Research

Annual Report 2020

Funded research is the lifeblood of this school.

Through it, knowledge about Earth’s ocean is expanded, scientists apply wisdom and expertise, graduate students gain experience and unlock passions, and the nation sees facts and evidence on which it can act. The quantity and quality of oceanographic research conducted at GSO is a special point of pride for the university and for all of Rhode Island.

In fiscal year 2020, GSO researchers were awarded $34.7 million in funding for new and ongoing, multi-year efforts. The top three funders—accounting for 75% of all dollars—were the United States Agency for International Development, the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

New Awards for Funded Research, Fiscal Year 2020

PROJECT/PROGRAMINVESTIGATOR(S)FUNDERVALUE ($000s)
Ocean Exploration Cooperative InstituteRobert Ballard, Dwight ColemanNOAA3,506
Development and Maintenance of an Online Delivery System for STORMTOOLS Inundation and Risk MapsTeresa CreanR.I. Coastal Resources Management Council31
Advancing Southern New England Shellfish Aquaculture through an Engaged Public and Next Generation ToolsAzure CyglerUniversity of Connecticut171
Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships in Oceanography (SURFO)Brian Heikes, David SmithNational Science Foundation138
Establishing the Spatial and Temporal Distribution Technology of Microplastics in Narragansett BayChristopher Kincaid, Kelton McMahonR.I. Science and Advisory Council32
1814 Battle of Stonington Battlefield Protection ProjectJohn KingStonington Historical Society32
Real-Time Opportunity for Development of Environmental Observations (RODEO)John KingHDR/e2M138
Regional Scale Benthic Habitat Mapping at Northeast Region Coastal ParksJohn King, Monique LaFrance BartleyU.S. Dept. of the Interior75
Nurturing Successful Growth and Maturation of a Domestic Seaweed Aquaculture IndustryDawn KotowiczUniversity of Connecticut67
Climate-Resilient Markets: Adapting to the Fisheries of the FutureDawn KotowiczR.I. Natural History Survey38
Restoring Fisheries for Sustainable Livlihoods in Lake Malawi (REFRESH)Najih Lazar, Peter Freeman, Elin TorellPactWorld375
Analysis of Strength of Predictive Relationship Between Organism Bioaccumulation and Passive Sampler UptakeRainer LohmannGeneral Dynamics Information Technology71
FLUOROS 2020—An International Symposium on Fluorinated Organics in the EnvironmentRainer LohmannNational Institutes of Health39
Concentrations and Source Assessment of Black Carbon Across Tropical Atlantic Air and SedimentRainer Lohmann, Robert PockalnyNational Science Foundation522
How to Trace Glacial Meltwater by Shipboard Hydrographic Analysis of Dissolved Neon and KryptonBrice LooseNational Science Foundation344
Sea Grant Northeast Regional Lobster Extension Program: Rhode IslandJennifer McCann, Azure CyglerNOAA30
University National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) HostDennis NixonUniversity of Washington39
Manganese Cycling and Coupling Across Redox Boundaries within Stratified Basins of the Baltic SeaVeronique OldhamWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution37
Ocean Submesoscale Currents and Vertical TransportMelissa OmandNASA228
Gases in the Overturning and Horizontal Circulation of the National Subpolar North Atlantic Program (GOHSNAP)Jaime PalterNational Science Foundation956
MRI: Acquisition of a Customized GC-IRMS for Isotopic Analysis of Nitrate and Nitrous Oxide at URIRebecca Robinson, Kelton McMahonNational Science Foundation391
Computational Methods and Robotics Systems for Modeling and Predicting Harmful Cyano-bacterial BloomsChristopher RomanDartmouth College95
Enhanced Sonar Feature Reacquisition Using Simultaneous Localization and Mapping TechniquesChristopher RomanPhysical Science Inc.139
Towards Scalable Autonomous Benthic Imaging and MonitoringChristopher RomanSchmidt Ocean Institute59
Assessing Occurrence of Bay Scallops Within R.I. Salt Ponds Using an Autonomous Surface Vehicle and DivesChristopher RomanR.I. Dept. of Environmental Management23
Niche Overlap Between Atlantic Cod and Black Sea BassNina SantosThe Nature Conservancy11
Gathering New Insights into the Magmatic and Tectonic Processes at Kilauea VolcanoYang ShenNational Science Foundation253
Open Access Experiment to Seismically Image Galapagos Plume-Ridge InteractionYang ShenNational Science Foundation68
Expansion of Narragansett Bay Fixed-Site Monitoring Network in Mount Hope BayHeather Stoffel, Candace OviattMass. Dept. of Environmental Protection180
NASA Space Grant FellowshipJacob StrockBrown University52
Support of Continuing and New Activities of the National Sea Grant LibraryJan VoogdNOAA302
Inverted Echo Sounder (IES) Technology/Research: Pressure Recorders (PIES) and Current Meters (CPIES) D Randolph WattsVarious406
Yield Estimate Based on InSARMeng (Matt) WeiDefense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)219
Towards Autonomous UUV-Based Seafloor Reconnaissance Using Artificial IntelligenceMingxi ZhouNaval Undersea Warfare Center18
EAGER: Navigating Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) at Ice-Water HorizonMingxi Zhou, Brice LooseNational Science Foundation293