Author: WeWorldMedia-admin

Industry-University Cooperative Research Centers Program (IUCRC)

Published: 28 May 2025
Categories: NSF Due Dates

RSS feed source: National Science Foundation

Synopsis

Program Mission:

The IUCRC program catalyzes breakthrough pre-competitive research by enabling close and sustained engagement between industry innovators, world-class academic teams, and government agencies.  IUCRCs help industry partners and government agencies connect directly and efficiently with university researchers to achieve three primary objectives: 1) Conduct high-impact research to meet shared and critical industrial needs in companies of all  sizes; 2) Enhance U.S. global leadership in driving innovative technology development, and 3)  Identify, mentor and develop a diverse, highly skilled science and engineering workforce.

Program Overview:

The IUCRC program provides a structure for academic researchers to conduct fundamental, pre-competitive research of shared interest to industry and government organizations. These organizations pay membership fees to a consortium so that they can collectively envision and fund research, with at least 90% of Member funds allocated to the direct costs of these shared research projects.

IUCRCs are formed

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Clearest-ever images of sun’s corona captured with new optical technique

Published: 28 May 2025
Categories: National Science Foundation

RSS feed source: National Science Foundation

Using a new optical system, scientists at the U.S. National Science Foundation National Solar Observatory and the New Jersey Institute of Technology have captured the most detailed images of the complex movements in the sun’s atmosphere, the corona. The technology will allow scientists to better understand the extreme nature of the corona and produce computer models that more accurately predict space weather and potential Earth-impacting solar flares.

The researchers developed the new coronal adaptive optics system at the NSF-funded Goode Solar Telescope in California. Similar to a camera’s “autofocus” feature, the adaptive optics system continuously adjusts to counteract the blurring effect of the Earth’s atmosphere while isolating and zooming in on dynamic coronal features. The results of the study were published in Nature Astronomy.

Plasma movement in the sun’s corona

Credit: Schmidt et al./ NJIT/ NSO/ AURA/ U.S. National Science Foundation

This time-lapse video of a solar prominence shows how plasma “dances” and twists with the sun’s magnetic field. This video was taken by the Goode Solar Telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory using the new coronal adaptive optics system Cona.

“Observing the sun’s corona requires specialized optical capabilities because details are easily overpowered by the brightness of the sun and blurred from view by Earth’s atmosphere,” says Carrie Black, program director for

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Solar and wind power curtailments are increasing in California

Published: 28 May 2025
Categories: US Energy Information Administration

RSS feed source: National Science Foundation

In-brief analysis

May 28, 2025

The California Independent System Operator (CAISO), the grid operator for most of the state, is increasingly curtailing solar- and wind-powered electricity generation as it balances supply and demand amidst rapid renewables capacity growth.

Grid operators must balance supply and demand to maintain a stable electric system. The output of wind and solar generators is reduced either through price signals or, rarely, through an order to reduce output during periods of:

Congestion, when power lines don’t have enough capacity to deliver available energy Oversupply, when generation exceeds customer electricity demand

In 2024, CAISO curtailed 3.4 million megawatthours (MWh) of utility-scale wind and solar output, a 29% increase from the amount of electricity curtailed in 2023.

Solar accounted for 93% of all the energy curtailed in CAISO in 2024. CAISO curtailed the

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Volcanic ash is critical to tracking changes in eruption behavior

Published: 28 May 2025
Categories: National Science Foundation

RSS feed source: National Science Foundation

U.S. National Science Foundation-funded researchers discovered that subtle changes in magma composition may drive tremors during volcanic eruptions, offering a new tool for forecasting volcanic activity and guiding hazard assessments.

Volcano forecasts are critical for protecting lives and property by warning nearby residents to evacuate, take safety precautions and seek emergency services. In addition to offering new clues into the cause of volcanic tremor, a key eruption monitoring parameter, this study shows the benefit of combining petrological data collection, like ashfall, with geophysical data to improve eruption forecasting, hazard assessment and decision-making during volcanic crises.

After lying dormant for 50 years, the Cumbre Vieja volcano in the Canary Islands erupted in September 2021, forcing thousands of residents to evacuate. Over the next 85 days, the eruption destroyed over 3,000 buildings and hundreds of acres of farmland.

Working with local scientists, a research team led by Queens College of the City University of New York (CUNY), in collaboration with the CUNY Graduate Center and the American Museum of Natural History, set up a system near the volcano that collected samples of falling ash almost daily, capturing 94% of the eruption timeline. This study represents an unprecedented level of detail, revealing critical insights into internal magma properties and eruption dynamics throughout the three-month eruption.

Analysis revealed that in the first week of the eruption, magma had higher concentrations

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