NEWPORT, R.I. – Salve Regina University science students and faculty will benefit from its portion of funding being allocated from a National Science Foundation Grant awarded to build research capacity in Rhode Island.
Salve Regina will receive about $230,000 over five years as part of the $20 million grant awarded to the University of Rhode Island to stimulate research in marine life sciences at nine colleges and universities in the state. The state’s Economic Development Corporation is also contributing $4 million toward the Rhode Island Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) effort.
“Our funding will be awarded on a competitive basis to faculty working with undergraduate students during the academic years and in the summer,” said Dr. Lisa A. Zuccarelli, associate professor of chemistry and biology/biomedical sciences.
“Five faculty members will be working with about 15 students on projects that include, but are not limited to, the study of warming waters and increased air temperatures on major predator species, the quality of drinking water reservoir sources in specific areas of Rhode Island, the increasing amounts of endocrine disruptor moieties affecting sentinel inhabitants of fresh and marine environments and the mathematical modeling of ocean and air flow patterns.”
Zuccarelli said Salve Regina students and professors are looking forward to utilizing the enormous resources available in the Genomics and Proteomics centers for advancing their research in environmental toxicology and infectious disease.
Outreach to under-represented and underserved populations will be accomplished through Salve Regina’s participation in the EPSCoR Academy.
“Combined with university funding and INBRE funding, the EPSCoR grant will continue to enhance the university’s growing reputation as a small university with excellent science opportunities for undergraduate students and faculty,” Zuccarelli said.