Approximately $380,000 in competitive funding is offered as part of STAC’s participation in Rhode Island’s Cooperative Agreement with the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).

Projects for the 2020 Call for Proposals are eligible that address research questions related to the current Rhode Island NSF EPSCoR Track-1 that will create the RI Consortium for Coastal Ecology Assessment, Innovation, and Modeling (RI C-AIM).

Eligible proposals will address one or more of the following research questions:

• What are the key data, methods, and/or techniques needed to assess the current health of Narragansett Bay and its resilience to both natural and anthropogenic stressors in real time?
• How can our understanding and data collections of the coupled physical, biogeochemical and ecological processes that contribute to coastal ecosystem complexity be used to improve and evaluate Narragansett Bay ecosystem models?
• What new innovations in sensors are needed to improve the collection of data on the physical, bio-geo-chemical, and ecological processes as well as both anthropogenic stressors (e.g., pollution, climate change) and natural (e.g. North Atlantic Oscillation) stressors that are impacting Narragansett Bay?
• How can novel approaches to the visualization of complex information, coastal species and environmental change, fostered through the collaboration of artists, designers, engineers and scientists, promote broader engagement in and understanding of scientific research, data, and findings?
• How does the coastal environment affect humans and how can human behavior and responses be modified to improve coastal ecological and economic sustainability?
• What new tools or techniques are needed to capture, analyze, and disseminate large data sets that engage and inform academic, industry, government, and community stakeholders?

Rhode Island research institutions, including higher education, academic, or business and government organizations, may collaborate in applying for grant funding.

Project teams must be collaborative in nature and include investigators from at least two RI C-AIM partner institutions. These include the University of Rhode Island, Brown University, Bryant University, Providence College, Rhode Island College, the Rhode Island School of Design, Roger Williams University, and Salve Regina University. A partner institution in RI C-AIM shall serve as the prime grantee and the other entity(s) shall serve as the sub-recipient(s).

Submission Due Dates

Letter of Intent: September 20, 2019
Full Proposal: October 18, 2019

For questions, contact:
Kaleena Harrington, Innovation Program Manager, RI Commerce Corp.
kaleena.harrington@commerceri.com
T: 401.278.9122
F: 401.273.8270
www.stac.ri.gov