Final report due 09/29/2025

[stefanv]

Reporting period: 06/15/2024 to 05/31/2025

All fields are 8000 characters (I stopped repeating that further down).

Outcome report

Prepare your Project Outcomes Report in the text box below. Your report should:

Be written for the general public.
Describe the project outcomes or findings that address the intellectual merit and broader of impacts of your work as defined in the NSF merit review criteria.
Briefly summarize the outcomes of your award (200 - 800 words) covering the entire life of the award.
You have the option of including up to 6 images.

Your report will be published exactly as it is submitted with the following disclaimer:

"This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content."

Final Annual

Accomplishments - What was done? What was learned?

The information provided in this section allows the agency to assess whether satisfactory progress has been made during the reporting period.

For NSF purposes, the PI should provide accomplishments in the context of the NSF merit review criteria of intellectual merit and broader impacts, and program specific review criteria specified in the solicitation. Please include any transformative outcomes or unanticipated discoveries as part of the Accomplishment section.

The PI is reminded that the grantee is required to obtain prior written approval from the awarding agency grants official whenever there are significant changes in the project or its direction. See agency specific instructions for submission of these requests.

For purposes of NSF, please see Exhibit VII-1 of the Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide for a complete listing of Grantee Notifications To and Requests For Approval From the National Science Foundation.

• What are the major goals of the project?more information about major goals of the project (8000 chars)

• What was accomplished under these goals and objectives (you must provide information for at least one of the 4 categories below)?

  • Major Activities (8000 chars)
  • Specific Objectives (8000 chars)
  • Significant results (8000 chars)
  • Key outcomes or Other achievements (8000 chars)

• What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? (8000 chars)

  Describe opportunities for training and professional development provided to anyone who worked on the project or anyone who was involved in the activities supported by the project. "Training" activities are those in which individuals with advanced professional skills and experience assist others in attaining greater proficiency.

  Training activities may include, for example, courses or one-on-one work with a mentor. "Professional development" activities result in increased knowledge or skill in one's area of expertise and may include workshops, conferences, seminars, study groups, and individual study. Include participation in conferences, workshops, and seminars not listed under major activities.

  If the research is not intended to provide training and professional development opportunities or there is nothing significant to report during this reporting period, please check "Nothing to Report" if applicable.

  For NSF purposes, please summarize the contributions to the research and teaching skills and experience of those who have worked on the project, including undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, college faculty, and K-12 teachers. If your project supported postdoctoral scholars or graduate students, then you must include a summary of the mentoring activities conducted.

• Have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? If so, please provide details. (8000 chars)

  Describe how the results have been disseminated to communities of interest. Include any outreach activities that have been undertaken to reach members of communities who are not usually aware of these research activities, for the purpose of enhancing public understanding and increasing interest in learning and careers in science, technology, and the humanities.

• Supporting Files

  You may upload pdf files with images, tables, charts, or other graphics in support of this section. You may upload up to 4 pdf files with a maximum file size of 5 MB each.

  Description (required if uploading a file). Please provide a description of the content contained in the attached file.

Products

Publications are the characteristic product of research. Agencies evaluate what the publications demonstrate about the excellence and significance of the research and the efficacy with which the results are being communicated to colleagues, potential users, and the public, not the number of publications.

Many projects (though not all) develop significant products other than publications. Agencies assess and report both publications and other products to Congress, communities of interest, and the public.

Datasets added in the NSF Public Access Repository (NSF-PAR) will be listed in your Project Report as Other Product → Dataset.

For NSF purposes, each category of publication should identify any associated data, software, other supplementary materials and their appropriate identifiers. When the PI reports any of these items, please include any available identifiers and whether and how these products can be accessed or shared.

Participants & Other Collaborating Organizations - Who has been involved?

Partner organizations may provide financial or in-kind support, supply facilities or equipment, collaborate in the research, exchange personnel, or otherwise contribute.

Provide the following information for each partnership:

Organization Name:

Location of Organization: (if foreign location list country)

Partner's contribution to the project (identify one or more)

• Financial support;

• In-kind support (e.g., partner makes software, computers, equipment, etc., available to project staff);

• Facilities (e.g., project staff use the partner's facilities for project activities);

• Collaborative research (e.g., partner's staff work with project staff on the project); and

• Personnel exchanges (e.g., project staff and/or partner's staff use each other's facilities, work at each other's site).

• Other.

More detail on partner and contribution (foreign or domestic)

For purposes of NSF, this is an updated listing of the information provided in the originally submitted proposal.

PI, co-PI and Participant information has been pre-populated from proposal information or previously approved (in Research.gov) Annual project reports. However, additional information that could not be pre-populated must be filled out for PI(s), co-PI(s) and Participants in order to successfully complete and submit the report.

• What other organizations have been involved as partners?

• Were other collaborators or contacts involved? If so, please provide details.

  List any other people or organizations involved in the project that were not separately reported as participants or partner organizations.

Impact - What is the impact of the project? How has it contributed?

Over the years, this base of knowledge, techniques, people, and infrastructure is drawn upon again and again for application to commercial technology and the economy, to health and safety, to cost-efficient environmental protection, to the solution of social problems, to numerous other aspects of the public welfare, and to other fields of endeavor.

The taxpaying public and its representatives deserve a periodic assessment to show them how the investments they make benefit the nation. Through this reporting format, and especially this section, recipients provide that assessment and make the case for Federal funding of research and education.

Agencies use this information to assess how their research programs:

• increase the body of knowledge and techniques;
• enlarge the pool of people trained to develop that knowledge and techniques or put it to use; and
• improve the physical, institutional, and information resources that enable those people to get thei training and perform their functions.

INSTRUCTIONS - This component will be used to describe ways in which the work, findings, and specific products of the project have had an impact during this reporting period.

Describe distinctive contributions, major accomplishments, innovations, successes, or any change in practice or behavior that has come about as a result of the project relative to:

• the development of the principal discipline(s) of the project;
• other disciplines;
• the development of human resources;
• physical, institutional, and information resources that form infrastructure;
• technology transfer (include transfer of results to entities in government or industry, adoption of new practices, or instances where research has led to the initiation of a start-up company); or
• society beyond science and technology.

• What is the impact on the development of the principal discipline(s) of the project?

  Summarize using language that an intelligent lay audience can understand (Scientific American style).

  How the field or discipline is defined is not as important as covering the impact the work has had on knowledge and technique. Make the best distinction possible, for example, by using a "field" or "discipline", if appropriate, that corresponds with a single academic department (i.e., physics rather than nuclear physics).

  For NSF purposes, the paragraph should read, How the fields or disciplines are defined is not as important as covering the impact the work has had on knowledge and technique.

  For NSF purposes, provide description of postdoctoral mentoring, graduate student mentoring, or other mentoring.

  Describe how findings, results, techniques that were developed or extended, or other products from the project made an impact or are likely to make an impact on the base of knowledge, theory, and research and/or pedagogical methods in the principal disciplinary field(s) of the project.

• What is the impact on other disciplines?

  Describe how the findings, results, or techniques that were developed or improved, or other products from the project made an impact or are likely to make an impact on other disciplines.

• What is the impact on the development of human resources?

  For example, how has the project:

  • provided opportunities for research and teaching in the relevant fields;
  • improved the performance, skills, or attitudes of members of underrepresented groups that will improve their access to or retention in research, teaching, or other related professions;
  • developed and disseminated new educational materials or provided scholarships; or
  • provided exposure to science and technology for practitioners, teachers, young people, or other members of the public?

  For purposes of NSF, this should address "all efforts to broaden participation in science and engineering."
  For purposes of NSF, how has the project "provided opportunities for research, teaching and mentoring in science and engineering areas."

  Describe how the project made an impact or is likely to make an impact on human resource development in science, engineering, and technology.

• What was the impact on teaching and educational experiences?

  For example, has the project:

  • developed and disseminated new educational materials;
  • led to ideas for new approaches to course design or pedagogical methods; or
  • developed online resources that will be useful for teachers and students and other school staff?

  Describe how the project made an impact or is likely to make an impact on teaching and educational experiences.

• What is the impact on physical resources that form infrastructure?

  Describe ways, if any, in which the project made an impact, or is likely to make an impact, on physical resources that form infrastructure, Including physical resources such as facilities, laboratories, or instruments.

• What is the impact on institutional resources that form infrastructure?

  including:

  • institutional resources (such as establishment or sustenance of societies or organizations);
    including:
  • information resources, electronic means for accessing such resources or for scientific communication, or the like.

  Describe ways, if any, in which the project made an impact, or is likely to make an impact, on institutional resources that form infrastructure,

• What is the impact on information resources that form infrastructure?

  including:

  • information resources, electronic means for accessing such resources or for scientific communication, or the like.
    For NSF purposes, the institutional resources parenthetical language should read: (such as policies, practices, programs, or establishment or sustenance of societies or organizations); and information resources should include data services and preservation.

• What is the impact on technology transfer?

  Including:

  • transfer of results to entities in government or industry;
  • instances where the research has led to the initiation of a start-up company; or
  • adoption of new practices.

  Describe ways in which the project made an impact, or is likely to make an impact, on commercial technology or public use.

• What is the impact on society beyond science and technology?

  For example, in areas such as:

  • improving public knowledge, attitudes, skills, and abilities;
  • changing behavior, practices, decision making, policies (including regulatory policies), or social actions; or
  • improving social, economic, civic, or environmental conditions.

  Describe how results from the project made an impact, or are likely to make an impact, beyond the bounds of science, engineering, and the academic world.

• What percentage of the award's budget was spent in a foreign country?

  U.S.-based recipients should provide the percentage of the budget spent in the foreign country(ies) and/or, if applicable, the percentage of the budget obligated to foreign entities as first-tier subawards.
  Recipients that are not U.S.-based should provide the percentage of the direct award received, excluding all first-tier subawards to U.S. entities. If applicable, provide separately the percentage of the budget obligated to non-U.S. entities as first-tier subawards.

  For purposes of NSF, to develop the award budget percentage, awardees should only include consultant arrangements with foreign individuals and first-tier subawards to foreign organizations. No other budget categories should be included.

  Describe what percentage of the award’s budget was spent in foreign country(ies) for this reporting period. If more than one foreign country was involved, identify the distribution of funding between the foreign countries.

Changes / problems

The PI is reminded that the recipient is required to obtain prior written approval from the awarding agency grants official whenever there are significant changes in the project or its direction. See agency specific instructions for submission of these requests.

If not previously reported in writing to the agency through other mechanisms, provide the following additional information or state, "Nothing to Report", if applicable:

For more information on Grantee Notifications to and Requests for approval from the National Science Foundation, please visit the Notifications and Requests section in FastLane or refer to Exhibit VII-1 of the Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG).

• Changes in approach and reasons for change

  Describe any changes in approach during the reporting period and reasons for these changes. Remember that significant changes in objectives and scope require prior approval of the agency.

• Actual or Anticipated problems or delays and actions or plans to resolve them

  Describe problems or delays encountered during the reporting period and actions or plans to resolve them.

• Changes that have significant impact on expenditures

  Describe changes during the reporting period that may have a significant impact on expenditures, for example, delays in hiring staff or favorable developments that enable meeting objectives at less cost than anticipated.

• Significant changes in use or care of human subjects

  N/A

• Significant changes in use or care of vertebrate animals

  N/A

• Significant changes in use or care of biohazards

  N/A

• Has there been a change in your primary performance site location from the originally proposed? If so, please provide the location of your new primary performance site and reason for the change in location.