Second round of funding to enhance industry engagement, workforce development, and technology transfer efforts
Provost Ramprasad Balasubramanian is pleased to announce the second and final round of Blue Economy Initiatives investments. This $3M of investments are directly informed by the concept papers solicited late last Spring and are aligned with the thematic and substantive focus required by the federal regulatory guidance that accompanies this funding.
Earlier in the semester, in collaboration with Senator Michael Rodrigues and the local legislative delegation, UMass Dartmouth secured $8M in funding to support the University’s Blue Economy core research facilities, education and workforce development, and technology development and commercialization initiatives. At that time, $5M was deployed for capital items related to Blue Economy Research and Development.
This second round of funding focuses on Community and Industry Engagement, Workforce Development and Career Preparation, and Commercialization and Technology Transfer. The investments announced below represent the best alignment with strategic areas listed above – defined as their promise to ensure our region can equitably and sustainably benefit from the substantial opportunities presented by the blue economy. Informed by the review of these proposals, BEI programmatic and project-based funding of $3 million in investments are as follows:
Community and Industry Engagement
Urban Eco-Art Installations Project - Anna Dempsey (Art Education, Art History & Media Studies)
- Supports eco arts installations and related activities in Fall River and New Bedford
CCB Blue Economy Business Technical Assistance & Support - Madan Annavarjula (Charlton College of Business)
- Supports student capstone projects designed to meet the needs of local blue economy firms
STEM 4 Girls Events with Blue Economy focus - Shakhnoza Kayumova (Education)
- Two years of support for this educational enrichment experience for the region's 4th-8th grade girls
Offshore Wind Community Impact Project - Madan Annavarjula (Charlton College of Business)
- Supports industry and community collaborations and applied research documenting the economic and community costs and benefits of offshore wind development and leverages ongoing funded research and institutional collaborations in this area
Transatlantic Applied Research Collaborative - Office of the Provost
- Provides pilot funding to operationalize a memorandum of understanding with the Portuguese Republic.
Coastal Water Quality Monitoring and Aquaculture Industry Collaboration - Micheline Labrie (Estuarine & Ocean Sciences)
- Supports applied research in an area of urgent concern to regional aquaculture operations with implications for public health
Community Resilience Technical Assistance Projects - Nefeli Bompoti (Civil & Environmental Engineering), Gavin Fay (Fisheries Oceanography), & Chad McGuire (Public Policy)
- Provides support to assist local communities with coastal resilience planning and other technical assistance and to develop an associated campus "community of practice" in this area.
Workforce Development & Career Preparation
Blue Technologies & innovation Career Planning - Peggy Dias (CITS), Kevin Stokesbury (School for Marine Science and Technology), Iren Valova (College of Engineering)
- Supports a partnership with Tribe Academy and a unique program designed to empower the next generation of talent and provide meaningful and relevant exposure and experience to UMass Dartmouth students to position them more competitively for blue tech careers.
SMAST High School Internship Program - Lauran Brewster & Steve Cadrin (Fisheries Oceanography)
- Provides two years of support for marine science summer internships for students attending New Bedford High School
UMassD Dive Program - Kaisa Cripps-Holloway (College of Arts & Sciences)
- Support for a pilot scuba diving training and certification program
Corsair Conservation Corps & Corsair Innovation Corps - Office of the Provost
- Supports an internal competitive student employment fund designed to support student work on faculty led projects that can be directly connected to regional resilience planning, sustainability, and R&D projects and industry collaborations with commercial promise.
Commercialization and Technology Transfer
Biodegradability of Fishing Nets Project - Vijay Chalivendra (Mechanical Engineering)
- Supports a university-industry collaboration to address "ghost fishing" and related issues
Technology Commercialization Seed Fund - Office of Research & Innovation
- A competitive internal fund designed to support faculty-industry collaborations in relevant areas of mutual interest.
Research Core Facilities staff support - Office of Research & Innovation
- Supports the administrative and business development needs of the core research facilities established during the first round of investments
Research Core Facilities maintenance support - Office of Research & Innovation
- Supports the maintenance and upkeep of core technology and relevant research facilities