Awarded Grants, 2024-2025

July 2024

• Hao-Fountain syndrome is a newly identified rare pediatric neurodevelopmental disorder caused by deletions and mutations of the USP7 gene. The patients suffer from global developmental delays, behavioral abnormalities, autism, and variably impaired intellectual development with speech delay. There is currently no cure for this disorder which places a significant burden on both children and parents; therefore, we propose to develop and validate a new human-based model of the Hao-Fountain syndrome that is essential for understanding the molecular mechanisms of the disease, and the discovery of potential treatments for it in the future. 

August 2024

Oriana Fisher, Wesleyan University, "Structural and functional basis of bacterial transcriptional regulation;" Funded by National Institutes of Health (National Institute of General Medical Sciences) 

• Antibiotic resistance poses an increasingly prevalent public health challenge, but advances in the development of new drugs has not progressed commensurately. A significant impediment to progress in this area lies in that many fundamental biochemical processes in bacteria remain poorly understood. The primary goal of this research is to illuminate how bacteria respond and adapt to changes within their environments.

Lisa Dierker, Wesleyan University, "Digital Intro: A collaborative, project-based approach connecting introductory social science content with modern digital application and workforce empowerment;" Funded by National Science Foundation

• Introductory courses play a central role in higher education and offer an opportunity to inspire students through innovative curriculum. While many of these courses currently emphasize lecture-based learning, there is exciting potential to enhance engagement by incorporating hands-on experiences with digital tools, real-world contexts, and practical problem-solving. By focusing on skill development in support of traditional content knowledge, we can engage and retain students, particularly those from underrepresented groups, and empower them for future success in the digital workforce. This grant will support the creation of a collaborative, project-based curriculum for Introduction to Psychology, the largest enrollment undergraduate course in the U.S. The new curriculum will equip students with valuable digital skills, encourage them to explore advanced coursework in digital tools and design, and prepare them for thriving careers in the digital and technology fields.

Helen Poulos, Wesleyan University, "Spring pulse: Improved methods for spring monitoring;" Funded by National Park Service

• Aridland groundwater springs have provided lush oases for humans and wild species for thousands of years. Their cultural importance for sustaining human civilizations cannot be understated because they provide consistent water supply, even during periods of extreme drought. However, hotter, drier conditions and increased human development now threaten the sustainability of large, culturally important aridland springs. This project will assess the changing nature of these vital water resources across the state of Texas and to bring attention to the cultural importance and threats to these springs, analyze trends in spring productivity, and develop an innovative remote-sensing tool for monitoring real-time spring productivity. To accomplish this goal, the group will interview springs managers to gain cultural perspectives, build a digital resource and archive, and develop a live-time springs monitoring tool.

October 2024 

Hui Cao, Yale University; Herbert Winful University of Michigan; Ying-Cheng Lai, Arizona State University; Vassilios Kovanis Virginia Tech University; Tsampikos Kottos, Wesleyan University; Steven Anlage University of Maryland; Logan Wright Yale University "AI-Guided Self-Organization: Tailoring Disorder to Shape Complex Nonlinear Dynamics (MURI Topic #4);" Subaward from Yale University funded by the Office of Naval Research.

•  In our everyday conversations, chaos and randomness are often considered to be an anathema since they are synonyms to unpredictability and loss of information. Yet, there are evidence – most of them based on idealized models – that the chaotic evolution of complex systems can be tamed by introducing appropriately tailored randomness i.e. structural inhomogeneities in the design of such systems. The vision of this DoD project is to explore this counter-intuitive phenomenon using emerging tools like AI, machine learning and inverse-design techniques. These methodologies will allow us to mine information encrypted in “big data” generated by such systems, which can then be used for the design of complex seemingly disorderly interventions for taming their chaotic dynamics.
  
  The focus of the effort will be on fundamental research, discovering new physical concepts that elude physical intuition, and AI techniques that can universally control complex nonlinear dynamics and self-organization. As a culmination of our team’s efforts, we will realize an AI-driven universal algorithm for controlling and designing complex physical systems and release a diverse dataset to facilitate further development. This algorithm (Physics-GPT) would be transformative for many engineering and logistical challenges involving complex physical systems. Examples include high-power energy delivery systems consisting of many distinct lasers that are synchronized to act effectively as one single high-power laser, directed energy for powering remote systems, robotics, manufacturing, autonomous space and submarine systems, and control of high-energy fluids and plasmas. Read more in the Wesleyan Connection.

November 2024 

Center for Prison Education, Director, Tess Wheelwright, Wesleyan University; Funded by Connecticut Health & Educational Facilities Authority

•  For the second year in a row, the Center for Prison Education (CPE) has been awarded the maximum award of $75,000 from the Connecticut Health & Education Facilities Authority (CHEFA) to support its operation, speaking to the success and impact of CPE’s programs. For 15 years, students in Connecticut prisons have accessed Wesleyan’s liberal arts curriculum through its Center for Prison Education (CPE): a cornerstone of the University’s commitment to nurturing a diverse learning community and opening wider its doors. Since its founding in 2009, the CPE has offered over 200 courses inside Cheshire and York Correctional Institutions, with over 50 students earning associate degrees and nearly 20 more completing bachelor’s degrees to date – and counting. The operational support from CHEFA will support the enhancement of student services and academic advising, the increase of course offerings, and the planning of an academic reentry system for post-release degree completion: the next priority area for the CPE.

December 2024 

Center for the Arts (Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery), Director, Joshua Lubin-Levy and Associate Director of Visual Art, Ben Chaffee Tess Wheelwright, Wesleyan University; Funded by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts 

• The support from the Andy Warhol Foundation of the Visual Arts marks the first multi-year investment in the contemporary visual arts programming at the Center for the Arts. The grant will support the CFA’s commitment to visiting artists—to the commissioning and exhibition of their artwork—as well as the CFA’s publications, public programs, and other initiatives that expand access to contemporary art both for the campus at large and public audiences. Over the next two years, the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery, the sole venue in the Center for the Arts complex dedicated to contemporary visual art, will present four solo and two group exhibitions that will continue to push the possibility for contemporary visual artists to work across multiple disciplines. At the CFA, artists are often able to make work at a scale not possible in other galleries and museums, supported by a materials and production budget, logistical and conceptual support from the CFA staff, and access to the resources of the University. 

  In addition to the local benefit of free and open access to the public, outreach to Middletown schools, and connecting artists with other regional partners, the programming model for visual arts, curated by Ben Chaffee, has created opportunities for visiting artist to experience the boundary-breaking culture of creative research at Wesleyan, which has often propelled advances in our visiting artists career: Nick Raffel’s work has traveled to the Prada Foundation and the Swiss Institute (forthcoming); Renee Gladman’s exhibition traveled to Artists Space; and we were among the first US institutions to exhibit Julien Creuzet.