James Scott - US grants

The proposed research is designed to investigate the metabolic pathways through which apoproteins present in chylomicrons and very low density lipoproteins are transferred to other lipoprotein classes or catabolized by the liver. Hypercholesterolemic rats will be used as models. Hypercholesterolemia will be produced by feeding diets containing cholesterol and cholic acid. More severe hypercholesterolemia will be prduced by feeding this diet to rats made diabetic with streptozotocin. Plasma from these rats contains particles ranging in size from that of chylomicrons to chylomicron remnants (1500-4900A). These particles have a high content of cholesteryl esters and also contain A-1, which is not usually found in the d less than 1.006 lipoproteins of the rat. The metabolism of these cholesterol-rich particles will be studied and compared to that of triglyceride-rich chylomicrons and remnants produced from them. This investigation will utilize in vivo turnover experiments and studies of receptor-mediated uptake of abnormal lipoproteins by the perfused rat liver.

A program of research on ferroelectric materials, especially thin film ferroelectrics, involving both experimental and theoretical investigations. Techniques include Raman scattering and Brillouin spectroscopy.

Description: This proposal supports the collaboration of Drs. J.F. Scott and L. Kazmersky of the University of Colorado at Boulder, Dr. R. Bitar, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan and Dr. A. Shawabkah, Birzeit University, West Bank, Palestine. The purpose of the collaboration is to produce true device equations for ferroelectric film memories. Project funding will help support Dr. Bitar during his sabbatical stay at the University of Colorado as well as allow Dr. Scott to travel to Dr. Bitar's home institution. Existing facilities in Jordan are capable of carrying out this research, therefore, when Dr. Bitar returns to Jordan, studies can continue. Scope: The proposed collaboration will bring together research scientists from the U.S. and Jordan (Dr. Shawabkah is a Jordanian citizen as well as Dr. Bitar) working in the area of ferroelectric thin films. It is anticipated that this collaborative research will result in the development of ferroelectric thin film memories. Dr. Bitar will have an opportunity to familiarize himself with the techniques utilized by the team at the University of Colorado and then transfer this technology to facilities at his home institution. Therefore, this proposal fulfils objectives of the Science in Developing Countries Program in its exchange and transfer of scientific knowledge through an international collaboration.

The objective of this proposed project is to help students build a body of knowledge on the impact and implications of democracy on world politics. The PI and coPIs are experienced in this research area and are experienced working with students on such research.
This proposal is built the on success of the previous REUs. The proposed program is well designed, with structured seminars and workshops and well articulated relationships between mentors and students. There are introductory and capstone activities. Students will design and present in professional conferences. A distinctive feature is the development of communities. PI and mentors have experience in mentoring undergraduate students. They also have good institutional support.

The University of Idaho is awarded a grant to develop a strategic plan for the Taylor Wilderness Research Station (TWRS) in central Idaho. The Central Idaho Wilderness region is the largest contiguous tract of wild land in the lower U.S. with unparalleled possibilities to contribute to a future understanding of climate change impacts, wild fire effects, aquatic ecosystem function, invasive species, and large mammal predator-prey dynamics in pristine vs. managed western mountain habitats. Taylor Wilderness Research Station, in the middle of the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness and the Central Idaho Wilderness region, provides opportunities and
advantages for furthering scientific understanding and educational experiences that go beyond the unique geographic setting. The primary product will be a 10-year Master Plan for strategic growth at the TWRS (physical plant, equipment, data management, communication) that optimizes logistical, operational and institutional goals. The Master Plan also will; 1) outline an education plan that provides unparalleled field experiences and the incorporation of Native American traditional knowledge, 2) develop external funding initiatives for research and education programs and facilities improvements, 3) identify necessary collaborations with neighboring field stations and agencies to address fundamental regional knowledge gaps, and 4) outline the strategy required for subsequent 2-3 year decade planning efforts.

Project Summary

In an increasingly interconnected world, study of the forces that shape state behavior and
interactions is increasingly essential. Building on previous success of this program since 2004,
the Democracy, Interdependence and World Politics Summer Research Program at Texas
Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas will be held in the summers of 2012 and 2013. Within
the overall project theme students devise and complete independent, mentored research
projects on issues with significant academic and popular value. Each year, 7 students will work
with faculty mentors to develop research projects, gather and analyze data and produce
scholarly papers reporting their findings. Activities include research methods seminars, intensive
project development workshops, presentations by guest scholars, community events, and
research under the guidance of project mentors with established records of research and
publication. Unlike most REU programs, the focus on international relations and independent,
faculty-mentored student projects, and extensive research training.

Intellectual Merit

Recent geo-political events and the global spread of democracy make studying democracy?s
consequences for world politics compelling. Key concerns include the ability of democracies to
formulate and sustain successful foreign policies, the prospects and implications of
democratization and democracy promotion, and the effect of democracy on violent conflict.
Because this project promotes undergraduate research into these timely areas of study, it builds
on growing areas of inquiry in world politics. High quality student research projects examine
critical factors impacting state behavior and interactions, and are disseminated publicly through
presentation at the annual International Studies Association meetings, with whom the program
will partner to ensure dissemination and impact for the projects. Moreover, student participants
are highly likely to go on to graduate study, for which they are substantially better prepared
because of the intensive training of the summer program.

Broader Impacts

This unique program expands national understanding of undergraduate education in Political
Science, which has limited examples of undergraduate student-faculty collaborative research.
Second, the program provides meaningful opportunities to students to engage in international
studies research and contribute research projects to the discipline?s discourse. Third, consistent
with NSF principles emphasizing the positive impact of mentored research on undergraduate
education, the program develops and enhances research skills and prepares students for
graduate study and other applications. Fourth, the program enables diverse students from
different regions and institutions of the country to challenge and support each other in a cohort.
Finally, by offering a competitive stipend, this project is accessible to students from middle and
lower economic strata as a summer employment opportunity that enriches their education.

The modern Bayesian toolbox contains many highly structured models tailored for continuous data. These tools allow us to handle data sets that are not merely large, but also dense: varying in time or space, rich with covariates, or deeply layered with hierarchical structure, and indexed in ever more baroque ways. But the field has not progressed nearly as far in modeling discrete data. Indeed, many common discrete-data models have long been viewed as too difficult to work with on a routine basis, due to the analytically inconvenient form of the likelihood functions that arise. The investigator will develop inferential tools for discrete-data problems that exploit new data-augmentation schemes as well as recent advances in parallel and distributed computing.

Discrete data sets typically involve either event-count or categorical outcomes (yes or no, this choice or that). The goal of the investigator's research is to leverage detailed spatial information to better model and predict these outcomes. In many cases this will involve physical space. For example, spatial patterns are very important when public health authorities look for excess reports of respiratory infection at a cluster of hospitals, or when law-enforcement officers deploy equipment that detects radiation anomalies at a crowded public event. But it may also involve a more abstract notion of space. For example, patients in a clinical trial can be located in a space defined by their genes and behavior. This information is useful for personalized medicine: that is, deciding whether someone belongs to a special sub-group that is helped by a drug, even if the wider population isn't. Though the proposed research is in the area of statistical methodology, the work is inherently interdisciplinary, and seeks to provide statistical solutions for pressing scientific problems. The PI has very good ideas how to transform the education of statistics in a more interdisciplinary and more data oriented way so that UT-Austin can become "one of the most innovative statistics programs in the world" as the PI writes. His research is integrated into the education of the new Division of Statistics and Scientific Computation (SSC) at UT-Austin.

? DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The ever-increasing accumulation of data continues to outstrip the graduate training needed to meaningfully mine the data collected. This issue is further complicated by the fact that holistic training in biomedical big data analysis requires PhD level expertise in not one, but three core research areas: (1) biology (2) statistics and (3) computer science, yet the majority of traditional PhD training programs demand that students choose just one of these areas as their focus. A growing number of biomedical PhD students are recognizing the need to develop data analysis and computational biology skills, at the same time that a growing number of computer science and statistics PhD students are realizing that their marketability could be substantially expanded if they knew how to apply their skills to solve outstanding problems in the health arena. The purpose of this pre-doctoral training program we are proposing to introduce at The University of Texas at Austin is for the trainee to become an expert in one of the following areas: 1. Statistics (STAT); 2. Computer Science (CS); 3. Computational science, engineering, and mathematics (CSEM); or 4. Biology (via a PhD in one of a. neuroscience [NS]; b. ecology, evolution, and behavior [EEB]; c. cell and molecular biology [CMB]; or d. Biomedical Engineering [BME]) while also obtaining essential training in all three core areas (statistics, computer science, and biology). This will ideally equip the graduates from this program to make important scientist c discoveries using big data. The challenge is in developing a program that trains these multidisciplinary skills without sacrificing strength in ther core PhD area. This is an exciting opportunity for the new PhD program in statistics and the already established PhD programs involved, and it is consistent with the interdisciplinary emphasis of all the faculty involved with this application. This training program will differ from he standard training programs at UT- Austin by incorporating new courses, a new seminar/workshop, and program-specific rotations during year 3. These rotations will provide opportunities for trainees to work in research labs in the new University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School and the Dell Pediatric Research Institute. Research at the interface of these three areas requires excellent collaborative skills. In addition to subject matter training, we wil help trainees develop strong oral and written communication skills. This combination of knowledge and communication will equip the trainees to make major contributions to big data biomedical science. We anticipate funding five trainees per year. Trainees will formally start the training program during year 2 of their PhD programs.