Award Abstract # 1547798
CREST: Center for Aquatic Chemistry and the Environment

NSF Org: EES
Div. of Equity for Excellence in STEM
Recipient: FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
Initial Amendment Date: April 12, 2016
Latest Amendment Date: May 19, 2021
Award Number: 1547798
Award Instrument: Continuing Grant
Program Manager: Luis Cubano
lcubano@nsf.gov  (703)292-7941
EES  Div. of Equity for Excellence in STEM
EDU  Directorate for STEM Education
Start Date: April 15, 2016
End Date: March 31, 2023 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $5,000,000.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $5,480,149.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2016 = $1,000,000.00
FY 2017 = $1,099,985.00
FY 2018 = $1,180,169.00
FY 2019 = $1,099,996.00
FY 2020 = $1,000,000.00
FY 2021 = $99,999.00
History of Investigator:
  • Todd Crowl (Principal Investigator)
     tcrowl@fiu.edu
  • Laird Kramer (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Shu-Ching Chen (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Rene Price (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Piero Gardinali (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Rudolf Jaffe (Former Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: Florida International University
 11200 SW 8TH ST
 MIAMI
 FL  US  33199-2516
(305)348-2494
Sponsor Congressional District: 26
Primary Place of Performance: Florida International University
 FL  US  33199-0001
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:		 26
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): Q3KCVK5S9CP1
Parent UEI: Q3KCVK5S9CP1
NSF Program(s): Centers for Rsch Excell in S&T
Primary Program Source: 04001617DB NSF Education & Human Resource
04001718DB NSF Education & Human Resource
04001819DB NSF Education & Human Resource
04001920DB NSF Education & Human Resource
04002021DB NSF Education & Human Resource
04002122DB NSF Education & Human Resource
Program Reference Code(s): 9179, SMET
Program Element Code(s): 913100
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.076

ABSTRACT

Center for Aquatic Chemistry and the Environment

With National Science Foundation support, Florida International University will establish the Center for Aquatic Chemistry and the Environment. Human-derived environmental contaminants consist of antibiotics and pharmaceuticals, mercury, black carbon, and fossil fuels. These stressors are recognized as having significant effects on ecosystems and biota as well as on human wellbeing. It is critical to understand the biogeochemical processes that govern the fate of these compounds and their impacts on the ecosystem. Center for Aquatic Chemistry and the Environment research will address the sources, transport, transformation and ecosystem responses to contaminants, pollutants and other natural stressors, under changing land-use and environmental conditions.

The Center for Aquatic Chemistry and the Environment will generate significant new knowledge regarding contaminants and pollutants in aquatic environments, as well as produce innovative methodologies for detecting and assessing contaminant quantities and impacts, including the use of molecular detection techniques. The proposed research will advance current efforts on the biological effects, transport, transformation and distribution of contaminants in the environment into new collaborative research areas that investigate the sources and transport of contaminants and pollutants in aquatic systems.

The Center articulates three research subprojects organized around environmental chemistry, biogeochemistry, ecology and data synthesis and modeling as they pertain to regional water resources. The first subproject will advance the effectiveness of approaches for the analysis of traditional pollutants, develop methodologies for the characterization and quantification of previously unknown contaminants and extend the applicability of molecular biology methodologies to assess environmental stressors to aquatic organisms across land-use boundaries. The second subproject uses new sensing techniques to determine biogeochemical cycles including contaminant sources, storage, transport and transformations. The third research subproject develops data analytic methods to enable synthesis across large, complex data sets to allow holistic effects assessment for understanding South Florida's aquatic ecosystem.

The Center for Aquatic Chemistry and the Environment will establish innovative opportunities for students to experience authentic and socially relevant environmental research and foster their development as future STEM professionals.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

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(Showing: 1 - 10 of 122)
Abiy A.Z., Melesse A.M., Abtew W. "Teleconnection of Regional Drought to ENSO, PDO, and AMO: Southern Florida and the Everglades" Atmosphere , v.10 , 2019 , p.295 https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos10060295
Abiy AZ, Melesse AM, Abtew W, Whitman D "Rainfall trend and variability in Southeast Florida: Implications for freshwater availability in the Everglades" PLoS ONE , v.14 , 2019 , p.e0212008 10.1371/journal.pone.0212008
Abiy, A.Z., Melesse, A.M., Abtew, W., Whitman, D. "Rainfall trend and variability in Southeast Florida: Implications for freshwater availability in the Everglades" PLOS ONE , v.14 , 2019 , p.e0212008 10.1371/journal.pone.0212008
A. Castellanos, C. Ramirez, V. Michalkova, M. Nouzova, F. Noriega, F. Fernandez-Lima "Three Dimensional Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry Imaging (3D-SIMS) of Aedes aegypti ovarian follicles" Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry , v.34 , 2019 , p.874 10.1039/C8JA00425K
Balderas-Guzman, C., Wang, R., Muellerklein, O., Smith, M.A., & Eger, C.G. "Comparing stormwater quality and watershed typologies across the United States: a machine learning approach" Water Research , 2022
Banisakher, D., Reyes, M. E. P., Eisengberg, J. D., Allen, J., Finlayson, M. A., Price, R., & Chen, S. C. "Ontology-Based Supervised Concept Learning for the Biogeochemical Literature" 2018 IEEE International Conference on Information Reuse and Integration (IRI) , 2018 , p.402 10.1109/IRI.2018.00066
Beal, A., Hackerott, S., Franks, B., Gruber, S. H., Feldheim, K., & Eirin-Lopez, J. M. "Epigenetic responses in juvenile Lemon sharks (Negaprion brevirostris) during a coastal dredging episode in Bimini, Bahamas" Ecological Indicators , v.127 , 2021 doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.107793
Beal A.P., Kiszka J.J., Wells R.S. and Eirin-Lopez J.M. "The Bottlenose Dolphin Epigenetic Aging Tool (BEAT): A Molecular Age Estimation Tool for Small Cetaceans" Frontiers in Marine Science , v.6 , 2019 https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00561
Beal A. P., S. Hackerott, K. Feldheim, S. Gruber, J. M. Eirin-Lopez. "Age group DNA methylation differences in lemon sharks (Negaprion brevirostris): Implications for future age estimation tools." Ecology and Evolution , 2022
Benigni P, Marin R, Sandoval K, Gardinali P, Fernandez-Lima F "Chemical Analysis of Water-accommodated Fractions of Crude Oil Spills Using TIMS-FT-ICR MS" J Vis Exp , 2017 10.3791/55352
Benigni, P., Porter, J., Ridgeway, M.E., Park, M.A., Fernandez-Lima F. "Increasing Analytical Separation and Duty Cycle with Nonlinear Analytical Mobility Scan Functions in TIMS-FT-ICR MS" Analytical Chemistry , v.90 , 2018 , p.2446 10.1021/acs.analchem.7b04053
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT

Disclaimer

This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.

CREST Phase I Project Outcomes

In addition to the student support(stipends, travel, research equipment and supplies and page charges) as well as the research publications and outputs, CREST resulted in truly transformational activities.

Transformational Products directly from CREST include:

  • A network of CREST Graduate Offices and Research Facilities that are permanently assigned to CREST.
  • Renovated our Isotope and High-Resolution Mass Spectrometer Facilities to enhance the number and kinds of compounds we can measure.
  • Supported the design and implementation of a new Robotics and Digital Fabrication Lab that allows CREST students to design and 3-d print instrumentation, green infrastructure and other CREST related equipment.
  • Designed, Developed and launched a new Biscayne Bay Environmental Buoy Sensor Network that provides real-time data throughout our coastal ecosystems on water quality.
  • Hired a new Environmental Chemistry Professor and an Architecture/Visualization Professor to support CREST students and research.
  • Developed and maintain a CREST Data Center that includes data and metadata storage.
  • Developed the first doctorate degree in Architecture by funding faculty and the first three PhD cohorts.
  • Leveraged CREST to initiate new Research Experience for Undergraduates and Research Experience for Teachers Sites utilizing the CREST research framework and infrastructure.
  • Leveraged CREST to obtain over $25 million in additional external funding to enhance our CREST-related research.

Last Modified: 06/08/2023
Modified by: Todd A Crowl

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