Immanuel Kant, paramount Enlightenment philosopher and keen theorist of science in the wake of the Scientific Revolution, (in)famously tweaked chemistry, psychology, anthropology, and biology as natural sciences, only “improperly so-called.” Bennett McNulty’s research project examines the reasoning behind Kant’s relegation of these disciplines to the rank of “improper” science to grasp better their state of development in the 18th century, Kant’s criticism of them, as well as our contemporary understanding of science.

Despite incredible progress and economic growth over the past fifty years, many parts of the world are still persistently poor. These disparities create a moral imperative to raise living standards in the developing world and tackle the numerous other challenges facing poor countries. Dr. Kerwin answers that call by using randomized experiments and the tools of economics to discover and test solutions to the interlocking set of social and economic problems that keep people poor.

Patrick Kelly both acquires observations and builds instruments to address the nature of dark matter, dark energy, and cosmic explosions. A preponderance of the universe’s matter and energy is dark -- it does not emit or interact with light – and Dr. Kelly uses supernova explosions and gravitational lensing of individual stars across the universe to probe its composition. Recent detections of ripples in spacetime also reveal merging neutron stars. He is constructing two powerful sets of telescopes to find and understand these cataclysmic events.

Agriculture is dominated by annual crops that leak nutrients and emit greenhouse gases. Dr. Jacob Jungers is developing the world’s first perennial grain crop, which has potential to drastically improve agricultural efficiency. His research focuses on how to grow this new crop alongside others to minimize fertilizer and pesticide inputs. Outcomes of his research result in improving farmer profitability while minimizing environmental damages such as soil loss, water pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Water controls how plants and microbes use carbon to grow. As climate change shifts the timing and amount of precipitation, the hydrological processes that make water accessible to plants will determine how ecosystems will respond under new environmental and societal pressures. Combining theoretical, computational, and field-based approaches. Dr. Feng investigates the interactions between water and plants in forests, wetlands, and cities, to better understand their responses and feedbacks to the climate.

Martina Cardone develops technologies for privacy and security of Big Data. Her research focuses on secure data transmission over wireless networks, and privatization of sensitive data prior to sharing data with external analyzers. Her work leverages rigorous mathematical analysis to obtain provably optimal solutions that also offer suitable engineering guidelines for practical design and implementation over current and next-generation communication networks and computing frameworks, such as wireless cellular networks and recommender systems.

This project contextualizes current Black activism in the Twin Cities by tracing the historical linkages between today’s Black political actors and institutions and the last century of political activity in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Drawing on interviews and a variety of archives, Adam Bledsoe charts out how the experiences and outcomes of previous generations of Black activism lay the groundwork for subsequent generations of activists and the current political landscape of the Twin Cities.

Qi Zhang’s lab develops computational, data-driven methods for systems-level analysis and optimization that inform decision making in sustainable engineering applications. The proposed models and algorithms address various complex problems ranging from the effective operation of electrified chemical processes to the design of sustainable energy supply chains.

Over 60% of emerging infectious diseases in humans have originated from animals, the majority being from wildlife. Yet the health and well-being of humans is intricately connected to biodiversity, which is also in crises globally. As a wildlife epidemiologist, Tiffany Wolf works across disciplines to merge social science, ecology, and epidemiology to find solutions to these complex One Health challenges, particularly in situations where people derive food security and fundamental cultural benefits from wildlife.

How a particular disease develops and why people have different outcomes depend on the relationships among many factors, including molecular and environmental conditions in and outside the body. Dr. Safo’s group develops methods that rigorously combine information from multiple sources or views to investigate which factors are most important and how they interact. Her innovative methods can identify heterogeneous subgroups of the population, requiring different treatment approaches, and provide greater insight regarding disease etiology.