Award Data

The Problem Being Addressed The laser-based electron accelerator is an innovative tool to obtain GeV to TeV electron energies for high-energy particle physics experiments. The development of high-power laser systems for these accelerators, however, puts stringent challenges on the very limits of the laser materials themselves. The enormous heat generated by the high power creates great thermal str ...

The massive scale of global plastics production, which reached 390 million metric tons in 2021, has resulted in significant environmental challenges, including carbon emissions and pollution. A staggering 75% of discarded plastic ends up in landfills, while a mere 9% is recycled, causing a considerable amount to enter our ecosystems. Therefore, it is crucial to create affordable biodegradable plas ...

Statement of the problem or situation that is being addressed. In the past, the cost and complexity of high temperature heat exchangers for nuclear reactors have been inversely proportional due to the difficulties inherent in manufacturing finely-detailed welded or brazed structures. To address this problem, additive manufacturing is being used to produce a heat exchanger with extremely large surf ...

Despite prevalent use of anti-platelet and anti-lipid therapies, stroke remains the third major cause of death and is the leading cause of adult disability in the US with an estimated cost in the range of $34 billion annually. Approximately 20% of the annual 795,000 stroke patients die within one year and 15-30% are permanently disabled. Antiplatelet therapy is mainly used for primary prevention o ...

PHASE II APPLICATION(STTR Program PAS-22-197) “Phase 1 Trial to Assess Safety and Immune Effects of Xenon Gas in Healthy Human Subjects” ABSTRACTAlzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the most prevalent neurodegenerative disorders. Emerging evidence shows that homeostatic dysregulation of the brain immune system, especially that orchestrated by microglia, plays a significant role in the onset an ...

Project Summary/Abstract Mutant forms of KRAS are a key driver in human tumors but remain partially refractory to therapeuticintervention. After over three decades of research, only a single inhibitor (sotorasib) targeting a singlemutation (KRASG12C) have reached market. The difficulty for developing small molecule KRAS inhibitorshas heightened the importance of alternative methods targeting the o ...

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACTHealthcare systems around the world, including within the United States, have long-established shortages of trained caregivers (WHO, 2016; Jones, Liu, Murfield, and Moyle, 2020). The American Health Care Association (2019) states that “the health care system has experienced a shortage of trained caregivers for critical roles for some time.” This scarcity directly impact ...

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) will develop integrated optical frequency shifters to enable Quantum-memory Wavelength-Division Multiplexing (QWDM). Our approach will enable the connection of multiple quantum memory registers across a free-space or fiber optical channel, increasing the bandwidth of near-term quantum networks by 10ndash;100x. As m ...

NASA will use swarms of robot vehicles for future planetary exploration, including Moon explorations in support of a sustained lunar presence. Advanced robotic and autonomous systems can overcome challenges inherent in navigating extreme terrain. Other tasks, such as obtaining mineral or ice samples from a wide area of a planetary surface or exploring terrain that blocks the transmission of signal ...

The program will develop a spectrometer with chip-scale footprint and performance rivaling high-end benchtop spectrum analyzers leveraging an innovative digital Fourier Transform (dFT) architecture, which uniquely enables exponential scaling of performance. Specifically,nbsp;the Phase II project will build on the accomplishments from Phase I and fabricate the photonic circuits via AIM Photonicsrsq ...