Five new projects have received funding from the Community Collaborative Research Grant Program (CCRG). North Carolina Sea Grant and NC Water Resources Research Institute (WRRI) administer the CCRG Program in partnership with the William R. Kenan Jr. Institute for Engineering, Technology and Science (KIETS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These projects, which couple scientific expertise with local knowledge, foster collaboration between researchers and community members. This year\u2019s CCRG recipients are tackling pressing water-related issues including algal blooms, dolphin populations, water quality, coastal literacy and resilience education, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CyanoHABs) are common occurrences in the Chowan River and its tributaries in eastern North Carolina, and often produce toxins that can harm public and environmental health. The Edenton Bay region of the Chowan River estuary is plagued by frequent cyanobacterial blooms, some of which become the CyanoHABs that produce toxins. Chronic excessive nutrient inputs, accelerated by extreme weather events increasing under climate change, can lead to these potentially harmful blooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This project aims to identify the relative amount and type of organic nitrogen \u2014 an emerging nutrient of concern in eastern North Carolina \u2014 that flows into Edenton Bay after rain events in order to assist the town in deciding how to effectively implement best management practices for stormwater mitigation and nutrient management. The overall objective of this project is to determine the sources of organic nitrogen in two tributaries to Edenton Bay, under both wet and dry hydrologic conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The project will produce a report for the Town of Edenton that will provide concrete feedback as to potential areas to consider for storm water and nutrient mitigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CCRG funding supports organizations like Chowan Edenton Environmental group in \u201cforming partnerships with agencies and university researchers who can utilize their skills through special projects to inform local decisions,\u201d says Karl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLocal citizens have knowledge and insight into the ecosystems in which I work, so programs such as CCRG that foster collaborative projects with citizen scientists provide the opportunity to learn more,\u201d adds Osburn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPart of my role with the Chowan Edenton Environmental Group is to build partnerships with agencies and university researchers that are interested in tackling some of the difficult environmental challenges we are seeing around the Albemarle region of NC. It is particularly exciting for me to work with community volunteers who want to learn more about local environmental issues; many of these volunteers step up to help collect local samples, take time to dialog with visiting research teams and genuinely want to be part of some of the solution strategies to maintain quality in this unique coastal inland Sounds area.\u201d
\u2014 Colleen Karl<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe opportunity to help people. Much of the research I do is considered basic research, using instruments and techniques that are unfamiliar to most people. It\u2019s great when I can discover applications from my research to help solve a problem, and potentially have a direct and positive impact on society.\u201d
\u2014 Chris Osburn<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The population in Wake County is expected to double by the year 2065, which will increase water demands and stress water supply for the City of Raleigh Water Utility. Water reuse and recycling can improve the sustainability and reliability of Raleigh\u2019s water supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The goal of this project is to explore how potable reuse can be used to improve the resilience of Raleigh water. Potable reuse provides water that can be applied for all end uses, rather than, for example, irrigation or toilet flushing alone, and can efficiently reduce demands on freshwater resources. This project has two goals: 1.assess water quality constituents in reclaimed water, or treated wastewater, that is currently provided to NC State\u2019s Centennial Campus for non-potable purposes and 2. explore water reuse programs and regulatory frameworks that have been developed across the U.S. These efforts will provide guidance for planning new reuse programs for Raleigh water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The long-term vision of the project is to develop new data and insight for designing a potable reuse pilot program for Raleigh. A pilot program will serve as a model to navigate the technical and regulatory challenges associated with potable reuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPotable reuse programs require buy-in from many stakeholders,\u201d shares Berglund. \u201cThrough CCRG funding, we will collect data that is needed to facilitate conversations about water reuse with Raleigh Water, academic researchers, the community, and regulatory agencies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPopulation and economic growth in Raleigh have stressed the water supply, and we need to look at alternative sources of water. Water reuse is a powerful approach to meet water demands in urbanized areas, but large-scale potable reuse programs have been used and explored mainly in the western and southwestern U.S. This funding provides a unique and exciting opportunity to explore potable water reuse programs for Raleigh.\u201d
\u2014 Whit Wheeler, Tarek Aziz, and Emily Berglund<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the US Southeast has experienced one of the greatest rates of regional sea level rise in the world, the City of Wilmington has suffered from an increase in frequency of severe weather events and flooding in recent years. These incidents pose a significant threat to the safety and well-being of residents and to the infrastructure. This project seeks to improve coastal community resilience through better information and a thoughtful outreach and engagement effort\u2014specifically, real-time flood monitoring and alerting, web mapping, community workshops, and elementary school lessons aligned with NC Essential Science Standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The project will focus on Burnt Mill Creek, an urban watershed in the City of Wilmington that winds through an underserved community and provides a critical stormwater resource affecting a significant population. This project builds on existing relationships in the community and elementary schools by designing curricula to teach flood awareness and safety and providing access to real-time water level and flood mapping products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The flood gauges will provide critical information for highly impacted but under-monitored locations that will allow the city, county, and UNCW to monitor changes due to sea level rise and will enable further research, such as on the effects of development, river dredging, and the value of wetland preservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA unique aspect of this project is our goal of intergenerational knowledge transfer via coupled community workshops and elementary school lessons as well as timelier and more localized information about flooding and impacts,\u201d shares Bresnahan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe outreach then has a chance to affect both students and parents at different focused engagements,\u201d adds Harris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am excited about what we will learn from the flood gauges and what we will learn from the community (residents and students). The gauges will give us real time data to help residents and first responders make better and safer decisions and conversations with the community can give insight into past and current experiences that do not show up in maps.\u201d
\u2014 Craig Harris<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are excited about what we will learn from a denser flood gauge network and what we will learn from the community (both adult residents and students). The gauges will give us real-time data and actionable alerts to help residents and first responders make better and safer decisions. Our conversations with the community can give insight into past and current lived experiences and help inform the development of more useful, usable resilience-focused products. We hope to continue building long-term, reciprocal relationships with these communities and believe this is an especially powerful opportunity to work toward that.\u201d
\u2014 Phil Bresnahan<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Marine Mammal Commission regards the status of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus<\/em>) of the U.S. mid-Atlantic coastal population to be depleted. The Long Bay or Brunswick County coastal region, which includes the mouth of the Cape Fear River, North Carolina\u2019s largest river system, has high human impacts for marine mammals and fisheries, including shipping traffic, dredging, PFAS pollution, ferries, prospective offshore wind energy development, and recreational activities like boating, diving and fishing. This region of the eastern mid-Atlantic coast is under-represented with regard to the bottlenose dolphin and other marine mammal populations, and the Brunswick County\/Cape Fear River population of bottlenose dolphins is largely unknown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This project aims to use land-based and boat-based fin photo-identification methods to generate information on the occurrence, distribution, behavior and ranging patterns of individual bottlenose dolphins. This work is designed to provide information necessary to the management and conservation of this species, particularly with respect to potential threats, such as interactions with commercial fisheries, shipping vessels, ecotourism, anthropogenic sound, and habitat modification. Another goal of the project is to engage community college and Early College High School students in the high impact practice of undergraduate research through internships and curriculum coursework, and to inform and engage local educators about relevant regional science and encourage them to incorporate research, citizen science and conservation into their curriculums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This grant facilitates collaboration with research institutions including NC State University, Duke University, University of North Carolina Wilmington, and education-focused institutions and organizations including Brunswick Community College, Brunswick County Schools, Ft. Caswell Coastal Education, and NC Maritime Museums.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt excites me to learn more and teach about our amazing, intelligent water neighbors, the bottlenose dolphins. We protect what we love. Growing more love and understanding of dolphins through educating teachers, students and the public is a passion and privilege.\u00a0 Dolphins are a vibrant part of the global ecosystem and their populations have been severely affected by, and continue to be extremely vulnerable to, human impact. Developing a better understanding of the local population\u2019s abundance, distribution, health and feeding patterns is vital to protecting them, their feedstocks, and our ecosystem. I am so intrigued by these charismatic marine mammals!\u201d \u201cI am excited to learn more through the video cameras that will be installed on the Ft. Caswell Pier.\u00a0 We know that there are patterns to the dolphin travel and feeding in the Cape Fear River, and this will give us some valuable insight. I know that the new information can add to Ft. Caswell\u2019s Coastal Education Program and our scientific understanding about North Carolina\u2019s coastal environment.\u201d In a context of climate-driven challenges such as sea level rise, increased flooding, and wetter, more frequent storms, resilience is needed more than ever, and Carteret County is at the forefront of these challenges. In response, there has been a huge influx of research effort to the area, including from Duke, NC State, and UNC, to study specific challenges such as king tides, sunny day flooding, water quality, and saltwater intrusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additional coordination and education efforts are needed to increase community engagement and awareness about these important issues. One such effort, titled Community READY (Community Resilience Education & Action leD by Youth), works with Carteret County middle school teachers and counselors to design and pilot a resilience curriculum that works to support personal resilience of students and teachers, a more connected and resilient community, and ultimately a more resilient coastal ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This project will partner with the Kenan Fellows program to recruit two current Community READY teachers to participate in Kenan Fellowships, a prestigious fellowship available to K-12 teachers. Fellowships include 80 hours of professional development, access to a large network of fellows and partners, and a three-week immersive experience at Duke University Marine Lab. These teachers will write lesson plans that explicitly link resilience concepts with middle school standards and develop activities that include community-facing events, which will provide opportunities for students to share what they are learning with the wider community. This immersive experience will help teachers to link standards-aligned activities to resilience research projects in the area, and will provide an avenue to greater align the emerging resilience curriculum with community-specific issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI am grateful to CCRG for their generous support. The honor and opportunity to be a Kenan Fellow has significantly enriched my approach to teaching. My commitment is to foster a student-centered, experiential learning environment where curiosity thrives and scientific inquiry and resilience is at the heart of our studies.\u201d \u201cWhat excites me most about this project is the level of commitment and collaboration between community members, our public school system, and universities to ensure the success of our students in Carteret County, North Carolina.\u201d What excites you about your research?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 Kim Jones<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 Ryan Camden<\/p>\n\n\n\nInvesting in Teacher Expertise to Scale Up a Resilience Curriculum<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Project summary<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What excites you about your research?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 Ann Kelly, 2024-2025 Kenan Fellow<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2014 Rob Condie, 2024-2025 Kenan Fellow<\/p>\n\n\n\n