As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in the USA in early 2020, it became clear that knowledge of the prevalence of antibodies to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) among asymptomatic individuals could inform public health policy decisions and provide insight into the impact of the infection on vulnerable populations. Two Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Hubs and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) set forth to conduct a national seroprevalence survey to assess the infection’s rate of spread. This partnership was able to quickly design and launch the project by leveraging established research capacities, prior experiences in large-scale, multisite studies and a highly skilled workforce of CTSA hubs and unique experimental capabilities at the NIH to conduct a diverse prospective, longitudinal observational cohort of 11,382 participants who provided biospecimens and participant-reported health and behavior data. The study was completed in 16 months and benefitted from transdisciplinary teamwork, information technology innovations, multimodal communication strategies, and scientific partnership for rigor in design and analytic methods. The lessons learned by the rapid implementation and dissemination of this national study is valuable in guiding future multisite projects as well as preparation for other public health emergencies and pandemics.

We have conducted a wide-field optical survey of NGC 5128 (Cen A), the nearest large elliptical galaxy (3.5 Mpc). From UBVRI imaging and spectroscopic follow-up, we have identified and obtained kinematics for 125 new globular clusters out to a projected radius of 40 kpc. We also extend our survey of field star kinematics in NGC 5128, and now possess a total of 736 radial velocities for planetary nebulae out to a projected radius of 80 kpc.

1. • The PNe sample along the photometric major axis shows significant rotational support out to 80 kpc.

2. • The blue globular clusters seem to possess little or no angular momentum.

3. • The kinematics of the red globular cluster sample show some evidence for rotation around an axis common to that of the field stars.

The heteroepitaxial growth of gallium phosphide on silicon (GaP/Si) is a useful step towards integration of III-V based devices onto silicon. GaP layers grown on silicon substrates of different orientations using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) were characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with an attempt to understand the epilayer growth characteristics. Despite the fact that the GaP/Si system has a low misfit (≈0.4 %), a high density of crystal stacking defects was commonly observed. Inversion domain boundaries (IDBs) were another common defect observed in regions where the fault density was reduced.