FAU receives $400,000 NSF grant to advance STEM workforce readiness
Grant and Award Announcement
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 20-Oct-2026 16:16 ET (20-Oct-2026 20:16 GMT/UTC)
The three-year project will explore how industry-informed research, entrepreneurship training and early engagement can better prepare undergraduates for careers in biotechnology and the life sciences. Students will gain access to research, internships, industry experiences and AI-enabled learning while expanding workforce opportunities, particularly for transfer and first-generation students. The project also will identify practices to strengthen career readiness and develop approaches that can be adapted by institutions nationwide.
Parents, schools and the age children first use social media may be just as important as restricting access to platforms when it comes to adolescents’ mental health, new research suggests.
A new study published in JAMA Health Forum found that nearly 20 percent of Medicaid-eligible adults living in states that expanded Medicaid are at risk of noncompliance because they are likely unable to fulfill the minimum required hours once the rules take effect. Women, unmarried people, White individuals, and those with limited education all had a higher risk of losing their health coverage due to noncompliance with these new requirements.
Portland State University has been awarded a $5.9 million National Science Foundation Accelerating Research Translation (ART) grant to accelerate the translation of PSU research from the lab into companies, products and partnerships that strengthen the Portland-metro and Oregon economies.
The three-year award — PSU’s largest NSF grant to date — arrives as the university’s research enterprise reaches new heights, with research expenditures rising from $74 million in fiscal year 2024 to $91 million in 2025 in fields with strong commercial potential, including artificial intelligence and computational intelligence, semiconductors and transportation and infrastructure. The ART grant is designed to close the gap between that research strength and the region's need for new companies, traded-sector jobs and industry investment.
"PSU's motto is ‘Let Knowledge Serve the City,’ and this award puts that commitment to work for our regional economy," said Ann Cudd, president of Portland State University. "Our researchers are producing discoveries with real commercial and civic value. This investment helps us turn more of that work into Oregon companies, Oregon jobs and Oregon solutions."
More than two-thirds of hospitalized COVID-19 survivors maintained stable cognition 2 years after Omicron infection, while one in five experienced reversible decline. Researchers report that only 10.8% developed irreversible cognitive decline, including 3.6% with progressive decline. Older age, reinfection, severe illness, hypertension, longer hospitalization, and white matter lesions increased the risk, while education and vaccination were protective. Findings highlight potential for cognitive recovery, supporting monitoring of patients at higher risk of progressive decline.
An interdisciplinary team of researchers has developed and demonstrated a step-by-step framework called Socratic Challenger that uses artificial intelligence to help undergraduate students cultivate critical thinking skills. Specifically, the framework uses AI as a collaborator to develop research questions that can be pursued in laboratory or classroom settings.
A recent study in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior (JNEB), published by Elsevier, examined culinary skills and related barriers among adults with visual impairment. Researchers found that although all participants were classified as having medium or high culinary skills, many continued to experience challenges that limited their independence in the kitchen. Accessible tools and training can help bridge this gap.
Intelligent people tend to perform better at school and at work, as numerous studies have shown. But what happens in domains where incentives such as good grades or financial rewards don’t apply, and where socio-economic status is not a significant factor? Wine knowledge is a case in point. Intelligence researcher Maximilian Krolo of Saarland University has investigated whether intelligence can predict the acquisition of deep knowledge in a specialized domain. The findings have now been published in the journal Intelligence & Cognitive Abilities in an article co-authored with Professor of Psychology Timothy C. Bates of the University of Edinburgh.