Grants

NSF

This project explores the hidden world of microbes living inside planktonic animals called pteropods (“sea butterflies”)—specifically Limacina rangii, a key part of the Antarctic marine food web. These small, shelled planktonic snails help move energy and carbon through the ocean and are especially important in waters around the rapidly warming Western Antarctic Peninsula and the Ross Sea. Recent studies have revealed that a group of specialized bacteria called Mollicutes dominate the gut of L. rangii, but little is known about what these bacteria do or how they respond to environmental change. By analyzing samples collected over the past decade and partnering with international researchers, this project will study how the microbes inhabiting pteropods vary across time and space and how these microbial communities may help pteropods adapt to changing ocean conditions. Scientists will use modern genetic tools, including DNA sequencing and metagenomics, to uncover the diversity and function of these microbes and to understand the role they play in the health and ecology of their animal hosts. Beyond advancing science, the project serves the national interest by supporting early-career researchers, training graduate and undergraduate students, and engaging the public through hands-on educational events and classroom materials. By studying the relationship between marine animals and their microbes in one of Earth’s most vulnerable ecosystems, this work helps us better understand the impacts of climate conditions on ocean life and supports broader efforts to sustain ocean health and biodiversity. This project investigates the microbiome composition and functional roles of Mollicutes and other gut-associated microbes in the Antarctic pteropod Limacina rangii, a key species in the Southern Ocean food web. Building on previous findings that Mollicutes dominate the gut microbiome of L. rangii, this study aims to characterize the spatial and temporal patterns of microbiome diversity and composition across two rapidly changing polar regions: the Western Antarctic Peninsula and the Ross Sea region. The project has three primary objectives: (1) to quantify the diversity and abundance of Mollicutes and other microbial taxa in the gut microbiomes of L. rangii and co-occurring pteropod species across space and time; (2) to identify environmental and host-associated factors influencing microbiome structure and Mollicute dominance; and (3) to determine the genomic features and potential metabolic functions of Mollicutes and other microbial associates through metagenomic analyses. The research will leverage archived samples from the Palmer Antarctica Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program (2009–2023) and recently collected samples from the Ross Sea in collaboration with the Korea Polar Research Institute. High-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA genes will be used for microbiome profiling, while quantitative PCR will measure Mollicutes abundance. Metagenomic sequencing and genome-resolved bioinformatics will be employed to recover and characterize microbial genomes, assess functional potential, and identify adaptations across environmental gradients. This project contributes to fundamental knowledge of host-microbe interactions in polar ecosystems, advancing understanding of how microbiomes may influence host physiology and resilience in a rapidly warming environment. It also provides insights into the evolutionary ecology of Mollicutes and their potential role as bioindicators of environmental change. Graduate and undergraduate training opportunities supported by this project—including research experiences, coursework integration, and public engagement activities—will be open and accessible to all Americans. Broader contributions include integrative training for early-career investigators and students, enhancement of bioinformatics education, and the development of public outreach programs targeting K–12 and general audiences. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF

This project explores the hidden world of microbes living inside planktonic animals called pteropods (“sea butterflies”)—specifically Limacina rangii, a key part of the Antarctic marine food web. These small, shelled planktonic snails help move energy and carbon through the ocean and are especially important in waters around the rapidly warming Western Antarctic Peninsula and the Ross Sea. Recent studies have revealed that a group of specialized bacteria called Mollicutes dominate the gut of L. rangii, but little is known about what these bacteria do or how they respond to environmental change. By analyzing samples collected over the past decade and partnering with international researchers, this project will study how the microbes inhabiting pteropods vary across time and space and how these microbial communities may help pteropods adapt to changing ocean conditions. Scientists will use modern genetic tools, including DNA sequencing and metagenomics, to uncover the diversity and function of these microbes and to understand the role they play in the health and ecology of their animal hosts. Beyond advancing science, the project serves the national interest by supporting early-career researchers, training graduate and undergraduate students, and engaging the public through hands-on educational events and classroom materials. By studying the relationship between marine animals and their microbes in one of Earth’s most vulnerable ecosystems, this work helps us better understand the impacts of climate conditions on ocean life and supports broader efforts to sustain ocean health and biodiversity. This project investigates the microbiome composition and functional roles of Mollicutes and other gut-associated microbes in the Antarctic pteropod Limacina rangii, a key species in the Southern Ocean food web. Building on previous findings that Mollicutes dominate the gut microbiome of L. rangii, this study aims to characterize the spatial and temporal patterns of microbiome diversity and composition across two rapidly changing polar regions: the Western Antarctic Peninsula and the Ross Sea region. The project has three primary objectives: (1) to quantify the diversity and abundance of Mollicutes and other microbial taxa in the gut microbiomes of L. rangii and co-occurring pteropod species across space and time; (2) to identify environmental and host-associated factors influencing microbiome structure and Mollicute dominance; and (3) to determine the genomic features and potential metabolic functions of Mollicutes and other microbial associates through metagenomic analyses. The research will leverage archived samples from the Palmer Antarctica Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program (2009–2023) and recently collected samples from the Ross Sea in collaboration with the Korea Polar Research Institute. High-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA genes will be used for microbiome profiling, while quantitative PCR will measure Mollicutes abundance. Metagenomic sequencing and genome-resolved bioinformatics will be employed to recover and characterize microbial genomes, assess functional potential, and identify adaptations across environmental gradients. This project contributes to fundamental knowledge of host-microbe interactions in polar ecosystems, advancing understanding of how microbiomes may influence host physiology and resilience in a rapidly warming environment. It also provides insights into the evolutionary ecology of Mollicutes and their potential role as bioindicators of environmental change. Graduate and undergraduate training opportunities supported by this project—including research experiences, coursework integration, and public engagement activities—will be open and accessible to all Americans. Broader contributions include integrative training for early-career investigators and students, enhancement of bioinformatics education, and the development of public outreach programs targeting K–12 and general audiences. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF

Feathered wings are a fascinating part of bird flight, yet they are not well understood. These wings have unique properties, from tiny barbicels that maintain structural integrity to individual feathers that change position, shape, and alignment. Flight feathers are both flexible and strong, and act individually or together depending on the flight situation. The close arrangement of feathers enables complex airflows between them, affecting aerodynamic force generation and feather deformation. However, our knowledge of these dynamics is limited. This project aims to investigate the unique properties of feathers and feathered wings that enhance flight capabilities, including their porosity and deformability, and their ability to change shape during flapping. The research combines experiments on isolated feathers, groups of feathers, computational models, and live bird observations to study this complex problem. The fascination and intrigue evoked by bird flight and the multi-modal research approach adopted here will be leveraged for outreach to undergraduate and K-12 students. The students and trainees involved in this project will become part of a new generation of scientists and engineers capable of applying computational and experimental methods across disciplines to tackle complex problems. The goals of this project are to: (1) investigate the aerodynamics and aero-structural dynamics of individual feathers; (2) study the interactional flow effects in multi-feather configurations; and (3) explore the aerodynamics of flapping flight with feathered wing-inspired models. First-of-their-kind computational models will be developed to incorporate not only the complex vortex dominated flows generated by feathers but also the aero-structural deformations and feather permeability. These computational models will be parameterized by structural testing and wind-tunnel studies of feathers as well as flying birds. The simulations will use innovative modeling approaches and efficient computational algorithms to bridge the very large range of scales that are encountered in this multi-physics problem. Micro-computed tomography imaging, micro-tensile testing, and wind-tunnel recordings of the aeroelasticity of feathers will provide key data for input and comparison with the simulations. The computational models of multi-feathered flapping wings parameterized from feather kinematics extracted from birds in flapping flight will significantly advance understanding of the function of this unique and intriguing flight “device.” The findings could improve designs for drones, making them lighter, quieter, and more efficient. The research could also lead to better understanding of flow over porous surfaces, benefiting various fields like aeronautics, biomedicine, and engineering. Finally, this research will enable exceptional educational and training opportunities for students at the intersection of biology and engineering. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF

Feathered wings are a fascinating part of bird flight, yet they are not well understood. These wings have unique properties, from tiny barbicels that maintain structural integrity to individual feathers that change position, shape, and alignment. Flight feathers are both flexible and strong, and act individually or together depending on the flight situation. The close arrangement of feathers enables complex airflows between them, affecting aerodynamic force generation and feather deformation. However, our knowledge of these dynamics is limited. This project aims to investigate the unique properties of feathers and feathered wings that enhance flight capabilities, including their porosity and deformability, and their ability to change shape during flapping. The research combines experiments on isolated feathers, groups of feathers, computational models, and live bird observations to study this complex problem. The fascination and intrigue evoked by bird flight and the multi-modal research approach adopted here will be leveraged for outreach to undergraduate and K-12 students. The students and trainees involved in this project will become part of a new generation of scientists and engineers capable of applying computational and experimental methods across disciplines to tackle complex problems. The goals of this project are to: (1) investigate the aerodynamics and aero-structural dynamics of individual feathers; (2) study the interactional flow effects in multi-feather configurations; and (3) explore the aerodynamics of flapping flight with feathered wing-inspired models. First-of-their-kind computational models will be developed to incorporate not only the complex vortex dominated flows generated by feathers but also the aero-structural deformations and feather permeability. These computational models will be parameterized by structural testing and wind-tunnel studies of feathers as well as flying birds. The simulations will use innovative modeling approaches and efficient computational algorithms to bridge the very large range of scales that are encountered in this multi-physics problem. Micro-computed tomography imaging, micro-tensile testing, and wind-tunnel recordings of the aeroelasticity of feathers will provide key data for input and comparison with the simulations. The computational models of multi-feathered flapping wings parameterized from feather kinematics extracted from birds in flapping flight will significantly advance understanding of the function of this unique and intriguing flight “device.” The findings could improve designs for drones, making them lighter, quieter, and more efficient. The research could also lead to better understanding of flow over porous surfaces, benefiting various fields like aeronautics, biomedicine, and engineering. Finally, this research will enable exceptional educational and training opportunities for students at the intersection of biology and engineering. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF

This project investigates how plants use calcium signaling mechanisms to respond to changes in temperature, salt stress, and wounding. The long-term goal is to understand how plant cells sense and respond to stressful environments, and to use that knowledge to develop crop plants that are more productive. Projections indicate that worldwide food production must increase by more than 70% by the year 2050 to feed the expected increase in the human population. To accomplish this, there is a need to develop crops that are more tolerant to suboptimal agricultural lands and chaotic weather events. This research project seeks to better understand how plants use calcium as an intracellular signaling molecule, and may lead to new ways to improve high-temperature tolerance in plants. Calcium signals are initiated when cell membrane ion channels open and allow calcium to enter the cytoplasm of a cell. The transient signal ends after calcium efflux transporter molecules remove the calcium and restore normal resting calcium levels. The focus of the research is to understand how cells regulate normal resting levels of calcium, and whether long-term changes in those resting levels provide a mechanism to reprogram cells to adapt to different stresses or developmental situations. The project incorporates genetic tools to manipulate the resting levels of calcium and test for their importance during plant development and responses to the environment. Additionally, the project will provide an opportunity for teams of undergraduate students to gain a true research experience to help develop critical thinking skills relevant to science and technology oriented careers. It will also provide research training for graduate students at both institutions. Calcium ion signaling is a fundamental feature of eukaryotic cells, and is critical for plants and animals to respond to biotic and abiotic stress conditions. While most research in plants has focused on stimuli that trigger calcium ion influx into the cytoplasm at the start of a calcium signal, relatively little is known about how calcium efflux systems reset basal levels of cytosolic calcium, and what happens if those basal levels are reset to different starting points. The focus of this project is on the role of ATP-dependent calcium efflux pumps referred to as Autoinhibited Calcium ATPases (ACAs). The project uses genetic knockouts of different calcium efflux pumps in Arabidopsis to increase or decrease basal cytosolic calcium concentrations when mutant plants are grown on media with varying concentrations of external calcium. The central hypothesis being tested is that calcium pumps play a critical role in defining basal levels of cytosolic calcium concentration, and that stable changes in basal calcium concentration can manifest as global changes in cellular physiology, gene expression, and an organism’s response to developmental or environmental stimuli. The first aim is to identify changes in calcium dynamics resulting from increasing or decreasing the activity of calcium pumps. The second aim is to identify environmental conditions that reset basal calcium concentrations. To provide undergraduates with an authentic research experience, a CURE (Course-Based Research Experience) will be developed in which students may identify molecules that trigger calcium signals in plant roots. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF

This project investigates how plants use calcium signaling mechanisms to respond to changes in temperature, salt stress, and wounding. The long-term goal is to understand how plant cells sense and respond to stressful environments, and to use that knowledge to develop crop plants that are more productive. Projections indicate that worldwide food production must increase by more than 70% by the year 2050 to feed the expected increase in the human population. To accomplish this, there is a need to develop crops that are more tolerant to suboptimal agricultural lands and chaotic weather events. This research project seeks to better understand how plants use calcium as an intracellular signaling molecule, and may lead to new ways to improve high-temperature tolerance in plants. Calcium signals are initiated when cell membrane ion channels open and allow calcium to enter the cytoplasm of a cell. The transient signal ends after calcium efflux transporter molecules remove the calcium and restore normal resting calcium levels. The focus of the research is to understand how cells regulate normal resting levels of calcium, and whether long-term changes in those resting levels provide a mechanism to reprogram cells to adapt to different stresses or developmental situations. The project incorporates genetic tools to manipulate the resting levels of calcium and test for their importance during plant development and responses to the environment. Additionally, the project will provide an opportunity for teams of undergraduate students to gain a true research experience to help develop critical thinking skills relevant to science and technology oriented careers. It will also provide research training for graduate students at both institutions. Calcium ion signaling is a fundamental feature of eukaryotic cells, and is critical for plants and animals to respond to biotic and abiotic stress conditions. While most research in plants has focused on stimuli that trigger calcium ion influx into the cytoplasm at the start of a calcium signal, relatively little is known about how calcium efflux systems reset basal levels of cytosolic calcium, and what happens if those basal levels are reset to different starting points. The focus of this project is on the role of ATP-dependent calcium efflux pumps referred to as Autoinhibited Calcium ATPases (ACAs). The project uses genetic knockouts of different calcium efflux pumps in Arabidopsis to increase or decrease basal cytosolic calcium concentrations when mutant plants are grown on media with varying concentrations of external calcium. The central hypothesis being tested is that calcium pumps play a critical role in defining basal levels of cytosolic calcium concentration, and that stable changes in basal calcium concentration can manifest as global changes in cellular physiology, gene expression, and an organism’s response to developmental or environmental stimuli. The first aim is to identify changes in calcium dynamics resulting from increasing or decreasing the activity of calcium pumps. The second aim is to identify environmental conditions that reset basal calcium concentrations. To provide undergraduates with an authentic research experience, a CURE (Course-Based Research Experience) will be developed in which students may identify molecules that trigger calcium signals in plant roots. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF

Soft robots, constructed from flexible and deformable materials, are opening new frontiers in robotics by enabling safe and adaptable operation in delicate and complex environments. This project focuses on developing microscale soft robots inspired by the shapes and motions of bacteria. These robots are specifically designed to navigate biological fluids that are highly viscous or elastic. The miniature robots will have the ability to change shape, adapt to tight or irregular spaces, and move with precision through external magnetic and light-based control. Unlike conventional rigid robots, these soft robots can bend, twist, roll, and swim with ease, allowing them to access regions that are otherwise unreachable. This capability makes them especially promising for medical applications, including targeted drug delivery and minimally invasive procedures in anatomical areas such as the ear, nose, and throat. In addition to advancing robotic technology, the project includes a strong educational and outreach component. At Southern Methodist University and the University of Utah, undergraduate and graduate students will participate directly in research activities, gaining valuable experience in robotics, materials science, and biomedical engineering. Through these efforts, the project aims not only to develop transformative biomedical tools but also to cultivate a skilled future workforce in science and engineering. Technically, the research involves the design, fabrication, modeling, and control of rod-shaped soft robots built from adaptive polymer scaffolds. These scaffolds contain paramagnetic disks for magnetic actuation, polydiacetylene vesicles for thermal sensing, and gold and silver nanoparticles for light-responsive shape modulation. The robots will be actuated using different magnetic field configurations to produce a variety of locomotion modes, such as swimming, crawling, wiggling, and slithering, both on surfaces and within three-dimensional environments. To better understand and optimize these behaviors, the project will develop and validate computational models based on Kirchhoff rod theory and reduced-order representations. These models will incorporate factors such as environmental forces, magnetic interactions, and spatially controlled changes in stiffness. Experiments will be conducted in synthetic biological fluids and biomimetic environments, including mucus analogs and tissue-like gels, to simulate real-world biomedical conditions. The robots will also be capable of modular assembly and disassembly, allowing them to work together in swarms for more effective manipulation and enhanced adaptability. By integrating computational modeling, materials science, and control methodologies, this research will advance the state of the art in microscale soft robotics and open new possibilities for biomedical applications and other areas that demand highly adaptive, minimally invasive technologies. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF

Soft robots, constructed from flexible and deformable materials, are opening new frontiers in robotics by enabling safe and adaptable operation in delicate and complex environments. This research project focuses on developing microscale soft robots inspired by the shapes and motions of bacteria. These robots are specifically designed to navigate biological fluids that are highly viscous or elastic. The miniature robots will have the ability to change shape, adapt to tight or irregular spaces, and move with precision through external magnetic and light-based control. Unlike conventional rigid robots, these soft robots can bend, twist, roll, and swim with ease, allowing them to access regions that are otherwise unreachable. This capability makes them especially promising for medical applications, including targeted drug delivery and minimally invasive procedures in anatomical areas such as the ear, nose, and throat. In addition to advancing robotic technology, the project includes a strong educational and outreach component. At Southern Methodist University and the University of Utah, undergraduate and graduate students will participate directly in research activities, gaining valuable experience in robotics, materials science, and biomedical engineering. Through these efforts, the project aims not only to develop transformative biomedical tools but also to cultivate a skilled future workforce in science and engineering. Technically, the research involves the design, fabrication, modeling, and control of rod-shaped soft robots built from adaptive polymer scaffolds. These scaffolds contain paramagnetic disks for magnetic actuation, polydiacetylene vesicles for thermal sensing, and gold and silver nanoparticles for light-responsive shape modulation. The robots will be actuated using different magnetic field configurations to produce a variety of locomotion modes, such as swimming, crawling, wiggling, and slithering, both on surfaces and within three-dimensional environments. To better understand and optimize these behaviors, the project will develop and validate computational models based on Kirchhoff rod theory and reduced-order representations. These models will incorporate factors such as environmental forces, magnetic interactions, and spatially controlled changes in stiffness. Experiments will be conducted in synthetic biological fluids and biomimetic environments, including mucus analogs and tissue-like gels, to simulate real-world biomedical conditions. The robots will also be capable of modular assembly and disassembly, allowing them to work together in swarms for more effective manipulation and enhanced adaptability. By integrating computational modeling, materials science, and control methodologies, this research will advance the state of the art in microscale soft robotics and open new possibilities for biomedical applications and other areas that demand highly adaptive, minimally invasive technologies. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF

This project tracks citizens’ attitudes toward a judicial reform effort and the judiciary as these reforms are implemented, as citizens elect their judges, and as the directly elected judges are seated. The reforms call for the direct election of more than 7,000 of the most important judicial positions in the country. Because judicial independence is associated with salutary governmental and economic outcomes, and public support for judicial institutions is a key determinant of judicial independence and influence, this project has implications for understanding how the direct election of judges might bolster or undermine institutional separation of powers, economic development, and broader international relations. Most of the accumulated knowledge about the public's support for the judiciary has relied upon surveys asking citizens for their evaluations of hypothetical proposals to reform the country's high Court. The reforms that prompt this study provide an opportunity to test theories about the correlates and consequences of public support for courts in an environment where the stakes are real and cross-national comparisons are feasible. Tracking public opinion over a four-wave panel survey and analyzing unique survey experiments, this research will address three debates. First, each wave of the survey will reach respondents at a point in the reform implementation that enables researchers to disentangle longstanding theories regarding the determinants of public support for judicial institutions. Second, relying on within-respondent, cross-wave comparisons, the PIs will evaluate the extent to which the electoral connection affects citizens’ legal attitudes about courts and judicial authorities, and their willingness to engage them as a result. Third, the PIs will assess how the reform---and citizens' responses to it---affect their willingness to obey decisions they do not agree with and to tolerate noncompliance with constitutional authorities' decisions. These outcomes have direct relations to the country's ability to attract international investment and to ensure that the separation of powers balances power across the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF

In terrestrial plant communities, woody plants are overtaking their herbaceous (non-woody) relatives. This is happening in plant communities globaly. In tundra ecosystems, the environmental causes of this have been studied extensively, but less is known about the potential influence of biologically-influenced interactions on woody plant abundance and growth rates. This project evaluates the extent to which associations between plants and root-soil fungi contribute to shrub expansion in alpine tundra. Studies will take place at the Niwot Ridge Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site. This project integrates field and modeling experiments across different spatial scales to understand plant-soil feedbacks that may result in shrub expansion into alpine ecosystems. This project will engage K-12 students and educators in partnership with "CU Science Discovery" at the University of Colorado, train undergraduate students through project-based research, mentor and train a graduate student on the practice and science of running ecosystem-scale simulations using computers. This project will investigate the role of mycorrhizal associations in shaping density-dependent threshold dynamics and how these feedbacks shift across topographically heterogeneous terrain. The main objectives include (1) quantifying heterogeneity in rates of woody plant expansion using remote sensing and supervised image classification, (2) assessing biotic and abiotic drivers of woody expansion, including mycorrhizal colonization rates, communities, and soil biogeochemistry by pairing remote sensing analysis with field surveys, (3) investigating the role of mycorrhizal symbionts in mediating shrub growth rates and gross nitrogen transformations by transplanting individual shrubs with known mycorrhizal symbionts across a shrub density, and (4) integrating field surveys and experiments into modeling experiments to quantify changes in shrub growth and expansion rates under future scenarios of environmental change, and examine how density-dependent feedbacks shift across topographically complex alpine landscapes. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF

In terrestrial plant communities, woody plants are overtaking their herbaceous (non-woody) relatives. This is happening in plant communities globaly. In tundra ecosystems, the environmental causes of this have been studied extensively, but less is known about the potential influence of biologically-influenced interactions on woody plant abundance and growth rates. This project evaluates the extent to which associations between plants and root-soil fungi contribute to shrub expansion in alpine tundra. Studies will take place at the Niwot Ridge Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site. This project integrates field and modeling experiments across different spatial scales to understand plant-soil feedbacks that may result in shrub expansion into alpine ecosystems. This project will engage K-12 students and educators in partnership with "CU Science Discovery" at the University of Colorado, train undergraduate students through project-based research, mentor and train a graduate student on the practice and science of running ecosystem-scale simulations using computers. This project will investigate the role of mycorrhizal associations in shaping density-dependent threshold dynamics and how these feedbacks shift across topographically heterogeneous terrain. The main objectives include (1) quantifying heterogeneity in rates of woody plant expansion using remote sensing and supervised image classification, (2) assessing biotic and abiotic drivers of woody expansion, including mycorrhizal colonization rates, communities, and soil biogeochemistry by pairing remote sensing analysis with field surveys, (3) investigating the role of mycorrhizal symbionts in mediating shrub growth rates and gross nitrogen transformations by transplanting individual shrubs with known mycorrhizal symbionts across a shrub density, and (4) integrating field surveys and experiments into modeling experiments to quantify changes in shrub growth and expansion rates under future scenarios of environmental change, and examine how density-dependent feedbacks shift across topographically complex alpine landscapes. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF

When hot magma interacts with Earth’s crust, it changes the minerals and textures of pre-existing rocks by the process of metamorphism. Conditions of metamorphism depend on the pressure, temperature, and the kinds of fluids present in magmas and the crust. These processes can also change rock chemistry by driving the release of elements including carbon which may be liberated from the rock by decarbonation. The process of decarbonation is important in Earth’s long-term natural geochemical cycles. Decarbonation also produces residual rocks called skarns. Skarn deposits are often enriched in base (W, Cu, Pb, Zn) and precious (Ag, Au) metals; thus, a deep understanding of these processes promotes our understanding of economically valuable mineral deposits with broad societal value. Through their work on the project, students will be prepared for vital roles in the geoscience workforce. In particular, they will gain skills in quantitative research methods and numerical modeling to assess the tempo and mode of metamorphic processes that transport energy, fluids, and metals as magmas intrude and crystallize in Earth's crust. Given the close association with critical minerals, the work and student training opportunities constitute a front-line effort to sustain our understanding of resources that are important for the development and advancement of modern technology and the national security of the United States. On-the-ground public outreach efforts include engaging community members in primary and secondary school settings in Florida’s Leon County School District and the development of an exhibit of ore-minerals from the historic Mineral King District in Sequoia National Park. This exhibit will be housed in the Three Rivers Historical Society Museum, near the entrance to the National Park, where thousands of public visitors may potentially see it each year. This work focuses on high-pressure and high-temperature decarbonation of marble and calc-silicate rocks that have been exposed by erosion into the deep lower crust of the Sierra Nevada mountains, California. To understand the influence that metamorphic pressure, temperature, and fluid availability have on decarbonation and mineralization, the investigators combine tools from field work, laboratory study of mineral textures and chemistry, and numerical modeling. Field studies, both ongoing and planned, will focus on key skarn occurrences. Textural analyses by both polarizing and electron microscopes will help identify characteristic features in skarn minerals that formed during metamorphism. Geochemical measurements, including X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRF), Electron Probe Micro-Analysis (EPMA), and Focused Ion Beam Scanning Electron Microscopy (FIB-SEM), will provide compositional insights at different scales—from whole-rock chemistry (XRF) down to micron-level details. Numerical modeling will further explore element and volatile migration in these lower crustal metamorphic settings, including carbon mobility and the geochemical processes controlling endowment of metals into ore deposits. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF

When hot magma interacts with Earth’s crust, it changes the minerals and textures of pre-existing rocks by the process of metamorphism. Conditions of metamorphism depend on the pressure, temperature, and the kinds of fluids present in magmas and the crust. These processes can also change rock chemistry by driving the release of elements including carbon which may be liberated from the rock by decarbonation. The process of decarbonation is important in Earth’s long-term natural geochemical cycles. Decarbonation also produces residual rocks called skarns. Skarn deposits are often enriched in base (W, Cu, Pb, Zn) and precious (Ag, Au) metals; thus, a deep understanding of these processes promotes our understanding of economically valuable mineral deposits with broad societal value. Through their work on the project, students will be prepared for vital roles in the geoscience workforce. In particular, they will gain skills in quantitative research methods and numerical modeling to assess the tempo and mode of metamorphic processes that transport energy, fluids, and metals as magmas intrude and crystallize in Earth's crust. Given the close association with critical minerals, the work and student training opportunities constitute a front-line effort to sustain our understanding of resources that are important for the development and advancement of modern technology and the national security of the United States. On-the-ground public outreach efforts include engaging community members in primary and secondary school settings in Florida’s Leon County School District and the development of an exhibit of ore-minerals from the historic Mineral King District in Sequoia National Park. This exhibit will be housed in the Three Rivers Historical Society Museum, near the entrance to the National Park, where thousands of public visitors may potentially see it each year. This work focuses on high-pressure and high-temperature decarbonation of marble and calc-silicate rocks that have been exposed by erosion into the deep lower crust of the Sierra Nevada mountains, California. To understand the influence that metamorphic pressure, temperature, and fluid availability have on decarbonation and mineralization, the investigators combine tools from field work, laboratory study of mineral textures and chemistry, and numerical modeling. Field studies, both ongoing and planned, will focus on key skarn occurrences. Textural analyses by both polarizing and electron microscopes will help identify characteristic features in skarn minerals that formed during metamorphism. Geochemical measurements, including X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRF), Electron Probe Micro-Analysis (EPMA), and Focused Ion Beam Scanning Electron Microscopy (FIB-SEM), will provide compositional insights at different scales—from whole-rock chemistry (XRF) down to micron-level details. Numerical modeling will further explore element and volatile migration in these lower crustal metamorphic settings, including carbon mobility and the geochemical processes controlling endowment of metals into ore deposits. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF

Current electronic systems that power today's intelligent digital solutions including smartphones, wearables, smart vehicles, and smart home appliances are facing significant limitations in scaling up to meet the performance demands of emerging smart applications. The goal of realizing smart cities, smart agriculture, and smart healthcare is jeopardized due to the bottlenecks facing traditional electronic platforms at the heart of these emerging applications. Silicon photonics represents an innovative paradigm that can overcome these bottlenecks, by supporting light-speed and high throughput communication and computation. However, the design of silicon photonics based smart computing platforms is still in its infancy, with many open challenges. One of the most significant of these challenges is to design integrated electro-photonic platforms that are truly sustainable while also simultaneously minimizing manufacturing costs, energy footprint, and fault susceptibility. This project will take the first steps towards realizing efficient electro-photonic computing platforms that far surpass traditional electronic platforms in terms of performance, energy-efficiency, and reliability. In doing so, this project will help establish a new ecosystem of development of emerging digital intelligence platforms, for multiple application use cases that span datacenters, scientific computing, and edge systems, where photonics is making inroads. This outcome will help reduce costs and overheads of designing future smart computing platforms, which will benefit technological innovation across U.S. consumer, industrial, and defense sectors. This will also help the U.S. outcompete global competitors to emerge as the pioneer in innovative computing design for such emerging technologies. By exposing students to diverse aspects of electro-photonic circuit design, yield analysis, lifetime evaluation, modeling and trade-offs, and computing architecture design, the proposed research will contribute towards educating an agile high-tech workforce that will maintain continued U.S. leadership in technological innovation, especially in emerging post-Moore technologies. This project will employ the principles of heterogeneity, reconfigurability, and recycling to transform performance, functional flexibility, and resource utilization of integrated electro-photonic platforms. The overarching goal will be to extend operational lifespan and co-reduce the embodied and use-phase costs of emerging heterogeneous integrated electro-photonic-based 2.5D computing platforms. To that end, this project will make three synergistic contributions: 1) Analyze variations and aging-aware footprints, by developing the first modeling framework for integrated electro-photonic platforms, quantifying sustainability costs of enabling variation resilience, and characterizing impacts of aging in these platforms, 2) Prolong carbon-minimum lifespan and co-optimize embodied and operational metrics, by developing techniques to prolong integrated electro-photonic platform lifespan with design time and runtime adaptive techniques, devising cross-layer techniques to reduce operational overheads, managing failure risk with runtime mechanisms for graceful degradation, and co-reducing use-phase and embodied sustainability metric costs, and 3) Introduce reuse and hardware polymorphism to reduce costs for multifunctional computing, communication, and storage components in integrated electro-photonic platforms. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF

Current electronic systems that power today's intelligent digital solutions including smartphones, wearables, smart vehicles, and smart home appliances are facing significant limitations in scaling up to meet the performance demands of emerging smart applications. The goal of realizing smart cities, smart agriculture, and smart healthcare is jeopardized due to the bottlenecks facing traditional electronic platforms at the heart of these emerging applications. Silicon photonics represents an innovative paradigm that can overcome these bottlenecks, by supporting light-speed and high throughput communication and computation. However, the design of silicon photonics based smart computing platforms is still in its infancy, with many open challenges. One of the most significant of these challenges is to design integrated electro-photonic platforms that are truly sustainable while also simultaneously minimizing manufacturing costs, energy footprint, and fault susceptibility. This project will take the first steps towards realizing efficient electro-photonic computing platforms that far surpass traditional electronic platforms in terms of performance, energy-efficiency, and reliability. In doing so, this project will help establish a new ecosystem of development of emerging digital intelligence platforms, for multiple application use cases that span datacenters, scientific computing, and edge systems, where photonics is making inroads. This outcome will help reduce costs and overheads of designing future smart computing platforms, which will benefit technological innovation across U.S. consumer, industrial, and defense sectors. This will also help the U.S. outcompete global competitors to emerge as the pioneer in innovative computing design for such emerging technologies. By exposing students to diverse aspects of electro-photonic circuit design, yield analysis, lifetime evaluation, modeling and trade-offs, and computing architecture design, the proposed research will contribute towards educating an agile high-tech workforce that will maintain continued U.S. leadership in technological innovation, especially in emerging post-Moore technologies. This project will employ the principles of heterogeneity, reconfigurability, and recycling to transform performance, functional flexibility, and resource utilization of integrated electro-photonic platforms. The overarching goal will be to extend operational lifespan and co-reduce the embodied and use-phase costs of emerging heterogeneous integrated electro-photonic-based 2.5D computing platforms. To that end, this project will make three synergistic contributions: 1) Analyze variations and aging-aware footprints, by developing the first modeling framework for integrated electro-photonic platforms, quantifying sustainability costs of enabling variation resilience, and characterizing impacts of aging in these platforms, 2) Prolong carbon-minimum lifespan and co-optimize embodied and operational metrics, by developing techniques to prolong integrated electro-photonic platform lifespan with design time and runtime adaptive techniques, devising cross-layer techniques to reduce operational overheads, managing failure risk with runtime mechanisms for graceful degradation, and co-reducing use-phase and embodied sustainability metric costs, and 3) Introduce reuse and hardware polymorphism to reduce costs for multifunctional computing, communication, and storage components in integrated electro-photonic platforms. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF

Modern data centers rely on large-scale memory systems to support everything from search engines to scientific computing. However, the increasing demand for memory leads to significant resource and energy use, particularly when older hardware is discarded before its useful life ends. This project addresses that challenge by developing MemWise, an intelligent system that efficiently manages memory across a range of hardware types. The project’s novelties are a programmable memory controller that coordinates how data is moved and stored across different generations of memory; a technique for reusing older memory modules alongside newer ones to reduce cost; and new fault-tolerant methods to ensure reliability even as memory components age. The project's broader significance and importance are in demonstrating that thoughtful system design can extend hardware lifespans and reduce waste, without sacrificing performance. MemWise is tested in a range of real-world environments, including public cloud services, private infrastructures, and direct-to-hardware computing setups, highlighting its adaptability and impact across the data center ecosystem. Specifically, the project designs a tiered memory architecture connected via a flexible hardware interface called Compute Express Link (CXL). A programmable controller dynamically moves data among memory types based on usage patterns, age, and reliability. To guide decision-making, the research introduces a new metric that jointly considers system efficiency and application performance. This allows both software developers and system tools to make informed trade-offs in real time. The controller also supports automatic data migration and transparent fault handling across unreliable memory units, which is essential for mixed-hardware environments. By co-designing hardware and software and validating ideas with real prototypes, the project advances the state of memory system research and offers practical strategies for improving the long-term efficiency of computing infrastructure. Expected impacts include lower operational costs, reduced waste, and broader educational opportunities for students involved in the research. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF

Modern data centers rely on large-scale memory systems to support everything from search engines to scientific computing. However, the increasing demand for memory leads to significant resource and energy use, particularly when older hardware is discarded before its useful life ends. This project addresses that challenge by developing MemWise, an intelligent system that efficiently manages memory across a range of hardware types. The project’s novelties are a programmable memory controller that coordinates how data is moved and stored across different generations of memory; a technique for reusing older memory modules alongside newer ones to reduce cost; and new fault-tolerant methods to ensure reliability even as memory components age. The project's broader significance and importance are in demonstrating that thoughtful system design can extend hardware lifespans and reduce waste, without sacrificing performance. MemWise is tested in a range of real-world environments, including public cloud services, private infrastructures, and direct-to-hardware computing setups, highlighting its adaptability and impact across the data center ecosystem. Specifically, the project designs a tiered memory architecture connected via a flexible hardware interface called Compute Express Link (CXL). A programmable controller dynamically moves data among memory types based on usage patterns, age, and reliability. To guide decision-making, the research introduces a new metric that jointly considers system efficiency and application performance. This allows both software developers and system tools to make informed trade-offs in real time. The controller also supports automatic data migration and transparent fault handling across unreliable memory units, which is essential for mixed-hardware environments. By co-designing hardware and software and validating ideas with real prototypes, the project advances the state of memory system research and offers practical strategies for improving the long-term efficiency of computing infrastructure. Expected impacts include lower operational costs, reduced waste, and broader educational opportunities for students involved in the research. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF

As computing demands increase, particularly with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), understanding which resulting hardware waste poses the greatest threats to human and ecological health is essential for sustainable design. Currently, computer system designers lack quantitative tools to assess the toxicity impact of their design choices. Through an interdisciplinary collaboration, the research team will develop SysTox, a novel data-driven framework that quantifies the toxicity impact of system design choices. This approach serves the national interest by advancing computing technology, reducing harmful e-waste, and providing a foundation for responsible technological advancement. The project will develop methodologies to analyze computing systems at the component level, identifying the elemental composition of various components and assessing their impacts in the waste stream. The research team will create new datasets through experimental measurements, develop models to quantify toxicity impacts, and establish an optimization framework that can guide computer hardware designers in making less toxic design choices while maintaining performance. The resulting framework will enable computer system engineers to make quantitative tradeoffs between performance, efficiency, and footprint, transforming how architectures and systems are designed across scales from microprocessors to data centers. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF

As computing demands increase, particularly with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), understanding which resulting hardware waste poses the greatest threats to human and ecological health is essential for sustainable design. Currently, computer system designers lack quantitative tools to assess the toxicity impact of their design choices. Through an interdisciplinary collaboration, the research team will develop SysTox, a novel data-driven framework that quantifies the toxicity impact of system design choices. This approach serves the national interest by advancing computing technology, reducing harmful e-waste, and providing a foundation for responsible technological advancement. The project will develop methodologies to analyze computing systems at the component level, identifying the elemental composition of various components and assessing their impacts in the waste stream. The research team will create new datasets through experimental measurements, develop models to quantify toxicity impacts, and establish an optimization framework that can guide computer hardware designers in making less toxic design choices while maintaining performance. The resulting framework will enable computer system engineers to make quantitative tradeoffs between performance, efficiency, and footprint, transforming how architectures and systems are designed across scales from microprocessors to data centers. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF

Computing systems can exert substantial environmental impacts across their entire life cycles, encompassing manufacturing, usage, and end-of-life disposal. For example, manufacturing processes often require significant amounts of energy and produce substantial carbon emissions. When computers reach the end of their life, they become electronic waste (e-waste). E-waste, if not properly managed, can pose risks to human health and the environment due to the presence of hazardous materials. Mitigating these impacts is a significant challenge for sustainable computing. This project introduces innovative approaches to minimize the environmental impact of computing systems by recycling decommissioned chips, integrating them to extend their lifespans, and achieving near state-of-the-art performance with the newly integrated chips. The project will be carried out by a team of investigators from the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Notre Dame. The project's impacts are twofold: significantly reducing carbon emissions from manufacturing and mitigating environmental risks associated with e-waste by keeping these toxic, non-biodegradable devices out of landfills. This project is making valuable contributions to society through education and outreach activities designed to engage K-12 students with an interest in environmental science, biology, and artificial intelligence (AI). The primary goal of this project is to achieve sustainable computing by reusing recently retired field-programmable gate array (FPGA) chips to build REFRESH FPGA devices and employing 2.5-dimensional (2.5D) integration with an underlying interposer for interconnection. This approach aims to significantly reduce carbon emissions incurred from the fabrication process of new chips. The project consists of four research thrusts. Thrust 1 focuses on developing REFRESH FPGA architecture and design automation toolflow, tailored to address the challenge of targeting hardware designs onto non-monolithic FPGAs. Thrust 2 investigates REFRESH FPGA hardware analysis and prototyping through a design automation framework capable of automatically selecting the optimal design configuration including inter-chip connection topology, connection bandwidth, and the selection of FPGA chips based on their aging condition. Thrust 3 is dedicated to developing a system-in-a-package sustainability analysis, validation, and optimization process, aiming to accurately model and assess the environmental impacts stemming from the 2.5D integrated REFRESH FPGAs including fabrication, integration, and packaging. Thrust 4 extensively explores the most effective methodologies for accelerating a wide range of applications from machine learning to genomics. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF

Elementary school students' prolonged experiences with positive numbers and operations often lead to their overgeneralizations of rules (e.g., adding always makes larger numbers, subtracting always makes smaller numbers). These overgeneralizations can make learning algebra more difficult later, particularly when students must simultaneously learn algebra, negative numbers, and operations with negative numbers. The purpose of this project is to design and develop educational games centered on negative number concepts that target students before they learn algebra in middle school. Earlier exposure to and learning about negative numbers could increase students' motivation, understanding of connections between positive and negative numbers, and preparation for algebra. In the long term, this earlier exposure could lead to later success in advanced mathematics and improve science technology engineering mathematics (STEM) education. The project team will design and develop the educational games through an iterative process of prototyping and testing. During the prototyping phase, the project team will consult with experts about how the games' mechanics and rules align with and support second- to fourth-grade students' learning of integer principles. Next, they will test the games with students. Based on students' interpretations and uses of the rules, their interaction with the materials, and their feedback, the research team will refine the materials. During the testing phase, the project team will conduct a six-session evaluation study (pretest, four gameplay sessions, posttest) to examine the refined materials. The pretests and posttests will include a set of integer knowledge measures, along with mathematics and motivation measures, so the investigators can quantitatively and qualitatively analyze students' integer knowledge gains and changes in their motivation. Further, the investigators will qualitatively analyze the sessions to track and characterize students' levels of engagement and identify those mechanics that support learning of integer principles. During the project's final year, the set of print-ready educational games will be finalized and made freely available for teachers and families. This research will contribute to a greater understanding of students' learning about negative numbers as well as the mechanics of games that support mathematical learning. This project is supported by the Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) which seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects.  This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF

Elementary school students' prolonged experiences with positive numbers and operations often lead to their overgeneralizations of rules (e.g., adding always makes larger numbers, subtracting always makes smaller numbers). These overgeneralizations can make learning algebra more difficult later, particularly when students must simultaneously learn algebra, negative numbers, and operations with negative numbers. The purpose of this project is to design and develop educational games centered on negative number concepts that target students before they learn algebra in middle school. Earlier exposure to and learning about negative numbers could increase students' motivation, understanding of connections between positive and negative numbers, and preparation for algebra. In the long term, this earlier exposure could lead to later success in advanced mathematics and improve science technology engineering mathematics (STEM) education. The project team will design and develop the educational games through an iterative process of prototyping and testing. During the prototyping phase, the project team will consult with experts about how the games' mechanics and rules align with and support second- to fourth-grade students' learning of integer principles. Next, they will test the games with students. Based on students' interpretations and uses of the rules, their interaction with the materials, and their feedback, the research team will refine the materials. During the testing phase, the project team will conduct a six-session evaluation study (pretest, four gameplay sessions, posttest) to examine the refined materials. The pretests and posttests will include a set of integer knowledge measures, along with mathematics and motivation measures, so the investigators can quantitatively and qualitatively analyze students' integer knowledge gains and changes in their motivation. Further, the investigators will qualitatively analyze the sessions to track and characterize students' levels of engagement and identify those mechanics that support learning of integer principles. During the project's final year, the set of print-ready educational games will be finalized and made freely available for teachers and families. This research will contribute to a greater understanding of students' learning about negative numbers as well as the mechanics of games that support mathematical learning. This project is supported by the Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) which seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects.  This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF

Non-technical Description: Many diseases, such as cancer, are dreadful because often, they are diagnosed late when therapy proves ineffective. Moreover, when therapy is available, it involves debilitating side effects, including other life-threatening conditions. The primary healthcare objectives, therefore, are early, noninvasive accurate diagnosis and effective therapeutic intervention without harmful side effects. Here a cross-disciplinary scientific team led by a pharmaceutical chemist and an engineer from two universities will develop and study the fundamental science behind a single clinical implement with the dual aim of improved diagnostic ultrasound imaging and targeted therapy which becomes active only in the target region. The team aims at synthesizing nanometer-size polymeric particles. They are similar in structure to body cells and can carry therapeutics to target areas evading the body’s defense system. The particles are chemically engineered to implode in a specific chemical environment found only in diseased conditions and deliver their cargo. The proposed research will systematically investigate the chemistry of these nanoparticles through experiments and theory to optimize their desired effects and the mechanism behind their ultrasound reflectivity. The principal investigators have proposed an array of educational activities involving high school interns, undergraduates, and Ph.D. students in multi-disciplinary projects with real-life clinical applications preparing them to enter the twenty-first-century workforce. Technical Description: The objective of this proposal is to conduct foundational studies on polymer nanoparticles (polymersomes) that are programmed to release their encapsulated contents under specific biochemical environments common in diseases and simultaneously are responsive to ultrasound to allow imaging and ultrasound-assisted release. It uses reduced oxygen partial pressure as a model trigger for release. The proposed studies will develop the design principles of multimodal polymer nanoparticles for future applications in drug delivery to tumors and simultaneous ultrasound imaging. The team will optimize polymer design so that the resultant polymersomes become responsive to the reduced oxygen levels and release the encapsulated contents. The nanoparticles will be made to entrap air allowing simultaneous ultrasound imaging before their destruction. These echogenic content-bearing polymersomes will be tested in three-dimensional (3D) cultures of cancer cells containing hypoxic niches. The award will support activities that broaden participation of underrepresented minorities in research and education. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF

The research supported by this grant will contribute to the advancement of national prosperity and economic welfare by developing models to engineer delay announcement systems to determine what delay information to announce, as well as when to announce it, to maximize customer satisfaction and/or minimize abandonment. Every day patients needing critical care walk out of the waiting rooms of Emergency Departments (ED) because they are frustrated by long delays, incurring increased risk of returning to the ED, hospitalization, and even mortality. Adding more doctors, nurses, ED rooms and equipment is not always possible given limited budgets. In this work the researchers plan an almost costless approach: sharing waiting-time information in a way that will encourage patients to wait for a provider and will also increase their overall satisfaction with the experience. The approach is to engineer delay announcement systems to optimize both what delay information communicate to patients and when to communicate it. Similar techniques may be used to improve the customer’s experience in other service environments, such as financial services, hospitality (restaurants, hotels), and call centers. Therefore, this work will increase the health of our citizens, the satisfaction of consumers, and the economic welfare of services industries. In general, by designing effective delay announcement systems, this project will have a positive impact on the economy, healthcare and society within the United States. This project will (1) Develop rigorous multidisciplinary analytical and behavioral models rooted in behavioral economics and operations research for understanding and improving customer satisfaction via delay announcements. Methodologies used will include stochastic dynamic programming, queueing theory, prospect theory, and econometrics. (2) Introduce a fundamentally new vision of delay announcement system design. The classic criterion of “forecast accuracy” is enriched to capture relevant features of human reactions to forecasts, including loss aversion and the passage of time. (3) Develop a standard framework to bridge the research in the OR/MS and Medical fields to improve customer/patient satisfaction through the provision of delay information. This research will promote and strengthen the field of behavioral service operations, and the results will be tested and fine-tuned via field experiments within a network of Emergency Departments. In general, the project will use data, optimization and communication technology to engineer customer satisfaction and to trigger additional high-impact research. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.