Center for Urban Policy Research

Center for Urban Policy Research

Second Round of Mini-grant and Internship Awards Announced

News | Raritan River Initiatives

The Rutgers Raritan River Consortium (R3C) has awarded a combination of eleven mini-grants and internships to support research by Rutgers faculty, staff and post-doctoral researchers on Raritan River, basin and bay resource issues.  The recipients and project titles are:

  • Kaixuan Bu (Dept. Marine & Coastal Science, School of Enviromental & Biological Science (“SEBS”)) and Jeffra Schaefer, PhD (Dept. Environmental Science, SEBS), “Temporal Heavy Metal Distribution and Bioaccumulation in the Lower Raritan River”
  • Matthew Campo (Environ. Analysis & Communications Group, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy (“EJB”)), “Understanding the Benefits and Risks of Coastal Flood Hazard Adaptation Strategies for Water-Dependent Uses in the Raritan Bay “
  • Donna E. Fennell, PhD (Dept. Environmental Sciences, SEBS), “Tracking Genes and Bacteria Responsible for Organohalide Reduction in the Raritan River Basin”
  • Jie Gong, PhD (Dept. Civil and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering) and Jennifer Whytlaw, GISP (Environ. Analysis & Communications Group, EJB), “Digital Raritan River – A Pilot Study on Creating a Rich Digital Environment to Support Resilience Centered Investigations in the Raritan River Region “
  • Jean Marie Hartman, PhD (Dept. Ecology & Evolution, SEBS), “Status of Forests in the Lower Raritan Watershed”
  • Olaf P. Jensen, PhD (Dept. Marine & Coastal Sciences, SEBS), “Quantifying Fish Movement and Phenology on the Raritan River”
  • Jill Lipoti, PhD and Mary Nucci, PhD (Dept. Human Ecology, SEBS), Beth Ravit, PhD (Center for Urban Environmental Sustainability, SEBS), Kristi MacDonald, PhD (Raritan Headwaters Association), “Plastics in the Raritan River”
  • Karl Nordstrom, PhD (Dept. Geography, School of Arts and Sciences (“SAS”)) and Jonathan Miller (Dept. Marine & Coastal Sciences, SEBS), “Assessment of Protection Strategies for Estuarine Beaches: A Case Study of Cliffwood Beach”
  • John Reinfelder, PhD, Jeffra Schaefer, PhD, Philip Sontag (Dept. Environmental Sciences, SEBS) and Grace Saba, PhD (Dept. Marine & Coastal Sciences, SEBS), “Influence of Raritan River Spring Discharge on Mercury Bioaccumulation in Raritan Bay”
  • David A. Robinson, PhD (Dept. of Geography, SAS), “Raritan Basin Weather and Climate Monitoring and Information Access”
  • Douglas Zemeckis, PhD (Dept. Agriculture & Natural Resources, SEBS), “Providing Data on Discards and Fishery Dynamics to Inform Management Policy of the Recreational Summer Flounder Fishery in Raritan Bay”

Rutgers faculty, staff and post-doctoral researchers (with faculty advisor) were eligible to apply.  Proposals that included a strong education component or that demonstrated collaboration with external Raritan stakeholders and/or collaboration between Rutgers schools and programs were given preferential consideration.  The award related work is to be conducted between December 1, 2017 and August 31, 2018.

More information about the recipients and their Raritan based projects can be found here.

The R3C Mini-grant and Internship Pool program encourages collaboration between Rutgers affiliates and stakeholders throughout the Raritan basin to address research, public information, and planning needs and to promote best management practices for a more sustainable Raritan River, basin and bay.  This program is made possible with funding from Rutgers Chancellor Deba Dutta, and with the support of Dean Michael Greenberg (EJB), Dean Robert Goodman (SEBS) and the Johnson Family Chair for Water Resources and Watershed Ecology.