Computational Modeling Searches for Efficient Energy Sources

Laura Gagliardi

Computational Modeling Searches for Efficient Energy Sources

Modeling chemical processes for renewable energies
Laura Gagliardi, University of Minnesota
Dr. Gagliardi's research has a large impact on society. However, what makes her research especially unique is her use of computational modeling which allows her to address risky chemical problems because she does not have to deal with safety or pollution issues. Therefore, she and her team can do a ...

Plants and Fungi Offer a Model for Innovative Pharmaceuticals

Claudia Schmidt-Dannert

Plants and Fungi Offer a Model for Innovative Pharmaceuticals

Unlocking nature's treasure trough for the discovery of novel pharmaceuticals
Claudia Schmidt-Dannert, University of Minnesota
At present, she and her team study and engineer the biosynthesis of isoprenoid compounds which represent the largest class of natural products with over 20,000 compounds described. These compounds have a wide range of biological functions and are receiving industrial and pharmaceutical interest as p ...

Theory and Experiments on Infectious Disease: How One Couple is Finding Creative Solutions

Lynda Delph, Curtis Lively

Theory and Experiments on Infectious Disease: How One Couple is Finding Creative Solutions

Investigations into how genetic diversity affects the spread of disease
Lynda Delph, Curtis Lively, Indiana University Bloomington
Using the plant, Silene latifolia, Dr. Delph looks at why males and females are so different from each other and why populations of this species also differ in many ways, including the extent to which they are infected by disease. Using a freshwater snail from New Zealand, Dr. Lively looks at why tw ...

Exploring Technological Means for Society's Challenges

Nelson Morgan

Exploring Technological Means for Society's Challenges

How technology may help in aspects ranging from politics to speech processing
Nelson Morgan, University of California, Berkeley
One thing that unifies each of Dr. Morgan's projects is the successful collaborations that make it possible to substantially improve working systems. In the UPSET project, he and his colleagues are approaching campaign finance issues through technology rather than via direct political means, thereby ...

Educational Dilemmas of Justice

Meira Levinson

Educational Dilemmas of Justice

Combining theory and practice to help support educators and policymakers
Meira Levinson, Harvard University
Harvard professor Meira Levinson aims to combine her academic training in political philosophy with her eight years' experience as an urban middle school teacher in Atlanta and Boston to support educators and policymakers who address such dilemmas in their daily work. Dr. Levinson's research helps e ...

The Melody of Memory

Petr Janata

The Melody of Memory

Supporting psychological well-being through music-evoked remembering
Petr Janata, University of California, Davis
Current research includes: Music-Evoked Memory: Music-evoked remembering is commonly cited as the strongest experience that people have with music and is a strong trigger of nostalgia. At a more fundamental level, Dr. Janata's research is expanding laboratory research on autobiographical memory. ...

Manipulating DNA

Kevin Dorfman

Manipulating DNA

Engineering from theory to application
Kevin Dorfman, University of Minnesota
Although he has a reputation in the scientific community for the physics of new genome mapping technologies, Dr. Dorfman's research is multifaceted as he works in theory, simulation, and application on a variety of different projects. On the experimental side, he likes to make microfluidic and nanof ...

Learning How We Learn

Katherine Rawson

Learning How We Learn

Identifying learning techniques that will enhance student achievement
Katherine Rawson, Kent State University
Dr. Rawson's research is helping to improve education based on empirical, scientific research about what works. Furthermore, by better understanding what educators can offer students in order for them to learn more effectively and efficiently, Dr. Rawson's research has broad applicability for a wide ...

Capturing Meaning: How Information Can Be Expressed Without Being Said

Marie-Catherine de Marneffe

Capturing Meaning: How Information Can Be Expressed Without Being Said

Developing systems to make sense of the vast amount of information available
Marie-Catherine de Marneffe, Ohio State University
Advances achieved by Dr. de Marneffe's research have the promise of incredible impacts for language technologies. In the current era of ever growing information, having automatic systems that understand the nuances behind speech would benefit information analysts by allowing them to organize and sif ...

Relieving Anxiety

Michael Telch

Relieving Anxiety

Investigating the causes and cures of PTSD, anxiety, and phobias
Michael Telch, The University of Texas at Austin
Making Progress in Developing New Treatment for Anxiety Sufferers Over the past 40 years, research on developing new psychotherapies for the treatment of PTSD and other anxiety-related disorders has largely proceeded without consideration of how the brain "learns" or of the factors that enhance t ...

Exploring Brain Rhythms

Laura Colgin

Exploring Brain Rhythms

Studying gamma rhythms and their effect on psychiatric disorders and memory
Laura Colgin, The University of Texas at Austin
Current research projects in her lab include: While studying mice that have been genetically engineered to express Alzheimer's disease pathology, Dr. Colgin's team found decreases in gamma rhythms and impairments in memory. The lab is currently employing various brain stimulation techniques ...

Improving Transportation

Steve Boyles

Improving Transportation

Modeling solutions through various system networks to improve transportation
Steve Boyles, The University of Texas at Austin
Dr. Stephen Boyles, Assistant Professor of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin is studying transportation systems--how people travel (driving, public transit, cycling, walking) from one point to another--and attacking it from an overarching, genera ...

Nuclear Energy Without Nuclear Waste

Gerald Kulcinski

Nuclear Energy Without Nuclear Waste

Creating powerful, clean, and safe energy sources for our future
Gerald Kulcinski, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Dr. Kulcinski's lab is the only known lab in the US, and possibly the world, that studies fusion energy from helium-3 fuels that releases little or no by-product neutrons. By studying low neutron and neutron-less fusion fuels, Dr. Kulcinski is able to produce nuclear energy with no proliferation ris ...

Thinking Like Microorganisms

Bruce Rittmann

Thinking Like Microorganisms

Work for microorganisms so they do the work for us
Bruce Rittmann, Arizona State University
To understand the microbial communities, Dr. Rittmann and his team use an amazing set of skills from a multitude of disciplines, including chemical, environmental, and electrical engineering; microbiology, biochemistry, and ecology; biogeochemisty; organic and inorganic chemistry; mathematical model ...

Empowering Adaptation to Global Change

Stuart Chapin

Empowering Adaptation to Global Change

How fostering self-reliance reduces community dependence on external assistance in Alaska and globally
Stuart Chapin, University of Alaska Fairbanks
The environmental, economic, and social challenges faced by communities in rural Alaska are broadly similar to issues faced by developing nations throughout the world except that Alaska has the financial resources to solve these problems if cost-effective pathways toward self-reliance can be defined ...

Encouraging Positive Human Behavior

Ayelet Gneezy

Encouraging Positive Human Behavior

Tackling society's ills by learning why we behave the way we do
Ayelet Gneezy, University of California, San Diego
Dr. Gneezy has found that although equipped with the best intentions, charitable organizations and nonprofits often time launch programs that do not take into consideration the human factor--discovering why people behave as they do and what are the barriers for changing those behaviors. ...

Restoring Forests, Improving Quality of Life

Blair Hedges

Restoring Forests, Improving Quality of Life

Saving Haiti's environment and biodiversity
Blair Hedges, Temple University of the Commonwealth
Most of the world's biodiversity, which includes animals, plants, fungi, and microbes, originally blanketed the Earth's land surface. The removal of forests has not only threatened the survival of species on land, but it has caused soils to wash out to oceans, killing coral reefs and fishes. In turn ...

Manipulating Movement

Roger Enoka

Manipulating Movement

Understanding the neurobiology that dictates our muscular function
Roger Enoka, University of Colorado, Boulder
Much like powering a home, the human body has a series of circuits and connections that help to initiate movements as complex as those necessary for being an elite athlete and as simple as brushing your teeth each night. It is no mystery that as we age and encounter disease, movement decreases. Howe ...

A Supplement May Relieve Symptoms of Alzheimer's

Chris Batich

A Supplement May Relieve Symptoms of Alzheimer's

A clinical study may prove to find an effective disease modifying treatment for Alzheimer's
Chris Batich, University of Florida
In the medical community, it is believed that there are likely several causes for such diseases, and addressing them in concert will probably be the best way to treat them in the future. This model is often explained as a cup being filled with a variety of different contributing causes. At some poin ...

Powering Sustainable Energy Sources

Carlo Segre

Powering Sustainable Energy Sources

Using x-rays to learn how the structure of materials affects their properties
Carlo Segre, Illinois Institute of Technology
As the Director of Illinois Tech's Center for Synchrotron Research and the Materials Research Collaborative Access Team (MRCAT), Dr. Segre manages the operation of an experimental facility for materials research that leads the nation. His team has access to one of the premiere x-ray sources in the w ...

A Cooler Approach to Quantum Matter

David Weld

A Cooler Approach to Quantum Matter

Exploring the behavior of exotic quantum materials to enable future technologies
David Weld, University of California, Santa Barbara
Dr. Weld's lab aims to revolutionize our understanding of quantum materials using an experimental technique called "quantum simulation". The basic idea is to use ultracold atoms to build tunable quantum systems with which to mimic the behavior of exotic materials. The overarching goal is a better un ...

Individualizing Big Data

Deborah Estrin

Individualizing Big Data

How Small Data Footprints will Transform our World
Deborah Estrin, Cornell University
The Small Data Lab at Cornell Tech explores the systems, data, and human-computer interaction challenges around small data. How to design applications and services that interweave and make sense of multiple, diverse, noisy data-streams? How to enable apps that do not require us to warehouse every si ...

Building Biologically Inspired Robots

Noah Cowan

Building Biologically Inspired Robots

Drawing inspiration and understanding from animal movement and translating this into fluid movement in robotics
Noah Cowan, Johns Hopkins University
By designing new engineering approaches for gathering data on natural motor control systems, Dr. Cowan applies biological discovery to confer robust, stable movement to robotic systems. He trains his students in both robotics and biology, enabling them to readily translate their biological discoveri ...

Hidden in a Combinatorial Web: Using Statistical & Information-Theoretic Tools to Find Connections

Pradeep Ravikumar

Hidden in a Combinatorial Web: Using Statistical & Information-Theoretic Tools to Find Connections

Inferring dependencies and associations to create algorithms that learn from experience
Pradeep Ravikumar, The University of Texas at Austin
Dr. Pradeep Ravikumar of the University of Texas, is working to elucidate the underlying mathematical and information-theoretic mechanisms by which we can learn such dependencies, associations, and connections among not just a few variables, but on a "big data" scale. He and his team, with a groundi ...

Investigating Molecular Structures

Jochen Autschbach

Investigating Molecular Structures

Using theoretical chemistry to investigate molecular structures and chemical bonding, and how they relate to the desired functionality of a synthesized molecule
Jochen Autschbach, University at Buffalo, SUNY
Dr. Jochen Autschbach, Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Buffalo, State University of New York, is working with quantum theory, which predicts accurately what electrons and atomic nuclei do in molecules. He is predicting optical and "spectroscopic" properties of molecules ...