Hearing loss and tinnitus are the two most common service-related disabilities among U.S. veterans, affecting more than three million people nationwide.

Knowing military service members are routinely exposed to noise that can cause lasting auditory damage, which can make school harder for active duty and student veterans, Karen Doherty, senior associate dean for faculty affairs and professor in the in the, and Tammy Kordas, associate teaching professor also in CSD, set out to learn how tinnitus may be impacting veteran students on campus.

When the two certified audiologists initially went looking for existing research on the prevalence of tinnitus鈥攁 ringing or other noise in the ears that isn鈥檛 caused by external sound鈥攁mong veterans on college campuses, they found almost nothing.

So they, along with two of their doctoral students, Marissa Merrifield and Joshua Deus, surveyed service members and veterans currently enrolled at 网爆门 to explore the relationship between self-perceived hearing difficulty and listening fatigue and self-perceived hearing difficulty and tinnitus severity.

The two faculty members have collaborated on research in the past, though this is their first project focused on veterans. Together, they bring complementary expertise to the project. Doherty contributes a research perspective, while Kordas brings a clinical perspective and specialized training in tinnitus management through her work with patients at the .

Doherty says the sparse literature on student veterans and tinnitus wasn鈥檛 entirely surprising. Most tinnitus research focuses on older veterans, the demographic that arrives at VA medical centers in their 60s and 70s, ready for hearing aids for diagnosed hearing loss.

Student veterans, meanwhile, appeared to occupy a different and largely unexamined space.

鈥淵ou might have 鈥榥ormal鈥� hearing yet have a lot of difficulty hearing in background noise as well as challenges in trying to deal with the secondary effects of tinnitus,鈥� Doherty says.

To get a sense of how much tinnitus impacts student veterans, they sent out the survey with the help of听retired U.S. Army Colonel听, executive director of the .听

Determining the Prevalence鈥攁nd Impact鈥攐f Tinnitus

The research team developed a survey combining standardized outcome measures for determining self-perceived listening difficulties and the severity of a person鈥檚 tinnitus. Original questions about the students鈥� past noise exposures, such as firearms, explosions or piloted aircraft, were included.

鈥淭innitus is one of the most common service-connected injuries affecting members as they transition out of military service,鈥� Novack says. 鈥淚t affects your quality of sleep, your concentration. It affects stress levels for you, either up or down, depending on the acoustics in the environment in which you’re operating. It affects your ability, or a student’s ability, to fully engage in learning environments.鈥�

For student veterans, experiencing tinnitus could mean difficulty focusing during lectures or increased fatigue, with background noise in a classroom forcing them to work twice as hard to hear the lesson.

鈥淭he tinnitus itself wears on anyone,鈥� Novack says. 鈥淚t can increase anxiety in what we would like to see and experience as a quiet learning environment. And veterans may not come right out and tell someone they have this problem. They’re going to go into a classroom, and they’re going to find a way to navigate that invisible disability potentially without an accommodation, because they don’t think it’s a big deal. So they might be recording the whole entire lecture and then come back and take notes at their own pace and cadence.鈥�

The research team sent the survey to 270 student veterans in the fall and 97 responded. Of those students, 82% reported experiencing tinnitus.

Students who reported experiencing tinnitus went on to complete a standardized test measuring the severity. Forty percent reported bothersome tinnitus, which indicates it is affecting quality of life. Only about 10% of the general population in the same age range experiences bothersome tinnitus.

鈥淲e went into this with certain hypotheses, one of them being that exposure to loud noise during military service would be associated with higher rates of tinnitus,鈥� Doherty says. 鈥淏ut we didn’t know it was going to be more than twice those of traditional college students. We were really surprised.鈥�

A Starting Point

Kordas, Doherty and Novack all agree that identifying the scope of the problem is only the first step toward developing meaningful support and solutions.

鈥淚t gives us more of an opportunity to move from an anecdotal awareness on campus, toward a more data-informed understanding of how this issue really affects student veterans at the University,鈥� Novack says.

Doherty and Kordas aim to implement interventions for student veterans with listening difficulties and tinnitus, including using hearing assistive technologies in the classroom that improve signal-to-noise ratios in lecture settings. This would potentially reduce fatigue and listening effort.

The researchers also hope to bring student veterans into a clinic setting to assess whether their tinnitus is accompanied by measurable hearing loss.

鈥淵ou can manage and treat tinnitus, so knowledge is power,鈥� Kordas says. 鈥淚 think providing them with informational counseling about this condition would be beneficial as well.鈥�

Many student veterans may already be eligible for treatment or other interventions for their hearing difficulties through the VA medical center.

鈥溾�業 need assistance,鈥� that’s what our veterans need to say,鈥� Novack says. 鈥淥nce they do that, we have the here on campus and we have the VITAL program where we can help knock down barriers and facilitate care for our veterans who might need accommodations, need to have this tinnitus addressed and put in a care plan to assist them.鈥�听

First for Veterans

The University鈥檚 infrastructure for veterans made this research possible in a way few universities could replicate, Doherty says.

鈥淲e couldn’t do this without the veteran center being the way it is, and Ron鈥檚 support of the project was an integral part of its success,鈥� she says.

Novack says the OVMA is always eager to partner and support 鈥渞esponsible research that helps better inform and understand the lived experience of our veterans.鈥�

鈥淚t’s small things like this that move the needle each and every day,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd our longstanding institutional commitment is what brings transitioning service members to Syracuse, because they know when they come here, they’re going to get taken care of, that this institution has a national reputation for taking care of those who have worn the nation’s cloth.鈥�

What the research team learned and implements as a result of their recent study could serve as a model for other academic institutions with smaller veteran programs and less organized support systems, Doherty says.

鈥淭here are a lot of people who have tinnitus and there are ways to treat it,鈥� Kordas says. 鈥淚t may not go away completely, but the goal is to manage it and reduce how much it affects daily life.鈥�

A two-year initiative involving 网爆门 and SUNY Upstate Medical University has found that bringing memory screenings directly into local Offices for the Aging (OFAs) can help identify older adults with early signs of cognitive impairment, but also confirmed that transportation barriers persist. Plus, fear and stigma keep many rural residents from getting a full diagnosis and follow-up care.

The project, led by Maria Brown, associate research professor in 网爆门’s School of Education, and Dr. Sharon Brangman, director of the SUNY Upstate Center of Excellence for Alzheimer鈥檚 Disease, trained 54 case managers and 10 supervisors at seven OFAs across Cayuga, Herkimer, Lewis, Madison, Oneida, Oswego and Tompkins counties. Their training involved administering the Mini-Cog, a brief cognitive screening tool, as part of their routine work with clients.

The project built on an earlier pilot in Onondaga County and was funded by the New York Health Foundation and the Health Foundation for Western and Central New York.

In total, case managers screened 684 older adults. Roughly 35% of those screened had scores suggesting possible cognitive impairment, and case managers referred them for a comprehensive evaluation with geriatricians at Upstate’s Center of Excellence for Alzheimer’s Disease.

Of those referred, 52 ultimately completed the evaluation and only 7 of that group were diagnosed with Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. Nearly half were diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment, which is memory changes later in life that do not necessarily lead to dementia but benefit from ongoing monitoring.

“It’s important to draw a distinction that cognitive impairment doesn’t necessarily mean dementia,” Brown says. “For the people we screened, a positive result meant we could connect them with geriatricians for a full evaluation. That’s a chance to get ahead of a problem instead of reacting to a crisis.”

“Early detection gives people and their families more choices,”听 says Brangman, who teamed up with Brown on the project. “When we identify memory changes before they become a crisis, we can determine whether it’s Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment or another condition, and connect patients with the right treatments, support services and planning resources.”

Many people who were referred for further evaluation chose not to go, and Brown says the reasons point to broader gaps in rural healthcare. Long drives to Syracuse, limited transportation options and fear of an Alzheimer’s diagnosis (including worry about losing independence) all factored into people’s decisions.

Even so, case managers at all seven participating OFAs found the screening valuable enough that they plan to keep using it after the project’s formal funding ends, and providers at SUNY Upstate Geriatrics will continue training new OFA staff on the tool going forward.

“Even when someone can’t or won’t follow up with a specialist, the screening itself gives case managers information they can use to better support their clients,” Brown says. “That’s valuable on its own.”

Brown says the results reinforce the need for more partnerships between medical and social service providers, particularly in rural areas where residents already face a shortage of specialists trained to evaluate cognitive changes. She and her Upstate colleagues hope the model along with the training resources developed through the project can eventually expand to more counties across New York state.

Earth has a natural thermostat that has kept the planet habitable for more than a hundred million years. Scientists have struggled to fully explain how it works, but new research identifies a missing link between phosphate availability and sea level. Temperature influenced the size of polar ice sheets and sea level. Sea level changes drove the availability of this nutrient and controlled how much carbon was buried in the ocean, which in turn regulates how much carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere and how warm or cool the planet runs.

听co-authored by听, professor of Earth and environmental sciences in the University鈥檚 , traces how fluctuating sea levels and dissolved oxygen content controlled the availability of phosphate in the ocean and atmospheric carbon dioxide accumulation stretching across the last 60 million years. The research was published in .

“We know that atmospheric carbon dioxide decreased substantially as Earth cooled over the last 60 million years, but we have had remarkably little understanding of where that carbon ended up,” says lead author听, professor of Earth sciences at the University of Oxford,听. “Our results suggest that enhanced burial of organic carbon in marine sediments played a much more important role than was previously appreciated.”

The key to the study is phosphorus, specifically phosphate, an essential nutrient for marine life that the researchers describe as a previously “invisible” piece of the puzzle. At high sea levels, broad continental shelves efficiently trapped phosphate in shallow sediments, starving the open ocean of the nutrient. With less phosphate available, marine productivity declined, less organic carbon was buried on the seafloor and the ocean became well-oxygenated鈥攚hile carbon dioxide built up in the atmosphere.

As sea levels fell, that dynamic reversed. Shrinking shelves released more phosphate into the water column, fueling a bloom in marine life. As that organic matter sank and decomposed, it consumed oxygen from the water until low-oxygen zones began to emerge. When those low-oxygen zones extended into contact with carbon-rich shelf sediments, they triggered a feedback loop in which oxygen-poor conditions caused more phosphate to be released from sediments, driving further organic carbon burial and pulling CO2 out of the atmosphere.

鈥淥ur co-author, Christian Bjerrum, studied the connection among sea level, ocean oxygen and phosphate with a computer model two decades ago,” Lu says. “We finally pieced together the geologic records necessary to test this hypothesis.”

The researchers identified a sea-level “sweet spot,” roughly 10 to 40 meters above modern sea level, where this feedback was most powerful. At that range, oxygen minimum zones overlapped precisely with the organic-rich sediments of the continental shelf, maximizing carbon burial for millions of years at a time. The team matched these patterns against 60 million years of geological data, including carbon isotope records, phosphorus accumulation rates in deep-sea sediments and a novel iodine-to-calcium proxy developed to reconstruct past ocean oxygen levels.

Lu’s lab conducted the iodine-to-calcium measurements, a technique that uses the chemistry of ancient foraminifera, microscopic marine organisms preserved in seafloor sediments, to reconstruct oxygen conditions in the ancient water column. Samples were analyzed using a mass spectrometer at 网爆门, funded by the National Science Foundation.

The Eocene epoch, which lasted from roughly 56 to 34 million years ago, stands out as a period when this carbon burial mechanism was effectively switched off. Sea levels were at their highest, shelves were flooded, phosphate was efficiently buried in shallow sediments and the ocean was highly oxygenated. Without the feedback loop, carbon accumulated in the atmosphere and the planet remained warm.

Over geological time, the study proposes, the zone for carbon burial has narrowed as oxygen minimum ranges have deepened鈥攁 process that has progressively stabilized both atmospheric oxygen and carbon dioxide. The oscillations between carbon burial and atmospheric accumulation have grown more muted, making Earth’s climate system increasingly resilient.

Key Takeaways From the Study:

• Phosphate, an essential nutrient for marine life, acted as a hidden regulator of Earth’s carbon cycle for the last 60 million years 鈥� but how it plays this role exactly has not been fully understood.
• Sea level controlled how much phosphate was available in the open ocean, which determined how much carbon was buried in seafloor sediments and how much carbon dioxide accumulated in the atmosphere.
• A sea-level “sweet spot” 鈥� roughly 10 to 40 meters above modern levels 鈥� maximized carbon burial for millions of years at a time, acting as a natural brake on warming and helping drive Earth’s transition to today鈥檚 cooler climate.

The research was conducted with collaborators at the University of Oxford (Rickaby and听) and the University of Copenhagen ()听and was supported by two National Science Foundation grants.

The new findings build on a body of research from Lu’s lab using the iodine-to-calcium proxy to reconstruct past ocean oxygen conditions. An earlier study, published in January in听Nature Geoscience, used the same technique to reveal that听鈥攖he exact reverse of today’s pattern鈥攁nd that a planetary tipping point hundreds of millions of years ago flipped that distribution.

网爆门 today announced the launch of a sweeping for Fall 2026, giving students an unusually complete set of pathways into one of the most consequential fields of the century.

The portfolio includes standalone 产补肠丑别濒辞谤鈥檚 and 尘补蝉迟别谤鈥檚 degree programs, cross-disciplinary minors, hands-on co-curricular opportunities and research that together make up a single, coherent ecosystem.

鈥淲hile AI degree programs are proliferating nationally, few institutions are bringing the full picture to market at once,鈥� says , vice chancellor, provost and chief academic officer. 鈥淭his is an entire environment for students who want to master AI and shape what it becomes. Whether they want to build the technology, govern it or apply it to a wide range of disciplines, there is now a clear path for these students at Syracuse.鈥�

Academic Opportunities in AI

The Syracuse AI portfolio includes new and degrees in artificial intelligence science; a new 产补肠丑别濒辞谤鈥檚 degree in ; a 尘补蝉迟别谤鈥檚 degree in ; seven AI minors; a broad research portfolio across multiple schools and colleges; and a peer-led bootcamp designed to provide students with hands-on AI experience as soon as they arrive on campus.

鈥淎rtificial intelligence isn鈥檛 confined to a single classroom or discipline at 网爆门鈥攊t鈥檚 woven into how our students learn, how our faculty conduct research and how we prepare graduates for a workforce being reshaped by this technology,鈥� says , senior vice president for digital transformation, chief digital officer and interim dean of the . 鈥淔rom new degree programs to cross-campus research initiatives, we鈥檙e building an AI portfolio that reflects both the urgency and the opportunity this moment demands.鈥�

The breadth and depth of this portfolio are what distinguishes the Syracuse approach. The 产补肠丑别濒辞谤鈥檚 in integrative artificial intelligence is designed for students who want to combine AI with other interests, from public affairs to design to the life sciences. The seven new minors let students in any major add AI fluency in areas like policy, ethics and data. And the AI Bootcamp, a student-led program offering stackable microcredentials, provides students with AI immersion even before they declare a major.

Students are also driving the momentum through the student-led AI organization, United AI, which gives undergraduates hands-on research experience through its Foundry program, cross-campus education initiatives and direct partnerships with leading AI companies.

鈥淪tudents don鈥檛 experience AI as a single subject, and we didn鈥檛 want to teach it that way,鈥� says , interim dean of the and associate provost for academic programs. 鈥淲e built this portfolio so that a future engineer, a future policymaker and a future artist can all find a serious path into AI here and can start the moment they arrive on campus.鈥�

Robust Research

网爆门 boasts a robust and growing portfolio of research and creative activity related to artificial intelligence. With work spanning engineering, computer science, law, public policy, communications and the humanities, faculty and students are applying AI to challenges ranging from cybersecurity and health care to media literacy and the arts. This interdisciplinary momentum reflects the University鈥檚 commitment to advancing AI research that is both technically rigorous and grounded in real-world impact.

鈥淥ur faculty are not studying artificial intelligence in the abstract,鈥� says , vice president for research. 鈥淭hey are building systems that detect synthetic media, investigating how algorithmic decision-making affects communities, developing new approaches to cybersecurity and creating new AI capabilities beyond today鈥檚 large language models. Students who come to Syracuse will learn from researchers who are actively shaping how AI is built, governed and understood.鈥�

Learn more about artificial intelligence at 网爆门 by visiting .

The Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems (SyracuseCoE) will serve as the organizing host of Healthy Buildings 2027 America, a flagship conference of the . The conference will be held June 20鈥�23, 2027, in Syracuse.

Under the theme 鈥淚ntelligent Environments: Designing, Retrofitting and Operating for a Healthy, Affordable and Resilient Future,鈥� the conference will bring together subject matter experts from around the world, including researchers, architects, engineers, public health experts and policymakers, to address challenges in the built environment.

Keynotes, panels and breakout sessions will highlight scalable, effective and efficient technologies, collaborative design methods and practices, and policy pathways to healthier indoor environments across all building types and communities.

Healthy Buildings 2027 America will be chaired by Conference President , Ph.D., and Conference Co-President , Ph.D. The conference organizing committee leverages the expertise of faculty from the , , and , as well as the State University of New York鈥檚 .

The expertise will span disciplines that include mechanical engineering, civil and environmental engineering, geography, public health, architecture and chemistry. The scientific committee is composed of international experts in indoor environmental quality, building science, health and wellness.

Creating a Healthy Building Environment

鈥淲e are thrilled to welcome the global healthy buildings community to Syracuse again in 2027,鈥� says Dong, SyracuseCoE鈥檚 co-director and Traugott Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. 鈥淭his conference is a celebration of collaboration, bringing together brilliant minds from across the world to share ideas, forge new partnerships and shape a future where every person, in every building, can have a healthy indoor environment. We look forward to an inspiring and transformative conference.鈥�

鈥淲e look forward to welcoming everyone to Syracuse for an intellectual and enjoyable conference,鈥� says Zhang, SyracuseCoE鈥檚 executive director and interim department chair of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. 鈥淭here is so much to discover and exchange to advance science and technology for the built environment.鈥�

The goal of the Healthy Buildings conference series is to advance intelligent, inclusive, cost-effective and future-ready solutions to the converging challenges of climate change, public health disparities, aging infrastructure and rising construction costs. The conference will cover research themes, including the following:

• AI Applications in Healthy Buildings
• Smart Health Monitoring and Control
• Advanced and Sustainable Materials
• Retrofit and Resilience Strategies
• Intelligent New Building Design and Life Cycle Analysis
• Community-Scale Intelligence and Public Health
• Occupant Behavior, Health and Wellness in Buildings

鈥淚SIAQ is very excited about the innovative slate of topics to be presented at the Healthy Buildings conference, as they are critically important to everyone interested in indoor environments around the world,鈥� says Professor , ISIAQ President.

Healthy Buildings 2027 America will take place at the Marriott Syracuse Downtown in Syracuse. Abstract submissions open this month, and sponsorship opportunities are available. Conference registration will open in 2027. For more information, visit .

University researchers with groundbreaking ideas in semiconductors, microelectronics or advanced materials are invited to apply for an entrepreneurship-focused hybrid course offered by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program through 网爆门 this fall. The virtual course, which runs through September and October, includes an opportunity for an in-person immersion experience at SEMICON West, North America鈥檚 premier microelectronics conference, in San Francisco in October.

Interested working individual researchers and innovators .

The course provides hands-on entrepreneurship training and one-on-one coaching tailored to researchers working in far-reaching sectors that are critical to the next generation of semiconductor innovation. Successful applicants will be researchers working on solutions to enhance the performance and efficiency of electronic devices with applications to semiconductors across industries including big chip fabrication projects, consumer electronics, automotive, telecommunications, healthcare, artificial intelligence hardware and high-power materials.

Applications might range from 3D integrated circuits, system-on-chip integration and computing chips for tasks like pattern recognition, learning and sensory processing. Big data and machine learning innovations are also of interest, as well as conventional semiconductor design and manufacturing applications. The course benefits anyone interested in being part of the research, design, commercialization and supply chain associated with these industries.

Offered jointly by 网爆门 and Cornell University as part of the Interior Northeast I-Corps Hub (IN I-Corps), this NSF-sponsored course is open to faculty, postdocs, Ph.D. and 尘补蝉迟别谤鈥檚 students, undergraduates and community-based startups working on semiconductor-related technologies with commercial potential.

Syracuse鈥檚 NSF I-Corps program is a partnership between and . The Syracuse Center of Excellence () serves as tech scout for the program.

The course opens for pre-course work on Monday, Sept. 21, and will follow this schedule:

Virtual:

Session 1: Monday, Sept. 28, from 10 a.m. to noon

Session 2a: Wednesday, Sept. 30 (individual mentoring sessions)

Session 2b: Friday, Oct. 2, from 10 a.m. to noon

Session 3: Wednesday, Oct. 5, from 10 a.m. to noon

Session 4: Wednesday, Oct. 7 (individual mentoring sessions)

In-person at SEMICON West in San Francisco:听听

Tuesday, Oct. 13, through Thursday, Oct. 15

Virtual wrap-up:

Session 6: Wednesday, Oct. 21, from 10 a.m. to noon

Teams selected to participate may receive up to $5,000 in travel reimbursement, enabling participants to conduct in-person customer discovery interviews and attend specialized workshops during SEMICON West. Participation in this conference provides unmatched exposure to global industry leaders, cutting-edge technologies and potential collaborators or customers. Conference attendees include executives, engineers, startups and policy leaders shaping the future of chips.

Participants who complete regional courses may be eligible to receive lineage and a letter of recommendation for the听 which includes a $50K grant).听Learn more about courses here: and .

For questions about this SEMICON course, contact Linda Dickerson Hartsock, advisor for strategic initiatives for 网爆门 Libraries, at ldhart01@syr.edu

The blueprint for a better building may be hiding beneath the forest floor.

To design sustainable, weather-resistant structures, is studying the fungal networks that span thousands of acres underground鈥攁mong the most expansive living organisms on Earth.

Mycelium is the fiber network behind fast-growing mushroom colonies that can span miles. Its underground strands connect to transfer water, nutrients and minerals, helping mushrooms grow and eventually emerge aboveground.

Qin鈥檚 research explores how these natural fibers can be harvested, grown and engineered into high-performing materials that could reshape how we construct buildings for generations to come.

鈥淲e focus on how these mycelium fibers grow and flourish and how those fibers can be used to replace a lot of the synthetic polymers,鈥� says Qin, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering in the . 鈥淲e then apply that knowledge to the fundamental mechanics behind designing the internal structures of buildings to make them lighter, stronger and more resistant to dynamic forces like impact from earthquakes.鈥�

From the Forest Floor to the Laboratory

Qin’s team begins its work at the most fundamental level, with a single spore. Researchers introduce mushroom spores into a carefully prepared growing medium then use time-lapse imaging to monitor how the fibers grow, branch and connect.

By adjusting such environmental conditions as humidity, temperature and substrate stiffness, the group can influence how quickly and densely the mycelium network develops.

Once the network reaches maturity, it becomes a natural adhesive.

When introduced to biomass materials like wood chips or sawdust, mycelium fibers grow into the gaps between particles and bind everything together, functioning like a biological version of wood glue without any synthetic chemicals.

“The beautiful thing is you don’t need to use glue or any synthetic adhesive,” Qin says. “Instead, you just use this natural fiber system to bind biomass together, and it spontaneously grows.”

The result is a material that resembles medium-density fiberboard but is produced entirely from natural components.

Qin calls the bonding process “biowelding,” a technique that effectively joins wood components the way welding joins steel, but without heat, chemicals or combustion risk.

To optimize the recipe for these composite materials, Qin’s lab uses artificial intelligence. Because biomass sources vary widely in particle size and chemical composition, no single equation can reliably predict the best combination of pressure, temperature and material inputs.

Instead, the team runs large-scale experiments and uses machine learning tools to identify which variables produce the lightest, strongest and most durable results.

鈥淯sing machine learning and AI is a very powerful tool that helps us understand these complex systems and figure out the correlation between this complex structure and the performance of the materials in that structure,鈥� Qin says.

A Greener Way to Insulate

One of the most promising applications of Qin’s research involves building insulation, and Qin has discovered that mycelium insulation avoids many of the traditional negatives associated with current insulation options like fiberglass, cellulose and polystyrene.

Mycelium comes from a renewable source that is petroleum-free and possesses a much smaller carbon footprint than other insulation choices. Qin’s research has also shown that mycelium provides effective insulation while allowing the building to breathe.

“It’s a sustainable source, a green material,” Qin says. “It鈥檚 also safer and cheaper for scaled manufacturing purposes.”

In collaboration with mechanical and aerospace engineering colleagues and and , an assistant professor in the School of Architecture, Qin is developing mycelium-based insulation panels specifically designed for building retrofits, targeting older houses across New York state that have proven to be energy inefficient.

In 2024, the University received $846,000 from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to develop and demonstrate MycoCore, a product aimed at addressing a lack of low-carbon insulated fa莽ade systems for deep energy retrofits through a unique panelized solution manufactured with engineered bio-composites using regional agri-waste. Wilson serves as the principal investigator, while Qin, Bing and Jensen are co-principal investigators.

Mycelium research at the University began in 2019 with the interdisciplinary Mycelium Research Group鈥攆ormed from internal research seed funding鈥攅xamining mycelium building materials as one objective within the Architecture-led exploratory project.

Filtering the Air We Breathe

When Qin arrived at 网爆门 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he created the , a research group studying biomechanics and biomaterials to improve the efficiency and performance of building materials.

His research earned Qin a in 2022. But in the beginning, while Qin recognized the benefits of using mycelium as an adhesive, he didn鈥檛 realize the mushroom鈥檚 unique network structure could also address air filtration challenges.

Working with Zhang and mechanical and aerospace engineering colleague , Qin’s lab is now exploring how mycelium materials can be integrated into heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems to capture airborne particles and absorb chemical gases that slowly release from synthetic wood products, furniture and paint.

“Once we start to collect samples and put them in the microscope, we see this unique complex network structure,” Qin says. “Once we do the mechanical testing, we see how this complex network connects to the mechanical, thermal and many material responses. At that point, we start to explore many different applications.”

This work is supported by a Center of Excellence faculty fellowship Qin received last year.

Qin credits the NSF CAREER grant with allowing his team of student researchers to spend four years exploring mycelium’s potential.

鈥淲e knew mycelium can be used as an adhesive, but we knew much less about the insulation or the air filtering implications,鈥� Qin says. 鈥淭he NSF CAREER grant really allowed us to explore the fundamental scientific applications found in mycelium while discovering all of the related applications. It was a game changer.鈥�

will spend several months in the Bahamas this fall, supported by a as she studies how human practices surrounding the , a critically endangered reef fish, create conflicts over culture, economy and governmental regulation in that region.

The assistant professor of anthropology in the will pursue a project titled 鈥淧oaching in Bahamian Waters: Conservation and National Security in Caribbean Seascapes.鈥�

The project extends Mallon Andrews鈥� earlier research among spearfishermen along the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, where declining fish stocks forced divers to go deeper into the water and farther out to sea, risking their physical safety and potentially crossing national borders to earn a living. Some eventually crossed into Bahamian waters and听 were arrested and jailed as poachers.

For this project, the anthropologist will examine the issue from the perspective of Bahamian regulators. She will embed with personnel charged with poaching enforcement, including members of the , the , 听the and .

During peak poaching season, Mallon Andrews will participate in training programs for law enforcement officers and lawyers. She will accompany fishing patrols and speak with public officials who process illegal catches. She will follow Bahamian government agencies as poaching arrests play out in the country鈥檚 courts.

National Security Stakes

The proper regulation of marine resources is central to , according to the . 听sustains roughly 20% of the country鈥檚 gross domestic product (GDP), although 听threatens the economy鈥檚 long-term sustainability.

Tourism activity based on the country鈥檚 marine ecology鈥攃oral reefs, mangroves and pristine beaches鈥攁ttracts millions of visitors yearly and generates about 50% of the country鈥檚 GDP. Although the country controls 250,000 square miles of maritime territory, about 35% of lobsters harvested from Bahamian waters are taken illegally. Between 2013 and 2019, 24 fishing vessels were apprehended, and the boats of 375 Dominican nationals were confiscated. Collectively, those poachers were sentenced to 239 years in prison, Mallon Andrews says.

Several conditions affect how the countries deal with those issues, Mallon Andrews says. Both Dominican fishers and Bahamian environmental agents are reacting to the increasing scarcity of Caribbean fisheries, a reality she says makes it easy for Bahamian institutions to blur the lines between environmental protection and national security. Global climate change is exacerbating the conditions that lead to poaching. And the Bahamas struggles with poaching on two fronts: Dominican fishers from the south and American poachers from the north.

Alternative Perspective

In the next phase of research, Mallon Andrews will focus on how poachers are perceived by Bahamian institutions, how conservation and security measures overlap in practice and what becomes of confiscated ships, gear and fish. She鈥檒l view those issues from the perspective of those she describes as 鈥渂eing charged with navigating an uneven and difficult-to-control tapestry of conservation enforcement.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檓 hoping people will take seriously not only the regional and international implications of environmental crime but the upending of the narrative of criminals and enforcers,鈥� Mallon Andrews says. 鈥淚t is much more difficult to think about what that means for people whose lives are impacted by seafood industries, and for the people who are asked to enforce those regulations.鈥�

Research With Real Stakes

Mallon Andrews鈥� previous research resulted in the forthcoming book 鈥�.鈥� During that project and as an avid freediver and underwater photographer, she built a rapport with those she interviewed by diving alongside them and learning to spearfish as she heard their stories.

鈥淎 gesture like that really makes a big impact because its unique in the researcher-to-researched relationship. You really attempt to ask someone to integrate you into their daily life,鈥� she says.

An Enforcement Perspective

Mallon Andrews expects to find the same willingness to share perspectives among the regulatory enforcers she encounters this time. 鈥淚 feel lucky to have Fulbright support on this project because it鈥檚 a different relationship,” she says. “[These] enforcers are very concerned about the issue of poaching and what they want people to know about the practical conundrums they encounter on a daily basis.鈥�

She also plans to organize a photo exhibition and produce a short documentary film and will present workshops and talks at the University of the Bahamas as the community engagement aspect of her work.

What makes this new project particularly interesting to her as an anthropologist, Mallon Andrews says, is that the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic differ in their histories, cultures and governmental structures. Those differences shape the values and politics each nation brings to the poaching problem.

She is excited to spend time 鈥渨ith people who have life stories entirely different from my own. I鈥檓 an ethnographer through and through, and I鈥檓 excited to learn things by walking in someone else鈥檚 shoes in the Bahamas鈥擺things] that I couldn鈥檛 imagine from sitting here in an office in Syracuse.鈥�

网爆门 is at the center of a regional effort to develop the energy storage workforce of the future, serving as a core partner in the and spearheading the workforce development portion of its mission through administration of the Generating Regional Opportunities in Workforce (GROW) program.

鈥溚� brings together research expertise, workforce development skills and community partnerships,鈥� says Vice President for Research . 鈥淭he Energy Storage Engine lets us put all of that to work for upstate New York by connecting the science happening in our labs to the jobs and training our region needs.鈥�

The Energy Storage Engine was launched in January 2024 as one of 10 inaugural Regional Innovation Engines created by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Its aim: to make upstate New York a national hub for battery technology by bringing together researchers, entrepreneurs and workforce trainers. Led by Binghamton University, the initiative recently entered phase 2 with a $45 million NSF grant.

Crucial Role

, director of strategic partnerships in the , co-coordinated workforce development during the engine’s first phase. 鈥淭he energy storage sector is going to generate thousands of jobs in upstate New York,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why workforce development is so important鈥攊t鈥檚 the bridge between the research happening in our labs and the economic impact we鈥檙e trying to create in our communities.鈥�

The GROW program was established in late 2024 with a $2 million subcontract from Binghamton University. Together with Rome, New York-based nonprofit , 网爆门 oversaw the competitive grant program, which seeded battery and energy storage workforce training at institutions and organizations across Central and Western New York and the Southern Tier. A diverse cohort received $1.1 million in GROW awards: YWCA of Rochester and Monroe County; SUNY Broome Community College; Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT); Binghamton University; Alfred University; GreenForce Training Inc.; the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) at RIT; and 网爆门.

These institutions developed programs for a wide range of learners, from middle and high school pupils to college students to community members. Nearly 400 participants have benefited from GROW-funded programs鈥攁 number that will increase substantially in phase two.

鈥淭wo years ago, training for battery research and manufacturing was essentially fully concentrated in Binghamton at SUNY Broome,鈥� Crampton says. 鈥淲ith funding from the Engine, training was expanded to form a network of curriculum and programs across upstate. Hundreds of people have been exposed to opportunities in battery technology, many of whom would have never before considered it as a career path.鈥�

Breadth and Inclusion

SUNY Broome expanded a Power and Energy Management seminar series, hosted a residential STEM summer camp for middle and high school students, and trained career and technical education teachers across multiple BOCES districts. The YWCA of Rochester and Monroe County brought battery science to students in Rochester, Syracuse and Binghamton, including facility tours and hands-on LEGO robotics activities at the middle school level.

NTID developed a battery technician training program specifically designed for the American Sign Language community, offering a one-day workshop and an 80-hour bootcamp. Forty individuals completed training, with several earning the Northeast New York Battery Technician Credential. GreenForce Training in Buffalo delivered six accelerated production associate courses to individuals facing barriers to employment鈥攊ncluding single parents, refugees and returning citizens鈥攁chieving an 84% job placement rate.

At the higher education level, RIT developed an 18-hour Li-ion battery curriculum delivered as a three-day immersive workshop for Monroe Community College students. Binghamton University created a new Sustainable Energy Engineering track in its electrical engineering degree. Alfred University launched a credit-bearing course in machine learning prediction of battery lifetime, enrolling 33 students and hosting a summer session that included industry professionals from Raymond Corporation.

网爆门鈥檚 GROW-funded program brought clean energy and autonomous systems education to 28 high school students from the Syracuse City School District through a six-week summer workshop. All participants鈥攁pproximately half of whom had no prior coding experience鈥攃ompleted the program, and 27 traveled to Boston for a national competition. A majority reported increased interest in pursuing engineering or computer science majors.

Looking Ahead

With the engine now entering phase two, the workforce development pillar is set to scale significantly. The initiative is targeting a hub-and-spoke model anchored by four regional coalitions鈥攅ach led by a major research university鈥攖o coordinate enrollment growth, transfer agreements, experiential learning and employer engagement. Summer 2026 internship and undergraduate research cohorts are projected to double.

鈥淭he groundwork laid by the first GROW cohort has demonstrated that building a regional energy storage workforce is possible, and that it requires meeting learners where they are: in high school classrooms, community organizations and college labs across the region,鈥� Crampton says.

Inside every human cell, a tiny structure called a lysosome acts like a recycling center, breaking down toxic waste, clearing damaged proteins and helping keep the cell functioning properly.

When that recycling center stops working because the lysosome loses the acidic conditions it needs to function, the consequences ripple outward. Waste builds up, proteins accumulate and eventually the cell鈥檚 internal systems begin to break down. This type of dysfunction is commonly associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson鈥檚.

Newly published research from , assistant professor of biomedical and chemical engineering in the , suggests that nanoscopic particles delivered into the body could help restore the recycling function, and in doing so, slow disease progression at its cellular root.

Instead of just treating symptoms, Zeng鈥檚 novel approach uses acidic nanoparticles to restore lysosomal function and repair the cell鈥檚 built-in cleanup system. The results of her study, , demonstrate this strategy in both cell and animal models of Parkinson鈥檚 disease.

鈥淩ather than simply trying to block damage after it occurs, this approach aims to restore the cell鈥檚 own ability to clear toxic material and maintain homeostasis,鈥� Zeng says. 鈥淲e think this makes it especially promising, because it could be adapted to other diseases in which harmful proteins build up and the cell鈥檚 recycling system isn鈥檛 working properly.鈥�

The study, published in April, was carried out in collaboration with assistant professor and his lab in the 鈥� Department of Biology. , part of the , work closely together to better understand the underlying disease mechanisms for conditions including Alzheimer鈥檚, Parkinson鈥檚 and multiple sclerosis.

How the Research Works

Zeng focuses on developing tools to deliver therapies more precisely within the body. One such tool is nanoparticles鈥攖iny spherical structures formed from long, flexible polymer chains.

How small exactly is nanosized? Ten to the power of minus nine, tinier than a cell itself.

鈥淭hink of them like long, soft chains that tangle together and eventually form a tiny ball,” she says. “That’s what makes a nanoparticle. Because they’re so small, cells can take them in pretty easily.”

Zeng is applying this nanoparticle-based strategy across multiple disease areas, including metabolic disorders and Parkinson鈥檚 disease, with a focus on addressing dysfunction at the cellular level鈥攂oth to better understand early changes and to deliver more precise, effective treatments.

In Parkinson鈥檚, impaired lysosomal function and toxic protein buildup contribute to neuronal damage. Lysosomes require an acidic environment to function, similar to how stomach acid helps break down food. In disease, this acidity is reduced and the 鈥渞ecycling center鈥� function stops working, allowing waste to accumulate.

鈥淵ou can think of it like stomach acid鈥攈elping break things down,鈥� Zeng says. 鈥淟ysosomes need to stay very acidic to work properly. Our nanoparticles go into the cell, break apart, and release acid, which helps restore that environment. That鈥檚 how they get the lysosomes working again.鈥�

Her newly published study demonstrated how restoring the pH environment in lysosomes reduced toxic protein aggregation, a hallmark of Parkinson’s, in both cell and animal models, thereby protecting the brain cells responsible for movement that are progressively lost during the disease.

Zeng鈥檚 work also suggests that lysosomal dysfunction may be an early indicator of disease, observed across conditions ranging from Parkinson’s to metabolic disorders such as obesity and diabetes.

“When lysosomes start to lose function and you鈥檙e no longer able to clear unwanted material, it can signal that harmful processes are beginning to build up,” Zeng says. “It may serve as an early warning sign.”

For that reason, Zeng and Lo are also working to develop biomarkers that can detect changes in lysosomal pH at early stages.

What鈥檚 Next

The next step Zeng is taking with her nanoparticle research is tackling how to make them better at reaching the brain, where they鈥檙e needed.

The brain has a built-in security system called the blood-brain barrier, which helps protect the organ from harmful substances but also blocks most medicines from getting through. That means even good treatments may never reach the place they are needed to work.

To address this, Zeng is designing nanoparticles with features that can be recognized by receptors at the barrier, allowing more efficient transport into the brain.

“If you inject a drug, often less than 1% actually makes it into the brain,” Zeng says. “If we can improve how well it gets across the blood-brain barrier鈥攅ven by several fold鈥攊t could make treatments much more effective, or allow us to use much lower doses. That鈥檚 why this step is so important.”

Looking ahead, Zeng is working to further validate and refine this approach with an eye toward potential clinical translation.

鈥淭here are already a few FDA-approved nanoparticle-based drugs and vaccines, mainly in cancer and infectious diseases, but not yet for neurodegenerative conditions,鈥� she says. 鈥淎t this stage, we are focused on testing in mouse models and building the foundation for future studies in larger animal models.鈥�

She shares adjacent lab space with Lo, her close collaborator, and together they pursue interdisciplinary research to develop new tools and therapies for inflammatory, metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases.

Students interested in joining the lab are encouraged to reach out.

鈥淲e welcome inquiries from motivated students who are interested in our work,鈥� Zeng says.

More than 350 industry leaders, researchers, manufacturers, startups, investors and government partners gathered in Rochester last week for the , a two-day event showcasing the rapid growth of one of the nation鈥檚 fastest-expanding semiconductor ecosystems. 网爆门 played a central role, leading the summit鈥檚 Innovation Expo and connecting University research with the companies and entrepreneurs working to turn it into products and jobs.

The summit highlighted the scale of activity stretching across Syracuse, Buffalo, Rochester and Ithaca, making it clear that New York鈥檚 semiconductor ecosystem continues to grow stronger, with proliferating connections among research, manufacturing and workforce development.

Turning Research into Products

On day one, the Innovation Expo took center stage, featuring lightning talks from companies, universities and industry partners, including AIXTRON, Cornell University, Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Rochester, 网爆门, the University at Buffalo, TOPTICA Photonics, TunaBotics, Nicslab, Era73 Technologies and others. Together they showcased emerging technologies, research breakthroughs and commercialization opportunities spanning photonics and integrated chip design, advanced materials and semiconductor devices, robotics and automation, testing and instrumentation, extended reality, and semiconductor manufacturing processes.

鈥淭he Innovation Expo provided a forum for scientists and engineers across academia, startups and established companies to learn about each other鈥檚 capabilities and needs and form partnerships for turning research into products and products into jobs,鈥� says , vice president for research and principal investigator for the NY SMART I-Corridor鈥檚 .

Connecting Suppliers With Growing Demand

Day two featured the Supply Chain Exchange, where exhibitor showcases, one-on-one matchmaking meetings and panel discussions helped connect regional suppliers with growing industry demand. Companies including GlobalFoundries, Edwards Vacuum and Universal Instruments discussed purchasing needs and met directly with potential suppliers from across the corridor.

For businesses looking to enter or expand within the industry, the opportunities are no longer theoretical. Companies are actively seeking partners to supply bulk chemicals and industrial gases, logistics and warehousing, machined parts, robotics and automation systems, electronic components, electrical systems and sensors and advanced materials and thermal management solutions.

Workforce and Momentum

As semiconductor investments continue across New York, employers, educators and workforce organizations are focused on building the talent pipeline needed to meet future demand. As the summit discussion turned toward practical solutions and partnerships, perhaps the biggest takeaway was the sense of momentum. Across the corridor, organizations are making investments, launching initiatives and finding new ways to support the industry鈥檚 growth.

鈥淭he conversations that took place throughout the summit reinforced the tremendous momentum building across the NY SMART I-Corridor,鈥� says Joe Stefko, president and CEO of OneROC and regional innovation officer for the NY SMART I-Corridor. 鈥淔rom supply chain development and workforce growth to research commercialization and international collaboration, the summit demonstrated how partners across sectors are working together to strengthen New York鈥檚 position in the global semiconductor industry.鈥�

About NY SMART I-Corridor

The is a coalition of more than 100 organizations spanning businesses, higher education institutions, economic development groups and community-based organizations, convened by the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, CenterState CEO and OneROC. Together, the coalition is positioning Upstate New York as a global leader in semiconductor manufacturing, innovation and workforce development.

The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) , authorized by the , provides funding for regional technology development with matching support from the Empire State Development

Where you live affects how healthy you are. That idea sits at the center of Miriam Mutambudzi鈥檚 research鈥攁nd behind the two-year project she led as the 2024鈥�26 .

is an associate professor of public health in the . Her work explores how conditions like housing, employment and economic stability shape people鈥檚 health over their lifetimes.

For the Lender fellowship, she and a team of student fellows set out to examine housing as a structural determinant of health, reviewing the research evidence and engaging directly with community members to understand how this plays out in Syracuse.

Working in partnership with the University鈥檚 and the , the team reviewed research on housing and health, then engaged community members directly through the (TMR) series. The fellowship culminated when student fellows presented as panelists at a TMR session鈥攐ffering their findings to the public as emerging experts in the field.

We spoke with Mutambudzi recently about the team鈥檚 work.

What did the community tell you that the data couldn鈥檛?

Community voices from sessions like 鈥淭he Conditions of Home: Health, Safety and Access鈥� described how housing quality, environmental safety, neighborhood conditions and instability affect daily stress, food access and overall health and well-being in ways that do not show up in traditional datasets.

These conversations also revealed gaps in existing evidence, particularly around how local housing policies, service systems and lived experiences intersect in Syracuse鈥攁reas that would benefit from further research to better quantify these issues and understand their impact.

How did TMR become part of that work?

As the landscape for relevant research shifted in ways outside our control, it became clear that data analysis alone was insufficient to fully capture the lived realities of housing disparities in Syracuse. TMR was a natural fit, as the focus was on housing and provided an opportunity to incorporate community-engaged work in a meaningful way, one I don鈥檛 think we could have replicated any other way.

What role did the student fellows play?

They were genuine research partners, leading development of data briefings drawn from publicly available sources and peer-reviewed literature, then building presentations for the TMR sessions that framed topics for the roundtable鈥檚 participants.

Prior to each session, fellows met with panelists to learn about their lived experience in Syracuse and their work, using these conversations to develop informed moderator questions for the roundtable discussions. That process ensured that each session reflected both rigorous evidence and real community knowledge.

How has this project informed your ongoing research?

This work has helped me see how housing shapes health and everyday life beyond what quantitative data alone can fully capture. It has broadened my understanding of how housing, as a structural determinant, independently shapes health outcomes and survival. I look forward to bringing these community insights into that ongoing research.

What does this work mean for people living in Syracuse, and other areas like it?

The patterns we are seeing in Syracuse connect to broader research on how structural disparity in housing shape health and survival across communities. This work points to the need for both local action and research that can better quantify these impacts and inform policy and practice.

Student Fellows

The 2024鈥�26 Lender student fellow team consists of:

• Tomiwa 鈥淭ommy鈥� DaSilva 鈥�26, a double major in public health and policy studies and citizenship and civic engagement in the Maxwell School
• Adara 鈥淒arla鈥� Hobbs 鈥�22, G鈥�26, a graduate student in Pan-African studies in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) and recipient of a certificate of advanced studies in public management and policy from the Maxwell School. She is an alumna of the communication and rhetorical studies program in the College of Visual and Performing Arts
• Jamea Candy Johnson 鈥�25, G鈥�26, a graduate student in public health in the Maxwell School and an alumna of the psychology program in A&S
• Sabrina Lussier 鈥�26, a triple major in geography, citizenship and civic engagement, and environmental sustainability and policy in the Maxwell School
• Shreya Potluri 鈥�27, an architecture major in the School of Architecture

Faculty in the (VPA) and the (A&S) have received (NEA) grants to support their community-engaged creative arts programs.

The awards鈥�$20,000 for a collaborative filmmaking production program aimed at Syracuse City youth and $18,200 for two years of artist residencies at a campus-affiliated cultural center鈥攔eflect the University’s commitment to connecting academic and creative work with the Central New York community.

Teens With a Movie Camera

Now in its third year, “” brings about a dozen local high school students to campus each summer for a three-week media arts production collaboration. Working with film faculty and University students, teens ages 13 to 18 make original short films using smartphones and everyday objects and then present them publicly.

Their work has been shown at the and at . It has also been screened in national and international film festivals, including the Thomas Edison Film festival, where 鈥溾�� won an honorable mention; and in the New Year/New Work Film Festival at The Film-Makers’ Cooperative听in NYC.

The program is co-led by , associate professor in VPA’s Department of Film and Media Arts; VPA film program alumnus G’23 and , a Guggenheim fellow and adjunct professor of photography at Onondaga Community College.

The trio is assisted by undergraduate and graduate film and media arts students. The program aims to empower teens by voicing their ideas through images and public presentation, according to Mi拧o Such媒. He says production relies heavily on improvisation “because it is undertaken as a zero-budget creative production based on the ethos of the tradition of independent cinema and low-budget experimental filmmaking.”

This summer鈥檚 program will explore themes of “defying gravity” and “overcoming the impossible.” Interested teens can apply on the program’s .

Community Folk Art Center

A second NEA grant of $18,200 will support “Rooted & Rising,” an artist residency program at the (CFAC), a University-affiliated cultural hub dedicated to promoting artists of the African Diaspora.

The residency is directed by , executive director of CFAC and assistant professor of African American studies in A&S. The grant will allow a program beginning in summer 2026 continuing through the end of 2027 that will support four artists over the two-year period. In addition to interacting with students in A&S programs, the artists will develop workshops, exhibitions, talks and free public events.

Jackson says the residencies will create meaningful opportunities for 网爆门 students to engage directly with working artists while also expanding access to arts programming for the Central New York community. They also offer the artists 鈥渢he time, space and institutional support to develop new work grounded in public engagement and cultural dialogue,” Jackson says.

The project reflects CFAC’s mission to bridge scholarship, creative expression and community wellness through support of multidisciplinary artists.

More information about NEA grants and their impact on communities is available on the .