Watershed project sets stage for scientific research, collaboration

A groundbreaking watershed study that features advanced water sensors to collect real-time data continues to offer an unparalleled training ground for undergraduates chosen from across the nation to work in Delaware, Rhode Island, and Vermont for the summer.

The work is part of the North East Water Resources Network (NEWRnet), a three-year, three-state initiative funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII) Track-2 program. The project has been extended into a fourth year.

“In designing the project, we were intentional about involving undergraduate students in research under the mentorship of faculty and graduate students — which is a classic aspect of NSF research grants, but also in developing a cohort,” explained Director Jeanette Miller, University of Delaware, EPSCoR Education, Outreach, and Diversity.

Using an integrated network of high tech sensors, NEWRnet aims to bring greater understanding of what drives regional water quality and provide a comprehensive picture of how climate variation may play a role in water quality and quantity. It also involves economics and computer modeling to gauge how stakeholders respond to more and better information generated by the new technology.

The project’s annual summer orientation brings undergraduate researchers together at the start of their 10-week internship to understand what NEWRNet is about and how each student’s individual project fits into the big picture, and to meet each other since they come from multiple institutions in different states. The orientation rotates each year among the three states, and this year Salve Regina University, in Rhode Island, hosted the event.

In early June, the project’s third cohort — 15 students, who this year come from University of Delaware, Delaware State University, University of Vermont, University of Rhode Island, and Salve Regina University — spent three nights and two days on the Salve campus learning about the project and the roles of their peers before embarking on their research internships.

The summer experience will have students engaging in the latest watershed research methods and enhancing professional skills through relevant workshops and conferences. Depending on their field of study, they will maintain high tech sensors, take water and macroinvertebrate samples, analyze data, develop computational models, create land use maps, and conduct GIS mapping work.

“We also have a commitment to helping students develop both scientific skills and professional skills,” Miller said. “For example, one of the things students will do is prepare a two-minute talk, sort of like an elevator pitch, in which they explain the significance of their research to a general audience.”

A professional communications coach will work with the undergraduates on their delivery throughout the summer, and students will offer each other feedback as well, which is another important professional skill. At the end of their summer projects, students will gather again in Rhode Island to present their research results in a poster session and symposium. They will deliver their two-minute talks as an introduction to their projects, and later delve into the technical details, methods and results during the poster session.

Associate Professor Jameson Chace, Salve Regina University, said the orientation sought to introduce the undergraduates to the project’s objectives and demonstrate how the three states and principal investigators from several different fields and disciplines interact in a multidisciplinary project that seeks to understand how large scale climatic phenomenon affect small watersheds, many of which are also primary drinking water supplies.

“There are biological, chemical, hydrological, social, engineering and economic factors involved, and the students have been accepted to work closely with a principal investigator for 10 weeks on one aspect of this project,” Chace noted. “The orientation gives them breadth of understanding such that they are aware of what role they are playing in the project.

“The orientation is also an opportunity to get the students together and form a network, both for support during the summer and in the first steps of professional collegiality that hopefully extends beyond the 10 weeks.”

In addition to a science communication session where they worked on their two-minute speeches, the NEWRnet students went on a fish trawl with the University of Rhode Island’s Cap’n Bert, participated in an economic modeling exercise, visited Aquidneck Island watersheds and water sensor locations, learned about the agricultural perspective at the Newport Vineyards, and viewed a demonstration of a remote controlled robotic kayak deployed to take water samples.

As an example of the far reaching impact of the research experience and professional development, Miller pointed to one student who was involved with the project for the first two summers: “A few months ago she won a prestigious award at a national meeting for a presentation she gave. She said the mix of scientific and communications training really helped her. We are pleased to see students building competence and confidence that can lead to such recognition.”

In this summer’s cohort, Joseph Grenier, a URI junior ocean engineering major from Lebanon, Maine, appreciated the opportunity to gain a broader view of the project and meet the students at other campuses.

“Orientation was a great way to see how our research can impact and change the lives of many people by being able to help find out and stop where the pollution is coming from,” said Grenier, who also is pursuing a minor in physics. “At times, it can be hard to see the big picture as to how my work on an autonomous kayak can really do something. Through orientation, we met with farmers, fishermen, civil engineers, and economists as well as many other people to show what goes into solving this issue and what is being done already.”

Grenier said the two-day orientation brought into perspective how the project’s individual parts fit together, and how everyone was driven by the same goal of clean water: “It allowed me to see that bigger picture and understand why this research is important, and will really help improve the quality of data I collect as I now know what to look for.”

Story and photos by Amy Dunkle