The project to create an advanced nuclear magnetic resonance facility supports U.S. National Science Foundation priorities in biotechnology, energy, advanced manufacturing and health 

The Florida State University-headquartered National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, or MagLab, is launching a new magnet facility to build on its world leadership in nuclear magnetic resonance with $18 million in funding from the National Science Foundation.

The new ultra-high-sensitivity facility will center around a new 23.5-tesla nuclear magnetic resonance, or NMR, magnet, one of the strongest in the United States, complemented by additional equipment to accelerate data acquisition for a wide range of research.

“This grant will fund an instrument that is unique in the world. It’s a significant milestone and exciting news for the MagLab, FSU and the U.S. as a whole,” said Frederic Mentink-Vigier, lead researcher for the project and an affiliated faculty member in the FSU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. “What this instrument is opening up is the ability to look at samples with higher sensitivity, and thus to look at the entirety of the periodic table.”

With stronger magnets, researchers can make deeper investigations to drive breakthroughs across disciplines.

“This facility will provide previously inaccessible capabilities for understanding the structure and dynamics of matter at the atomic scale, critical to U.S. priorities in biotechnology, energy, advanced manufacturing and health,” said the NSF award announcement.

New magnet, expanded capabilities

Nuclear magnetic resonance harnesses high magnetic fields and radio waves to determine the 3D structures of molecules, uncover the mechanisms of enzymes and catalysts, and provide insights into surfaces and interfaces at scales far beyond the reach of conventional microscopes.

The technology allows scientists to examine samples for biologically essential elements such as iron, copper, sulfur and calcium, along with greater study of membrane proteins that act as cell gatekeepers and amyloid proteins, which play a role in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Type II diabetes and other diseases.

“All this is essential to be able to understand disease and develop cures,” said Mentink-Vigier.

The instrument will expand capabilities to see elements such as lithium and sodium being studied for solid-state batteries. Scientists will also be able to better detect cadmium, selenium and lead, crucial for electronics, solar cells and LEDs, along with platinum-group metals, which play critical roles in catalysis and medicine.

World-leading techniques

Mentink-Vigier’s research focuses on dynamic nuclear polarization, or DNP, a technique in which he is a world-renowned expert. This new instrument represents the cutting edge of DNP, a signal amplifier that improves sensitivity by up to four orders of magnitude. The new system will utilize magic angle spinning, combined either with DNP or cryoprobes, to improve resolution. That technique can lower measurement times by a factor of up to 16. This will be the only ultra-high-field magnet in the world equipped with both magic angle spinning and dynamic nuclear polarization.

“When people want information out of the NMR experiments, this is the combination: magic angle spinning gives you resolution and dynamic nuclear polarization gives you signaling intensity,” said Mentink-Vigier. “We have the ability to do experiments that previously we were not able to do. What you could not absolutely see before, you can now see.”

Serving the scientific community

The new magnet system is scheduled for installation in 2028, with access for users from around the world starting the following year. The new magnet will operate as part of the MagLab’s large user program, serving more than 1,600 academic researchers and companies each year, and providing a technical training ground for students who will help build the future STEM workforce.

“Our NMR program is already known for its unparalleled equipment and expertise,” said MagLab Director Kathleen Amm. “This will only expand what’s possible for top scientists from around the world who come here to push the boundaries in biology and other disciplines.”

“I am delighted to see this remarkable facility become a reality and serve the scientific community,” said Ayyalusamy Ramamoorthy, MagLab researcher and professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering.

Ramamoorthy’s lab investigates amyloid formation, dynamic structures of membrane proteins and the roles of biological relevant metals in disease-related molecular processes.

“This award further amplifies the MagLab’s impact by empowering scientists from around the world to make new discoveries,” he said. 

A legacy of NMR leadership

The project serves as a legacy for former NMR Facility Director Robert Schurko, who passed away in February 2026 after a battle with cancer. Schurko spent his career extending the use of solid-state NMR research and discovery.

“Rob was the catalyst that brought us together around a shared vision of creating a unique facility that would push the boundaries of solid-state NMR,” said Mentink-Vigier. “We are honored to carry his vision forward. This award is a testament to Rob’s legacy and our collective commitment to making this facility a reality.”

The National MagLab is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the State of Florida.

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The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, or NASEM, is recognizing a FAMU-FSU College of Engineering faculty member for her research that supports safe and clean water for communities in Florida and beyond.

Associate Professor Nasrin Alamdari is part of the 2026-2028 cohort for NASEM’s Gulf Research Program Early-Career Research Fellowship, which supports emerging scientific leaders whose work strengthens the well-being of coastal communities and ecosystems. She is the fourth faculty member in Florida State University history to receive this national fellowship.

“It is an honor to be selected,” Alamdari said. “Part of what makes it meaningful is that this fellowship funds people rather than a single project. Over the next two years, I aim to bridge the gap between forecasting and helping planners with real-world decisions.”

Research to support healthy coastal communities

Alamdari’s research focuses on watershed hydrology, stormwater management, predicting and mitigating harmful algal blooms and developing natural and nature-based solutions. She uses data-driven and process-based models to address water resource problems.

Her team developed fine-scale hydrologic models of Florida’s urban watersheds involving individual stormwater practices such as rain gardens, bioretention cells and retention ponds. They also used machine learning models to forecast cyanobacteria blooms in lakes and coastal estuaries, including Biscayne Bay and Lake Okeechobee.

Her work has produced statewide decision-support tools that help municipalities identify and size stormwater practices for nutrient reduction, estimate the monetary value of green infrastructure assets and predict cyanobacteria in freshwater lakes.

“Data is scarcest precisely in the communities facing the greatest risk,” Alamdari said. “But if we can predict bacteria levels or an algal bloom a few days in advance, even in a county with almost no monitoring, we can transform when warnings are issued and how much a community must spend responding afterward. If a family can make a safer decision about where their children swim or what comes out of their tap, then the research did its job.”

NASEM Fellowship

The NASEM Fellowship supports scientists, engineers and health professionals in the critical pre-tenure phase of their careers, providing a two-year grant for research and professional development.

During the fellowship, Alamdari plans to connect her water quality and algal bloom forecasts to public health data in partnership with health departments and public health researchers and to evaluate how infrastructure performs through events such as back-to-back storms or simultaneous drought and extreme heat.

Alamdari received the fellowship through the program’s Community Track, which supports applied research on climate-related stressors such as heat, flooding and pollution and their impacts on human health, community resilience and regional economies.

Alamdari

Alamdari is an associate professor in the college’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and a member of the Resilient Infrastructure & Disaster Response Center, or RIDER. She has led 15 funded projects, supported by organizations like the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

Alamdari holds a doctorate in biological systems engineering from Virginia Tech and completed postdoctoral research at the Colorado School of Mines. In 2025, she received the American Water Resources Association’s A. Ivan Johnson Young Professional Award.

She was also selected for the National Science Foundation’s National Center for Atmospheric Research Faculty Innovator Program, which supports her project to integrate high-resolution atmospheric and hydrologic forecasts into an artificial intelligence-driven statewide early warning system for harmful algal blooms.

 Visit  Alamdari’s website to learn more about her work. Visit the National Academies website to learn more about the Early-Career Research Fellowship and see the 2026-2028 cohorts.

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A Florida State University researcher is helping guide national research priorities in artificial intelligence, advanced computing and data systems in his new role as a program director within the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure at the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Professor of Computer Science Weikuan Yu will serve as an NSF program director for at least one year starting in Fall 2026. In this role, he’ll collaborate with researchers and other program directors to help manage NSF programs and oversee federal research investments related to his expertise in AI, powerful computing systems, large-scale data management and computing infrastructure.

“It’s a great honor to represent FSU at the national level and contribute to federal investments in advanced cyberinfrastructure and national AI research resources,” Yu said. “This opportunity comes at an especially exciting time, as AI is rapidly reshaping science, technology and society. The role gives me an opportunity to step back and look more broadly at where our research community is heading, particularly how national computing, AI and data infrastructure can enable scientific discovery and serve the larger research community.”

A major focus of Yu’s research is improving the efficiency of AI systems. Most recently, he led the development of AURORA, a software framework that monitors AI while helping the system run faster, use memory more efficiently and consume less energy. AURORA was selected for FSU’s 2026 ReliaQuest Innovation Challenge Fund, which supports innovative proof-of-concept solutions in AI and cybersecurity through the FSU Office of Research.

“Computing has become fundamental to nearly every aspect of modern science and society, and AI is accelerating that transformation at an unprecedented pace,” Yu said. “Continued progress depends not only on better AI models, but also on sustained advances in the computing, data, software and networking infrastructure behind them. Ultimately, investing in this foundation is essential to sustaining scientific discovery, technological innovation and our nation’s leadership in an increasingly AI-driven world.”

Yu joined FSU’s Department of Computer Science in 2015 and has served as associate chair for research and held the Mainline Information Systems Endowed Professorship. He also led the Department of Computer Science as chair for three years. “Dr. Yu, who has a robust and broad research program of his own, is imminently well qualified to fulfill this role as a program director,” said College of Arts and Sciences Dean Sam Huckaba. “Serving as director will provide value in both directions. The NSF will benefit from Dr. Yu’s knowledge and experience, and he will return with a better understanding of emerging federal research priorities and how the NSF arrives at funding decisions, particularly for its current highest priorities. While the funding agencies have strict policies against a program officer having anything to do with decision making relating to their home institution, the overall experience of Weikuan’s service will be beneficial to FSU.”

This position was made possible through the Intergovernmental Personnel Act rotator program, which allows federal agencies to bring experienced researchers and professionals from universities or other organizations into federal service, facilitating the exchange of expertise among government agencies and participating institutions.

Yu will also have the opportunity to increase access to large-scale high-performance computing and national AI research resources through programs like the NSF-funded State and Regional AI Infrastructure Hubs, which provide computing resources and training for AI research and education. These efforts connect institutions with fewer resources, like small rural schools, with tools and technology needed to conduct AI research.

“It will be exciting to help advance programs that push the boundaries of national cyberinfrastructure, from high-performance computing and AI research resources to networking, data, and software systems, and broaden their impact across scientific disciplines,” Yu said. “I’m also eager to collaborate with other program directors on emerging opportunities in AI-enabled sciences and help develop the research community and workforce needed to build and use the next generation of national cyberinfrastructure.”

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

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Florida State University faculty are helping build stronger structures by examining how wave-shaped patterns on exterior walls and roofs reduce wind loads on low-rise buildings by up to 60%.

The research, which was published in Engineering Structures, could help architects and engineers combat hurricane-force winds through innovative building shapes.

“Changing a building’s shape can significantly reduce the intensity of wind forces it has to withstand”, said Pedro Fernández-Cabán, one of the co-authors of the work and an assistant professor of civil engineering at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. “These nonconventional building shapes reduce the damage from worst-case severe weather scenarios. It’s another tool for engineers and designers to protect against wind damage.”

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The Florida Institute for Pediatric Rare Diseases (IPRD) at Florida State University has enrolled its first families in the Sunshine Genetics pilot program, which utilizes whole-genome sequencing to screen newborns for rare genetic conditions.

The screening checks for nearly 900 genetic conditions. Early identification of these conditions will empower families with knowledge about their newborn, reduce diagnostic delays and accelerate the path to treatment or specialized management.

Florida Rep. Adam Anderson (R-Palm Harbor), who championed the legislation which established both IPRD and the Sunshine Genetics Act, called it a milestone he will never forget.

“Two years ago, this was an idea we were fighting to make a reality,” Anderson said. “Today, Florida families have the opportunity to enroll their newborns in a program we once could only imagine. This remarkable progress is a testament to the doctors, researchers and industry leaders, as well as the hospitals and universities across Florida and around the country, who believed in this vision and worked to make it possible.”

Anderson will deliver a keynote address at the International Consortium of Newborn Sequencing (ICoNS), Oct. 7-8 at Harvard Medical School before an international collection of experts in the field. He will be joined there by IPRD and Sunshine Genetics leadership, in addition to leadership from many of its program partners.

Sunshine Genetics and its pilot program is administered by IPRD at FSU’s College of Medicine, with guidance from the multi-institutional Sunshine Genetics Steering Committee and support from industry leaders Baylor Genetics, GeneDx, Nest Genomics  and Amazon Web Services (AWS).

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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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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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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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The 2026 Atlantic hurricane season has been unusually quiet, underscoring the important role large-scale climate patterns play in hurricane development and the challenges scientists face in forecasting seasonal activity.

Since the season began on June 1, no hurricanes have formed in the Atlantic Ocean, although there have been several tropical storms. In a typical season, the first hurricane tends to form by early to mid-August, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Allison Wing, an associate professor in Florida State University’s Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, studies atmospheric dynamics, with an emphasis on tropical cyclones and tropical convection.

The strong El Niño climate pattern now in place is a major contributor to the quiet Atlantic hurricane season, she said. The pattern produces stronger vertical wind shear, or changes in wind speed and direction at different altitudes, creating less favorable conditions for tropical cyclones.

“Vertical wind shear is bad for hurricanes,” Wing said. “It makes it harder for them to form, harder for them to intensify.”

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation, or ENSO, is a recurring pattern of changing ocean temperatures and atmospheric conditions across the tropical Pacific Ocean. During El Niño changes in Pacific Ocean temperatures influence rainfall and cloud development, which in turn affect atmospheric circulation around the world.

Although El Niño and its cooler counterpart, La Niña, significantly influence hurricane activity, other atmospheric and oceanic conditions also help determine how active a season ultimately becomes. Research continues to improve seasonal hurricane forecasting, but predicting activity remains a challenge.

For example, La Niña conditions briefly formed in late 2025 and lasted until early 2026 before the current El Niño pattern emerged.

“That speaks to the complexity of all the different factors that control hurricane activity,” Wing said. “While ENSO is a big factor, it’s not the only factor.”

Even in a quiet season, a single storm can cause major damage, a message that is especially important for Florida residents.

“Destructive storms can still develop late in the season,” Wing said. “Even in a quiet season, it only takes one hurricane to have a devastating impact. You should take the same preparations regardless of the seasonal forecast.”

Media interested in interviewing Wing about this year’s hurricane season can contact her at awing@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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