Science

EPSCoR Track 1 research currently focuses on transforming Delaware’s capacity to engage in cutting-edge research to assess threats to water security and develop groundbreaking solutions. The EPSCoR WiCCED project project offers advances in water security through the integration natural, and social sciences, including the application of advanced data analytics, the development and deployment of new sensor technologies, the use of new techniques and models to predict the often-coupled behavior of water resources and people, and the innovation of novel remediation techniques. The proposed studies will expand our knowledge of how competing water uses and sea-level rise exacerbate the threat of salinization of freshwater resources; how excess nutrients and carbon are transported and cycled across the landscape under changing human and hydrologic conditions; and how ecosystems respond to, mitigate, or intensify these water quality threats. This project will also support transformative solutions, such as the design and fabrication of low-cost, energy-efficient technologies to remove excess nitrate and ammonium from surface and groundwater. Behavioral insights from field experiments and randomized controlled trials will provide solid evidence on which to base public policy, thereby transforming our ability to address the true threat to water quality?human behavior. The project also builds three infrastructure cores related to sensor technology, the microbiome, and data systems and analytics that will add critical research capacity to support the project and other investigators, educators, and stakeholders statewide. To learn more, click on the project WiCCED website link here.

We also invite you to view several short videos based our previous EPSCoR investments on our YouTube channel.

Many of our research projects include graduate students and undergraduate interns who are learning about the research process as active team members. Some teams include industrial or government partners as well. EPSCoR’s goal is to build an extensive network of people, programs, and facilities focused on understanding our complex environment and able to compete for further federal funding among the nation’s most elite institutions.

Support for Facilities and Instrumentation

Through EPSCoR funding, a new Advanced Materials Characterization laboratory in the Patrick T. Harker Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Laboratory at the University of Delaware was outfitted with a state-of-the-art X-ray diffractometer to analyze properties of materials including environmental soil, air, and water samples.

Research Institutes and Centers

See the following links to research institutes and centers that have been catalyzed by the Delaware EPSCoR program:

Center for Integrated Biological & Environmental Research	Delaware Environmental Institute	Delaware Environmental Monitoring & Analysis Center