Biomedical Engineering
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide, yet its death rate is decreasing because of advancements in early detection. Although current imaging systems like mammograms, ult…
Mathematics
Understanding whether selfish or altruistic behavior benefits an individual more remains challenging using traditional approaches like studying human samples. The prisoner's dilemma, a game…
Biomedical and Health Sciences
Iron-sulfur (Fe-S) clusters are cell-essential cofactors present in roughly 60 proteins, including DNA polymerases, subunits of oxidative phosphorylation complexes, and iron-sensing proteins…
Cellular and Molecular Biology
Neurogenesis during early embryonic development is a highly regulated, transcriptional process that establishes the framework for the vertebrate central nervous system (CNS). The QSER1 gene…
Cellular and Molecular Biology
Central nervous system (CNS) diseases such as Alzheimer's, epilepsy, and stroke affect over 1 billion people globally, and dysregulated astrocytic calcium signaling can drive these pathologi…
Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design
Hydrogel polymer electrolytes (HPEs) have gained considerable popularity in energy storage. Hydrogels are hydrophilic polymeric networks that can be extended multi-dimensionally via cross-li…
Physics and Astronomy
NASA aims to send humans to Mars by the 2030s-2040s. A leading scientific goal will be the search for signs of indigenous life, past or present, which if found, would have major implications…
Behavioral and Social Sciences
Geriatric populations living with Alzheimer’s disease often experience low mood levels that can exacerbate their symptoms and shorten their life spans. The most common treatments for these l…
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Coronal Mass Ejections alter space weather, causing geomagnetic storms, atmospheric density disruptions, and ionospheric turbulence, damaging over 2 trillion dollars of satellites and power…
Biomedical Engineering
Robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery (RAMIS) was used in millions of procedures in 2024. Despite its widespread use, it overwhelmingly lacks force sensing. Few systems offer this feat…
Microbiology
One of the most important steps in the overall workflow of manufacturing a drug is ensuring that the mice in which the drug is tested are healthy; unhealthy or sick mice will provide inaccur…
Earth and Environmental Sciences
The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a significant climate phenomenon with far-reaching impacts on global weather patterns, ecosystems, and economies. This study aims to enhance ENSO f…
Environmental Engineering
Oil spills pose serious threats to marine ecosystems, disrupting biodiversity and causing widespread environmental and economic damage. Conventional cleanup techniques—such as booms, skimmer…
Physics and Astronomy
The extreme nature and strong gravity of black holes make them a great laboratory for testing our fundamental theories of the universe. We can not see black holes because their gravity is so…
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Fourth Award
The ability to visualize cell behavior within the 3-dimensional space of a tissue is invaluable for understanding cell function. Although open-source and professional software exist to analy…
Systems Software
Third Award
Language workbenches and product lines allow users to customize programming languages by providing a framework for the creation of Domain Specific Languages (DSLs). They allow for quicker la…
Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Vision is a critical mode of perception that guides behavioral responses in many organisms. It is loosely grouped into two stages, sensing by photoreceptors and processing, further divided i…
Earth and Environmental Sciences
Fourth Award
Plastic pollution, with an annual human ingestion rate of approximately 1.38 million grams/per year, requires sustainable alternatives. The development of biodegradable bioplastics from alga…
Cellular and Molecular Biology
MicroRNAs (miRNA) are an emerging class of non-coding RNA that enable post-transcriptional regulation through repression and degradation of target mRNA. Dysregulation of miRNAs has been asso…
Physics and Astronomy
Within a circular particle accelerator, maintaining the stability of the beams in the machine is of utmost importance. To ensure this stability, the chromaticity of the beam, which describes…
Robotics and Intelligent Machines
Machine learning is a rapidly growing field, making incredible advances especially in the subfields of computer vision and image classification. These advances are in part what allow for inn…
Engineering Technology: Statics & Dynamics
Third Award
Flow control offers an appealing method to improve efficiency, stability, and performance of aerodynamic bodies. Jet Assisted Surface Mounted Actuators (JASMAs), a form of hybrid (active and…
Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design
With the advent of stretchable electronics, including implantable medical devices and portable electronics, there is a strong desire to develop thin, flexible batteries for these application…
Biochemistry
First Award
A hallmark of cancer is the rewiring of cellular metabolism to meet proliferative needs. Citrin protein (transcribed from the human SLC25A13 gene) is a mitochondrial carrier involved in the…
Biochemistry
Platelets play a vital role in hemostasis, a critical physiological response to prevent bleeding from vascular injury. Activated platelets can be divided into two distinct subpopulations: pr…
Translational Medical Science
Bladder cancer is the fourth most common cancer among men, affecting more than 80,000 people in the United States every year. Cisplatin, a chemotherapy agent, is employed in the standard-of-…
Behavioral and Social Sciences
Over 1.8 billion people play video games worldwide, with an estimated 201.2 million active members of the eSports community. The eSports domain has continued shifting into the mainstream and…
Cellular and Molecular Biology
Second Award
Age-related metabolic disorders often result from the dysfunction in adipose tissue, which is responsible for energy storage and mobilization. Formation of the adipose tissue or adipogenesis…
Environmental Engineering
Estuarine ecosystems such as Washington's Puget Sound are especially vulnerable to the impacts of anthropogenic pollution. Increased concentrations of carbon dioxide and nitrate—termed acidi…
Cellular and Molecular Biology
Targeted peptide cancer therapies which are less toxic compared to synthetic chemotherapies,is a research field of growing interest.Cell surface receptors Integrin-avß3(avß3),which recognize…