Research Quick Takes

Research Scientist Aleah Sommers and Professor Colin Meyer applied a simpler form of the SHAKTI subglacial hydrology model to the Helmheim Glacier in Greenland to predict high water pressure and other variables in seawater movement under glacial ice. Their model improves upon current models by reducing reliance on unconstrained parameters, which have posed challenges to reproducing results. Their findings were published in the Journal of Glaciology.

At this year's IEEE Photovoltaics Specialty Conference in Puerto Rico, PhD student Julia Huddy received an award for best student presentation for a talk about her work in the SENSE Lab titled "Large-Area Uniformity Mapping of High-Speed Flexography-Printed Perovskite Solar Cells via Scanning Photoluminescence."

Professors Liz Murnane, Vikrant Vaze, and Wesley Marrero are lead faculty on a team selected as one of 34 semifinalists for the inaugural NSF Regional Innovation Engines competition—spanning nearly all key technology areas and societal and economic challenges highlighted in the "CHIPS and Science Act." A partnership with UMass Lowell, their proposed engine is titled, "Advancing Health Equity Through Digital Technologies, Data Infrastructure, and Artificial Intelligence." Each Engine could receive up to $160 million over 10 years.

PhD students Julia Huddy and Huan Zhao, research associate Anand Tiwari, and Professors Yan Li and William Scheideler authored "Graph Theory Design of 3D Printed Conductive Lattice Electrodes" published in Advanced Materials Technologies. This work aims to model the electrical behavior of 3D lattice structures to guide the design of 3D printed electrodes for electrochemical device applications.

The newest addition to the international Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) is officially fully functional! Professor Simon Shepherd: "After configuring the electronics, software, and computer network, followed by extensive testing, first-light (the first data collected by the radars) was achieved on January 24, and I am pleased to report that the arrays appear to have survived their first Icelandic winter."

Professor Vikrant Vaze is one of only two academics cited in a report from The Government Accountability Office titled, "AIRLINE PASSENGER PROTECTIONS: Observations on Flight Delays and Cancellations, and DOT's Efforts to Address Them." Says Vaze on why his research was cited, "US airlines have faced some unusual disruptions recently. Our research has focused on how these disruptions impact passenger travel, and the importance of measuring the success of any disruption mitigation effort in terms of the extent to which it reduces passenger inconvenience."

Professor Hélène Seroussi is quoted in, "A Greenland Glacier's Rapid Melting May Signal Faster Sea Level Rise" published in The Washington Post. "We are many years away from implementing these processes correctly in numerical models," Seroussi said. "It is important to understand that there are always long delays between the discovery of a new process and its inclusion in numerical models as these processes need to be perfectly understood from a physical point of view." (Picked up by CHRON. Similar coverage in Common Dreams and Alaska Native News.)

PhD student Andrew Hederman and Professor Margie Ackerman are co-authors of "Leveraging deep learning to improve vaccine design" published in Trends in Immunology. "Despite the nascent stage of deep learning applications in immunological studies, there is ample opportunity to utilize this new technology to address the most challenging and burdensome infectious diseases confronting global populations," states the study.

PhD students Junhu Zhou, Billy Jin, and Jiyoon Park Th'19, alumYuan Nie Th'20, andProfessor John Zhang are co-athors on "Dual fluorescent hollow silica nanofibers for in situ pH monitoring using an optical fiber," published in Nanoscale Advances. "The sensor exhibits exceptional accuracy, stability, and simplicity, making it ideal for detecting pH levels in both environmental and biological samples," says Junhu.

Hixon Lab undergrads Karina Mitchell '23 and Rosemary (Posie) Millett '25 presented their original research at the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS) Conference in Boston last week. Karina presented her poster on Manuka honey in tissue-engineered scaffolds, and Posie gave an oral presentation on combined tissue-engineered scaffolds targeting the bone-tendon attachment site.

At the Graduate Student Poster Session—Guarini's premier forum for the graduate community to share and learn about their research—PhD student Savannah Decker received a best poster award for: "Diversity in the Radiotherapy Clinic: The effect of skin tone on clinical Cherenkov imaging."