Research Initiation Award: Integrated Approach Toward Examining Fecal Indicator Bacteria Trends in a Coastal Watershed

研究启动奖：检查沿海流域粪便指示细菌趋势的综合方法

• 批准号: 2300319
• 负责人: Nikaela Flournoy
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: Miles College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-10-01 至 2026-09-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2300319&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Research; Initiation; Award; Integrated; Approach

The Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) through Research Initiation Awards provide support for junior and mid-career faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities who are building new research programs or redirecting and rebuilding existing research programs. It is expected that the award helps to further the faculty member's research capability and effectiveness and improve research and teaching at the home institution. This award to Miles College supports faculty and undergraduate research experiences examining potential sources and environmental factors that regulate fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) patterns in surface water. Specifically, using a combination of innovative approaches, this proposal aims to monitor fecal pollution inputs to surface waters and study the efficacy of integrating fecal markers from Microbial Source Tracking (MST) into current and machine learning-based watershed models, to predict trends of FIB in surface water.The overall project goal is to predict the occurrence of FIB exceeding total maximum daily load (TMDL) in shellfish growing waters. Toward this goal, this project aims to integrate MST data, 16S rRNA sequences, and environmental parameters into existing and next generation watershed models. Tools and data generated from this project will: (i) contribute to water quality knowledge and baseline data on sources of FIB in a coastal Alabama watershed, (ii) validate use of alternative indicator methods, such as MST tracking and amplicon sequencing, for water quality monitoring in existing watershed models, and (iii) identify scalable watershed modelling framework(s) conducive for MST data to predict source-specific FIB in different environmental conditions. Outcomes from this project will provide improvements in predicting patterns of FIB, a valued water quality index. Implementation of this project would extend the STEM education and research capacity of the PI and institution, increase on-campus research training opportunities for enrolled students, and cultivate a partnership with the United States Geological Survey Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

历史上的黑人学院和大学本科课程（HBCU-UP）通过研究启动奖为历史上的黑人学院和大学的初级和中级职业教师提供支持，他们正在建立新的研究项目或重新定向和重建现有的研究项目。预计该奖项将有助于进一步提高教师的研究能力和效率，并改善家庭机构的研究和教学。这个奖项迈尔斯学院支持教师和本科生的研究经验，检查潜在的来源和环境因素，调节粪便指示细菌（FIB）模式在地表水。具体而言，使用创新方法的组合，该提案旨在监测粪便污染输入到地表沃茨，并研究将来自微生物源跟踪（MST）的粪便标记物整合到当前和基于机器学习的流域模型中的有效性，以预测地表水中FIB的趋势。总体项目目标是预测贝类生长沃茨中FIB超过最大日负荷（TMDL）的发生。为了实现这一目标，该项目旨在将MST数据，16 S rRNA序列和环境参数整合到现有和下一代流域模型中。本项目产生的工具和数据将：（i）有助于水质知识和关于沿海亚拉巴马流域FIB来源的基线数据，（ii）验证替代指标方法的使用，例如MST跟踪和扩增子测序，用于现有流域模型中的水质监测，以及（iii）确定可扩展的流域建模框架，有助于MST数据预测不同环境条件下的特定源FIB。该项目的成果将提供FIB预测模式的改进，FIB是一种有价值的水质指数。该项目的实施将扩大PI和机构的STEM教育和研究能力，增加在校学生的校内研究培训机会，并与美国地质调查局在密西西比下游建立伙伴关系-海湾水科学中心。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查进行评估，被认为值得支持的搜索.