Innovation in motion
Changing the way the world solves problems
Our research enterprise has skyrocketed since ASU became a university in 1958, outpacing institutions that have existed for over 100 — or even 200 — years.
$904M
ASU is a leader in bringing inventions to market for the benefit of society. In fiscal year 2024, ASU innovators working with Skysong Innovations* generated:
In 2024, many ASU programs and facilities reached milestone anniversaries. In this publication, we celebrate ASU’s legacy of discovery and innovation, share some of our top achievements in 2024, and envision a future where all of us can thrive. We hope you will join us in our efforts!
60 invention disclosures U.S. patents new startup companies licenses and options
*Skysong Innovations is ASU’s exclusive intellectual property management company.
Rankings by research expenditures
Total research expenditures among institutions without a medical school
Anthropology ahead of the University of Michigan, Harvard and Stanford
Business management and business adminstration ahead of Harvard, Berkeley and Cornell
Civil engineering ahead of the University of Texas at Austin, Georgia Tech and MIT
Social sciences ahead of the University of Southern California, Penn State and Berkeley # 5 #4 #4 #4 #1 #2 #2 #2 #1
Non science and engineering ahead of the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard and New York University
Education ahead of Stanford, MIT and University of Southern California
Visual and performing arts ahead of UCLA, Princeton and the University of Michigan Source: National Science Foundation
Geological and earth sciences ahead of Caltech, the University of Texas at Austin and Columbia
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Pioneering technology for a positive future
Leading innovation in semiconductor manufacturing
Charting the future of AI in higher education
Accelerating science through virtual reality
Harnessing DNA for data storage
Knowledge Enterprise advances Arizona State University’s global leadership in research, innovation and entrepreneurship to help our communities thrive.
Futurecast: Today’s challenges, tomorrow’s achievements
Saving lives, improving health
Protecting residents from extreme heat
Dietary strategy for weight and gut health
Revealing the surprising uterus-brain connection
ASU Health updates
Using AI to improve cancer treatments
p. 20 p. 26 p. 34 p. 42
Innovating the future of national security
Teaching AI about social intelligence
Bolstering the microelectronics supply chain
Strengthening U.S. chip-making capabilities
Creating a national cybersecurity hub
Winning big at world’s largest hacker convention
Launching first-of-its kind recycling microfactory
Confronting challenges in the desert Southwest
Empowering women in clean energy
Protecting our planet
Addressing complex water challenges
Protecting groundwater in rural Arizona
Addressing tribal water policy in Arizona
New degrees to shape thriving ocean futures
Creating a thriving society
Lucy and the origins of humans
Shedding light on cumulative culture
Increasing economic development in the Navajo Nation
Transforming college students into entrepreneurs
Exploring our universe
Propelling Arizona businesses in the space economy
Journey to icy Jupiter moon
Nobel Prize winner leads online research
Space to create
Astronomers sniff out pungent exoplanet
Expansive Earth observation dataset
Roaming the moon and training the space workforce
Where is the Psyche spacecraft?
1 Leading the next wave of innovation in semiconductor manufacturing
Chips are packaged to have more inputs and outputs while maintaining a thinner profile than a traditional substrate-based package.
Microchips are integral to 21st-century life because they power the smartphones we rely on, the cars we drive and the advanced weaponry that is the backbone of national security. But their mighty computing power builds up a lot of heat.
Manufacturers have always designed packaging — the materials around the chips — to mitigate heat, provide protection and enable electrical current to flow. Over the decades, as the chips became more powerful, the packaging became more sophisticated.
Now, “advanced packaging” is a critical part of the design and manufacture of chips, not only to protect them from heat but also as a way to improve their performance. The newest generation of advanced packaging is integrated with the chips during the manufacturing process to make them work faster and even combine different kinds of chips into one package for super advanced capabilities like artificial intelligence.
In November, the National Institute of Standards and Technology — part of the U.S. Department of Commerce — announced that it plans to award as much as $100 million to Arizona State University and Deca Technologies to drive innovation in the domestic microchip packaging ecosystem.
The SHIELD USA (Substrate-based Heterogeneous Integration Enabling Leadership Demonstration for the United States of America) initiative is the first of several research and development programs to be launched by the CHIPS National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program (NAPMP). This first program, focused on organic materials and substrates, will be a vital part of the broader $11 billion CHIPS R&D program administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
2.5D stacking
Chips are indirectly attached on the package substrate through a semiconductive layer called an interposer.
Pioneering
Even as leading-edge semiconductor foundries have returned to the U.S., packaging remains based in Asia, posing significant risks to national security and supply chain resilience. SHIELD USA’s impact on advanced packaging technologies will enable the reshoring of packaging to reestablish the domestic supply chain.
Deca’s M-Series fan-out wafer-level packaging and Adaptive Patterning technologies have been broadly adopted across multiple device technology nodes in leading smartphones today. SHIELD USA will leverage these proven building blocks to scale down feature sizes and scale out heterogeneous integration of chiplets — both of which are critical for future chips.
To bring substrate manufacturing back to the U.S., we need to change the game. More than incremental progress, we need 10X breakthroughs. This is a fantastic example of a university working in close partnership with industry to drive innovation, and we’re excited to partner so closely with ASU and to collaborate with leading industry players in this effort to reestablish technology leadership.”
— Craig Bishop, chief technology officer, Deca Technologies
At the heart of this initiative is ASU’s MacroTechnology Works, home to the Advanced Electronics and Photonics Core Facility. Drawing on the unmatched capabilities offered by ASU and partners such as Deca, researchers are exploring the commercial viability of 300 mm wafer-level and 600 mm panellevel manufacturing, a technology that does not exist as a commercial capability in the U.S. today.
SHIELD USA’s education, training and workforce development programs will support the human capital necessary to establish interconnected foundries and enable a robust foundation for a sustainable domestic pipeline of packaging substrates and materials research and manufacturing for years to come.
In addition to Deca Technologies, the SHIELD USA team includes participation from several major semiconductor companies, including AMD, IBM, NXP, Synopsys, Saras Micro Devices and Analog Devices. These companies will provide crucial test chips and support for the technology’s design, simulation and testing. Additionally, key domestic packaging manufacturers, such as IBM and SkyWater Technology, will aid in scaling and deploying the technology in U.S.-based facilities.
YEARS
ASU Research Park
The university’s first Innovation Zone, ASU Research Park is home to ASU’s microelectronics and solar cell fabrication and testing facilities, as well as numerous industry tenants.
Charting the future of AI in higher education
In 2024, ASU became the first higher education institution to collaborate with OpenAI, the AI research and development company behind ChatGPT.
The collaboration between ASU and OpenAI brings the advanced capabilities of ChatGPT Enterprise into higher education, setting a new precedent for how universities enhance learning, creativity and student outcomes.
Beginning in February, ASU invited submissions from faculty and staff to implement the innovative uses of ChatGPT Enterprise. The three key areas of concentration include: enhancing student success, forging new avenues for innovative research and streamlining organizational processes. The goal is to leverage ASU’s knowledge core to develop AI-driven projects aimed at revolutionizing educational techniques, aiding scholarly research and boosting administrative efficiency.
No two people learn in exactly the same way, and innovation has proven to be the most powerful asset that we have. Essential to ASU’s success is that we use technology, and now AI, to deliver lifelong learning and to drive human potential.”
— Michael M. Crow, president, ASU
Accelerating science through immersive virtual reality
ASU’s Digital Discovery Initiative is poised to revolutionize scientific research through immersive virtual reality, allowing scientists to explore, experiment and observe natural phenomena in ways that were previously unimaginable.
The initiative bridges the gap between technological advances like virtual reality, remote sensing and data visualization, and the need for expertise to reproduce natural environments in a virtual way.
Established in 2024, the Digital Discovery Initiative is a groundbreaking university effort to conceptualize, develop, implement and promote telescience — the operation of robots and sensor networks to gather data about distant objects or environments — and metascience — direct scientific research in the metaverse.
The initiative’s ambitious long-term goal is to move beyond visualization to pioneer direct, observational scientific research on high-resolution, digital replicates of natural environments — which they refer to as virtual environments.
The initiative focuses on developing highly highresolution digital twins (detailed, accurate and realistic digital models) of natural planetary landscapes, enhancing them with handheld or embedded biological, chemical or physical sensor data, then rendering the enhanced models as virtual environments.
A key element of the work is making these environments immersive so that researchers can work collaboratively in them as avatars. To achieve this, the initiative is leveraging the successes of ASU’s Dreamscape Learn in the realm of undergraduate education.
The ideas at the core of DDI have been well-received by the international science and engineering communities. So far, we’re only scratching the surface of the possible applications out there. I’m excited to see how the initiative evolves as we broaden collaborations across ASU and beyond.”
— Kip Hodges , director, Digital Discovery Initiative and Foundation Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration
As the digital world expands, scientists are exploring DNA’s remarkable capacity to store data, converting this ancient molecule into a next-gen information archive.
DNA can store up to a billion times more information in the same volume compared with traditional silicon-based storage, and encoded sequences can last for centuries under the right conditions.
Harnessing DNA for data storage
Researchers from ASU and international collaborators have unveiled a method that significantly increases DNA storage capacity and efficiency using “epi-bits,” which function like movable type in a printing press and can be arranged on a universal DNA template. The research was published in the journal Nature
It's encouraging to see that epigenetic principles from biochemistry textbooks and taught in my classroom can be applied seamlessly to DNA data storage applications to solve some of the unmet challenges in this field.”
— Hao Yan , director, Biodesign Center for Molecular Design and Biomimetics
The new approach sidesteps the lengthy and expensive process of synthesizing new DNA, making it a quicker, more cost-effective solution. With DNA’s durability and compact nature, this method has the potential to store vast amounts of data in a minuscule space for long durations.
Instead of building DNA from scratch, the team uses existing strands, modifying them with a process inspired by nature’s own method of regulating gene activity: epigenetic modification.
Epigenetics is a natural process where chemical groups are added or removed from DNA to regulate gene expression, thereby determining whether a gene is turned on or off. This regulation affects protein production, which drives essential cellular functions. The researchers adapted this natural mechanism, using it to encode digital information instead of biological instructions.
By adding or removing chemical markers known as methyl groups on specific DNA bases, the researchers create epi-bits — tiny molecular data points that function like binary switches.
The epi-bit technology could offer a more sustainable and resourceefficient option compared with traditional electronic storage. As global data demands continue to surge, researchers believe that DNA’s compactness and durability could help mitigate the growing environmental impact of large-scale data storage.
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ASU research leads to new law protecting mobile-home dwellers from extreme heat
Back in 2018, researchers at Arizona State University made a shocking discovery. While mobile homes only accounted for 5% of housing in Maricopa County, 30% to 40% of indoor heat deaths occurred among people living in mobile homes.
The researchers are part of the Knowledge Exchange for Resilience , an interdisciplinary center that works with local communities to research and solve problems, including extreme heat.
To understand why so many living in mobile homes were so vulnerable to heat, KER began working with the Arizona Association of Manufactured Home, RV & Park Model Owners, a residents’ advocacy group. ASU students who were residents at a mobile-home park were also instrumental in getting their neighbors to participate in surveys about heat issues.
While interviewing some residents, the team sat in homes that were 105 degrees indoors during the summer, said Patricia Solis , executive director of KER .
Based on their findings, KER produced a solutions guide for residents, landlords and city governments to address the issue. But those solutions weren’t getting used everywhere. That’s when the team
uncovered a deeper problem — landlords often prohibited residents from installing air-conditioning units, shade structures and other cooling measures.
So the research needed to be transformed into policy that would allow residents the right to mitigate heat in their homes.
KER shared its data with Wildfire AZ, a Phoenix-based anti-poverty organization that started the first warm-weather fuel fund in the country.
Wildfire shaped the language that became bill HB2146 and found a sponsor in Rep. David Cook. In January 2024, Solis testified about the research when the Commerce Committee of the Arizona House of Representatives heard the bill.
The committee voted unanimously to move the bill forward and it was approved unanimously by both the full House and the Senate.
In April 2024, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs signed the bill into law, guaranteeing mobile-home owners the right to install cooling measures.
How heat affects the body
Your body cools itself by sweating and by increasing blood flow to the skin. In extreme or prolonged heat, this can cause dehydration, electrolyte imbalances, organ damage and even death. People with existing health conditions are at higher risk.
The light bulb moment came out of ASU discovering the disproportionate number of heat-related deaths in mobile homes. At Wildfire, the leg of the race we ran was, how can we take this important and wonderful information and tell this story to the legislature?”
— Maxine Becker attorney advocate Wildfire AZ
Intermittent fasting shows promise in managing weight, gut health
A new study led by researchers in the Biodesign Center for Health Through Microbiomes highlights a dietary strategy for significant health improvement and weight management.
By following an intermittent fasting and protein-pacing regimen, which involves evenly spaced protein intake throughout the day, study participants saw better gut health, weight loss and metabolic responses. These benefits were notably greater than those seen with simple calorie restriction.
The findings , reported in the journal Nature Communications, could advance our understanding of the relationship between the gut microbiome and metabolism and improve strategies for managing obesity.
The researchers compared the effects of two low-calorie dietary interventions: a heart-healthy continuous calorie-restricted diet (based on USDA dietary recommendations), and a calorierestricted regimen incorporating intermittent fasting and protein pacing.
The eight-week trial was conducted with 41 individuals who were overweight or obese. Individuals in the intermittent fasting and protein-pacing group showed a decrease in symptoms of gastrointestinal problems and an increase in diversity of the gut microbiota compared with those in the calorierestriction group.
The intermittent fasting protocol increased beneficial microbes in the gut that have been linked to a lean body type and improved overall health. Additionally, it increased the levels of certain proteins in the blood associated with weight loss, as well as amino acid byproducts that promote fat burning.
Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and eating. The method has recently gained popularity for its potential health benefits, including weight loss, improved metabolic health and enhanced brain function.
Nature-inspired solutions
At the Biodesign Institute , hundreds of scientists collaborate across boundaries to create natureinspired solutions in health, sustainability and security.
ASU Health updates
In 2023, ASU announced the creation of ASU Health , an ambitious effort to improve health outcomes in Arizona. It involves creation of a new medical school, the School of Medicine and Advanced Medical Engineering, as well as a new School of Public Health Technology. In 2024, ASU announced that HonorHealth, a locally owned nonprofit health system, will serve as the primary clinical affiliate for the new medical school.
ASU Health has also launched an innovative research initiative, the Health Observatory at ASU. The Health Observatory will be a nextgeneration health knowledge experience capable of integrating population-inclusive data from diverse sources to provide early knowledge on emerging and continued health threats across the region. In 2024, ASU welcomed the observatory’s new executive director, David Engelthaler, who brings 30 years of experience protecting public health across Arizona to his new role. Already, the Health Observatory is providing valuable data and insights to help state leaders protect Arizonans’ health.
New tool helps protect vulnerable communities
If a disaster struck Arizona, vulnerable communities would be hardest hit, based on many factors such as socioeconomic status, racial and ethnic backgrounds, household characteristics, and housing type. For the first time, the state now can take factors specific to Arizona, such as access to care, heat resilience, rent and utility burden, and food insecurity, into account when managing health and safety hazards.
In collaboration with the Arizona Department of Health Services, the Health Observatory at ASU led an initiative to develop an advanced, Arizona-specific social vulnerability index that objectively ranks communities that would be disproportionately affected by health hazards.
Using these new metrics, the Health Observatory at ASU discovered that many locations were more vulnerable to disaster events than initial projections from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated. The new knowledge can protect the state’s most vulnerable residents by proactively supplying these areas with additional resources ahead of disasters and other health and safety hazards.
Understanding Valley fever
Each year more than 10,000 Arizonans are diagnosed with Valley fever, an infection caused by breathing in spores of the fungus Coccidioides. When soil that contains the spores is disturbed — through construction, wind or even walking — the spores can be lofted into the air and potentially inhaled. While most people who get Valley Fever recover from the illness, the infection sometimes leads to severe complications or even death.
The Health Observatory at ASU is helping public health and health care leaders to better target their efforts to reduce the impact of the disease.
The Health Observatory is building upon the prior work of TGen, a nonprofit medical research institute based in Arizona, which analyzed thousands of air filters around the Phoenix metropolitan area for the presence of Coccidioides. Previously identified factors such as increased temperatures, higher winds and decreased soil moisture increased the likelihood of Coccidioides
being detected in the air. These factors, however, do not fully explain all the observed variation in the fungus’ presence in the air filters.
Working with leading researchers in the field, the Health Observatory is now investigating additional factors — integrating weather, land cover disturbance and other environmental datasets with the Coccidioides air filter data to further understand drivers of aerosolization through statistical models.
Increased understanding of what drives Coccidioides up into the air we breathe may help lessen exposure to the fungus and protect the health of thousands of Arizonans for years to come.
I think we all learned during the pandemic … when there’s really a health crisis, people are desperate for accurate and useful health information. What we want is to build [the Health Observatory] as a health asset for Arizona, for trusted knowledge around health and in all aspects of health. So, this is not just a research enterprise at ASU. It’s essentially a new institution that’s here for the public good.”
— David Engelthaler, executive director Health Observatory at ASU
Revealing the surprising uterus-brain connection
Around one quarter of all women in the U.S. have their uterus surgically removed by the age of 65 in a procedure known as a hysterectomy, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Hysterectomy is the second most common surgery for women after the C-section. While the procedure is necessary in some cases to treat cancer, it’s also used widely for oftendebilitating conditions like abnormal bleeding or uterine fibroids.
But a growing body of research is revealing that the uterus is more of a powerhouse organ than previously thought, with connections to the immune system and heart. Now, scientists with ASU’s Behavioral Neuroscience of Memory and Aging Lab have added to this evidence with their recent finding that the uterus — and its removal — may have a direct impact on brain function. The lab investigates the roles that sex, hormones and brain chemistry play in brain function and cognition at different ages.
In an initial study, the team used a water maze to test rodents’ cognitive function after a hysterectomy and found that those that had the uterus (but not the ovaries) removed had impaired working memory six weeks later. A follow-up study revealed the impaired memory persisted after six weeks, six months and even one year.
The more we understand about the female body, the more women and their doctors can make informed decisions about the possible consequences of removing a gynecological structure that has been traditionally described in medical texts as dormant and useless when not carrying a fetus. We must have the courage to keep moving scientific discovery into uncharted territories and overturn dogma when the science tells us to.”
— Heather Bimonte-Nelson , director, Behavioral Neuroscience of Memory and Aging Lab
Using AI to pave the way for personalized cancer treatments
In the ongoing fight against cancer, scientists around the globe are exploring innovative approaches to unlock the mysteries of the human immune system — the complex network of organs, cells and proteins that defends the body against disease.
A team led by ASU scientists has developed an artificial intelligence-based learning tool called HLA-Inception that has uncovered new information about how an individual person’s immune system responds to foreign cells.
Focusing on a group of proteins called major histocompatibility complex-1, the AI-based tool can classify — in seconds — the specific group of proteins unique for an individual and predict whether a person’s immune defenses may recognize pieces of threatening viruses and cancers.
Understanding this individualized molecular interaction information holds tremendous promise for creating new personalized cancer medicines with the potential to transform patient care.
Committed to advancing scientific progress in the field, the researchers have made HLA-Inception freely available for academic use, laying the foundation for widespread collaboration and innovation in the field of immunotherapy. Their work was published in the journal Cell Systems
The continued integration of machine learning in health care will help de-risk and personalize treatments. Machine learning and AI can improve the accessibility of new treatments to a broader cohort of patients by negating the need for costly experiments to determine candidacy.”
— Eric Wilson, postdoctoral fellow at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and study co-author
Artificial intelligence can make quick, lifesaving decisions — such as finding the fastest route to victims in a collapsed building — but it cannot understand why the rescue team diverts from that route or predict how the team might act in certain situations.
Current AI is a good tool but a poor teammate because of its lack of human understanding.
That is why the research and development arm of the U.S. Department of Defense, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is exploring new ways to build social skills in AI systems that would allow humans and machines to work effectively together.
Clues on how to create machines with social intelligence have been found in an unexpected place: the popular video game Minecraft.
Arizona State University researchers teamed up with Aptima during a four-year program funded by DARPA called Artificial Social Intelligence for Successful Teams, or ASIST. The project aims to improve the social intelligence of artificial intelligence and make it better able to assist teams of humans working in complex environments, including national security missions.
Researchers from the Center for Human, Artificial Intelligence, and Robot Teaming (CHART) —part of ASU’s Global Security Initiative — generated data from 1,160 Minecraft games, which represents the largest publicly available human-AI team research dataset in history.
CHART synthesizes research across computer science, robotics, law, art and social science to create humanmachine systems that will revolutionize how we ensure national security.
Minecraft allowed researchers to design complex and highly dynamic tasks in a simulated urban search and rescue
mission. In one scenario, a fire sweeps through a small town, putting people’s homes and lives at risk. The response team arrives and must operate as a unit to make quick, lifesaving decisions.
But what happens if one member of the team is not a person, but a virtual agent? ASU researchers transformed the experiment data into useful data stories that shed light on the state of artificial intelligence as a team member.
The dataset that the ASIST project yielded will fuel future research for government, academia and industry alike.
One of the things CHART does really well is taking an interdisciplinary approach. Not only human factors engineering, but also pulling in psychological perspectives and understanding the computational and AI side of things. They’re very willing to embrace innovative methods. The way we pivoted and ended up using a large-scale online game competition was something few academic labs could have accomplished.”
— Adam Fouse, principal research engineer and senior director of the Performance Augmentation Systems Division, Aptima
Building a resilient international microelectronics supply chain
As the federal government seeks to reestablish semiconductor manufacturing, research and development in the U.S. — often called “onshoring” — a lesser known component of its strategy is establishing a resilient supply chain in countries America regards as political and economic allies — known as “near-shoring” or “friend-shoring.”
To meet this objective, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs awarded a $13.8 million cooperative agreement to ASU in 2024 under the International Technology Security and Innovation (ITSI) Fund, created by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. This new initiative will bolster the assembly, testing and packaging capabilities in ITSI partner countries in the Americas and Indo-Pacific, enhancing a resilient supply chain for U.S. semiconductor manufacturers.
U.S. Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs
Assistant Secretary Ramin Toloui says it’s critical for U.S. partners and allies to work together to diversify critical supply chains and collaborate on technologies of the future to support shared economic growth, security and shared values.
ASU President Michael Crow (left) shakes hands with Ramin Toloui, assistant secretary for the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, in Washington, D.C. Photo courtesy the U.S. Department of State
Led by the State Department and ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and W. P. Carey School of Business supply chain faculty, the multiregional initiative is designed to:
• Contribute to the growth and diversification of the global semiconductor ecosystem.
• Help ITSI partners create the investment environment to support the semiconductor industry.
• Bolster workforce capacity to create a pipeline of new talent.
• Build workforce skills through high-quality workforce development programs.
• Allow U.S. semiconductor manufacturers to leverage improved supply chains and labor connections from around the world.
No one country, including the United States, can produce or onshore everything it needs to manufacture semiconductors. As such, this collaboration with ASU is a huge step for ITSI and our work to facilitate new investments that will complement U.S. chip production.”
— Ramin Toloui, assistant secretary
U.S. Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs
Strengthening U.S. chip-making capabilities
Five projects led by the Southwest Advanced Prototyping Hub at ASU to advance national security have been awarded nearly $30 million in federal funding.
The five projects will help strengthen the nation’s chip-making capabilities and reduce dependency on foreign sources of microelectronics. They are among 33 projects across the nation awarded a total of $269 million under the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act-funded Microelectronics Commons initiative.
The five SWAP Hub projects are:
Integrated RF GaN Technology to Support NextG, 5G & 6G Wireless Systems
Improve the performance of wireless networks as data consumption skyrockets by integrating advanced reconfigurable radio architectures with gallium nitride technology to create a unified, self-testing system.
Team: NXP, Raytheon, National Instruments and ASU
SMART — Scalable Modular Architecture for RF Transceivers
Advance radio frequency transceiver technology to improve national defense and commercial capabilities.
Team: Alphacore, ASU, Rice University, Lockheed Martin and Auburn University
Spaceborne Low-Energy AI Computing
Improve the performance of satellites through artificial intelligence, which could yield a major advantage for national defense.
Team: ASU, Sandia National Laboratories, Raytheon, the University of Southern California, the University of Colorado at Boulder, LTC Design, Air Force Research Laboratory and Global Foundries
170+
SWAP Hub partners
Multi-MHz, High Density, Ultra-fast RADAR Power Converter
Advance radar power systems in critical defense applications by developing a multi-megahertz, multi-kilowatt, high-density ultra-fast radar power converter.
Team: ASU, Sandia, Infineon, Lockheed Martin and ThermAvant
ARC-V Secure Processor
Create a secure, low-power processor that allows the military to confidently deploy advanced systems, even in contested environments, that rely on powerful but vulnerable commercial electronics.
Team: Idaho Scientific, Synopsys, Global Foundries, Mercury Computer and BAE Systems
Sandia is proud to support the vital work of the SWAP Hub. This partnership will enhance the U.S. pipeline for high-reliability, secure semiconductors and create workforce development opportunities.”
— Reno Sanchez, director of Microsystems Engineering, Science and Applications Center at Sandia
ASU creates national cybersecurity hub
Cybersecurity threats to critical infrastructure are one of the country’s greatest risks, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The Internet Crime Report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation charts alarming growth in cybercrime, noting a record number of complaints in 2023, with $12.5 billion in reported financial losses.
At the same time, we face critical shortages in the cybersecurity workforce. There are an estimated 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs worldwide, 750,000 of which are in the U.S.
ASU’s Center for Cybersecurity and Trusted Foundations , part of the Global Security Initiative , has been awarded a 2-year, $4.5 million grant from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to educate the next generation of cybersecurity professionals through the American Cybersecurity Education (ACE) Institute
The ACE Institute is focused on two key areas: preparing current students for the toughest cybersecurity challenges and recruiting enough students to fill the jobs pipeline for the future.
A pressing problem is ensuring that today’s students have the depth of knowledge needed to fill the most advanced roles. To address this problem, one of the ACE Institute’s first steps will be to create a master’s degree in cybersecurity. The degree, offered by the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, is scheduled to begin enrolling students in the 2025–26 academic year.
Graphic generated by Kelly deVos/ASU using Midjourney
Students attend a hackathon at DEF CON.
Photo courtesy Shellphish Support Syndicate
ASU team wins big at the world’s largest hacker convention
DEF CON brings some of the world’s most talented cybersecurity wizards into the Las Vegas desert each year to scour software, hardware and networking equipment in search of vulnerabilities. The world’s largest hacker convention, DEF CON operates under the principle that the best way to secure computer code is to expose it. At the 2024 convention, the 25-person Shellphish team of “hackademics” from ASU; the University of California, Santa Barbara; and Purdue University won $2 million in prize money during the semifinal round of the DARPA AI Cyber Challenge, also known as AlxCC.
DARPA hosts the AIxCC competition at DEF CON to spur the development of a cybersecurity system powered by artificial intelligence. The Shellphish team participated in the competition with a novel cyber reasoning system called ARTIPHISHELL, developed by ASU researchers. ARTIPHISHELL can automatically analyze the code that runs a piece of software, correct any security vulnerabilities found and then retest the system.
Because of its objective to protect hospitals, pharmacies and medical devices from cyberattacks, the U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) also collaborated on the competition and expanded the prize pool.
ARTIPHISHELL is a giant leap toward achieving our vision of humans working alongside AI to keep our software safe. Addressing critical cybersecurity challenges will require us to invent new paradigms of collaboration between the human and digital world.”
— Yan Shoshitaishvili , associate professor at ASU’s School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence and Shellphish team member
DEF CON Academy upskills hacker community
ASU has been a mainstay of DEF CON for years, with faculty organizing its Capture the Flag competition. Now, ASU is furthering its ties with the community through DEF CON Academy, a skillbased learning network led by the Global Security Initiative. While the hands-on nature of Capture the Flag is invaluable, it only occurs one weekend out of the year. DEF CON Academy provides learning experiences all year long and bolsters the strong hacker community that attends DEF CON.
Shellphish cheers following the cybersecurity team’s big win in a Las Vegas hacking competition in August.
Photo courtesy of Jackie LeFevers/ASU
Protecting
First-of-its-kind plastics recycling microfactory transforms waste, creates new jobs
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A new plastics recycling “microfactory” will convert waste materials into new products, provide skilled job opportunities and create a cooperative business model in Phoenix.
The Circular Plastics Microfactory opened in 2024, a result of partnerships between Arizona State University, the city of Phoenix, Goodwill of Central and Northern Arizona, and Hustle PHX, a Black-owned and faith-based workforce development organization that serves marginalized communities in Phoenix.
Located at the Goodwill Retail Operations Center in Phoenix, the facility takes sorted plastic waste from Goodwill of Central and Northern Arizona and processes it into pellets that can be used to create new products for sale.
The product options are nearly limitless — from skateboards and flat-pack furniture to plastic lumber and components for larger assembled products.
The microfactory is good news for both the local economy and the environment. The facility will employ around 10 people and is expected to save up to 550 tons of plastic from the landfill per year — over three times the weight of the Statue of Liberty. The microfactory can also reduce greenhouse gas emissions by eliminating the need to ship recyclable plastics to processing facilities elsewhere.
The long-term goal is to transition the microfactory into a cooperative entity. In partnership with ASU, Goodwill and the city of Phoenix, Hustle PHX launched the Sustainable Entrepreneurship Program, with workshops teaching participants how to turn plastic waste into sustainable businesses that benefit their communities while creating steady revenue streams.
Also in October, the microfactory delivered 100% recycled tables to the city of Phoenix using materials collected from Sierra Vista, Deseret Industries and Goodwill.
Once the researchers refine their process in Phoenix, they hope to replicate the concept in other communities.
We are excited to make history today in Phoenix. We have a sense that, from Phoenix, this will go throughout the world, and it’s exciting to be leading in innovation right now. Phoenix will be known for whatever great ideas come out of this facility.”
— Kate Gallego, mayor of Phoenix, at the Circular Plastics Microfactory grand opening
Confronting challenges in the desert Southwest
ASU is leading a multi-institutional engine funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation to confront the climate challenges facing the desert Southwest and spur economic development in the region.
The effects of climate change are acutely evident in the American Southwest, from the desertification of Utah’s Great Salt Lake to record-breaking extreme heat in Arizona and a dwindling supply of Colorado River water reaching Nevada.
NSF Engines: Southwest Sustainability Innovation Engine (SWSIE) aims to catalyze economic opportunity and establish the Southwest as a leader in carbon capture, water security and renewable energy, and bring high-wage industries to the region. SWSIE combines perspectives and expertise from more than 130 partners from academia, industry, nonprofit and entrepreneurial organizations, and local and regional governments.
[SWSIE] is an exciting opportunity to apply scientific expertise to support our communities. We are looking to work with small companies and startups to help fund innovative solutions. We are reaching out to communities and organizations with real-world problems that want to work on testing new technologies to solve these problems.”
— Kumud Acharya, president, Desert Research Institute
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SWSIE partners
SWSIE is among the first proposals selected by the NSF to establish a Regional Innovation Engine, a first-of-its-kind NSF program to create focused research and technology transfer hubs.
The NSF is funding SWSIE’s initial development and growth with $15 million over the next two years. The engine can be renewed for up to 10 years with $160 million in funding available for each regional engine.
ASU’s core academic partners in SWSIE include the University of Utah, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the Desert Research Institute, the Water Research Foundation, SciTech Institute and Maricopa Community Colleges.
Industry partners range from established companies with ambitious sustainability goals to businesses providing sustainability-based products and services, while nonprofit partners represent a variety of environmental interests across the Southwest.
SWSIE is led by Chief Executive Officer Brian Sherman , who has spent more than 20 years working in entrepreneurship, public-sector strategy, technology-based economic development and tech commercialization. Katie Pettinger, an entrepreneurial leader with extensive experience in commercializing university innovations, serves as chief innovation officer.
Empowering women in clean energy
ASU joined the U.S. Department of Energy-led Clean Energy Education and Empowerment Initiative in 2024 as a partnering university.
The Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory ® at ASU joins the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative and the Stanford Precourt Institute for Energy as the third university to work with the DOE to increase the participation, leadership and success of women in clean energy. Women are currently underrepresented in the clean energy sector, especially in leadership positions.
A DOE-led initiative since 2011, Clean Energy Education and Empowerment, or C3E, works to highlight, recognize and empower women in clean energy. The C3E community connects those working in clean energy with an opportunity to engage with peers and mentors via social media platforms, webinars and other events.
As a partnering university, ASU will work with the DOE to manage the C3E Initiative, including holding annual meetings and opportunities to promote women’s leadership.
This partnership reflects our commitment to creating equitable opportunities and advancing clean energy solutions. Together, we can accelerate the transition to a sustainable future while ensuring that the energy sector is inclusive and representative of all voices.”
— Ellen B. Stechel , codirector of LightWorks , Global Futures Laboratory and executive director, Center for an Arizona Carbon-Neutral Economy
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Humanities for the Environment
The North American Observatory of the Humanities for the Environment (HFE) Global Network unites worldwide humanities-led efforts to tackle environmental challenges. The network includes eight “observatories” located all around the world, with the North American Observatory based at ASU.
New institute addresses complex water challenges
A world with 8 billion people requires water for food, energy, industry and more. In 2024, ASU launched the Water Institute , a new international center of excellence for scholarship and action designed to predict and address water challenges.
Drawing from expertise across ASU, the Water Institute will develop educational, research and communication projects that benefit communities across Arizona, the region, the nation and the world.
Helping rural Arizona communities protect their groundwater
Over 40 years ago, Arizona took an important step toward long-term water security with the Groundwater Management Act. The act focused on the state’s most populous areas, leaving rural groundwater largely unprotected.
Today, however, protecting rural groundwater is one of Arizona’s top priorities, and one of its thorniest challenges.
Like many rural residents in Arizona, the people of Sulphur Springs Valley in Cochise County are facing groundwater declines while attempting to balance a multitude of community needs, including protecting their agricultural heritage and economy, as well as supporting overall quality of life.
To address water challenges in the Sulphur Springs Valley, community members helped design and conduct a planning workshop to explore possible futures for agriculture and groundwater, identifying strategies for adapting to various changes and outcomes. This Exploratory Scenario Planning (XSP) for Water Resilient Agriculture project was co-led by teams from two units of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy — the Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy and the Consortium for Scenario Planning — and ASU’s Arizona Water Innovation Initiative .
The AWII is a multi-year partnership with the state led by ASU’s Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory and Ira
ASU researchers are using satellite remote sensing technology to map how much groundwater Arizona has and how much we are using, as well as how much of it is accessible and of adequate quality to be used into the future. The work leverages data from NASA and the private companies Planet and Hydrosat.
The teams also produced a film, “Agriculture and Water in the West: A Community Takes Charge,” which documents the work to collaboratively address the community’s groundwater issues after years of conflict.
Using the workshop as a jumping off point, the film provides insight into the groundwater challenges and potential solutions rural communities across the state are contending with. It also highlights the deep relationship people have with water.
After the workshop and a screening of the film held in Willcox, Arizona, one of the largest water users in the Willcox groundwater basin has reduced their water use by 14%.
A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.
Watch the trailer
Addressing tribal water policy in Arizona
Continued drought and cuts to Colorado River water allocations make policy decisions on the future of water in the American Southwest a top priority.
Gaps in water policies have historically left tribal communities with limited access to clean water and infrastructure. For over 60 years, the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe in Arizona have been engaged in legal battles to secure their water rights.
Cora Tso is a senior research fellow with the Kyl Center for Water Policy at ASU’s Morrison Institute for Public Policy. With support from the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative, Tso has been working with Arizona tribes, state and federal agencies, ASU’s tribal partnership program, and other key communities to develop collaborative water solutions and policy recommendations. Additionally, she works to identify key policy gaps and challenges that affect tribal water access, as well as documenting the current water usage, rights and allocation policies and laws among tribal nations across Arizona.
She is particularly well suited to address tribal water policy issues as both a lawyer specializing in Indian and water law and an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation. She was brought up in the small community of Shonto on the Navajo Nation in northeastern Arizona, where her family still lives.
In May, The Navajo Nation, Hopi tribe and San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe approved a landmark settlement. If affirmed by Congress, the agreement will end the tribes’ long struggle for water security.
Tso developed a document that explains this water settlement and why it is important. She also led a webinar, hosted by the Kyl Center, in which experts involved in the settlement discussed what it means for the parties involved and Arizona as a whole.
Watch the panel discussion and read the explaine r
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ASU Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences
ASU BIOS is an internationally recognized center for ocean science, atmospheric research, and environmental monitoring and mapping.
New degrees to shape thriving ocean futures
Nearly half of the world’s population lives within 125 miles of a coastline and depends on marine and coastal biodiversity for their livelihoods. In fact, the blue (or ocean) economy is a rapidly growing part of the global economy, expected to double in value by 2030.
The future of coastal and marine ecosystem resilience will ultimately require marine scientists who are trained to advance healthy coastal communities and marine systems through knowledge, partnerships and innovation.
The ocean affects everybody, even if you’re not right on the coastline. Whatever’s happening to our ocean will eventually happen to us.”
— Ro Loucks, student, School of Ocean Futures
To this end, ASU’s College of Global Futures launched four new ocean-focused degree programs in fall 2024 — a Bachelor of Science in ocean futures, a Bachelor of Science in ocean futures with a concentration in coastal and marine sciences, an online Master of Science in coastal and marine science and management, and a PhD in ocean futures.
These programs, housed within the School of Ocean Futures , prepare students to become coastal and marine stewards, community leaders, innovators and researchers capable of shaping the future of the world’s oceans.
100 million sustainability-oriented jobs worldwide by 2030 (source: Forbes )
90% of College of Global Futures graduates with a bachelor’s degree are employed in a degree-related field or go to graduate school.
95% of College of Global Futures graduates with master’s degrees are employed in a degree-related field.
Learn more about ocean futures degree programs
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2024 marks the 10th anniversary of ASU’s charter, a model for the reinvention of higher education that defines the role of the university as “advancing research and discovery of public value; and assuming fundamental responsibility for the economic, social, cultural and overall health of the communities it serves.” ASU faculty and students unite science and technology with the social sciences, arts and humanities to help us understand who we are, how we interact with each other, and how we can help our students and communities thrive.
Lucy and the origins of humans
Fifty years ago, only a few years after humans’ first steps on the moon, the fossil of the first human ancestor who walked reliably upright on two feet was discovered by a young paleoanthropologist, Donald Johanson , in the dusty landscape of the Afar Rift Valley of Ethiopia.
The discovery would forever change how we think of human origins.
Popularly known as “Lucy” because the discovery team listened to The Beatles’ song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” the 3.2-million-year-old fossilized skeleton remains the most complete representative of human ancestors who were adapting to life on a changing landscape.
News of Lucy’s discovery on Nov. 24, 1974, sparked a worldwide interest in human evolution and created a tremendous controversy in 1978. That’s because Lucy proved the existence of an entirely new species — Australopithecus afarensis. It changed how we think about humans’ ancestry and history on the planet.
Since Lucy’s discovery, scientists have learned that many variations of bipedal creatures thrived — and then went extinct — before and alongside Lucy and her descendants. Also these extinct ancestors didn’t necessarily start in the African savannah, but more likely roamed in grassy woodland with deciduous trees, according to Yohannes Haile-Selassie, director of the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University.
Lucy’s species survived for almost 1 million years before the pressures of environmental changes likely drove her species to adapt and evolve. Those changes paved the way for the origin of our genus, Homo, which became better equipped with unique adaptive strategies, including technology. Today, most scientists believe that during Lucy’s era 3 to 4 million years ago, the human family tree was more like a bush than a bonsai, with multiple stems growing side by side rather than a single trunk.
Today, ASU houses a replica skeleton of Lucy, along with a model of what she might have looked like when she roamed Earth. The lab at the National Museum of Ethiopia houses the ancient fossil bones of “Dinknesh” — Lucy’s Ethiopian name, meaning “you are wonderful” — along with over 500 specimens of Lucy’s species.
In 1997, the Institute of Human Origins, along with Johanson, moved from California to ASU. Today, the institute, part of The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, is a preeminent research organization devoted to the science of human origins.
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since the discovery of Lucy
The institute’s scientists are global collaborators at the forefront of paradigmshifting discoveries. They study how humans adapted to a changeable planet, what DNA research reveals about human origins, at Arizona State University the genetic bases for human behavior, and how we have used our innate cumulative curiosity, ingenuity and creativity to ensure our survival and to thrive as a species.
“As stewards of Earth, we have an opportunity to actively promote a balance with nature grounded in science with an aim to protect and preserve our species and our planet’s health,” HaileSelassie says.
Even as paleoanthropologists debate her place in the human family tree, they agree no known human ancestor has had the impact of Lucy. They still marvel at the detailed view of our past revealed by her skeleton. Forty percent complete, it has served as a template for fitting together the isolated bones of dozens of other members of her species, like pieces in an incomplete puzzle.”
— Ann Gibbons, “ Lucy’s World ,” Science magazine, April 2024
Johanson excavating in 1975
Left: First time period studied — Oldowan core, Koobi Fora, Kenya. Center: Second time period studied — Acheulean cleaver, Algeria. Right: Characteristic of 600,000 year ago technology — Levallois core, late Pleistocene Algeria. Image credits: (left and middle) Michael Curry. (right) Emma Watt.
ASU study points to origin of cumulative culture
When did our earliest ancestors begin to make connections and start to build on the knowledge of others, setting us apart from other primates?
Cumulative culture — the accumulation of technological modifications and improvements over generations — allowed humans to adapt to a diversity of environments and challenges. But, it is unclear when cumulative culture first developed during hominin evolution.
ASU researcher Charles Perreault and doctoral graduate Jonathan Paige shed new light on the mystery in a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal in 2024. The researchers conclude that humans began to rapidly accumulate technological knowledge through social learning around 600,000 years ago.
“Our species, Homo sapiens, has been successful at adapting to ecological conditions — from tropical forests to arctic tundra — that require different kinds of problems to be solved,” says Perreault, a research scientist with the Institute of Human Origins and an associate professor with the School of Human Evolution and Social Change . “Cumulative culture is
key because it allows human populations to build on and recombine the solutions of prior generations and to develop new complex solutions to problems very quickly.”
Paige and Perreault analyzed changes in the complexity of stone tool manufacturing techniques across the past 3.3 million years of the archaeological record. The researchers discovered that stone tools remained simple until around 600,000 years ago near the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene epoch, when they rapidly increased in complexity, signaling the development of cumulative culture in the human lineage.
The Middle Pleistocene also shows consistent evidence of controlled use of fire, hearths and domestic spaces, likely essential components of the development of cumulative culture.
Online students conduct research with Nobel Prize winner
Online degree programs have opened up opportunities for thousands of students to pursue higher education. An ASU program is taking things a step further, providing research experiences for ASU Online students through the Online Undergraduate Research Scholars (OURS) program in The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Since 2022, 55 faculty and staff members have mentored online student researchers, including Leland Hartwell , a Nobel Prize-winning scientist who has left a legacy in multiple research areas, from yeast cells to cancer therapies. Hartwell’s project leads ASU students in a unique online research experience about visual cognition.
Students in the course construct experiments that explore the creation and comprehension of stories. The fully remote class uses technology to create experiments using visuals, including graphics and videos.
Students in the course also explore how different interpretations of language, storytelling and memory can shape and redefine a narrative.
[Hartwell is] somebody who is a lifelong learner. I was struck by how much he sees himself as having a youthful curiosity about the world. He’s been so intent in saying he’s also learning from us. He’s very genuine, open, accessible and encouraging toward us.”
— Grace Pavelka, anthropology student from North Carolina
Beyond the curriculum, students are gaining valuable skills from Hartwell himself on research, specifically inquiry and curiosity.
Get involved in the OURS program as a student or mentor
Bringing technology-based economic development to the Navajo Nation
More than 140,000 Indigenous people populate the Navajo Nation, the largest reservation in the United States that is comparable in size to the state of West Virginia. In this land of world-renowned scenic wonders stretching across Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, unemployment is rampant at a rate of 48.5%, and 35% of its people live in poverty. One of the key goals of the newly elected president of the Navajo Nation is to create at least 10,000 high-paying jobs for tribal members.
With an innovative plan to spur economic growth in the region, principal investigators from ASU and Navajo Technical University have launched a pilot program to distribute microfactories and technology centers in the Navajo Nation. The program is designed to enable rural tribal communities to participate in supply chain operations in the Southwest’s rapidly growing space industry in a manner consistent with community values.
NTU’s Center for Advanced Manufacturing will serve as the hub of a network of advanced manufacturing sites, equipped with state-of-the-art technology by the ASU School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. Meanwhile, the Global Center for Technology Transfer at ASU will establish legal, entrepreneurial and managerial frameworks that will facilitate translational research between ASU and NTU, as well as the contracting process with prospective industry partners.
(Right) Maricopa County Community College District Chancellor Steven Gonzales, ASU Provost Nancy Gonzales, Tempe Mayor Corey Woods, students and community supporters listen to Blackstone Charitable Foundation Executive Director Maura Pally (above) announce a grant to establish the Blackstone LaunchPad program at ASU. Photos courtesy of Eban Straker-Meads/ASU Enterprise Partners
Equipping college students with entrepreneurial skills
The Blackstone Charitable Foundation has awarded a $1 million grant to establish its signature Blackstone LaunchPad program at ASU, and an additional grant to fund paid summer internships at local startups for 30 students enrolled at ASU and the 10 Maricopa Community Colleges.
Blackstone LaunchPad seeks to close the opportunity gap by equipping college students with entrepreneurial skills and career exposure to advance economic mobility. The program, launched in 2021, was formed with a focus on entrepreneurship and helping students become the job creators of tomorrow. It provides tools for experiential learning through which students can gain key skills that employers want to see.
Blackstone LaunchPad’s collaboration with ASU’s J. Orin Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute and Maricopa Community Colleges offers regular workshops, networking and pitch events, internship opportunities and other skill-building resources. The program is free and available to all enrolled college students, regardless of major or experience.
how
Learn
to join Blackstone LaunchPad
to create Space
ASU’s two newest Innovation Zones empower students, faculty, staff and community partners to make a positive impact through design and the arts. The ASU Mesa Center for Creative Technology provides immersive, cutting-edge facilities in downtown Mesa where creative industries and technology interact. The Herberger Institute Creative Economy Hub™ in Los Angeles connects the creative industry in California with ASU.
ASU fellow and astronaut Sian Proctor shared her story at a weeklong Immersive Storytelling Project held at the ASU Media and Immersive eXperience Center in Mesa , hosted by The Sidney Poitier New American Film School with participation from Apple. The event included 23 students from ASU, Morehouse College, Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University and Drexel University. The group heard from experts in the industry and got hands-on experience with the extended-reality technology available at the MIX Center. Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU News
ASU FIDM Museum in Los Angeles recently launched “Fashion Statements,” its highly anticipated inaugural fashion exhibition under the ASU banner, drawing LA’s fashion elite. Guest contributor Johnny Valencia, pictured, was one of several leading experts in fashion, art and culture invited to select pieces from the ASU FIDM Museum’s extensive collection for the exhibition and offer personal interpretations and perspectives on style and creativity. ASU FIDM, the new fashion school at ASU’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, operates from both Phoenix and Los Angeles. Photo by Monica Orozco YEARS YEARS
The Design School ASU Gammage
ASU’s Design School, part of the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, is the largest and the most comprehensive design school in the nation.
This 3,000-seat performance hall , designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, hosts Broadway shows, concerts, lectures and other events — and provides educational arts experiences to K-12 and university students.
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There’s immense potential for entrepreneurs to create solutions to medical challenges faced in space and on Earth by testing them in a low-gravity environment. The possibilities for medical supplies, medical devices, telehealth and more are endless.
— Erika Wagner, former senior director of emerging market development, Blue Origin
Space-Edge Accelerator propels Arizona businesses in the emerging space economy
The global space economy is projected to exceed $1 trillion by 2040, offering unprecedented business opportunities in space.
Arizona State University’s Interplanetary Initiative , in collaboration with industry and academic leaders, launched the inaugural Space-Edge Accelerator, designed to propel businesses into the new space economy. Space-Edge connects entrepreneurs with experts and resources that will help them develop effective space-based business strategies.
The first cohort is focused on biomedical innovations that can benefit from the space environment or contribute to the growth of the space sector. Participants will explore innovations enabled by microgravity in areas such as stem cell growth, vaccine testing, drug delivery research and tissue culture as innovations needed to keep humans healthy in space.
The accelerator is a collaboration between ASU, Blue Origin, Space Foundation, the University of Central Florida, the University of Florida and Vanderbilt University. Twenty teams were selected across the four university-based hubs to participate in the inaugural cohort.
The Interplanetary Initiative selected the following five Arizona-based teams:
• Axon Logic aims to fast-track the development and commercialization of its in-memory computing technology, which can optimize energy efficiency in space environments, making it ideal for space wearables and sensors.
• Blackstar Orbital will leverage its reusable satellite platform for life science research in space by providing a stable environment for experiments in microgravity.
• MedAire , which offers medical support to transportation-based organizations, seeks to democratize space travel by extending its expertise in aviation health care to the future space-traveling public.
• NeoMatter, a team from ASU’s Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, plans to address 3D printing challenges in microgravity, particularly as those challenges relate to medically beneficial biomaterials.
• PSA is developing AdAstra, a telemedicine solution that ensures seamless task management and enhances astronaut performance during critical phases by providing real-time health diagnostics and interventions essential for long-duration missions.
While the inaugural Space-Edge cohort focuses on bridging biomedical and space industry innovations, future cohorts will expand to additional “space-adjacent” industries, such as advanced manufacturing, consumer products, artificial intelligence, agriculture and more.
Europa Clipper launches ASU instrument to icy Jupiter moon
NASA’s Europa Clipper rocketed into space in October on a mission to scrutinize the ice-encrusted moon of Jupiter. Instruments aboard the spacecraft include the Europa Thermal Emission Imaging System, or E-THEMIS, designed and built at ASU.
Decades in the making, the mission is designed to see whether Jupiter’s moon Europa has the critical features considered necessary for life, advancing our understanding of habitability within our solar system and beyond. The journey will take five and a half years and cover 1.8 billion miles before the spacecraft begins orbiting Jupiter in April 2030, where it will collect scientific data for four years.
E-THEMIS, led by Philip Christensen , Regents Professor of geological sciences in ASU’s School of Earth and Space Exploration , is an infrared camera designed to map Europa’s temperatures for the mission. These infrared images will help scientists seek clues about Europa’s activity, including regions where Europa’s suspected ocean may be near the surface.
Missions such as Europa Clipper contribute to the field of astrobiology, the interdisciplinary research on the variables and conditions of distant worlds that could harbor life as we know it. Although Europa Clipper is not a life-detection mission, it will conduct detailed reconnaissance of Europa and investigate whether the icy moon, with its subsurface ocean, has the capability to support life. Understanding Europa’s habitability will help scientists better understand how life developed on Earth and the potential for finding life beyond our planet.
Philip Christensen; Robert Pappalardo, Europa Mission Project Specialist, NASA JPL; Meenakshi Wadhwa, director, School of Earth and Space Exploration
Astronomers sniff out pungent exoplanet
An exoplanet located a mere 64 light-years away, with a reputation for its extreme weather conditions, is now known for something else — a distinctive rotten-egg odor.
A team of astronomers used data from the James Webb Space Telescope to uncover a surprising aspect of the Jupiter-sized gas giant HD 189733 b — it has an atmosphere rich in hydrogen sulfide.
The detailed study, which was published in Nature, provides researchers with insights into the composition of exoplanetary atmospheres. It was led by Guangwei Fu of Johns Hopkins University and includes ASU co-authors Luis Welbanks , Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow and 51 Pegasi b Fellow, and Michael Line , associate professor, both of the School of Earth and Space Exploration
HD 189733 b is a giant — literally and figuratively — in the field. It is one of the first hot Jupiters ever discovered and has been the subject of constant research for the last two decades. Having the opportunity to finally study it with our best space telescope yet is exhilarating.”
— Luis Welbanks, ASU School of Earth and Space Exploration Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow
The planet, which is unlike anything in our solar system, continues to fascinate scientists. It has an orbit lasting only about two Earth days, and temperatures soaring to 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit. The team studied this canonical hot Jupiter with JWST and found that it has an atmosphere predominantly made of hydrogen sulfide, a molecule that not only gives off a stench but also offers scientists new clues about how sulfur, a building block of planets, might influence the insides and atmospheres of gas worlds beyond the solar system.
Partnering to roam the moon and train the space workforce
ASU’s Milo Space Science Institute is improving access to space exploration by lowering costs and training the space industry workforce. Through its collaborative model, parties share costs and risks to take on complex space projects that would be impossible for them to tackle alone.
This fall, the Milo Institute, as part of the Lunar Outpost team, became a finalist in a competition to build a Lunar Terrain Vehicle for NASA. The team’s planned moon rover, Lunar Dawn LTV, will support NASA’s Artemis astronauts and advance lunar science.
ASU is leading Lunar Outpost’s Science Council, whose international experts will help direct Lunar Dawn’s operations for maximum scientific discovery. The Milo Institute is an integral partner, with ASU NewSpace, in linking ASU to the national and international commercial and governmental space sectors.
The Milo Mission Academies offer professional training and workforce development to Lunar
Dawn participants that allow them to develop transferable skills within their home countries or institutions. This supports the Milo Institute’s mission to contribute to a global future where space exploration and commerce are within reach for all.
The Milo Institute also offers professional training in planetary stewardship. It partnered with the Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust to form the Milo Climate Action Academy. This program seeks to form and equip Puerto Rico’s future science and technology leaders with the necessary tools to create innovative solutions to the growing climate challenges on the island.
The space industry will only continue to grow in its need for support services from the private sector, a qualified workforce, international cooperation and shared space assets. By innovating in these areas, the Milo Institute positions itself to be a leading resource in a new era of opportunity.
Expansive Earth observation dataset now available
Planet Labs and ASU have partnered to provide free access for ASU users — including students, researchers and policymakers — to Planet Labs’ massive trove of Earth-observation data. The company downlinks 11 terabytes of satellite imagery data per day from its large network of cubesat spacecraft, which orbits the Earth every 90 minutes, providing time-resolved data to users.
is the Psyche spacecraft?
The ASU-led NASA Psyche mission launched on Oct. 13, 2023. It is expected to enter orbit around the asteroid Psyche in August 2029. In spring 2026, it will fly by Mars for a gravity assist to gain speed and slingshot it out to the asteroid belt.
Futurecast: Today’s challenges, tomorrow’s achievements
Arizona State University pushes the boundaries of knowledge to unlock the mysteries of the universe, shape our understanding of the world and innovate solutions to pressing challenges. And Knowledge Enterprise is the engine that powers research and discovery at ASU.
Together we are on the cusp of discoveries that will drive technological advancements for a brighter future, improve health and well-being, enhance national security, sustain a thriving planet, and deepen our understanding of our universe. I am thrilled to share with you a glimpse of the exciting future ahead.
The speed of science and technology advancements is accelerating, and ASU has embraced the artificial intelligence revolution. The university is using AI to bring solutions and discoveries to the public faster, while expanding our reach to more learners in diverse ways. We are also committed to ensuring that the technology is developed ethically, in alignment with our newest university design aspiration of “principled innovation” – the advancement of innovation to create positive change for humanity.
Improving the health and well-being of all Arizonans is the core objective of ASU Health. ASU is poised to accomplish this goal via research and discovery and by providing a pipeline of health professionals empowered by data and the latest technology.
ASU leads one of eight Department of Defense
Microelectronics Commons innovation hubs – dedicated to developing the next generation of semiconductors critical to keeping America safe as well as strengthening our nation’s economic competitiveness. As the nation seeks to rebuild our national semiconductor ecosystem, we envision Arizona leading the nation in microelectronics innovation, with ASU at the heart of a revitalized industry.
Powerful advances in genome sequencing technology and informatics make it possible to efficiently sequence the genomes of all known species for the first time in history. The Earth BioGenome Project is working to sequence all known eukaryotes — a group that includes all animals, plants and fungi — in just 10 years. This project will deepen our knowledge of how to protect biodiversity as well as provide new disease treatments and food sources.
In the coming years, our space exploration will fuel important scientific discoveries, technological innovations and economic development, creating jobs and business opportunities in Arizona’s robust and growing space industry. As one example, the Psyche mission will culminate in 2029, with the spacecraft’s arrival on Psyche, a metal-rich asteroid in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Because humans cannot drill to Earth’s core, visiting Psyche can provide us knowledge of the process that created planets like our own.
ASU is known for having bold, audacious goals — and succeeding at them. I’ve been thinking about moonshot ideas for Knowledge Enterprise, and my imagination shot a bit beyond the moon. I envision the day that ASU establishes its next economic development Innovation Zone on the surface of Mars. Can you imagine NASA’s surprise when they send their first astronauts to the Red Planet, only to discover ASU was there first?
Thank you for your dedication to changing the way the world solves problems to ensure a thriving people, a thriving society and a thriving planet.
Video: How Innovation Happens at ASU
Together we are on the cusp of discoveries improve health and well-being, enhance national security, sustain a thriving planet, that will drive technological advancements and deepen our understanding of our universe. for a brighter future ,
Sally C. Morton executive vice president ASU Knowledge Enterprise
Graphic generated by Adobe Firefly
