Project Description: In 2018, the host institution for the Chesapeake Watershed Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CHWA CESU), the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science’s Appalachian Laboratory (UMCESAL) developed a searchable and filterable web-based Experts Database that resides within the CHWA CESU website (https://chwacesu.org/experts_database/). Launched successfully in early 2019, the purpose of the database is to help connect federal agencies with non-federal research partners within the CHWA CESU network as well as to foster collaboration across the network. As of April 2022, the CHWA CESU Experts Database has 176 active experts and has been an important tool helping connect federal agency research needs with qualified experts who can meet those needs.
The CHWA CESU Experts Database is an excellent model for the rapid building of partnerships between federal agencies and experts, thereby saving time and an unnecessary search burden. This reduces cost prior to the completion of the proposal process and allows federal agencies to identify multiple experts for potential projects. Through the database, agencies are able to consider new and more diverse experts that they may not have otherwise located. The database fosters convenient access to specialties and transmission of opportunities to like-minded partners. Furthermore, it serves as a hub for prospective researchers who are seeking postdocs, graduate students, specific technical expertise or interdisciplinary partnerships to review the accessible talent pool to meet specific project needs.
NAC-CESU plans to adopt the concept used by the CHWA CESU and expand its functionality to automate database functions and incorporate a federal emergency response component. This expansion will, in part, rely on the model of the University of Rhode Island’s Scientific Support for Environmental Emergency Response (SSEER), which assists the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Office of Emergency Response, in the assessment, reduction, or remediation of threats to environmental and public health and safety in a natural or manmade emergency.
With the escalation of climate change, increased extremes in heat, drought, flooding, hail, tornadoes, and tropical cyclones/hurricanes will inevitably increase environmental emergencies. The Experts Database will give its members the option to include information about emergency training completion and readiness to assist with emergency response. This will provide a valuable source of environmental experts to assist with a variety of emergency situations. An emergency response network will encourage the use of relevant science to prevent acceleration of or calculate the extent of damages during high-risk events (Goode et al., 2021). This will allow federal entities to foster proactive predictions rather than risk uninformed reactions and to have more detailed assessment of species losses, habitat destruction, and evolving intensification of damage through the use of mitigation techniques (Legge et al., 2022; Abdel-Fattah, 2011).
Lead Principal Investigator: Dr. Elin Torell, University of Rhode Island
Partner Institution: University of Rhode Island
Federal Agency: National Park Service
Federal Agency Technical Contact: Dr. Brian Mitchell
Project Type: Technical Assistance
Project Discipline: Other: Transdisciplinary project
Start Year: 2022
End Year: 2027
Initial Funding Amount: $140,807.37
Federal Grant Number: P22AC02216
Location: Narragansett, RI
State(s): Rhode Island
Rhode Island Counties: Washington
Student and Other Involvement:
Summary of Student Involvement: Student involvement is not anticipated for this project.
