USCB grants total $2.8 million, breaking past records
In any walk of life, a three-fold increase in productivity is impressive. This year,
faculty at the ƹƵ Beaufort secured three times the amount
of grant funding for research and other project compared to past years — an exponential
increase that will lead to advances in many fields.
USCB has averaged about $1 million in sponsored funding over the past several years, but last year faculty and staff applied for and received $2.8 million in grants.
The increase for the fiscal year July 1, 2020 – May 30, 2021 is largely due to a single, large grant from the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation (formerly Office of Economic Adjustment) of the Department of Defense to a community consortium that includes USCB, said Dr. Amy Sears, the University’s Director of Research.
However, even when that is subtracted out, last year was a very impressive year for the rest of the faculty.
“Over a number of years now they have built research programs and developed grant writing skills that are now resulting in a steady stream of significant research funding,” Sears said.
Below is a list of the project title, project leader at USCB, granting body and amount for each award:
External Sponsors (total $2,695,165):
• South Coast Regional Cybersecurity Education and Development Program. Eric Skipper and Dean Bushey, US Dept of Defense Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation, $1,302,815.
• USCB Virtual Interdisciplinary Conference on Race, Identity and Equality. Erin McCoy, South Carolina Humanities Council, $1,000.
• Demonstrating an Estuarine Soundscape Observatory Network in the Southeast: Understanding baseline rhythms of biological sounds and correlations to traditional biodiversity measurements to support long-term sustainable monitoring. Eric Montie, Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association (SECOORA)/NOAA, $74,726.
• Sharing Flower Garden Banks with the World Through Telepresence. Mercer Brugler, Global Foundation for Ocean Exploration, $22,694.
• Statistical Modeling (Spatial-Temporal Data Analysis) of the Obesity Epidemic in Lowcountry of South Carolina. Swati Debroy, Occidental College/National Science Foundation, $5250.
• Bluffton Ambassador Program 2020-21. Keri Olivetti, Town of Bluffton, $17,500.
• Vision for the Future: A Collaboration between USC Beaufort and the Town of Hilton Head Island 2020-21. Charles Calvert, Town of Hilton Head Island, $184,522.
• Town of Bluffton Water Quality 2020-21. Alan Warren, Town of Bluffton, $120,000.
• Beaufort County Water Quality 2020-21. Alan Warren, Beaufort County, $120,000.
• RII Track 1: Materials Assemble and Design Excellence in South Carolina: Made in SC. NSF EPSCoR, $179,874.
• Early Stage Drug Discovery for Coronavirus Disease 2019. Edward D’Antonio. Community Foundation of the Lowcountry ($10,000); Dr. Jane T. Upshaw ($375), Cycling Turtle Woodworks ($500).
• Listen in: Acoustic Monitoring of Estuarine Communities Facing Ecosystem Change. Eric Montie. University of Texas Austin/DOC, $20,212.
• USCB Marine Science Research. Kim Ritchie. Port Royal Sound Foundation $30,000.
• USCB Reconstruction Institute. J. Brent Morris. Anonymous grantor, $35,000.
• Gullah/Geechee Agro-Culture: Sustaining Culture to sustain agriculture in the Lowcountry. Najmah Thomas. USDA/University of Georgia SARE $325,160.
• Elucidating Oyster Reef Biodiversity with eDNA. Mercer Brugler. Spring Island Trust, $25,000
• Long Term Environmental Monitoring of the Port Royal Sound Estuary Using Citizen Scientists. Daniel Pettay. Port Royal Sound Foundation $11,442.
• Assessing the influence of anthropogenic noise on Atlantic common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncates) vocalizations using long-term passive acoustic monitoring in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. Eric Montie. Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association (SECORRA)/NOAA $1250.
• CRII: CNS: Auction Mechanism Design for Energy-Efficient High Performance Computing. Kishwar Ahmed. NSF $174,770.
• Math Opportunities in the Summer (MOS): USCB Summer Math Camp for High School Students. Volkan Sevim. Community Foundation of the Lowcountry $33,075.
RISE and ASPIRE (Total $128,167)
• Acquisition of a Hand-held Multi-omics Nanopore Sequencer to Innovate Faculty Research and Enhance Student Employability. Daniel Pettay and Mercer Brugler. ASPIRE $89,322
• Characterizing the biodiversity and anticoagulant repertoires of marine leeches in Port Royal Sound. Mercer Brugler ASPIRE $14,995.
• Digging Deeper: 18th Century Life at the Barnwell Tabby. Kimberly Cavanagh. RISE $5997
• Going National: Revising Season 2 of USCB’s and SCETV’s By the River for National PBS Distribution by National Education Telecommunications Association. Caroline Sawyer. RISE $5854.
• Deep-sea genomics: Elucidating the molecular mechanism behind extreme longevity in blak corals. Mercer Brugler. RISE $6,000.
• An Exploratory Examination of the Impact of Customer Service Features on Conversion Rates for Online Retailers and the Presence of Distinct Customer-Service Based Strategic Clusters. Richard Heiens III. RISE $5999.
In the last fiscal year, faculty at the ƹƵ Beaufort secured
$2.8 million of grant funding for research — an exponential increase compared to past
years. Dr. Edward D’Antonio is one of the grant recipients, for his project “Early
Stage Drug Discovery for Coronavirus Disease 2019.”