Research NewsletterIssue: ORN-2024-10

2024 NJIT Research Institutes, Centers & Laboratory Showcase

and

National Academy of Inventors (NAI)-NJIT Forum on Sustainable Societies: Advances in Material Science & Engineering

March 21, 2024; 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.; Ballroom A/B, Campus Center, NJIT

Faculty, Students and Post-Docs are requested to join and register using the

2024 NJIT Research Showcase and NAI-NJIT Forum Registration Form.

Registration Deadline: March 14, 2024

The Office of Research hosts the NJIT Research Institutes, Centers and Labs (ICL) Showcase annually.  This year, the 2024 NJIT Research Institutes, Centers and Labs Showcase and the National Academy of Inventor (NAI)-NJIT Forum on Sustainable Societies: Advances in Material Science and Engineering will be held on March 21 from 9:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Ballroom A/B of the Campus Center.  Dr. Pradeep Fulay, Program Director, Accelerating Research Translation (ART), NSF and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Pittsburgh will give the Distinguished Keynote talk to start the forum and showcase.

NAI-NJIT Forum Abstract: Innovations in material science and engineering are fueling vital advances in diverse sectors, including healthcare, the environment, energy, infrastructure, computing and cyber-communications. Novel building materials that make us more energy-efficient and nanomodified, more sustainable concretes and infrastructure that enhance environmental resilience, for example, are emerging as important tools to manage climate change. Innovations that gave rise to smart implants, medical devices and sensors, and lab-on-a-chip technologies are revolutionizing health care. As we look to the future, quantum materials, plasma and energetic materials that can transform into other states of matter will potentially spur new, innovative technologies for a more sustainable world with precision healthcare, fusion energy, and secure data communication and advanced computing for artificial intelligence applications. To accomplish these technology innovation and translation goals, researchers will need to form transdisciplinary partnerships with collaborators in academia, industry and policy circles. This forum will bring these groups together to discuss new ideas, assets and capabilities and ways to share them most productively. It will also showcase select institutes, centers and labs in the broad spectrum of material science and engineering from leading universities in the region.

The event will feature:

• A Distinguished Keynote Talk by Pradeep Fulay, Program Director, Accelerating Research Translation (ART), National Science Foundation and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Pittsburgh
• A Distinguished Panel Discussion on Material Science and Engineering Research for Technology Innovations Towards Addressing Global Challenges
• A Distinguished Student Panel Session on Translational Research in Material Science and Engineering
• e-Poster sessions on ongoing research at institutes, centers and specialized laboratories from leading universities in the region. The showcase will provide an open forum to discuss pathways for developing synergistic technology innovation partnerships involving material science and engineering.

Program Agenda

9.00 AM – 9.30 AM:       Registration, Breakfast and Electronic PPT Poster Set-up

9.30 AM – 9.40 AM:       Welcome Remarks:

                                         Atam Dhawan, Senior Vice Provost for Research, NJIT

                                        Teik Lim, President, NJIT

9.40 AM – 9.45 AM:       Program Agenda and Introduction to the Distinguished Speaker

                                         Atam Dhawan, Senior Vice Provost for Research, NJIT

9.45 AM – 10.20 AM:  Distinguished Keynote Presentation: Pradeep Fulay, Program Director, Accelerating Research Translation (ART), NSF and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Pittsburgh

10.20 AM – 11.30 AM:   Distinguished Panel Discussion: Trends in Translational Research and Innovations in Material Science and Engineering

                                  Judith Sheft, Executive Director, NJ CSIT

                                 Emily A. Carter, Senior Strategic Advisor and Associate Laboratory Director for Applied Materials and Sustainability Sciences, Office of the Director, Princeton Plasma Physics Lab

                                Deirdre O'Carroll, Associate Professor & Graduate Program Director, Materials Science and Engineering, Rutgers University

                                Edward Dreizin, Director, Center for Energetics Materials, Distinguished Professor, Chemical & Materials Engineering, Associate Chair for Graduate Studies, NJIT

                                Govi Rao, Chief Executive Officer, Phase Change Solutions

11.30 AM – 12.30 PM:   Distinguished Student Panel Session: Applied and Translational Research in Material Science and Engineering – Student Perspective

12.30 PM – 1.00 PM:      Lunch and Networking

1.00 PM – 3.00 PM:        NJIT-Rutgers-Princeton-Rowan-Stevens Centers and Laboratories Showcase in Material Science and Engineering: Networking and Electronic Poster Session

2.45 PM – 3.00 PM:        Concluding Remarks

NJIT will publish a booklet with summary descriptions of the NJIT research institutes, centers and labs similar to those published in the past and posted on the website: https://centers.njit.edu/research-publications.  

Please direct any questions to Kathy at kbosco@njit.edu.   

____________________________________

Simons Foundation Now Accepting Applications for 2025 Class of Pivot Fellows

The Simons Foundation and Simons Foundation International are now accepting applications for the next class of Pivot Fellows. The program provides funding for today’s brightest minds to apply their talent and expertise to a new field in mathematics or the natural sciences.

Pivot Fellows receive support for one year of mentored training in their new discipline, followed by the opportunity to apply for up to three years of research funding in their new field. Successful applicants will have a strong track record of success and achievement in their current field and a deep interest, curiosity and drive to contribute to a new discipline.

The most recent class of fellows includes a theoretical physicist transitioning to working on deep learning problems in AI, a materials scientist applying her skills to bioengineering and a marine biologist switching her focus from animals to plants, soils and microorganisms.

The program is open to faculty in the natural sciences, mathematics, engineering, data science and computer science at academic institutions or equivalent positions elsewhere. The fellowships provide salary support and research, travel and professional development funding. In addition, mentors will receive a $50,000 research fund. At the end of the fellowship year, fellows will be invited to apply for a research award in the new field for up to $1.5 million over three years.

The fellowships will be funded by the Simons Foundation and Simons Foundation International and administered by the Simons Foundation.

The deadline for submissions is May 15. For more information and to apply, visit the program’s web page.

NSF: NSF Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE): Approaches to Research & Development Strategic Visioning (RDSV); Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Enriching Learning, Programs, and Student Experiences; Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems (POSE); Ideas Lab: Use-Inspired Acceleration of Protein Design; Next Era of Wireless and Spectrum; Plant Genome Research Program; Division of Integrative Organismal Systems Core Programs; Ideas Lab: Breaking the Low Latency Barrier for Verticals in Next-G Wireless Networks; Developmental Sciences; Division of Environmental Biology; Multi-Messenger Coordination for Windows on the Universe; ACED: Accelerating Computing-Enabled Scientific Discovery

NIH: Institutional Translational Research Training Program (T32); NIDCD Early Career Research(ECR) Award (R21)

Department of Defense/US Army/DARPA/ONR: Expeditionary Carbon Utilization for energy Resilience and Stabilization (ExCURSion); NRL Long Range Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for Basic and Applied Research; FY25 Department of Defense Multidisciplinary Research Program of the University Research Initiative (MURI)

Department of Commerce/EDA:  FY2024 CHIPS R&D National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program (NAPMP) Materials & Substrates; Climate Program Office (CPO) Adaptation Sciences Program FY2024

Department of Energy: STEWARDSHIP SCIENCE ACADEMIC ALLIANCES PROGRAM; Research on General Plasma Science Collaborative Research Facilities; Flexible and Innovative Transformer Technologies (FITT); Advancements in Artificial Intelligence for Science; Fiscal Year 2024 Technology Integration (TI) Funding Opportunity Announcement

NASA: ROSES - 2024: Early Career Investigator Program and Other Solicitations

National Endowment of Humanities: Research and Development; Humanities Initiatives

NSF, NIH partner on new research to develop RNA-based methods for biotech innovations: The U.S. National Science Foundation has awarded over $12.7 million across nine research teams to understand better the untapped capabilities of ribonucleic acid (RNA) for potentially far-reaching biotechnology applications, from disease prevention in crops to cancer-fighting therapies. The nine teams will each receive $1 million to $1.65 million from NSF through the Molecular Foundations for Biotechnology (MFB) program, a joint effort of NSF in partnership with the National Institutes of Health's National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). NHGRI plans to invest in additional projects to be announced later in 2024, which will focus on the development of novel technologies to investigate RNA biology. More information is posted on the NSF website.

_______________________________

Senate committees to start marking up AI bills soon, senator says: Major Senate committees are likely to begin marking up legislation related to artificial intelligence within the next two months, according to Sen Todd Young, R-Ind., one of the leaders of a bipartisan working group in the upper chamber that has been focusing on AI. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., established the working group last year “to lead on this issue” of potential AI regulations. The group includes Schumer and Young, along with Sens. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Mike Rounds, R-S.D.  As part of their work, the four lawmakers hosted a series of nine “AI insight forums” last year that invited tech leaders, academics and other outside experts to discuss important issues related to AI — including privacy, national security and intellectual property — with senators in closed-door sessions. More information is posted on the NextGov website.

____________________________

Congress reaches fiscal 2024 funding deal, new stopgaps in hopes of averting shutdown: Congressional leaders on Wednesday agreed to a funding deal that would avoid the immediate threat of a shutdown while buying more time to pass full-year spending bills in two separate packages.  Under the deal, the departments of Agriculture, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation and Veterans Affairs, as well as a handful of related agencies, would have their funding extended in a stopgap bill through March 8. The departments of Interior, Commerce and Justice, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency and a few other agencies, would keep their current March 8 deadlines. Negotiations over full-year fiscal 2024 funding for those agencies, which make up six of the 12 annual must-pass spending bills, are complete, lawmakers said, allowing appropriators to finalize the text for those measures and hold a vote on them in one “minibus” bill next week.