“For states like Rhode Island, the EPSCoR funding helps to level the playing field. Our research productivity and student success stories are indications that we’re doing the right things.”

Breea Govenar
Rhode Island College
Associate professor; biology
Center for Research and Creative Activity (CRCA) director
RI NSF EPSCoR partner liaison
SURF program mentor

With expertise in deep-sea research, Breea Govenar arrived on the RIC campus in 2010 — the same year the five-year Rhode Island NSF EPSCoR grant began. The timing turned out to be fortuitous for both.

“The grant was instrumental in my career trajectory and in helping me establish a research program,” says Govenar. “It’s been that big and that important.”

Likewise, Govenar has played a pivotal role in RI EPSCoR, serving as RIC’s partner liaison for the grant, collaborating with scientists in the RI EPSCoR community, teaching and training RIC students in her lab, and mentoring students in the RI EPSCoR Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program.

RI EPSCoR funding and the state’s match through the STAC grant program allowed Govenar to develop a strong footing in coastal and regional work, establishing an urban research program with opportunities that otherwise would not exist for RIC students. Under Govenar’s guidance, RIC undergraduate and graduate students gain critical training and skills that routinely provide them entry into science and biotechnology careers.

Meanwhile, she adds to the collective body of RI EPSCoR research with her investigation of marine community ecology. Tapping into her deep-sea expertise, Govenar looks at how the changes in the temperature and chemistry of Narragansett Bay, brought on by climate change, alter the distribution and interaction of organisms such as ribbed mussels, oysters, and snails, and, in turn, impact the ecosystem.

This is the kind of work that takes time to yield conclusive answers, she says: “There are responses from year to year and throughout the course of a decade that we can use to help inform the impact of climate change. A lot of these marine organisms go through annual cycles, like we see with trees and flowers. We can’t anticipate to resolve anything just after one season of one year.”

Govenar says RI EPSCoR also supported her with critical pieces of equipment, such as dissecting microscopes and a circulating seawater lab, which have enhanced research capacity at the Providence campus and supported coursework and additional resources for students in marine ecology. She says bringing the marine experience to an urban population serves as an important access point, inspires curiosity, and provides options for future direction.

And, as a member of the EPSCoR community, Govenar says she has gained access to core facilities that support her research and collaboration with peers at partner institutions.

“When I think about the purpose of EPSCoR within the National Science Foundation and the support for states that don’t get the same proportion of federal dollars for research, this is the impact,” says Govenar. “For states like Rhode Island, the EPSCoR funding helps to level the playing field. Our research productivity and student success stories are indications that we’re doing the right things.”

In particular, Govenar cites one student who was supported in her lab by one of the STAC grants and is now enrolled in medical school: “Even though she was interested in human health, the techniques she learned — fine-scale dissection and next generation sequencing — were tools that she used in her internship and helped set her up at Mass General Hospital.”

Even though the application of skills was completely different, the techniques learned in Govenar’s lab directly transferred to the medical research setting.

Another student in Govenar’s lab had withdrawn from school after a family hardship, but re-enrolled and ended up graduating at the top of her class. The young woman is now in graduate school at UMass-Dartmouth and considering a Ph.D. position in New Zealand, which Govenar says represents another remarkable success story made possible by RI EPSCoR.

From a personal standpoint, the early and continued RI EPSCoR support has reaped dividends for Govenar and the many lives she touches.

“EPSCoR definitely has influenced and shaped my own career path,” she says, citing her attendance at a Council for Undergraduate Research event, the CUR Dialogues. “It was absolutely incredible for me — it opened my eyes to the magnitude of the impact of undergraduate research.”

After her experience with the CUR Dialogues, Govenar secured funding to send additional RIC faculty members, which resulted in the formation of an ad hoc committee that sought to broaden participation of students and faculty in the high-impact practice of mentored experiences in research and creative activity.

The group submitted a proposal, funded by the Davis Educational Foundation, to establish the Center for Research and Creative Activity at Rhode Island College to increase student engagement toward greater student retention, persistence, and degree completion. (The Davis foundation was established by Stanton and Elisabeth Davis after Stanton Davis’s retirement as chairman of Shaw’s Supermarkets, Inc.)

Govenar, who serves as CRCA director, says, “I’m excited about being able to extend opportunities beyond my own research through this center. I believe it’s going to be transformative for Rhode Island College and for the lives of our students.”

Story and photo by Amy Dunkle | RI NSF EPSCoR