Scientists Find Elusive Gas From Post-starburst Galaxies Hiding in Plain Sight

Post-starburst galaxies were previously thought to scatter all of their gas and dust—the fuel required for creating new stars—in violent bursts of energy, and with extraordinary speed. Now, new data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) reveals that these galaxies don’t scatter all of their star-forming fuel after all. Instead, after their supposed end, these dormant galaxies hold onto and compress large amounts of highly-concentrated, turbulent gas. But contrary to expectation, they’re not using it to form stars.

PSC and Partners to Lead $7.5-Million Project to Allocate Access on NSF Supercomputers

The NSF has awarded $7.5 million over five years to the RAMPS project, a next-generation system for awarding computing time in the NSF’s network of supercomputers. RAMPS is led by the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center and involves partner institutions in Colorado and Illinois.

Matt Ajemian, Ph.D., Receives Prestigious NSF CAREER Award

Matt Ajemian, Ph.D., has received a $1,103,081 NSF CAREER grant for a project that will build fundamental knowledge on where and when large shell-crushing predators feed in order to ensure a sustainable future for shellfish species. Further, the work can provide guidance to shellfish restoration programs that are currently “flying blind” with respect to predation risk.

Engineering Researchers Receive $1 Million NSF Grant for First Networked-AI Testbed

Just like humans, autonomous robots need to communicate with one another to learn together and to accomplish a team mission such as search and rescue. Researchers are developing the nation’s first-of-its-kind testbed platform that connects robots using high-frequency radio waves (30 to 300 gigahertz). The robots will be able communicate at ultra-high speeds of gigabits per second by forming and directing ‘beams’ toward each other that also will enable them to see through objects as needed. They will see what the other robots are sensing in real-time, resulting in five times the eyes thanks to the nearly instantaneous exchange of high volumes of data.

NSF funds UCI project to boost STEM degree success for underrepresented students

The National Science Foundation has awarded almost $3 million over a five-year period to The Institute for Meaningful Engagement at the University of California, Irvine. This new education project will explore the environmental factors prompting underrepresented students to leave science, technology, engineering and math programs and investigate how faculty can foster better classroom cultures to retain them. A multidisciplinary leadership team will partner with the deans of UCI’s six STEM schools to accomplish this.

UCI researcher gets NSF-backed grant to study wildfires’ effects on farmworkers

Michael Méndez of the University of California, Irvine has received a two-year, $400,000 grant from the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s Early Career Faculty Innovator Program. It will fund a joint project with researchers at NCAR – which is sponsored by the National Science Foundation – exploring the disparate treatment of undocumented Latino/Latina and Indigenous migrant farmworkers during extreme wildfire events in Sonoma County.

Rutgers to Lead Regional Large-Scale Coastlines and People Megalopolitan Coastal Transformation Hub with Nearly $20M from National Science Foundation

Advancing its mission and leadership role to improve climate risk management critical to societal well-being, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey will lead a multi-university Megalopolitan Coastal Transformation Hub (MACH) made possible by a grant through the National Science Foundation’s Coastlines and People (CoPe) Program with expected total funding of $19.9+ million over the next five years.

Rutgers to Expand Entrepreneurship Training Programs for Researchers as Partner in New NSF I-Corps™ Hub: Northeast Region

As a key player in developing and transforming innovators into entrepreneurs that improve people’s lives, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey will expand its entrepreneurship training programming and further equip faculty and student researchers with the skills and strategy needed to transition their discoveries into technologies and products, as a partner in the newly created NSF I-Corps™ Hub: Northeast Region.

New $3 million National Science Foundation center aims to connect materials data science research to industry

Case Western Reserve University and the University of Pittsburgh will launch a joint center this fall that uses cutting edge data-science and materials research to help companies make more reliable and durable products.

The Center for Materials Data Science for Reliability and Degradation (MDS-Rely) is a $3 million center supported by a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) .

UCI receives record $592 million in research funding for fiscal 2020-21

Irvine, Calif., Aug. 2, 2021 — From cutting-edge research for advancing precision medicine to an innovative new effort for improving public water infrastructure to increase conservation, University of California, Irvine scholars, scientists and physicians are blazing new paths to help change the world. And their impact keeps growing.

Cosmic cartographers map the nearby Universe revealing the diversity of star-forming galaxies

A team of astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has completed the first census of molecular clouds in the nearby Universe. The study produced the first images of nearby galaxies with the same sharpness and quality as optical imaging and revealed that stellar nurseries do not all look and act the same. In fact, they’re as diverse as the people, homes, neighborhoods, and regions that make up our own world.

Critical solar observations from NSF’s GONG network now maintained by NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center

Recently, NSF’s NSO successfully transitioned the processing of these important observations of the Sun’s magnetic field and lower atmosphere to the operational control of NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), a move that will ensure reliable delivery of the data to the NOAA’s space weather forecasters who are the nation’s official civilian source for space weather watches, warnings, alerts, and forecasts.

$500,000 grant funds creation of institute to advance AI for materials science

Funds from an NSF $500,000 grant will be used to bring together an interdisciplinary team of researchers with complementary expertise in artificial intelligence (AI) and material science to lay the groundwork for an AI-Enabled Materials Discovery, Design, and Synthesis (AIMS) Institute.

UCI scientists measure local vibrational modes at individual crystalline faults

Irvine, Calif., Jan. 11, 2021 – Often admired for their flawless appearance to the naked eye, crystals can have defects at the nanometer scale, and these imperfections may affect the thermal and heat transport properties of crystalline materials used in a variety of high-technology devices. Employing newly developed electron microscopy techniques, researchers at the University of California, Irvine and other institutions have, for the first time, measured the spectra of phonons – quantum mechanical vibrations in a lattice – at individual crystalline faults, and they discovered the propagation of phonons near the flaws.

UCI researchers use deep learning to identify gene regulation at single-cell level

Irvine, Calif., Jan. 5, 2021 — Scientists at the University of California, Irvine have developed a new deep-learning framework that predicts gene regulation at the single-cell level. Deep learning, a family of machine-learning methods based on artificial neural networks, has revolutionized applications such as image interpretation, natural language processing and autonomous driving.

NSF’s Inouye Solar Telescope Releases First Image of a Sunspot

The U.S. NSF’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope just released its first image of a sunspot. The telescope’s four-meter primary mirror will give the best views of the Sun from Earth throughout the next solar cycle. This image is an indication of the telescope’s advanced optics. The image is released along with the first of a series of Inouye-related articles featured in the Solar Physics Journal.

Researcher gets National Science Foundation grant to study hidden messages in digital images

For more than 25 years, Binghamton University’s Jessica Fridrich has studied digital-image steganography — the science of hiding messages inside ordinary-looking photos. Just as technology has evolved and become more sophisticated, so have the methods to share secrets — and a recent $768,964 grant from the National Science Foundation will help Fridrich stay ahead of the curve.

NSF Grant Funds Research to Help Better Manage Water Resources

A collaborative research project with scientists from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF), and Syracuse University will identify options for more effectively managing water resources in semi-arid areas impacted by climate change. The project is funded with a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant for nearly $550,000.

UCI, others see agriculture as major source of increase in atmospheric nitrous oxide

Irvine, Calif., Oct. 8, 2020­ – An international team of researchers – including Earth system scientists at the University of California, Irvine – recently completed the most thorough review yet of nitrous oxide from emission to destruction in the planet’s atmosphere. In addition to confirming that the 20 percent increase in the amount of the greenhouse gas since the start of the Industrial Revolution can be totally attributed to humans, the team expressed doubt about the ability to reduce emissions or mitigate their future impacts.

Power Player: Engineering professor researches how to keep America’s lights on

Ning Zhou from Binghamton University, State University of New York received a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award to provide a 21st-century vision for power systems.

Study links rising stress, depression in U.S. to pandemic-related losses, media consumption

Irvine, Calif., Sept. 18, 2020 – Experiencing multiple stressors triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic – such as unemployment – and COVID-19-related media consumption are directly linked to rising acute stress and depressive symptoms across the U.S., according to a groundbreaking University of California, Irvine study. The report appears in Science Advances, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

UAH professors get $500,000 NSF grant to better protect privacy of solid-state drive data

The National Science Foundation has awarded a pair of professors at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of the University of Alabama System, a nearly $500,000, three-year grant to develop a better way to wipe data from the solid-state drives (SSDs).

New NSF Physics Frontier Center Will Focus on Neutron Star Modeling in ‘Gravitational Wave Era’

A new Physics Frontier Center at UC Berkeley, supported by the National Science Foundation, expands the reach and depth of existing capabilities on campus and at neighboring Berkeley Lab in modeling one of the most violent events in the universe: the merger of neutron stars and its explosive aftermath.

UCI receives record $529 million in research funding for fiscal 2019-20

Irvine, Calif., July 20, 2020 — From cutting-edge research and clinical trials focused on cancer care to creating a new center devoted to protecting personal data privacy, University of California, Irvine scholars, scientists and physicians are blazing new paths to help change the world. And their impact keeps growing. In fiscal 2019-20, which ended June 30, UCI researchers received the most funding in campus history: $529 million in grants and contracts.

NSF grants $18 million to UCI for materials science and engineering center

Irvine, Calif., July 14, 2020 – The National Science Foundation has awarded $18 million to the University of California, Irvine in support of a new materials research science and engineering center. UCI is one of three MRSECs newly funded by the NSF in 2020, joining 16 other existing centers at leading research institutions in the United States.

UCI researchers use campus as test bed for coronavirus contact tracing system

Irvine, Calif., July 8, 2020 – Who among us does not value a good, reliable Wi-Fi signal? For researchers at the University of California, Irvine, that appreciation goes further: They want to use the campus’s connectivity to help combat the spread of COVID-19. A team in UCI’s Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences recently received a rapid funding award from the National Science Foundation to explore the deployment of the university’s wireless network as part of a coronavirus contact tracing application.

$345K NSF grant to fund research to modify paper electronics to make them stretchable

A three-year, $345,000 grant from the National Science Foundation will fund research at Binghamton University, State University of New York that seeks to modify paper’s mechanical properties while still retaining its advantages.

Plasma science report co-chaired by UAH astrophysicist urges better federal agency coordination

Federal agencies should better coordinate their activities in plasma science and engineering (PSE) and jointly support new funding opportunities that take advantage of PSE’s overlaps with different science disciplines, according to a decadal report by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

Biomedical engineers to test ultraviolet light’s ability to kill coronavirus

The idea of UV sterilization is not a new one, but little or no scientific data about its potency against COVID-19 have been collected, until now. Thanks to a one-year, $182,728 grant from the National Science Foundation, researchers at Binghamton University, State University of New York are beginning to test UV’s effectiveness.

Research takes aim at social tool for fighting COVID-19

The social distancing of COVID-19 might have its own long-term effects; a Bowling Green State University team of sociologists — Drs. Peggy Giordano, Monica Longmore and Wendy Manning — received a National Science Foundation grant to conduct research on social distancing and what factors might influence individuals’ levels of compliance.

California’s strict air quality regulations help farmers prosper, UCI-led study finds

Irvine, Calif., March 16, 2020 – Farmers in California’s Central Valley are not known for their love of government regulations, but those same growers have seen a boost in the productivity of their high-value crops – and greater earnings – as a result of the Golden State’s strict air pollution controls. For a study published today in Nature Food, researchers at the University of California, Irvine and other institutions conducted a statistical analysis of pollution exposure and yields from 1980 to 2015 on a key sector making up about 38 percent of the state’s total agricultural output: perennial crops such as almonds, grapes, nectarines, peaches, strawberries and walnuts.