Susan Duncan - US grants

Many boundaries at the chemistry-biology interface remain unexplored and represent unique opportunities for the discovery of advanced technologies and the education of interdisciplinary scientists and engineers. Oxidation processes occur within both synthetic macromolecules and biological systems, offering a common theoretical base. Oxygen-centered radicals are implicated as intermediates in key chemical and biological processes such as lipid oxidation, cellular aging and product deterioration, as well as certain enzyme-mediated processes. The profound irony underlying all oxidation chemistry is that, in general terms at least, the same element that nature uses to sustain and regenerate life also plays a role in aging, disease, and death. Oxidative stress is implicated in many chronic diseases, including cancer, diabetes, obesity and the compromise of immune function. These chronic diseases contribute significantly to the projected $1.6 trillion in health care costs at the national level in 2003, costing 15% of
the national gross product. The development of antioxidant delivery systems, including antioxidant enriched foods, novel biocompatible synthetic polymer delivery systems, or new natural and synthetic macromolecular antioxidants would have major applications in combating oxidation-based diseases and aging.
The goal of the MILES Program is to construct a unique educational framework and collaborative research program, using free radical and oxidative processes as the thematic basis for scientific connectivity that bridges the gap between traditional macromolecular science and evolving biological disciplines.

Integration of Research and Education

Fifteen interdisciplinary research faculty in four colleges at Virginia Tech will collaborate with domestic and international universities, industries and national laboratories to provide unique cooperative research, multidisciplinary education, and outreach experiences for 36 graduate students. The Program will prepare doctoral-level candidates in chemistry, engineering, and life sciences as future leaders in academia, industry and government. The research efforts will include basic through applied research in four areas: 1) Fundamental investigations of oxygen-centered free radical mechanisms; 2) Oxidation in bio-derived monomers and macromolecular synthesis; 3) Oxidation control mechanisms in complex matrices; and 4) Oxidation processes in human and animal aging and disease.

The goals of the program are to: 1) Expand fundamental understanding and scientific vision of the macromolecule-biomolecule interface; 2) Develop creative and analytical thinking; 3) Integrate advanced research training with ethics education; 4) Develop practical skills in communications; 5) Enhance teamwork and develop leadership; 5) Promote diversity in culture and worldview; 6) Construct new avenues for community outreach; and 8) Create novel mechanisms to attract academically gifted students to graduate school. In order to be awarded a MILES program certificate, students will be required to submit an electronic portfolio that documents successful completion of required elements and optional selections that meet both the program goals and the individualized interests of the student. Unique outreach programs incorporate partnerships with the Science Museum of Western Virginia, the Collaborative Laboratory with historically black colleges, and domestic and international industry internships.

Broader Impacts

The university.s education and research infrastructure will be strengthened considerably by an interdisciplinary program design that crosses the boundaries of traditional academic disciplines. Broad societal impact will result from improved control of free radical and oxidative processes in biological and macromolecular systems, yielding important advances in nutrition, biomedical science and engineering, food biochemistry and functionality, and sustainable polymeric materials from bio-derived precursors. This training program will contribute to a new generation of professionals prepared to move society forward into an era of sustained health, well-being, and quality of life through technological advancements. Ultimately, the program will equip future scientists and engineers with the broad-based skills necessary to transcend conventional boundaries.

Members of different cultures may behave quite differently from one another when interacting face-to-face. Culture-specific aspects of speech and nonverbal behavior are signals that enable members of a culture to establish and maintain a sense of rapport with one another over intervals of interaction. Rapport, and the means by which conversation partners achieve it, is important to study systematically, because rapport is known to increase the likelihood of success of goal-directed interaction, and also to promote knowledge sharing and learning. Subtle cues signal engagement, endorsement, or appreciation. In the verbal channel, these include mirroring of word choices and of grammatical structures as well as vocal feedback. Similarly, many dimensions of nonverbal behavior such as posture, gaze, nods, and gesticulation, signal -- both to the conversation participants and to observers of them -- the extent to which the participants feel a sense of affiliation. A multidisciplinary team of psychologists, anthropologists, linguists, and computer scientists, will examine and compare such indices of rapport in natural interactions across members of three diverse language/cultural groups: Gulf/Iraqi Arabic-, Mexican Spanish-, and American English-speaking cultures.

An integral part of this project is to further develop technologies that enable micro-analyses of synchronized gesture and speech, both within individuals and across conversation partners. These technologies include computer interfaces for visualization, annotation, and analysis of complex, multimodal behaviors. The project will develop techniques to automatically recognize states of rapport and the verbal and nonverbal signals that lead to its disruption. The results of these examinations of human-human interaction will then be used to program behavioral repertoires for 'Embodied Conversational Agents' (ECAs). These are computer-generated, two-dimensional figures, human in appearance and capable of a range of verbal and nonverbal behaviors characteristic of listeners in interactions. The team will study human research participants in interaction with the ECAs, manipulating, in the ECAs, aspects of behavior identified as related to establishment, maintenance, and disruption of rapport, so as to observe the effects on human participants. The cross-cultural dimension of this comparative study will make it possible to identify what aspects of behavior are crucial for scaffolding successful intercultural interaction and communication among people of different cultures.

In this project funded by The Division of Chemistry Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program, Professors Timothy Long and Susan Duncan at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University lead a summer research program to train future scientists and engineers in innovations at the nexus of food, energy, and water systems (INFEWS). This interdisciplinary interface demands fundamental studies and developments in the chemistry of materials. The scientific broader impacts address the challenges that are rapidly emerging as our global population reaches 9 billion. Technologies ranging from "smart farming" to water management and energy utility demand multiphase materials with tailored structure at the nanoscale. The program has specific recruitment goals for community college students, students from underrepresented minorities, and female students. Training students to excel within a global scientific community occurs in partnership with the University of Trento in Italy.

This research program produces enabling polymeric materials for food distribution, water-efficient crop production, real-time monitoring devices, and advanced manufacturing to print the next generation of membranes for water purification and novel synthetic methods to understand predictable transport and diffusion through materials. Fundamental understanding of the molecular basis for diffusion and transport of diverse molecules through nanostructured polymeric membranes and packaging remains paramount. The team investigates the preparation of multiphase morphologies wherein charged groups are located in a low glass transition phase in a co-continuous fashion with a mechanically-durable high glass transition phase to ensure material ductility in combination with enhanced transport in energy, water, and food applications. The REU faculty team collectively hypothesizes that the precise tailoring of macromolecular structure and morphology at the nanoscale enables the predictability of physical properties and performance of technologies that influence future availability of sufficient food, energy, and water. Undergraduate students from Norfolk State University and the University of Trento are actively involved in these research projects.