A Florida State University artificial intelligence and data scientist has earned one of the most prestigious early career faculty awards to develop a new type of AI model that better calculates and uses numeric data, including large-scale healthcare data for applications in cancer research.

Michael Gubanov, associate professor in the Department of Computer Science, received a 2026 CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Program for his work developing an advanced large language model, or LLM, to analyze properties of numeric data, such as number order, and more accurately calculate and interpret numeric data.

The Faculty Early Career Development Program offers the NSF’s most significant awards in support of early career faculty who have the potential to serve as leaders in research and education. The award provides five years of funding to support scientific goals, student training and educational outreach activities.

“While AI can’t diagnose or treat patients, this advanced AI model is expected to help healthcare professionals make more accurate decisions,” Gubanov said. “Because of its ability to better comprehend complex numerical data, it can be applied to gauge the promise of candidate cancer treatments for patients based on individual factors, such as prior cancer treatments, to increase cancer patients’ survival rate.”

Gubanov is collaborating with Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, to apply and evaluate the model’s potential impact in the field of healthcare to further understand how it can be used for personalized recommendations of cancer treatments like chemotherapy and immunotherapy. At FSU, Gubanov is the founder and supervisor of BigLab!, which bridges AI and data science technologies with cancer research to improve the quality of cancer care and treatment.

“Michael has successfully used AI techniques in novel ways to help interpret large-scale health data,” said Sam Huckaba, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “There’s a level of complexity that must be overcome to provide swift and meaningful analysis of these rich datasets. Michael is among a handful of researchers who’ve made progress. His NSF CAREER Award is a mark of excellence that highlights his cutting-edge research.”

LLMs determine answers to numeric questions by relying on complex statistical pattern recognition and common themes instead of recognizing numeric qualities or possessing the ability to calculate — generally, models comprehend and encode numbers as tokens. Because of this, LLMs often provide inaccurate responses to numerical operations because the model is largely guessing the most probable answer rather than calculating the answer.

“Models don’t fully comprehend the order and magnitude of numeric data,” Gubanov said. “If you ask an LLM what two plus two is, it will likely say four — not because it calculated what two plus two equals, but because the model recognizes four as the most likely answer to that question. Our goal is to develop a model that can instead apply more meaningful quantitative reasoning to better comprehend numerical data.”

A heightened validity of numerical data analysis can help make AI applications in clinical practice more trustworthy. This new model also has potential applications in industries that require precise calculations of numeric data, marking significant shifts in medicine, government, finance, science and more.

“Currently, LLMs hallucinate and are inherently non-deterministic, which makes them hit accuracy barriers preventing their adoption in medicine and healthcare because they lack high numeric precision,” Gubanov said. “We’re planning to build a model that doesn’t use guesswork and instead understands the properties of numerical data, which is often more complex and structured than natural language text.”

This project will also support the development of new teaching materials, student research opportunities in data science and AI at the BigLab! and outreach activities to engage students in data reasoning. In addition to NSF funding, BigLab! has received support from the Casey DeSantis Cancer Research Programs’ Florida Cancer Innovation Fund and Amazon Web Services.

“Receiving the NSF CAREER Award is a huge honor, but nobody succeeds by themselves,” Gubanov said. “I’m grateful for the inspiration and support from my collaborators and colleagues, FSU, and the BigLab!. Without them all, this project wouldn’t be possible.”

Gubanov earned his doctorate in computer science from the University of Washington in 2010 and completed postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before taking an endowed faculty position at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He joined FSU’s faculty in the Department of Computer Science in 2018.

Visit the Department of Computer Science website to learn more about research conducted in the department.

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Florida State University Information Technology Services welcomes Google specialists to campus on Wednesday, Oct. 7 and Thursday, Oct. 8, for “Google Days,” a two-day event featuring hands-on technology demonstrations, emerging AI tools and professional development workshops.

The campuswide event is part of Google for Education and gives students, faculty and staff direct access to the latest advances in Google Workspace, Google Gemini and Gemini Notebook.

Event Schedule and Highlights

Google Tent on the Student Union Green

Oct. 7 and 8 | 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Curious about how AI can help you work smarter, study better and create more? Stop by the Google Tent for a hands-on look at Gemini for Google Workspace and Gemini Notebook. You’ll see live demos, explore new ways to enhance your coursework and productivity, chat with Google experts and discover tools designed to support your success at FSU.

Plus, grab some free swag while you’re there!

Gemini Back to School Faculty Training at the Innovation Hub

Pre-registration is required for workshop attendance and digital badge tracking. Faculty, staff and students can reserve their preferred sessions directly through the Google Days Event Registration Portal.

Oct. 7 | 9 a.m. – 2:45 p.m.

Led by specialists from the Google AI Educator Series, these 45-minute interactive workshops focus on using AI to support teaching, simplify course administration and boost research productivity.

Oct. 7 | 9 – 9:45 a.m. | Faculty Innovator Chat

Kick off Google Day with FSU’s Faculty Innovator Coffee Chat! Join faculty and staff from across campus for an exciting presentation on Google Gemini in Higher Education — then stick around the Innovation Hub for mini-trainings, live Q&A and swag giveaways. The Faculty Innovator Coffee Chats are a recurring conversation series sponsored by the Office of the Provost held every Wednesday morning.

Oct. 7 | 10 – 10:45 a.m. | Teaching & Learning: Create Process-Based Assessments

Explore using Gemini as a creative partner rather than as a shortcut for final deliverables. This session demonstrates how to build process-focused instructional frameworks and design evaluation rubrics that preserve authentic student voice and critical thinking.

Oct. 7 | 11 – 11:45 a.m. | Accelerate Research: Planning the Inquiry

Learn to design course activities using Deep Research — an agentic Gemini feature. Discover how to guide students in automating comprehensive literature searches and synthesizing complex, cited research reviews.

Oct. 7 | 1 – 1:45 p.m. | Teaching & Learning: Create Process-Based Assessments (Repeat Session)

An afternoon offering of the morning session on leveraging Gemini for framework generation, rubric creation and process-oriented student evaluation.

Oct. 7 | 2 – 2:45 p.m. | Accelerate Research: Planning the Inquiry (Repeat Session)

An afternoon offering of the morning session on incorporating Gemini’s Deep Research tool into academic research workflows and course design.

Workshop Attendee Requirements & Certification

BYOD Requirement: Workshop participants must bring a fully charged laptop or tablet for hands-on exercises.

Earn Official Credentials: Attendees can earn official digital badges through the Google AI Educator Series portal by enrolling before their session.

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A Florida State University doctoral student has developed a new approach to destroying “forever chemicals” and is now taking the technology beyond the laboratory through the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program.

Kimberley Christopher, a doctoral candidate in FSU’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, studies new ways to destroy per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. Because these synthetic chemicals persist in the environment for decades or longer, they have been nicknamed “forever chemicals” and have become a major environmental and public health concern.

Around 200 million people in the U.S. drink PFAS-contaminated water daily, and more than 97% of Americans have PFAS in their blood. Exposure to certain PFAS has been associated with a range of adverse health effects, including increased risk of some cancers.

Through NSF I-Corps, Christopher is expanding the scope of her research: not just whether the chemistry works, but where the technology could have the greatest impact.

“This program makes you think about how to translate your technology to have a much bigger and more meaningful impact,” Christopher said. “You start seeing a world of opportunity everywhere. Once you get that kind of mentality, it just doesn’t go away.”

I-Corps trains scientists and engineers to develop products based on their work. Program teams include a graduate student as the entrepreneurial lead, a technical lead with deep expertise in the technology area and an industry mentor who provides business experience and is independent from the technical development of the product.

When Christopher began pursuing a doctorate in computational physical organic chemistry, she had not thought about starting a business. I-Corps showed her possibilities that could help bring her research to more people.

Christopher is working with Professor Bruce R. Locke and Robert Wandell, director for engineering innovation, from the Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering in the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, and Professor Igor Alabugin, a distinguished research professor in FSU’s Chemistry and Biochemistry Department. They will continue advancing a framework she developed that uses plasma and electrons to jumpstart a permanent and cost-effective breakdown of PFAS ‘forever chemicals.’

From idea to impact with regional and national I-Corps programs

Christopher’s work expands upon previous research by offering a permanent and more effective method for removing PFAS from the environment.

Current approaches transfer PFAS from one medium to another, generating hazardous waste that landfills are reluctant to accept. Whereas other treatment methods capture PFAS, Christopher’s patent-pending Radi-Reactor plasma process permanently destroys it.

Christopher heard about the NSF’s I-Corps regional program at an event organized by IGNITE-FSU, part of the National Science Foundation’s new Accelerating Research Translation program. IGNITE-FSU builds capacity for translational research through resources, programs and partnerships to help build an innovation ecosystem that benefits North Florida’s economy.

“Everything started with IGNITE,” she said. “After we went to IGNITE, things just started to click with the commercialization potential of this idea. We said, ‘Okay, we have a real business here.’”

During a regional I-Corps program, Christopher conducted 30 “discovery interviews” to understand how potential users currently address PFAS contamination, what problems remain unsolved and which customer segments might benefit most from the technology. PFAS are present in thousands of products as varied as non-stick cookware, firefighting foam, furniture, household cleaners, microwavable popcorn and more, so it was important to learn how customers’ needs might differ depending on their industry.

After the regional program concluded, Christopher was nominated by the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship to enter the Florida Venture Forum Collegiate Pitch Competition, where she presented her framework to investors, venture capitalists and other potential patrons. With IGNITE-FSU’s support, Christopher won first place at the pitch competition.

Christopher’s team began NSF’s National I-Corps program in early September. This opportunity offers up to $50,000 in federal funding and deeper immersion into the ecosystem for evaluating the commercial potential of their technology. As the entrepreneurial lead of the team, Christopher works primarily on commercial applications.

The team will complete 100 discovery interviews in just seven weeks from September through October to further refine their understanding of the market and learn more about how the invention can make an impact. Christopher plans to identify a specific customer segment to target and to secure investor backing for the technology.

“I thrive under pressure; it really forces you to be creative,” she said. “You have to take a step back and think, ‘What customer gains are you creating and what pains are you alleviating?’”

Christopher’s goal is to continue developing the effectiveness and cost-competitiveness of her PFAS-destroying technology to make it the cornerstone of her new company, Radical Solutions Corp.

“There’s no better place to start a business than a university,” she said. “You have all of the resources you can dream of available to you, and everybody wants to see you succeed.”

Interested in I-Corps? For more information about I-Corps at FSU, contact FSU Commercialization.

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A Florida State University neuroscientist has received one of the most prestigious awards available to early career faculty for his exploration into how signals our brains receive from our sense of smell shape our perception of food and our behaviors toward it.

Assistant Professor of Biological Science and Neuroscience Douglas Storace has received a 2026 Faculty Early Career Development Award, or CAREER Award, from the National Science Foundation for his research into how olfactory cues are transformed into meaningful information that shapes perception, allowing for the recognition of food, mates and even threats. He’s the sixth FSU faculty member to earn the award this year.

The CAREER Awards Program offers NSF’s most significant awards supporting early-career faculty who can serve as role models in research and education and lead groundbreaking advances in their fields. The award provides faculty with five years of funding to support students and conduct research while developing their professional endeavors alongside NSF staff.

“This grant supports research that aims to understand how being in a bodily state, like hunger, might affect our sensory processing,” Storace said. “It’s also looking at how the brain might change how certain smells are encoded based on this state. If I’m hungry and go outside, the smell of French fries at the Seminole Café is much more prominent than when I’m not hungry. I want to know if our sensitivity to stimuli or sensory perception depends on our state.”

Storace earned his doctorate from the University of Connecticut in 2011 before working as a postdoctoral researcher at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, from 2011 until 2018. Since joining FSU’s faculty in early 2019, he’s led the Storace Lab in working to understand the brain area involved in recognizing and discriminating against different smells.

In addition to researching how being in a state of hunger affects olfactory sensory processing — or how being hungry affects how our brains encode information about what we smell — the Storace Lab will explore the role that orexin neurons, a unique and specific population of specialized brain cells in the hypothalamus that send signals across the entire nervous system, play in the olfactory system.

“Studies on these orexin neurons show that the molecule is implicated in alertness and sleep to some degree, and it’s known to increase appetite,” Storace said. “The human body contains an estimated 86 to 100 billion neurons, with most of them located in the brain, and only about 50,000 are orexin neurons. It’s very interesting that such a small concentration of neurons can have such a powerful effect — disruptions to the orexin system are the cause of narcolepsy, for example. Because these molecules release a neurochemical that is already implicated in many state-dependent functions including appetite, I want to identify what role they play in the olfactory system.”

In 2022, Storace was awarded a five-year, $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to support his research into how changes in odor concentration are encoded by the brain and transformed across the olfactory bulb circuit.

“Dr. Storace’s work has advanced our understanding of how olfactory sensory signals become meaningful perceptions that shape behavior within a complex and constantly changing sensory environment,” said Lisa Eckel, director of the FSU Program in Neuroscience. “The scientific reach of his contributions is substantial, and this new award reinforces his national and international reputation as a scholar and leader in the field of chemical senses.”

Thanks to the NSF CAREER award, Storace is increasing access to neuroscience for all audiences, ranging from early-career students to older adults. The funds supported the development of a course that provides undergraduates with hands-on experiences using neuroscience equipment, often a major obstacle due to the high price of necessary technologies. After finding a company making low-cost neuroscience equipment that can record brain activity onto a laptop, Storace launched the course, “Experimental Physiology,” in Fall 2026.

He also established a neuroscience component within FSU’s Young Scholars Program, a summer program for high school students in Florida with significant potential for careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics to explore different research avenues, by teaching an adapted version of the Experimental Physiology course to the cohort each year. Alongside Distinguished Research Professor of Mathematics Richard Bertram and Assistant Professor of Biological Science and Neuroscience Roberto Vincis, Storace also taught a neuroscience course for older adults last year through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at FSU.

Storace’s research supports FSU Health, an academic health system combining the expertise of hospitals, physicians, clinics, research, education and innovation to improve the health of our community.

“I’m very honored to receive this prestigious grant because there’s something unique about it,” Storace said. “If we want to understand brain diseases or disfunctions, research like this needs to be done to define basic function — if we don’t understand how the brain or its processes work, how can we move toward a more predictive way of addressing disease?”

To learn more about Storace’s research and work conducted in FSU’s Program in Neuroscience, visit neuro.fsu.edu. For more on the Department of Biological Science research at FSU, visit bio.fsu.edu.

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Curiosity, creativity and cutting-edge research will come together at “Glittering Science,” a free FSU Discovery Days event exploring the hidden beauty of materials science.

The event brings together William Meier, assistant professor of materials science and engineering at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, and Scott Holstein, the college’s professional photographer, for an exploration of how scientific discovery can become visual art.

In his laboratory, Meier grows tiny metallic crystals to investigate fundamental questions about materials and their properties. Through specialized macro photography, Holstein transforms those same crystals into striking images that reveal intricate shapes, textures and colors that are nearly impossible to appreciate with the naked eye.

“Glittering Science” will feature a lecture, reception and gallery showcasing crystals grown by Meier and his students alongside Holstein’s photographs. The event will take place:

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 21

6:30 – 8 P.M.

INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH AND COMMERCIALIZATION BUILDING

2001 LEVY AVE.

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA

Visit the event website for more information and to register.

Crystals like those produced in Meier’s laboratory can play a role in technologies including microchips, lasers, quantum sensors and fusion reactor components. Large, high-quality single crystals are especially valuable because researchers can measure how properties such as electrical conductivity and magnetism change in different directions, offering important clues about the behavior of electrons within a material.

But science does not always produce exactly what researchers expect. Sometimes the surprises are the most visually interesting.

“Some of the most beautiful crystals are those that don’t go as planned,” Meier said.

Although visually striking, the crystals are created first and foremost for scientific discovery.

“We grow crystals to support scientific experiments and to answer fundamental questions about materials,” Meier said. “By studying their behaviors, such as magnetism, superconductivity and how they conduct electricity, we gain insight into the underlying physics and can design new materials to solve technological challenges.”

Capturing crystal photographs

While Meier studies what the crystals can reveal about the physics of materials, Holstein approaches them from a different perspective.

“When I saw the crystals up close, through the lens, they looked like other-worldly landscapes,” Holstein said. “It took a macro lens that was able to magnify the crystal up to five times its actual size to see the details of this secret world.”

Capturing those details required much more than simply pointing a camera at a crystal. At extreme magnification, only a tiny portion of the object can appear sharp in a single photograph. Holstein used a technique called focus stacking, combining numerous photographs taken at slightly different focal points to create a single detailed image.

“At 5-to-1 magnification, just a sliver of the crystal is sharp in a shot, so stacking is a must,” Holstein said.

Each finished photograph may combine dozens or even hundreds of individual images, revealing a world of unexpected structures and patterns in crystals only millimeters across.

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Florida State University researchers have developed a method to make a class of materials more robust and potentially easier to manufacture for advanced radiation detection devices, including those used in medical imaging and radiation therapy as well as space technologies.

Nearly a decade ago, FSU Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Biwu Ma and his lab pioneered research on low-dimensional organic metal halide hybrids, or OMHHs, and have since expanded the materials’ structures, properties and applications across a range of technologies and industries. Now, in collaboration with Robert O. Lawton Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Joseph Schlenoff and 3M Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Subramanian Ramakrishnan, the team has developed a novel technique to stabilize the materials and expand their potential for practical applications. Their joint findings were published this month in Advanced Functional Materials.

“Using a technique called crosslinking, we’re shaping OMHHs before locking them into a more durable form,” Ma said. “A familiar example is rubber in car tires. Crosslinking transforms rubber into a much more robust and durable material capable of withstanding demanding conditions. Our chemistry is different, but the fundamental idea is similar: Connecting individual molecular components into a network can dramatically improve the physical robustness and stability of a material.”

Promising materials made more practical

OMHHs combine organic and inorganic components whose optical, electrical and magnetic properties can be tailored through molecular design. Researchers design these materials for technologies ranging from LEDs and solar cells to direct X-ray detectors and scintillators — materials that convert X-rays or other high-energy radiation into visible light.

Despite their versatility, some OMHHs can be challenging to process into stable, durable structures because they can dissolve or degrade when exposed to water or common polar solvents. In this study, Ma and his team developed zero-dimensional, or 0D, OMHHs in which individual metal-halide units are isolated from each other, and they incorporated reactive groups directly into the organic components of the 0D OMHH. After the material was solution-processed into a film, exposure to UV light connected these components into a covalent network that locked the isolated metal-halide units in place.

This provided an important combination of processability before crosslinking and robusticity afterward, while retaining the material’s useful properties. In testing, un-crosslinked films dissolved quickly in water and other solvents while crosslinked films remained intact after prolonged exposure.

“A material may perform well as a small laboratory sample, but real-world applications require reproducible manufacturing, long-term stability, integration with other components, and competitive cost and performance,” Ma said. “Our research is increasingly focused not only on discovering materials with better properties, but also on how those materials can be processed, stabilized, manufactured, and integrated into practical devices. The crosslinking strategy is an important step in that direction because it addresses processability and stability at the molecular-design level.”

Building upon interdisciplinary research

Graduate students played important roles in advancing the research. Tunde Shonde, a former doctoral student in Ma’s group and current scientist at BASF, the world’s largest chemical producer, conducted initial experiments that established the feasibility of crosslinking 0D OMHHs. Sahel Moslemi, a third-year doctoral student and the study’s first author, further developed the materials and led much of the experimental work and characterization.

Ramakrishnan and his team at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering collaborate with Ma’s group to explore how OMHHs could eventually be processed using 3D-printing techniques. Supported by NASA’s In-Space Manufacturing program, the broader effort combines molecularly engineered materials with additive manufacturing to develop functional devices, including radiation detectors with customized structures and technologies that could eventually be manufactured in space.

Schlenoff and his lab, whose research includes polymer and surface chemistry, examined how crosslinking changed the properties of thin OMHH films, including how their surfaces interacted with water. Their analysis helped the team better understand how crosslinking affected the films’ durability.

“Developing new materials can change what technologies are possible,” Ma said. “The crosslinkable materials we created provide an interesting foundation for future developments. We envision applying our research to create printable formulations of OMHHs that can be deposited into customized patterns and 3D structures and then crosslinked to stabilize those structures. This could allow us to manufacture radiation detectors and other technologies with customized or complex structures for specific applications.”

Expanding OMHH research impact

This work is also supported by Inspiring the Generation of New Ideas and Translational Excellence at FSU, or IGNITE-FSU, through a Strategic Translational Research Program project aimed at moving OMHH technologies from fundamental materials discoveries toward practical applications and commercialization.

“Dr. Ma’s work has helped an important area of materials chemistry change direction, reaching neighboring fields of science and engineering,” said Wei Yang, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry chair. “Our department has a deeply rooted tradition of fostering collaborative and interdisciplinary research, which provides a strong vehicle for producing high-impact science and extending research into new frontiers. Following this culture, Dr. Ma has developed a strong core research program and established collaborations across different disciplines to extend the impact and reach of his research.”

To learn more about research conducted in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, visit chem.fsu.edu. For more on research in the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, visit eng.famu.fsu.edu.

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Florida State University will establish a campus-scale quantum communication testing platform with $2.1 million in federal Community Project Funding through the National Institute of Standards and Technology, secured with support from U.S. Rep. Daniel Webster of Florida’s 11th Congressional District.

The testbed will link a central quantum communication hub in FSU’s Interdisciplinary Research and Commercialization Building (IRCB) with receiver nodes at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab). Researchers will study how quantum communication hardware and optical links perform under challenging conditions, including strong air turbulence, high magnetic fields and cryogenic thermal cycling.

Quantum communication uses quantum properties of light, including entanglement, to transmit and protect information in ways that are fundamentally different from conventional networks. A major challenge is moving quantum communication from carefully controlled laboratory demonstrations to reliable systems that can operate in real-world conditions.

“Florida State University leads the nation in quantum science and engineering,” said Rep. Webster. “I fought for this investment in Congress as it will help establish the first quantum communications testbed facility in the southeastern United States. These resources will help expand their important work and strengthen American innovation. Advancements in quantum technology are critical to our national security and will help ensure the United States remains a leader in these emerging technologies as we counter adversaries like China.”

The testbed will connect the hub to the nodes through campus fiber resources. It will generate and distribute entangled photons and monitor measures such as link reliability, allowing researchers to improve system performance. The system will also include reconfigurable optical links so researchers can deliberately expose components and communication channels to controlled environmental stresses.

“The next frontier is not simply demonstrating quantum communication in an ideal laboratory, but understanding how to make these systems reliable in the environments where they will ultimately operate,” said Suvranu De, dean of the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. “This investment gives us a platform to connect fundamental quantum science with engineering validation, workforce development and future partnerships with government, industry and other universities. It is an important step toward secure and resilient quantum networks that can operate in the real world.”

 FSU expands quantum research

The project continues FSU’s commitment to advancing research in quantum science and engineering. Since launching the FSU Quantum Initiative in 2023, the university has hired 10 new faculty members to reach a total of 45 faculty members researching quantum topics, developed Florida’s first graduate credential in quantum information science and engineering, hosted the inaugural Florida Quantum Conference and joined with other universities around the state to establish the Florida Alliance for Quantum Technology.

In July, the U.S. Department of Energy chose FSU to lead four major projects as part of the Genesis Mission, including a project to develop AI that acts as a real-time diagnostic system for quantum computers and another to improve scientists’ understanding of atomic nuclei and other quantum systems.

“This is an important research infrastructure investment that can support future quantum-networking activities and position FSU for larger-scale opportunities,” said Wei Guo, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, head of the MagLab’s cryogenics lab and co-director of the FSU Quantum Initiative. “Just as importantly, it will give students and researchers hands-on experience across the full quantum-networking stack, from photons and detectors to controls, data, networks and demanding operating environments.”

For more information about ongoing quantum research at Florida State, visit the FSU Quantum initiative website.

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A Florida State University researcher will use a combination of artificial intelligence tools and laboratory testing to find innovative treatments for brain cancer, particularly for children.

Qing-Xiang “Amy” Sang, the Diane and Michael Bruton Professor for Cancer Research in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, received more than $500,000 from the Florida Cancer Innovation Fund to determine which existing cancer drugs have the potential to also effectively treat rare pediatric brain cancers. Sang will use AI to quickly sort through a large volume of data to identify which drugs show the most promise as brain cancer treatments before testing them in the laboratory to investigate how they interact with various brain cancers at the molecular level.

Created in 2024 under the Florida Department of Health, the Florida Cancer Innovation Fund aims to strengthen collaborations between oncologists and scientists by supporting cutting-edge cancer research and treatment models.

“Brain cancers are among the deadliest and hardest-to-treat cancers in both children and adults,” Sang said. “There are many types of brain cancers, so a drug that works well against one may do nothing against another. However, different tumors often share hidden similarities in their underlying biology. This grant will help us examine drugs that are already known to work against certain cancers and test whether they can also treat different, less-studied types of brain cancer.”

There are nearly 600 cancer-fighting drugs on the market today, made possible by countless hours of research, culminating in the production of more than 1 million cancer-related scientific publications worldwide from 2010-2019 alone. These publications contain valuable findings on cancer biology, cancer-drug interactions and patient response to different treatments.

However, because the volume of research is so vast, it would be nearly impossible for one person, or even one laboratory group, to spot crucial patterns across this data set even if they had the time and funding to do so. Sang will use AI to bridge this gap, quickly analyzing which of those nearly 600 cancer drugs have the highest potential to effectively combat specific understudied brain cancers, such as atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumors and diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma — both of which are rare and presently incurable pediatric brain cancers.

Repurposing existing medicines for cancer-fighting benefits

Sang will expand her search to include drugs already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for non-cancer conditions. For example, tamoxifen was first approved as a contraceptive pill, but scientists later discovered it can treat breast cancer and even lower the risk of tumor development in high-risk patients.

“By identifying molecular similarities among tumors, we can make educated, data-driven hypotheses about which existing drugs might work in a new biological setting,” said Sang, who is also affiliated with FSU’s Institute of Molecular Biophysics. “We will take our top candidates for novel brain cancer treatments into the lab and test them directly on brain tumor cells to demonstrate that our approach works in practice, not just theory.”

In the lab, Sang will test how the recommended drugs interact with real, patient-derived organoids — three-dimensional, ball-shaped clusters of cells — which behave much more like a whole tumor than a single flat layer of cells. This method aligns with a national shift away from animal testing, driven by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s preference for use of computer-based tools and realistic human-cell models when possible.

“Dr. Sang is a highly regarded biochemist with remarkable creativity, persistence, and a research program yielding unique insights,” said Wei Yang, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry chair. “Her new grant is also a testimony to the advancement of A Strategic Plan to Inspire Research Excellence, or the FSU ASPIRE mission, developed to identify strategic areas of focus and investment, ensuring the sustained growth and impact of FSU’s research enterprise, particularly in the area of drug discovery.”

While Sang primarily focuses on rare pediatric brain cancers, she also seeks treatments for more common forms, like glioblastoma tumors. Compared to more prevalent cancers, such as prostate and breast cancer, brain tumors account for less than two percent of all new U.S. cancer cases, according to the National Foundation for Cancer Research.

“Because we research drugs that are already approved or have gone through early-stage clinical trials, the odds of successfully moving them toward new patients are much higher than trying to build a brand-new compound,” Sang said. “This is especially important for rare brain cancers, which often attract little interest from pharmaceutical companies simply because the number of patients is small and potential profit is limited.”

Sang’s work also supports FSU Health, an academic health system combining the expertise of hospitals, physicians, clinics, research, education and innovation to improve the health of our community.

“Our goal is to extend the lives of cancer patients, enhance quality of life and when possible, provide a cure,” Sang said. “I hope that in our efforts to repurpose existing drugs, we have a realistic shot at finding effective treatments for difficult brain cancers in a quicker timeframe.”

To learn more about research conducted in the FSU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, visit chem.fsu.edu.

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Four Florida State University faculty members from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry have received more than $2 million from the National Science Foundation to advance the development of new materials for applications in areas including energy, data storage and technological advances like quantum computing and medical devices.

The three-year grants were awarded this summer to Distinguished Research Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Igor Alabugin, Professors of Chemistry and Biochemistry Eugene DePrince and Susan Latturner, and Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor Joseph Schlenoff. The funds will also support students’ professional and academic growth through graduate research assistantships and hands-on laboratory experiences.

“Materials chemistry has been one of the sustained strengths of FSU Chemistry and Biochemistry,” said Wei Yang, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry chair. “As part of our department’s strategic vision, we will continue pushing forward our research of molecules and materials that enable next-generation technologies and chemical discoveries.”

Controlling chemistry for new quantum technologies

Alabugin, whose research focuses on developing new chemical reactions and using molecular structure to control chemical and physical properties, received $578,000 for his project, “Design of Functional Graphenic Substructures.” His team will develop new synthetic strategies for building small, precisely defined fragments of graphene and systematically investigate how their size, shape and connectivity control the movement of electrons and energy, their interaction with light and their magnetic properties.

By establishing these structure-property relationships, Alabugin and his team aim to develop molecular-level design principles for creating graphene materials with predictable functions. Such materials have potential applications in molecular electronics, energy conversion, sensing, high-density data storage and quantum technologies.

“This research is like using molecular Lego bricks,” Alabugin said. “We can connect different pieces of graphene and ask how the way we connect them changes what the resulting molecule can do. Ultimately, we want to understand these rules well enough to say, ‘I want a molecule that does this,’ and know how to build it.”

Expanding the computational chemistry toolkit

DePrince, who develops theories and algorithms for high-accuracy quantum chemical simulations, was awarded $544,501 for the project, “Molecular Response Properties from Ab Initio Quantum Electrodynamics.” He will analyze how interactions between light and matter change the molecular properties of a system, which is important in technologies like solar power. DePrince will create new theoretical models and computational tools to understand how molecules behave in optical cavities, or environments with strong interactions between light and matter that alter the properties and underlying chemistry of a molecule.

“We’re aiming to expand computational chemists’ toolkit and introduce new ways of controlling molecular properties through strong interactions with light,” DePrince said. “In the longer term, tools like these could help guide the design of efficient materials for new quantum technologies.”

More efficient data storage and energy applications

Latturner investigates novel compounds that can be used in clean energy and received $500,000 for her project, “Directing the Synthesis of Complex Materials from Metal Fluxes,” which will grow new intermetallic compounds — substances made from two or more metallic elements like nickel and aluminum — from molten metal to investigate their magnetic, thermoelectric and superconducting properties. These compounds have the potential to facilitate advances in data storage, medicine and energy conversion technology.

“Some compounds we’re creating are semiconducting, and they could be used as thermoelectric modules that harness waste heat,” Latturner said. “When driving a car, for example, the engine gets hot and most of that heat energy is lost. If we put a thermoelectric module in the car and convert heat back to electricity, the whole system becomes more efficient.”

New polymer blends for water purification and more

Schlenoff secured $560,862 for his project, “Extremes of Macromolecular Charge Pairing Motif in Polyelectrolyte Complex Coacervates.” His research focuses on understanding and creating new materials from water-soluble polymers, or large spaghetti-like molecules that dissolve, disperse or swell in water. This grant will allow him to create new adhesives, membranes and coatings from charged polymers, which could advance technologies for water purification, fuel cells and batteries.

“We’re working to better understand and create new biocompatible polymer blends, including adhesives that can join surfaces underwater for biomedical applications such as wound closure and tissue repair,” Schlenoff said. “Almost all scientific breakthroughs are underpinned by this kind of systematic fundamental research, and NSF’s support in our pursuit of these discoveries cannot be overstated.”

To learn more about research conducted in FSU’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, visit chem.fsu.edu.

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A Florida State University computer scientist has earned one of the most prestigious awards available to early career faculty for developing high-performance computing systems that help researchers more efficiently manage large amounts of data in experiments and theoretical predictions.

Kai Zhao, an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science, has earned the 2026 Faculty Early Career Development Award, or CAREER Award, from the National Science Foundation, or NSF, for his work helping scientists manage massive amounts of data generated by large-scale simulations, scientific instruments and sensor systems, such as those used in X-ray imaging or to build cosmological models of the universe.

The CAREER Awards Program offers the NSF’s most significant awards in support of early career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models and lead advances in their field. Zhao is the third faculty member from FSU’s Department of Computer Science to earn the award this year, which provides five years of funding to support activities that build a firm foundation of leadership through the integration of research and education.

“Earning the CAREER Award is a huge milestone for me,” Zhao said. “I’m excited that the award supports not only my research but also student mentoring and education over the next five years.”

During research, scientists often spend a great amount of time sorting through data to identify patterns and details that support or disprove their hypothesis. Zhao was inspired by interdisciplinary connections among computer science and other subjects to develop a compression system that makes research and data management for science and engineering more efficient.

“I like working on problems where advances in computer science can accelerate scientific discovery,” Zhao said. “Better data management can help researchers run larger simulations, analyze results faster and make better use of computing resources. My goal is to make storing, moving and analyzing scientific data more efficient without losing information that researchers need.”

Through NSF funding, Zhao will continue developing a streaming-first framework called StreamZ, a data-processing tool designed to handle data that is continuously produced or consumed — such as data gathered in medicine, astrophysics or materials research. StreamZ will reduce the volume of such data by sorting out repeated or unnecessary information so scientists can more easily retrieve the most essential data at the level of detail they need.

“StreamZ addresses one of the most pressing challenges in modern scientific computing — how to efficiently manage massive streams of data from scientific instruments and simulations,” said Weikuan Yu, professor and former chair of the Department of Computer Science. “Kai’s work has the potential to substantially reduce storage costs and accelerate scientific discovery.”

The StreamZ stool is currently a set of compression algorithms, sets of rules that reduce data by removing repeated or extra information, but Zhao will further develop it into a high-performance software that can run on both high-performance computing clusters and personal computers. He’s also exploring how artificial intelligence and large language models can assist in data compression by automatically optimizing compression methods for different scientific applications or computing platforms. Eventually, he hopes to make StreamZ an open-source system that scientists can use in their daily research activities.

Zhao’s award will also support educational and mentorship initiatives by allowing him to hire undergraduate and graduate research assistants to help with laboratory processes while gaining valuable research experience, providing them with necessary skills and knowledge for a successful scientific career.

“Kai has accomplished an extraordinary amount in a very short time,” Yu said. “I’m impressed not only by the quality and quantity of his research products but also by his commitment to mentoring students and building strong research relationships.”

Zhao earned his bachelor’s degree in 2014 from Peking University in Beijing, China and his doctorate in computer science from the University of California, Riverside in 2022. While earning his doctorate, Zhao worked as a student intern at the Argonne National Library, a federally funded, multidisciplinary science and engineering research center in Lemont, Illinois. He joined FSU’s faculty in 2023.

Visit the Department of Computer Science website to learn more about Zhao’s work and department research.

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Researchers at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, or MagLab, have shown that a potential stroke treatment derived from stem cells may be more effective for women.

In a study published in Theranostics, the research team used human mesenchymal stem cells, which can transform into a variety of different cell types, to harvest extracellular vesicles, or EVs — small particles released by cells as chemical messengers. They tested those EVs as a therapy for ischemic stroke, when blood is blocked from reaching the brain.

The research could help scientists improve drug-based treatments for stroke patients and refine care strategies, even tailoring those that may be impacted by a patient’s sex.

What they did

Extracellular vesicles have shown potential as a treatment for various diseases, both as a way to deliver medicines to specific targets in patients and as a therapy on their own.

In this study, researchers used EVs to treat rats with strokes, then tracked changes in their brains over several weeks with the MagLab’s 21.1-T ultra-widebore magnet using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopy.

In both males and females, the EV treatment improved post-stroke recovery. MRI scans showed improvements to damaged brain tissue and the brain’s chemical and metabolic activity after treatment.

But the benefits were not the same for each sex, suggesting that biological differences may influence treatment effectiveness.

Why it matters: Personalizing treatment for patients

The primary female sex hormones, estrogen and progesterone, have protective effects for the brain. In this study, the researchers saw that EVs augmented the positive effects of these naturally occurring hormones.

“Extracellular vesicles are a way to use the body’s own biological messaging system to promote healing,” said study co-author Yan Li, a professor at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. “That natural capacity to promote repair and restore balance could transform how we treat some of the most challenging diseases.”

Preclinical work, including animal and cellular studies, often uses male subjects to avoid data variations caused by female hormonal cycles. By understanding the role sex hormones play in stroke recovery, the research could eventually help scientists implement more effective treatments for women.

Extracellular vesicles: An avenue for targeted treatment

EVs are a promising treatment for various diseases because they offer the regenerative and anti-inflammatory benefits of cell therapies without the risks of using living cells.

Drugs used to treat strokes must cross the blood-brain barrier to target the area where they are needed. EVs are small and can penetrate deeper into the brain than stem cells, which are more likely to be identified and attacked by a patient’s immune system.

“You’re getting an extra bang for your buck as a patient,” said study co-author Samuel Grant, a professor at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. “Even though estrogen is helping recovery, the EV therapy has the added benefit of helping to recover faster, to salvage more tissue and reestablish regulation of metabolic processes in the brain.”

Collaborators and support

Former FSU doctoral student Jamini Bhagu was the lead author on this study. FSU graduate students and undergraduate students were also co-authors. This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation through the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and the State of Florida.

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As Floridians brace for the peak of hurricane season in September, terms like El Niño and long-range forecasts can feel distant and abstract. For Emily Powell, Florida state climatologist at the Florida Climate Center within Florida State University, those forecasts are essential tools for helping communities understand weather risks and make key decisions before disaster strikes.

Powell’s work sits at the intersection of climatology, emergency management and urban planning, three critical areas in a hurricane-prone state like Florida. Her interdisciplinary approach helps small and at-risk communities build practical roadmaps for resilience.

As state climatologist for the State of Florida, Powell turns complex historical weather trends into clear, decision-ready data for policy and planning. The Florida Climate Center provides official weather data, climate research and public outreach for the state of Florida.

“The mission of the Florida Climate Center is to monitor, disseminate and analyze weather and climate data and information to serve the people in the state,” Powell said.

The center’s work includes three main components: data services; research and applications that support weather-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, forestry, water resources, emergency management, public health and urban planning; and outreach and education. The center translates information to the public by highlighting climate events, informing media and maintaining an active social media presence.

Serving the public is what first drew Powell to studying weather patterns and continues to drive her research.

“I wanted to take my interest in weather and society and my academic training and apply it to understand how weather and climate affect people and their environment,” Powell said. “For instance, how weather and climate impact people’s lifestyles, public health and safety, a community’s economic solvency, how it affects our food supplies, and how it drives ecosystem change.”

Powell’s expertise comprises the drivers of seasonal hurricane forecasts, including the El Niño/La Niña cycle. Known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO, the pattern affects temperature, precipitation, storm tracks and hurricane activity around the world.

According to Powell, the heating and cooling of the equatorial Pacific Ocean influence atmospheric pressure patterns and the position and strength of the jet stream. That helps shape where storms track and can lead to persistent temperature and precipitation anomalies, including in Florida.

El Niño is drawing heightened attention because 2026 is predicted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to reach record levels, with sea surface temperatures potentially rising nearly 3 degrees Celsius by winter. Powell cautions that increased risk does not guarantee a specific outcome.

“One thing to keep in mind is that a strong or very strong El Niño event does not guarantee we’ll see stronger or bigger impacts from the event,” Powell cautioned. “It does, however, considerably increase the odds, or the likelihood that those expected impacts will occur.”

Powell said Floridians could see the effects most strongly from late fall through winter and into spring. Wetter, cooler than normal weather is expected during colder months, along with an increased risk of severe weather, including tornadoes and more frequent rain, as El Niño favors a more active southern storm track.

Besides providing crucial climate intel, another focus area is community resilience. Powell has worked with Florida Sea Grant and the University of Florida Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences to provide technical assistance and resilience support to low-capacity communities across the state, reinforcing the demand for credible, science-based information.

“We’ve seen demand for weather and climate services go up over the years, and we try to communicate information and contextualize that information, particularly from national and local authorities, to ensure people have the right information and can make sense of that information so they can make well-informed decisions,” Powell said.

“We’ve seen demand for weather and climate services go up over the years, and we try to communicate information and contextualize that information, particularly from national and local authorities, to ensure people have the right information and can make sense of that information so they can make well-informed decisions.”

– Emily Powell, state climatologist for the State of Florida

Powell’s community impact also extends to Florida’s Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network, where she serves as the state’s co-coordinator. The grassroots precipitation-measurement network relies on volunteers who take daily measurements in their own backyards.

Powell embraces the citizen science approach because it provides real-time data that can support precipitation forecasts, flash-flood monitoring, extreme storm tracking, drought monitoring and more.

“It’s great to have a network of citizen scientists who are passionate about the weather,” Powell added. “We get to work with people around the state who do this on their free time, and the data that they produce is freely available almost immediately to anyone who wants to look at it.”

Even with NOAA forecasting a below-normal hurricane season, Powell said one storm can still exploit a window of opportunity and cause widespread damage. She encourages the public to prepare early, regardless of the quieter forecast.

“People always need to be aware of the risk and stay prepared, no matter what the overall trend says,” Powell advised.

And while weather conditions change daily, Powell’s mission remains constant: helping Floridians understand the risks ahead of time so that communities can make informed decisions before the next challenge arrives.

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