Observing his father’s work in physical therapy research and cognition tests, Evan Tulsky’s ’24 interest in robotics and rehabilitation took shape at a young age. He recognized the crucial role that rehabilitation devices play in transforming people’s lives, motivating him to pursue research in this field while attending the College of Engineering and Computer Science. This path would lead him to the Bionics, Systems and Controls (BSC) Lab, an interdisciplinary research space centered around robotics and rehabilitation.
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Syracuse Researchers Developed Ultrasensitive Molecular Force Sensors
College of Arts and Sciences professor Xiaoran Hu has developed molecules that undergo mechanochemical transformations, which could be used to report nanoscale stress in plastics and help scientists study mechanobiology processes.
Continue ReadingProfessor Jennifer Ross Announced as New Associate Dean of Research
The Associate Dean of Research plays a pivotal role in advancing the College’s mission and research initiatives.
About Jennifer Ross
Jennifer Ross, professor of physics and BioInspired Institute member, has assumed the role of Associate Dean for Creativity, Scholarship and Research effective January 1, 2025. In this new capacity, Ross will oversee efforts to increase research productivity, applications for funding, prize and award nominations and research expenditures. She will also work to enhance communication among interdisciplinary and convergent groups of faculty, and to ensure that faculty feel more supported and connected to the research mission of their departments and the shared mission of the entire College.
Ross has been a faculty member in the Department of Physics at Syracuse University since 2019, serving as chair from 2020 to 2024. An award-winning biophysicist, she researches how cells organize their insides without a manager. By harnessing the fundamental and autonomous physics principles of biological cells, her group is working toward designing and creating next-generation materials inspired and empowered by biology.
Her research has been funded by grants from government agencies including the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and several private foundations. She has been honored with numerous awards and professional recognitions, including being named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Physical Society, a Cottrell Scholar by the Research Corporation, a recipient of the Margaret Oakley Dayhoff Award from the Biophysical Society and a recipient of the National Science Foundation INSPIRE Award.
Through her advocacy for diversifying STEM, Ross has been part of the EUREKA! summer program, working with middle and high school girls to teach them about science, health and self-care. She also co-leads the Syracuse University Physics Emerging Research Technologies Summer High School Internship Program (SUPER-Tech SHIP), which offers paid science internships at Syracuse University to students and recent graduates from the Syracuse City School District.
Prior to joining the faculty at Syracuse University, Ross was a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst from 2007 to 2019. She received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and bachelor’s degrees in physics and mathematics from Wellesley College in Massachusetts.
Future Therapeutic Strategies May Depend on Creative Scientific Approaches Today
Before any scientific question can be answered, it must be dreamed up. What happens to cause a healthy cell or tissue to change, for instance, isn’t fully understood. While much is known about chemical exposures that can lead to genetic mutation, damaged DNA, inflammation, and even cancer; what has rarely been asked is how physical stressors in the environment can cause a cell or tissue to respond and adapt. It’s a piece of the puzzle upon which future medical breakthroughs might depend.
Alison Patteson (left) and Jennifer Schwarz (right), both professors in the Department of Physics and members of the BioInspired Institute, have been awarded a four-year National Science Foundation grant from Physics of Living Systems, for a project titled Mechanical Homeostasis—an Emergent Property of the Multi-Tiered Structure of Living Cells and Tissues.
NSF Grant in Biology Aims to Boost STEM Student Retention Through Hands-On Research
As technology advances, companies face a growing need to hire graduates skilled in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). However, finding the ideal candidate can be difficult at times due to a limited pool of applicants. Part of the reason for this is that 1 in 3 students who originally declare as a STEM major change their field of study before they graduate, according to research from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Continue ReadingResearch Distinction Awards Presented at BioInspired Symposium
The BioInspired Institute’s third annual research symposium was held Oct. 24-25, bringing together undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral scholars and faculty from Syracuse University, SUNY Upstate Medical University and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, along with other regional research and industry partners.
Continue ReadingCan Folic Acid Supplementation During Pregnancy Help Prevent Autism and Schizophrenia?
Biology Professor Jessica MacDonald has received a grant from the National Institutes of Health to investigate maternal folic acid’s role in promoting healthy brain development.
The neocortex, or “thinking brain,” accounts for over 75% of the brain’s total volume and plays a critical role in humans’ decision making, processing of sensory information, and formation and retrieval of memories. Uniquely human traits such as advanced social behavior and creativity are made possible thanks to the neocortex.
Continue ReadingInsights from the Experts: SU Faculty Share Favorite “Bio-Art” Works by Eduardo Kac
Professors from the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Visual and Performing Arts and the Newhouse School comment on notable “bio-art” creations by renowned artist Eduardo Kac, who will be the keynote speaker for the Kashi and Kameshwar C. Wali Lecture in the Sciences and Humanities on October 24.
The Building Blocks of Future Smart Materials
How do cells take the shape they do and perform their functions? The enzymes and molecules that make them up are not themselves living—and yet they are able to adapt to their environment and circumstances, come together and interact, and ultimately, create life. How exactly all of that happens involves some very big questions, the answers to which will be crucial in paving the way for new biotechnologies and other advancements.
BioInspired Graduate Student Selected as 2024 Rostker Dissertation Fund Fellow
Getting the necessary funding to conduct quality research is among the myriad of challenges when working towards a doctoral degree. Syracuse University students engaged in research to support the military-connected community have found that challenge eased by the generosity of Bernard Rostker G’66, G’70, and Louise Rostker G’68 through the Forever Orange Campaign.