• Sanjana Basak, ‘24, a Knight Campus Undergraduate Scholar, is developing a targeted gene therapy for treating late-onset Fuchs’ Dystophy (FECD), a disease that results in loss of vision. 
• Will Jackson, ‘23, who won second place at the competition, participated in the UO Summer Program for Undergraduate Research (SPUR). Jackson’s  work focuses on prion proteins that are best known as the agents of deadly brain disorders like mad cow disease. But prions aren't all bad. He is studying ways prions actually benefit cells in which they’re found. 
• Hannah Lewack, ’23, a recipient of a Peter O’Day Fellowship and a SPUR awardee, researches what mating in worms can tell us about the genetics of healthy aging and disease prevention. 
• Ellis Mimms, ’22, a McNair Scholar, uses data collected at Pine Mountain Observatory to create new computer code and software with the goal of improving analysis of vast amounts of astronomical data and calibrating the systems and telescopes at the observatory. 

1. Support early-career faculty across all aspects of their professional development to build success for faculty at KAUST.
2. Support mid-career faculty with specialized challenges such as leadership and changing projects.
3. Build strong supportive networks for faculty across the university to improve collegiality, campus-life, and research productivity.
4. Understand mutual mentoring opportunities for expertise and experience of early-career faculty to be infused into the institution.

Carlos M Duarte, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).

Distinguished Professor Carlos M. Duarte is the Tarek Ahmed Juffali Research Chair in Red Sea Ecology at the KAUST in Saudi Arabia. Duarte’s research focuses on understanding the effects of global change in marine ecosystems and developing nature-based solutions to global challenges, including climate change, and develop evidence-based strategies to rebuild the abundance of marine life by 2050. 

Seminar Abstract: A range of cumulative pressures escalating since the onset of the industrial revolution have led to an estimated loss of about half of the global extent of coastal habitats, including mangrove forests, seagrass meadows, saltmarshes, coral reefs and oyster reefs, with kelp forests now being impacted by ocean warming, which is impacting also heavily coral reefs, and less intensely, seagrass meadows. As we lost these habitats, we increased our awareness of the many services and benefits they deliver, providing a motivation to avoid further losses and increase restoration efforts. There is, therefore, evidence that declining trends are either slowing down, or reversing altogether for some key coastal habitats, but challenges exist on how restoration can scale up to reverse the cost of coastal habitats.