Federal Grant Award Summary

The Pennsylvania State University received a $259,408 Project Grant award dated August 1, 2026, from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Physics under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049). This Research at Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) award supports a three-year research initiative through July 31, 2029, focused on nucleon tomography in quantum chromodynamics. The project delivers theoretical and computational research investigating the three-dimensional momentum and spin structure of nucleons (protons and neutrons) by combining quantum chromodynamics theory with machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques. Primary deliverables include physics-informed neural networks and image-based reconstruction methods for extracting patterns from experimental datasets collected at major international research facilities including Jefferson Lab, Fermilab, the Large Hadron Collider, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), and electron-positron colliders.

Beyond the core research outputs, the award supports workforce development and community-building objectives. The project provides training in physics, data science, and artificial intelligence to undergraduate students at Penn State's Wyomissing campus location, establishes international scientific collaborations and workshops, and delivers education and outreach activities to broaden participation in science. The methodologies developed—particularly the physics-informed neural networks and data-driven reconstruction techniques—are designed for potential application across other scientific and engineering domains requiring large-scale data analysis and pattern extraction.