edu/about/people/grad-directory.php?uid=gsoroor

PSY-02: The Masculinity Socialization of Young Men Participating in High School Football

Primary mentor:  Miguel Lopezzi

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Regina Langhout

Masculinity socialization refers to the social process men experience while learning the gender roles and norms that are expected of them in social interactions and cultural environments. High school football programs provide a social environment for young men to learn the gender norms and roles expected of them to be masculine and become men. This type of socialization process often includes being strong, tough, and stoic. In this research project, we will work together to understand the masculinity socialization of young men participating in a high school varsity football team. We will explore how these young men are internalizing masculinity and what being a “man” means to them.

The SIP interns will read and get familiar with research topics related to masculinity socialization. The SIP interns will learn about qualitative research methods by working on a thematic analysis. SIP interns will also learn about how ethnographies are conducted and how data is collected through observations and fieldnotes. SIP interns will work with data collected (fieldnotes) from an ethnography of high school students who participated in a varsity football team. The interns will be working on an actual qualitative research study. No experience is necessary as interns will learn all these skills in this summer’s SIP program.

PSY-03: Mapping Racism: Exploring Engagement with Critical Racialized Place Based Education

Primary mentor:  Jada Cheek

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Courtney Bonam

This project will focus on race and social justice; specifically how racial stereotypes not only apply to people but also physical places. These space-related racial biases can influence the environments around marginalized spaces and affect what resources are allocated to certain neighborhoods, profiling a physical space as lesser than when occupied by Black people vs. White people. The stereotypes and profiling can have a detrimental effect on the lives of the people that occupy these spaces and maintain racial inequity.

The SIP interns’ tasks will consist of reading background literature surrounding the psychological phenomena of racialized physical spaces, critical race theory, and racial stereotypes. The interns will also help to code data and potentially help run and analyze statistical tests.

URL:  https://sites.google.com/ucsc.edu/race/home

PSY-04: Brain Activity Underlying Visual Perception and Decisions

Primary mentor:  Audrey Morrow

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Jason Samaha

This project uses cognitive neuroscience approaches to analyze brain activity associated with visual perception. Specifically, this mentor looks at electroencephalography (EEG) data, which is a record of electrical activity from cortical parts of the brain, to assess brain waves and event-related changes in brain potential (ERPs) from brain areas associated with vision. Alpha power and sensory-related responses in the brain change during visual attention. These changes are associated with changes in task performance as well as later brain activity related to confidence and decision-making.

The SIP interns on this research project will gain an understanding of how EEG data are analyzed and what those analyses can tell us about patterns of brain activity when we attend to and make decisions about visual information.

Required skills for interns prior to acceptance: None; computer programming experience recommended

URL:  https://samahalab.ucsc.edu/

PSY-05: Enacting Change: Learning from Activist’s Transformative Change Visions, Processes, and Actions

Primary mentor:  Daniel Rodriguez

If you identify as an activist or are interested in the psychology of activism, you’re a good fit for my research team. Activists are working together to change the world. Transformative change means addressing a problem at its core, in other words, ‘changing the rules of the game.’ We’ll learn from activists how they collaborate to enact change in their organizing spaces and the communities they want to serve. In other words, we’ll learn how activists envision and enact change toward co-creating utopian futures of ideal co-existence.

This qualitative research psychology study will allow the SIP interns to transcribe and analyze interviews with impactful activists. The interns will learn to read, make short summaries, and discuss academic articles on the psychology of activism and transformative change. They will learn the basics of qualitative research to then use these skills in transcribing and conducting early analysis of activists’ social change efforts. Previous experience in research is optional, as interns will learn qualitative research skills in my team. What is necessary is that the interns are passionate about activism. The research results will amplify activists’ social transformation efforts to inspire teaching and scholar-activism on co-creating more equitable ways to reorganize society.

URL:  https://cprat.sites.ucsc.edu/graduate-students/

PSY-06: Moral Psychology in Everyday Experiences Surrounding Honesty and Cheating

Primary mentor:  Mia Kottgen

Secondary mentor: Dr. Talia Waltzer

Why do so many students cheat in high school? Many contextual factors (e.g., teachers, peers) can shape adolescents’ and emerging adults’ beliefs and everyday ethical decision-making. This study will examine students’ experiences from their classes and judgments about hypothetical vignettes involving cheating. Interns would work on literature review, study design, recruiting high schools for the study, and piloting the project. This project fills a need for more naturalistic research on moral decision-making and will advance knowledge about how social messaging informs students’ evaluations of academic cheating.

To learn more about moral decision-making and academic integrity, the SIP interns will assist with data organization and analysis. By the time of summer, the research project will have completed data collection, so one goal for this summer is to analyze the data and apply coding schemes to the data. The intern’s tasks will involve reading published research papers, designing and piloting study procedures, and analyzing data about students’ attitudes and experiences. Past interns have also learned about how to analyze data using the programming language, R. The schedule will involve independent work on the project, daily check-ins with the mentor, group activities, and weekly team meetings to discuss project progress.

URL: https://heroes.ucsd.edu/

PSY-07: Naive Biology: Do Children Think Robots Have Biological Insides?

Primary mentor:  Elizabeth Goldman

Robots are becoming a major part of our society. This research project aims to investigate how young children perceive robots. This is an important topic because many robots are being designed and marketed for children. However, we do not understand how these robots impact children and their development. Specifically, we are investigating whether young children understand robots are mechanical and do not have the same biology as humans. In this research project, children will play a sorting game with the researcher. Children will be shown pictures of different robots, animals, and objects. The children will then be asked to identify whether something biological (e.g., bones) or mechanical (e.g., gears) goes inside the item in question.

The SIP interns will observe the children’s reactions and take detailed notes. This research project has already been designed and the mentor is testing out the procedure with young children (e.g., making sure the young children can understand the directions and complete the study). This project is being run in two formats: Zoom sessions with children and via a survey that parents administer to their child. Come learn about online research studies and the multiple ways we can collect online data. This summer, the mentor’s research team will work together to collect as much data as possible. The SIP interns and the mentor’s research group will then work together analyze the data they have collected. This research project could impact how robot designers create and build robots for young children. Join the mentor’s research team and discover how young children perceive robots!

URL: https://eljgoldm.wixsite.com/my-site

PSY-08:  Neural Mechanisms of Perceptual Decision Making

Primary mentor: Wei Dou

UCSC faculty contact: Prof. Jason Samaha

Location: In person/hybrid on the UCSC campus

Number of interns: 3

We frequently need to make timely decisions based on sensory information we perceive from the external environment. And the subjective judgment about our own perceptual processing is a fundamental feature of adaptive behaviors. This project focuses on investigating the neural mechanisms of perceptual decision making and the subjective confidence of the decision using the electroencephalogram (EEG). The results could shed light on how perceptual decision making and its confidence are supported or implemented by the electrical activity produced by populations of neurons.

The SIP interns will do background reading about perception, research methods in psychology, neuroscience, and EEG technique. They will gain experience with basic MATLAB programming, and EEG data preprocessing and analysis using MATLAB. The interns will also learn how to conduct literature reviews on relevant topics, design an experiment, and present research papers.

PSY-09: Misinformation on Social Media

Primary mentor:  Karinna Nazario

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Adriana Manago

Social media has played a big role in the spread of information, both true and misinformation. This research project will examine the spread of misinformation on social media. Interns will conduct a literature review on the spread of misninformation and then apply the latest research to their own observations of how information is spread on Twitter and TikTok. Interns will create different accounts– one following conservative politicians and activists, and one following liberal politicians and activists so that they can compare how information is spread in these two subcultures online. Interns will then conduct a content analysis of comments and debates in the posts, and use a thematic analysis to look for themes in posts, comments, and debates.

Interns will be conducting a literature review on misinformation, review how to conduct a thematic analysis, go on social media accounts to monitor the spread of information and misinformation, create themes based on the content they view on social media, categorize the content, and present the findings for the final SIP presentation.

PSY-10: Earworms

Primary mentor:  Matt Evans

Have you ever had a song get stuck in your head? Probably! Nearly everybody regularly experiences “earworms,” but very little is known about how and why they happen. The scientific literature refers to earworms as Involuntary Musical Imagery (INMI), and empirical research on the phenomenon is quite limited. The SIP interns will help contribute to the scientific understanding of various aspects of this near-ubiquitous human experience.

The SIP interns will conduct detailed literature review and analysis of existing work on Involuntary Musical Imagery, Voluntary vs. Involuntary Memories, and Mind-Wandering. Each intern will present on at least one article during a research group meeting over the course of the summer, leading a deep-dive discussion. Throughout the summer, the interns will also be the primary researchers responsible for running human participants through an in-lab study on the effects of cognitive load on involuntary musical imagery duration. As data are collected, the SIP interns will clean and screen data to prepare it for statistical analysis.

PSY-11: White Emotionality as a Tool for (Dis)Engagement in Classroom Settings: Student Experiences in Community Psychology Courses

Primary mentor:  Alix Macdonald

UCSC faculty contacts:  Prof. Gina Langhout, Prof. Courtney Bonam

Research in critical whiteness studies states that the expression of emotions (i.e., anger, defensiveness, guilt, and shame) in certain contexts is not always neutral. Rather, the expression of certain emotions from those in positions of privilege may operate to uphold the status quo and dominant power structures; in this case, we are focused on white supremacy in educational settings. This research project looks at two research questions: (1) How are students experiencing this Community Psychology course in different destabilizing contexts?; and (2) What emotions are students choosing to write about in their course evaluations, and how does that relate to their acceptance or resistance of the course framework? Using student experience of teaching surveys (SETS) and lecture transcripts, we are conducting reflexive thematic analysis to discern how students are accommodating and/or resisting the course framework in their SETS. In this project’s context, the Community Psychology course is taught from an anti-racist and trauma-informed, and reflexive framework that works to disrupt current dominant narratives.

The SIP interns will read and get familiar with research topics related to critical whiteness studies. The interns will learn about qualitative research methods by working on reflexive thematic analysis coding. The SIP interns will be working on an actual qualitative research study. No experience is necessary as the interns will learn all these skills in the course of this summer’s SIP research project.

PSY-12: Media Silence and Underreporting with Prisons

Primary mentor:  Jade Moore

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Craig Haney

In this research project, the SIP interns will investigate how correctional officers’ abuse and how the dynamics within prisons are portrayed in the media. The interns will analyze different media outlet reports (newspapers, broadcasts, etc.) to investigate how forms of moral disengagement may translate over in correctional institutions. The interns will also explore other themes that may present themselves. The goals of the research project are to establish the types of narratives that the media is portraying and what kind of information the media has access to when investigating reports of abuse within prison.

The SIP interns will read and have discussions on a range of scientific articles focused on the idea of discrimination in the criminal justice system that will contribute to the literature review for the study. The interns will also assist with finding media outlet reports on the topic of correctional officers’ abuse of power. Interns will then work on coding the reports and running a statistical analysis of the findings. Interns can expect to gain insight into the process of developing a literature review, coding newspapers and news broadcasts, and running and analyzing statistical analyses.

PSY-13: Neural Activity During Online Language Comprehension

Primary mentor:  Yaqi Xu

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Megan Boudewyn

In this research project, the SIP interns will work with electrophysiological data collected from the Cognitive Neuroscience Lab led by Dr. Megan Boudewyn at UC Santa Cruz. The data will be electroencephalography (EEG) data, which is a cognitive neuroscience method that involves recording electrical activity from cortical parts of the brain via electrodes placed on the surface of the scalp. The experimenters are primarily interested in analyzing the time-locked event-related potentials (ERPs) and wave oscillations associated with online language comprehension to get a better understanding of how our brain processes language. The interns will learn how to look at and analyze EEG data, the neural patterns that are associated with language comprehension, and the relationship between different cognitive functions such as attention and executive control and language processing.

The tasks assigned to the SIP interns may include a combination of the following: (1) shadow experimenters during actual experiments with human subjects; (2) monitor electrophysiological signals while subjects are in the testing rooms; (3) managing and cleaning supplies used in experiments (which may include electrodes, applicators, and caps used in the experiments); (4) build stimuli sets and help create future experiments; (5) help code current stimuli sets and prepare data for analysis; and (6) search databases for past related research and compile and summarize their methods and results.

PSY-14: Language and Cognitive Processes Studies

Primary mentor:  Nathan Caines

This research project in the Cognitive Neuroscience Lab run by Prof. Megan Boudewyn, involves potentially working with electrophysiological (EEG) data as well brain stimulation techniques (tDCS) to study cognitive processes surrounding language. The mentor’s research group is interested primarily in oscillatory brain signals as well as event related potentials associated with language comprehension. The SIP interns will have the opportunity to learn both theoretical and practical implications of cognitive neuroscience research at different stages.

The SIP interns on this research project will work on the following tasks: (1) stimuli creation; (2) data collection; (3) data processing; (4) literature review; and (5) shadowing experiments and monitoring data.

URL: https://sites.google.com/ucsc.edu/boudewynlab?pli=1

PSY-15: Understanding Voice Assistant Communication

Primary mentor:  Elise Duffau

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Jean E. Fox Tree

The SIP mentor is interested in expanding on how we communicate with artificial agents. To explore this, research is being done on two research projects. The first research project aims to understand how people respond to voice assistants’ use of politeness. The second research project aims to understand how people respond to misunderstandings and addressing misunderstandings by a voice assistant. The SIP interns will gain an understanding of how communication between people and voice assistants can be different as well as ways that we can improve communication with voice assistant technology.

The SIP interns will gain experience in the various aspects of psychological experiments. The interns will work with the mentor in learning how to conduct research in cognitive psychology related to communication with technology. This will include engaging in: experimental design, conducting literature reviews, working with data and coding, and transcribing audio data. The SIP interns will also gain experience in understanding and discussing relevant literature as well as how to effectively communicate research to a wide audience.

SOC-01: Trans Poetics in the Transsexual News Telegraph Archive

Primary mentor:  Kaiya Gordon

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Marcia Ochoa

Since the development of Compton’s Transgender Cultural District in 2017, there’s been a spotlight on San Francisco’s trans lineage. At the same time as this attention, and not unrelated to it, recent moves by Mayor London Breed to increase surveillance and police presence in the Transgender District/Tenderloin points to an overwhelming culture of violence against trans people in the city. When trans people divorce ourselves from the past, we lose a long line of resistance and solidarity actions––things which can be brought into the future as strategies for liberation. The mentor’s project––a creative consideration of the Transsexual News Telegraph collection at the GLBT Historical Society and Archives in San Francisco––addresses these strategies by working with and responding to this important trans collection.

TNT, published between 1991 and 2002 in San Francisco by editor Gail Sondegaard (pseudonym), was a quarterly magazine which published trans-related news, essays, reviews, photographs, art, and events. As a DIY magazine which featured non-institutionally affiliated community members, TNT can be located as an early branch of the study of trans people by trans people, outside of academic, legal or medical institutions. The TNT collection includes notes on important moments in trans history, including the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival and Camp Trans, the development of transgender-related internet sites, and local protests.

By joining this project, SIP interns will both learn concrete Archival Science methods, and respond to the inaccessibility of trans history. Interns will build data processing, transcription, research, and critical thinking skills, and will be introduced to trans-specific issues, narratives, and debates.

The SIP interns’ specific tasks will include transcription of the TNT archival collection, as well as data processing, coding, description, analysis, and creative response. The interns will be asked to locate and describe narratives and themes within the collection. The interns will be subsequently asked to choose data within the collection, and to prepare research presentations and a creative response in response to that data. Should any interns be able to travel to San Francisco, there will be the opportunity to visit the GLBTHS reading room and meet the archivist in person. Regardless, regular meetings with the mentor will include drop-ins by archivists and the faculty mentor.

SOC-02: Mobilities (Migration and Higher Education), Gender, and Sexuality

Primary mentor:  Michelle Parra

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Julie Bettie

How does pursuing mobility via migration and higher education shape US Latinas’ own gender and sexual identities as well as generational negotiations of gender and sexuality? Previous research finds that both migrating and attending college can shape people’s gender and sexual beliefs and behaviors. Scholars also note that undergoing a substantial mobility experience, such as migrating, can shape how Latinas employ generational negotiations of gender and sexuality. Less is known about how another mobility path, going to college, shapes the generational negotiations Latinas employ of these social forces. Hence, this project utilizes sociology, feminist studies, ethnic studies, and queer theory to examine how Latinas’ migratory and college-going experiences shape their own gender and sexualities and generational negotiations of these social forces within the family.

The SIP interns will have an opportunity to read literature on gender, sexuality, migration, and education. They will learn how to retrieve scholarly journals and write critical research summaries (annotations). In addition, interns will assist the mentor with transcribing and reviewing (coding) qualitative data. In doing so, they will also learn how to analyze qualitative data. Interns will also have the opportunity to create a research presentation based on the literature that they read and the interviews that they coded. Lastly, the mentor will invite the interns to present their research findings in an undergraduate Sociology course that the mentor is teaching this summer.

URL:  https://sociology.ucsc.edu/about/directory-grads.php?uid=mparra3

SOC-03: Legacies of Black and Indigenous Sovereignty in the African Diaspora

Primary mentor:  Theresa Hice-Fromille

UCSC faculty contact:  Prof. Rebecca London

Marronage is a practice of freedom, a fugitive state, and place-making endeavor (Roberts 2015; Wright 2020; Winston 2021). Fugitive slaves, free people of color, Indigenous peoples, and occasionally white colonials collaboratively built maroon communities, also known as palenques (Spanish) or quilombos (Portuguese), in difficult, mountainous, and swampy environments in the Americas and Caribbean to shield them from the persistent violence of the plantation. Scholars have used marronage as a metaphor to understand contemporary fugitive practices but this research project will focus on historic and existing maroon communities in Cuba, Costa Rica, and Colombia. The SIP interns will examine de-identified primary data including ethnographic field notes and interviews with Black travelers who visited these sites between 2019 and 2023. The interns will contemplate the convergences and divergences in the meaning of sovereignty during enslavement and within contemporary calls for abolition and anti-racism, and challenges to the global racial capitalist order. This research primarily draws on concepts from African diaspora studies, decolonial studies, politics, sociology, and human geography.

The SIP interns’ tasks will include: (1) Literature— The interns will be introduced to foundational themes in decolonial and Black geographies literatures. The interns will learn how to locate, annotate, and summarize academic articles. The interns will develop a literature review and learn the significance of the literature review for the research process. (2) Qualitative Data Analysis— The interns will learn how to create memos and code qualitative data. (3) Presentation— The interns will present their literature review, code book, and preliminary analysis at SIP’s Presentation Day. Other opportunities to present during UCSC summer instruction may also be available.

URL:  https://www.theresahicefromille.com/

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10 most viewed research topics in 2023.

This year, researchers explored a wide range of topics, including:

cancer combinational immunotherapy

COVID-19 research

the physiology of breathing during exercise

and the future of animal experimentation

With over 1.8 million views, the following Research Topics sought answers to your biggest research questions from 2023.

1 | Towards a New 3Rs Era in Experimental Research

36 articles │ 177,000 views

With the persisting need of animal experimentation for fundamental and applied research, the relevance and importance of the 3Rs Principle cannot be ignored. The 3Rs Principle of Replace, Reduce, Refine provides an essential framework for more humane animal experimentation in research.

This multi-disciplinary research review is a pan-European initiative supported by all EU 3R centers exploring the 3Rs Principle advances, challenges, and opportunities. The Research Topic draws upon multiple scientific disciplines, including biomedical, veterinary, biostatistical, biotechnology, and computer science, as well as perspectives from education, social, political, and ethical research in the 3Rs field.

2 | Combinational Immunotherapy of Cancer: Novel Targets, Mechanisms, and Strategies

84 articles │ 176,000 views

Cancer immunotherapy, including immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy, has revolutionized the paradigm in cancer treatment. However, the clinical outcome of immunotherapy varies considerably among patients, and only a minority of patients achieve long-term clinical benefits.

This Research Topic gathers novel insights into the cancer immunity mechanisms, novel therapeutic targets, and effective combinational strategies of cancer immunotherapies. It also addresses the fundamental understanding of mechanisms underlying cancer immunotherapy and the therapeutic potential of novel combinational therapy.

3 | Breathing in Sport and Exercise: Physiology, Pathophysiology and Applications

37 articles │ 180,000 views

The respiratory system has long been considered overbuilt for exercise as it is usually not the limiting factor for maximal oxygen uptake. However, growing evidence suggests that ventilatory variables such as respiratory frequency (ƒR) especially are closely associated with perceived exertion and exercise tolerance in different populations and exercise conditions, with important implications for endurance physiology and performance.

This Research Topic advances our understanding of the physiology and pathophysiology of breathing during exercise to advance the field of respiratory monitoring in applied settings. It also bridges the gap between the physiology/pathophysiology of breathing and respiratory monitoring.

4 | Multidisciplinary COVID-19 research

91 articles │ 148,000 views

The outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has seriously impacted mental and physical health worldwide. New and emerging solutions to global health threats posed by COVID-19 are urgently needed.

This second volume brings together scientists and clinicians in artificial intelligence, mathematics and statistics, neural science, neurorobotics, social sciences, computational biology, medical health care, psychiatry, and psychology to promote COVID-19 research and stimulate collaboration between researchers in these diverse fields.

5 | Sustainable Career Development in the Turbulent, Boundaryless and Internet Age

40 articles │ 115,000 views

Government’s social policies, such as school-to-work transitional regulations, and the extended retirement age, suggest that people today may face a different labor market situation, compared to other generations.

Career sustainability is a key issue, and it is particularly the case for vulnerable groups, such as the underemployed, (re) employment of laidoff workers, and those who strive to balance between work and personal life. Therefore, this research topic investigates the antecedents and outcomes of career sustainability in different social contexts.

6 | The Nobel collection, Volume 2 - Frontiers for Young Minds

10 articles │ 673,000 views

This second Volume of our unique Nobel Collection brings you more articles by Nobel Prize winners written specifically for young minds. These amazing research leaders explain their ground-breaking discoveries and how they achieved them, and also share their thoughts on making a career path in science with advice for becoming a successful researcher and having a happy life.

7 | Psychiatrization of society

17 articles │104,000 views

Worldwide, there have been consistently rising incidences of people classified as mentally ill, paired with increasing mental healthcare service utilization over the last decades. This process can be described as the psychiatrization of society.

Individuals or groups might well benefit from aspects of psychiatrization. Yet psychiatrization can be potentially harmful to individuals and to public healthcare, through overdiagnosis and overtreatment, the psychological burden of being labeled, and, in the Global North, exploding costs to meet the needs of the ‘worried well’.

This article collection seeks to theoretically and empirically assesses the causes, mechanisms, and effects of psychiatrization, as well to understand, prevent, and manage its negative aspects.

8 | Patterns, Functions, and Processes of Alpine Grassland Ecosystems under Global Change

76 articles │ 102,000 views

Alpine grassland ecosystems provide important ecological services and functions, such as biodiversity conservation, carbon storage, and water resource regulation, and critical ecosystem services, such as pastoral production, cultural inheritance, tourism, and recreation. In recent decades, some of these regions have experienced rapid climatic warming and changes in precipitation regimes.

This Research Topic elucidates the patterns, functions, processes, and mechanisms of alpine grassland ecosystems responding to changing environments. The goal is to influence the development of adaptive management practices for alpine grassland ecosystems under future environmental change.

9 | Abiotic Stress-Induced Responses and Tolerance Mechanisms in Plants : Molecular, Cellular, Physiological and Biochemical Levels

59 articles │ 99,000 views

In nature, plants are constantly facing adverse environmental conditions, including abiotic stresses caused by extreme low and high temperature, salinity, drought, flood, heavy metal toxicity and oxidative stress. These stresses, especially drought, salinity, and high temperature, are the major causes of crop loss around the globe.

This Research Topic advances our understanding of the fundamental processes, stress signaling, and adaptation mechanisms that develop in plants in response to various abiotic stresses.

10 | Serving Vulnerable and Marginalized Populations in Social and Educational Contexts

26 articles │ 97,000 views

There is evidence that the global COVID-19 crisis is exacerbating existing inequalities and marginalization of vulnerable groups. These multi-sectoral and intersecting challenges require multi- and interdisciplinary interventions to inform inclusive responses.

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• Year in Review
• Published: 23 December 2022

11 clinical trials that will shape medicine in 2023

• Carrie Arnold 1 &
• Paul Webster 2  

Nature Medicine volume  28 ,  pages 2444–2448 ( 2022 ) Cite this article

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An Author Correction to this article was published on 27 February 2023

This article has been updated

Nature Medicine asks leading researchers to name their top clinical trial for 2023, from cervical and prostate cancer screening to new drugs for Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease.

2022 has been a rollercoaster year for biopharma, as it has faced an industry-wide slowdown and late-stage clinical trial failures, as well as breakthroughs and regulatory approvals.

COVID-19 has continued to disrupt nearly all aspects of clinical trial infrastructure, from patient recruitment to supply chains, but despite this, 2023 promises to bring many new readouts from different branches of medicine (Table 1 ).

We asked 11 leading experts for their top clinical trials to watch in the coming year.

A diabetes drug for Parkinson’s disease

Roger Albin: For both purely scientific issues and clinical practice issues, the phase 3 trial for exenatide in Parkinson’s disease is a very attractive trial. It has the big advantage of being a repurposed drug that is already widely used in older patients. If there were a positive result, it is something that could be really adopted into clinical practice in a very practical way. The drug had reasonable preclinical data and some promising phase 2 data, and in the Parkinson’s disease world, in which there is not an animal model for really great predictive validity, this is probably about as good as it gets. The community is looking for unequivocal results, whether positive or negative. A clear positive response would be great, but a clear negative response is actually just as important.

Roger Albin is a professor of neurology and co-director of the Movement Disorders Clinic in the Department of Neurology at the University of Michigan Medical School .

ADC for ovarian cancer

Robert L. Coleman: The most imminent and important upcoming trial result expected in my field in 2023 is mirvetuximab soravtansine, from ImmunoGen. This received accelerated approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on 14 November, based on results of a single-arm trial that enrolled 106 patients with platinum-resistant ovarian cancer whose tumors had high expression of folate receptor-α and who had been treated with up to three prior regimens, at least one of which included bevacizumab (Avastin).

Under accelerated approval, the sponsor can market their drug under the indication agreed to by the FDA — in this case, patients with recurrent, platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. For the drug to move from accelerated approval to regular approval, a confirmatory trial needs to be conducted to confirm the overall safety and efficacy of the agent of interest. In this case, initial results for the confirmatory phase 3 MIRASOL trial are expected in early 2023.

This drug is an antibody–drug conjugate (ADC); these agents are already being used for the treatment of several solid and liquid tumors, but this is the first for ovarian cancer. It will be aligned with a companion diagnostic test that mirrors the expression in tumors needed for clinical trial eligibility. We expect about one-third of patients with recurrent, platinum-resistant ovarian cancer to have high expression of folate receptor-α. The ADC field is expanding rapidly, with trastuzumab deruxtecan approved in April 2022 for use against breast cancer, but it has been a long time since a new cytotoxic agent has been approved for ovarian cancer. Among treatments for gynecological cancers, this is only the second ADC approved so far, after Tisotumab vedotin (in September 2021) for patients with recurrent previously treated cervical cancer. Now we have one in ovarian cancer. Several other ADCs are in development, and successful approval will provide a solid framework for clinical trials evaluating novel combinations in several disease settings.

Robert L. Coleman is chief scientific officer at US Oncology Research .

CRISPR–Cas9 for muscular dystrophy

Simone Spuler: Muscle stem cells are the only cells that can regenerate muscle. In patients who have a genetic muscular dystrophy in which muscle wastes for genetic reasons, these stem cells carry mutations, but these mutations can now be corrected with CRISPR–Cas9 and other tools. Correcting muscle stem cells means muscle can be rebuilt, which was not been previously possible whatsoever in these muscular dystrophies.

Muscular dystrophies are a group of about 50 different diseases that lead young people and children to lose their ability to walk, or to breathe, and make them wheelchair-bound within a couple of years. We are working with corrected muscle stem cells able to rebuild muscles and we will test this in a trial called bASKet. In the bASKet trial , there are two major questions. The first is about safety. We would like to see that nothing happens to the patients that makes the disease worse, such as a gene encoding a tumor suppressor being switched on. We do all kinds of preclinical safety tests to preclude that possibility. New proteins will be made by these stem cells, which probably have not been seen by the patient’s immune system, so it could attack this foreign protein. We will inject the cells that are repaired into the patient in an autologous manner, and check a few months later to see if new muscle is built. The second question we are addressing is about clinical improvement. This is something the regulatory agencies asked us to do. We hope to have the first data a few months after we begin treating patients in June and July 2023.

Simone Spuler leads the myology research group and the Outpatient Clinic for Muscle Disorders at the Experimental and Clinical Research Center, a joint institution established by the Max Delbrück Center and the Charité–Universitätsmedizin, in Berlin, Germany .

Cervical cancer screening in the vaccinated

Karen Canfell: Prophylactic vaccines against human papilloma virus (HPV), first rolled out 15 years ago, protect women against cervical cancer and are now routinely offered to young girls in most high-income countries. As time moves on, more women who were vaccinated as girls become eligible for cervical cancer screening, and it is important to understand the most effective screening approaches in a vaccinated population. This trial is important, as it is the first large-scale randomized controlled trial internationally that will assess primary HPV screening in a population that is heavily vaccinated against HPV. The findings from the secondary randomization will assess newer approaches for managing HPV-positive women, which will be important for cervical screening programs that are transitioning to primary HPV testing. The COMPASS trial is also assessing new next-generation HPV testing platforms and technologies for triage testing, which are expected to improve the overall performance of HPV testing at a program level.

Karen Canfell is chair of the Cancer Screening and Immunisation Committee of Cancer Council Australia .

The Mediterranean diet for weight loss

Jordi Salas Salvadó: No study has ever demonstrated that weight loss and maintenance using an energy-reduced healthy diet and physical activity lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease in people who are overweight or who have obesity. The Look AHEAD trial in the USA, conducted in people with diabetes, has been discontinued owing to lack of efficacy in reducing the risk of cardiovascular events and mortality after approximately 10 years of follow-up, despite achieving significant differences between interventions in long-term weight loss.

We hypothesize that an intensive lifestyle-intervention program aimed at weight loss and based on the traditional Mediterranean diet is a sustainable long-term approach for achieving weight loss in overweight and obese adults, and that the lifestyle changes achieved will have a beneficial effect on cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.

Jordi Salas Salvadó is a Distinguished Professor of Nutrition at Rovira i Virgili University and Principal Investigator at CIBER-Obn Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain .

Safe treatment for sleeping sickness

Olaf Valverde: In 2023, we will receive the complete results of our clinical trial testing of a breakthrough, all-oral, safe medicine for treating the variant of sleeping sickness caused by Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense . Also known as human African trypanosomiasis, this neglected parasitic disease transmitted by the bite of the tse tse fly causes severe neuropsychiatric disorders. In contrast to T. brucei gambiense , for which humans are considered the primary reservoir, T. brucei rhodesiense is highly zoonotic, with animals and livestock considered the primary reservoir. It is endemic in eastern and southern Africa, evolves quickly, and can kill in weeks to months if left untreated.

For decades, doctors in endemic countries had to treat sleeping sickness by using melarsoprol, an arsenic derivative so toxic that it killed 5% of patients. Our organization started developing a series of improved drugs, and in 2018 registered fexinidazole, a safe and effective first all-oral drug for the variant of the disease caused by T. brucei gambiense . But for patients with the variant caused by T. brucei rhodesiense , doctors still have to use the dreaded melarsoprol for advanced cases. This clinical trial is assessing the efficacy of fexinidazole for sleeping sickness caused by T. brucei rhodesiense , in comparison with the efficacy of the existing drugs melarsoprol and suramin. Full results will be presented to the European Medicines Agency in 2023, and we expect to get a favorable opinion.

Olaf Valverde is the clinical project leader of the human African trypanosomiasis team of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative .

Circulating tumor cells

Nicola Aceto: My lab is interested in metastasis. More than 90% of people with cancer die when metastasis happens. It is a big unsolved problem. We recently found that metastasis is driven mostly by clusters of circulating tumor cells (CTCs), which are multicellular aggregates of tumor cells that depart from the existing tumor , circulate in the bloodstream , and then metastasize. This finding challenged the prevailing dogma in the metastasis field, as until a few years ago, people thought metastasis happened one cell at a time. Thanks to new technologies, we could finally investigate blood samples from patients and in animal models, which allowed us to identify CTC clusters.

We have also found that there are drugs, such as digoxin, that have the ability to dissociate these cells and dissolve the clusters, which shuts down metastasis in preclinical models. We have now set up a small phase 1 trial as a proof of mechanism. We screen the blood of patients with advanced metastatic breast cancer, and when we find CTC clusters, we give the patients the drug for 3 weeks, during which time we measure the abundance and features of the clusters. Digoxin is a well-known drug used to treat heart conditions, but it has this beautiful side effect. Should the trial be successful, we envision the generation of improved cluster-dissociating molecules, able to achieve full cluster dissolution and specifically designed to treat cancer. This is the next ambitious goal: enabling a novel cancer-treatment modality that is aimed at blocking the spread of cancer.

Nicola Aceto is an associate professor of molecular oncology at ETH Zurich .

Lecanemab for Alzheimer’s disease

Allan Levey: In 2023, I expect to see more peer-reviewed publications and data on lecanemab, an investigational monoclonal antibody to amyloid-β protofibrils, for the treatment of mild cognitive impairment with Alzheimer’s disease. The developer, Eisai, announced positive topline results from their large global phase 3 confirmatory Clarity AD clinical trial of lecanemab in late September. We saw extensive data on lecanemab at the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Congress in late November and early December 2022 and a landmark publication in the New England Journal of Medicine was published on 29 November 2022.

Much data have been made available for scrutiny and independent, secondary analyses with the publication. Eisai is expected to file an application with the FDA for traditional approval in the USA and marketing-authorization applications in Japan and Europe by the end of March 2023. This is a pivotal phase 3 trial that most experts consider a huge game-changer for this field. In Alzheimer’s disease, there are no disease-modifying treatments that are clearly proven (aducanumab has been approved, despite uncertain clinical efficacy). Until recently, evidence for disease modification has been lacking, despite an industry-wide focus on amyloid-based therapies for many years.

With this new lecanemab study, the results of the phase 3 study show a significant reduction in clinical progression, confirming the results of an earlier phase 2 study. All primary and secondary endpoints, including dementia severity, cognition and functional abilities, were met. The second issue is that safety has been a huge concern with previous treatments given accelerated approval. The results for lecanemab indicate that its safety is much better, although there were adverse events. These are the reasons it is a game changer. Additional important insights will be gleaned about the magnitude and duration of benefits, and a more palatable and scalable form of subcutaneous dosing when more data and analysis are published in 2023.

Allan Levey is a professor and chair of the Department of Neurology at Emory University’s School of Medicine, and director of the Emory University Goizueta Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center .

COVID-19 vaccination and HIV

Glenda Gray: In December 2021, we began a trial to enroll almost 14,500 participants in more than 50 research clinics in eight sub-Saharan African countries. The Ubuntu multicenter phase 3 clinical trial will assess the efficacy of the mRNA-1273 (Moderna) vaccine against COVID-19 in adults infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or with other comorbidities that increase the risk of severe COVID-19. This trial will include a smaller number of HIV-negative people.

There is an urgent need to characterize infection and viral clearance in people who are immunocompromised, which will be assessed in our study . The results, which we expect in 2023, should indicate how many doses of vaccine are needed for adults living with HIV, as well as in adults with other health conditions that may put them at risk for severe COVID-19. We are also expecting data on whether people who have been infected with the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, and therefore probably have some immunity, need as many vaccine doses as those without prior infection. We also want to know if the original Moderna vaccine is inferior to the new bivalent one, which includes the spike protein from a SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern. This direct comparison of mRNA-1273 against the bivalent vaccine should give us insight into the utility of variant-specific vaccines. We hope that when these results are published next year, they will help to refine an optimal vaccine strategy and the best regimen for HIV-infected people.

Glenda Gray is president and CEO of the South Africa Medical Research Council .

Gene editing for sickle-cell disease

Luigi Naldini: We are all waiting for the first long-term data from gene-editing strategies in sickle-cell disease and thalassemia. There have been preliminary reports of efficient editing . The key question is whether these gene grafts remain stable. We have seen very safe stable long-term grafts of stem cells treated with lentiviral vectors, and prolonged safety, but will this be the same for gene-editing tools?

We may soon be seeing the interim results in 2023 of a multi-center sickle-cell disease trial of gene editing sponsored by CRISPR Therapeutics and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. This is a single-arm, open-label, multi-site, single-dose phase 1/2/3 study in people with severe sickle-cell disease. The study is evaluating the safety and efficacy of autologous CRISPR–Cas9-modified CD34 + human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. Participants receive a single infusion of these cells through a central venous catheter. The top outcome of interest would be participants who have not experienced any severe vaso-occlusive crisis for at least 12 consecutive months. It will be crucial to verify the long-term stability and polyclonal composition of the graft without the emergence of adverse events. Beyond this, what we are looking forward to seeing is the first clinical testing of what we call ‘writing back’ genes; that is, correcting genetic mutations by introducing editing of longer sequences, which has not been clinically achieved yet. We and others are actively working closely on that.

Luigi Naldini is a professor of cell and tissue biology and of gene and cell therapy at the San Raffaele University School of Medicine, and scientific director of the San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy, Milan, Italy .

Reducing harm from prostate cancer screening

Anssi Auvinen: The evidence surrounding testing for the marker PSA (prostate-specific antigen) is full of conflict, as the test may detect prostate cancer but at the expense of treating cancers with little threat to health. We aim to detect only clinically relevant, aggressive prostate cancer while minimizing the diagnosis of clinically unimportant, low-risk cancers that would constitute over-diagnosis (meaning that they would not progress even if left undetected and untreated). A previous trial showed benefits that were comparable to those of other cancer screening programs, but we wanted to put more effort into harnessing recent developments to reduce harm, including over-diagnosis and unnecessary biopsies.

Anssi Auvinen is a professor of health sciences at Tampere University, Finland .

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27 february 2023.

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-023-02262-2

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Arnold, C., Webster, P. 11 clinical trials that will shape medicine in 2023. Nat Med 28 , 2444–2448 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-02132-3

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Top scientific breakthroughs and emerging trends for 2023

January 31, 2023

The pace of innovation never slows, and the impact of these scientific breakthroughs will redefine the way we live, work, and connect with the world around us. From space exploration at the largest scale to diagnostics at the single-cell level, these breakthroughs will inspire innovators to push the boundaries of what is possible. To stay ahead of emerging trends, new discoveries, and unique perspectives, we invite you to subscribe to CAS Insights.

A new era of space exploration

Need to be reminded of how incredibly vast our universe is? The first ever photos from the James Webb Space Telescope are awe-inspiring. While this is the most technically advanced and powerful telescope ever created, the learnings about our universe will lead to future missions and exploration for generations ahead. Recently, the newest mission to the moon was launched as NASA’s Artemis Program which will pave the way for a future mission to Mars. This new era of space exploration will drive technological advancements in fields beyond astronautics and stimulate progress in real-world applications like materials, food science , agriculture, and even cosmetics.

A milestone in AI predictions

For decades, the scientific community has chased a greater understanding of relationships between protein functions and 3D structures. In July 2022, Deep Mind revealed that the folded 3D structure of a protein molecule can be predicted from its linear amino-acid sequence using AlphaFold2 , RoseTTAFold , and trRosettaX-Single algorithms. The algorithms’ predictions reduced the number of human proteins with unknown structural data from 4,800 to just 29. While there will always be challenges with AI, the ability to predict protein structures has implications across all life sciences. Key challenges in the future include modeling proteins with intrinsic disordered properties and those that change structures by post-translational modifications or to environmental conditions. Beyond protein modeling, AI advancements continue to reshape workflows and expand discovery capabilities across many industries and disciplines .

Developing trends in synthetic biology

Synthetic biology has the potential to redefine synthetic pathways by using engineered biological systems (i.e., microorganisms, for which a large part of the genome or the entire genome has been designed or engineered) to manufacture a range of biomolecules and materials, such as therapeutics, flavors, fabrics, food, and fuels. For example, insulin could be produced without pig pancreas, leather without cows, and spider silk without spiders. The potential in life sciences alone is unbelievable, but when applied to manufacturing industries, synthetic biology could minimize future supply chain challenges, increase efficiency, and create new opportunities for biopolymers or alternative materials with more sustainable approaches. Today, teams use AI-based metabolic modeling, CRISPR tools, and synthetic genetic circuits to control metabolism, manipulate gene expression, and build pathways for bioproduction. As this discipline begins to cross over into multiple industries, the latest developments and emerging trends for metabolic control and engineering challenges are showcased in a 2022 Journal of Biotechnology article .

Single-cell metabolomics set to soar

While much progress has been made in genetic sequencing and mapping, genomics only tells us what a cell is capable of. To have a better understanding of cellular functions, proteomic and metabolomic approaches offer different angles for revealing molecular profiles and cellular pathways. Single-cell metabolomics gives a snapshot of the cellular metabolism within a biological system. The challenge is that metabolomes change rapidly, and sample preparation is critical to understand cell function. Collectively, a series of recent advancements in single-cell metabolomics (from open-sourced techniques, advanced AI algorithms, sample preparations, and new forms of mass spectrometry) demonstrates the ability to run detailed mass spectral analyses. This allows researchers to determine the metabolite population on a cell-by-cell basis, which would unlock enormous potential for diagnostics. In the future, this could lead to the ability to detect even a single cancerous cell in an organism. Combined with new biomarker detection methods , wearable medical devices and AI- assisted data analysis, this array of technologies will improve diagnosis and lives.

New catalysts enable greener fertilizer production

Every year, billions of people depend on fertilizers for the ongoing production of food, and reducing the carbon footprint and expenses in fertilizer production would reshape the impact agriculture has on emissions. The Haber-Bosch process for fertilizer production converts nitrogen and hydrogen to ammonia. To reduce energy requirements, researchers from Tokyo Tech have developed a noble-metal-free nitride catalyst containing a catalytically active transition metal (Ni) on a lanthanum nitride support that is stable in the presence of moisture. Since the catalyst doesn't contain ruthenium, it presents an inexpensive option for reducing the carbon footprint of ammonia production. The La-Al-N support, along with the active metals, such as nickel and cobalt (Ni, Co), produced NH3 at rates similar to conventional metal nitride catalysts. Learn more about sustainable fertilizer production in our latest article .

Advancements in RNA medicine

While the application of mRNA in COVID-19 vaccines garnered lots of attention, the real revolution of RNA technology is just beginning. Recently, a new multivalent nucleoside-modified mRNA flu vaccine was developed. This vaccine has the potential to build immune protection against any of the 20 known subtypes of influenza virus and protect against future outbreaks. Many rare genetic diseases are the next target for mRNA therapies, as they are often missing a vital protein and could be cured by replacing a healthy protein through mRNA therapy. In addition to mRNA therapies, the clinical pipeline has many RNA therapeutic candidates for multiple forms of cancers, and blood and lung diseases. RNA is highly targeted, versatile, and easily customized, which makes it applicable to a wide range of diseases. Learn more about the crowded clinical pipeline and the emerging trends in RNA technologies in our latest CAS Insight Report.

Rapid skeletal transformation

Within synthetic chemistry, the challenge of safely exchanging a single atom in a molecular framework or inserting and deleting single atoms from a molecular skeleton has been formidable. While many methods have been developed to functionalize molecules with peripheral substituents (such as C-H activation), one of the first methods to perform single-atom modifications on the skeletons of organic compounds was developed by Mark Levin’s group at the University of Chicago . This enables selective cleaving of the N–N bond of pyrazole and indazole cores to afford pyrimidines and quinazolines. Further development of skeletal editing methods would enable rapid diversification of commercially available molecules, which could lead to much faster discoveries of functional molecules and ideal drug candidates.

Advancing limb regeneration

Limb loss is projected to affect over 3.6 million individuals per year by 2050. For the longest time, scientists believed the single biggest key to limb regeneration is the presence of nerves. However, work done by Dr. Muneoka and his team demonstrated the importance of mechanical load to digit regeneration in mammals and that the absence of a nerve does not inhibit regeneration. The advancement of limb regeneration was also achieved by researchers at Tufts University who have used acute multidrug delivery , via a wearable bioreactor, to successfully enable long-term limb regeneration in frogs. This early success could potentially lead to larger, more complex tissue re-engineering advances for humans, eventually benefiting military veterans, diabetics, and others impacted by amputation and trauma.

Nuclear fusion generates more net energy with ignition

Nuclear fusion is the process that powers the sun and stars. For decades, the idea of replicating nuclear fusion on earth as a source of energy, in theory, could fulfill all the planet's future energy needs. The goal is to force light atoms to collide so forcefully that they fuse and release more energy than consumed. However, overcoming the electrical repulsion between the positive nuclei requires high temperatures and pressures. Once overcome, fusion releases large amounts of energy, which should also drive the fusion of nearby nuclei. Previous attempts to initiate fusion used strong magnetic fields and powerful lasers but had been unable to generate more energy than they consumed.

Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s ignition facility reported that the team was able to initiate nuclear fusion, which created 3.15 megajoules of energy from the 2.05 megajoule laser used. While this is a monumental breakthrough, the reality of a functioning nuclear fusion plant powering our grid may still be decades in the making. There are significant implementation hurdles (scalability, plant safety, energy required to generate the laser, wasted by-products, etc.) that must be addressed before this comes to fruition. However, the breakthrough of igniting nuclear fusion is a major milestone that will pave the way for future progress to be built upon this achievement.

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Three MIT-led projects awarded MURI funding for 2023

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The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) recently announced the recipients of its Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) awards for 2023. This year, MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering (MechE) professors George Barbasthasis and John Hart, MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) Assistant Professor Pulkit Agrawal, and MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering Associate Professor Rob Macfarlane are principal investigators on projects selected for MURI Awards. Two others from MIT — Ila Fiete, a professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, and Aude Oliva, MIT director of the MIT–IBM Watson AI Lab, director of strategic industry engagement in the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, and a senior research scientist at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) — will be participating in these projects.

In addition, three MURI projects led by faculty at other institutions will be collaborating with other MIT researchers. The 2023 MURI awards total $220 million and will fund 31 research projects at an extensive list of institutions.

The MURI program is designed to support research in areas of critical importance to national defense, and brings together teams of researchers from multiple universities to collaborate on projects that are expected to lead to significant advances in science and technology. The program is highly competitive, with only a small fraction of proposals receiving funding each year, and it has a strong track record of supporting research that has led to breakthroughs in fields ranging from materials science to information technology.

Fundamental limits of nanoscale X-ray microscopy in radiation-sensitive materials

One of the funded projects is titled “Searching for what’s new: the systematic development of dynamic X‐ray microscopy.” This will be led by Professor George Barbastathis of MechE, alongside colleagues from Northwestern University and Stony Brook University, and falls within the Fundamental Limits of Nanoscale X-ray Microscopy in Radiation Sensitive Materials MURI topic.

Barbastathis and his team explain that X-ray microscopes offer unique capabilities, but can also be harmful to the small objects they’re taking images of. This team has developed a new approach that puts forward a paradigm shift for higher resolution and the study of dynamics, allowing one to start with knowledge they already have of a specific object, rather than a blank slate. This should allow them to use less harmful X-ray exposures. The team plans to test this approach to study three model systems: small machines, batteries, and cells.

This project is sponsored by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research and will help the DoD by providing new insights into the function of batteries used in troop-carried electronics, aircraft, and elsewhere; in the response of micro electronic mechanical systems, which are used in the field as sensors; and in the biological response of cells to external stresses and environmental changes.

Spatially programmed material properties via designed mesostructures

John Hart and Rob Macfarlane are co-leading a MURI project entitled “Directed assembly of mesoscale architectures in additive manufacturing,” sponsored by the U.S. Office of Naval Research. The project is in collaboration with professors A.J. Boydston of the University of Wisconsin; Randall Erb and Safa Jamali of Northeastern University; and Arthi Jayaraman of the University of Delaware. The team’s expertise spans chemistry, materials science, simulation, machine learning, machine design, and characterization.

While additive manufacturing can create complex geometries from a wide variety of materials, it is typically not possible to control the architecture of the material at a length scale smaller than the resolution of the additive process. The MURI team will combine additive manufacturing with “bottom-up” directed assembly, using tailored nanoparticle building blocks and polymers, and by building new instruments to study the process and validate computational predictions. The end goal of the project is to realize materials and structures with emergent thermal electromagnetic, and optical properties that could be used in, for instance, cooling of high-power electronics, next-generation communication systems, and high-performance cameras.

Neuro‐inspired distributed deep learning

Pulkit Agrawal, assistant professor in EECS and an affiliate of CSAIL and the MIT Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS), leads a third MURI project. Agrawal's team, which includes Ila Fiete and Aude Oliva of MIT as well as researchers from Harvard University and the University of California at Berkeley, proposes an alternative to the mainstream machine-learning practice of condensing large datasets into the weights of deep neural network and discarding the training data itself. Such an approach has fundamental limitations when it comes to lifelong learning and the associated questions of generalization, long-term reasoning, and catastrophic forgetting. As such, the proposal suggests avoiding compressing data ahead of time and instead combining data on-the-fly for the environment or task encountered by the agent, using memory retrieval to improve generalization.  The work aims to articulate a set of high-level computational principles for the design of memory systems, leveraging knowledge about how the brain encodes and retrieves information from memory. It aims to determine how these principles can be leveraged to tackle challenging machine learning tasks, understand how biological memory systems represent and retrieve naturalistic inputs, and help in the integration of AI into a wide variety of real-world systems. Ideally, the end result will yield practical algorithms for generalization to new tasks, lifelong learning without catastrophic forgetting, and transfer across sensory modalities.

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The 2030 Project Fast Grants - Call for Proposals

Call for Research-to-Impact Fast Grant Proposals 2023

In order to mobilize Cornell to support ambitious climate action in this decisive decade, Cornell Atkinson and The 2030 Project: A Cornell Climate Initiative are issuing a special request for proposals for fast grant research-to-impact funding . We seek to enable faculty to seize urgent and unique opportunities to provide support for impact-oriented climate research, expected to be in the $10,000-$25,000 range. In select cases, the amount awarded could be higher for proposals that make a compelling case for greater funding.

We are interested in supporting projects that will use seed funding to:

• Better position research teams to submit new research proposals to external public agencies, foundations, or private-sector partners to inform long-term, large-scale efforts in the areas of emission reductions/decarbonization, carbon removal, natural, engineered and hybrid climate solutions, or climate preparedness and adaptation.
• Develop cross-disciplinary collaborations across various colleges or schools within Cornell.
• Eliminate or substantially reduce a major source of greenhouse gas emissions;
• Remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and/or ocean; and
• Prepare for a climate-change-impacted world. Note projects with quantifiable, scalable potential are especially welcome : i.e. .5 billion tons or more of annual emission reductions or removal; projects that impact >50,000 people, globally scalable to billions of tons and millions of people.
• Accelerate efforts to develop the food & farms of the future; the energy systems of the future; the materials of the future; and/or the societies of the future – systems that support human flourishing while minimizing harmful climate impacts. Including, but not limited to, zero-emission agriculture; renewable and zero-carbon energy production; decarbonized industrial processes and sustainable material extraction; climate finance and climate policy development.
• Support an equitable transition – improving quality of life, equity, legitimacy, or justice as part of a transition to prevent or prepare for climate change.
• Launch immediate efforts to inform and support the urgent response to climate change and help advance progress towards publicly articulated public or private climate goals.      Examples: United States emission nationally defined commitment goal under the Paris Agreement; the Global Methane pledge; NYS CLCPA goals; or a corporate Net-Zero pledge.
• Build new or deepen existing partnerships with key non-academic partners, such as a government, company, or organization to turn research into impact (e.g. EDF; Nature Conservancy; Clean Air Task Force; Rocky Mountain Institute).
• Advance a new entrepreneurial endeavor or enable technology commercialization

NOTE : 2030 Project funds are subject to the same restrictions as any other university research funding. Applications are open to any Cornell University-eligible Principal Investigator, however Cornell PIs who were previously awarded 2030 Project Fast Grants are not eligible . (Please click here for more details about PI eligibility.)

There will be three distinct 2030 Fast Grant proposal calls in 2023:

• July 24, 2023: Info Session ( RSVP )
• Aug. 7, 2023: Proposal Due Date
• Aug. 25, 2023: Applicants Notified
• Sept. 1, 2023: Info Session ( RSVP )
• Sept. 11, 2023: Proposal Due Date
• Sept. 29, 2023: Applicants Notified
• Oct 6, 2023: Info Session ( RSVP )
• Oct. 23, 2023: Proposal Due Date
• Nov. 10, 2023: Applicants Notified

All Info Sessions will convene virtually (You are welcome to attend more than one session)

Proposal Instructions

Please submit your short proposal via this online form when each Request for Proposals is launched. Succinct feedback will be offered for unselected proposals.

Revisions and resubmissions are welcomed across all 3 cycles, but please note that previous feedback must be addressed prior to resubmitting your proposal during a subsequent cycle.

Selection Process

Selection will be based on the consistency of proposals with the ambitions of the project described above. Evaluation will be made by a combined group of internal and external stakeholders, with a final decision made by 2030 Project leadership.

Responsibilities

Fast Grant PIs will:

• Meet with the Center leadership to discuss the progress of efforts in research, intended applications, desired impacts, development of Cornell and external partnerships, follow-on funding, and milestones met and/or
• Submit periodic reports describing results and progress relating to each specific metric of success presented in the proposal
• Respond to surveys or other requests for information about the longer-term impacts of the AVF project after the funding ends
• Acknowledge The 2030 Project: A Cornell Climate Initiative and Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability in all presentations, reports, and publications stemming at least in part from this funding.  Guidance for acknowledging your affiliation with Cornell Atkinson can be found on our website .

E-mail [email protected] with any questions.

The Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability is the hub of collaborative sustainability research at Cornell University, forging vital connections among researchers, students, staff, and external partners. The center’s funding and programming accelerate groundbreaking research within and across all of Cornell’s colleges and schools. In turn, the center is the university’s home to bold ideas and powerful new models that ensure people and the planet not only survive but thrive.

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Fiscal Year 2023 Research Funding Awards

The DoD announced $220 million in awards for basic research projects as part of the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) Program. At an average award amount of $7.1 million over five years, these competitive grants will support 31 teams located at 61 U.S. academic institutions, subject to satisfactory research progress and the availability of funds.

“The MURI program has a long-standing history of funding research teams with creative and diverse solutions to complex problems,” said Ms. Heidi Shyu, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. “Not only does the program enable scientific breakthroughs with direct relevance for DoD applications, it also has been used to create and sustain new fields of inquiry. It is a program with a powerful legacy of scientific impact and remains a cornerstone of DoD’s basic research portfolio.”

Since its inception in 1985, the Department’s MURI program has funded teams of investigators with the hope that collective insights from multiple disciplines could facilitate the growth of cutting-edge technologies to address the Department’s unique problem sets. The highly competitive MURI program, which complements the Department’s single-investigator basic research grants, has made immense contributions to current and future military capabilities and resulted in multiple commercial sector applications. Notable MURI achievements include breakthroughs in cold atom quantum methods with potential applications in quantum sensing and communication as well as advances in pulsed magnetic field propagation and Doppler radar detection leading to new detection physics for landmines.

For the fiscal year 2023 competition, the Army Research Office, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the Office of Naval Research solicited proposals in 24 topic areas of strategic importance to the Department. After a merit-based review of 259 white papers, a panel of experts narrowed the pool to a subset of 90 full proposals, from which the 31 final awards were selected. The list of winning teams can be downloaded here .

About USD(R&E)  

The Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (USD(R&E)) is the Chief Technology Officer of the Department of Defense. The USD(R&E) champions research, science, technology, engineering, and innovation to maintain the U.S. military’s technological advantage. Learn more at www.cto.mil , follow us on Twitter @DoDCTO, or visit us on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/ousdre .

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23 top innovations for 2023, identified by the global R&D community

NOTE: Some of the technologies in this article have since been unpublished at the request of the academic institutes. For a more up-to-date look at the most in-demand opportunities on Connect, check out our Top 24 Innovations for 2024

To uncover the top innovations for 2023 set to have the biggest impact across science, engineering, and medicine, we’ve analysed the data from our academia-industry matchmaking platform, Connect , to find the most promising technical innovations in development at universities around the world that the R&D community are most interested in.

The innovations included in this year's list are those that received the highest levels of engagement in 2022 from R&D professionals at companies including Johnson & Johnson, Samsung, and Bayer using our platform to find new academic partners. The ranking factors in three metrics: the number of introduction requests to the academic teams behind each project, positive feedback from the companies reviewing them, and article reads.

Each of the features in our top innovations for 2023 has been published on our matchmaking platform by a technology transfer office in a university or academic institute with the aim of finding innovation-driven companies to collaborate with on further development, commercialisation and deployment.

A full non-confidential summary of each innovation can be viewed on Connect through the links below each summary. Access to the platform is completely free for companies (set up an account here) and there are no downstream fees associated with using it to connect with any of the 8,000 innovations showcased by the 250+ academic institutes subscribed.

IN-PART’s industry network is made up of R&D and external innovation teams in over 6,000 companies, all verified for access based on their ability to commercialise academic research. This includes 42/50 of the top R&D-spending firms globally, and all of the top 25 R&D-spending firms in Europe.

Biopharma & life sciences innovations

Enzymes that target biofilm-associated infections.

Resistant bacterial wound infections are a global burden, complicating healing and increasing the cost of treatment. Texas Tech University System researchers have developed a combination of enzymes that dismantle the physical and chemical barriers a biofilm has to antibiotics, avoiding the need for debridement and allowing the more effective use of antibiotics.

Read the full project summary to learn more about this top innovations for 2023 feature.

A new approach to weight management for obesity and cachexia

Both obesity and cachexia can be debilitating and affect a significant portion of the global population. To address this, researchers at the University of Minnesota have developed peptides that antagonise the melanocortin receptors (MC3R and MC4R) and consequently can be used as drugs to manage appetite and weight.

Hitting the target with gene editing

CRISPR-Cas9 has become an essential tool for genetic engineering, but it still has limitations such as low target specificity. Researchers at DKFZ, the German Cancer Research Center, have discovered an approach that increases DNA editing specificy, by using anti-CRISPR proteins to fine-tune Cas9’s activity, thus opening the door for gene editing to be used in a wider range of applications such as research, medical diagnostics, therapies or agriculture.

Charge-free, biocompatible nanodiscs for vaccines, therapeutics and transfection

Research into lipid nanodiscs and their use for the extraction and study of membrane-bound proteins has revealed a potential use in vaccines, therapeutics and transfection. However, the presence of a charge on these synthetic polymers means that their application has been restricted. A research team at the University of Michigan have developed the first inulin-based charge-free polymers that have the ability to form biocompatible lipid nanodiscs with excellent stability against pH and divalent metal ions encountered in their environment.

A new antibody treatment for leukaemia and FLT3-expressing cancers

Researchers at the National Cancer Institute are providing hope for patients with leukaemia and other cancers that express or mutate FLT3 by their creation of human monoclonal antibodies and chimeric antigen receptors. This treatment has been proven effective in animals and could become a safer and less toxic treatment for FLT3-expressing cancers, particularly in pediatric patients with low treatment success rates.

A new approach to researching bone cancers

New cell line developments by researchers at the University of Calgary allow in-depth study of bone cancer cells. The cells can be easily grown in tissue-standard cell culture settings, and emit fluorescent light which allows them to be easily observed amongst other cells and tissues. This technology can facilitate the study of bone cancers as well as assist in the development of new treatments.

Simple and painless drug delivery through the skin

Researchers at the University of South Australia have developed a novel topical drug delivery system. Their innovation unlocks the painless delivery of small molecules, macromolecules, vaccines, or cosmeceuticals to large areas and can be incorporated into existing formulations at a low cost.

Material innovations

Making concrete from biomass.

With cement production being responsible for ~8% of manmade global greenhouse gas emissions, there is a vital need for sustainable alternatives. Working towards this goal, researchers at Colorado State University have developed methods for utilising corn biomass to produce supplementary cementitious materials for greener infrastructure.

Bio-based heat-reflective coatings for buildings

Heat-reflective coatings are helpful tools to aid in the energy management of buildings. However, they incur expensive production and application costs. To make the coatings more accessible, researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed energy-efficient coatings made from a naturally occurring, inexpensive biomolecule that meets the requirements of functional infrared coatings for buildings.

Producing aerogels in a safe and inexpensive way

Researchers at the University of Arizona have formulated a method of preparing low-density, porous aerogels without the use of supercritical temperatures and pressures usually required. These materials can be used as thermal insulation, desiccants or for waterproof coatings without the expensive and time-consuming production.

Safe and biobased resins made from natural products

Phenol formaldehyde resins are used in a wide range of products, from coatings and adhesives to laminates and plastics, but traditional manufacture of resins has associated environmental and health risks. To overcome these risks, scientists from Western University have devised a novel, one-pot approach to produce bio-based resins that can replace their traditional dangerous counterparts.

Recycling multilayer PET

Commonly used for food packaging, PET multilayer products include layers with different composition specifications that cannot be recycled easily or cost-effectively, generating tons of landfill waste per year. A methodology developed by researchers at the Universitat Politècnia de Valencia (UPV) and Technological Institute for Children’s Products and Leisure (AIJU) reincorporates waste multilayer PET into the production circuit creating a homogenous recycled product, which can be used for a range of applications.

A cool method of thin-film deposition

The growth of platinum films typically requires 2,500°C of heat using electron-beam physical vapour deposition. But in a recent advance, University of Minnesota researchers have demonstrated a new method operating under 100 °C, reducing costs and saving energy while increasing quality.

Physical and computational sciences

Cheap high-yield hydrogen.

A hydrogen fuel economy could be a part of the solution to phase out the use of fossil fuels for powering homes, industry and transport. To support this, a new low-temperature approach to the hydrolysis of sodium borohydride, developed by scientists at the University of Kentucky , offers a cheap, high-yield route to hydrogen production with improved safety.

Hyperspectral imaging of moving objects in turbulent settings

Researchers represented by TLB GmbH (a technology transfer organisation covering a number of German universities) have developed two new methods for spatially-resolved single-shot Fourier transform spectroscopy. The methods can be used to obtain hyperspectral image information of moving objects or turbulent scenes in harsh environments. Applications are varied, including healthcare, analysis of environmental events such as volcanoes, food analysis, forensics, and thermal imaging.

Powerful alternatives to lithium-ion batteries

Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have been working on new components to improve all-solid-state batteries power output, energy volume, lifecycle and safety as alternatives to lithium-ion batteries. Specifically, the battery materials enable chemical stability, eliminate material cracking that can often be associated with battery cycling, and offer increase power output.

Faster non-contact 3D surface scanning

Another team of scientists represented by TLB GmbH have invented a method of non-contact surface inspection and 3D measurements that improving significantly on those currently in use. Their invention enables area scanning by combining chromatic confocal microscopy with a novel procedure for 2D surface scans, producing a 3D scan hundreds of times faster than conventional methods.

A customised wearable system for bespoke physical rehab

The amount of procedures to treat lower extremity injuries such as hip and knee replacements is expected to rise from 1-million to over 3-million within the next decade. Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have developed a wearable gait measuring sensor, customisable for each patient, that aims to mitigate costs against this rise. Their innovation provides a constant stream of remotely viewable data which can be used to provide a better analysis of patients' recovery and ultimately provide a better outcome for rehabilitation.

Agriculture and food

Bigger seeds, more product.

As the global population of humans increases and the demand for food with it, there is a crucial need to effectively use the finite land available for food production. With this goal in mind, researchers at Saint Louis University have controlled gene expression and epigenetic pathways to increase the size of seeds in order to increase crop produciont using the same amount of space.

Kinder pesticides

The use of pesticides have huge disadvantages to plants and the environment, from low specificity to high toxicity and a risk of creating pesticide resistances. To address these issues, researchers at the Max Planck Society have developed compounds that target the growth of pathogens by inhibiting the aggregation of amyloid-like proteins that contribute to extracellular, adhesion and other pathogenicity-related infection structures.

Treating yellowing leaves and increasing growth

Using iron transporters (siderophores) as bio fertiliser for agricultural crops has been identified as the most effective way to address iron deficiency-induced chlorosis, a common plant disease, as well as increase plant growth and protect plants from pathogens. To advance this approach, researchers represented by Hub APTA (Andes Pacific Technology Access) have designed a highly efficient, low-cost method to produce siderophores by using a novel strain of Pseudomonas .

Sustainability innovations

Turning waste into aromas.

Low value agricultural biomass, lignin, is often burned to produce energy however, there is potential to use lignin in the development of renewable fuels and speciality chemicals. University of Kansas researchers are onto a sweet idea with their lignin depolymerization method, allowing high-value products such as vanillin to be isolated from agricultural waste.

High-efficiency blades to get electric flights taking off

Utilising rotary wings and electric propulsion, eVTOLs (electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles) are at the forefront of research attempting to make the aviation industry more sustainable. On this flightpath, researchers at the University of Glasgow have developed and validated a ready-to-use computational design tool, offering aerospace and wind energy companies accurate methods to enhance efficiency of propellers, rotors and wind turbine blades without sacrificing acoustics, structural dynamics, or safety.

Technologies written by Mireia Baizan-Urgell (1, 3), Emily Jones (2, 15), Nathan Ford (4, 18), Alejandra Rebollar (5, 19), Mat Hollingworth (6, 16), Bridie Dutton (7, 17), Ella Cliff (8, 9, 10, 11), Frances Wilkinson (12, 20,21), Sarah Firth (13, 22) and Jolie Hamilton-Warford (14, 23).

Edited by Frances Wilkinson and Alex Stockham.

Copyrights reserved unless otherwise agreed – Inpart., 2022: ‘Top 23 Innovations for 2023’

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The 2023 NIH Director’s Awards to fund projects with potential to change the trajectory of biomedical science

“The HRHR program is a pillar for innovation here at NIH, providing support to transformational research, with advances in biomedical and behavioral science,” said Robert W. Eisinger, Ph.D., Acting Director of the Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives, which oversees the NIH Common Fund. “These awards align with the Common Fund’s mandate to support science expected to have exceptionally high and broadly applicable impact.”

The High-Risk, High-Reward Research program supports investigators at each career stage who propose innovative research that, due to their inherent risk, may struggle in the traditional NIH peer-review process. Investigators seeking program support are encouraged to think beyond traditional bounds and to pursue trailblazing ideas in any area of research relevant to the NIH’s mission to advance knowledge and enhance health.    The Common Fund oversees programs that pursue major scientific opportunities and gaps throughout the research enterprise and require collaborations across the agency to succeed. The High-Risk, High-Reward Research program makes awards in four categories, including two awards specifically for researchers in the early stages of their careers. These four awards include:

• The NIH Director’s Pioneer Award , established in 2004, challenges investigators at all career levels to pursue new research directions and develop groundbreaking, high-impact approaches to a broad area of biomedical, behavioral, or social science.
• The NIH Director’s New Innovator Award , established in 2007, supports unusually innovative research from early career investigators who are within 10 years of their final degree or clinical residency and have not yet received an NIH R01 or equivalent grant.
• The NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award , established in 2009, promotes cross-cutting, interdisciplinary approaches and supports individuals and teams of investigators who propose research that could potentially create or challenge existing paradigms.
• The NIH Director’s Early Independence Award , established in 2011, provides an opportunity to support exceptional junior scientists who have recently received their doctoral degree or completed their medical residency to skip traditional post-doctoral training and move immediately into independent research positions.

NIH issued eight Pioneer awards , 58 New Innovator awards , six Transformative Research awards , and 13 Early Independence awards in 2023. Funding for the awards comes from the NIH Common Fund; the National Institute of General Medical Sciences; the National Institute of Mental Health; the National Library of Medicine; the National Institute on Aging; the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; and the Office of Dietary Supplements.

About the NIH Common Fund

The NIH Common Fund encourages collaboration and supports a series of exceptionally high-impact, NIH-wide programs. Common Fund programs are managed by the Office of Strategic Coordination in the Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives in the NIH Office of the Director in partnership with the NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices. More information is available at the Common Fund website: https://commonfund.nih.gov .

About the National Institutes of Health

NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov .

Press Contact

Rachel Britt, Ph.D. [email protected] NIH Common Fund 301-435-0968

This page last reviewed on March 11, 2024

Call for 2023 Start-Up Research Project Collaborations

DataLab is accepting applications from UC Davis faculty and professional researchers for Start-Up Project Collaborations for the 2022-2023 academic year. These exploratory, or early phase, research collaborations pair domain area researchers with DataLab’s data scientists to gather data and/or perform preliminary exploration and hypothesis testing to make rapid progress on a data-driven domain research problem.  We will begin reviewing proposals on November 21, 2022.

We are particularly interested in soliciting proposals that align with UC Davis’ Grand Challenges for rapid innovation in the following focal areas: 

• Climate Crisis : Climate change is impacting our world in multifarious ways, from rising sea levels to more frequent and intense wildfires. Without innovative measures to reduce greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere and substantial modifications to how our society operates, additional negative impacts will accelerate. We must chart paths forward to mitigate existing impacts, cultivate innovative adaptations, and provide community resilience while simultaneously addressing historic inequalities and building equity into climate solutions.
• Emerging Health Threats : Human and animal health face new and evolving issues derived from, and impacting, our society and the environment. We do not exist in isolation. Society’s ill-prepared response to the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in widespread suffering and loss, with disproportionate impacts on the most vulnerable populations. This tragedy is a clarion call to action for the entire world – to act now to prevent emerging health threats, of all kinds, from defining our future.
• Reimagining the Land Grant University: Land grant universities , including UC Davis, were created in the 1800s to meet a growing demand for agricultural and technical education, but at a terrible cost. The U.S. took nearly 11 million acres of land from approximately 250 tribes, bands, and communities to create these institutions. We must address the harmful origins and complex aims of our land grant university, forge meaningful and mutually beneficial relationships with Native nations, break down disciplinary silos, and develop models of positive public impact and equity for others to follow.
• Sustainable Food Systems : The modern food system destroys more health, social, environmental, and economic value than it creates. Changes to our food and agricultural systems are needed to reduce hunger, protect managed and natural ecosystems, build climate resilience, and improve health and the quality of life for people around the world.

We also strongly encourage proposals for projects that directly or indirectly impact social and environmental justice issues.

This program represents a significant investment from DataLab to support UC Davis researchers who have ideas for data intensive projects but lack the technical and data science expertise to carry out the research. Specific aims of this exploratory work generally focus on honing or determining the validity of proposed research question(s) relative to the available data, assessing potential approaches and piloting solutions, and/or producing preliminary results suitable for the development of successful proposals for multi-year, collaborative, externally funded research.

FOCUS, DURATION AND SCOPE OF PROJECTS

Projects can be at any stage of the research pipeline for the given research question (data gathering, cleaning, management, analysis, visualization, interpretation, dissemination, preservation) and feature any type of data (e.g., numeric, text, image, audio, etc.). Prior projects have included, but are not limited to:

• modeling and data exploration;
• visualization, including large-scale 3D/virtual reality;
• text analysis and natural language processing;
• network analyses;
• image classification;
• informatics.

Products from Start-Up Projects are exploratory in nature and additional work may be necessary for publication and production-ready products. Accepted projects will be scoped to include statements of work and project deliverables that can be successfully achieved within 8-12 weeks from the start of work.  Examples of prior projects can be found on DataLab’s research project pages.

Proposals will be evaluated and selected in late fall 2022, with initial scoping and planning meetings in December through January 2023. Project work will begin in either winter or spring 2023. Start-Up Projects selected to begin in spring 2023 will also leverage participation from student interns enrolled in our honors data science series.

WHAT RESEARCHERS RECEIVE AS PART OF THE AWARD

• Regular consultation with the DataLab directorate;
• Technical project management by DataLab staff;
• 20%+ time of dedicated DataLab staff data scientist time to work on the project;
• Customized training opportunities for partnering groups on an as needed basis;
• Access to DataLab compute infrastructure as necessary and suitable for completion of the project;
• Up to $1,500 dollars as needed in fees for licensing data required to complete the proposed project;
• All project PIs are invited to become DataLab Affiliates;
• Access to DataLab physical facilities in Shields Library for team meetings.
• Engagement with the broader Grand Challenges community at UC Davis, potentially including networking and large scale proposal development support.

EXPECTATIONS OF PARTICIPATING RESEARCHERS

• Participation in weekly project meetings (typically virtual but in person also possible);
• Ability to dedicate focused time towards the completion of the proposed project during the identified time period;
• Availability to DataLab staff and directorship for communications (phone, email, Zoom, etc.) required to keep project moving forward successfully between project meetings;
• Review and contributions to the final project report and documentation;
• Present research at a DataLab hosted event (timing to be mutually determined);
• Participation in a DataLab networking event;
• Provide attribution to DataLab in any resulting products from the collaboration;
• Actively seek out, co-write and co-PI suitable follow-up applications for external funding to expand and continue the research. (Expectation is that domain researchers would be the primary PI on a domain-focused grant, whereas DataLab would lead on a technical or data science-focused grant.)

WHO CAN APPLY

Any principal investigators (PIs) from any department at UC Davis and UC Davis Health are eligible to apply.  Postdoctoral scholars and advanced graduate students seeking support for a project may write a proposal but require support and engagement from their faculty mentor as the primary PI. Proposed projects cannot be a stand alone chapter of a students’ thesis or dissertation.

EVALUATION OF PROPOSALS

All proposals will be evaluated by an external review committee consisting of representatives from DataLab’s directorate, faculty advisory board, and affiliate community. Priority will be given to projects that the committee deems: (a) have the highest potential for impact; (b) most likely to lead to larger, externally funded research efforts; and (c) most technologically feasible within the scope and resources of the Start-Up program.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Applicants should submit a narrative proposal of approximately 2-3 pages (but no more than 5 pages) that includes the following:

• A description of the basic research question/hypothesis for the proposed project;
• Brief discussion of what, if any, approaches you have tried and why you need data science support;
• any known issues with data access, copyright, or required licensing fees;
• a statement to the effect of whether you “own” the data (do you have permission to share and distribute the data?);
• a real or pseudo sample of the data (not counted as part of proposal page limit);
• A description of how the project fits within your larger research goals and agenda;
• A discussion of the potential impact of findings on your research domain and which focal area(s) of Grand Challenges it aligns with;
• A list of known funding programs and/or sources which would be targeted for funding follow-up research;
• CVs of all PIs and primary project participants (2-page biosketch preferred) and a list (with email contacts) of all members of the domain project team including any postdocs, graduate students, undergraduate students, staff or other human resources who will directly participate in the project (not counted as part of proposal page limit).

Submit applications for the 2023 application cycle via email to DataLab with the subject “Start-Up Project Application 2023” by November 21, 2022. Applications will be reviewed as received, with projects selected and initial scoping and planning meetings held in December through January 2023. Projects will be assigned to either winter or spring quarter, with all project work completed by the end of June 2023. 

Contact [email protected]. We can schedule a consultation to talk about your proposal or we are also available during our weekly office hours (Wednesdays 1-2:30 PM) .

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• Washington Center for Equitable Growth
• 740 15th St. NW 8th Floor
• Washington, D.C. 20005
• Phone: 202.545.6002

RESEARCH November 9, 2022

The Washington Center for Equitable Growth seeks to deepen our understanding of how inequality affects economic growth and stability. To do so, we support research investigating the various channels through which economic inequality, in all its forms, may or may not impact economic growth and stability.

Equitable Growth promotes efforts to increase diversity in the economics profession and across the social sciences. We recognize the importance of diverse perspectives in broadening and deepening research on the topics in this request for proposals.

FUNDING PRIORITIES

Equitable Growth is interested in inequality in all of its forms and its relationship to growth. We also recognize that various forms of inequality interact with each other in ways that deserve more attention.

We support research inquiry using many different types of evidence, relying on a variety of methodological approaches and cutting across academic disciplines.

Preference is given to projects creating new data that can be made publicly available and to studies that engage with relevant literature across disciplines.

MACROECONOMICS AND INEQUALITY

How is inequality structurally reshaping the economy and the models research uses? What are the effects of the historic levels of inequality on economic growth and business cycles, and what policies could lead to more equitable, sustainable, and broadly shared growth? How can macroeconomic research more fully take into account the economic, social, and environmental benefits and costs of addressing the consequences and risks of climate change? Equitable Growth is particularly interested in how racial disparities and discrimination in the economy affect economic growth and well-being overall and the well-being of historically marginalized groups.

Areas of interest include but are not limited to:

MONETARY POLICY

What are the distributional effects of monetary policy, both expansionary and contractionary? How does the financial market response to changes in monetary policy affect wealth inequality?

How do the costs of inflation vary across household characteristics, such as income or race? How do a household’s asset and debt positions affect its experience of inflation?  

INVESTMENT, GROWTH, AND SUPPLY-SIDE MACROECONOMICS

How can macroeconomic policy best support the supply-side of the economy to generate equitable growth? What role does government investment have in crowding-in or crowding-out private investment and growth in general and in areas such as the move toward a cleaner economy? What instrument choice or mechanism design best aligns the incentives of the private sector and the government in these public investments? Why may large, private firms be hesitant to make long-term investments even when they have ample cash and financing available?

FISCAL POLICY

What are the distributional effects of fiscal policy, and do they differ across different demographic groups? Did the more aggressive fiscal policy response during the recent recession limit scarring and mitigate the severity of the recession, compared to previous recessions? What are the implications of increased income and wealth inequality for public policy, and how do public policies affect these relationships? Would more automatic stabilizers improve the toolkit of policies to fight recessions?

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS IN GOVERNMENT PROCESSES

How can inequality and growth be reflected in a nuanced way in government economic indicators or government economic analyses, such as legislative scoring or regulatory cost benefit analysis? How can economic analysis or key economic indicators better take into account long-term threats to growth, such as climate change, or the potential returns of long-term investments, such as investments in children? How can they better model distributional impacts and racial disparities?

HUMAN CAPITAL AND WELL-BEING

How does economic inequality, particularly wealth inequality, affect the development of human capital, and what are the impacts on the health and stability of the macroeconomy? To what extent can the institutions that support the development of human capital mitigate inequality’s potential effects and enhance well-being and current and future economic productivity? Through what channels do these effects occur?

INVESTMENTS IN CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

What short-term indicators, other than education and health indicators, are impacted by investments in children and families that lead to long-term economic gains for children? Are there important complementarities in these investments in children and families that might limit the effectiveness of one investment if not accompanied by other investments, especially for those impacted by structural racism?

What are the short-, medium-, and long-term effects of child care and early education programs on children’s human capital development? How do they relate to long-term labor market outcomes, productivity, and economic growth, and what mechanisms underpin those human capital outcomes?

HUMAN CAPITAL DEPLOYMENT

What role do public policies—such as labor market regulations, work support policies, and income support policies—play in individual and family well-being, labor force participation, and consumption? What policies may be effective in combating discrimination and other structural impediments to the deployment of human capital?

How does the current U.S. child care market facilitate or impede labor force participation and economic growth? Where are the biggest inequities in the U.S. child care system, and how do those affect labor force participation and macroeconomic stability? How does the health and functioning of the U.S. child care sector impact the macroeconomy and business cycle, and vice versa?

INTRA- AND INTERGENERATIONAL MOBILITY

What policies, especially at scale, may be effective in making upward mobility more attainable and equitable? What structural factors and institutions, including structural racism, determine who has the opportunity to achieve upward mobility? What mechanisms explain the strong correlations we see in who achieves upward mobility? Which place-based programs or interventions are most effective in promoting economic mobility, and for whom? What policies are effective at strengthening household balance sheets, building wealth, improving economic stability, and shifting the trajectory of lifetime earnings, and what are the macroeconomic effects of such policies? How are climate change and other environmental factors affecting intergenerational mobility? While Equitable Growth is interested in both contemporary and historical approaches to these questions, we are particularly interested in research that will clarify indicators and critical interventions that will guide policymaking today.

THE LABOR MARKET

How does inequality affect the labor market? How does the labor market and workplace organization affect whether growth is broadly shared? What are the labor market impacts on intra- and intergenerational mobility, and have changes in employer-employee relationships and new types of work arrangements affected the opportunity for job advancement and mobility? How prevalent is discrimination in the labor market, and what are its effects? How is climate change affecting wages and job quality?

POWER IN LABOR MARKETS

What is the relative bargaining power of workers versus employers, what influences that balance, and how does it affect pay levels, job quality, and economic growth? Do structural barriers, including structural racism and gender discrimination, or social norms affect labor market dynamics? What role do public policies, unions, and other forms of workplace organization play in determining labor market power? What effect do new technologies and new types of work arrangements have on who has power and how that power is exerted?

TECHNOLOGY IN THE WORKPLACE

How is the use of technology affecting work and workers, including hiring, wages, working conditions, scheduling/schedule stability, job quality, on-the-job training, management, surveillance, and outsourcing? How are labor market institutions succeeding or failing in the face of new forms of workplace organization, including those enabled by the adoption of new technologies? How are different forms of automation, algorithmic management, and other technologies measured and defined, now and over time, and what are the implications for understanding their effects on workers, wages, and labor markets? Do those effects differ for different demographic groups or protected classes? Equitable Growth is interested in both contemporary and historical approaches to these questions.

RETURNS TO WORK

How are returns to work affected by inflation? What are the firm effects of policies intended to improve worker well-being? Where is monopsony power prevalent, what are its causes, what impacts employer ability to exercise monopsony power, and what policies are most effective at addressing it? What role do structural racism and gender discrimination play, and what policies may be effective in decreasing the racial and gender wage gaps? How does enforcement of existing labor laws affect outcomes for workers?

MARKET STRUCTURE

What is the role of market structure in determining economic growth and its distribution? What is the relationship between inequality, market power, and economic growth? How competitive are markets in the U.S. economy, and is that changing? What conduct is likely or unlikely to harm competition, and how? Equitable Growth is interested in research from an aggregate perspective, which has been common in the macroeconomic and labor literatures, as well as industry- or market-specific analysis that has been the focus of industrial organization literatures.

EXISTENCE AND CAUSES OF MARKET POWER

Is there increased market power in the economy, and if so, what are its causes? Areas of interest include studies of mergers, potential competition, and specific conduct. Is anticompetitive activity more common in some industries than others?

CONSEQUENCES OF MARKET POWER

What are the effects of market power on product markets, labor markets, and small business, including new business formation, firm growth, business investment, productivity, and inequality? Has increased market power made firms less resilient to shocks, such as supply-chain interruptions and severe weather? How have technological developments affected competition? How does market concentration affect the development or deployment of new technologies to mitigate climate change and support sustainable economic growth? Does market power disproportionately affect historically marginalized groups? How do racial and other inequalities affect competition?

EFFECTIVENESS OF POLICY TOOLS

Equitable Growth is particularly interested in empirical work that examines the effectiveness of policies to promote competition, including, but not limited to, the state of antitrust enforcement, regulatory approaches, new foundations for antitrust actions that do not necessarily rely on prices, and comparisons of the U.S. antitrust enforcement regime with other models. Equitable Growth also is interested in the differential effect of policies on different sized firms, particularly small business and minority-owned business, and the ways in which policies are shaping markets.

WHAT WE FUND

Academic grants.

Academic grants are open to researchers affiliated with a U.S. university. The affiliated university must administer the grant.

Academic grants are typically in the $25,000 to $100,000 range over 1 to 3 years. We frequently partner with other foundations to support projects jointly or to share proposals that are not a fit for our grant program, but which may be of interest to other funders.

Equitable Growth is willing to fund a wide range of activities, including researcher salary and benefits, research assistance, data purchase, and costs associated with conducting experiments or participating in professional conferences. Our grants cannot cover indirect overhead.

Visit the academic grants section of our website to learn more about academic grants, including eligibility, allowable costs, and evaluation criteria.

DOCTORAL/POSTDOCTORAL GRANTS

Doctoral/postdoctoral grants are open to graduate students currently enrolled in a doctoral program at a U.S. university and to recent Ph.D. graduates currently in a postdoctoral position at a U.S. university. If you are currently a graduate student or in a postdoctoral position, you may choose to apply for either an academic or doctoral/postdoctoral grant, depending on the pool in which you’d like to compete.

International students at U.S. universities are eligible to apply, though if awarded, the grant would likely need to be administered through the university. International students are advised to communicate their intention to apply with their institution to ensure adherence to institutional protocol if funded.

Doctoral/postdoctoral grants are funded at $15,000 over 1 year.

Funding can be used to cover the costs associated with conducting research, such as research assistance, data purchase, or participating in professional conferences. Funding can also be used as stipend support. Our grants cannot cover indirect overhead.

Visit the doctoral/postdoctoral grants section of our website to learn more about doctoral/postdoctoral grants, including eligibility, allowable costs, and evaluation criteria.

DISSERTATION SCHOLARS PROGRAM

Equitable Growth is building a network of scholars doing cutting-edge research on inequality and growth. The Dissertation Scholars program provides Ph.D. candidates with financial and professional support to pursue their own research and to gain familiarity with current policy discussions and the policy process. The program is currently operating virtually.

The position is open to graduate students who are currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program at a U.S. university and whose research aligns with Equitable Growth’s funding priorities. Dissertation Scholars are given an annualized $50,000 stipend and professional support, and are expected to support Equitable Growth’s grant program.

Scheduling is flexible to permit for travel to home institutions, as well as academic conferences. Tenure is for one academic year.

Applicants not selected for the Dissertation Scholar program will automatically be considered for a doctoral/postdoctoral grant.

Visit the Dissertation Scholars program section of our website to learn more about the program, including eligibility, the selection process, and evaluation criteria.

HOW TO APPLY

Academic grants .

To apply for an academic grant, submit a letter of inquiry and abbreviated curriculum vitae (max. five pages) using the online application portal .

Letters of inquiry are short descriptions of a research project. They should be approximately two pages in length. Letters of inquiry that are more than 1,500 words will not be considered. The word limit is designed to encourage concision and clarity. 

Letters of inquiry must include: 

• Problem or question your research seeks to address and how it relates to Equitable Growth’s funding priorities
• Engagement with and expected contribution to the literature
• Methodological approach, including data sources and research design
• Status of data access
• Timeline for completion

We encourage applicants to consider policy implications. Development of new data sources is also of interest.  

If tables, graphs, or other images are helpful in explaining your project, they can be included. While they will not count against the word limit, we encourage you to limit the use of images to one or two. Citations should be included in a references section and do not count against the word/page limit.

A preliminary budget is also required and should be submitted as a brief narrative (approximately 150 words). Budget narratives are submitted as part of the application form and do not have to be included in the letter of inquiry. At this stage, we are interested in the total expected cost of the project and a general breakdown of those costs (such as salary, research assistance, costs associated with data collection, travel, or conference fees). If applicable, please include a brief description of other secured or anticipated funding sources for the proposed work. A detailed project budget will be required for applicants who are invited to submit a full proposal. 

The deadline to apply is 11:59 p.m. EST on January 23, 2023.  

Visit the academic grants section of our website to learn more about academic grants, including eligibility, allowable costs, and evaluation criteria.  

DOCTORAL/POSTDOCTORAL GRANTS 

To apply for a doctoral/postdoctoral grant, submit a proposal and curriculum vitae using the online application portal .

Doctoral/postdoctoral proposals should be approximately six single-spaced pages with standard font and margins. Proposals longer than seven pages will not be considered. While we do not want to be overly prescriptive, the page limit is designed to encourage concision and clarity. 

Proposals should address the following: 

• Detailed methodological approach, including data sources and research design

Budget information is requested within the application form and should not be included in your six-page proposal. This section should briefly describe direct costs, such as data purchase or research assistance. If funding will be used for support only, simply state that. 

If tables, graphs, or other images are helpful in explaining your project, they can be included either in the body of the proposal or as an appendix. While they will not count against the page limit, we encourage you to limit the use of images to one or two. Citations should be included in a references section and do not count against the page limit.

Doctoral/postdoctoral applicants do not need to submit a letter of inquiry. Professional references are also not required.  

Doctoral/postdoctoral proposals are due by 11:59 p.m. EDT on March 20, 2023. 

Visit the doctoral/postdoctoral grants section of our website to learn more about doctoral/postdoctoral grants, including eligibility, allowable costs, and evaluation criteria.  

DISSERTATION SCHOLARS PROGRAM 

To apply to the Dissertation Scholars program, submit a proposal, statement of purpose, and curriculum vitae using the online application portal .

Application to the program also requires two academic letters of recommendation, preferably from your chair and an advisor. 

Letters of recommendation should be submitted through the online application portal. Prior to submitting your application, you will have the opportunity to request letters of recommendation through the online application portal. Letters must be submitted by the application deadline, so please reach out to your letter-writers well in advance of the deadline. 

The proposal should follow the requirements and guidelines for doctoral/postdoctoral proposals.  

The statement of purpose should be approximately two pages and should describe: 

• Your motivating research questions 
• The direction you anticipate your research agenda taking and how that relates to Equitable Growth’s mission 
• How you hope to spend your time with Equitable Growth and how that will help further your career/research 

Applicants selected to move forward in the Dissertation Scholar review process will be asked to interview with Equitable Growth in April 2023. Interviews consist of a research presentation and about three small group interviews with select staff. They are typically conducted over one day. Presentations and interviews will be done virtually. Selection decisions will be announced in early May 2023. 

The deadline to apply is 11:59 p.m. EST on January 23, 2023.

Academic letters of inquiry are due by 11:59 p.m. EST on January 23, 2023.

If invited, full proposals will be due by 11:59 p.m. EDT on May 8, 2023. 

Dissertation Scholar applications are due by 11:59 p.m. EST on January 23, 2023. 

Funding decisions will be announced by mid-July 2023. We anticipate that funds will be distributed in early fall 2023, though the timing of disbursement depends in part on the particulars of the project and the researcher’s home institution.

THE REVIEW PROCESS

Letters of inquiry and full proposals for academic grants are reviewed by staff, external peer reviewers, and members of Equitable Growth’s Steering Committee.  

Proposals for doctoral/postdoctoral grants and the Dissertation Scholars program are reviewed by our staff and members of our Steering Committee.  

All funding is approved by our Steering Committee .

For more information on evaluation criteria, visit the academic grants , doctoral/postdoctoral grants , or Dissertation Scholars program sections of our website.

FEEDBACK PRIOR TO SUBMISSION

Equitable Growth cannot provide feedback on a written proposal or Letter of Inquiry prior to the application deadline, but staff are available to meet with applicants to discuss questions they may have. Questions may include, but are not limited to, how to apply, budget guidelines, proposal structure, eligibility, and a project’s relevance to Equitable Growth’s mission and funding priorities.  

Watch these recordings of recent informational webinars to learn more about our funding opportunities, how to apply, and tips for a successful application.

The slide decks for each webinar can be viewed using these links: Academic webinar and Doctoral/postdoctoral/Dissertation Scholars webinar.

Equitable Growth staff are also available to meet with interested applicants. Please complete this form if you would like to schedule a time with our staff regarding any questions you may have about submitting an application. You will receive an email from [email protected] to schedule a 15–30 minute Zoom call with Equitable Growth staff best positioned to answer your question(s).

SUBMIT YOUR PROPOSAL

Submit your proposal by creating an account and completing the submission form using our online application portal .

If you have questions or are having trouble with the application portal, please email [email protected] or call 202-276-3368.

2022 Request for Proposals

November 10, 2021

Equitable Growth’s 2022 grantees will study the drivers and effects of U.S. economic inequality

August 30, 2022

Equitable Growth announces two Dissertation Scholars for 2022–23 academic year

October 6, 2022

Explore the Equitable Growth network of experts around the country and get answers to today's most pressing questions!

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Health-Related Research and Development (R&D), FY 2023

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) submits this report pursuant to Section 7019(e) of Public Law 117-328, the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2023, which incorporates by reference the requirements of the FY 2023 Joint Explanatory Statement (JES).

JES: Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of the act, the USAID Administrator shall update the report required under this heading in Senate Report 116–126 on USAID’s health-related research and development strategy. Such report shall include details on USAID’s research and development of antibiotics. The Committee recognizes that drug-resistant bacterial infections are increasing globally and that lower-income countries experience the highest rates of antimicrobial resistance related deaths.

Senate Report 116-126: The Committee recognizes USAID’s role in health-related research and supports continued investments in new global health technologies across each of USAID’s health related programs to address longstanding and emerging global health challenges. Not later than 60 days after enactment of the act, the USAID Administrator shall submit the annual report to the appropriate congressional committees on USAID’s health-related research and development strategy, which shall include: (1) specific health product development goals, including timelines for product development; (2) details about ongoing and planned investments in drugs, vaccines, diagnostics, and devices, including collaboration with other Federal agencies as well as private sector partners; (3) a detailed description of the mechanisms for collaboration and coordination in support of global health product development between Federal agencies; (4) an assessment of any critical gaps in product development for global health; and (5) recommendations for filling such gaps to ensure that U.S. investments in global health research are efficient, coordinated, and effective.

Introduction

USAID’s Global Health Research and Development (R&D) Strategy (2023 - 2028) outlines the Agency’s approach to ensuring research is translated into timely action to improve health, well-being, and resilience of people around the world. To achieve this vision, USAID focuses on: the development of new technologies, tools, and approaches; and implementation science, knowledge management, and research utilization. Cross-cutting these research areas, USAID continues a long-standing focus on partnerships and collaboration, while aiming to develop ethical, locally-led R&D systems. While USAID’s Global Health R&D strategy outlines broad approaches to meeting these objectives, this report highlights key developments and collaborations in FY 2022, and areas of focus for FY 2023. Accompanying appendices report USAID’s estimated FY 2022 funding levels for health-related research and development (Appendix I) and a detailed list of USAID-supported product R&D (Appendix II).

Reports to Congress

Every year Congress asks the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to submit a series of reports on various matters of concern. In an effort to provide a maximum of transparency to the general public, these reports are now being made available at this web site.

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BCRF Awards Grants to 255 Investigators Around the World

The Breast Cancer Research Foundation announces research projects for 2022-2023

New York, NY – Sept 30, 2022 – The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) announced its $52.7 million commitment to fund breast cancer research in 2022-23, supporting 255 scientists at leading academic and medical institutions across 14 countries. BCRF-funded research spans the entire spectrum of the disease—from studying the most basic biology of a cancer cell to developing innovative treatments and improving quality of life.

“Research is advancing at unprecedented rates, and BCRF is uniquely positioned to further accelerate progress,” said BCRF President & CEO Myra Biblowit. “Our investigators—among the best minds in science—are poised to herald targeted therapies, precision prevention, and an era of more equitable outcomes. We remain tremendously grateful for our dedicated donors, partners, supporters, and volunteers who, each year, ensure lifesaving breakthroughs.”

“We have reached a critical inflection point as a global community,” said BCRF Chief Scientific Officer Dorraya El-Ashry, PhD. “Even as we’ve made significant, lifesaving strides in understanding and treating breast cancer, it is still the leading cause of cancer incidence and cancer death in women around the world. We must reduce breast cancer incidence by tackling prevention with the same personalized approach that has led to dramatic declines in breast cancer deaths here in the U.S. At BCRF, we are cultivating a community of scientists to lead the charge on both fronts—curing and preventing breast cancer.”

Learn more about our research projects by tuning in to BCRF’s official podcast, Investigating Breast Cancer , available on all platforms, for one-on-one interviews with the world’s leading breast cancer experts. And keep up with the latest developments in breast cancer research on BCRF’s blog, The Progress Report .

BCRF funds a diverse array of researchers working across the entire spectrum of breast cancer, including in the following major focus areas:

BCRF REMAINS COMMITTED TO ENSURING EQUITABLE PROGRESS

While deaths from breast cancer have declined by 43 percent over the last 30 years, the same has not held true across all U.S. populations. Most alarmingly, Black women are 40 percent more likely to die from breast cancer than white women—a gap that increased from 40 percent last year and stands to further widen as a result of screening delays during the pandemic. We are committed to addressing disparities by taking a multi-pronged approach to studying root causes of this inequity. A few key approaches include:

• Understanding the genetic components and biology of breast cancer in Black women, such as the increased likelihood that Black women are more likely to have BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations, as well as other inherited susceptibility genes, which could inform screening and prevention decisions.
• Finding targeted treatments for triple-negative breast cancer, a form of the disease for which there are few targeted therapies and that disproportionately impacts young Black women.
• Identifying how social determinants of health coalesce to impact breast cancer outcomes—factors such as limited access to affordable, high-quality healthcare and other resources, can, in turn, lead to increased incidence of diabetes, heart disease, and obesity; and how the biology of these conditions influences breast cancer risk and worsens outcomes.

This October marks the 30th Anniversary of The Estée Lauder Companies’ Breast Cancer Campaign, founded by Evelyn H. Lauder in 1992. The Estée Lauder Companies is our leading corporate partner and recipient of this year’s Sandra Taub Humanitarian Award. We are proud to share that The Estée Lauder Companies Charitable Foundation, will donate $15 million to BCRF—the largest corporate donation in BCRF history—to fund innovative research addressing breast cancer disparities. The gift ($3 million per year, for five years) will further our shared goal of reducing breast cancer disparities and improving outcomes by addressing the complex questions regarding how multiple biological and social factors combine to influence breast cancer risk and outcomes for Black women. Learn more here .

BCRF IS THE LARGEST PRIVATE FUNDER OF METASTATIC RESEARCH WORLDWIDE

Each year, BCRF significantly invests in research for metastatic breast cancer (MBC), which comprises approximately 41 percent of BCRF’s research portfolio, funding 84 projects this year alone. Studies include those to understand the basic biology of how a breast cancer cell spreads throughout the body, discover biomarkers that can predict which cancers are most likely to spread, and develop new therapies to treat and prevent metastasis.

BCRF’s AURORA projects, supported by the Evelyn H. Lauder Founder’s Fund, is the largest international effort dedicated exclusively to MBC research. Preliminary results from the most comprehensive molecular analysis of metastatic breast cancer have revealed changes in molecular subtypes, genomic landscape, and the immune microenvironment in metastatic tumors compared to matched primary tumors.

STUDYING THE ROOT OF ALL CANCER CELLS

Research in tumor biology is the foundation of nearly all breast cancer research and makes up more than half of BCRF’s research grants portfolio, totaling 147 projects studying cancer initiation genes and pathways, tumor growth drivers, and biomarkers. BCRF’s sustained support of research into the fundamental biology of cancer underpins the strides we’ve made in precision medicine and targeted therapies.

UNDERSTANDING INHERITED RISK OF CANCER

BCRF continues to invest in research studying genetic ancestry, family history, and more to better predict risk, with 49 projects funded this year. Studies go beyond the well-known breast cancer susceptibility genes, BRCA1and BRCA2, to understand the impact of lesser-known genes (i.e., PALB2, CHEK2, and ATM) as well as investigating how common gene mutations that alone are non-pathogenic but when combined influence inherited breast cancer risk. In addition, BCRF researchers are identifying prevention and screening strategies for individuals at high risk.

HIGHLIGHTING LIFESTYLE AND PREVENTION STRATEGIES

Breast cancer has become the most common cancer in the world, surpassing lung cancer for the first time in 2020. The only way to reduce breast cancer incidence is to prevent the disease from taking root. BCRF is funding 39 projects to advance our understanding of risk factors. Researchers are investigating how factors such as obesity and environmental exposures may impact risk, while searching for lifestyle intervention strategies to reduce risk and prevent breast cancer. In its fourth year, BCRF’s Precision Prevention Initiative aims to accelerate personalized approaches for risk assessment that will identify those at greatest risk of breast cancer. Projects include applications of machine learning for precise interpretation of screening mammograms, artificial intelligence to identify markers of risk for breast cancer and characterizing premalignant lesions to identify those with a high likelihood of becoming invasive, aggressive disease.

SEARCHING FOR THE MOST EFFECTIVE, TREATMENTS

BCRF investigators are leading the field in the search for new therapeutic strategies for breast cancer. Nearly 138 BCRF projects seek to improve existing therapies and advance new ones. In the last year, BCRF’s Drug Research Collaborative launched several exciting studies exploring ways to improve response to CDK4/6 inhibitors in metastatic estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer, including studies to identify mechanisms of resistance, explore the anti-tumor and pro-immune effects of these agents, and reveal genetic mediators that diminish the effectiveness of this class of therapies.

IMPROVING QUALITY OF LIFE DURING AND AFTER BREAST CANCER TREATMENT

There are more than 4 million people in the U.S. with a history of breast cancer with an estimated 168,000 people living with metastatic disease. BCRF is funding 33 projects seeking answers to the variety of physical, emotional, and psychosocial challenges faced during and after treatment, so that patients are not only living longer, but are able to live full and productive lives.

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The New Future of Work

The New Future of Work is an initiative dedicated to creating solutions for a future of work that is meaningful, productive, and equitable. It began during the pandemic in response to an urgent need to understand remote work practices . When many people returned to the office, the focus shifted to supporting the hybrid work transition . Work practices are changing once again but this time the driver is technology. As such, the New Future of Work Initiative has entered a new chapter – artificial intelligence .

AI models, and specifically foundation models, have reached a watershed in power and maturity. The pandemic significantly accelerated the digital transformation and the pace at which work-related data is generated. Combined with the significant advances in AI and AI machinery, technology has an unprecedented opportunity to transform the way people work. Given the enormous potential of new AI systems, commonly referred to as generative AI, we must work together to ensure the technology is deployed in a privacy-preserving, responsible, and equitable way. This site features research from the initiative that has been published in peer-reviewed scientific venues, as well as resources to help you navigate a rapidly changing work environment and thrive in the age of AI. We recently published our 2023 Report (opens in new tab) that summarizes some of the exciting work in this space.

AI and the New Future of Work CFP | Spring 2024

Language models are fundamentally changing how work gets done, and high-quality academic research is needed to ensure that the new future of work that they will help create is bright. We awarded five recipients for this CFP that received over 160 submissions!

WorkLab is a Microsoft site that builds on the research here to deliver stories and science-based insights on how to connect more, create more, and unlock ingenuity. It includes pieces on performance in the age of AI and how generative AI will transfrom work .

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Research Highlights 2023

Innovation and discovery were defining themes of the fiscal year 2022-2023. The dedication of Boise State’s researchers and the teams that supported them marked a year of outstanding growth. Every discovery paved the way to a more promising future for our communities and beyond.

With the generous support of sponsors and higher awards entrusted to deliver solutions, Boise State accepted the challenge and delivered. Below, you’ll find a glimpse into the possibilities that our hard-working contributors brought to life.

We invite you to follow our path of discovery.

Innovative spirit and exceptional research

“We remain steadfast in our commitment to delivering exceptional research and creative activity opportunities to our students. We are particularly thankful for the remarkable contributions of our dedicated faculty, staff, students, and administrators, who have collectively lifted our research and creative activity endeavors to unprecedented heights. Achieving these milestones is a testament to the collaborative and innovative spirit that defines our institution.”

The numbers are in!

Boise State has made remarkable strides in the record books for the fiscal year 2023. To put this achievement into perspective, in 2022, Boise State received more than $68 million in 422 different awards, an impressive feat. However, in 2023, the university reached even greater heights, amassing over $91 million. This remarkable growth is a testament to the exceptional work carried out by Boise State’s Research and Sponsored Projects teams, who have demonstrated insight, innovation, hard work and creativity throughout the year.

In 2023, Boise State asked important questions, and in turn, unearthed cutting-edge solutions.

When you think of research, what comes to mind? Boise State’s philosophy centers around curiosity and community. How can we solve food insecurity problems for low-income students in the United States? Is it possible to future-proof plastics by building them without oil and design them to break down more quickly? Why are vulnerable communities more likely to be impacted by wildfires?

Boise State is driven to find answers. Are you curious, too? Discover what research can reveal.

More local food for school tables to keep students well nourished

Researchers turned superglue into a recyclable, cheap, oil-free plastic alternative, wildfire risk is soaring for low-income, elderly and other vulnerable populations in california, washington and oregon, how artificial intelligence could scrap humanity’s ability to lie, from campus to cutting edge: the chips and science act and the growing focus on semiconductors at boise state, pregnancy is a genetic battlefield – how conflicts of interest pit mom’s and dad’s genes against each other, division of research and economic development.

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The Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability has selected eight interconnected Solution Areas to focus its research efforts over the next decade. This new research plan amplifies the school’s ability to translate Stanford research into large-scale solutions and inform key decision makers in policy and business.

Selected based on extensive faculty input and assessment of where Stanford can make the most meaningful impact, the eight areas are: climate; water; energy; food; risk, resilience, and adaptation; nature; cities; and platforms and tools for monitoring and decision making. 

“Solution Areas identify and leverage the critical junctions between the most pressing global sustainability challenges and the areas where Stanford has the talent and expertise to find solutions,” said Dean Arun Majumdar. “This collaborative all-campus approach expands and strengthens our commitment to using all the power we have – the knowledge, the education, the talent, the innovation, the resources, the influence – to build a thriving planet for future generations.” 

‘Integrative Projects’ and ‘Flagship Destinations’

In each Solution Area, the school plans to build two types of research initiatives. One type, called Integrative Projects, will be managed by the school’s institutes, including the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment , the Precourt Institute for Energy , and a planned Sustainable Societies Institute. 

Integrative Projects will be organized around decade-long research themes and dedicated to creating solutions through interdisciplinary collaboration, engagement with partners beyond Stanford, identifying significant knowledge gaps, and understanding systems.

According to Chris Field , the Perry L. McCarty Director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, the new commitment to these areas “will provide both resources and coordination that expand Stanford faculty’s capacity to deliver sustainability solutions at scale.” 

A second type of research initiative, called Flagship Destinations, is managed by Stanford’s Sustainability Accelerator . Flagship Destinations are targets for the pace and scale of work to address challenges facing Earth, climate, and society. For example, the school’s first Flagship Destination, announced in 2023 , calls for enabling the removal of billions of tons of planet-warming gases annually from Earth’s atmosphere by the middle of this century. By working backward from sustainability targets in consultation with faculty and external experts, this initiative seeks to rapidly translate Stanford research into policy and technology solutions. Additional Flagship Destinations will be announced later this week.

Whereas Integrative Projects are designed to produce knowledge and evidence that can eventually lead to solutions, Flagship Destination projects are intended to help verify and demonstrate that well-studied solutions can succeed at large scale so they can be launched out of Stanford and implemented for the benefit of humanity and our planet. Scalable solutions nurtured and launched through these projects could take the form of policy frameworks, open-source platforms, nonprofit organizations, new for-profit companies, and ongoing collaborations all committed to addressing pressing sustainability challenges.

“By working together in these Solution Areas across disciplines and with collaborators beyond the university, we maximize our ability to have positive impacts on the timeframe and scale needed for the planet and humanity,” said Scott Fendorf , senior associate dean for integrative initiatives and the Terry Huffington Professor in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. 

Workshops will be held with faculty and external experts to develop research strategies for each Solution Area on a rolling basis. Strategy workshops, opportunities to provide input on future Integrative Projects, and requests for proposals (open to all Stanford faculty) will be announced in the coming months.

Related message from leadership: Read a letter to faculty about the new Solution Areas from Dean Majumdar with Precourt Institute for Energy director William Chueh; Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment director Chris Field; Accelerator faculty director Yi Cui and executive director Charlotte Pera; and Integrative Initiatives associate dean Jenna Davis and senior associate dean Scott Fendorf.

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INTERSPEECH 2023-2024 Papers: A complete collection of influential and exciting research papers from the INTERSPEECH 2023-24 conference. Explore the latest advances in speech and language processing. Code included. Star the repository to support the advancement of speech technology!

DmitryRyumin/INTERSPEECH-2023-24-Papers

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INTERSPEECH 2024 Papers: A complete collection of influential and exciting research papers from the INTERSPEECH 2024 conference. Explore the latest advances in speech and language processing. Code included. ⭐ the repository to support the advancement of speech technology!

The PDF version of the INTERSPEECH 2024 Conference Programme , comprises a list of all accepted full papers, their presentation order, as well as the designated presentation times.

Conference table will be up to date all the time.

Contributors

Contributions to improve the completeness of this list are greatly appreciated. If you come across any overlooked papers, please feel free to create pull requests , open issues or contact me via email . Your participation is crucial to making this repository even better.

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Chipping Away: Assessing and Addressing the Labor Market Gap Facing the U.S. Semiconductor Industry

Semiconductors are at the heart of America’s strength, enabling the essential technologies that drive economic growth and national security. With demand for semiconductors projected to increase significantly by 2030 and beyond, semiconductor companies are ramping up production and innovation to keep pace.

Fortunately, thanks in large part to enactment of the landmark CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, a significant share of new chip manufacturing capacity and R&D is expected to be located in the U.S. But as America’s semiconductor ecosystem expands in the years ahead, so too will its demand for semiconductor workers with the skills, training, and education needed in the highly innovative semiconductor industry.

We project the semiconductor industry’s workforce will grow by nearly 115,000 jobs by 2030, from approximately 345,000 jobs today to approximately 460,000 jobs by the end of the decade, representing 33% growth. Of these new jobs, we estimate roughly 67,000 — or 58% of projected new jobs (and 80% of projected new technical jobs) — risk going unfilled at current degree completion rates. Of the unfilled jobs, 39% will be technicians, most of whom will have certificates or two-year degrees; 35% will be engineers with four-year degrees or computer scientists; and 26% will be engineers at the master’s or PhD level.

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The challenge facing the semiconductor industry in closing this labor market gap also confronts the U.S. economy as a whole. Other high-growth technology industries of strategic importance to the future of the U.S. and the world are facing a similar talent gap and are competing for the same pool of trained workers. These industries and technologies include clean energy, medical technology, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, cybersecurity, next-generation communications, aerospace, automotive, and advanced manufacturing, among others. Accordingly, the shortage of skilled workers poses a substantial challenge for both the semiconductor industry and the broader U.S. economy.

The numbers are striking. For the economy as a whole, by the end of 2030, an estimated 3.85 million additional jobs requiring proficiency in technical fields will be created in the U.S. Of those, 1.4 million jobs risk going unfilled unless we can expand the pipeline for such workers in fields such as skilled technicians, engineering, and computer science.

Closing the talent gap is of critical importance to the success of the U.S. economy and the semiconductor industry. While the technology sector, broadly, needs to work together to address these challenges, semiconductors are foundational to virtually all the critical technologies of the future. Addressing the challenge for the semiconductor industry, first and foremost, will be central to the promotion of growth and innovation throughout the economy. But the gap in technical talent facing the chip industry is only a fraction of the overall challenge facing the economy.

The U.S. semiconductor industry has, for decades, engaged in programs to recruit, train, and employ a diverse and skilled workforce. Across the nation, chip firms have longstanding and expanding partnerships with community colleges and technical schools, apprenticeship programs, universities and laboratories, and regional education networks. As the industry grows to meet demand alongside CHIPS investments, companies are growing their workforce development footprint. At the same time, the U.S. government must work with industry and academia to prioritize measures to address the skills gap facing the broader economy and the semiconductor industry. To help achieve this goal, we present three core recommendations to strengthen the U.S. technical workforce.

RECOMMENDATION 1: Strengthen support for regional partnerships and programs aimed at growing the pipeline for skilled technicians for semiconductor manufacturing and other advanced manufacturing sectors.

Expanding certification boot camps, apprenticeships, and other training programs at community and technical colleges located near new and expanding semiconductor fabs would be an effective means to help close the workforce gap for technicians. Curricula and education solutions tailored to the semiconductor industry will ensure students are prepared for future employment. The technician pipeline is robust and pulls from a wide variety of sources, such as high school graduates and returning veterans. Improving current trajectories of talent supply and demand will be an uphill battle, and companies in the semiconductor industry are already taking action. The CHIPS and Science Act also provides excellent support in closing this gap and should continue to assist industry-led efforts to bolster the technician workforce.

RECOMMENDATION 2: Grow the domestic STEM pipeline for engineers and computer scientists vital to the semiconductor industry and other sectors that are critical to the future economy.

Our analysis shows that an insufficient number of students are pursuing STEM degrees to meet the labor market demand, and many of those who graduate with STEM degrees do not enter a STEM occupation. An even smaller number of these graduates enter the semiconductor industry. Policies should be undertaken to expand this pipeline in three stages:

• Attract more students to STEM disciplines.
• Employ more STEM graduates in STEM fields.
• Attract more STEM students to job opportunities in the semiconductor industry.

The CHIPS and Science Act provides significant potential support for advancing the above three objectives by establishing the National Semiconductor Technology Center, the semiconductor-focused Manufacturing USA Institutes, the National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program, expanded NIST metrology research, the Department of Defense Microelectronics Commons, the National Science Foundation CHIPS Workforce and Education Fund, and other institutions. These initiatives represent an important step forward, but more must be done. Our analysis shows that enhancing the domestic pipeline for STEM talent, especially at the master’s and PhD level, is a generational challenge. The U.S. needs to act today to move forward aggressively if it is to fully meet the industry’s demand for technical talent by 2030.

RECOMMENDATION 3: Retain and attract more international advanced degree students within the U.S. economy.

The process of growing the domestic pipeline of U.S.-citizen students pursuing advanced degrees in STEM fields will take years or decades to bear fruit. In the meantime, we estimate that approximately 16,000 master’s- and PhD-level international engineers are leaving the U.S. each year. For the semiconductor industry alone, these departures contribute to a projected total gap of approximately 17,000 master’s and PhD engineers by the end of the decade. Simply put, the workforce gap for individuals with advanced engineering and computer science degrees cannot be realistically addressed for the foreseeable future solely with U.S.-citizen graduates.

At U.S. colleges and universities, over 50% of master’s engineering graduates and over 60% of PhD engineering graduates are foreign citizens. Approximately 80% of master’s and 25% of foreign PhD STEM graduates from U.S. institutions do not remain in the U.S. after graduating, either by choice or because of U.S. immigration policy.

Such high shares imply that providing easier pathways to permanent U.S. residency has the potential to provide an immediate boost to the domestic talent pool available to the semiconductor industry and other technology industries of strategic importance. Reforms to high-skilled immigration policy that lower the barriers to U.S. firms seeking to recruit and retain international students with advanced degrees can help to meet near-term skills gaps facing the semiconductor and other key technology industries.

A sustainable and predictable supply of technicians, engineers, and CS professionals across all industries is vital for U.S. national security, competitiveness, and innovation — and to guarantee the supply of the end products American consumers and businesses demand. The success of U.S. semiconductor manufacturing, design, and R&D depends on leadership from industry, government, and education to rise to the challenge and maximize the generational opportunity that lies ahead.

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How India could rise to the world’s second-biggest economy

As India’s population of 1.4 billion people becomes  the world’s largest ,, its GDP is forecast to expand dramatically. Goldman Sachs Research projects India will have the world’s second-largest  economy by 2075 .

For India, a key to realizing the potential of that growing population is boosting participation within its labor force, as well as providing training and skills for its immense pool of talent, says Santanu Sengupta, Goldman Sachs Research’s India economist. “Over the next two decades, the dependency ratio of India will be one of the lowest among regional economies”, he says, pointing out that India’s population has one of the best ratios between its working-age population and its number of children and elderly. “So that really is the window for India to get it right in terms of setting up manufacturing capacity, continuing to grow services, continuing the growth of infrastructure.”

We spoke with Sengupta about the underpinnings of India’s economy, the demographic factors driving GDP forward, and the country’s ambitions for green energy.

What are the main drivers of Goldman Sachs Research’s long-term forecasts for India’s economy?

India has made more progress in innovation and technology than some may realize. Yes, the country has demographics on its side, but that’s not going to be the only driver of GDP. Innovation and increasing worker productivity are going to be important for the world’s fifth-biggest economy. In technical terms, that means greater output for each unit of labor and capital in India’s economy. 

Capital investment is also going to be a significant driver of growth going forward. Driven by favorable demographics, India’s savings rate is likely to increase with falling dependency ratios, rising incomes, and deeper financial sector development, which is likely to make the pool of capital available to drive further investment. On this front, the government has done the heavy-lifting in the recent past. But given healthy balance sheets of private corporates and banks in India, we believe that the conditions are conducive for a private sector capex cycle. Finally, favourable demographics will add to potential growth over the forecast horizon. India’s large population is clearly an opportunity, however the challenge is productively using the labor force, by increasing the labor force participation rate. That will mean creating the opportunities for this labor force to get absorbed and simultaneously training and upskilling the labor force.

How do India’s demographics compare to other large countries in terms of aging and fertility?

In India, the demographic transition is happening more gradually and over a longer time period than the rest of Asia. This is primarily due to a more gradual decline in death and birth rates in India compared with the rest of Asia.

The population growth will continue. What we focus on is the dependency ratio, which is the non-working-age population that is dependent on the working-age population. For India, that will be among the lowest among large economies for the next 20 years or so. So that really is the window for India to get it right in terms of setting up manufacturing capacity, continuing to grow services, continuing the growth of infrastructure.

There’s a lot of infrastructure creation that is going on now, primarily led by the government’s focus on setting up infrastructure in terms of roads, railways and so forth. We believe this is also the appropriate time for the private sector to scale up on creating capacities in both manufacturing and services which has the potential of creating jobs and absorbing the large labor force.

What are some of the risks to Goldman Sachs Research’s forecasts for India’s economic growth?

The main downside risk would be if the labor force participation rate does not increase. The labor force participation rate in India has declined over the last 15 years. If you have more opportunities — especially for women, because the women’s labor force participation rate is significantly lower than men’s — you can shore up your labor force participation rate, which can further increase your potential growth.

Growth upside can come through higher productivity growth. India has taken a giant leap in terms of digitalization of the economy, both through wider penetration of Internet and mobile Internet. But along with that you’ve had the unique identification number, or what is called the Aadhaar, the world’s largest biometric ID system, by which you are now able to verify identification of the 1.4 billion population both online and physically. So it makes public service delivery much easier and more targeted. It widens the credit net, leads to smaller businesses getting more credit, and that can provide an upside to growth from an increase in productivity.

What are some of the other key factors to understanding India’s economy?

It’s a very domestic-demand-driven economy compared to many others, especially in the region which are more export dependent. India’s growth until now has been mainly driven by domestic consumption as the main driver, around 55-60% of the overall economy, plus domestic investments.

Net exports have always been a drag on growth, because India runs a current account deficit. In recent times, we are seeing some progress on that front. Services exports have been increasing, and that is somewhat cushioning current account balances.

The other important factor to keep in mind is how commodity prices affect the macro economy — inflation, fiscal deficit, and current-account deficit. India imports most of the commodities that are required for a large population. And when commodity prices globally go up it obviously shows up in macro imbalances.

Over the last few years, those macro imbalances are reducing, and you’re getting less macro vulnerability from, one, inflation targeting and, two, through services exports, which is cushioning the current account balance.

And which commodities are particularly noteworthy for India’s current account?

A large population has its energy requirements. Although the per-capita consumption of energy is way lower than not just the Western world, but also other emerging economies, the large population means a large energy import bill and shows up in India’s current account imbalances.

This was more true around 10 years back. Over the last five years or so, there is growing resilience in the external balance dynamics through a structural improvement in current accounts through services exports and due to the central bank consciously building reserve buffers, which gives more cushion during episodes of dollar strength.

Is green energy and the energy transition an opportunity for India?

Absolutely. India has announced that it aims to reach net zero emissions by 2070 and for 50% of the power generation capacity to come from non-fossil sources by 2030. The government is also pushing EVs and green hydrogen, and is targeting 500GW of renewable or clean energy capacity by 2030.

Ultimately, transitioning to green energy is a large investment opportunity, but it’ll take time. In the interim fossil fuels are going to be the majority share in energy needs until India transitions to green energy.

This article is being provided for educational purposes only. The information contained in this article does not constitute a recommendation from any Goldman Sachs entity to the recipient, and Goldman Sachs is not providing any financial, economic, legal, investment, accounting, or tax advice through this article or to its recipient. Neither Goldman Sachs nor any of its affiliates makes any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of the statements or any information contained in this article and any liability therefore (including in respect of direct, indirect, or consequential loss or damage) is expressly disclaimed.

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Field Research Around Qaanaaq Coast, Northwestern Greenland 2024

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Research teams of the Research Program on Coastal Environments in the fields of marine, glaciers/ice sheet, land/atmosphere, humanities, or others conduct a variety of research observations around Qaanaaq in northwest Greenland from July to September 2024. Please enjoy reports from the research teams along with photos.

Table of Contents The field campaign at Qaanaaq Glacier, northwestern Greenland （2024/8/2） New!

The field campaign at Qaanaaq Glacier, northwestern Greenland

Writer：Takuro Imazu (Hokkaido University) Kotaro Yazawa (Hokkaido University) Shin Sugiyama (Hokkaido University)

We are in Qaanaaq in northwestern Greenland from July 10 to August 14, 2024 for a field campaign on Qaanaaq Glacier as a part of the ArCS II Research Program on Coastal Environments (Fig. 1). When we arrived at Qaanaaq village, air temperature was 5 degrees, which reminded me winter in Japan. There are many dogs in the village (Fig. 2), sea ice and icebergs in the ocean, and glaciers on the mountains. This is my first trip to Greenland, thus I, Yazawa (Hokkaido University), am impressed at the beautiful landscape.

We have been monitoring mass balance and ice velocity of Qaanaaq Glacier since 2012, by using aluminum poles installed at six locations on the glacier (Fig. 3). The long-term observations are important to understand the evolution of not only Qaanaaq Glacier, but also glaciers and ice caps in northwestern Greenland, where glacier mass loss has accelerated recently. The mass balance observation this summer showed that mean mass loss of Qaanaaq Glacier was 0.52 m w.e. (water equivalent) from 2023 to 2024. The rate of the mass loss was 32% smaller than that in 2022–2023. We also perform ice velocity measurements to investigate the role of ice dynamics in recent mass loss of the glacier. To repeat the mass balance and ice speed measurements next year, we installed new aluminum poles at the survey sites (Fig. 4).

We have repeated UAV surveys since 2022 to study the spatial distribution of surface elevation change with a high spatial and temporal resolutions (Fig. 5). The high resolution aerial photographs are also utilized to investigate supraglacial streams formed by meltwater on the glacier and their influence on the glacier mass loss. This summer, we have performed UAV measurements 3 times, taking 6671 photographs in total. We generate digital elevation models based on the photographs from the UAV. Spatial distribution of surface elevation change and the development of supraglacial streams are investigated by comparing the results with those from 2022 and 2023.

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