USCBe Informed: News & Happenings

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 University of South Carolina 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.