News

Three funding opportunities for Vermont small businesses provided by Vermont EPSCoR. Applications open in November 2017.

* Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR STTR) Phase (0).
* Faculty-Small Business Partnerships
* Vermont EPSCoR SBIR/STTR Travel Awards

The first year of our BREE award has flown by and we are into Year 2. We have made great progress in the first year and met our milestones. Available here is a brief snapshot of many of the efforts that are underway.

Adirondack Almanack (press release) (blog)
Caddisflies: Submerged Silk Spinners
Adirondack Almanack (press release) (blog)
Declan McCabe teaches biology at Saint Michael's College. His work with student researchers on insect communities in the Champlain Basin is funded by Vermont EPSCoR's Grant NSF EPS Award #1556770 from the National Science Foundation.

Vermont Business Magazine A Burlington-based energy start-up and a new social impact investment firm has announced a capital investment that will fund operations and growth into the future. Vermont Works Management Company, LLC (link is external) has become the anchor investor in Packetized Energy's (link is external) current fund raising effort, according to founders of both firms.

UVM researchers studying Lake Iroquois
Shelburne News
At Lake Iroquois, a team of researchers from the University of
Vermont
is studying how one of these nutrients – phosphorus – gets into the lake, and their investigation could one day aid in control and mitigation efforts. Algae blooms can introduce
...

The first cohort of 30 undergraduate summer interns began their research on Lake Champlain Basin Resilience to Extreme Events (BREE) on Tuesday May 30th. Their internship began with a four-day orientation. The first day started with of an overview of the BREE project and an introduction to the different components: climate modelling, integrated assessment modeling, social sciences, ecology, and workforce development.

To promote the career development of BREE undergraduate summer interns, the Center for Workforce Development and Diversity hosts weekly workshops. The workshops help develop interns' communication skills and provide them the tools they need to put together a poster or presentation for the spring Symposium where they will present their findings.

There are 20 Streams Teams this year, including 7 teams from Puerto Rico!

The CWDD welcomed 19 high school student/teacher teams to the Saint Michael's College campus for a week of research education, stream sampling, and career exploration. Teams traveled from Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Boston and all around the state of Vermont. Students learned about the EPSCoR program, received hands-on experience with BREE faculty, and were able to participate in a number of Vermont-based activities.

Dr. Asim Zia recently presented two papers at the 35th International Conference of the System Dynamics Society in Cambridge Massachusetts. Both papers were coauthored by Dr. Zia and Dr. Christopher Koliba, both VT EPSCoR BREE members.

In this study, we compared high-frequency estimates of oxygen metabolism in a shallow bay of Lake Champlain to concurrent measurements of physical and chemical parameters over 3 years with very different bloom dynamics.

Article by Alan Betts.
Extreme events capture the public's attention, but gradual climate shifts will more profoundly affect civilization and life on Earth. Scientists must get better at conveying this to the public.

Dr. Carol Adair, BREE Ecological Systems Co-Leader, directed the installation of a new cutting-edge sensor network in the Hungerford Brook watershed in June 2017. The team installed the sensors in several different riparian areas to study what makes those areas effective water filters. Learning this information will enable researchers to maintain the processes when and where the riparian areas fail to filter water after an extreme event or in a riparian area that fails to remove pollution.

The IAM team kicked off the summer with co-leaders Drs. Donna Rizzo and Asim Zia leading a group meeting in the Jost Foundation Room at the UVM Davis Center on June 20th. Approximately 20 team members were present, with several attending remotely. Attendees included GRAs, undergraduate interns, and Post-Doctoral Associate Dr. Jory Hecht. The meeting covered modeling updates on extreme events, the integration of new models, platform testing, and more.

Dr. Beverly Wemple has been appointed to the position of Associate Editor of Water Resources Research, beginning in June 2017. Her appointment will run through December 2020.

Dr. Wemple's role as Associate Editor includes participating in the review process for papers submitted to the publication, with the goal of attracting the highest-quality research possible.

Water Resources Research is an interdisciplinary journal the publishes original research relating to the natural and social sciences of water. The journal has published on a monthly basis since 1965.

Dr. Wemple is a member of the VT EPSCoR RII Track-1 Lake Champlain Basin Resilience to Extreme Events (BREE) team. She is an Associate Professor at the University of Vermont Department of Geography and expert in water resources, geomorphology, GIS, special modeling and human-environment interactions and mountain environments. Dr. Wemple was recently awarded a Fulbright U.S. Scholar grant for 2016 - 2017 and has been studying the geomorphology of mountain rivers on the eastern cordillera of the Andes in Ecuador to construct the first hydraulic geometry for rivers of this region. She returns to UVM in time for the Fall 2017 academic year.

Jason Stockwell, an associate professor in the University of Vermont's Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources and director of the Rubenstein Ecosystem Science Laboratory, has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award to France to study the impact of storms on lake systems around the world. The announcement was made by the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

Stockwell will conduct research at the Freshwater Ecology Lab on Lake Geneva at the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, or INRA, a French public research institute. In partnership with a team of investigators at INRA and other institutions, Stockwell will study storm impacts on 25 lakes in Europe, Asia, South America and North America.


"The research will enable us to put Lake Champlain in context, to see where we are on the spectrum of how storms impact lakes," Stockwell said. "We'll contribute to knowledge in this area, but also be able to take new insights from the work and apply them to Lake Champlain."

Stockwell will conduct the Fulbright research from January to June 2018 while he is on sabbatical.

Stockwell is one of more than 800 U.S. citizens who will teach, conduct research and/or provide expertise abroad for the 2017-2018 academic year through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program. Recipients of Fulbright awards are selected on the basis of academic and professional achievement as well as record of service and demonstrated leadership in their respective fields.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to build lasting connections between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The Fulbright Program is funded through an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the program, which operates in more than 160 countries worldwide.

Since its establishment in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the Fulbright Program has given more than 370,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists, and scientists the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas, and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.

Fulbrighters address critical global issues in all disciplines, while building relationships, knowledge, and leadership in support of the long-term interests of the United States. Fulbright alumni have achieved distinction in many fields, including 57 who have been awarded the Nobel Prize, 82 who have received Pulitzer Prizes, and 37 who have served as a head of state or government.

The Greater Burlington Industrial Corporation (GBIC) has given its highest recognition award to John Evans, special advisor to the University of Vermont president, president of the Vermont Technology Council and former dean of UVM's Larner College of Medicine.

GBIC presented Evans with the 2017 C. Harry Behney Lifetime Economic Development Achievement Award. The award was made at GBIC's 63rd annual meeting on June 21 at the Echo Leahy Center on the Burlington waterfront. Approximately 300 members of the northwest Vermont community attended.

Given each year since 1995 in honor of past GBIC president C. Harry Behney, the Behney Award recognizes Vermont leaders for their significant contributions to advancing the state's economic wellbeing and promoting a climate that enhances the economic vitality of the state of Vermont.
GBIC honored Evans for advancing innovation, entrepreneurship and dynamic economic development in the region and the state. He is one of the founding members of the Vermont Technology Council and is the founder and creator of VCET, the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies, where he continues to serve on the VCET Board of Directors. Evans is also a member of the GBIC Board of Directors and is a professor emeritus at the Larner College of Medicine.

"GBIC recognizes Dr. Evans for his incredible leadership in research, innovation and entrepreneurship in our region and in Vermont," said GBIC president Frank Cioffi. "As the founder of VCET, Dr. Evans blazed the trail to advancing innovation & technology based economic development in our state. We honor and thank Dr. Evans as one of Vermont's most outstanding leaders in advancing economic development. His contributions have been so transformational to Vermont and Vermonters."

GBIC to honor Harry Behney at annual meeting Wednesday
Vermont Biz
GBIC's highest honor: The 2017 C. Harry Behney Lifetime Economic Development Achievement Award will be presented to Dr. John Evans, President of the Vermont Technology Council and former Dean of the UVM Medical School. Given each year since 1995 in ...

VT EPSCoR held a successful All Hands Meeting for BREE personnel on June 6, 2017 at Saint Michael's College in Colchester, VT. Over 80 participants attended, including new 2017 undergraduate interns, graduate students, post-doctoral associates, and members from the VT EPSCoR External Advisory Committee.

The Ecological Systems group held a planning meeting for the upcoming field season with Co-Leaders Drs. Andrew Schroth and Carol Adair and the Summer 2017 Undergraduate Interns on June 14th! Drs. Julia Perdrial and Donald Ross, Lab Tech Saul Blocher, and post-doctoral associate Erin Seybold were also on hand to help everyone get oriented for the field work.