This summer, three Syracuse students crossed the Atlantic for immersive academic three-week programs through the . Only 30 students were selected nationwide for this prestigious program.

Though their subjects couldn’t have been more different, Ellie Ensign, Clara Hasegawa and Anthony Viola engaged in an experience that reshaped how they think about their own field of study.

Ellie Ensign ’29—Queen’s University Belfast: Listening Across a Divide

Ensign, an international relations major in the and and a marketing management major in the , spent three weeks in Queen’s University Belfast’s (QUB) international summer school studying Northern Ireland’s history and the dynamics of divided societies. The program paired classroom lectures on nationalism and populism with field trips to Derry-Londonderry, the North Coast, Crumlin Road Gaol and Stormont.

One conversation stayed with her most: a session with Brian Rowan, a journalist who covered Northern Ireland during the Troubles. Rowan described the burden of relaying information from every side of a conflict to the public, without a rulebook to guide him. For Ensign, it reframed how she thinks about storytelling under pressure. She learned that pursuing unbiased truth doesn’t mean there’s a single clear path to it.

A second formative moment came from Karl Vidamour, a QUB doctoral student who spoke about how environmental issues get filtered through the same “othering” dynamics as political ones. It showed Ensign the patterns she was studying in Belfast appear in places she wouldn’t have expected, including debates back home.

Clara Hasegawa ’29—Lancaster University: Finding a Voice Behind the Sound

For Hasegawa, a film major in the , the defining challenge of her program at Lancaster University was collaborative filmmaking—pitching, critiquing and producing a script as a team that would share a single grade.

Going in, she worried about managing creative differences among a group of equally passionate filmmakers. Instead, she found the experience to be the highlight of her trip. After each student wrote and pitched a short screenplay, the group settled on one story to produce together and divided up production roles.

Hasegawa ended up as sound designer, a role she’d never held before, working alongside a first-time cinematographer and a first-time director.

The group’s film explored the anthropocene, the time we are living in, using Lancaster’s city streets to evoke humanity’s disruption of the natural world. Hasegawa built much of the soundscape from field recordings of traffic and crowds, and in hindsight, wishes she’d gathered even more raw audio to layer into the mix.

Beyond the shoot itself, weekend travel to Liverpool, the Lake District and London gave her a broader sense of British storytelling traditions, from the Beatles Museum to Beatrix Potter’s house to the West End stages.

Anthony Viola ’28—University of St Andrews: History as Information Architecture

Viola, an information management and technology major in the, found that a Scottish history program at the University of St Andrews spoke directly to his discipline. Visits to the university’s special collections archive showed him how carefully organized historical documents and letters preserve context, not just content, and he found himself applying that lens throughout the trip.

This insight structured his experience of Dunnottar Castle, a ruined fortress perched on cliffs above the North Sea, built in part to physically separate classes by keeping servants on the lower levels. Walking through its remains, Viola began seeing the castle itself as a form of information storage, its architecture encoding a history that’s still open to interpretation.

The three students worked with the to apply for the Fulbright UK awards. For more information, contact cfsa@syr.edu

Three Syracuse University faculty members—, and —have been named to the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science & Technology’s (MOST) list, presented by Micron Technology. The annual list recognizes early-career professionals whose work is advancing STEM in the region.

The recognition comes as Central New York is poised to become a major hub for semiconductor manufacturing with Micron’s planned multibillion-dollar investment in the region, including a $100 billion manufacturing campus in suburban Syracuse.

“These three faculty members represent exactly the kind of talent that makes Syracuse a magnet for world-class researchers,” says Vice President for Research . “While their work spans computational chemistry, robotics and microbial ecology, each is training the scientists and engineers our region will need as Central New York’s technology economy grows.”

Atanu Acharya

Acharya, an assistant professor of chemistry at the (A&S), is a computational chemist who uses quantum mechanics, molecular dynamics and machine learning to solve biochemical puzzles, ranging from the respiration of “metal-breathing” bacteria to controlling biochemical reactions with light to understanding how microplastics and nanoplastics get through cell membranes.

His research depends on high-performance computing and simulations, as if he is using a “computational microscope,” a term often used to describe the field. Similar computational tools underlie material design, giving his students skills directly transferable to the region’s growing STEM-focused industries.

Zhenyu Gan

Gan, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the , directs the Dynamic Locomotion and Robotics Lab, studying how animals shift fluidly between gaits and applying those principles to legged robots that can adjust their posture, leg length or shape depending on the task. Gan also studies robotic exoskeletons designed to reduce injury and fatigue in physically demanding jobs.

His research in robotics, controls and automation sits squarely in fields central to advanced chip fabrication, where precision robotics keep cleanroom production lines running, allowing Gan’s students to develop the engineering skills valued by companies like Micron.

Angela Oliverio

Oliverio, assistant professor of biology at A&S, studies the ecology and evolution of microbes—from geothermal amoebae that survive near the boiling point of water to synthetic microbial communities that she builds in the lab. She and her students investigate “community coalescence,” or what happens when separate microbial communities merge, with implications for agriculture, medicine and biotechnology.

That data-intensive approach to biology mirrors the data science techniques increasingly used in semiconductor fabrication, giving her students large-scale data analysis skills that translate well beyond biology.

The trio will be honored at an Nov. 5 at the MOST.

Get involved. Find your community. Be flexible with your career path.

Seated inside the JMA Wireless Dome for their first official gathering as Syracuse University students, more than 3,600 first-year and transfer students heard that core message Thursday morning from New Student Convocation student speaker Elyas A. Layachi ’27.

Layachi, a double major in mathematics in the����and inclusive adolescent education in the��, told the new students that he thought his Orange path would be “linear”—a degree in aerospace engineering, an internship at NASA and a space exploration job before graduation.

But early in his first semester, a professor’s question about his interests and passions sent him toward a new academic course, one that led to research teams, clubs, religious organizations and community service.

“Changing majors, because one professor was willing to ask me an honest question, changed the trajectory of my time here and ultimately of my life,” Layachi told the crowd. “Every student in the Dome today has something powerful before them: the opportunity to learn and grow at this amazing institution.”

Those incoming students arrive from every corner of the map: 45 states, including Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico; 19 Indigenous nations and 55 countries.

Resist the Urge to Seek Comfort in This New Beginning

, a member of the Syracuse University community for more than two decades, began his remarks by noting a shared trait: the students were new to Syracuse, and Chancellor Haynie was new to his current leadership role.

While it can be easy for students to seek comfort in the familiar during times of change, Chancellor Haynie recommended employing the opposite approach, telling students to resist being “pulled toward wanting some assurance that the unfamiliar will quickly become familiar, and that the road ahead will smooth itself out.”

“At Syracuse, our obligation is to arm our students with the tools to think clearly under pressure, to lead with conviction while remaining open to the fact that they may be wrong, and to act with purpose even when the path is anything but clear,” Chancellor Haynie said.

Haynie pointed to Ethan, an orientation leader and a dual major in business and communications, as an example. Over the summer, Ethan told Chancellor Haynie that he was enrolling in a course where he’d learn to sing and play guitar, not to advance his major, but to “force himself out of his comfort zone,” Haynie said.

“New students, be like Ethan,” Haynie said. “Discomfort is where character is built. Discomfort is where leaders are made.”

‘This Window Will Only Be Open for a Brief Time’

As he stepped to the podium, brought with him a stuffed Otto the Orange, “the best mascot in all of higher education,” which elicited applause from the audience.

Referring to their time on campus as a “metaphorical window” that “will only be open for a very brief time,” Groves urged new students to take intriguing new classes, meet extraordinary people and always extend respect to everyone on campus.

“I want you to think about the kind of community you want to be part of and then act in a way that helps achieve that goal,” Groves said.

‘Determined to Make Their Mark on the World’

, vice chancellor, provost and chief academic officer, reminded the incoming class that there is no such thing as a typical Syracuse University student.

While each student possesses differing academic and co-curricular interests and personal and professional goals, Syracuse University students “love their University in ways that are rare among college students” and are “bold, ambitious and determined to make their mark on the world.”

“You are bringing a personality, background, abilities, perspectives, interests and dreams that��we’ve��never��encountered��before,” Agnew said. “You’ll��forge a path here that is your own, and you will leave a unique and extraordinary mark on the University through the life you create here.”

To conclude the convocation, the new students recited the charge, which dates back to 1871, and sang the alma mater, following the Orange tradition by swaying as the lyrics were sung.

Hundreds of high school students spent their summer at Syracuse University. They experienced life as a college student—taking a university-level course, living in a dorm and eating with friends—before starting their higher education journey.

Syracuse University’s have been giving high school students the chance to explore potential majors and careers since 1965. Today, students get the option of attending , or at the University’s Manhattan and Los Angeles academic centers for the Summer College program.

“Students not only learn what it’s like to be a college student, but they leave the program feeling confident, enthusiastic and ready for college,” says , executive director of the Office of Pre-College Programs in the .

This year, 1,275 students attended from across 38 states; Washington, D.C.; Puerto Rico; Guam and 28 countries.

What It Offers Students

The on-campus program gives high schoolers as much of the undergraduate experience as possible: living in residence halls, eating in dining halls, attending evening and weekend social events and field trips, and taking a college-level course taught by a faculty member.

“Being away from home in the environment Summer College provides is a transformational experience for many students,” Cofer says. “Students and their parents often report how the Summer College experience was the most significant factor in preparing the student for applying to, and then leaving home for, their undergraduate career. ”

Students can confirm the major they want to pursue—or discover it is not what they want to study in college. Those in credit classes receive a Syracuse University transcript with a letter grade, and credits may transfer to other institutions.

Many also seek and secure a letter of recommendation from the professor to include in their college applications.

“Attending a pre-college program can be a transformational experience and not just here,” he says. “The transition (the gap) from high school to college is larger than most realize and attending a pre-college program provides a low risk experience where students go back home to process it while finishing high school and before they begin their college applications.”

Students who attended in recent years say it helped solidify their plans to attend Syracuse as undergraduates.

What Students Say

Evan Gohil ’29,
Attended on-campus Summer College in 2023

Evan Gohil learned about Summer College during his sophomore year of high school and attended for free through a partnership between the University and the Syracuse City School District. He says the program, where he studied neuroscience, convinced him that Syracuse University was where he belonged.

The program clarified the college experience for Gohil.

“Going through the program, I gained memories and a clearer idea of what to expect,” Gohil says. “In retrospect, the first few weeks of college were very similar to what Pre-College was.”

Learning to manage on his own and being given a level of freedom in the program was eye-opening, he says. Taking the neuroscience course, he also learned that he could pursue a pre-med track in areas beyond just biology.

The entire experience was invaluable for students with no reference for what college will be like, he says.

“This is especially important with first-generation students like myself,” he says.

Talia Klein ’27,
Attended on-campus Summer College in 2022

Talia Klein attended the program because she wanted to experience what college life was like before making “such a big decision,” she says.

“Being able to spend time on campus, take a real college course and meet current students made everything feel much more real,” she says. “By the end of the program, I could genuinely picture myself at Syracuse, and it confirmed that it was the place where I wanted to spend the next four years.”

The course gave her a glimpse of the creative, collaborative environment at Newhouse, reinforcing her excitement to pursue media and entertainment.

What also stuck with Klein was how independent she became in a short time, navigating campus, collaborating with classmates and balancing assignments.

“It was the first time college felt less intimidating and more exciting,” she says.

It also showed her how welcoming and supporting the Syracuse community is.

“It made the transition to Syracuse so much easier because I already felt connected to the campus and community,” she says.

Elena Pantoja ’29,
Attended online Summer College in 2023

For Elena Pantoja, taking an online nutrition course through Summer College was the biggest factor in her decision to return to Syracuse for her undergraduate degree. Now majoring in , she’s taken classes again with Jane Burrell, associate teaching professor in the Falk College.

Pantoja says the online experience surprised her with how productive the learning environment was. One moment she still remembers is the course’s final assignment.

“My professor had us go to a farmers market and purchase one item of our choice, research the process the farm took to get that product to the market and cook it,” she says. “I appreciated my professor’s dedication to getting us off the Zoom meeting and into our community.”

Pantoja encourages high schoolers to consider Summer College.

“Even if you can’t take a class for your major, take one that interests you just to get an idea of what your classroom expectations will be in upcoming years,” she says.

High school students and families: the 2027 Summer College application opens in mid-December, but it’s never too early to start planning ahead. Visit����for more information.

Elyas A. Layachi ’27 thought he had his Syracuse University journey figured out the day he arrived on campus.

He planned to study aerospace engineering, but he soon realized that while engineering interested him, it wasn’t his passion.

After self-reflection and conversations with family, friends, professors and advisors, he decided to double major in mathematics in the and inclusive adolescent education in the . It was a decision that opened the door to research, mentorship and leadership roles he never expected to pursue.

On , Layachi will address the more than 3,600 first-year and transfer students as the New Student Convocation speaker inside the JMA Wireless Dome, encouraging the newest members of the Orange family to stay flexible in mapping out their path.

“I came into Syracuse University with absolute certainty about how the rest of my college journey would pan out, but I wish I gave myself more grace when it came to reconsidering that path,” Layachi says. “Once I let go of that certainty, I began to grow into the person I wanted to be from the start.”

Layachi grew into a leader, serving as vice president of the and a ��peer leader, and as an and member. He also participated in the University’s first inclusive study abroad trip to Florence, Italy, served as an undergraduate research assistant for two faculty members and presented original research on virtual reality eye tracking at the American Educational Research Association.

SU Today caught up with Layachi to learn more about his favorite memories from his first year on campus and his advice to the new students in the Class of 2030.

1. He fell in love with the campus from the jump.

“I was drawn to Syracuse University by its size and diversity of majors. This is a beautiful campus that offers students a plethora of clubs, organizations and other ways to get involved outside of the classroom. After visiting the University for prospective student day, I was certain I wanted to commit here.”

2. A warm welcoming reception made him feel right at home.

“My memories from Move-In/Welcome Week are warm. I clearly remember the welcoming smiles from Goon Squad members as they helped me move in, meeting my roommate and floormates for the first time and attending events like the Y2K Party on the Quad. I was nervous, yet motivated and excited to meet new people and get acclimated to college life. Looking back, that first week set the tone for how welcomed and supported I’d continue to feel throughout my time at Syracuse University.”

3. He became his own best advocate.

“I realized that advocating for yourself and taking initiative are key to academic and personal success. Through research programs like and the , I learned to apply research skills in education and gained a newfound passion for educational research. Looking back, Syracuse University gave me the opportunity and resources to pivot, find my footing and grow into the person I’d hoped to become.”

4. His passion for community service motivated his on-campus involvement.

“These experiences in the , First Year Seminar, the Muslim Students’ Association and the Honors Program enabled me to grow as a person and explore my strengths and weaknesses in mentorship, research and public speaking. Being an active student leader on campus improves my leadership skills while letting me give back to the University and help positively impact the college experiences of other students.”

5. He wants to use his degrees to impact educational research and policymaking.

“Once I graduate, I plan to earn a master’s degree in an education field and teach secondary mathematics for at least five years. Further down the line, I hope to earn a doctorate in educational policy or a related field and build a career in educational research and policymaking.”

6. He intends to emphasize the importance of finding community on campus.

“I plan to call on students to be proactive and seek out community at Syracuse University, and I’ll share a personal story about a pivotal early moment that speaks to these themes.”

Two Syracuse University faculty members have received a (NEH) grant to digitize portions of the —a rare, 54-volume trove of 18^th-century documents charting , and relations in the years surrounding the .

, principal investigator and assistant professor in the , and , co-principal investigator and professor of in the , received nearly $350,000 for their two-year project, “E Pluribus Unum: The American Revolution at the Intersection of Ideas and Interests.” Their project is one of to mark the country’s 250th anniversary, including 33 grants awarded under NEH’s new funding opportunity.

Amherst commanded British forces in North America during the , helping secure Britain’s victory. Housed at the , the 54 volumes span the 1740s to 1790s and include military correspondence, orders and reports from the war, including Amherst’s letters to and from , and .

Three-Way Relations

The collection captures the three-way relationship among British officials, colonial American leaders and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy in the years before the American Revolution. Their content illuminates how ideas of liberty, sovereignty and democracy developed amid diplomacy, conflict and negotiation in that era.

The archived materials have long been largely inaccessible to the public, somewhat because of their bulk and a lack of freely accessible digital surrogates of the materials, apart from some cumbersome digitized WWII-era microfilm, Modrow says.

This project aims to change that. In 2026, Modrow and Arnold will travel to London to photograph each document individually, producing high-resolution digital surrogates. They’ll then tag the images with metadata and use the AI-powered app to make them full-text-searchable by name, date and subject. That will let researchers search tens of thousands of pages in seconds, rather than leafing through folders by hand.

Student Helpers

Once digitized, Modrow will recruit a project coordinator and iSchool and Arts and Sciences students to fact-check the AI-generated transcriptions, comparing the descriptions against the original 18th-century handwriting for accuracy.

After vetting, the collection will be uploaded to an Omeka-based, open-source platform hosted on the iSchool’s servers, Modrow says.

Window to Relations

Amherst’s papers offer an underused window into the alliances, rivalries and negotiations that shaped American independence, Arnold says. While British and colonial-patriot perspectives of this time are well documented, these papers can help remedy missing Haudenosaunee Confederacy viewpoints, material Arnold plans to bring into his classes and offer at public workshops to broaden understanding of the era’s varied perspectives, he says.

“Despite the confederacy’s influence on the era’s diplomacy, conflict and the development of Western democratic ideas, the Haudenosaunee viewpoint has remained comparatively obscure. This is a critically important collection. It is a continuation of many decades of work around the and how Haudenosaunee, British and American actions 250 years ago interacted to create the world we inhabit today.”

Modrow, Arnold and other members of the Doctrine of Discovery research group participated in a British National Archives exhibit about the entire War of Independence, “,” while in London in 2025 to research the Amherst Papers.

, a biology professor in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), has won��, the top honor given by the Society for College Science Teaching (SCST).

announced the award at the National Science Teaching Association’s annual conference in Anaheim, California. The recognizes teaching colleagues who have enhanced the profession as outstanding teachers of science, according to the society. Judges weigh three criteria: teaching excellence, scholarship and service, with attention paid to course innovation, publications and presentations, as well as contributions to science education beyond the classroom.

SCST describes Wiles’ teaching as a “dynamic, student-centered approach” built on active learning, critical thinking and open dialogue. His courses often take on science topics that are well-established among researchers but contested in public conversation. His course “Political” Science has become a favorite among Honors students, science and non-science majors alike.

“Dr. Wiles dedication to undergraduate science education in the classroom and his research focus on improving teaching science at the college level make him well deserving of this award,” says��, professor and chair of the Department of Biology.

Beyond the classroom, Wiles contributes to national efforts to improve science education, including faculty development workshops. Through��, he also works with high school science teachers to bring university-level biology curricula to college-bound students.

The award adds to a lengthy list of national and international honors for Wiles, including being among the elite cohort of Syracuse professors��elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

At Syracuse University, some of the most valuable classroom instruction is based not on a textbook but on decades spent solving real problems in the field. Professors of practice bring that kind of expertise directly to students, translating professional experience into lessons that go beyond theory. Nearly 100 professors of practice across the University represent one of the most direct ways Syracuse connects academic learning to the industry.

That connection is central to , one of the areas of distinctive excellence outlined in the academic strategic plan, “.” Where traditional coursework builds foundational knowledge, professors of practice show students how that knowledge is applied in real settings. Their presence ensures Syracuse’s academic programs stay current with an evolving professional landscape, giving students a clearer view of the careers they’re preparing to enter.

We sat down with three professors of practice to hear more about their approach: , professor of practice in forensic science in the College of Arts and Sciences;�� , Cramer Family Professor of Practice in Community Impact in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs; and , professor of practice in the School of Information Studies.

For the second year running, Syracuse University is claiming an entire week on “,” the nationally syndicated program that brings university research to NPR stations across North America and to international listeners worldwide.

Five scholars will each take a turn during “Syracuse Week,” Aug. 17–21, sharing work that spans food policy, artificial intelligence, architecture, political science and marine biology:

Monday, Aug. 17: , professor of public administration and international affairs in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, examines how new SNAP work requirements will restrict benefits for adults ages 60–64, increasing food insecurity and ultimately costing taxpayers more through Medicare and Medicaid.

Tuesday, Aug. 18: , research professor in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, explores whether humans can still distinguish real people from AI-generated ones. In a study co-authored with Gina Luttrell, participants identified synthetic profiles correctly only 54% of the time—barely above random chance—while an AI detector hit 88% accuracy. (Related article)

Wednesday, Aug. 19:, associate professor in the School of Architecture, argues that architecture shapes not just space, but time itself. From Rome’s stone-inscribed calendars to today’s airport priority lanes, he traces how buildings have long organized whose time is valued—and whose is not.

Thursday, Aug. 20: , professor of political science in the Maxwell School, draws on his book “” to argue that American secession, however appealing to the polarized, would almost certainly turn violent.

Friday, Aug. 21: , research assistant professor of biology in the College of Arts and Sciences, describes how suction-cup tags and remote-sensing technology help identify whale foraging hot spots in Massachusetts Bay—with real-time alerts pushed to mariners to prevent deadly ship strikes on endangered right and sei whales. (Related article)

Each segment airs on NPR-affiliated stations and is posted online at following its broadcast date.

The (A&S) has named Mark Depew as assistant dean for advancement, effective Aug. 10.

Depew joins A&S from Cornell University, where he spent the past 15 years in advancement, most recently as a major gifts officer managing a portfolio of principal and major gift prospects. He generated more than $33 million during Cornell’s most recent comprehensive campaign, including a $10 million commitment and multiple seven-figure gifts. Earlier in his career, he served as director of development for Cornell’s Nolan School of Hotel Administration, leading a seven-person advancement team and partnering with the school’s dean and faculty on fundraising priorities.

Prior to his advancement career, Depew built nearly 20 years of business leadership experience, including co-founding a real estate brokerage and holding regional management roles in banking and financial services.

Depew will serve as a liaison to the�� and oversee major A&S advancement events. Additionally, he will develop advancement strategies supporting the college’s priorities, such as scholarships, career readiness and faculty support.

“Mark possesses the experience to grow philanthropic cooperation that reflects our departments’ priorities under the college’s strategic plan,” says . “His record of building lasting donor relationships and closing transformational gifts at Cornell speaks for itself, and I’m confident he’ll be a trusted partner to our faculty and chairs as we grow A&S’ advancement pipeline.”

Depew will report jointly to Mortazavi and Jen Stone, assistant vice president for schools, colleges and units in the University’s Advancement and External Affairs division.

“What stood out to me about Mark is how consistently people described him—as a fundraiser who builds real relationships with donors instead of someone who just closes gifts, and as a mentor who genuinely develops the people on his team,” says Stone. “He’s led a team before, he knows how to translate philanthropic priorities into results and he’s coming in ready to partner closely with academic leadership as we grow advancement’s role in A&S’ strategic plan. I couldn’t be more excited to have him joining us.”

In his new role, Depew will lead the college’s ��of five people, building a network of major gift prospects aligned with priorities across A&S departments under the��.

Depew earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and management, with a concentration in finance, from the State University of New York at Cortland.

“I am honored to join Syracuse University and the College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s flagship college,” Depew says. “I am excited to work alongside Dean Mortazavi, our faculty and the advancement team to advance the college’s vision and priorities. I look forward to building meaningful relationships that inspire philanthropic investments to support our students and strengthen the college for generations to come.”

Four faculty members in the early stages of their research careers have earned recognition and funding from the (NSF) this year through its award program.

The CAREER program is among the most prestigious awards NSF offers. It supports early-career faculty who show promise as both researchers and teachers and who weave education into their scientific work.

“CAREER awards are among the most competitive NSF offers, and they give a researcher’s work real momentum at a pivotal stage,” says Duncan Brown, vice president for research. “They tell the national scientific community that innovative work is happening here, and because the program values teaching as much as discovery, students can be confident they’re learning from faculty at the leading edge of their fields. Earning four awards in a single year speaks to the caliber of faculty joining, and at, Syracuse—and to what our students gain from learning alongside them.”

Receiving awards this year are:

, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the ($611,222)

Gan received the grant for his project “A Systematic Framework for Morphological Adaptation and Control of Transformable Legged Robots.” Most robots have a fixed shape; Gan is building one that doesn’t. His legged robot can change its own body—adjusting leg length, posture or shape—to walk, jump, crawl or carry a load. His work develops the math and controls that let a machine reshape itself as the task changes, with possible uses in search and rescue, disaster response and space exploration.

The award also builds a robotics pipeline for students at every stage: middle schoolers will program small four-legged robots, high schoolers will take on a self-driving racecar challenge, and Syracuse undergraduates will help teach them and carry the research into the classroom.

, assistant professor of physics in the (A&S) ($770,516).

Pashine received funding for “Adaptability of Soft Deformable Granular Materials.” She studies granular materials—think sand or a bag of beads—but with a twist: her particles can bend, grip and change their size, shape and stiffness. Using custom-built robotic particles, she traces how the behavior of single grains adds up to how the whole material acts—whether it flows or holds firm. The goal is “programmable” matter that can be tuned to respond in specific ways.

Her project also brings physics to a wider audience. With a Syracuse colleague in mathematics and education, she is designing an algebra-based “meaningful physics” course for non-majors that ties the material to students’ everyday lives.

Undergraduate researchers will build interactive demonstrations in her lab that then travel to K-12 classrooms, creating a chain of hands-on science engagement.

, assistant professor of mathematics in A&S ($400,000)

Pollitz received the funds for his project “Applications of Koszul Duality to Local Algebra.” He works in areas of mathematics that study number-like systems called rings and the patterns in how their parts fit together. He focuses on rings with “singularities”—points where the structure turns irregular and is hard to pin down.

His main tool is Koszul duality, which recasts a hard problem in a friendlier setting to tame calculations that would otherwise run on forever. Teaching sits at the center of the award: Pollitz will run week-long masterclasses and immersive summer schools—modeled on European programs—that bring students and researchers together for intensive, hands-on work and build a wider community around the field.

, assistant professor of physics in A&S ($1,007,943).

Mihovilovic Skanata’s award advances her research on how a brain turns what it senses into what an animal does. Her model is the fruit fly larva, simple enough to study almost neuron by neuron. Her five-year project, Lessons From a Simple Brain, asks how neural circuits weigh competing signals and settle on a response.

Her interdisciplinary lab spans physics, neuroscience, engineering and computer science. The team builds its own instruments—including a microscope that follows a larva and records its brain activity as it moves freely—to watch the brain at work in real time.

The award also opens the lab to students. It funds an intensive “NeuroBootCamp,” a six-week summer research program for high schoolers run with the Syracuse City School District, and public science events such as “Ask a Scientist” at the Museum of Science & Technology.

At the intersection of physics and human reproduction,��is helping answer one of fertility medicine’s most persistent questions: why do some human eggs fail to divide their chromosomes correctly? Errors in this process can mean a pregnancy that ends before it begins, or an IVF cycle that doesn’t succeed.

Kelleher, an assistant professor of physics in the and a member of the University’s��, is trained as a biophysicist, but his work is poised to reshape how scientists assess egg and embryo quality.

A Cellular Machine Built to Move Chromosomes

As egg cells develop, they must physically move their chromosomes into position so that, if fertilized, the resulting embryo receives the correct number of chromosomes. To do this, egg cells build a specialized structure called the spindle, which attaches to chromosomes and exerts the forces needed to separate them properly.

“This research will develop a promising method to measure the spindle, and investigate whether the resulting data can tell us about the potential of individual egg cells to develop successfully,” Kelleher says.

Chromosome segregation errors are a major cause of embryonic aneuploidy (a condition in which an embryo has too many or too few chromosomes), miscarriage and failed embryo development in in vitro fertilization (IVF). Kelleher’s project, “Quantitative Links Between Cellular Energy Availability, Spindle Function and Chromosome Segregation in Human Oocytes,” funded by a����(ASRM), aims to close a knowledge gap and get to the root cause of those segregation errors.

Partnering with Fertility Clinics

The Kelleher lab is developing non-invasive imaging techniques to measure spindle structure in living oocytes (immature egg cells). The technique relies on polarized light microscopy, which uses the way light passes through the spindle to reveal details about its structure without damaging the egg. This is similar to how X-rays allow doctors see bone structure without harming the patient.

Polarization microscopy of spindles isn’t new; it’s already used in IVF clinics.

“Our work builds on this by using computational image analysis and physics-based modeling to extract properties of the spindle that could not be measured previously,” Kelleher says.

Prior work showed the technique can measure spindle properties in mouse egg cells, but mice are not a perfect stand-in for humans. Chromosome segregation fails far more often in human eggs, so testing the method in human eggs required a research partner.

“It is essential to directly test these methods in human eggs, which can only be obtained by partnering with IVF clinics such as CNY Fertility and Boston IVF,” Kelleher says.

The eggs donated by those clinics and used in the research are ones that would not have been used for IVF treatment because they might be unsuitable for fertilization, he says.

Because the imaging technique is non-invasive and doesn’t damage the egg, Kelleher envisions it eventually being used to directly assess individual eggs under consideration for fertilization in IVF clinics. Looking further ahead, he says similar methods could even be used to tailor growth conditions for each individual egg or embryo, improving the odds that at least one develops successfully. Together, those applications could raise IVF success rates and lower treatment costs.

What the Grant Makes Possible

As Syracuse’s first recipient of an ASRM grant, Kelleher says the award carries meaning beyond the funding itself.

“It will fully fund a graduate student and a postdoc for several years, which will allow us to make progress much faster,” he says. “I am somewhat of an outsider in the IVF field, so it is encouraging that the reproductive medicine community finds our work of interest, and great for my industry partners at CNY Fertility to see this external validation.”

The lab has nearly finished setting up its microscopes and has already imaged spindles in mouse egg cells for practice. It recently received its first shipments of frozen human egg cells and expects to begin imaging them by the end of summer.

The ASRM Research Institute serves as a catalyst for groundbreaking discoveries in areas often overlooked by traditional funding sources. Kelleher’s award reflects that mission, bringing a physicist’s toolkit to bear on one of reproductive medicine’s most consequential open questions.