Proposal Number: EPS-0814251 Proposal Title: Delaware EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII-2) Proposal: Building Research and Education Infrastructure to Enhance Environmental Science and Its Application in Delaware Institution: University of Delaware
This collaborative RII project involves the University of Delaware (UD), Delaware State University (DSU), Delaware Technical and Community College (DTCC), and Wesley College (WC). The goals are to (1) develop the state?s research and education infrastructure with a focus on environmental science; (2) develop a large, diverse workforce of scientists and technologists, and strengthen scientific literacy statewide; (3) capture the educational, social, and economic benefits of the research by developing an EPSCoR Integrative Process; and (4) manage the grant in an efficient and effective manner to achieve sustainability. The project?s focus on achieving a sustainable biogeochemical environment while ensuring a prosperous economy is aligned with the Delaware State Science & Technology (S&T) Council?s strategic roadmap.
Intellectual Merit: The project will substantially advance knowledge of the biogeochemical processes that occur at heterogeneous interfaces in the Critical Zone (CZ), which is Earth?s life-sustaining, near-surface environment. This is of vital importance to Delaware because of the state?s delicate coastal ecosystem and its history of intensive industrial and agricultural usage. Critical Zone research will be conducted in three theme areas: (1) Metal-Microbe-Carbon Interactions, (2) Particle Transport and Release, and (3) Environmental Observation and Sensing. The overarching research question is ?How do important biogeochemical processes, occurring at Critical Zone interfaces and over a range of spatial and temporal scales, govern the long-term sustainability and ecosystem health of land and water resources??
Broader Impacts: Research results will be broadly applicable to management of coastal environmental systems and water resources regionally, nationally, and globally. Integration of research and education will enhance workforce training and diversity of students at all levels, and engage the public in dialog on the science and ethics of environmental issues. Graduate, undergraduate, and K-12 education will be enhanced through multidisciplinary graduate programs, research internships, professional development of teachers, science summer camps, Science Saturdays, and early research experiences. Development of the EPSCoR Integrative Process will promote interactions with stakeholders in ecosystem health through analysis and communication of the impact of the research in ethical, social, political, business, regulatory, and legal arenas.
Building the research capacity of the state of Delaware to enhance workforce and economic development and increasing our competitiveness at the national level are the key goals of the Delaware EPSCoR program. The focus of our EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII) grant was captured in its title: "Building Research and Education Infrastructure to Enhance Environmental Science and Its Application in Delaware. We have launched five new academic research and service centers during the past five years, including the Delaware Environmental Institute DENIN (www.denin.udel.edu), the Center for Integrated Biological and Environmental Research CIBER (ciber.desu.edu), the Center for Science, Ethics and Public Policy CSEPP (www.sepp.udel.edu), the Office of Economic Innovation and Partnerships OEIP (www.udel.edu/oeip), and the Center for Industry Research and Workforce Alignment CIRWA (www.dtcc.edu/cirwa). These centers serve as hubs of interdisciplinary and inter-institutional activity in research, education, and outreach. Delaware EPSCoR featured a globally competitive environmental research portfolio that addresses biogeochemical processes of Earth’s near-surface environment, referred to as the Critical Zone, with special focus on topics relevant to the state. Our research efforts fell into six interrelated and interdisciplinary thrusts, which fully integrate the capabilities of our partner institutions: Phosphorus in the Chesapeake Bay; Interactions at Environmental Interfaces; Soil Toxicity and Remediation Strategies; Poultry Particulates: Small Particles, Big Roles; and Environmental Monitoring Since 2008, EPSCoR has awarded 43 seed grants to researchers throughout Delaware, benefiting some 80 faculty and students and representing more than $1.4million in funding support. Seed grants stimulated new research and helped investigators set the stage for applications to larger federal funding programs. Some highlighted projects included looking at indoor air quality, offshore wind and tourisim, sensor on a chip, and reducing arsenic in the food chain. Delaware EPSCoR endeavored to develop a new and diverse generation of science, technology, and policy experts. From 2008 to 2013, EPSCoR helped to bring in 15 new faculty with expertise in environmental disciplines such as microbiology, hydrology, geochemistry, and bioinformatics. EPSCoR support led to the launch of the Delaware Environmental Monitoring and Analysis Center (DEMAC), which integrates a large set of statewide environmental sensing systems and enables researchers to model and analyze environmental trends and patterns.. During the five-year grant period, EPSCoR researchers were awarded six patents, and 35 others are pending. OEIP also assisted DSU with its first-ever licensing of technology, in the area of fiber optics. Delaware EPSCoR emphasized the integration of ethics, policy, economics, sociology, and the humanities into discovery research. To help meet that objective, EPSCoR catalyzed the creation of two programs at UD and DSU: UD Center for Science, Ethics and Public Policy; and The Ethics Resource Site at DSU. In addition, during the five-year grant period, Delaware EPSCoR developed close ties with Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC). This effort resulted in multiple mutually beneficial partnerships and programs that have enhanced the effectiveness of both organizations and a signing of House bill removing oil spill liability limits. Delaware EPSCoR was instrumental in giving undergraduates valuable experiences and opportunities to explore potential career tracks. Each summer, Delaware EPSCoR sponsored 30–40 undergraduate interns from University of Delware, Delaware State University, Delaware Technical Community College, and Wesley in a 10-week program of supervised, environmentally focused research. We also sponsored numerous public events throughout the year designed to involve the public in learning and discussions related to science, engineering, policy, and the environment; were instrumental in developing a new graduate program in water science and policy; and EPSCoR hosted Delaware secondary teachers for a multiday training workshop designed to introduce hands-on classroom activities and bring teachers the latest scientific information in fields related to EPSCoR’s mission, including biotechnology, environmental and climate science, and renewable energy. From almost any angle, the return on the federal and state investments in Delaware EPSCoR has been considerable. Since our designation as an EPSCoR jurisdiction in 2003, the NSF EPSCoR program has resulted in $46 million in direct EPSCoR funding to the state (including our most recent RII award of $20 million, which will go forward until 2018). Those funds have been leveraged to generate an additional $68 million in research funding for Delaware so far. More than 450 journal articles have been published as a result of research directly or indirectly funded by EPSCoR and more than 250 graduate and undergraduate students have been supported.
