skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


This content will become publicly available on June 20, 2026

Title: Conversations and deliberations: Non-standard cosmological epochs and expansion histories
This paper summarizes the discussions which took place during the PITT-PACC Workshop entitled “Non-Standard Cosmological Epochs and Expansion Histories,” held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Sept. 5–7, 2024. Much like the non-standard cosmological epochs that were the subject of these discussions, the format of this workshop was also non-standard. Rather than consisting of a series of talks from participants, with each person presenting their own work, this workshop was instead organized around free-form discussion blocks, with each centered on a different overall theme and guided by a different set of Discussion Leaders. This document is not intended to serve as a comprehensive review of these topics, but rather as an informal record of the discussions that took place during the workshop, in the hope that the content and free-flowing spirit of these discussions may inspire new ideas and research directions.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2412797 1848089 2019786 2310719 2309919 2009377 2308173 2412671
PAR ID:
10616984
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
Int. J. Mod. Phys. A
Date Published:
Journal Name:
International Journal of Modern Physics A
Volume:
40
Issue:
17
ISSN:
0217-751X
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. In January 2018, ESA organized and hosted a workshop titled “Sustaining Data Repositories: A Workshop on Creating and Implementing Sustainability Plans.” This workshop brought together principal investigators from a wide array of data repositories spanning a number of scientific disciplines. Through case study presentations, facilitated discussion, and group work on a process guide for Data Repository (DR) leaders, the workshop began to address the core question: how do DRs become more sustainable? The outcomes from this workshop include the creation of a draft process guide and production of three DR sustainability case studies, in addition to a network of more connected DR professionals. Furthermore, the conversations that took place over the course of this workshop revealed that a diverse group of DR leaders from different disciplines faced similar challenges while managing large amounts of data and navigating the culture of data sharing. Group discussions also revealed insights into existing and potential solutions to these challenges, and opportunities for future actions and policies to increase DR sustainability. 
    more » « less
  2. null (Ed.)
    The National Science Foundation (NSF) held a virtual Symposium on PRedicting Emergence of Virulent Entities by Novel Technologies (PREVENT), on February 22 – 23, 2021 as part of its series on Predictive Intelligence for Pandemic Prevention (PIPP). The workshop brought together more than 60 leading experts, representing NSF research directorates for Biological Sciences (BIO), Computer Information Science and Engineering (CISE), Engineering (ENG), Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE), and the Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE), to discuss how the global behavior of an infectious entity can emerge from the interactions that begin occurring between components at the molecular level and expand to physiological, environmental, and population scales. The workshop was divided into four sessions, each focusing on one of four different scales: 1) end-toend (or multi-scale) 2) molecular, 3) physiological and environmental, and 4) population and epidemiological. Particular focus was given to identifying challenges and opportunities in each of these domains. The workshop aimed to: • Identify interdisciplinary advances in science, technology, and human behavior to enable prediction and prevention of future pandemics • Begin to build the necessary convergence to be optimally prepared to prevent future pandemics • Establish convergent data commons and cyberinfrastructure for PIPP This workshop report summarizes the plenary presentations, panel discussions, and breakout group sessions that took place at this event. The results presented here are drawn from the viewpoints expressed by the participants and do not necessarily reflect those of the broader pandemic research community. 
    more » « less
  3. Gardner, Grant Ean (Ed.)
    Past research on group work has primarily focused on promoting change through implementation of interventions designed to increase performance. Recently, however, education researchers have called for more descriptive analyses of group interactions. Through detailed qualitative analysis of recorded discussions, we studied the natural interactions of students during group work in the context of a biology laboratory course. We analyzed multiple interactions of 30 different groups as well as data from each of the 91 individual participants to characterize the ways students engage in discussion and how group dynamics promote or prevent meaningful discussion. Using a set of codes describing 15 unique behaviors, we determined that the most common behavior seen in student dialogue was analyzing data, followed by recalling information and repeating ideas. We also classified students into one of 10 different roles for each discussion, determined by their most common behaviors. We found that, although students cooperated with one another by exchanging information, they less frequently fully collaborated to explain their conclusions through the exchange of reasoning. Within this context, these findings show that students working in groups generally choose specific roles during discussions and focus on data analysis rather than constructing logical reasoning chains to explain their conclusions. 
    more » « less
  4. Multimedia environments provide multiple resources for expression, collaboration, and knowledge-creation. Yet there is much to be learned about the design of such environments, the forms of collegial discourse that take place, and the benefits of participation. To this end, we study the 2017 STEM for All Video Showcase, a multimodal environment, that enabled educational researchers to share and discuss short videos depicting their federally-funded work to improve STEM education. The event (http://stemforall2017.videohall.com), featured 171 video narratives, each accompanied by meta-data, an abstract, and its own discussion. This Showcase, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF #1642187), has been held annually for 4 years and has attracted thousands of researchers and practitioners engaged in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and computer science education. In a mixed methods study, we investigate the forms of participation that took place and the benefits that accrued to those who presented. We provide a thematic analysis of the textual discussions that took place, to further an understanding of the potential of a multimodal environments to facilitate rich collegial exchanges. Finally, the paper describes design decisions and embedded features that promoted different forms of interactivity among participants. 
    more » « less
  5. On August 7-8, 2024, the Thomas J. O’Keefe Institute for Sustainable Supply of Strategic Minerals at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) hosted the fourth annual workshop on ‘Resilient Supply of Critical Minerals’. The workshop was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and was attended by 212 participants. 143 participants attended the workshop in-person in the Havener Center on the Missouri S&T campus in Rolla, Missouri, USA. Another 69 participants attended online via Zoom. Twenty participants (including 12 students and 4 early career researchers) received travel support through the NSF grant to attend the conference in Rolla. Out of the workshop 212 participants, 199 stated their sectors of employment during registration showing that 88 participants were from academia (34 students), 58 from the private sector and 53 from government agencies. The workshop was followed by a post-workshop field trip to US Strategic Minerals (formerly Missouri Cobalt) in southeast Missouri that was attended by 18 workshop participants from academia (n=11; including 4 students) and the private sector (n=7). Four topical sessions were covered during the workshop: A. The Critical Mineral Potential of the USA: Evaluation of existing, and exploration for new resources. B. Critical Minerals Workforce Development: How to grow the US critical minerals workforce. C. Critical Mineral Processing and Recycling: Maximizing critical mineral recovery from existing production streams. D. Critical Mineral Policy and Supply Chain Economics: Reshoring critical mineral production. The topical sessions were composed of two keynote lectures and complemented by oral and poster presentations by the workshop participants, as well as a 30-minute open discussion at the end of each topical session. Breakout sessions that concluded each day discussed: • Can mining lead the new materials future? • Critical minerals research: where to go from here? • Should the Bureau of Mines be restored? Discussions during the workshop highlighted, for example, that: (i) Mining companies need to better address downstream needs and develop company cultures inclusive of younger generations; (ii) Although funding opportunities over the past year’s started to make a difference for critical minerals supply chain resilience, additional funding that is aimed at strengthening academia – private sector partnerships as well as international collaborations is needed to ensure a long-term impact; (iii) The majority of participants would welcome the reestablishment of the Bureau of Mines, although no consensus was reached on its potential responsibilities. This workshop report provides a detailed summary of the workshop demographics and discussions. 
    more » « less