The Herbert W. Hoover Foundation is proud of the recognition received by our grantees. By funding top-tier science and impactful local community initiatives, the Foundation aims to inspire students, improve human health, strengthen economies, build stronger communities, and protect the environment upon which all depend.
Research funded by The Herbert W. Hoover Foundation and published in GeoHealth demonstrates an improved satellite-based method for monitoring harmful algal blooms and changing water conditions in Florida’s Indian River Lagoon. By combining three years of Sentinel satellite imagery with field measurements, researchers were able to distinguish and map cyanobacteria, dinoflagellates, seagrass, and other water components at a resolution of 10 meters. The approach could provide environmental managers with a powerful tool to track blooms over time, better understand their potential causes, and identify threats to critical habitats like seagrass.
New research from Yale School of Medicine has uncovered a previously unknown mechanism through which L-carnitine, a nutrient naturally found in the body and abundant in red meat, may amplify inflammation during certain disease states. Led by researchers including Dr. Andrew Wang, the study found that L-carnitine can activate an immune “alarm system” called the pyrin inflammasome, triggering an inflammatory pathway that worsened outcomes in experimental models of sepsis and contributed to inflammation following muscle injury. The findings could open new avenues for understanding—and potentially treating—sepsis and other inflammatory diseases. This research was supported in part by The Herbert W. Hoover Foundation. medicine.yale.edu
The North Canton Heritage Society has completed its Heritage Trail, bringing local history to life through interpretive panels that highlight the people, places, and events that helped shape the community. The multi-phase project was made possible through community partnerships and funding support, including partial support from The Herbert W. Hoover Foundation, helping preserve and share North Canton’s history for generations to come.
Dr. Matthew Gribble, the 2026 Pew-Hoover Fellow in Marine and Biomedical Science, was recently featured on The Pew Charitable Trusts’ After the Fact podcast to discuss harmful algal blooms and the interconnected health of people, marine life, and the ocean. The episode explores how toxins produced during harmful algal blooms can affect seafood, human and wildlife health, and coastal communities.
The Pew-Hoover Fellowship in Marine and Biomedical Science, supported by The Herbert W. Hoover Foundation through the Pew Fellows Program in Marine Conservation, advances research at the intersection of marine science and human health. Dr. Gribble’s fellowship research uses advanced statistical modeling to better understand harmful algal bloom exposure and its potential health effects.
The Herbert W. Hoover Foundation-supported researchers at Kent State University are advancing a new way to monitor carbon, nitrogen, and minerals in agricultural soils using remote sensing and satellite imagery. By reducing reliance on labor-intensive physical soil sampling, the approach could ultimately make it easier for farmers and land managers to track soil health and carbon storage across large landscapes and over time.
The Herbert W. Hoover Foundation supported Dr. Chelsea Rochman and her team in developing SLoPP and SLoPP-E, open-access Raman spectral libraries designed to make microplastics identification more accessible, reliable, and consistent. Published in Analytical Chemistry, the work created reference spectra for both pristine and environmentally weathered plastics, helping researchers more accurately identify the plastics they encounter in real-world samples. These pioneering libraries went on to help form part of the foundation for OpenSpecy, an open-source platform that is advancing and standardizing the way researchers analyze microplastics using spectroscopy. The project demonstrates how an early investment in foundational scientific tools can continue to ripple forward as those tools are incorporated into new technologies used by the broader research community.
A new Nature Protocols publication provides the first comprehensive, step-by-step method for using CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing in reef-building corals, giving scientists a powerful new tool to better understand how corals grow, tolerate heat stress, and form their essential partnerships with algae. Co-authored by Dr. Phil Cleves, the Herbert W. Hoover Foundation’s 2023 Pew-Hoover Fellow in Marine and Biomedical Science in partnership with The Pew Charitable Trusts, the protocol establishes the foundation for a new era of coral functional genomics. By making gene editing more accessible and reproducible, the work will accelerate research aimed at protecting coral reefs from the impacts of climate change.
A new study published in Cell uncovers a previously unknown gut-to-brain signaling pathway that regulates dietary protein intake during recovery from illness and other catabolic states. Led by Dr. Andrew Wang at Yale University, the research demonstrates that specific amino acids generate ammonia during metabolism, which is sensed by gut enterochromaffin cells through a TRPA1-dependent mechanism. This signaling triggers serotonin release and communicates with the brain to reduce further protein intake, protecting the body from ammonia toxicity during vulnerable recovery periods. The findings reveal a fundamental biological system by which the body balances nutrient intake with metabolic safety. The project was funded in part by The Herbert W. Hoover Foundation.
A new study published in Cell uncovers how corals evolved the specialized cellular machinery needed to house the microscopic algae that fuel the world’s coral reefs. Led by Dr. Phil Cleves, the 2023 Pew-Hoover Fellow in Marine and Biomedical Science, the research found that corals repurposed lysosomes—cellular structures traditionally responsible for digestion and recycling—to create the “symbiosome,” the organelle that supports their partnership with photosynthetic algae. The discovery helps explain how this remarkable symbiosis evolved repeatedly throughout nature and provides new insight into the biological processes that underpin the health and resilience of coral reefs.
A new study published in the Journal of Sustainable Agriculture and Environment examined how different tillage methods (moldboard plough, vertical/chisel tillage, and no‑tillage) and the use of manure influence soil organic matter, carbon content, and crop yields on working farms in the U.S. Midwest. The research found that crop rotations with mixed forage and hayfields supported higher soil carbon and organic matter compared to continuously cultivated fields, and that positive correlations exist between soil organic matter and corn yield. Incorporating manure helped mitigate soil carbon loss from tillage, though best management practices remain important for long‑term soil and environmental health. This on‑farm research was supported in part by The Herbert W. Hoover Foundation.
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