The cutting-edge weight loss and diabetes research developed by medicinal chemist has offered significant and consistent weight loss and glucose control to its recipients through peptide-based treatments.

Doyle and his fellow collaborators reported that two new peptide compounds颅颅鈥擥EP44 and KCEM1鈥攃onsiderably reduce body weight and normalize blood glucose levels without causing the typical negative side effects experienced by patients who take currently available GLP-1-based anti-obesity drugs.

Doyle, the Jack and Laura H. Milton Professor and Dean’s in the , focuses his research on pharmaceutical drug development for the treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes. He says that while the first-generation of weight-loss drugs did lead to results, there was a problem: while weight loss occurred, it was almost a reaction to taking the GLP-1 peptide, and that weight loss came with a cost.

Due to side effects like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain, 70% of patients who started taking these drugs were not taking them one year later, and that 30% stopped taking the drugs within three months, generating a very low patient tolerability for the drugs, Doyle says.

Robert Doyle

The recent discoveries Doyle and his collaborators introduced at conferences of the American Chemical Society and The Obesity Society give hope for those battling obesity and type 2 diabetes. The methodology behind these peptide and similar weight-loss compounds could also hold the key to treating two other public health crises: cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in the U.S., and opioid addiction.

鈥淎s medicinal chemists, we are focused on using peptides, or small proteins, to treat neuroendocrine disorders, primarily disorders that affect the brain,鈥� says Doyle, the Dean’s Professor of Chemistry and adjunct associate professor of medicine and pharmacology. 鈥淲e are looking at addiction, cravings, food intake, body weight reduction, glucose regulation, all those complex endocrine issues that are prevalent today.鈥�

On this 鈥溾€機use Conversation,鈥� Doyle discusses his breakthrough weight loss research, the important role students play in advancing his research, and how, through philanthropy, his work has come to life.

Check out听 featuring Doyle. A transcript [PDF]听is also available.

How has this field evolved over the years?

A team of researchers at 黑料不打烊, led by medicinal chemist Robert Doyle, has co-developed a novel treatment for obesity and type 2 diabetes without any of the harmful side effects.

The major change in the last 10 years is the creation of these GLP-1 drugs, exemplified by Ozempic and Zepbound. Until these drugs existed, there were no safe, viable weight loss alternatives. Diet and exercise have always been on the table, of course, but for people who needed or wanted a pharmaceutical intervention, there was nothing that could achieve anything greater than the 5% body mass index [BMI] loss that you’d be looking for to have any kind of clinical benefit.

With the creation of the first real breakthrough drug, Victoza, you were seeing that 5% BMI decline from a pharmaceutical perspective, and that was a huge success. That set the stage for these newer, more potent and more active weight-reducing drugs. But those initial drugs were often once- or twice-a-day injectables, and patients didn鈥檛 want to do that. In these last few years, we have upwards of 10% and greater body mass reduction coupled with once-a-week injectables. That has really broadened the appeal and created quite a phenomenon.

How did we proceed from the first generation of weight loss drugs to where we are now?

There was this discovery that this little hormone that you make in your stomach, if made long-acting and then injected, could trigger food intake reduction. We realized that and did pharmacological science to improve its half-life, make it hang around longer so it would maintain what was normally only a very short activity in a human. We drove that appetite off switch. The discovery of GLP-1鈥攁nd what GLP-1 could do鈥攈asn鈥檛 won a Nobel Prize yet, but it is going to. I wouldn’t be surprised this year if you see the Nobel Prize awarded for the discovery of GLP-1 because it has revolutionized weight loss.

How has 黑料不打烊’s Center for Science and Technology enhanced your studies?

Robert Doyle works alongside student researchers. (Photo by Evan Jenkins)

Within my own lab, we have multiple large scale peptide synthesizers that allow us to produce gram quantities of these drugs. We have multiple purification setup systems so that we’re able to purify to 99%, and we have cell labs that can screen for the required receptor binding.

We also have artificial intelligence and a molecular operating environment, these computational chemical approaches to aid in design. We can start from a concept on a piece of paper, begin to design something computationally and then physically make it in the lab. If it makes the grade, we put something in place that outlines what we want the drug to be able to do, and if it meets those criteria, it goes out into preclinical animal models at the University of Pennsylvania in this case. We’ll look and see if what we’ve created here is manifesting the effect we want it to in that preclinical model. If not, we go back to the drawing board. But if it does, we call that a hit and we’ll begin the process of optimizing it for development.

How do our students assist with your research?

They’re the ones who are in there grinding out the production, the purification, the screening, the failures and the redesigning. They bring passion and intellect. They’re wonderful. They roll up their sleeves. They jump wholeheartedly into all the aspects of drug development. I have to be willing to trust them that they’ll do it right. They have that sense of confidence, inquisitiveness and can-do. Every day they surprise me with some wonderful question or clever idea.

Robert Doyle talks with lab member Emily Ashlaw G鈥�27, a Ph.D. candidate interested in peptide therapeutics.

鈥淭oday is more than just the event. It’s about building a future, a future where innovation thrives, where opportunities abound and where our community prospers,鈥� said Jeff Rubin, senior vice president for digital transformation and chief digital officer, during his welcoming remarks. 鈥淎nd at the heart of the future is the powerful synergy between 黑料不打烊 and Micron.鈥�

A Micron Day participant tries on a virtual reality headset. (Photo by ana gil studios)

As part of Micron鈥檚 $100 billion plan to transform the Central New York听(CNY) community into the nation鈥檚 leading producer of semiconductor fabrications, the University is a key collaborator in building and training the workforce for Micron鈥檚 leading-edge memory megafab in Clay, New York.

Micron Day brought together hundreds of University faculty, staff and students; community members; local high school students and Micron employees to explore the collaboration between the University and Micron Technology and learn about the opportunities Micron is bringing to Central New York.

The day included a number of panel presentations and exhibitions featuring University programs and degrees and community organizations. One of the day鈥檚 highlights was the announcement by Micron and the University鈥檚 D鈥橝niello Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) that 90 transitioning servicemembers, veterans and military spouses have achieved a certificate of completion in semiconductors through IVMF鈥檚 Onward to Opportunity program.

Alumni Contribute to Micron鈥檚 Mission

An alumni panel, moderated by Sarah Newton-Klitz, Micron鈥檚 director of strategic workforce programs, was composed of three University alumni: Kim Burnett 鈥�91 (Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics), Micron鈥檚 lead for K-12 STEM education outreach; Joe Nehme 鈥�11 (Whitman School of Management), senior manager of external affairs; and Savion Pollard 鈥�25 (College of Engineering and Computer Science), equipment engineer. Pollard, a U.S. Navy veteran, was Micron鈥檚 first Central New York hire.

Micron Day alumni panelists Kim Burnett ’91, Savion Pollard ’25 and Joe Nehme ’11

Burnett鈥檚 education includes child development, industrial and labor relations, business and science education, including a long career as a teacher. Nehme works with stakeholders to advocate for the company as federal, state and local governments begin to take a more active role in reshoring semiconductor manufacturing. Pollard is a current senior in ECS, majoring in electrical engineering with a minor in computer science. That, combined with his experience in the U.S. Navy, has helped him build skills that prepared him well for the semiconductor industry.

鈥淵ou can see here that this is just a sampling of the different job opportunities that Micron has available,鈥� said Newton-Klitz. 鈥淎nd when I think about even the experience at Micron, it really is a little city that has a variety of jobs that we need.鈥�

Burnett has experienced the power of a good job has on the experience of a family. 鈥淚 want to be sure that folks, particularly children, have an opportunity for a good paying job,鈥� she says.

Nehme is an Upstate New York native and has seen the manufacturing that has been lost in the region over the years. 鈥淭o work for a company that is committed to reshoring semiconductor manufacturing back to the United States, in my hometown, I saw no better opportunity,鈥� he said.

All of the panelists said their time at 黑料不打烊 prepared them well for their roles at Micron. 鈥淪o much of my time in Whitman was built around working in teams, collaborating with others; to troubleshoot and solve problems,鈥� Nehme said. 鈥淎nd those are all things that I deal with and that we look at every day in my role here at Micron.鈥�

Their advice for students? Focus on your passion and the things that you like out of the activities that you do. Continue to invest in yourself, be open, curious and coachable.

Fireside Chat on What鈥檚 Ahead

J. Michael Haynie (center), the University鈥檚 vice chancellor for strategic initiatives and innovation and executive dean of the Whitman School of Management, moderated a discussion with Scott Gatzemeier, Micron鈥檚 corporate vice president for front-end U.S. expansion, and April Arnzen, Micron鈥檚 executive vice president and chief people officer and president of the Micron Foundation. (Photo by ana gil studios)

To close out the day, J. Michael Haynie, the University鈥檚 vice chancellor for strategic initiatives and innovation and executive dean of the Whitman School of Management, moderated a discussion with April Arnzen, Micron鈥檚 executive vice president and chief people officer and president of the Micron Foundation, and Scott Gatzemeier, Micron鈥檚 corporate vice president for front-end U.S. expansion, to talk about what鈥檚 ahead.

The future for the semiconductor industry, Gatzemeier said, is in artificial intelligence. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what’s driving huge amounts of demand for our product and also customization and collaboration with a number of partners in our space that we’re very, very excited about watching this growth continue,鈥� he said.

That growth requires a workforce of epic proportions throughout the industry. 鈥淲e started partnering early,鈥� said Arnzen. 鈥淲e know it is going to be a challenge, and so scaling up existing pathways鈥攅ngineering, science and math programs鈥攊s going to be very important. Creating new pathways and opportunities for people to access these careers is part of our strategy as well.鈥�

The University is one of four nationwide university networks that Micron works with to modernize the curriculum and create hands-on learning opportunities to build a talent pipeline.

Arnzen said one of the differentiating factors for Central New York region and the University was the commitment to veterans and those transitioning from military service. 鈥淲e knew that this ecosystem existed and the know-how existed as well,鈥� she said.

Haynie talked about the role of community, alluding to a previous reference as the Micron project as Central New York鈥檚 鈥淓rie Canal moment.鈥�

鈥淲e know that a healthy and thriving community is important for a healthy and thriving business,鈥� Arnzen said. 鈥淭his is definitely an Erie Canal moment, both for this community and frankly, for Micron too. We have the opportunity to do this well, to do it right and make sure that this lasts for decades to come.鈥�

Doyle and his fellow researchers have since worked on refining the compounds, GEP44 and KCEM1, and have undertaken lab-animal testing, filed patents, spoken with investors and explored market placement. They believe these drugs, ultimately intended for use in humans, will offer significant advances in how obesity and diabetes are treated in the U.S. and around the world. The researchers have also discovered another highly promising weight-loss compound and new outgrowths that have potential to treat opioid addiction through similar neuroendocrine pathways.

Doyle is also a professor of pharmacology and medicine at . He is working with two primary collaborators on the compounds: , Albert J. Stunkard Professor in Psychiatry at the , and , an endocrinologist at .

Doyle, a medicinal chemist, teaches at 黑料不打烊 and is also on the faculty at SUNY-Upstate Medical University.

Multiple Receptors

GEP44 consists of 44 amino acids that target receptors in the brain, pancreas and liver simultaneously, uncoupling the connection between food intake and nausea and vomiting. 鈥淚t鈥檚 sort of a reboot of the body鈥檚 computer. It鈥檚 the sum of those receptors communicating with each other that is facilitating changes to metabolic behavior like what you鈥檇 see in a lean person or someone post bariatric surgery,鈥� Doyle says.

GEP44 works very well and is a significant improvement over GLP1-based drugs; however, it requires daily injections鈥攁 regimen Doyle acknowledges would be challenging for many patients. That鈥檚 why the researchers are working to reformulate the compound as a long-acting version.

鈥淣ow, we鈥檙e looking at how proteins are changing, what neurons are firing and which genes are changing in response to our drug that aren鈥檛 changing in response to the current therapies,鈥� Doyle explains. 鈥淲e can definitely do a once-a-week injectable, control weight loss, control tolerability as measured by pica (a craving to eat things having no nutritional value). However, we want to create a formulation that has the best tolerability and the highest efficacy before we move into licensing. After all, it is not a trivial thing to take something you鈥檝e optimized to work beautifully well, then go ahead and make it long acting.鈥�

The second compound, KCEM1, was formulated to treat hypothalamic obesity in children, a genetic (as opposed to calorie intake-related) condition. Roth is testing the drug in lab animals and the team is working with the German researchers who discovered the causative gene.

Doyle and Hayes recently produced another 鈥渆xtraordinary compound鈥� that Doyle says is 鈥渧ery exciting and really, really positive for the future.鈥� DG260 targets different mechanisms in the body. In addition to producing weight loss with high drug tolerability and no adverse side effects, it has added health benefits: higher caloric burn and the ability to flush glucose from the blood without needing to increase insulin secretion.

An unexpected outgrowth of this effort has been the team鈥檚 discovery that GEP44 reduces cravings in opioid-addicted lab animals, extending the intervals between periods of drug-seeking behavior. This 鈥減leasant surprise鈥� may lead to new therapies to help reduce human cravings for drugs such as fentanyl, Doyle believes. , a neuropharmacologist and associate professor of psychiatry at听the , is collaborating with Doyle on this work.

On-Site Lab

All compounds are produced in a campus lab at 黑料不打烊’s Center for Science and Technology equipped as a sort of mini pharmaceutical design and manufacturing center. It houses three state-of-the-art, microwave-assisted peptide synthesizers and a fourth robotic system, which allows high throughput peptide synthesis of up to 1,200 peptides in the span of three to four days.

Manufacturing of the peptide compounds is done in the University’s state-of-the-art lab, located on campus in the Center for Science and Technology. The facilities allow rapid pivoting based on ongoing test findings.

鈥淲e can get data back, turn it around in days and turn that into a genuine lead in the space of a few weeks. Our setup also lets us manufacture and purify at large scales. That lets us pivot quickly, screen quickly and get back into an in vivo (testing on whole living organisms) setup again quickly. We鈥檙e able to operate at a real cutting-edge, rapid-pivoting capability,鈥� Doyle says.

The sophisticated machinery was acquired in part through a $3 million grant awarded in 2019 by the (DoD) . The team鈥檚 work holds particular promise for military personnel and veterans, for whom obesity and weight-related diabetes rates have steadily increased, according to a from the . Those conditions cost the government $135 billion annually and have negative implications for U.S. military readiness, the report states.

鈥淲e couldn鈥檛 have gotten anywhere near where we are now without that initial DoD grant,鈥� Doyle says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 fantastic that we鈥檝e been able to take this all the way through to patentability, have active engagement with investors, get licensed to an existing company and work this as far forward as we have with hopes of seeing its use in people.鈥�

Doyle’s peptides investigation provides robust research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, such as Nick Najjar, left, a third-year graduate student and Lucy Olcott, a senior.

More recently, the researchers鈥� work has been awarded four additional National Institutes of Health grants totaling more than $6 million. The projects also provide important experiential laboratory learning for undergraduate and graduate students and cutting-edge research opportunities for postdoctoral associates.

Looking Ahead

When their work began eight years ago, the researchers aimed to make safety and tolerability a front-and-center focus, Doyle says. 鈥淲e were adamant that nausea, vomiting and indigestion were more of an issue than had previously been put forward. Now, everyone knows that these side effects are a problem and that the existing drugs need to be replaced with ones that are better tolerated. So, the race is on to find new pathways to achieve what we鈥檝e all gotten a taste for鈥攖hese miraculous weight-loss drugs鈥攁nd make them effective in the long term.鈥�

Accordingly, Doyle sees a coming explosion in the development of 鈥渟uper safe, super effective weight-loss medicines.鈥�

鈥淭he market鈥檚 only going to double and triple over the next 20 years. In the next five to 10 years, we may see six, seven, eight new drugs that are well tolerated without the current side effects and that are super long acting. Now, everyone鈥檚 racing toward that. We鈥檙e trying to drive that forward from 黑料不打烊 and Central New York, and we鈥檝e had a good start.鈥�

Science festivals offer a platform for researchers to demystify complex scientific phenomena and help the public better understand the relevance and importance of their work. By making science accessible to broader audiences, it can also inspire future scientists to pursue careers in STEM.

黑料不打烊 postdoctoral researcher Graeme Eddolls (left) and his collaborator Andrew Spencer (right) presenting their research on gravitational waves during the Orkney International Science Festival.

Graeme Eddolls, a postdoctoral researcher in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) who works with the (CGWAA), recently attended the in Scotland. The festival regularly draws prominent scientists, historians and experts who share their research with the public in approachable ways. Notably, when it was founded in 1991, it was the world鈥檚 second ever science festival, following the renowned Edinburgh Science Festival, which was established in 1989. Eddolls and his collaborators, Andrew Spencer, a lecturer at the University of Glasgow, and Leon Trimble, an audiovisual artist and honorary research associate at the University of Birmingham, presented their “Swimming with Gravitational Waves鈥� project, which includes creative and interactive experiences that connect water, sound and gravitational waves. During the week, they also showcased their “Music of Deep Time” project and hosted booths at an Orkney Festival family event as well as a workshop at Kirkwall Grammar School.

About the Project

Leon Trimble performing at the Swimming with Gravitational Waves event.

To a general audience, the concept of gravitational waves may seem complex and challenging to understand. However, as Eddolls explains, gravitational waves follow similar physics principles as those we observe in everyday phenomena like light, water and sound waves.

Gravitational waves are produced in the aftermath of some of the most energetic processes in the universe, like when black holes or neutron stars collide. These events produce 鈥榬ipples鈥� in spacetime, a concept which was first predicted by Albert Einstein in his general theory of relativity. By the time these signals reach Earth, they are extremely faint. To detect them, researchers measure laser interference using detectors known as laser interferometers.

When a gravitational wave passes through a detector, it alters the distance that laser light travels along the detector鈥檚 two arms, changing their interference pattern. This technology, used by some of the most advanced detectors like the (LIGO) in the U.S., helped scientists make the first direct observation of gravitational waves in 2015, a monumental discovery made by an international team of physicists, including several researchers from 黑料不打烊.

Eddolls points out that a fascinating aspect of gravitational waves is that their vibration frequencies fall within the range of human hearing.

The team brought their rubber spacetime demonstrator to the cliffs of Orkney to capture a scenic photo during the festival.

鈥淲hile we can’t directly hear gravitational waves with our ears, we can take the signal from our detectors and turn it into sound,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou can actually to the converted signal of the first ever gravitational wave detection.鈥�

Participants enter a swimming pool, where they can hear sound waves through speakers positioned above and below the water. This setup creates a unique auditory experience, mimicking how gravitational waves are produced everywhere in the universe. Furthermore, by swimming in the pool, participants can experience water waves through sight which gives the audience a good physical intuition of what waves are, how waves move and how waves interfere when they pass through each other.

As technology advances, companies face a growing need to hire graduates skilled in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). However, finding the ideal candidate can be difficult at times due to a limited pool of applicants. Part of the reason for this is that 1 in 3 students who originally declare as a STEM major change their field of study before they graduate, according to research from the .

Professors (from left) Abrar Aljiboury, Heather Coleman and Carlos A. Casta帽eda have been awarded an NSF grant to welcome undergraduate students from around the country to 黑料不打烊 to conduct research over the summer. (Photo by Elise Krespan)

One way to keep STEM students engaged in their major is through hands-on research, where they can apply their theoretical knowledge to address real-world challenges. In 1987, the National Science Foundation launched the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program to help attract and retain STEM students by funding experiential learning opportunities during the summer.

Three biology faculty members in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) have been awarded that department鈥檚 first three-year , 鈥�.鈥� , associate professor of biology, serves as the grant鈥檚 principal investigator (PI), with , associate professor of biology and chemistry, and , biology professor of practice, collaborating as co-PIs. The award will fund 10 undergraduate students per year (30 in total) from other institutions to conduct summer research at 黑料不打烊 in biology and biology-affiliated labs alongside faculty.

While this is the first REU site grant in biology at 黑料不打烊, faculty from the department have collaborated on similar programs through the site in the College of Engineering and Computer Science and the site in A&S. Other active REU site grants at the University include the and the programs.

According to Coleman, a primary objective of the team鈥檚 project is to promote diversity within the STEM field and offer meaningful hands-on research experiences to students who may not have access to such opportunities at their home universities. They will focus on recruiting domestic students from minority-serving institutions, primarily undergraduate institutions and community colleges.

鈥淪tudents who participate in research are more likely to see themselves as scientists and remain in STEM,鈥� says Coleman. 鈥淭hrough this 10-week summer program, students from diverse backgrounds will have the opportunity to conduct research, join a cohort of summer undergraduate researchers across the university, participate in professional development and present their research.鈥�

Beginning in 2025, REU students will conduct 10 weeks of summer research with one of 14 biology and physics faculty mentors. Research will focus on using microscopy to understand form and function across biological scales. This entails developing insight into the relationship between the shape, size and structure of an organism and exploring how these characteristics enable functions that support the organism’s survival.

鈥淓ach student鈥檚 project will incorporate microscopy into innovative biological research,鈥� says Coleman. 鈥淎ll REU participants will gain exposure to microscopy methods, including fluorescence and super-resolution, using state-of-the-art instrumentation to address questions that cross multiple scales of biological research.鈥�

The team notes that this REU will take advantage of the University鈥檚 strengths in microscopy, and the core facilities and resources, including the (directed by biology professor and managed by co-PI Aljiboury) and the BioInspired Institute鈥檚 (directed by Eric Finkelstein, Ph.D.).

Potential student projects include investigating molecular and cellular mechanisms underpinning neurodevelopment; identifying the connections between form, function and environment in animals that interface with and attach to surfaces; examining mechanisms driving plant responses to climate change; elucidating mechanisms of protein quality control to understand the assembly and disassembly of biomolecular condensates; and understanding how cells self-organize and develop.

The will host its first cohort of undergraduates in the summer of 2025. The program will begin accepting applications in November 2024 through the .

Maloney, a researcher who investigates fundamental questions in theoretical physics and quantum information theory, comes to 黑料不打烊 from in Montreal.

Alexander Maloney

鈥淚 am delighted by the opportunity to work with the outstanding students and faculty at 黑料不打烊 to help push the forefront of research in quantum science,鈥� Maloney says.

The Walters Endowed Professorship was established by a $2.5 million gift from 黑料不打烊 Board of Trustees Chair Emeritus Kathy Walters 鈥�73 and her husband, Stan 鈥�72. Their gift was made as part of the , which supports the recruitment and retention of high-caliber faculty.

鈥淭he commitment of the Walters family has allowed us to recruit a world-class leader for 黑料不打烊鈥檚 quantum science program,鈥� says , vice president for research. 鈥淧rofessor Maloney will bring together outstanding faculty from the and the and provide new opportunities for our students to engage in cutting-edge research.鈥�

Maloney鈥檚 research focuses on connections between quantum information theory, field theory, statistical mechanics and quantum gravity.

鈥淥ver the last century, advances in our understanding of the quantum world have underlain some of the most important scientific and technical advances that have changed both our society and our understanding of the universe,鈥� Maloney says. 鈥淭his includes deep questions ranging from elementary particle physics and black holes to materials science and engineering. Many of the most exciting current directions lie at the intersection of quantum science and information theory, where a new field of science is being created that may have profound implications, both for our understanding of fundamental physics and for the construction of quantum computers and precision devices.鈥�

A&S Dean Behzad Mortazavi notes that health care is another area of promise in quantum information science. 鈥淔or example, we can imagine the potential for much earlier detection of diseases like cancer through quantum sensing, and the creation of highly personalized, more effective treatments for those diseases based on analysis of massive amounts of DNA data,鈥� he says. 鈥淲ith Professor Maloney bringing his internationally recognized expertise to join the other top researchers in A&S physics, we are excited to be on the leading edge of this frontier.鈥�

Maloney鈥檚 previous positions include James McGill Professor of Physics and Sir William Macdonald Chair in Physics at McGill University, where he was honored with the John David Jackson Award for excellence in teaching. He was a member of the in Princeton, New Jersey, and a research associate at the . He was selected as a Simons Fellow in Theoretical Physics in 2013. He earned a Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University and an M.Sc. in mathematics and B.Sc. in physics from Stanford University.

At 黑料不打烊, Maloney will work with four new researchers鈥攏ow being recruited by the University with support from and 鈥攚ho will grow teaching and research in quantum science, providing opportunities for students to advance understanding of nature and design the next generation of quantum technologies.

From left: Professors Bing Dong, Jackie Anderson, Ian Shapiro and Jensen Zhang (Photo by Alex Dunbar)

The University has received funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to create new Building Training and Assessment Center (BTAC) to train undergraduate and graduate engineering students and build a clean energy workforce. The SU-BTAC, aligned with the vision of the DOE BTAC program, will educate and provide hands-on training for engineering students to perform assessments focused on reducing the energy burden for commercial and institutional buildings with a focus on disadvantaged communities.

The SU-BTAC will be housed at the (黑料不打烊CoE), New York State鈥檚 Center of Excellence in Environmental Energy Systems which engages more than 200 private companies, organizations and academic institutions to create new products and services in indoor environmental quality, clean and renewable energy, and water resource management.

With 黑料不打烊CoE, the SU-BTAC will create relationships and company screening opportunities to connect commercial and institutional buildings with existing programs in the region relating to unions, apprenticeships, trade organizations, community programs and others.

鈥淚 see the SU-BTAC as an expansion of the 黑料不打烊 Industrial Assessment Center (SU-IAC), now SU-ITAC, and as a great experiential learning opportunity for our students. Not only are we able to help commercial and institutional buildings with reducing their energy burden, but we are also able to teach and mentor the next generation of energy engineers,鈥� says , director of IAC and associate teaching professor in mechanical and aerospace engineering.

SU-BTAC will be led by faculty from 黑料不打烊 and supported by faculty from the City University of New York. The center will be co-directed by Professor , with involvement from professors and .

Graduate students from the Experimental Neutrino Physics group with 黑料不打烊-area high school students who took part in the 黑料不打烊 Physics Emerging Research Technologies Summer High School Internship Program in summer 2024.

It takes sophisticated technology to study the behavior of invisible particles like neutrinos and cosmic rays, which pass through our bodies every second before zooming back off into the universe without us even knowing. While they might be tiny, these particles have massive importance, as understanding their interactions could help scientists determine why our universe exists and why all of the 鈥渟tuff鈥� in the universe, including stars, planets and people, are made out of matter and not antimatter. Faculty and students in the 听group in 黑料不打烊鈥檚 College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) are part of an international effort to explore the secrets of neutrinos.

So, what鈥檚 the buzz about neutrinos? Neutrinos and other invisible particles such as cosmic rays are produced by some of the most extreme events in the cosmos, like the Big Bang nearly 14 billion years ago or when massive stars end their life cycles in a blaze of glory known as supernovae explosions. Neutrinos come in three flavors (electron, muon and tau) and have some mysterious characteristics, such as puzzlingly low masses and the ability to oscillate, or change from one type of neutrino to another. Scientists use cutting-edge particle detectors to study the information embedded in neutrinos and make definitive determinations of neutrino properties.

Physics Professors 听补苍诲听听are working with undergraduate and graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers on everything from detector construction to operation and analysis, both at 黑料不打烊 and at larger detection sites like听. Fermilab is one of the few places on Earth where a focused beam of neutrinos can be created and aimed at a detector.

Through Fermilab鈥檚听听(DUNE), particle detectors are being constructed one mile underground in a former gold mine in South Dakota right in the path of a neutrino beam originating from Fermilab in Illinois. Once operational, DUNE scientists will be able to study a phenomenon called 鈥渘eutrino oscillation,鈥� which looks at how the three different flavors of neutrinos that make up the Standard Model (electron, muon and tau) change between types as they travel. These insights could reveal why the universe is dominated by matter and whether a fourth type of neutrino (sterile neutrino) exists, which would go beyond the Standard Model, indicating that there is more to the universe鈥檚 fundamental particle makeup than we currently understand.

Prototype Paves the Way

Physics graduate student Tom Murphy (right, in orange hard hat) working on a DUNE prototype. (Photo by Dan Svoboda)

DUNE, currently under construction, will be the most comprehensive neutrino experiment in the world. But before it comes online, scientists have been testing prototype equipment and components in preparation for the final detector installation. Members of 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Experimental Neutrino Physics group have been part of the听, which recorded its first听. While the final version of the DUNE near detector will feature 35 liquid argon modules, the prototype has four modules arranged in a square and allows scientists to validate the design.

鈥淥ur group members who are resident at Fermilab, including postdoctoral researcher Luis Zazueta and graduate student Tom Murphy, have helped with final detector construction, installation and operations,鈥� says Soderberg. 鈥淶azueta was the inaugural 鈥渄eputy run coordinator鈥� for the 2×2 effort, which is a leadership role important to the operation of the detector. We are anticipating more involvement in the full-size DUNE detector that the 2×2 is a prototype for.鈥�

Exploring the Cosmos on Campus

Physics Ph.D. student Sierra Thomas is another one of the A&S scientists who has been involved in the DUNE collaboration. She is currently setting up the equipment to make observations of cosmic events at 黑料不打烊 using the new prototype 鈥減ixel鈥� Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber detector. Located on the third floor of the physics building, this hi-tech device allows researchers to make observations about the universe from the comforts of campus. What鈥檚 more, the experiments conducted with this equipment are contributing to the enhancement of larger detectors at Fermilab.

Watch the video below for Sierra鈥檚 take on the detector.

A Search for Oscillation

In addition to the DUNE project, Fermilab also hosts the Short-Baseline Neutrino Program, which is a chain of three particle detectors鈥擨CARUS, MicroBooNE and the Short-Baseline Near Detector (SBND). SBND is the near detector for the Short Baseline Neutrino Program and the newest of the three. ICARUS, which started collecting data in 2021, is the far detector. SBND will measure the neutrinos as they were produced in the Fermilab beam and ICARUS will measure the neutrinos after they鈥檝e potentially oscillated. The neutrino interactions collected from these detectors play a critical role in performing searches for neutrino oscillations, which could provide proof of the elusive fourth kind of neutrino.

The Short-Baseline Near Detector and ICARUS are the near and far detectors, respectively, in the Short-Baseline Neutrino Program. (Photo courtesy of Fermilab)

Rohan Rajagopalan standing in the SBND building near the detector.

SBND, the final element that completed Fermilab鈥檚 Short-Baseline Neutrino Program, recently reached a key milestone as scientists identified the detector鈥檚听听earlier this year. Members of 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Experimental Neutrino Physics group played integral roles in听constructing and commissioning the detector, whose planning, prototyping and construction took nearly a decade. Current group members Amy Filkins, a postdoctoral researcher, and Rohan Rajagopalan, a graduate student, are currently based at Fermilab and working on SBND, having made major contributions to SBND鈥檚 first operations.

Amy Filkins (in yellow hard hat) working on the Short-Baseline Near Detector鈥檚 data acquisition rack.

The collaboration will continue operating the detector and analyzing the many millions of neutrino interactions collected for the next several years.

鈥淚’m proud of the work that our team has been undertaking,鈥� says Whittington. 鈥淚 find the process of building, understanding and operating these experiments very engaging, and I’m excited to see them come to fruition over the next few years.鈥�

Students interested in hands-on, international research and exploring the secrets of neutrinos can learn more by visiting the听听group website.

Doctoral students in clinical psychology听Alexa Deyo 鈥�21 and Alison Vrabec G鈥�23 spent their summer testing a theory that a certain kind of therapeutic technique called motivational interviewing could improve sleep and overall health among adolescents. According to the , sleep problems can impact how people learn, think and get along with others. 鈥淚f teens are sleeping better, their mental health is improved; they are more emotionally regulated and less impulsive,鈥� says听, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology, who is supervising the clinical research.

Kathy Walters

Their research is exactly the kind of promising work that philanthropic alumni听Kathy Walters听鈥�73, H鈥�23 and her husband, Stan 鈥�72, had in mind when they set up the Walters Endowed Fund for Science Research in 2016. According to Kathy Walters, they were hoping to create new opportunities for research that would benefit humanity鈥攁nd they left the door open for the dean and faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) to define what those benefits might be.

鈥淩esearchers tend to see things that those of us not immersed in science would never see,鈥� says Walters, a 黑料不打烊 Trustee. 鈥淚鈥檓 not a big believer in telling capable people what they should be researching.鈥� In fact, the funding is to be used to support a vast array of academic inquiry, including 鈥渦ndergraduate, graduate or faculty-led research in the sciences, including departments of biology, chemistry, communication sciences and disorders, Earth science, mathematics, psychology and physics.鈥�

The funding is awarded at the discretion of the A&S dean and associate dean for research to recognize outstanding research faculty. 鈥淩esearch funding is critical to supporting our academic mission,鈥� says A&S Dean听Behzad Mortazavi. 鈥淲ith Kathy and Stan鈥檚 gift, we can invest in more of our stellar faculty and students, so they can contribute their enormous expertise to solving challenges in the areas of the environment and climate, health and wellness, social justice and human thriving.鈥�

Favour Chukwudumebi Ononiwu

Since the fund was established, it has supported research by graduate students in physics, chemistry, biology and psychology. 鈥淭hanks to the Walters, I was able to spend the summer of 2023 in the lab full-time,鈥� says Favour Chukwudumebi Ononiwu, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in cell biology and is dedicated to figuring out the cellular behavior that governs early development of human tissue. 鈥淭his particular tissue helps the body organize itself. Understanding how that happens is key to understanding developmental defects.鈥�

鈥淏ench to bedside research鈥� like this takes years of toil at the 鈥渂ench鈥� in the lab to reach the 鈥渂edside鈥� where people can benefit. Ononiwu says the funding from the Walters allowed her to spend a lot more time at that bench, reduce some of the costs associated with conducting the research, and speed up the process of discovery. 鈥淚t was also empowering to be in a space where I didn鈥檛 have to worry about my finances and could come into the lab and focus on the experiment. It also helped get my research to the point where I could apply for more grants and fellowships to accelerate the research.鈥�

Ononiwu, who hopes to pursue a job in a biotechnology, pharmaceutical or biomedical company, says the Walters funding was a 鈥渃atalyst for my development as a researcher and a professional.鈥�

Kidwell says her graduate students are deepening their own clinical training through the funded research and positioning themselves to be more competitive for National Institutes of Health grants.

鈥淥ftentimes, teaching assistantships take precedence over research assistantships because of financial need,鈥� says Deyo, a first-year doctoral student in clinical psychology.

Professor Katie Kidwell (second from left) with members of the Child Health Lab, including graduate students (from left) Toni Hamilton, Alison Vrabec, Lyric Tully, Alexa Deyo and Megan Milligan.

The doctoral students were able to accelerate the launch of their study this past summer, recruit a significant number of teens aged 13 to 17 as study subjects, expose them to the intervention called motivational interviewing and measure the impact on their sleep using a smart watch-type of device called an actigraph.

The intent of their research, of course, is to help teens and college students problem-solve and deal with stressors that impact their well-being. The research aligns with Kathy Walters鈥� sensitivity to the impact of stress on health. 鈥淭he world is moving at such a rapid pace that it鈥檚 difficult for people to prioritize and focus amidst the change and anxiety,鈥� says Walters. 鈥淗elping faculty and students make the most of opportunities to improve health and humanity remains our priority.鈥�

鈥淲e are so grateful to Kathy and Stan for their generosity and vision in establishing this fund,鈥� says John Quigley, A&S assistant dean for advancement. 鈥淲e hope others who are similarly passionate about academic and research excellence at the University will follow suit. An endowment of $100,000 or more provides the kind of annual supplemental support needed by our talented faculty to accelerate the impact of their teaching and research.鈥�

Walters says it鈥檚 important to provide gifts that are not too restricted. 鈥淪tudents are developing the critical thinking skills required to pursue knowledge that answers the big questions facing our world. By supporting research, we are helping them find the answers.鈥�

Xiaoxia 鈥淪ilvie鈥� Huang

With “Engaging Refugee and Immigrant Youth in STEM Through Culturally Relevant and Place-Based Digital Storytelling,” 鈥� an associate professor in the program鈥攁ims to engage culturally and linguistically diverse refugee and immigrant middle school students in co-designing culturally relevant and place-based STEM learning experiences through immersive, virtual reality (VR) storytelling. The goal? To support their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education and career aspirations.

During this two-year project, Huang, a project investigator, will collaborate with an interdisciplinary team, including co-PIs Professor (School of Education) and Professor (). Also joining the research team are professors and () and professors and ().

“During the VR storytelling co-design process, local middle schoolers will expand their STEM disciplinary knowledge and skills in agriculture, environmental science, and entry-level computer coding,” says Huang. 鈥淭his learning will be deeply rooted in their lived experience, with immersive stories that interweave their identities, cultures, and interaction with local environments. The goal of this project is to increase participants鈥� STEM learning, identity and self-efficacy, and to broaden their interests in STEM career pathways.”

The project team will collaborate with various community partners and organizations during its implementation, including , the , 听and interconnected projects and programs organized through the (including Natural Science Explorers and Write Out). Huang鈥檚 project also will engage 10 黑料不打烊 undergraduate and three graduate students as mentors for the middle school participants.

“This exciting and interdisciplinary research project brings together collaborators from four different schools and colleges and a host of community partners to advance culturally sustaining STEM opportunities for refugee and immigrant students in the local 黑料不打烊 community,” says Professor Beth Ferri, Associate Dean for Research, School of Education. “Drawing on cultural and community assets and engaged interdisciplinary learning, the project is as ambitious as it is innovative.”

Huang expects the project will produce not only the young participants’ digitally immersive stories but also curriculum modules for facilitators and participants, supporting the co-design process, as well as a practical guide for using community-based research to involve refugee and immigrant youth in STEM.

Shikha Nangia

is professor and interim chair of biomedical and chemical engineering in the (ECS). is a distinguished professor of physics in the (A&S). They succeed outgoing co-directors and .

Nangia joined the University in 2012 as a tenure-track professor. Her work involves the creation of computational models to examine the body鈥檚 blood-brain barrier at the molecular level. Those findings help develop drugs that can penetrate the barrier to advance medicinal treatments for neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson鈥檚 and Alzheimer鈥檚.

Marina Artuso

Artuso is an experimental physicist who works in experimental particle physics. Her research focuses on interesting properties of beauty and charm quarks and on the novel instrumentation needed to study their decay properties. She came to the University as a research assistant professor of physics in 1993, was appointed a professor of physics in 2005 and recently was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

WiSE faculty co-directors serve as advocates, engaging with university leadership, the campus community and external audiences. They also develop strategic vision for the organization, offer budget input, and actively participate in programming. WiSE was created by and is led by faculty. Its goals are to increase the representation and retention of women faculty members in STEM fields, to highlight women scholars and to develop advising and mentoring programs.

WiSE serves members across 18 departments in six colleges and schools: A&S, ECS, , , and the .听It presents social, academic and professional development programming for undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral scholars and faculty in tenure, tenure-track and non-tenure-track positions.

One of the programs WiSE hosts is the career-focused Future Professionals Program (top).

Faculty present workshops, act as mentors, offer portfolio reviews and serve in many capacities to support learning and teaching, says WiSE director Sharon Alestalo.

鈥淭heir active involvement helps direct how we can support faculty success. We do that through programming for them and by providing activities and events that support the students and scholars they work with,” Alestalo says.

WiSE also supports the recruitment of women faculty in STEM. When the program was founded, there were 18 women faculty members teaching in 10 A&S and ECS departments. Today, there are 174 tenure, tenure-track and non-tenure women faculty members working in 18 areas, Alestalo says. STEM women faculty in WiSE have also attracted more than $104 million in research funding during the last five years, she says.

WiSE also supports programming for Women of Color in STEM.

The organization is open to all. Undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral scholars and faculty women and their allies of any gender, race, ability and identity who work, study or are interested in the STEM fields are welcome.

The 2024 cohort of 黑料不打烊-area high school students who took part in the 黑料不打烊 Physics Emerging Research Technologies Summer High School Internship Program.

Thanks to a new National Science Foundation grant, 黑料不打烊鈥檚 physics department doubles the number of 黑料不打烊-area high school participants in their paid summer internship program.

STEM jobs are quickly becoming the backbone of America. By 2031, STEM occupations are听, while non-STEM occupations will grow at about half that rate at 4.9%. Therefore, it鈥檚 essential for today鈥檚 students to gain a solid foundation in math, science and engineering subjects. 黑料不打烊 is about to see its own boom in STEM jobs, as the arrival of the Micron chip manufacturing facility will include 9,000 high-paying positions at the Central New York campus.

Federal funding organizations like the National Science Foundation (NSF) have acknowledged this workforce shift and are seeding and supporting initiatives aimed at growing a diverse STEM workforce. Since 2022, the Department of Physics has hosted one such program, bringing in 黑料不打烊-area high school students to participate in a paid research internship. In support of that program, the NSF recently pledged nearly $1 million to 黑料不打烊 through their Experiential Learning for Emerging and Novel Technologies (ExLENT) campaign, which will fund the physics internship over three years.

Ruell Branch

Originally known as 黑料不打烊 Research in Physics (SURPh) during its first two summers in 2022 and 2023, the program seeks to create STEM career pathways for historically excluded groups by involving them in authentic research experiences and providing mentoring and peer networks. SURPh was the brainchild of former physics student Ruell Branch 鈥�24, who pitched the idea to his professors as a way to strengthen the University鈥檚 connection with the local community and inspire local students to pursue STEM.

鈥淚 wanted 黑料不打烊 high school students who have interests in physics to see what it’s like to work as a paid scientist,鈥� says Branch, who graduated from the 黑料不打烊 City School District. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 extremely important for students to get experience conducting research in an actual science lab.鈥�

Expanding the Program

With the help of physics professor听, Henninger High School science teacher Melanie Pelcher, and fellow 黑料不打烊 alum and Henninger High School graduate Devon Lamanna ’23, G’24, SURPh was born. Now, thanks to the NSF funding awarded to Ross and fellow physics professor and department chair , the summer program will be funded through the summer of 2026.

鈥淭he new NSF support is a game-changer,鈥� says Soderberg. 鈥淚t signifies to the students who participate that not only those of us in the SU physics department and 黑料不打烊 city schools, but also policymakers in the federal government, see value in helping them get excited about STEM disciplines and see the potential for them as future professionals who will someday help drive innovation and discovery.鈥�

The three-year grant, totaling nearly $1 million, allowed the program to grow from 12 students in 2023 to 24 in 2024 and brought in additional faculty mentors. SURPh was made possible in past years thanks to funding from the John Ben Snow Foundation and internal support from the Engaged Humanities Network and the physics department.

鈥淭his program could not have achieved NSF funding without these other sources to prop us up,鈥� says Ross.

Now called the 黑料不打烊 Physics Emerging Research Technologies Summer High School Internship Program (SUPER-Tech SHIP), the program just wrapped its summer session with a closing ceremony and poster session.听Through SUPER-Tech SHIP, students were exposed to skills and concepts related to computational physics, biophysics and particle physics during the six-week program.

Read the full story on the听.

The program, NRT-URoL: Emergent Intelligence Research for Graduate Excellence in Biological and Bio-Inspired Systems (EmIRGE-Bio), will support the integration of research and education on emergent intelligence in both biological and bio-inspired systems and allow doctoral students to work and experience team-building across disciplinary and departmental boundaries.

Lisa Manning speaks at a previous BioInspired Symposium. (Photo by Angela Ryan)

鈥淢any of society鈥檚 most pressing challenges鈥攊ncluding food security, sustainability and supporting aging populations鈥攚ill require breakthroughs in biotechnology and bio-inspired science,鈥� says , William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Physics in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), who is principal investigator (PI). 鈥淭his program will train a new generation of scientists and engineers who can evaluate and harness complex systems, such as biological tissues or next-generation materials, to drive intelligent responses such as sensing, actuating and learning, leading to breakthrough technologies.鈥�

Co-PIs are , associate professor of biology and chemistry in A&S; , associate director of BioInspired and Ren茅e Crown Professor in the Sciences and Mathematics and associate professor of biology in A&S; , Samuel and Carol Nappi Research Scholar and associate professor of biomedical and chemical engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS); and , associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in ECS.

BioInspired director , professor of biomedical and chemical engineering in ECS, says, 鈥渢he Research Traineeship Program is currently one of鈥攊f not the most鈥攃ompetitive funding programs at the National Science Foundation. Receipt of the award speaks to the existing strength of graduate education in BioInspired fields at 黑料不打烊 and to the exciting new opportunities and programming that Lisa and the team designed and proposed and now stand poised to deliver.鈥�

The EmIRGE-Bio program will feature advanced core disciplinary courses in areas foundational to biotechnology and bio-inspired design; the development of two new courses utilizing team-based learning paradigms; and a longitudinal professional development program. It will also include a STEM entrepreneurship course offered by the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, an internship program and a co-curricular workshop series on project management and technology transfer.

Some 115 Ph.D. students from fields that span the life and physical sciences and engineering are expected to take part in the training, which the research team says will address a STEM workforce gap identified by local and national partners in industry and academe.

鈥淓mergence in biology and bio-inspired design is one of the University’s signature areas of strength, and we have seen that borne out by the success of BioInspired since its founding in 2019,鈥� says Interim Vice Chancellor, Provost and Chief Academic Officer . 鈥淭his initiative draws on that strength and supports our long-term strategic goal to transform STEM at 黑料不打烊 and enhance graduates鈥� potential for success in a swiftly evolving marketplace.鈥�

Adds , vice president for research: 鈥淭he NRT award will advance BioInspired in ways that are core to 黑料不打烊鈥檚 identity: recruiting and retaining a diverse student population, advancing cutting-edge interdisciplinary research and education and providing our students with the entrepreneurial skills needed in the 21st century workforce.鈥�

Three 黑料不打烊 students have been awarded prestigious graduate research fellowships through the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP), and two students have been recognized with honorable mentions.

The fellowship recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students who are pursuing research-based master鈥檚 and doctoral degrees in the U.S. The five-year fellowship includes three years of financial support, including an annual stipend of $37,000 and a $16,000 educational allowance.

The 2024 recipients of the NSF GRFP are the following:

• Edward (Cole) Fluker, a senior chemical engineering major in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS). Fluker will be joining the Ph.D. program in chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Pennsylvania upon graduation.
• Dan Paradiso, a second-year Ph.D. student in physics in the College of Arts and Sciences.
• Melissa Yeung, a first-year Ph.D. student in mechanical and aerospace engineering in ECS.

听Edward (Cole) Fluker

Fluker, who was recently named a University Scholar, initially got involved in research in his sophomore year and took on his first significant research project the following summer. Through the University鈥檚 Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, he worked under Ian Hosein, associate professor of biomedical and chemical engineering, analyzing a gel polymer electrolyte system as an alternative to liquid electrolytes in calcium-ion batteries. The research resulted in a paper, on which Fluker was first author, in the American Chemical Society鈥檚 Journal of Physical Chemistry.

That experience led him to pursue more research opportunities in energy storage. In summer 2023, he completed the Internet of Things for Precision Agriculture REU at the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied the power and energy performance of aluminum air batteries (AABs) with Ag-based cathodes.

鈥淏y the end of the project, I had successfully fabricated cathodes that resulted in power performance of 70% of the commercial option at less than 1/4,000th of the cost,鈥� Fluker says. 鈥淚 was especially interested in creative efforts to improve efficient agricultural practices, and I hope to continue contributing to them while at UPenn.鈥�

Fluker says the NSF GRFP will give him financial resources to help broaden his research to be more sustainable and inclusive. 鈥淭here is a severe underrepresentation of Black students pursuing advanced degrees, and I believe this program will help me launch a pipeline program for African American students to support their advanced degree aspirations,鈥� he says. 鈥淥n top of my research goals committed to next generation energy storage, I want to pave a path for underrepresented students that opens doors they never thought were meant for them.鈥�

Dan Paradiso

Paradiso鈥檚 research is focused on the deaths of massive stars in the universe, known as core-collapse supernovae. These stars, which have masses of around 10 to 100 times the mass of the sun, end their life in a cataclysmic and explosive death that produces light that can be detected with ground and space-based telescopes. Decades of research, however, suggests that not all stars that undergo core-collapse result in a successful explosion and instead the star can continue to implode until a black hole is formed. These events are referred to as failed supernovae, and it is estimated that approximately 20-30% of stars that undergo core-collapse result in a failed supernova.

鈥淚n my research I focus on the dynamics of shockwaves, which are ubiquitous with core-collapse supernova physics, using analytical and numerical methods to understand these failed supernova explosions,鈥� Paradiso says. 鈥淚 then use these techniques to make predictions about observable properties of failed and sub-energetic explosions.鈥�

鈥淎s a second-year graduate student, the generous support from the GRFP is very welcome, and I am excited to continue my research with this support,鈥� he says.

听Melissa Yeung

Yeung works in the fluid dynamics lab of Yiyang Sun, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, where she focuses on supersonic jet engines.

High noise levels have always been associated with supersonic aircraft, restricting their flight range to over sea. 鈥淭he goal of my work is to alleviate the undesired features through strategically placed small micro-jets of air. I am currently focused on optimizing these micro-jets such that they can continuously modulate themselves to adapt to various flight conditions. By doing so, the flow can be controlled even in off-design conditions and with minimal energy input,鈥� Yeung says. 鈥淯nderstanding these complex flow physics is vital for the development of next-generation high-performance aircraft. Successfully controlling this flow can improve upon the aircraft鈥檚 performance and ensure the safety of nearby workers or civilians. This work is one of many steps in pushing supersonic flight for commercial use.鈥�

Yeung says the GRFP fellowship will allow her more flexibility in her research direction, fund her research activities and allow her to attend more conferences.

Yeung also notes the tremendous amount of support she received from Sun, Professor Emeritus Mark Glauser and Gina Lee-Glauser, retired vice president for research, throughout the application process. 鈥淭heir guidance has been crucial to my success and without them I would have not have the honor of being an NSF GRFP recipient, she says.

Nicholas Rubino and Elizabeth Su

Two students also received honorable mentions in this year鈥檚 NSF GRFP competition. Nicholas Rubino, a second-year Ph.D. student in mechanical and aerospace engineering in ECS who is researching robotic devices for physical rehabilitation, and Elizabeth Su, a senior graduating with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in bioengineering and neuroscience from the College of Arts and Sciences. Su will pursue a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering at Purdue University, researching enhanced visual prosthetics.

The CFSA will hold an the week of June 10-14. The bootcamp is for rising seniors and first- and second-year graduate students who are eligible for and plan to apply for the NSF GRFP this fall.

Students interested in learning more about or applying for the next NSF GRFP award cycle or any other nationally competitive scholarships and fellowships should visit the听听or email听cfsa@syr.edu听for more information.

The pathway program, 鈥淩oadmap Into 黑料不打烊 Engineering Undergraduate Programs and the Profession” (鈥淩ISEUP²鈥�), aims to attract academically talented, low-income students from Central New York who historically have been excluded from those types of careers, including adult learners, first-generation students, traditionally under-represented minorities, veterans and students with high levels of financial need.

The grant also allows a multi-school project team to plan for and prepare to submit a later for NSF funding that would provide student scholarships for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) studies.

That step recognizes the need to educate, grow and retain a diverse and highly skilled STEM workforce in the Central New York region, a realization catalyzed by of plans to build a $100 billion megafab semiconductor manufacturing facility in the region and New York State鈥檚 subsequent in community and workforce development, says , Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor of Teaching Excellence and chair of biomedical and chemical engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS), who is the project鈥檚 principal investigator.

Julie Hasenwinkel

鈥淭his is a really exciting opportunity for ECS to envision different ways to bring students into our undergraduate program. With the growing regional and national need for engineers, we want to attract students who don鈥檛 just come to us straight out of high school. This planning grant gives us the opportunity to dig deeply into assuring that we would give those students the best opportunity to succeed if they come here,鈥� Hasenwinkel says.

The NSF award funds information-gathering, program research and partnership-building efforts that the multi-school, multi-organizational project team is undertaking through spring 2025, when the Track 3 S-STEM NSF grant proposal will likely be submitted, Hasenwinkel says. That type of grant would directly fund scholarships for engineering students and underwrite the support services to help assure the academic, social and career success of RISEUP² program participants, Hasenwinkel says.

Goals for the planning phase include:

• Strengthening current connections between the University and Onondaga and Mohawk Valley Community Colleges and expanding partnerships with additional regional community colleges (potentially Jefferson, Cayuga, Tompkins Cortland and Broome Community Colleges)
• Formalizing transfer agreements with the regional community colleges to provide direct admission to 黑料不打烊 ECS programs
• Conducting a comprehensive needs assessment across all partner institutions to determine what kinds of programming best support low-income engineering students at their two-year college, during their transition to a four-year university and throughout their time at 黑料不打烊
• Developing formal partnerships with Micron and other area STEM employers and strengthening alliances with the Manufacturers Association of Central New York and the Technology Alliance of Central New York to solidify internship and employment opportunities
• Conducting research to better understand how a scholarship-based cohort model focused on workforce development can improve outcomes for low-income community college engineering transfer students

Project team members envision a program that offers a clear pathway to a bachelor鈥檚 degree within a 鈥�360-degree鈥� system of student support. Beginning in the earliest years of college, it would offer ongoing guidance in financial aid, academic counseling, student success and educational and social programming at both the community college and University campuses. It would also offer living-learning residency opportunities, summer internships, professional development training and ultimately, job placement assistance.

Michael Frasciello

Working with Hasenwinkel are co-principal investigators ,听professor of mathematics at ; , associate professor of higher education in the ; , dean of the School of STEM Transfer and associate professor at ; and , dean of the at 黑料不打烊. Other ECS faculty and staff in admissions, recruitment and enrollment, student success and inclusive excellence are also part of the process, as are their counterparts at the community colleges.

David P茅rez

Though the team fully plans to proceed with a Track 3 S-STEM proposal, this year鈥檚 planning activity and research will be useful in and of itself, creating knowledge and new information regarding the group of students the proposal aims to help, Hasenwinkel says.

鈥淲e鈥檒l also be learning as we go, and we鈥檒l be able to contribute to the educational literature on the most effective practices for supporting this population of students.鈥�

黑料不打烊 City School District students work on an experiment

The initiative, 黑料不打烊 Physics Emerging Research Technologies Summer High School Internship Program (SUPER-Tech SHIP), is a partnership between the Department of Physics in the College of Arts and Sciences and the 黑料不打烊 City School District (SCSD). , professor and chair of physics, is principal investigator. The co-principal investigator is , professor and associate chair of physics.

鈥淭his program will allow us to really increase the impact we can have on both the local community of high school students who might be interested in future STEM careers, and also on our 黑料不打烊 undergraduate and graduate students who work alongside them and use the experience to develop as mentors, teachers and scientists,鈥� Soderberg says.

Jennifer Ross

Through SUPER-Tech SHIP, student interns will be exposed to skills and concepts related to quantum information, semiconductors and biotechnology during a six-week program. It鈥檚 based on a run by the physics department during the summers of 2022 and 2023. That program, 黑料不打烊 Research in Physics (SURPh), engaged SCSD students and recent graduates in six-week, paid internships, during which they worked alongside faculty researchers in physics labs and classrooms. Ross developed it after then-student Ruell Branch 鈥�24 told her that his former classmates at SCSD鈥檚 Henninger High School would love to experience hands-on learning in the University鈥檚 physics lab.

鈥淚 am very invested in exposing people to the positives of physics and science鈥攅specially people who have been historically excluded from the field due to cultural stereotypes,鈥� Ross says. 鈥淚 want people to have opportunities, and this program is a way to give people opportunities to learn about other career paths.鈥�

SUPER-Tech SHIP, like SURPh, seeks to create STEM career pathways for historically excluded groups by involving them in authentic research experiences and providing mentoring and peer networks. The SCSD student body is 48% Black, 15% Latino and 1% Indigenous; 85% of students are economically disadvantaged. To recruit students to the program, physics faculty members will visit SCSD classrooms to promote participation. Applications will be evaluated based on a student鈥檚 persistence and grit, rather than science experience.

Mitchell Soderberg

Following an orientation 鈥渂oot camp,鈥� interns will work in pairs on long-term research projects in the labs. Ross says interns may work on biotechnology in biophysics labs, looking at the mechanical nature of bacteria; particle detection, using semiconductor technology and novel detection schemes; or astrophysics, working to understand how black holes collide and tear apart stars.

Past participants in the SURPh project will return to serve as peer mentors and participate in research with current interns. The interns will also benefit from seminars on science topics, professional development workshops, lunch-and-learns with speakers from the University and the industry and weekly activities to introduce them to different areas of campus. The six weeks will conclude with a poster session and a celebration event attended by the interns鈥� friends, family members and teachers.

Ross says encouraging the next generation of creative problem-solvers to work in tech is essential in order for the U.S. to remain competitive in the high-tech industry, and that 鈥渃reativity requires diversity in thought and that often comes from diversity in thinkers.鈥�

She also notes the program鈥檚 synergy with the impending arrival of Micron Technology in Central New York. 鈥淢icron will need many workers for the fabrication and production factory, and the exposure the students will get will help them to understand the fundamental science and the cutting-edge technologies that microchips support,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t is the right thing to do to develop our local economy by training the folks in our community who have outstanding potential to make the world a better place through high-tech solutions to the world鈥檚 problems. 黑料不打烊 is the right place for this development to take place.鈥�

Quinn Qiao

Their hands-on training is underway in the lab of noted expert , professor in the . Qiao directs the , one of three National Science Foundation (NSF)-supported collaborative research energy storage centers.

That center played a huge part in the University鈥檚 recent naming as a core partner in the , one of 10 inaugural projects funded by the NSF. Hosted by nearby Binghamton University, the project aims to make upstate New York 鈥渙ne of America鈥檚 battery hubs.鈥� It brings $15 million now and potentially up to $160 million total to supercharge growth and cutting-edge research. Its is to establish sites that produce new battery componentry, conduct safety testing and certification and manufacture, integrate applications and support workforce development. New forms of battery power and energy storage technologies are considered critical .

Qiao will conduct training activities and collaborate with international industry partners and local economic development agencies and governments. He鈥檒l also coordinate with existing entrepreneurship programs for technology transfer and commercialization activities and plan training for students from primary to graduate school and for local industry employees.

New Space

Qiao鈥檚 lab is housed in expansive new facilities in Link Hall that is filled with sophisticated and state-of-the-art equipment. The space is part of an extensive renovation designed to accommodate the college鈥檚 anticipated 50% growth over the next five years, as outlined in the University鈥檚 academic strategic plan, 鈥�.鈥� That leap is being driven by emerging technologies in energy storage, computer chip and sensor manufacturing and other technology innovations that are leading new job growth in the 黑料不打烊 area.

Five-Student Lab

Students working with Qiao are , , , and .

Li tests lithium-rich cathodes in coin batteries aiming to speed synthesis processes to achieve batteries that can store more energy in the same physical space. He is working to produce materials faster and to lower the costs of production by using microwavereactors to accelerate the rate of synthesis and to monitor temperatures and pressures to observe how varying conditions affect the rate and yield of synthesis.

Hansheng Li, right, and Madan Saud, left, Ph.D. students, in the lab with Professor Quinn Qiao.

Over three years in Qiao鈥檚 lab, Li developed testing techniques and methodologies that have strengthened his preparation for a future either in industry or academia, he says. Still, his research hasn鈥檛 come without challenges, providing 鈥渁 mix of pain and gain somehow,鈥� he adds. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e not going to have results come out as you鈥檙e expecting them to each time, so analyzing the reasons behind those outcomes and proposing how to resolve problems is what鈥檚 helpful in building up research methodologies.鈥�

Bilal Sattar, left, uses the ECS’s QiaolLab’s sophisticated equipment for experiments.

Sattar, who is in his second year at the University, worked three years in China before coming to the U.S. His research focuses on the chemical composition of batteries to see how they can be made more environmentally friendly. He also studies nanoscopic photochemical changes that drive instabilities in perovskite semiconductors used in solar cells, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), photodetectors, lasers and other technologies, including solar panels and photo-rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.

He enjoys the lab鈥檚 collegial nature and his professor鈥檚 鈥�24/7 availability,鈥� and is pleased at the high degree of professional activity he has experienced, he says. Sattar presented at last summer鈥檚 American Chemical Society (ACS) conference and at the 2024 American Physical Society (APS) March meeting in Minnesota. He has also been able to publish in scientific journals.

Third-year doctoral student Zhang works with an atomic-force microscope on nanoscale imaging and on mapping thin film organic solar cells and perovskite solar cells for nanoscale measurements.

Yuchen Zhang says his lab work with Professor Qiao, in which he works on solar cells at the nanoscale level, is world-unique.

鈥淲hat I鈥檓 doing is world-unique,听 and no other universities can do it, so I鈥檓 very glad I have the opportunity to work here,鈥� he says. Zhang imagines an industry career as a researcher, scientist or engineer, but is also open to an interesting postdoctoral position at a university or national laboratory.

Saud is a third-year Ph.D. student who previously taught secondary-level science in government schools in his home country of Nepal. He is working to develop a solid-state battery to meet the high energy demands of the electric vehicle and grid-scale storage sectors. His goal鈥攁nd he admits it鈥檚 not an easy task鈥攊s to create an energy-dense, safer, longer-lasting solid-state lithium metal battery.

To do that, he replaces the liquid electrolytes in current batteries (which can sometimes be flammable) with a non-flammable solid electrolyte. That involves synthesizing a solid electrolyte, characterizing it, measuring its ionic conductivity, testing its stability with Li-metal anodes, then fabricating a full solid-state battery.

He has been able to synthesize a novel sulfide electrolyte that has a significantly higher critical current density at room temperature, he says. He is also working to increase the capacity retention in full solid-state batteries at higher current density. It鈥檚 a goal he hopes to achieve before he graduates in 2025.

The battery field is interesting for a researcher now, Saud says. Recognizing the hard work of his parents to assure his education, he hopes to pay his gratitude forward to help others. 鈥淭he field does require basic knowledge in electrochemistry, but it offers a lot of research scope for a student who is energetic. As society transitions toward a more sustainable and electrified future, developing a new battery technology is a good way to contribute to the world.鈥�

Poojan Kawekar is currently on an NSF intern research program at an industry lab in South Dakota.

Kaswekar, also in his third year, focuses on developing lead-free perovskite solar cells, which have significant cost advantages over conventional solar cells and align with the nation鈥檚 clean energy transition. He also works on solid-state batteries and their industrial and commercial applications and nanoscale characterization techniques. He is participating in a study away internship at Daktronics Inc. in South Dakota, supported by an NSF INTERN grant.

He says Qiao 鈥渉as been an invaluable cornerstone in my pursuit of a Ph.D. He is dedicated to fostering a collaborative and intellectually stimulating environment within our lab and I have grown not only as a researcher but also as a critical thinker under his mentorship.鈥�

will explore new variations of two of the oldest problems in geometry鈥攖he isoperimetric problem and the Minkowski problem鈥攚ith a , the National Science Foundation鈥檚 most competitive award for early-career faculty who may serve as academic role models in research and education.

Isoperimetric problems go back to the ancient Greeks.

Yiming Zhao

鈥淭hey wanted to know how to enclose as much area as possible with a thread of fixed length,鈥� says Zhao, assistant professor of mathematics. 鈥淭he answer is you make the thread into a circle. In the second type of problem, the Minkowski, you find how to reconstruct a geometric shape when you have only partial information.鈥�

The problems are connected. 鈥淚n classical cases, they can be two sides of the same coin,鈥� says Zhao. 鈥淚f you know the answer to one, you usually know the answer to the other.鈥�

But not always. Zhao will explore isoperimetric problems or Minkowski problems in various settings when answers to one exist while answers to the other remain elusive.

鈥淚n new mathematical variations over the last few decades, sometimes we only know the answer to one,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 want to use our existing knowledge of one answer to a problem to find the answer to the other.鈥�

Applications of solving these problems extend beyond mathematics into engineering and design.

The CAREER award calls on faculty members to integrate their research into instruction. Zhao will organize a series of events for K-12 students, high school teachers and the public about mathematics at a local science museum, high schools and community centers. These events will expose the fun and exploratory side of Zhao鈥檚 research to young students, raise society鈥檚 awareness and interest in mathematics and promote mathematics among historically underrepresented populations.

Zhao will encourage youngsters to think about mathematics differently, conducting an educational session for K-12 students at the , a science and technology museum in downtown 黑料不打烊.

鈥淢ath is about discovery, not just about people applying a set of formulas on an exam,鈥� Zhao says. 鈥淚 plan to get kids involved in an old problem, a toy version of the Minkowski problem I鈥檓 working with, which I could easily explain to them.鈥�

Zhao鈥檚 project will involve graduate and undergraduate students in research and educational activities. Graduate students will help plan programs for K-12 students and the public, gaining crucial training opportunities to explain research to different audiences.

Zhao’s CAREER award brings the total to 10 A&S researchers since 2022. Read about the and CAREER grant winners.

This story was written by John H. Tibbetts

Pankaj K. Jha, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, is leading a quantum technology laboratory, with members Aswini Pattanayak, Jagi Rout G鈥�28, Amir Targholizadeh G鈥�28, Theodore Todorov 鈥�26 and Grisha Nikulin 鈥�27, to understand emerging 2D materials and use their findings to develop transformative devices for applications in quantum information science.

Assistant Professor Pankaj Jha working on a home-built confocal microscope to investigate the optical properties of 2D materials and heterostructures (Photo by Alex Dunbar)

Jha is developing single-photon detectors using iron-based superconductors that could work at higher temperatures. Currently, superconducting photodetectors require low temperatures to operate. Pattanayak, a post-doctoral scholar, is leading this project to understand photodetection in iron-chalcogenide-based superconductors and investigating the interaction between these superconductors with other 2D van der Waals (vdWs) materials, exploring unique quantum phenomena at their interfaces.

鈥淗igh-temperature single photon detectors will have both scientific and fundamental impact. Any application that requires sensitive photon detectors will benefit from these devices,鈥� Jha says.

Jha with members of his research group, from left to right, Theodore Todorov ’26, post-doctoral researcher Aswini Pattanayak, Amir Targholizadeh G’28 and Jagi Rout G’28 (Photo by Alex Dunbar)

Pattanayak is also mentoring Todorov, an undergraduate student, in light interferometry. Interferometers combine light to create an interference pattern that can be measured and analyzed. 鈥淚nterferometry is the basis of optics because it allows you to analyze the classical and quantum optical properties of light,鈥� Todorov says. 鈥淭he resulting interference can allow one to understand properties of the laser such as path length, wavelength and refractive index of the medium it has passed through.鈥�

鈥淚n this era of quantum exploration, the investigation of superconductors serves as the cornerstone for unlocking unparalleled frontiers in quantum technologies and devices,鈥� says Pattanayak.

Rout, a graduate student, is exploring heterostructures using nanofabrication techniques. Her research focuses on studying high-temperature superconductivity. In addition to working on single-photon detectors, Rout is developing Josephson junctions, devices made by placing thin, non-superconducting materials between two superconductors, and she鈥檒l be using iron-chalcogenide-based superconductors.

Jagi Rout G’28 working on creating heterostructures with 2D materials with a fully motorized transferred setup. (Photo by Alex Dunbar)

鈥淭he interplay among topology, magnetism, and superconductivity makes our material an intriguing platform to investigate the strange yet promising interactions in the subatomic realm,鈥� says Rout.

Rout is also mentoring Todorov and Nikulin in the exfoliation of 2D materials. Nikulin鈥檚 interest is Superconducting Qubit Architecture and Quantum Algorithms. 鈥淪uperconducting-based photon detection also has significant applications towards reducing quantum decoherence in quantum computation systems,鈥� says Nikulin.

Targholizadeh, a graduate student, is developing flat photonic devices based on metasurfaces capable of functioning at extremely low temperatures. He aims to address and solve some of the outstanding challenges that single photon detectors face, such as polarization sensitivity and near-normal incidence requirements, among other issues.

鈥淢etasurfaces are recently introduced as a new paradigm for nanophotonic devices, and in our laboratory, we are working on conceiving, designing, fabricating and testing these metasurface-based devices,鈥� Targholizadeh says.

In addition to research, Jha has started a at the University with support from an internal . With speakers from academia, industry and national labs, seminars are open to all and cover experimental and theoretical topics in QISE and adjacent research.

鈥淭he response to the QISE Seminar Series has been outstanding, with 60-70% student audience participation,鈥� Jha says. 鈥淚 see a bright future for quantum science at the University.鈥�

Jay N. Zemel

鈥満诹喜淮蜢� Physics was and still is a vast entryway to the future.鈥� Words by alumnus and philanthropist Jay N. Zemel when he was in his 90s and reflecting on his experiences at 黑料不打烊. He earned a B.S. in 1949, a master鈥檚 in 1952 and a Ph.D. in 1956. Such was his love for his alma mater that Zemel made the University the beneficiary of a $1.5 million estate gift in an endowed fund as part of the Forever Orange Campaign to support summer undergraduate research experiences for students studying physics.

Zemel took what he learned at 黑料不打烊 and launched a career in research and teaching鈥攎uch of it at the University of Pennsylvania鈥攖hat brought him national renown, 26 patents, 120 journal articles and book chapters, and the endless praise of mentees, colleagues and admirers along the way. After his death at the age of 95 on July 20, 2023, one of his former graduate students Carlos Lopez Reyna wrote to his daughter Babette: 鈥淗e gave me the gift of knowledge, experience and a listening ear when needed.鈥�

Zemel was passionate about teaching and personally guiding young researchers because he knew firsthand how vital it was to one鈥檚 future. He described his undergraduate years as difficult because he suffered from dyscalculia, which limited his ability to do simple math鈥攖hough he was a math major and had no problem with logic, complex variables and quantum mechanics. Zemel鈥檚 professor in geometric optics, William R. Fredrickson (who is named and honored in the gifted endowment), recognized his potential despite the challenges.

鈥淚t was Fredrickson鈥檚 decision to grant me a teaching assistantship in his remarkable course on the history of science and his approving my entrance to graduate school that I have never forgotten,鈥� Zemel shared in an with the College of Arts and Sciences. 鈥淚ndeed, that course on history has been one of my key intellectual enlightenments, as well as giving me the insight into teaching that should accompany highly technical courses.鈥�

鈥淎s a distinguished researcher and committed educator, Dr.听Zemel听saw the immense value of undergraduate participation in faculty-guided scholarly research,鈥� says Behzad Mortazavi, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. 鈥淭he benefits of undergraduate research are numerous, including helping students to apply their classroom knowledge and giving them valuable experience in working as part of a team.鈥� The Zemel Undergraduate Research Experience Endowed Fund will provide research stipends for students who are interested in pursuing research as a career, especially multidisciplinary research.

‘Learning by doing’

Zemel had a distinctive approach, blending teaching and research to create a 鈥渦nique learning environment,鈥� according to colleague and former mentee Jan Van der Spiegel, professor of electrical and systems engineering at Penn. 鈥淎t the undergraduate level, his teaching philosophy centered around the principle of 鈥榣earning by doing and making mistakes.鈥� Rather than dictating precise instructions, he encouraged students to explore potential solutions independently. While maintaining a hands-off approach, he remained a constant pillar of support, readily available with an open-door policy for students to seek guidance at any time.鈥�

Even when Zemel officially retired from his academic career directing Penn鈥檚 Center for Chemical Electronics/Sensor Technologies, he continued to mentor student researchers. 鈥淗e would get so jazzed when he saw a student putting things together,鈥� recalls Babette. She, like Zemel鈥檚 other children and several grandchildren, have become teachers and mentors. 鈥淢entoring is, by far, the most enriching and fulfilling thing that I do,鈥� says Babette. 鈥淵oung researchers need encouragement, a sympathetic ear, professional connections and guidance on how to secure funding during these challenging times.鈥�

Remembering his encouragement

The young researchers who worked with Zemel most remember his encouragement, empathy and warmth. 鈥淲orking for his group was the best thing I could have ever done,鈥� says Ashok Sood, president and CEO at Magnolia Optical Technologies. 鈥淗e was an amazing professor,鈥� Sood says of his thesis advisor. 鈥淚 also learned from him to always stay busy, to keep your neurons working!鈥�

Even into his 90s, Zemel challenged his neurons, continuing to analyze scientific data and contribute to meaningful research. He worked with daughter Babette鈥檚 colleagues at the Children鈥檚 Hospital of Pennsylvania to develop a device called the Neoneur that measures the flow of fluid through a nipple in a baby bottle to characterize infant sucking behavior and help parents and physicians determine if a baby was feeding properly. And just weeks before his death, recalls Babette, he solved the problem of how to manage wrapping his oxygen tubes around his ears, while wearing glasses and hearing aids.

Jennifer L. Ross, chair of physics in the College of Arts and Sciences, says Zemel鈥檚 gift is as inspiring as he was. 鈥淗is passion and generous gift will fuel the physics department鈥檚 dream of having all undergraduate physics majors get hands-on research experiences,鈥� says Ross. 鈥淭he experiential learning opportunities will expose our students to the wonders of the universe and create the scientists who will make amazing discoveries of the future.鈥�

That was clearly Zemel鈥檚 intent in setting up the endowment. Recalling that 黑料不打烊 physics opened the doors of discovery for him, Zemel wrote in a letter to the physics department: 鈥淵ou and your colleagues are part of a great tradition that I sincerely hope continues now and into the future.鈥� His estate gift ensures that the tradition continues.

About 黑料不打烊

黑料不打烊 is a private research university that advances knowledge across disciplines to drive breakthrough discoveries and breakout leadership. Our collection of 13 schools and colleges with over 200 customizable majors closes the gap between education and action, so students can take on the world. In and beyond the classroom, we connect people, perspectives and practices to solve interconnected challenges with interdisciplinary approaches. Together, we鈥檙e a powerful community that moves ideas, individuals and impact beyond what鈥檚 possible.

About Forever Orange: The Campaign for 黑料不打烊

Orange isn鈥檛 just our color. It鈥檚 our promise to leave the world better than we found it. Forever Orange: The Campaign for 黑料不打烊 is poised to do just that. Fueled by more than 150 years of fearless firsts, together we can enhance academic excellence, transform the student experience and expand unique opportunities for learning and growth. Forever Orange endeavors to raise $1.5 billion in philanthropic support, inspire 125,000 individual donors to participate in the campaign, and actively engage one in five alumni in the life of the University. Now is the time to show the world what Orange can do. Visit听听to learn more.

As a student in the (SCSD), she was chosen for a six-week summer program that allows high schoolers to work as paid interns in 黑料不打烊 physics labs. Kaputa wanted others to have the same positive research experience she had enjoyed, so, after her first year on campus, she returned to her former high school to recruit more students for the program.

The program that left an impression on was 黑料不打烊 Research in Physics (SURPh), which aims to inspire students to take up science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) studies and potentially pursue careers in those areas. About two dozen high schoolers have participated in the program over the past two years. They work on cutting-edge research in University physics labs alongside (A&S) faculty.

, professor and chair of physics, leads the program. Assisting her have been Henninger High School science teacher Melanie Pelcher, economics master鈥檚 student Devon Lamanna 鈥�23 and Yudaisy Salom贸n Sargent贸n, physics department operations specialist. Funding comes from the , the , A&S鈥檚 听and the听.

Undergraduate researcher Emma Kaputa studied biofilm growth in a biophysics lab the summer before entering college.

Working With Biofilms

The program was devised by , an SCSD alumnus who is now a dual physics and economics senior at 黑料不打烊. After joining Ross鈥� research lab, he recognized that other city school students might have the same dream to work in a science lab, while lacking a way to get a foot in that door. Together with Ross, he formulated the program as a way to facilitate the process.

Ruell Branch originated the idea to recruit high schoolers for research internships.

A grant recipient, Kaputa had already decided to attend 黑料不打烊 when she was selected for the internship. That first summer, she worked in assistant professor 鈥檚 exploring biofilms鈥攕limy clusters of bacteria that colonize surfaces. She enjoyed the experience so much that she remained in the lab throughout her first year on campus. Eventually, Kaputa accompanied Patteson, a member of the BioInspired Institute, to SCSD鈥檚 Nottingham High School to help recruit the next cohort of interns.

听鈥�I learned so much that first year鈥攕cience skills, poster presentations, networking. I benefitted a lot from the critical thinking that was required. It was fun to go back to the high school and encourage [my former classmates] to apply. I鈥檓 really glad to have had that door opened for me and I wanted to extend that to my classmates,鈥� Kaputa says.

A Published Scientist

Kaputa researched how bacteria colonize and spread on surfaces.

Patteson calls Kaputa 鈥渁 really bright and creative student who has made remarkable progress in our group.鈥澨� She says the program makes it possible for high schoolers to experience real science scholarship. The work Kaputa and her lab mates did鈥攃haracterizing the mechanical properties of colonies of bacteria鈥攚as in the American Chemical Society Journal, with Kaputa listed as a co-author.

Kaputa鈥檚 continuing work in the lab came with additional opportunities. She presented at the BioInspired Institute鈥檚 2023 annual symposium, winning the Most Social Impact award for her poster about the SURPh program. This semester, she will present about staining biofilms with fluorescence at the 鈥檚 annual meeting. She also mentored a new group of high school students in the biofilm lab.

Kaputa’s summary of the SURPh internship program won the “Most Social Impact” prize at the 2024 BioInspired Symposium.

Opening Doors

鈥淥ne of the program鈥檚 main goals is to open doors for people who might not otherwise get into science, so it was exciting for me to mentor other women in STEM,鈥� Kaputa says. 鈥淚 enjoyed being able to show them that there is a place for you here and that you can be successful here.”

How does someone majoring in environmental engineering become deeply involved in physics research?

鈥淭here is a lot of physics in engineering,鈥� Kaputa says. 鈥淚n the coming decades, being at the intersection of these fields will be critical to finding solutions to issues like climate change. I’m hopeful that having a background in multiple fields will give me a unique and useful perspective.听 It鈥檚 exciting to be at the forefront. Life sciences blended with math and physics-biophysics is everything I love.”

It鈥檚 important that the interns are compensated, Kaputa says. 鈥淭his being a paid position is a reason why someone might be able to do summer research. In some families, high schoolers are responsible for providing income, so they need to work over the summer. An unpaid role could be a huge barrier. Adding the paid internship element makes this a lot more accessible, and I think that鈥檚 amazing,鈥� she says.

Her advice for others contemplating a science lab internship at 黑料不打烊: 鈥淲hen opportunity knocks, answer. Put yourself out there and show up both physically and mentally. And when given the chance, remember to thank the community that helped get you there, and try to provide the same opportunity to others,” Kaputa says.

Marina Artuso

Physics Professor has been awarded a three-year National Science Foundation (NSF) grant for her project, . Her co-principal investigators on the project are professors Steven Blusk, Matthew Rudolph, Rafael Silva Coutinho, Tomasz Skwarnicki and research professor Raymond Mountain.

Endeavoring to answer the universe鈥檚 biggest questions can involve working with very exotic鈥攁nd incredibly tiny鈥攑articles. Specifically, in the case of the Large Hadron Collider 鈥渂鈥� (LHCb) at the CERN laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland, exotic subatomic particles containing beauty (鈥渂鈥�) quarks.

These quarks are one of six quark flavors that鈥攁long with gluons, which bind quarks together鈥攎ake up the hadrons that Artuso and her team observe in the laboratory. They roamed the universe freely only a very short time immediately after the Big Bang. And the way they behave and interact, what happens when they combine and after they decay, might just hold the answers to how the microworld works鈥攁nd ultimately how all the matter in our universe came to be.

Professor Artuso has been working with a multinational team at CERN since 2005, and she has been the 黑料不打烊 team leader since late 2021. Professors Artuso, Blusk, Rudolph, Silva Coutinho and Skwarnicki lead many complementary research efforts within the LHCb experiment, taking data at one of the four interaction points of the LHC proton-proton collider, a 17-kilometer-circumference tunnel in which proton beams are made to collide: The intense collisions produce concentrated energy that mimics the energy generated when the universe was first created.

They spent several years working to design and construct the Upstream Tracker (UT), a detector created to contribute to a precise imaging of the particle debris that results from these collisions; the current grant is going toward the development of an upgrade to the UT鈥攁n even more sensitive detector.

鈥淭he phenomena we are trying to discover are unfortunately very elusive,鈥� Artuso says. 鈥淲e can smash things with higher and higher energy, or become more sensitive, to [access] more data.鈥�

In layman鈥檚 terms, the detector to be upgraded, known as the electromagnetic calorimeter, will be improved to be able to differentiate between events that happen all at once, effectively on top of one another. 鈥淟ike with old cameras when you keep taking pictures,鈥� Artuso explains, 鈥渁nd you have different pictures superimposed on the same piece of film [producing a] blurred image. You can use the time at which the image occurred to try to disentangle the various pictures. [We are trying] to develop detectors which can disentangle the time at which different photons were produced.鈥�

Physics professor Marina Artuso inspects the first half of the detector in LHCb at the CERN Laboratory. (Courtesy of CERN)

It’s a long-term effort; the detectors Artuso and her team are working on now are expected to be installed in the mid-2030s. For this phase of the project, the grant provides funding for two graduate students; there are also opportunities for undergraduates, and this summer they鈥檙e hoping to generate some projects suitable for local high school students as well.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a very important component of [our] educational mission,鈥� Artuso says, 鈥渢o have [students] working with us. They are exposed to state-of-the-art research in physics 鈥� can connect what they are doing in class with what will happen in future, and can see machinery they would interact with if they go to work in the [electronics or semiconductor] industries. These are valuable skills.鈥�

While the full breadth of real-world implications and practicalities of the LHCb research remains to be seen, developing techniques for faster detectors and faster-processing electronics is a goal with countless applications in industry. As one example, 鈥淸when you have] faster processing in medical imaging, such as PET scans 鈥ou don鈥檛 have to [expose patients to] as much radiation.鈥� Advanced detectors are likely be useful in fields from biology to archeology.

Beyond those goals, however, Artuso makes the point that understanding the microworld is also a purely intellectual activity. It鈥檚 knowledge for its own sake. The LHCb experiment has so far published 700 papers and many more are in the pipeline 鈥攁nd every step reveals another layer of understanding.

鈥淚n the very origin of the universe,鈥� she says, 鈥渢here was a combination of matter and antimatter鈥攑articles which were equal except for their electric charge鈥攁nd they kept on disappearing into light and reappearing. But now the anti-particles are gone, and mostly we have matter. We don’t really understand how it happened. We are hoping to find some pieces of evidence that will allow us to develop a better theory.鈥�

Shining light on these and other mysteries of the universe is not fast work, she notes, but it pays to be patient.

Story by Laura Wallis听

Prof Quinn Qiao (third from left) with his research team (from left) Hansheng Li, Madan Bahadur Saud, Muhammad Bilal Faheem Sattar, Poojan Indrajeet Kaswekar and Yuchen Zhang

黑料不打烊 is a core partner in the , one of 10 inaugural Regional Innovation Engines created by the National Science Foundation (NSF).听The program was Monday by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, whose CHIPS and Science Act helped create the NSF Engines.

鈥淯p to $160 million is now on its way to supercharge Upstate New York as a booming battery research hub from 黑料不打烊 to Binghamton and beyond,鈥� Sen. Schumer says. 鈥淭hanks to my CHIPS and Science Law, Upstate New York will be the beating electric heart of federal efforts to help bring battery innovation and manufacturing back from overseas to spark the growth of this critical industry vital to America鈥檚 national and economic security. Whether it is Micron鈥檚 historic investment in Central New York or cutting-edge innovation in battery development, my CHIPS and Science Law has been the catalyst to supercharge a transformation in Upstate New York鈥檚 economy. Batteries are the building block for the next generation of technology鈥攆rom cell phones to electric vehicles鈥攁nd this esteemed award from the National Science Foundation shows that America鈥檚 top scientific minds believe Upstate New York universities and workforce are best-in-class for the scientific discovery and innovation to ensure this industry grows in America.鈥�

Led by Binghamton University and its New Energy New York coalition, the Upstate New York Energy Storage Engine will bring $15 million in federal funding over two years and up to $160 million over 10 years to support research and development in battery and energy storage technologies.

The goal, according to NSF, is to establish a 鈥渢ech-based, industry-driven hub for new battery componentry, safety testing and certification, pilot manufacturing, applications integration, workforce development and energy storage, including through material sourcing and recovery.鈥� It builds on the region鈥檚 historical strengths in battery innovation and manufacturing.

鈥満诹喜淮蜢� looks forward to collaborating with New Energy New York to further world-renowned research and development, address next-generation energy storage challenges and inspire the future innovators of this critical industry,鈥� says Vice President for Research .

At 黑料不打烊, the program lead is , professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the (ECS) and an expert in solid-state batteries. Qiao is the 黑料不打烊 site director for the Center of Solid-State Electric Power Storage, an NSF Industry-University Cooperative Research Center.

鈥淭he transportation sector produces the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Battery is a key component in electric vehicles, which will significantly reduce the amount of carbon emissions,鈥� Qiao says. 鈥淣SF Engines funding will address the entire battery technology value chain and facilitate new battery technologies for a green world by working on the three key areas including use-inspired battery research and development, technology translation and workforce development.鈥�

Professor Quinn Qiao works with his graduate students on testing new solid-state batteries.

Qiao will conduct use-inspired battery research and development and training activities, work with industry partners and collaborate with local economic development agencies and government. Leveraging the work of the Center of Solid-State Electric Power Storage, he will also work with faculty, graduate students and existing entrepreneurship programs for technology transfer and commercialization. Additionally, he will organize workshops and other training opportunities for students from primary to graduate school as well as local industry employees.

鈥淭he College of Engineering and Computer Science is dedicated to research that tackles the grand challenges facing our planet today: research that improves the human condition,鈥� says ECS Dean . 鈥淭he NSF Engines award speaks to the heart of our college鈥檚 mission by promoting the development of cleaner, safer and more affordable energy sources. This prestigious award will serve as a vital cornerstone as our college embarks on its 50% growth trajectory in the next five years.鈥�

In addition to Binghamton and 黑料不打烊, core partners include Rochester Institute of Technology, Cornell University, New York Battery and Energy Storage Technology Consortium, Launch NY and Charge CCCV.

John Trimmer (Photo by Alex Dunbar)

From the drylands of Kenya to the rainforests of Suriname, civil and environmental engineering professor John Trimmer in the has dedicated his career to making a difference. After a service-learning trip to Nicaragua, where he helped with construction projects, Trimmer was inspired to pursue humanitarian engineering and improve the well-being of others. With a core research focus on water systems, sanitation and resource recovery, he strives to promote sustainable living.

As an undergraduate at Bucknell University, Trimmer was able to work with a few non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In addition to his trip to Nicaragua, he collaborated with a Peace Corps volunteer in Suriname, South America, stationed in a remote village and working on a rainwater collection system. After graduation, Trimmer continued working with the Peace Corps and spent three years in Uganda working with an NGO that specialized in constructing water tanks, latrines, classrooms and other structures.

After completing a Ph.D., which included working in Uganda on innovative approaches to sanitation systems, Trimmer joined the Aquaya Institute on their mission to improve global health through safe water and sanitation access. His work at the Aquaya Institute largely focused on research and he found himself based in Nairobi, Kenya, interacting with pastoral communities in dry regions of the country.

Trimmer and Aquaya Institute colleagues at Nairobi National Park in Kenya. (Photo courtesy of Aquaya Institute)

鈥淭hough the communities were nomadic, it seemed like they were also looking to settle, and they were open to permanent infrastructure,鈥� Trimmer says. 鈥淚t was very qualitative.听We focused primarily on asking questions regarding their current water systems and what they do for sanitation. We also did interviews and discussion groups to understand what these communities wanted and needed.鈥�

While working with the Aquaya Institute, Trimmer also researched the effectiveness of a program that aimed to provide more durable infrastructure to vulnerable households in northern Ghana. Since unstable soil is an issue that impacts certain areas, they wanted to ensure the structures they built would last.

鈥淚f you dig a traditional pit latrine, it may collapse because the soil is unstable. Since the locals in the area didn鈥檛 have the means for a more durable structure, we were looking at different ways those systems could be supported financially,鈥� says Trimmer. 鈥淯NICEF funded the project so durable structures could be installed.鈥�

A completed rainwater tank in Uganda. (Photo courtesy of Aquaya Institute)

As Trimmer has traveled to different countries, he鈥檚 loved working with young researchers and found it rewarding to help them develop their skills and witness their growth. This passion for mentoring younger researchers would translate to his position as a 黑料不打烊 professor, giving him a chance to continue guiding and supporting students.

While teaching courses at the University, Trimmer plans to collaborate with NGOs he鈥檚 previously worked with on upcoming projects. He hopes to collaborate with colleagues to develop a platform that models sanitation systems to implement them as a teaching and research tool in the classroom. This will enable him to share the knowledge he鈥檚 gained from his humanitarian work and educate future researchers to do the same.

Their three-year research project, , offers new insights, recommendations and data supporting the practice of 鈥渞etrofitting鈥� older buildings. The team has demonstrated how updating interior and exterior building systems for increased energy efficiency and improved air quality can achieve 鈥溾€� energy use鈥攚here the energy a building harnesses is equal to or greater than the energy the building consumes. Retrofitting is an integral part of energy-use and carbon footprint reductions as well as lowering demolition waste and the building sector鈥檚 overall carbon impact, says , assistant professor at the and the project鈥檚 principal investigator.

Nina Wilson

鈥淲e expect to see wide application of our findings as the state and nation move forward in their efforts to fight climate change. Given the energy and carbon impact exerted by many thousands of retrofit-ready buildings just in New York state, it is important to keep delivering physical demonstration projects and data that enable the industry to better model and predict performance outcomes of retrofit approaches,” Wilson says.

New York State has set to combat climate change, committing $6.8 billion for projects to cut on-site energy consumption by 185 trillion BTUs by 2025, reach 70% renewably sourced electricity by 2030 and achieve a zero-emission electric grid by 2040.

The Net Zero project received a from the (NYSERDA), with an additional $200,000 from 黑料不打烊 as part of a commitment to its Climate Action Plan.

Two-Building Approach

Two identical residential apartment buildings built in 1972 on听 Winding Ridge Road on the University鈥檚 South Campus were used for the study. One was chosen for retrofitting and the other served as a 鈥渃ontrol鈥� to provide near-identical, non-retrofitted building data throughout the project.

Research began in 2021 with a building assessment to diagnose conditions like poor insulation, building envelope leakage and a lack of active ventilation and cooling systems. At the same time, sensor data, digital modeling, cost criteria and performance goals drove the design process. Construction of the retrofit was completed in the summer of 2022, followed by a year of post-occupancy energy and environmental data collection. That analysis compared the retrofitted building鈥檚 energy use to the non-retrofitted building to gauge the impact of the adjustments.

More Systems, Less Energy

The retrofit plan was initially modified due to cost issues during COVID-19, but because indoor thermal comfort and improved air quality remained as priorities, high-efficiency heat pumps and heat recovery ventilation systems were installed.

So far, Wilson says, the construction modifications have exceeded expectations, producing up to 80% reduction in energy use for heating and cooling, even with the addition of fresh air and cooling systems in place of the original electric baseboard heating. Data also shows significant improvements in indoor air quality through reductions in volatile organic compounds (VOCs), chemicals commonly found in indoor environments that can have long-lasting health effects.

Using holistic and interdisciplinary approaches have been important, given the research team鈥檚 expectation that this type of work will continue for decades, Wilson says. 鈥淲e pushed beyond the simple energy-use reduction goal to include occupant well-being and environmental quality considerations. That we were able to do that and still meet the energy target was an outcome that provided valuable lessons.鈥�

Interdisciplinary, Academic-Industrial Alliance

Faculty, staff and students from three University schools and colleges, the and the Office of Campus Planning, Design and Construction, plus industry experts and community business partners, participated in the project.

Bing Dong

, associate professor at the and a co-principal investigator, designed and managed building data-collection systems to measure indoor air quality, energy efficiency of the spaces and various ways occupant behavior (such as opening windows) affected energy use and indoor comfort levels. He used behavior models, building energy simulation and machine learning approaches in taking those measurements.

Bess Krietemeyer

associate professor and project co-principal investigator, led the design of an interactive, 3D exhibit showing how the 黑料不打烊 community would benefit from the energy savings and improved environmental quality, health and well-being advantages that deep-energy retrofits can provide. The exhibit demonstrates how retrofitting can improve thermal comfort for occupants while realizing cost savings on monthly energy bills and provide fresher air to breathe inside and out. Through interactive, dynamic features, the exhibit also locates residential buildings of all types鈥攆rom multifamily to single-family homes鈥攖o show where and how retrofits can support the health and vibrancy of all 黑料不打烊 neighborhoods.

Jason Dedrick

faculty members and , also co-principal听investigators, created a website that broadcasts live project data and summarizes research methods, plus an app that streams energy performance data directly to building occupants鈥� personal devices.

Jeff Hemsley

Students have been involved in hands-on learning opportunities during all project phases. They have evaluated data, created modeling, analyzed innovative technologies and materials, reviewed life cycle analysis tools that measure carbon impact, assessed energy-saving technologies and documented all aspects of the work.

Website, MOST Exhibit

The website illustrates all phases of the project鈥檚 three-year path, from the start of building identification in 2021 through data collection, design origination and development and construction phases.

Bess Krietemeyer, center, project co-principal investigator, discusses aspects of the 3-D exhibit she developed showing how retrofitted buildings throughout 黑料不打烊 could provide energy benefits. (Photo by Shengxuan Hector Yu.)

Through the interactive exhibit designed by Krietemeyer and Wilson, visitors can explore the impacts of deep-energy retrofits across residential communities in the 黑料不打烊 area. The exhibit was developed in collaboration with interactive artists and students in the School of Architecture.

The display uses 3D depth-sensing technologies, tracking and gesture-directed software and projection mapping onto a 3D-printed model of the to display the environmental, health and economic benefits that retrofits offer. It will be on display at the in 黑料不打烊 through the end of January.

At the Sept. 26, Guzman will take part in a panel discussion about the expansion of STEM at 黑料不打烊. 黑料不打烊 sat down with him to discuss his research, his future plans and how 黑料不打烊 nurtured his interest in the STEM fields.

The Direct Transfer Admission Program Agreement guarantees eligible OCC graduates admission to academic programs in 黑料不打烊鈥檚 , , and , where they can complete a bachelor鈥檚 degree in four semesters.

鈥満诹喜淮蜢� is proud to partner with Onondaga Community College to offer a new pathway to prepare students for emerging careers,鈥� says 黑料不打烊 Chancellor Kent Syverud. 鈥淭o fully take advantage of the economic opportunities developing in the region, we need a workforce with the training and knowledge to meet the needs of emerging industries. This new agreement makes it easier for learners from OCC to benefit from the outstanding educational opportunities available at 黑料不打烊 while building a ready workforce for the region鈥檚 employers.鈥�

鈥淲e鈥檙e honored to partner with 黑料不打烊 on this Direct Transfer Admission Program,鈥� says OCC President Warren Hilton. 鈥淎s the community鈥檚 college, we are committed to giving students access to higher education pathways, and ultimately the opportunity to enjoy rewarding careers at places like Micron鈥檚 new chip fabrication facility right here in Onondaga County. This agreement gives our students a clearly defined pathway to one of the top institutions in the country, and we are proud to collaborate with 黑料不打烊 for the betterment of our students and the Central New York region.鈥�

黑料不打烊 Vice Chancellor, Provost and Chief Academic Officer Gretchen Ritter says, 鈥淭his partnership reflects the University鈥檚 commitment not only to expanding academic excellence in STEM and other areas, but also to growing and strengthening our local community and embracing economic opportunities for our students and alumni.鈥�

Adds OCC Provost and Senior Vice President Anastasia Urtz: 鈥淲e appreciate the tireless work of our innovative faculty who have built more than 20 new programs in health and human services, STEM and advanced technologies, and the liberal arts. Our programs respond to local economic needs and prepare people for careers across New York state and around the world.鈥�

To be eligible for the program, OCC graduates must have earned a minimum GPA of 3.0. Those with GPAs of 3.25 or higher will be awarded a merit-based scholarship of at least $10,000.

Both OCC and 黑料不打烊 will establish advising guidelines and course transfer recommendations to support students in the program and ensure their ability to complete their degrees in a timely manner. The institutions will also work together to recruit students to the program from the 黑料不打烊 City School District and other regional schools.

While participants in the program may study a range of disciplines, an emphasis on pathways to STEM-related majors will serve to prepare students for careers at high-tech companies, including Micron Technology, which plans to build a $100 billion semiconductor fabrication facility in the 黑料不打烊 suburb of Clay. In this way, the program dovetails with OCC鈥檚 new associate degree in and related , as well as existing degrees in engineering science and liberal arts: mathematics and science.