Title
Topic
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‘Testing of Reverse Causality Using Semi-Supervised Machine Learning’
“Two potential obstacles stand between the observation of a statistical correlation and the design (and deployment) of an effective intervention, omitted variable bias and reverse causality. Whereas the former has received ample attention, comparably scant focus has been devoted to the latter in the methodological literature. … In this article, we draw upon advances in machine learning, specifically the recently established link between causal direction and the effectiveness of semi-supervised learning algorithms, to develop a novel method for reverse causality testing that circumvents many of the assumptions required by traditional methods.” Find the paper and full list of authors in…
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Abur receives IEEE PES Charles Concordia Power Systems Engineering Award
Electrical and computer engineering university distinguished professor Ali Abur received the 2025 IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) Charles Concordia Power Systems Engineering Award “for contributions to power system state and network model estimation.”
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‘Building the Future of Food Safety Technology’
Associate teaching professor Darin Detwiler presents a textbook that “focuses on evaluating, developing, testing and predicting Blockchain’s impact on the food industry, the types of regulatory compliance needed, and other topics important pertaining to consumers,” according to the publisher’s web page. “Building the Future of Food Safety Technology: Blockchain and Beyond” introduces blockchain to the topic of food safety, which “is being looked at more and more as a solution to food-supply problems.”
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‘Experience as a Service for the AI-Driven World’
“As more professionals and startups adopt generative AI tools, the baseline of output is improving, but also converging. If everyone uses similar tools trained on similar data, outputs risk becoming indistinguishable. That’s why I believe experience is the new edge. It’s not just about using AI—it’s about how you direct, refine and build on what it gives you. Think of AI as a smart intern: impressive with guidance, but perhaps average without it.”
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Patent for ‘lightweight pose estimation network’ goes to Fu
“Electrical and computer engineering distinguished/Khoury professor Yun Raymond Fu was awarded a patent for ‘Light-Weight Pose Estimation Network With Multi-Scale Heatmap Fusion.'”
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‘Optics for Engineers’
Associate professor of electrical and computer engineer Charles DiMarzio “provides an accessible introduction to the fundamentals of geometric and physical optics as they relate to practical problems encountered by engineers and researchers” with his textbook “Optics for Engineers,” according to the publisher’s web page. In a new edition, DiMarzio “focuses on topics that are critical to understanding how the basic principles of optics affect design decisions.”
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‘Need Greater Adaptability in the Workforce? Foster Contextual Agility Competencies’
“In today’s dynamic global marketplace, organizations face relentless change and uncertainty. Navigating market disruptions, technological advancements, and cultural diversity demands a workforce equipped with the right competencies to thrive in dynamic environments. Building an agile talent pipeline requires organizations to develop six key competencies in their employees: tolerance of ambiguity, curiosity, resilience, humility, relationship-building, and perspective-taking. This article explores how these competencies shape decision-making, innovation, collaboration, and leadership in complex and uncertain contexts.”
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‘Community Data: Creative Approaches to Empowering People With Information’
Assistant professor of journalism Rahul Bhargava’s book, “Community Data: Creative Approaches to Empowering People With Information,” aims to align data science “with good social outcomes, learning from the practices of newspapers, museums, community groups, artists, and libraries,” according to the book’s Amazon page. Bhargava’s book also “introduces a community-driven framework as a response to the urgent need to realign data theories and methods around justice and empowerment,” while expanding storytellers’ toolkits beyond “the limited vocabulary of surveys, spreadsheets, charts and graphs.”
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‘A Novel Regulation on the Developmental Checkpoint Protein Sda’
“Biofilm formation by Bacillus subtilis is triggered by an unusually simple environmental sensing mechanism. … In this study, we designed an algorithm to score all protein-coding genes in B. subtilis. … We generated a short list of 50 genes that could be subject to regulation by this novel mechanism. We further investigated one such gene from the list, sda, which encodes a developmental checkpoint protein regulating both sporulation and biofilm formation. We showed that synonymously switching the TCN serine codons to AGC in sda led to delayed biofilm formation and sporulation.” Find the paper and authors list in the Journal of…
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‘Collective Mechanics of Small Migrating Cell Groups’
“Migration of adhesive cell groups is a fundamental part of wound healing, development and carcinogenesis. Intense research has been conducted on mechanisms of collective migration of adhesive groups of cells. Here we focus on mechanical and mechanistic lessons from small migrating cell groups. We review forces and locomotory dynamics of two- and three-cell clusters, rotation of cell doublets, self-organization of one-dimensional cell trains, nascent efforts to understand three-dimensional collective migration and border cell clusters in Drosophila embryo.” Find the paper and full list of authors in Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology.
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Cassella receives patent for improving RF filtering
“Electrical and computer engineering associate professor Cristian Cassella was awarded a patent for ‘Two dimensional rod resonator for RF filtering.'”
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‘Low dimensionality of Phenotypic Space as an Emergent Property of Coordinated Teams in Biological Regulatory Networks’
“Cell-fate decisions involve coordinated genome-wide expression changes, typically leading to a limited number of phenotypes. Although often modeled as simple toggle switches, these rather simplistic representations often disregard the complexity of regulatory networks governing these changes. Here, we unravel design principles underlying complex cell decision-making networks in multiple contexts.” Find the paper and full list of authors in Cell Press.
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‘Prediction of Effects of Missense Mutation on Biochemical Function’
“The machine learning method partial order optimum likelihood (POOL) is used to obtain predictions of the effects of missense mutations on biochemical function, based on the effects of the mutation on computed electrostatic and chemical properties of the catalytic residues. Two human enzymes, DNA polymerase kappa (PolK) and ornithine transcarbamoylase (OTC) are presented as test cases. Seventeen cancer-associated variants of PolK were studied. … The ability to predict the effects of missense mutation on catalytic function has important implications for protein engineering and for a variety of biomedical questions.” Find the paper and full list of authors in Biophysical Journal.
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‘Interlayer Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interactions Induced via Nonlinear Phononics in Bilayer van der Waals Materials’
“We theoretically study the impact of light-driven structural changes via nonlinear phononics on the magnetic order of untwisted bilayer van der Waals materials. We consider an illustrative example of the AA-stacked bilayer honeycomb lattice and show that high-intensity light in resonance with selected phonons induces large-amplitude phonon displacements that modify the magnetic Hamiltonian of the system. … We find that the structural changes in the strongly driven regime lower the symmetry relative to the equilibrium lattice and produce changes in the magnetic interactions between the local moments.” Find the paper and full list of authors in Physical Review B.
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Eddleston top 25 most influential academic in family enterprises
D’Amore-McKim distinguished professor Kimberly Eddleston was named one of the Top 25 most influential academics in the field of family enterprises by Family Capital.
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‘Bundling Effect of Semiconductor-Enriched Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Networks’
“Despite continual progress in creating semiconductor-enriched single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) networks, significant challenges still remain in achieving electronically homogeneous channels for field-effect transistors (FETs) due to persisting metallic percolation and uncontrollable nanotube bundling. To address this critical issue, we systematically explored the bundling effect of the SWCNTs on the electrical characteristics of SWCNT network-based FETs.” Find the paper and full list of authors in Materials Science in Semiconductor Processing.
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‘Eddleston Honored for Leadership in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research’
“Schulze Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Kimberly Eddleston was recently inducted as a Justin G. Longenecker Fellow by the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE). This accolade, USASBE’s highest recognition, honors individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to the fields of entrepreneurship and small business. The induction ceremony took place at USASBE’s annual conference.”
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‘Essentials of Education Policy: Processes and Possibilities for Educational Leaders’
Essentials of Education PolicyProcesses and Possibilities for Educational Leaders Teaching professor William Ewell has published “Essentials of Education Policy: Processes and Possibilities for Educational Leaders,” which “improves students’ and educational leaders’ understanding of the complex education policy system in the U.S.,” according to the publisher’s webpage. “Through an applied pedagogical approach that connects analytical concepts from public policy and education research to professional practice, the book offers academic content and applications for elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education leaders.” The book’s lessons are “grounded in pillars of policy studies.”
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‘Biochemical Characterization of Disease-Associated Variants of Human Ornithine Transcarbamylase’
“Human ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency (OTCD) is the most common ureagenesis disorder in the world. OTCD is an X-linked genetic deficiency in which patients experience hyperammonemia to varying degrees depending on the severity of the genetic mutation. More than two-thirds of the known mutations are caused by single nucleotide substitutions. In this paper, partial order optimum likelihood (POOL), a machine learning method, is used to analyze single nucleotide substitutions in OTC with varying disease phenotypes and predicted catalytic efficiencies.” Find the paper and full list of authors in ACS Chemical Biology.
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‘The Microbiome’s Influence on the Neurobiology of Opioid Addiction and Brain Connectivity’
“Opioids are the most effective and potent analgesics available for acute pain management. With no viable alternative for treating chronic or post operative pain, it is not surprising that over 10 million people misuse opioids. This study explores the developmental influence of the microbiome on resistance to opioid addictive behavior and functional connectivity.” Find the paper and full list of authors in Brain Research Bulletin.
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‘Site-Specific Growth and Printing of Nanowires for Resource Efficient Fabrication of Flexible Electronics’
“Semiconducting nanowires (NWs) hold great potential for high-performance flexible electronics. However, using them, to fabricate electronic devices, is a complex process requiring multiple lithography steps to address the issues such as the one arising from mismatches between the temperatures needed for NW growth and the temperatures the polymeric substrates can withstand. Herein, a facile “design to fab” approach is presented, which avoids lithography-based fabrication by implementing the device layout at the NW synthesis level itself.” Find the paper and full list of authors in Small.
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‘Antibiotic Pretreatment Inhibits White Band Disease Infection by Suppressing the Bacterial Pathobiome’
“Diseases have caused unprecedent mortality in Caribbean coral communities. White band disease (WBD) has killed up to 95% of all endangered Caribbean Acroporids since it was first observed in 1979. … To better understand the disease etiology of WBD, we pretreated corals with antibiotics to determine how prophylactic use of antibiotics impacts the transmission of WBD in a replicated tank-based experiment. We found the prophylactic use of antibiotics led to significantly reduced infection rates in disease exposed corals with a 30-percentage point decrease in the infection rate.” Find the paper and full list of authors in Frontiers in Marine Science.
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Patent combines drugs with immunotherapy for cancer treatment
“Bouvé/chemical engineering University Distinguished Professor Mansoor Amiji was awarded a patent for ‘Combination Taxoid Nanoemulsion With Immunotherapy in Cancer.'”
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System for closed-loop GNSS
“Electrical and computer engineering associate professor Pau Closas was awarded a patent for ‘System for Closed-Loop GNSS Simulation.'”