The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University announced a new source of funding for research on watershed science and management through the Delaware Watershed Research Fund at the end of 2015, which was awarded in 2016. A second round of awards will be made through the DWRF in 2017.
Please note the following important dates/deadlines:
| June 9, 2017 |
Information Session |
| June 23, 2017 |
Letter of Intent |
| July 21, 2017
|
Full Proposal Invitations
|
| August 25, 2017
|
Full Proposal Due
|
| October 20, 2017
|
Funding Decision
|
The Delaware Watershed Research Fund (DWRF) provides research funding intended to complement the broader watershed protection work of the Delaware River Watershed Initiative (DRWI). A total of $5 million is designated for the Delaware Watershed Research Fund to build on the goals of the DRWI, a program working to ensure water quality in the Delaware Basin through restoration, protection, and monitoring of watersheds.
Funding is provided by the William Penn Foundation and administered by the Academy of Natural Sciences (ANS). The DWRF is designed to address key research needs that have been identified in relation to the Delaware Basin and the study of watershed processes.
$4 million was awarded in the first round to 10 interdisciplinary, collaborative project teams in 2016 to perform research within the basin on a range of primarily natural science-related priority topics. (See project list below).
The final $1 million will be awarded in 2017 to 2 – 4 interdisciplinary and collaborative research teams to perform projects over 1 – 2 years. The priority for these projects is aimed at addressing the human dimensions of natural resource management issues through the Delaware River Watershed Initiative.
Prospective applicants for DWRF grants should be researchers from academic institutions*, non-profit organizations* and public agencies that allow the use of external funds.*Funds from the DWRF are not available to researchers primarily affiliated with the Academy of Natural Sciences or Drexel University.
Please see the RFP for further instructions and requirements. Please contact anspgrants@drexel.edu with any questions, or to register for the information webinar, which will be held on Friday, June 9th, 2017 at 11 a.m., and the recording available below by Monday, June 12th. Alternatively, use this link at the time of the webinar for access: https://www.anymeeting.com/184-855-482
Click here to download the RFP.
Click here to download the LOI budget template.
Click here to download the LOI FAQ.
Delaware Watershed Research Fund 2016 awardee teams:
- John Bunnell, chief scientist with the New Jersey Pinelands Commission, and Kelly Smalling, research hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, who are studying the effects of municipal wastewater and runoff containing pesticides, plant hormones and components of commonly used products on the development of fish and frogs.
- Thomas Fikslin, director of science and water quality management, and Namsoo Suk, manager of water resource modeling, both with the Delaware River Basin Commission, who are creating a scientific model that will provide a basis for regulation agencies to establish water quality criteria for dissolved oxygen and nutrients in the Delaware Estuary.
- Heather Galbraith, research fish biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, who is leading a USGS team that is developing fine-scale temperature models and relating them to fish and mussels.
- JeanMarie Hartman, associate professor at Rutgers University, who is leading a team from the Center for Watershed Protection and the Pinchot Institute for Conservation that is analyzing municipal forest protection policies and determining which regulations are the most effective.
- Kristina Hopkins, research physical scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey, who is leading a team from the USGS and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that is analyzing the ecological processes and ecosystem services of floodplains in order to inform conservation and restoration efforts.
- Claire Jantz, professor at Shippensburg University, who is leading a team of scientists from Shippensburg and Woods Hole Research Center that is linking models of land cover change, climate change, hydrology and tree species to address the impacts of future development and environmental change.
- Gary Lovett, research scientist, and Katherine Crowley, plant ecologist, both of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, who are developing a model of nitrogen and carbon cycling within forested watersheds aimed at helping better manage environmental changes.
- Kent Messer, director of the Center for Experimental & Applied Economics at the University of Delaware, and Paul Ferraro, professor at Johns Hopkins University, who are analyzing the effects of incentivizing behavioral change among homeowners to improve the environmental quality of the watershed.
- James Pizzuto, professor at the University of Delaware, who is leading a team of scientists at the University of Delaware, University of Minnesota and the Stroud Water Research Center that is analyzing sediment restoration efforts on the White Clay Creek in Chester County, Pa., in order to guide future restoration work.
- Andrea Welker, professor at Villanova University, and Stanley Kemp, assistant professor at the University of Baltimore, who are evaluating the effectiveness of storm water controls at a large development at Granite Run Mall in Middletown, Pa.