Researchers in 166su’s Department of English and (CHDR) are slated to (NEH) to create searchable digital editions of Webster’s historic dictionaries, giving scholars, educators and the public unprecedented access to foundational texts that helped shape American English.

The two-year grant will support Noah Webster’s Dictionary Online: Preserving America’s Revolutionary Language Heritage. The project is led by Beth Young, associate professor of English, with co-principal investigators CHDR Associate Director Brook Miller and Professor of English Mark Kamrath, who is co-director of CHDR.

The project will also expand educational opportunities for 166su students.

Undergraduate and graduate students will contribute to proofreading, digital editing and semantic text tagging while gaining internship and research experience across several academic programs. Postdoctoral fellow Abigail Moreshead ’11 ’17MA ’23PhD will help conduct research and supervise the student team, and XML (extensible markup language) Specialist William Dorner ’07 ’10MA ’15PhD will oversee the technical encoding.

Bringing Webster’s Words Into the Digital Age

The project builds on two previous NEH-funded digital humanities initiatives. Drawing on the experience of creating Johnson’s Dictionary Online, the team will create comprehensive digital editions of Webster’s The Compendious Dictionary of the English Language (1806) and An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828).

“This grant enables us to provide digital editions … that are as reliable, accurate and searchable as today’s scholarship demands.” — Beth Rapp Young, UCF associate professor of English

“Noah Webster believed that our new nation needed its own language, not just its own government,” says Young, an affiliate scholar with CHDR. “He correctly predicted that American English would one day be spoken by ‘300 millions’ of people. This grant enables us to provide digital editions of Webster’s dictionaries that are as reliable, accurate and searchable as today’s scholarship demands.”

Unlike existing online versions, which primarily consist of scanned pages or basic text transcriptions, the new editions will include advanced search capabilities, complete transcriptions, high-quality images and scholarly annotations.

The team aims to complete the searchable 1828 edition in time for its 200th anniversary in 2028, followed by the 1806 edition.

Together, the dictionaries capture American English as it was developing during the nation’s formative years, preserving the language used in early American law, politics, education and everyday life.

The project also builds on the , an initiative led by Mark Kamrath that aims to identify, transcribe, organize and ultimately edit the post-revolutionary author’s uncollected writings, making them searchable in an electronic environment. Webster’s dictionaries are from the same era and provide a bridge to understanding Brockden’s texts.

More Than a Dictionary

Webster’s dictionaries remain valuable resources for literary, historical and legal scholarship more than two centuries after their publication. According to the project proposal, courts continue to reference the dictionaries when interpreting the original meaning of constitutional and legal terms, while educators use them to help students understand the language of America’s founding era. The 166su team has already seen evidence of this type of use with Johnson’s Dictionary Online, with the resource being cited by The Atlantic, The New York Times, and U.S. federal and district courts.

By making the texts easier to search and study, the project will enable users to explore Webster’s work in ways that scans can’t.

CHDR’s Susan Xiao will serve as the project’s lead programmer, overseeing development of the digital platform that will power the searchable editions. The website currently hosts full-page images and will ultimately feature advanced search tools, scholarly annotations, and high-resolution entry images designed to make Webster’s landmark dictionaries more accessible to researchers, educators, and the public.

CHDR will host and maintain the project, building on its experience supporting digital humanities initiatives.

Noah Webster’s Dictionary Online: Preserving America’s Revolutionary Language Heritage will be made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this project do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.��

As it drifts inward through the solar system, the frozen body known as Centaur 450P/LONEOS has begun releasing gas and dust — behavior more commonly associated with comets than with Centaurs, the small icy objects that typically orbit between Jupiter and Neptune.

Now, researchers led by 166su Planetary Scientist and Associate Professor Charles Schambeau say they may be witnessing the early stages of a centaur transforming into a comet.

Using observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii, scientists detected carbon dioxide gas, icy dust and signs of recent thermal activity surrounding 450P/LONEOS.�� The findings, accepted for publication in the Planetary Science Journal, could provide new insight into how distant icy bodies evolve into active comets as they migrate inward through the solar system.

“Centaurs are scientifically important because they are thought to be transitional objects that originated farther out in the solar system and are slowly evolving toward becoming Jupiter-family comets. In that sense, they give us a way to study relatively primitive material from the outer solar system while it is beginning to respond to stronger solar heating.”

A Close Encounter with Saturn

Researchers believe 450P/LONEOS began “waking up” after a close gravitational encounter with Saturn in 1992 significantly altered its orbit.

The research team, which included Researcher Scientist Maria Womack and Professor Yan Fernandez and graduate student Aren Beck, found that the interaction moved the object inward from a more distant trajectory bringing its perihelion, the point in its orbit closest to the sun, closer to Jupiter.

As the centaur moved closer to the sun, researchers observed the gradual formation of a faint coma, a cloud of gas and dust surrounding the object commonly associated with cometary activity. Continued monitoring between 2019 and 2024 showed that the coma became increasingly visible as the object’s distance from the sun decreased.

“That increased solar heating can warm the surface and subsurface layers of the nucleus,” Schambeau says. “As those layers heat up, volatile ices or trapped gases can be released, which can drag dust away from the surface and produce a coma.”

Detecting Carbon Dioxide in Deep Space

One of the study’s most significant discoveries came from the James Webb Space Telescope, which detected carbon dioxide gas surrounding 450P/LONEOS at a distance where ordinary water ice would typically vaporize efficiently.

Researchers found strong evidence of carbon dioxide emission but no signs of water vapor or carbon monoxide, suggesting carbon dioxide is likely driving the centaur’s activity.

The observations also revealed icy dust grains within the coma, including possible signs of crystalline water ice — material that may preserve evidence of the object’s thermal evolution as it warms in its new orbit.

“The carbon dioxide detection was important because it directly identified one of the gases likely driving the activity,” Schambeau says. “At 450P’s distance from the sun, the nucleus is too cold for normal water-ice sublimation to be the main activity source, so detecting CO₂ gives us an important clue about what is powering the coma. The possible crystalline water ice is also interesting because it suggests that some of the ice in the coma has experienced heating or physical processing, rather than remaining completely unchanged since formation.”

Understanding How Comets Begin

Only a relatively small fraction of known centaurs show visible activity, making objects like 450P/LONEOS especially valuable�� for studying how primitive icy bodies evolve over time.

The research suggests the object’s recent activity may be linked to warming beneath its surface. As buried amorphous ice — an irregular form of ice that traps gases inside its porous structure — warms and transforms into�� crystalline ice, it releases carbon dioxide gas into space, carrying dust with it and creating the coma.

“Studying objects like 450P helps us connect different stages of small-body evolution.”— Charles Schambeau, research associate professor, Florida Space Institute

“We think this process may explain how 450P became active after its orbit changed and it began receiving more sunlight,” Schambeau says. “The released gas can escape through the porous nucleus and lift dust grains into the surrounding coma.”

Together, the findings may provide scientists with a better understanding of how distant icy bodies gradually evolve�� into the active comets that periodically visit the inner solar system.

“Studying objects like 450P helps us connect different stages of small-body evolution,” Schambeau says. “Centaurs are likely related to trans-Neptunian objects, and some will eventually become short-period comets. By studying their activity, surface properties, and volatile composition, we can learn how comet nuclei change as they move inward through the solar system, how long they preserve primitive ices, and what physical processes turn an otherwise quiet icy body into an active comet.”

This research was supported by NASA’s Solar System Observations Program under award number 80NSSC23K0678, the Space Telescope Science Institute through award JWST-GO-02416 and the Florida Space Research Initiative.

That dedication and her passion for research recently earned Kramer the inaugural Dean Deborah C. German, M.D. FIRE (Focused Individualized Research Experience) Impact Award, an honor named after the founding dean of 166su’s College of Medicine who created the FIRE course, which requires every student to conduct a two-year research project.

German announced earlier this year that she is transitioning from her role and will remain at 166su for a year as an advisor to the president and provost on health affairs. FIRE leaders created the award to honor German’s legacy of scientific discovery as part of medical training, an educational component that makes 166su’s medical school unique nationally.

“I want our students to develop a spirit of inquiry. I want every 166su physician not to be afraid to seek answers to medicine’s unanswered questions.” — Deborah German, College of Medicine dean

“I want our students to develop a spirit of inquiry,” German told Kramer as she presented her with the award. “I want every 166su physician not to be afraid to seek answers to medicine’s unanswered questions.”

After earning an undergraduate degree the University of South Florida, Kramer decided to attend 166su in part because the FIRE course was one reason she came to 166su.

“I wanted to combine research with clinical care,” she says.

Her FIRE project focused on glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer with a five-year survival rate of only 5% to 7%, according to the Mayo Clinic. Even if surgery, chemotherapy and radiation initially stop the cancer, it usually returns and becomes stronger. Kramer says she wanted to know why.

With support from her FIRE mentor, Kiminobu Sugaya, head of the College of Medicine’s neuroscience research division, she discovered that extracellular vesicles responsible for cell-to-cell communication may influence non-cancer cells to take on cancer-like properties.

The new award goes to the student whose research shows the greatest potential impact to medicine and/or biomedical research. College of Medicine faculty and fellow students chose Kramer for the award during the FIRE Conference.

“It is our privilege to establish this award in honor of Dean German,” say Robert Hines and Lane Coffee, co-directors of the FIRE course. “When establishing this medical school, she realized the importance of rigorous scientific inquiry, and our students have benefited from — and will continue to benefit from — this course within the curriculum.”

Medicine can treat infections after people get sick, but 166su infectious disease expert Mollie Jewett is seeking to halt Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria, which causes Lyme disease, in its tracks without relying on general antibiotics. Her goal: “starve” the bacteria of the nutrients they need to function before they spread through the human body.

Jewett, professor and head of the Immunity and Pathogenesis Research Division at 166su’s College of Medicine, is supported by a recently renewed five-year, $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

She is entering a third consecutive federally funded research cycle with $513,314 received this year. Jewett’s research builds upon more than a decade of discoveries that have narrowed the search for ways to stop B. burgdorferi from triggering Lyme disease, one of the nation’s most common vector-borne diseases. Her team includes a 166su undergraduate who occasionally struggled to walk because of pain from Lyme disease.

The disease is spread by blacklegged ticks that become infected after biting mammals or birds carrying the bacteria. The ticks are so small, humans often don’t notice they have been bitten. Symptoms include fever, chills, headache and fatigue, which often are misdiagnosed as a virus or the flu. Even after treatment, Lyme disease patients can face complications including nervous system and heart issues, severe fatigue and arthritic pain.

The disease is most commonly found in Maine to Virginia and in the upper Midwest but is spreading as suburban growth enters wildlife areas. Florida reports few cases of Lyme disease annually, but travelers who go to endemic areas like New England are at increased risk.

A New Approach to Battle Borrelia

166su researchers are focused on how B. burgdorferi manages to survive and thrive as it spreads in ticks and mammals to humans.

“The bacteria need to adapt to two different environments, and so we want to know how it does that,” Jewett says. “We’re looking at what the bacteria eat and what it needs to survive. In our lab, we call Borrelia a wimpy pathogen because it can’t make a lot of the nutrients it needs on its own, and so it scavenges what it needs from wherever it is.”

The first iteration of the NIH grant allowed the scientists to screen all of the bacteria’s genes that might be important for the infection. With the second grant, Jewett targeted three genes that appeared to play a role in spreading the infection from a bite on the skin to other parts of the human body.

“One of these three genes we found is important to the ability of the bacteria to consume riboflavin. We want to target this gene and see if we can starve the bacteria.” — Mollie Jewett, UCF infectious disease expert

Now they have focused on riboflavin, commonly known as vitamin B2, after discovering that B. burgdorferi salvages the vitamin from each host to sustain itself.

“One of these three genes we found is important to the ability of the bacteria to consume riboflavin,” Jewett says. “We know that riboflavin is a precursor for other cellular activities that are important to the metabolism of the bacteria. Essentially, we want to target this gene and see if we can starve the bacteria.”

If their theory is successful, it could lead to therapies specific to B. burgdorferi that would prevent successful bacterial infection by limiting its riboflavin uptake. An advantage of such potential treatments would be that patients don’t have to take general antibiotics that can also harm the body’s good bacteria and increase risks for antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

The 166su team is collaborating with Baylor University scientists to trace exactly how riboflavin is used by the bacteria.

Students Driving Discovery

Biomedical sciences doctoral student Anna Schulz ’25MS played a key role in pinpointing specific ways the bacteria use riboflavin to generate energy. She served as first author on a recent publication examining these processes, and says she’s looking forward to growing as a researcher in this next phase.

“As a first author, I took more ownership over the experiments and the writing process,” Schulz says. “[Jewett] was really great about letting me lead the project as a student. Borrelia is so unique, and there’s still so much we don’t know, and that’s what keeps me engaged with this research.”

“… I couldn’t treat it until years after I got infected. So, I truly care about finding new treatments for Lyme disease.” — Grace Easterling, UCF biomedical sciences student

Third-year biomedical sciences undergraduate Grace Easterling says she was drawn to Jewett’s lab because she previously developed Lyme disease and suffered tremendous joint pain. She was determined to find a way to protect others.

“It was something that, because we live in Florida, wasn’t caught early because it’s not as common,” Easterling says. “I struggled for a long time to get diagnosed, and I couldn’t treat it until years after I got infected. So, I truly care about finding new treatments for Lyme disease and understanding the bacteria.”

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under award number R01AI099094. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

• Associate Professor Chen Chen – Associate Member
• Professor Ivan Garibay ’00MS ’04PhD – Associate Member
• Professor Jayanta Kapat – Full Member
• Professor Damla Turgut – Full Member
• Associate Professor Thomas Wahl – Associate Member
• Associate Professor Dazhong Wu – Associate Member
• Professor Xiaohu Xia – Associate Member
• Professor Yang Yang – Associate Member

Full members are recognized as established leaders with a sustained record of exceptional impact in their respective fields. Associate members, who are new to ASEMFL this year, are recognized for their professional accomplishments and emerging leadership.

“We are proud to welcome this exceptional group of scholars and innovators to ASEMFL, including our inaugural class of associate members,” says Yogi Goswami, ASEMFL president and distinguished professor at the University of South Florida. “Their lifelong dedication and creativity have led to transformational advances in their fields, improving lives and strengthening our communities.”

Since its establishment, ASEMFL has grown to more than 300 experts grounded in common research and educational pursuits who are committed to undertaking issues in science, engineering and medicine of particular interest to the state.

This year’s cohort is the largest in ASEMFL history. All new members will be inducted at the ASEMFL annual meeting, which takes place in November at the University of South Florida.

Chen Chen

Associate Professor in the and the Institute of Artificial Intelligence

Citation: For pioneering contributions to multimodal and federated learning and real-time, privacy-preserving video analytics, advancing trustworthy and efficient AI systems for public safety, healthcare, and societal well-being.

Jayanta Kapat

Pegasus Professor and Director of the Center for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research

Citation: For innovative research and digital twin modeling and their impact on improved costs, efficiency and emissions in advanced turbines and energy systems.

Nasser Kutkut

Graduate Faculty Scholar in the

Citation: For having pioneered high-efficiency and IoT-enabled battery charging systems, cloud-based energy management, and smart telematics platforms — technologies that cut costs, reduce emissions, and modernize industrial and electric vehicle power management worldwide.

Ivan Garibay ’00MS ’04PhD

Professor of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems and Director of the 166su Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Initiative

Citation: For pioneering work in AI for modeling complex human behavior, including the development of inverse generative social science, evolutionary model discovery, green technological innovation, and AI for social resilience against disinformation and polarization.

Damla Turgut

Pegasus Professor and Chair of Computer Science

Citation: For pioneering contributions to the application of value of information in wireless networks, and for outstanding leadership in advancing research and education at both the university and international professional society levels.

Thomas Wahl

Associate Professor in the and the Center for Integrated Coastal Research

Citation: For pioneering work on flood risk analysis, coastal compound flooding and assessment of coastal hazards at multiple scales under weather extremes.

Dazhong Wu

Associate Professor in the

Citation: For contributions to the development and implementation of machine learning-based techniques for part qualification and certification in advanced manufacturing.

Xiaohu Xia

Professor in the

Citation: For pioneering artificial enzyme research, achieving unprecedented catalytic efficiencies and developing diagnostic technologies with substantial clinical and societal impact.

“Dr. Xia’s research is an excellent example of how cutting-edge research in the College of Sciences leads directly into transformative applications for the betterment of humanity,” says Josh Colwell, College of Sciences dean. “His recognition by ASEMFL is particularly appropriate given the nature of his innovative work combining nanomaterials and fundamental chemistry research for healthcare applications that will directly impact people’s lives.”

Yang Yang

Professor in the

Citation: For being an accomplished scholar in developing energy materials using nanotechnology.

Driving Research Excellence at 166su

Together, the honorees exemplify the breadth of research excellence driving innovation across 166su’s College of Sciences and College of Engineering and Computer Science.

“Jay Kapat, Damla Turgut, Chen Chen, Ivan Garibay, Thomas Wahl, Dazhong Wu, Yang Yang and all faculty in the College of Engineering and Computer Science have contributed significantly to the research and education in their disciplines and their induction to the academy is a testament [to] their meaningful accomplishments,” says Michael Georgiopoulos, College of Engineering and Computer Science dean. “The academy is expected to benefit from their expertise and their anticipated service to move its mission forward.”

The nationwide initiative encourages interdisciplinary teams to develop new AI models and research workflows capable of addressing national challenges across fields such as advanced manufacturing, biotechnology, critical materials, energy and quantum information.

“The Genesis Mission harnesses the collective strengths of the nation’s leading institutions across academia, industry, and government to accelerate the pace of discovery,” says Winston Schoenfeld, UCF vice president for research and innovation. “166su’s participation reflects��the expertise of our researchers��and talented students, whose contributions will help shape AI-enabled scientific workflows and transform technological advances into real-world solutions that fuel American competitiveness.”

A New Approach to Creating Fuels and Chemicals

As interdisciplinary scientific challenges become increasingly data-intensive, applying human ingenuity to advanced technologies creates possibilities to solve long-standing industry issues.

Ling’s contribution to the Genesis Mission will aim to address problems with biomanufacturing by developing an AI digital twin (virtual replication). This digital twin predicts and optimizes bioprocess performance, enabling improved process monitoring, decision-making, and scale-up.

The project will also provide opportunities for 166su researchers at different stages of their careers to contribute to the work. Pinzhen Lin, who will begin a doctoral degree at 166su’s College of Optics and Photonics in Fall 2026, will join Ling’s research group and lead development of the project’s real-time sensor, including its characterization and performance benchmarking. Jirui Fu ’24PhD, a 166su mechanical engineering doctoral graduate and postdoctoral scholar in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, will also assist with the project.

“The challenge is that conventionally scaling up biomanufacturing is slow and prone to failure, creating a need for smarter tools to accelerate development,” Ling says. “If successful, this project could significantly accelerate the development and deployment of sustainable biomanufacturing for fuels and chemicals, making the process faster, cheaper and less risky.”

With industry-academic collaboration at the core of the Genesis Mission, Ling is working on the project with Kansas State University Assistant Professor Yian Chen, as well as the National Laboratory of the Rockies researchers Ajinkya Pal, Jason DesVeaux and Evan Komp.

A Mission With Many Benefits

Although the Genesis Mission is focused on accelerating scientific discovery, Ling believes the work has the potential to create benefits that extend beyond the research community.

“The AI digital twin framework developed here has strong potential as a commercial platform that can be adopted across a wide range of industries, from energy to materials,” Ling says. “More broadly, it could lower the barriers for industrial partners to adopt bio-based processes, helping drive the transition toward a more sustainable economy.”

For Ling, the research also represents an opportunity to see emerging technologies applied to real-world challenges.

“As an early-career researcher, I feel very fortunate to lead and participate in a mission of this scale,” Ling says. “What excites me most is the opportunity to apply this technology to solve real-world problems, and to see how it can be integrated with the rapidly advancing field of AI.”

This project will be supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science through the Genesis Mission, a Transforming Science and Energy with AI initiative.

Joshua Taggart knew he wanted to work for the space industry the day he experienced his first launch while attending a camp at Kennedy Space Center, seeing the space shuttle Endeavour soar into the sky. He’s now closer to making that dream a reality after being recognized with one of the industry’s most distinguished awards.

Taggart is the latest Knight to receive the coveted Astronaut Foundation Scholarship, a national award that provides more than 70 scholarships of up to $15,000 each for some of the nation’s very best STEM students. He will be recognized with the 2026 class of scholars at the foundation’s gala, to be held next month in Houston.

Taggart says he chose 166su for its reputation in engineering as the No. 1 supplier of talent to the nation’s aerospace and defense industries (Aviation Week Network). He is in good company as part of a trio of Astronaut Scholars this year from the College of Engineering and Computer Science, joining mechanical engineering student Keanu Brayman and computer engineering student Kyle Coutray (a biomedical sciences double major), who have received the scholarship for second consecutive year.

As Taggart works to complete his final year at 166su, his latest accomplishment fuels his path to make an impact as a future space researcher.

Future Focused

Driven to contribute to humanity’s exploration of our universe, Taggart is already working on future-focused innovations that can benefit the space industry.

Through NASA Office of STEM Engagement, he interned at the Johnson Space Center working on communications, avionics, propulsion and flight software for CubeSat subsystems.

This summer at NASA’s Glenn Research Center, he is researching packaging materials for silicon carbide pressure sensors, working to make sure they perform reliably above 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,832 degrees Fahrenheit), and on integrating thermocouple sensors for temperature compensation.

“I chose this field of research because I want to be involved in next-generation electronics that can withstand the extreme nature of outer space.” — Joshua Taggart

“With the harsh environment that outer space is and planet surfaces like Venus, electronics must survive very high temperatures and radiation effects,” he says. “I chose this field of research because I want to be involved in next-generation electronics that can withstand the extreme nature of outer space.”

His work as an undergraduate researcher for the Q-Sim Lab, directed by Assistant Professor Jaesung Lee, also centers around developing technology designed to operate in outer space. Taggart is working on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) resonators designed to perform under extreme conditions, such as elevated temperatures and increased exposure to radiation.

He recently won a Judge’s Choice Award at 166su Student Research Week for his Honors Undergraduate Thesis, “Robust AlN MEMS Resonators for High Temperature Space Environments.”

His passion for space has only grown over the years, reflected by his ongoing research at 166su and for NASA. As an Astronaut Scholar, Taggart is launching into a future full of possibilities.

“Aside from the financial support that this scholarship will provide me as I complete my undergraduate program, I am very eager for all of the networking opportunities I will have,” Taggart says. “I look forward to networking with other students and industry leaders to learn and grow as much as I can thanks to the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.”

Those interested in the Astronaut Scholarship and other opportunities should reach out to the Office of Prestigious Awards at��OPA@ucf.edu.

Over millions of years, flowing water etched valleys, shaped mountainsides and formed the branching blue and green scars visible across Earth — and potentially those on other celestial bodies.

Now, UCF researchers and collaborating institutions developed a framework capable of reconstructing realistic 3D landscapes using only 2D river network patterns. By combining computer models that simulate how river networksform with principles of hydraulic geometry — the study of how rivers naturally shape themselves over time — the researchers were able to estimate terrain features such as elevation, channel depth, slope and sediment transport.

The approach could help scientists better understand how landscapes evolve under different environmental conditions on Earth and potentially other planetary bodies such as Mars and Titan.

Rivers as Geological Records

According to Arvind Singh, an associate professor in 166su’s Department of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering, river networks preserve traces of the physical processes and external forcings that shaped them over time.

“River networks encode the integrated effects of hydrologic and geomorphic processes, reflected in metrics such as drainage structure, channel geometry, relief and hypsometry (the measurement of elevation and depth),” Singh says.

Reconstructing Landscapes from Networks

Traditionally, researchers study river systems by starting with 3D topographic data gathered through satellite imaging and digital elevation models, then extracting river networks from the terrain.

The new framework flips that process.

Instead of beginning with terrain itself, the researchers investigated whether river networks contain enough information to reconstruct landscapes from the ground up.

“Because traditional approaches require full topography and only describe patterns, reverse engineering (e.g., from networks) can reveal the underlying physical processes that govern landscape form,” Singh says.

The researchers say river networks can reveal far more than simple drainage patterns. Under the framework, the geometry of the networks can also help estimate hidden environmental variables tied to landscape formation.

“A key insight is that realistic 3D landscapes, and even unobservable quantities like discharge or sediment transport, can be reconstructed from 2D network structure alone, revealing strong constraints imposed by fundamental scaling laws,” Singh says.

Testing Alien Worlds

Because the framework is dimensionless and scalable, researchers were also able to adapt the model to hypothetical landscapes on Mars and Titan by changing variables such as gravity and sediment density.

The resulting simulations revealed how river valleys and terrain formations may differ across planetary environments. Compared to Earth and Mars, Titan’s lower gravity and unique environmental conditions produced wider channels, deeper river systems and flatter overall landscapes.

“Mars and Titan provide natural laboratories with different gravity and fluid/sediment properties, allowing the framework to test how identical network structures yield different landscapes under altered physical conditions.”—Arvind Singh, associate professor

The planetary comparisons allowed the researchers to test how different environmental conditions influence landscape formation even when river structures remain similar.

“Mars and Titan provide natural laboratories with different gravity and fluid/sediment properties, allowing the framework to test how identical network structures yield different landscapes under altered physical conditions,” Singh says.

The simulations also demonstrated how gravity and sediment behavior can dramatically alter the shape of landscapes over time.

“Differences in gravity and sediment properties directly alter channel width, depth, slope, and relief, leading to distinct landscape geometries even with the same network structure,” Singh says.

The researchers say the framework may also help scientists better understand how precipitation, sediment size and watershed structure influence the evolution of landscapes over time. Unlike many traditional landscape evolution models, the framework explicitly resolves river channels and their physical characteristics, including depth, slope and gravel transport.

A New Framework for Landscape Evolution

The researchers say the framework differs from many traditional landscape evolution models because it directly incorporates the physical properties of river channels into the simulations.

“This framework couples probabilistic 2D channel network generation with physically based, dimensionally consistent hydraulic geometry and hillslope models, explicitly resolving channel properties and producing fully scalable 3D landscapes,” Singh says.

By revealing how river networks preserve hidden information about the worlds they shape, the researchers hope the framework can help scientists better understand not only Earth’s geological past, but also the ancient landscapes of distant planetary environments.

��The study was conducted by researchers from 166su, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and collaborating institutions, with support from the 166su P3 program and other funding sources.

166su researchers are known worldwide for their innovative studies, groundbreaking discoveries and contributions to patented technologies that have impacted society and influenced other leaders in the field.

Two College of Engineering and Computer Science professors and a three-time 166su alum-turned-courtesy faculty appointee are now being recognized for their achievements that have advanced the quality of life for the state of Florida and the nation.

Professors Reza Abdolvand and Ni-bin Chang and Lockheed Martin Fellow Clara Rivero Baleine ’01 ’03MS ’05PhD have been named 2026 inductees of the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame (FIHF). This initiative celebrates pioneering inventors and empowers future problem-solvers and changemakers.

This initiative celebrates pioneering inventors and empowers future problem-solvers and changemakers.

This year, 10 inventors from Florida will be inducted during a formal ceremony in Tampa on Nov. 6. Since FIHF was founded in 2013, five faculty inventors from 166su have been recognized with the distinction.

“Induction into the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame represents the ultimate validation of a lifelong commitment to translating academic research into industry practice,” Chang says. “Being inducted into the Hall of Fame, which includes over 90 inventors in different fields is also a testament to the thriving Florida innovation ecosystem and the power of continuous, groundbreaking discovery.”

A Career in Environmental Innovation

Chang was selected for induction based on his groundbreaking invention of green sorption media (GSM) and sustainable water treatment technologies that improve water quality.

GSM is a cost-effective and sustainable type of filtration media that uses recycled byproducts and natural minerals to treat stormwater runoff, wastewater effluent, groundwater flow and agricultural discharge.

There are a variety of patented GSM blends that can filter heavy metals, pathogens and contaminants from water systems. This process not only restores aquatic ecosystems but halts the transmission of waterborne diseases, and eliminates cyanotoxins and “forever chemicals” from water that can harm both humans and animals.

“Removing these diverse contaminants from water matrices provides profound, cascading benefits for both human health and aquatic ecosystems,” Chang says. “By eliminating the risk pathways associated with both acute exposure and chronic bioaccumulation, these GSM-based treatment technologies support fundamental ecological balance and public well-being.”

GSM blends are already used at more than 300 water treatment sites across the U.S.

The Inventor of Advanced Electronics

Abdolvand, the chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was named an inductee for his contributions to the field of micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) — incredibly small devices that have mighty power. Specifically, he is the inventor of a class of microelectronics called Thin-Film Piezoelectric-on-Substrate (TPoS) devices, which improve the reliability and efficiency of a wide range of electronics, including cell phones.

“By improving the efficiency and reliability of the components that make up these systems, the impact, while often invisible to the end user, is very real,” Abdolvand says. “Better performance, lower power consumption, and more reliable devices are the kinds of improvements that quietly make everyday technology work better for everyone.”

Abdolvand’s interest in innovation stems from his natural sense of curiosity. He says his tendency to connect the dots between seemingly unrelated events or systems has served him well throughout his career in research and academia.

“The moment it all clicked was during my Ph.D., when I was first given the opportunity to work on genuinely hard technical problems,” Abdolvand says. “I realized I could come up with solutions that simply did not exist yet. That realization was a turning point.”

As his career progresses, Abdolvand hopes to leave behind a legacy that is less about devices and innovation and more about people. His passion for educating, inspiring and creating opportunities for students means more than the impacts of his inventions.

“What excites me most is seeing students take the seed ideas developed at the university and carry them forward into their own companies, their own inventions, their own contributions to society,” Abdolvand says. “That chain of innovation — from a research lab to a startup to a product that improves people’s lives — is what I find truly meaningful. If I can play even a small role in setting that chain in motion for as many students as possible, that is the legacy I would be interested to leave behind.”

On the Cutting Edge of��Infrared��Materials and Optics

Driven by a desire to protect people and advance technologies that matter, Rivero Baleine joined Lockheed Martin, a 166su Pegasus Partner, in 2005 after completing three degrees in six years at 166su.

Rivero Baleine now serves as a Lockheed Martin fellow, contributing to cutting‑edge innovation in infrared materials and optics.

Rivero-Baleine’s gradient refractive index optical materials and metamaterial coatings transformed infrared sensing systems for defense and advanced photonics applications.

“I am profoundly proud and deeply humbled to be welcomed into such an extraordinary community of inventors and innovators,” Rivero-Baleine says. “What inspires me most is knowing that these��innovations will��become part of systems that protect service members, strengthen national security and expand the capabilities of the platforms we rely on. That sense of purpose continues to��drive��my work every day.”

Rivero Baleine continues to maintain strong ties with 166su through a courtesy faculty appointment at CREOL and serves on the CREOL Dean Advisory Board and the 166su Material Science Industrial Advisory board.

Rivero Baleine is a Burnett Honors Scholar and earned a bachelor’s degree in physics, and a �������ٱ��’s and a doctorate in optics.

For scientists working on NASA’s proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory, that question is no longer purely philosophical. It is increasingly becoming an engineering problem.

Researchers at 166su’s are helping develop technology designed to help future space telescopes detect potentially habitable planets orbiting distant stars.

The NASA-funded project, known as PEEPSS (Photonics-Enabled Exoplanet Spectroscopic System), aims to help astronomers directly observe planets hidden within the overwhelming brightness of their parent stars.

“If they’re in the habitable zone, that means they are orbiting close to their host star, and that host star is typically going to be 10 billion times brighter than the planet,” says Professor Stephen Eikenberry, principal investigator on the project.

To explain the difficulty, Eikenberry compares the task to trying to spot “a tiny blinking light while someone is shining a spotlight directly in your face.”

The work supports the long-term goals of NASA’s proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), a future flagship space telescope intended to search for Earth-like planets beyond our solar system and analyze their atmospheres for signs of life.

Solving One of Astronomy’s Hardest Problems

Astronomers already know planets are common throughout the universe. The challenge now is identifying Earth-like planets that are extraordinarily faint compared to the stars they orbit.

Astronomers use instruments called coronagraphs to block a star’s glare while allowing faint planetary signals to reach a telescope’s detectors.

Even then, however, microscopic imperfections in a telescope’s optics can allow enormous amounts of starlight to leak through the system.

“And you can say, ‘Well, that’s only a part in a million,’ ” Eikenberry says. “Guess what? A part in a million means it’s still 10,000 times brighter than your exoplanet. You’re doomed.”

The system performs an advanced form of wavefront sensing that detects and corrects tiny distortions in incoming light before they overwhelm planetary signals.

Unlike many existing systems that monitor light earlier in the optical process, PEEPSS performs wavefront sensing directly at the telescope’s focal plane, the same location where scientific imaging occurs.

That distinction is important because it allows researchers to detect and correct optical errors that emerge after light passes through a telescope’s coronagraph. Scientists refer to these distortions as “non-common-path aberrations.”

To explain the concept, Eikenberry compares the system to trying to monitor a room you cannot fully see.

“Imagine you’re in a house and you want the entire house to be perfectly clean,” he says. “You can see people walking into the bedroom, but you can’t actually see inside the bedroom itself. That’s the non-common path.”

By monitoring the complete optical pathway all the way through to the focal plane, researchers hope PEEPSS can help future observatories achieve the extraordinary precision necessary to detect habitable worlds.

A New Approach Using Photonic Lanterns

At the center of the project is an emerging technology known as a photonic lantern.

The device separates complex incoming light into individual optical channels, allowing researchers to recover not only brightness information, but also phase information carried by light waves, data that conventional imaging systems typically discard.

“Traditional detectors wipe that information out,” Eikenberry says. “Photonic lanterns allow us to recover it.”

That additional information enables what researchers describe as “quantum-inspired imaging,” an emerging technique that uses light behavior to improve image resolution and filter out the remaining starlight.

Researchers at CREOL have become major contributors to the rapidly growing field of astrophotonics, which combines astronomy, fiber optics and advanced photonic technologies.

“There are really only two major centers doing cutting-edge work on photonic lanterns,” Eikenberry says. “Us and the University of Sydney in Australia.”

The project brings together collaborators from 166su, University of California, Santa Cruz, the University of Sydney, and the Space Telescope Science Institute. At 166su, Eikenberry works alongside graduate student Genevieve Markees and researchers including Rodrigo Amezcua Correa, Miguel Bandres and Jose-Enrique Antonio-Lopez, whose expertise in fiber optics and photonics helped establish the collaboration.

Looking Toward Habitable Worlds

The current PEEPSS project is structured as a three-year effort focused on building and testing prototype photonic lantern systems in laboratory and telescope environments.

Some versions of the technology have already undergone testing on telescopes in Hawaii through collaborations with the Air Force Research Laboratory and international research partners.

Ultimately, researchers hope the technology could become part of the future NASA missions searching for habitable planets around distant stars.

“If we can identify habitable worlds around other stars and show they possess conditions where Earth-like life could survive, that’s already revolutionary,” Eikenberry says. “If we discover actual evidence of life, then we’re talking about one of the greatest scientific discoveries in human history.”

For Eikenberry, humanity may now be approaching a historic turning point.

“We are one mission away,” he says.

And if future observations succeed, humanity may no longer simply wonder whether life exists elsewhere in the universe. For researchers involved in the project, that possibility is what makes the work so compelling.

“We’ll look up and know.”

The PEEPSS project is supported by NASA through award No. 80NSSC26K0577 and brings together researchers from 166su, the University of Sydney and the University of California, Santa Cruz to develop advanced photonic technologies for future exoplanet imaging and spectroscopy missions, including NASA’s proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory. The initial PEEPSS concept development was supported by the 166su through its SPICE Academic Excellence Program.