David Rand
Brown University | Professor; biology
Stephen T. Olney Professor of Natural History
Chair, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
RI NSF EPSCoR partner liaison
RI NSF EPSCoR graduate student coordinator

Before Rhode Island NSF EPSCoR, there was a group of individuals who envisioned what might be possible in the Ocean State with collaboration among scientists and shared research facilities.

The actual process took several iterations before meeting with complete success and a five-year, $20 million grant that brought together the state’s two research institutions (University of Rhode Island and Brown University) and six primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) (Bryant University, Community College of Rhode Island, Providence College, Rhode Island College, Roger Williams University, and Salve Regina University), and later, Rhode Island School of Design.

The overarching theme of marine sciences constituted a natural fit for the small state with more than 400 miles of coastline, according to David Rand, who was among the early planners of RI EPSCoR. Researchers also needed genomics and proteomics capabilities, lab services that would enable and enhance investigation as well as keep and draw talent in the state.

Sitting back in his office chair, Rand contemplates RI EPSCoR today as the grant wraps up a sixth year.

“I would say it has been a huge success and surpassed all expectations,” says Rand, whose own research focuses on the ecological genetics of barnacles. “It’s certainly met what we hoped for and what we realistically believed might happen.

“This is due to lots of people working together, and doing what was proposed. Also, the principal investigators at URI and Brown and other institutions have made sure that the rest of us did what we promised to the NSF.”

In addition to the monumental research and collaborative efforts that extend beyond campus boundaries, the grant built research capacity with core genomics (URI and Brown) and proteomics (Brown) facilities used by Rhode Island scientists. Rand credits EPSCoR Steering Committee member Edward Hawrot of Brown University with taking the lead on computational resources with Brown’s Center for Computation and Visualization (CCV), which is available to the statewide EPSCoR community.

The technology and equipment accessible through the shared centers and the Marine Science Research Facility (MSRF) provide the framework that allows EPSCoR researchers to address Rhode Island’s climate change issues, many of which are relevant to other states.

“We’ve been able to leverage existing grants and train people with new skills. And, EPSCoR has enabled people to get to know one another across the state. That’s a good thing.”

Rand says his research focus — barnacles — serve as natural monitors for environmental stress. They mate in the fall and release juveniles into the water, where they float in the water column for a month or two before landing on a rock surface and committing to their habitat.

Barnacles found in the different tidal zones, low or high, possess different genetic signatures. But, explains Rand, when they land on a rock and settle in late winter, it doesn’t matter if they land in the low or high zone. Summer, however, changes survivability — those sensitive to heat die in the high tide zone.

“If they settle on a rock facing the sun, they’ll probably be dead by June or July,” he says. “If the rock is in the shade, low in the intertidal zone, it’s nice and cool. It shows how natural selection can act on genetic variation.”

Rand says former graduate student and RI EPSCoR fellow Patrick Flight conducted a barnacle genomics study enabled by EPSCoR computing facilities and the MSRF flowing seawater facility at the URI Bay Campus: “From an applied aspect, barnacles are a nuisance on boats, but for basic research, they are great ecological indicators of environmental stress.”

In the climate change arena, much of the concern centers on how organisms will adapt to increased temperatures. Rand’s work on barnacles sheds light on the evolutionary response of organisms to the stress of climate change.

“Understanding their adaptive response is basic, fundamental biology,” Rand explains. “It helps us understand how organisms stay alive in nature.”

Along with the science, Rand says the EPSCoR grant also sought to spur collaboration and provide training opportunities for students, both of which have been accomplished to a highly successful degree.

Rand teamed up for a STAC collaborative research grant with one of his former students, Tatiania Rynearson, associate professor of oceanography at the URI Graduate School of Oceanography, who studies phytoplankton.

And, he says, a National Science Foundation (NSF) Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship Program (IGERT) grant neatly dovetailed with EPSCoR, the core facilities providing the platform where training could take place for about 15-18 graduate students.

“We’ve been able to leverage existing grants and train people with new skills,” Rand notes. “And, EPSCoR has enabled people to get to know one another across the state. That’s a good thing.”

Story and photo by Amy Dunkle | RI NSF EPSCoR