Research NewsletterIssue: ORN-2025-02

Workshop Announcement

19th Northeast Complex Fluids and Soft Matter (NCS) Workshop

Date: January 24, 2025; 8.00 AM – 5.00 PM

Location:  Ballroom A&B, Campus Center, NJIT

Registration: Register here; registration recommended by 1/17/2025 for planning purposes

The NCS Workshop brings together researchers from the northeast region to foster collaboration in the field of complex fluids and soft matter. The meeting will host a mix of invited talks, short presentations, student posters, and networking time. It is an excellent opportunity for young researchers to interact with and learn from local institutions' top experts on complex fluids and soft matter. The current workshop at NJIT will feature invited talks from the following speakers:

• Samantha McBride, University of Pennsylvania
• Hernan Makse, City College of New York
• Aditya Khair, Carnegie Mellon University
• Farid Alisafaei, New Jersey Institute of Technology
• Jerry Shan, Rutgers University
• Sangwoo Shin, University at Buffalo

Information on past workshops can be found here: https://www.northeastsoftmatter.org.

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Recent NJIT Patents Issued by US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

Patent Title:    Method, System, and Apparatus for Diagnostic Assessment and Screening of Binocular Dysfunctions

NJIT Ref No.:   18-025

Inventor(s):     Alvarez, Tara Lynn / Scheiman, Mitchell / Yaramothu, Chang / d'Antonio-Bertagnolli, John Vito

Patent Application Status:    Issued Patent 

Patent Issue Date:  12/31/2024

Patent No.:  12,178,509

Technology Licensing Status:   Licensed

Patent Title:    A Method for 3D Printing a Thermally Curable Polymeric Ink

NJIT Ref No.:   22-001

Inventor(s):     Guvendiren, Murat / Liaw, Chya-Yan / House, Andrew

Patent Application Status:    Issued Patent 

Patent Issue Date:  1/7/2025

Patent No.:  12,186,986

Technology Licensing Status:   Licensed

Recent NJIT Non-Provisional Patent Applications (Filed)

Patent Title:    NEURAL NETWORK ACCELERATION OF IMAGE PROCESSING

NJIT Ref No.:   23-019

Inventor(s):     Roohi, Arman / Angizi, Shaahin / Tabrizchi, Sepehr

Patent Application Status:   Filed Non-Provisional Patent Application

Patent Application Filing Date:  12/27/2024

Application Filing No.:   19/004,020

Technology Licensing Status:  Available

Recent NJIT Provisional Patent Applications (Filed)

Patent Title:    METHOD AND DEVICE FOR RAPID DETECTION OF MICROPLASTICS AND NANOPLASTICS

NJIT Ref No.:   25-009

Inventor(s):     Chen, Hao / Mengyuan, Xiao

Patent Application Status:   Filed Provisional Patent Application

Patent Application Filing Date:  1/6/2025

Application Filing No.:   63/742,089

Technology Licensing Status:  Available 

NSF: Findable Accessible Interoperable Reusable Open Science (FAIROS); Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers (MRSEC); Cybersecurity Innovation for Cyberinfrastructure (CICI); Collaborations in Artificial Intelligence and Geosciences (CAIG); Translation and Diffusion (TD); Smart and Connected Communities (S&CC); Antarctic Research Requiring U.S. Antarctic Program Support for Fieldwork Partnership to Advance Conservation Science and Practice (PACSP); Materials Innovation Platforms (MIP)

NIH: NEI Translational Research Program for Therapeutics (R33); Trailblazer Award for New and Early Stage Investigators (R21); Small Grants for New Investigators to Broaden Participation in Health-Related Research (R21); Joint NINDS/NIMH Exploratory Neuroscience Research Grant (R21); Academic-Industrial Partnerships for Translation of Technologies for Diagnosis and Treatment (R01); Research on Current Topics in Alzheimer's Disease and Its Related Dementias (R21); Advancing Vision Health Equity through Multi-level Interventions and Community-Engaged Research (R01); Cutting-Edge Basic Research Awards (CEBRA) (R21)

Department of Defense/US Army/DARPA/ONR: ERDC Broad Agency Announcement; Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Directors' Research Initiative (DRI)

Department of Energy: Fiscal Year 2025 Solar Module and Solar Hardware (SMASH) Incubator; FY 2025 SBIR Phase I Release 2

Forthcoming executive order seeks to plug holes in federal cyber practices: The Biden administration is planning to soon release a swan song cybersecurity executive order that would direct agencies to conform to stricter software procurement procedures, fasten detection response tools onto federal computer systems and much more, according to a draft copy of the order obtained by Nextgov/FCW.

The document, which has been in the works for months, is expected to be signed Friday or early next week, according to people familiar with the matter. It builds on cyber lessons learned throughout the Biden administration following the signing of a flagship executive order in 2021 that was fueled by the well-storied Colonial Pipeline and SolarWinds hacks.  Since then, the government has faced myriad hacking incidents from nation-state operatives. A recent Chinese hack into the Treasury Department’s systems was likely carried out by a Beijing-backed hacking unit dubbed Silk Typhoon, according to a person familiar with the matter. Bloomberg News first reported the presumed identity of the hackers Wednesday night. More information is posted on the NextGov website.

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Federal R&D needs sustained funding, OSTP head warns incoming Trump admin: The U.S. must sustain investments in research and development to minimize future health and safety challenges and to preserve its global standing, according to the head of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy. During an outgoing speech at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine on Tuesday, OSTP Director Arati Prabhakar stressed the need for federal funds to continue supporting innovative public discoveries at a time when “too many myths and misunderstandings are swirling around the science and technology enterprise.” Prabhakar’s remarks come as President-elect Donald Trump has made cutting federal spending a top priority. Trump previously announced the creation of an advisory body — called the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, and led by billionaire Elon Musk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy — to recommend federal cost saving steps. More information is posted on the NextGov website.

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Here are the tech bills the 118th Congress passed right before the new session: Congress passed laws on customer experience, custom code in government and tech-focused transparency late last month.  Legislation that would require the Office of Management and Budget to tap a Federal Government Service Delivery Lead to coordinate government-wide CX work is awaiting Biden’s signature after the Senate passed the bill on Dec. 21. Dubbed the Government Service Delivery Improvement Act, the House passed the proposal back in May.  One of its backers, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said in a statement at the time that the measure “will make it easier for Americans to access essential federal services from Social Security to Medicare to veterans’ benefits.” Reps. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., and William Timmons, R-S.C., also backed the proposal.  The bill also taps agency heads as responsible for the service delivery of their entities, and also requires agencies to designate a senior official to coordinate service delivery.

            The House of Representatives passed the bipartisan bill in early December, but the Senate ultimately did not approve the proposal. It would have required agencies to inventory their software and use that information to consolidate licenses and adopt enterprise license agreements. A similar bill also failed to make it into law in the 117th Congress. Some lawmakers also resurrected failed pushes to have agencies retire their legacy tech or modernize the government’s primary cybersecurity law, but those also didn’t make it into law. While there were many proposals related to artificial intelligence and the government’s use of it in the 118th Congress, lawmakers may have to pick back up on those efforts, as many of the bills focused on the government-AI intersection did not pass into law. More information is posted on the NextGov website.