KINGSTON, R.I. – The Rhode Island Consortium for Coastal Ecology Assessment, Innovation, and Modeling has announced the recipients of its 2018-19 Seed Grant program, which assists faculty at the University of Rhode Island developing innovative projects in STEM and arts and humanities fields. The grants will also foster research collaboration and build upon the consortium’s efforts in science communication and visualization.

The following two STEM-related projects will receive $25,000 each:

• “Algae-Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy-based Detection of Nitrates and Phosphates in Water,” submitted by Assistant Professor Daniel Roxbury (principal investigator) and Professor Arijit Bose (co-principal investigator), both of URI’s Department of Chemical Engineering
• “Addressing predictive modeling knowledge gaps to improve information used in decision making,” by Colleen Suckling, assistant professor in the College of The Environment and Life Sciences.

In support of arts and humanities-related research, two $5,000 grants have been awarded to the following projects:

• “In Sculptural Relief: A Documentation of the Marine Residents and Visitors to the Narragansett Bay and Southern New England Habitats and Ecosystem,” by Ben Anderson, associate professor, Department of Art and Art History
• “An innovative approach for diverse disciplines to visualize and communicate climate change through exploration, experimentation and dialogue,” by Richard E. Sheridan, professor of Landscape Architecture, and Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, director of URI’s Center for the Humanities and professor in the Department of Art and Art History.

“These seed grants represent an investment in innovative ideas from exceptional URI faculty, one that will help shape the future of the consortium and provide new opportunities for collaboration and training,” explains Geoff Bothun, principal investigator/project director for the Rhode Island consortium and professor of Chemical Engineering at URI. “The grants build on the National Science Foundation’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) mission of increasing research capacity.

“We will be welcoming submissions again next year for our second round of RI C-AIM seed funding,” Bothun said.

Funded by a $19 million grant from the NSF through EPSCoR, and also a $3.8 million state match, the consortium is a collaboration of engineers, scientists, designers and communicators from eight higher education institutions across the state—University of Rhode Island (lead), Brown University, Bryant University, Providence College, Rhode Island College, Rhode Island School of Design, Roger Williams University, and Salve Regina University—across the state developing a new research infrastructure to assess, predict and respond to the effects of climate variability on coastal ecosystems.

Working with businesses and area communities, the consortium seeks to position Rhode Island as a center of excellence for researchers on Narragansett Bay and beyond.

For more information about the consortium and its researchers at institutions across the state, including URI, visit www.uri.edu/rinsfepscor.