“We have an incredibly rich resource to study and to provide us with a natural laboratory that exists nowhere else in the world. We can be a leading source of information and a leader of excellence.”

Collaborative Research Grants
RI Science and Technology Advisory Council (STAC)

Recognizing the value of the federal Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), the state of Rhode Island chips in a 20 percent cash match through an annual round of research grants.

“The way we support EPSCoR is unique and special in that we support it in the spirit of the program,” says Christine Smith, STAC executive director. “We help build collaborations that have a high potential for follow-on funding.”

Rhode Island launched STAC in 2005 and embedded the council in a legislative statute the following year to secure a key place for innovation in the state’s agenda. The central tenets of the STAC mission — increasing research and development capacity, and encouraging entrepreneurship and creation of new companies — directly sync up with EPSCoR objectives to do the same.

“EPSCoR is all about building capacity, both with people and the infrastructure,” Smith says. “Rhode Island
has wonderful assets, but in order to play to these assets in an increasingly competitive world, the state needs to nurture and support innovation so we can perform on a global level.”

The STAC grants have invested $11.4 million in 80 research teams and trained more than 200 students in research labs during the EPSCoR grant period.

The state awards roughly $800,000 in STAC grants each year to about six to eight research teams with projects that reflect the EPSCoR theme — the impact of climate change on marine life and ecosystems — and showcase collaborators from at least two different institutions in the state.

Another unique factor about the STAC grants lies in their support of projects with high potential for follow-on funding, according to Smith. Typically, the successful proposal comes in at the catalytic stage, taps into the STAC grant as seed funding, and emerges with data needed to secure larger grants at the national level.

“It’s a small chunk of extra dollars to get them to that final step,” Smith explains.

Through the 2016 round of grant awards, Smith says, Rhode Island has invested $11.4 million in 80 research teams. She notes that more than 200 students have trained in research labs during the EPSCoR grant period through STAC-supported projects.

The return on the money for Rhode Island, while certainly measurable, far exceeds the price tag. The state economy depends heavily on the fishery and tourism industries, both of which stand to feel the brunt of climate change. Smith says the research funded brings understanding and informs policy.

What’s more, she adds, the work being done in the Ocean State holds international relevance.

“We have a wonderful lab in Narragansett Bay, and it’s unique in so many ways,” Smith says. “It’s a fairly small footprint with a coastal watershed and open ocean. Geographically, we are in the North Atlantic, at the cusp of where true north meets the mid-Atlantic.

“We have an incredibly rich resource to study and to provide us with a natural laboratory that exists nowhere else in the world. We can be a leading source of information and a leader of excellence.”

Story and photo by Amy Dunkle | RI NSF EPSCoR