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Promoting Lifelong Ocean Education: Shaping Tomorrow's Earth Stewards and the Science and Technology Workforce

The coming ocean observing systems provide an unprecedented opportunity to change both the public perception of our oceans, and to inspire, captivate and motivate our children, our young adults and even our fellow adults to pursue careers allied with the oceans and to become stewards of our Planet's last unexplored environment. Education plans for the operational component, the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS), and for the research component, Ocean Research Interactive Observatory Networks (ORION), are designed to take advantage of this opportunity. In both cases, community recommendations were developed within the context of the following assumptions: 1. Utilize research on how people learn, especially the four-pronged model of simultaneous learner-centered, knowledge-center, assessment-centered and community-centered learning 2. Strive for maximum impact on national needs in science and technology learning 3. Build on the best of what is already in place 4. Pay special attention to quality, sustainability, and scalability of efforts 5. Use partnerships across federal, state and local government, academia, and industry. Community recommendations for 100s and ORION education have much in common and offer the opportunity to create a coherent education effort allied with ocean observing systems. Both efforts focus on developing the science and technology workforce of the future, and the science and technology literacy of the public within the context of the Earth system and the role of the oceans and Great Lakes in that system. Both also recognize that an organized education infrastructure that supports sustainability and scalability of education efforts is required if ocean observing education efforts are to achieve a small but measurable improvement in either of these areas. Efforts have begun to develop the education infrastructure by beginning to form a community of educators from existing ocean and aquatic education networks and by exploring needs and issues associated with using ocean observing information assets in education. Likewise efforts are underway to address workforce issues by a systematic analysis of current and future workforce and educational needs. These activities will be described as will upcoming opportunities for the community to participate in these efforts.

Meeson, Blanche↗

A Decade of NASA Strategic Astrophysics Technology Investments: Technology Maturation, Infusion, and Other Benefits

NASA’s Astrophysics Division (APD) funds development of cutting-edge technology to enable its missions to achieve ambitious and groundbreaking science goals. These technology development efforts are managed by the Physics of the Cosmos (PCOS), Cosmic Origins (COR), and Exoplanet Exploration (ExE) Programs. The NASA Strategic Astrophysics Technology (SAT) Program was established in 2009 as a new technology maturation program to fill the gap in the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) range from 3 to 6. Since program inception, 100 SAT grants have been openly competed and awarded, along with dozens of direct-funded projects, leading to a host of technologies advancing their TRLs and/or being infused into space and suborbital missions and ground-based projects. We present the portfolio distribution in terms of specific technology areas addressed, including optics, detectors, coatings, coronagraphs, starshades, lasers, electronics, cooling systems, and micro-thruster subsystems. We show an analysis of the rate of TRL advances, infusion success stories, and other benefits such as training the future astrophysics workforce, including students and postdoctoral fellows hired by projects. Finally, we present APD’s current strategic technology maturation priorities for investment, enabling a range of future strategic astrophysics missions

NASA, astrophysics, technology development, optics↗

LDRD FY25 Program Overview

As Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL’s) Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program enters its fifth decade of leading-edge research and development, its impact and importance have never been stronger. The program continues to advance strategic investments in pioneering science, technology, and engineering, ensuring LLNL will be ready to deliver on our mission as it evolves over the coming decades. Investing in LDRD research, and the people who perform this critical work, gives LLNL the ability to sustain our role as a leader in the Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration enterprise. The LDRD program enables high-risk, high-payoff research that anticipates emerging threats and future mission needs. By nurturing the ingenuity of the Lab’s greatest asset, its people, LDRD funding advances not only our research but also grows and nurtures our workforce: engaging future innovators with student mentoring, challenging postdoctoral researchers to apply their skills to support national security, and strengthening the leadership skills of early career staff. This annual report documents how LDRD investments advance LLNL’s science, technology, and engineering across our mission space. To assess LDRD’s impact we track both short and long-term metrics such as peer-reviewed publications, number of students, or professional fellows. In addition to reviewing these metrics, I encourage you to delve deeper into the breadth of science and technology that illustrate the strategic value of this research portfolio. For instance, a recent exploratory research project used advanced manufacturing to construct miniaturized three-dimensional ion traps for a quantum computer with reduced quantum error rates to enable applications that address national security missions and support basic science. Another project has delved into studying detonation by examining deflagration to enhance the safety and security of the nuclear weapons stockpile. LDRD researchers are also deploying AI agents on two of the world’s most powerful supercomputers to automate and accelerate inertial confinement fusion experiments. Other teams are delivering more accurate optical constants to enable improved validation for aluminum to advance atomic and molecular physics models. LDRD-driven discoveries of how metals deform under extreme conditions strengthen our ability to model and design materials for demanding national security environments. National security challenges are increasingly complex and continuously evolving. LDRD focuses our most innovative science and technology on these challenges, ensuring the Laboratory is developing creative, forward-leaning solutions for our nation and the world. The following pages feature highlights of published scientific advances, patents, and honors that stem from LDRD investments. As you read this report, I hope you will understand how these investments position the Laboratory, and our partners, to meet the demands of the decades ahead.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Myco-Ed: Mycological curriculum for education and discovery

Fungi are important and hyperdiverse organisms, yet chronically understudied. Most fungal clades have no reference genomes, impeding our understanding of their ecosystem functions and use as solutions in health and biotechnology. Also, opportunities for training in fungal biology and genomics are lacking, creating a bottleneck that hinders the recruitment and cultivation of a talented future mycological workforce. To address these issues, we developed Myco-Ed, an educational program offering training and scientific contributions through genome sequencing and analysis. Myco-Ed empowers students to pursue careers in fungal biology while improving fungal resources. Myco-Ed has been piloted at 12 institutions (15 classrooms) ranging from online e-Campuses to R1 universities, resulting in hundreds of fungal observations and many new high-quality reference genomes.

Branco, Sara↗

Industrial Assessment Center for Energy Efficiency, Smart Manufacturing and Cyber Security of Illinois and Northwestern Indiana Small and Medium Sized Manufacturing Companies and Water Facilities (Final Technical Report)

The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) established and implemented a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sponsored Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) from September 1, 2016 through December 31, 2021. The established UIC IAC focused on providing 1) technical assistance to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and water and wastewater facilities in Illinois and northwestern Indiana and 2) education and training university students developing the future energy workforce. The technical assessments incorporated energy efficiency, increasing productivity via smart manufacturing, energy management systems, enhancing on-site cyber security practices, and the promotion of DOE best practices and tools. The educational training enabled UIC faculty and staff to provide classroom education, exposure to industry research, multiple targeted training sessions, real world experience with industry professionals, and live training to implement professional grade audits and recommendations.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Overview of NASA's Propulsion 21 Effort

Propulsion 21 technologies contribute to reducing CO2 and NO(x) emissions and noise. Integrated Government/Industry/University research efforts have produced promising initial technical results. Graduate students from 5 partnering universities will benefit from this collaborative research--> educating the future engineering workforce. Phase 2 Efforts scheduled to be completed 3QFY06.

Long-Davis, Mary Jo↗

Bringing You the Moon: Lunar Education Efforts of the Center for Lunar Science and Education

The Center for Lunar Science and Exploration (CLSE), a collaboration between the Lunar and Planetary Institute and NASA's Johnson Space Center, is one of seven member teams of the NASA Lunar Science Institute. In addition to research and exploration activities, the CLSE team is deeply invested in education and public outreach. Overarching goals of CLSE education are to strengthen the future science workforce, attract and retain students in STEM disciplines, and develop advocates for lunar exploration. The team's efforts have resulted in a variety of programs and products, including the creation of a variety of Lunar Traveling Exhibits and the High School Lunar Research Project, featured at http://www.lpi.usra.edu/nlsi/education/.

Shaner, A. J.↗

Maryland Space Weather UnderGround (SWUG) Educational Outreach Program for Solar Eclipse Study

Space Weather UnderGround (SWUG) is an educational outreach program that provides hands-on experiences in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) to high school and undergraduate students. It has three ultimate goals: 1. Educating the future STEM workforce. 2. Building a cost-effective, research-capable ground 3. magnetometer array across the United States. Collecting geomagnetic field data at high spatial resolution for heliophysics research. SWUG students build, test, and deploy the Simple Aurora Monitor (SAM)-III kit, purchased by Reeve Engineers. The SAM-III kit is a fluxgate magnetometer that measures geomagnetic field changes at a resolution of 1 nT/sec. Dr. Charles Smith initiated the SWUG program at the University of New Hampshire, and it has since expanded to Alaska and Maryland. This presentation introduces the Maryland SWUG activities. The MD-SWUG program was started in the Fall of 2022 with the goal of deploying magnetometers to the solar eclipse sites in 2023 and 2024. Two student-built magnetometers were deployed to the Southwest Research Institute and the Los Alamos National Laboratory for the 2023 annular solar eclipse, with plans to deploy at least four magnetometers to the 2024 total solar eclipse sites, including the University of Texas at Dallas. During a solar eclipse, reduced solar irradiance weakens ionospheric currents and reduces geomagnetic fields by up to 30 nT at the eclipse sites. A recent study suggested that solar eclipses impact geomagnetic fields not only along the eclipse path but also at their magnetic conjugate locations. The SWUG program will help us understand this electrodynamic coupling between the conjugate locations during a solar eclipse by providing better data coverage along the solar eclipse path.

Hyunju Connor↗

Lunar Payloads to Constrain Exospheric Water through the NASA M-STAR program

Our understanding of water cycles on the Moon has significantly enhanced recent observations by Chang E-5, Lunar Prospector, and Chandrayaan-1 missions indicating the existence of an active water cycle on the Moon. In a new partnership between Delaware State University (DSU) and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, enabled through the NASA’s M-STAR (MUREP Space Technology Artemis Research) program, we are developing low mass and power lunar rover payloads to enable long-duration human exploration missions. Payload technologies include wavelength modulation absorption spectroscopy to simultaneously detect water (H16OH) and isotopes (H16OD) in the (6700 nm) mid-infrared region using a closed path in compact Herriot cell optical design and wavelength modulation spectroscopy, and (2) Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to simultaneously detect and correlate water isotopes with characteristics elemental composition of lunar regolith. Due to the airless atmosphere of the Moon, we will utilize Artificial intelligence (AI) and Machine learning (ML) approaches to discriminate spectral interference with instrument drifts and correlate mid-IR trace gas profile with LIBS spectral information. This partnership will initiate a STEM engagement space program, e.g., Lander and CubeSat payload technology development for students and the next-generation NASA workforce for future lunar and Mars missions. DSU, a Historically Black University, prides itself in its proven excellence in teaching and research. It enrolls a diverse population of students (~5000) traditionally underrepresented in STEM disciplines. DSU has established itself at the forefront of optics and photonics research that transcends multidisciplinary fields of earth sciences, environmental, defense, and biomedical sensing applications.

water cycles↗

Dressing for Altitude: U.S. Aviation Pressure Suits--Wiley Post to Space Shuttle

Since its earliest days, flight has been about pushing the limits of technology and, in many cases, pushing the limits of human endurance. The human body can be the limiting factor in the design of aircraft and spacecraft. Humans cannot survive unaided at high altitudes. There have been a number of books written on the subject of spacesuits, but the literature on the high-altitude pressure suits is lacking. This volume provides a high-level summary of the technological development and operational use of partial- and full-pressure suits, from the earliest models to the current high altitude, full-pressure suits used for modern aviation, as well as those that were used for launch and entry on the Space Shuttle. The goal of this work is to provide a resource on the technology for suits designed to keep humans alive at the edge of space. Hopefully, future generations will learn from the hard-fought lessons of the past. NASA is committed to the future of aerospace, and a key component of that future is the workforce. Without these men and women, technological advancements would not be possible. Dressing for Altitude is designed to provide the history of the technology and to explore the lessons learned through years of research in creating, testing, and utilizing today s high-altitude suits. It is our hope that this information will prove helpful in the development of future suits. Even with the closeout of the Space Shuttle and the planned ending of the U-2 program, pressure suits will be needed for protection as long as humans seek to explore high frontiers. The NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate is committed to the training of the current and future aerospace workforce. This book and the other books published by the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate are in support of this commitment. Hopefully, you will find this book a valuable resource for many years to come.

Jenkins, Dennis R.↗

2024 JISEA Annual Meeting: Session 4

This is the presentation for the 2024 JISEA Annual Meeting Session 4: Workforce of the Future, which took place on February 27, 2024.

energy jobs↗

Computing in AEC Education: Hindsight, Insight, and Foresight

In the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) fields, computing and information technologies play an increasingly prevalent and complex role in day-to-day work. Consequently, educators must adjust and, in many cases, reimagine curricula and teaching methodologies to adapt to the changing landscape. Past research efforts led by the ASCE Computing Division Education Committee, formerly called the Task Committee on Computing Education of the Technical Council on Computing and Information Technology (TCCIT), have regularly surveyed AEC educators to understand computing trends in AEC curricula, with the latest survey taking place nearly a decade ago. This work presents the results of an updated survey that used this prior work as a springboard, providing timely insights into the computing skills and curricular barriers faced by AEC educators today. The results showed that the technical skills used by students have evolved, but the barriers faced in incorporating new skills into curricula have remained largely the same. In addition to comparisons with prior surveys, this work presents the results of an expanded, open-ended portion of the survey that explores educator perspectives on the future of the AEC workforce in a broader lens than used in previous surveys. Thematic analysis of these open-ended responses revealed themes that were common among responses and provided organization to the findings. For example, educators provided their vision of what competencies the future AEC workforce would need, which were thematically organized into a continuum based on the level of interaction between humans and technology. These results suggest an increasingly complex and evolving relationship between the AEC workforce and emerging technology, highlighting the need for educators to encourage the development of technological adaptability and agility. Overall, this work provides a systematic comparison of current educational practices in AEC computing with a decade ago to illustrate educational shifts and adds a prediction of AEC trends from experts in AEC education, providing crucial discussion of curricular transformations that will better position students for success in the workforce.

42 ENGINEERING↗

The Workforce Readiness Index: A Local and Regional Assessment Tool for Energy Sector Preparedness

Building up a workforce that is properly trained and adequately sized is essential to ensuring that the deployment of energy generation sources in the United States meets future energy demand. Workforce development to support supply chain or large infrastructure investments typically occurs at a local level. However, there is a critical gap in understanding where and to what extent regional workforces are equipped to meet the needs of an energy industry. The Workforce Readiness Index ("the index") was developed to assess and compare energy sector workforce readiness across the United States at the county level to provide granular information to various stakeholders such as industry members, state decision makers, and training program developers. Workforce readiness is defined as the ability to recruit from the general labor market, transition workers with comparable skill sets, and train a workforce using scalable or existing training programs near a specific location. Therefore, the index evaluates readiness levels based on the likelihood that a county possesses the workforce development infrastructure needed to support the occupations required by an energy-related industry or sector. Furthermore, the index offers a standardized yet flexible approach that captures regional variations and highlights local strengths and challenges.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Summary of Massachusetts Clean Energy Center's Workforce Needs Assessment for the City of Lawrence

In July 2023, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) published an employment report titled “Powering the Future: A Massachusetts Clean Energy Workforce Needs Assessment.” This report was intended to support the State in meeting its 2030 decarbonization goals by identifying both existing workforce and training resources as well as gaps and barriers that need to be addressed in order to scale the State’s workforce to meet future demand. The following is a summary of the content that is relevant to Lawrence, MA. This was completed as part of the US Department of Energy’s Communities LEAP (Local Energy Action Program) Pilot supporting the Lawrence Stakeholders Coalition (LSC) led by Browning the Green Space in partnership with Groundwork Lawrence, All In Energy, and the City of Lawrence.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Emerging and Future Computing Paradigms and Their Impact on the Research, Training, and Design Environments of the Aerospace Workforce

The document contains the proceedings of the training workshop on Emerging and Future Computing Paradigms and their impact on the Research, Training and Design Environments of the Aerospace Workforce. The workshop was held at NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, March 18 and 19, 2003. The workshop was jointly sponsored by Old Dominion University and NASA. Workshop attendees came from NASA, other government agencies, industry and universities. The objectives of the workshop were to a) provide broad overviews of the diverse activities related to new computing paradigms, including grid computing, pervasive computing, high-productivity computing, and the IBM-led autonomic computing; and b) identify future directions for research that have high potential for future aerospace workforce environments. The format of the workshop included twenty-one, half-hour overview-type presentations and three exhibits by vendors.

Noor, Ahmed K.↗

S4PST: Sustainability for Programming Systems and Tools: May Workshop Report

The US Department of Energy (DOE) Exascale Computing Project (ECP) has fostered and strengthened the use of modern software engineering practices for developing applications and libraries, and this effort has resulted in the coordinated and interoperable E4S1 and xSDK2 ecosystems. Although this approach is cost-effective, it relies on robust programming systems and tools (PST) as the underlying foundation for our HPC software. At present, our primary PST stack consists of traditional high-performance computing (HPC) languages, namely Fortran, C, C++, and the popular Python language for data analysis and AI workflows. These languages support various programming frameworks and run-time abstractions that enable parallelism and concurrency across multiple node architectures and thousands of nodes through a variety of interconnect systems. However, to accommodate users’ diverse needs, certain aspects of the HPC ecosystem are delegated to vendor-specific or third-party implementations that extend beyond a particular scientific domain. This broader scope results in a multitude of specifications and variations, which leads to a complex orchestration of many-ecosystems. Unfortunately, this complexity in the ecosystem imposes additional overhead costs on consumers during the latter stages of the development cycle. In addition to the software ecosystem challenge, the upcoming conclusion of the ECP by December 2023 has raised significant concerns within the HPC programming systems community, from both the economic and social perspectives. The ECP has implemented a management structure for software development and funding decisions across all ECP participants by following a conventional hierarchical and centralized approach. However, this structure has prompted certain considerations within the community, particularly in anticipation of the Software Sustainability initiative by the DOE’s Advanced Scientific Computing Research Program (ASCR). For the success of this new initiative, it is of utmost importance to secure consistent funding and foster close engagement with researchers and core developers of existing programming-system products. This collaboration is vital to maintaining the critical capabilities of the current software during the transition phase while proactively adapting to future technology and workforce trends. The community recognizes the significance of adapting to emerging trends and is aware of the inherent fragility of the HPC software ecosystem, particularly in relation to programming systems that cater to all users. The ability to adapt and evolve is essential to staying relevant and effectively addressing these technical, economic, and social challenges. The S4PST team, which represents one of the six ASCR Software Sustainability seedling projects, is dedicated to tackling these challenges through community-based approaches that go beyond the scope of the DOE. This involves collaboration between national laboratories with academia, non-DOE institutions, hardware and system vendors, and international partners. By fostering these partnerships, we aim to create a robust and sustainable HPC software ecosystem that can effectively meet the needs of the community. This new community effort, driven by the eight DOE labs, will take on the responsibility of guiding funding decisions for programming-systems development and maintenance with transparency and consistency across all decisions. Additionally, the team will offer common technical services to the programming systems community, irrespective of their funding situations, and facilitate community-wide incubation to proactively nurture the software ecosystem. By actively engaging with stakeholders and employing a collaborative approach, we can collectively shape the future of programming systems and ensure a robust and thriving HPC software landscape. On May 11–12, 2023, the S4PST team conducted its inaugural kick-off workshop at the Innovative Computing Laboratory (ICL) in the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, hosted by Hartwig Anzt. The workshop encompassed various sessions dedicated to presentations and discussions, with the aim of comprehending the team members’ perspectives on the vision of software sustainability. Additionally, the workshop aimed to identify the technical, economic, and social requirements for sustaining the programming-systems community in the field of HPC. This report provides a summary of the S4PST effort by highlighting five major thrust areas discussed during the workshop: (i) community, (ii) technical support, (iii) training and diversity, (iv) verification, validation and correctness, and (v) emerging technologies. It also encompasses an overview of the presentations and discussions held throughout the event, our views and potential synergies with other seedling efforts, along with the outcomes and key takeaways from our initial discussions.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Development of a Freeze-Dried CRISPR-Cas12 Sensor for Detecting Wolbachia in the Secondary Science Classroom

Training the future synthetic biology workforce requires the opportunity for students to be exposed to biotechnology concepts and activities in secondary education. Detecting Wolbachia bacteria in arthropods using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has become a common way for secondary students to investigate and apply recombinant DNA technology in the science classroom. Despite this important activity, cutting-edge biotechnologies such as clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)-based diagnostics have yet to be widely implemented in the classroom. To address this gap, we present a freeze-dried CRISPR-Cas12 sensing reaction to complement traditional recombinant DNA technology education and teach synthetic biology concepts. The reactions accurately detect Wolbachia from arthropod-derived PCR samples in under 2 h and can be stored at room temperature for over a month without appreciable degradation. Here, the reactions are easy-to-use and cost less than $40 to implement for a classroom of 22 students including the cost of reusable equipment. We see these freeze-dried CRISPR-Cas12 reactions as an accessible way to incorporate synthetic biology education into the existing biology curriculum, which will expand biology educational opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Mic-hackathon 2024: hackathon on machine learning for electron and scanning probe microscopy

Microscopy is one of the primary sources of information on materials structure and functionality at the nanometer and atomic scales. The data generated through microscopy is often contained in well-structured datasets, enriched with extensive metadata and sample histories, although not always with the same level of detail or storage format. The broad incorporation of data management plans by major funding agencies ensures the preservation and accessibility of this data. However, deriving insights from these rich datasets remains challenging due to the lack of established code ecosystems, standardized benchmarks, and integration strategies. Correspondingly, the efficiency of data usage is very low, and time expenditures at the analysis stage are enormous. In addition to post-acquisition data analysis, the emergence of application programming interfaces by major microscope manufacturers now creates opportunities for real-time ML-based data analytics to enable automated decision making, and particularly ML-agent controlled real-time microscope operation. Despite these opportunities, there is a significant gap in integrating the ML community with the broader microscopy community, limiting the value that these methods bring to physics and materials discovery and materials optimization. Hackathons address these challenges by fostering collaboration between ML experts and microscopy professionals, encouraging the development of innovative solutions that leverage ML for microscopy and preparing the workforce of the future both for microscopy-intensive domains areas, instrument manufacturers, and ML scientists interested in real world applications for fundamental research, materials optimization, and manufacturing. The hackathon generated benchmark datasets and digital twins of microscopes that further contribute to the development of the field and establish data analysis ecosystems. All the codes can be found at GitHub(https://github.com/KalininGroup/Mic-hackathon-2024-codes-publication/tree/1.0.0.1) and Zenodo (https://zenodo.org/records/15579940).

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗