Building leaders, strengthening the workforce

Using satellites orbiting hundreds of miles above Earth, Pinki Mondal is tracking changes on the ground.

An associate professor of geography and spatial sciences at the University of Delaware, Mondal uses remote sensing to study shifting landscapes in India, Vietnam and Sierra Leone - and now, through seed funding from the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), the creeping reach of saltwater in Delaware.

Saltwater intrusion is a global process that manifests locally, when fresh water and seawater meet in surface estuaries or underground, causing fresh water to become saltier. In a coastal state like Delaware, this can be particularly problematic for agriculture, leading to saltier soils and declining crop yields.

Mondal and a team of students collected images and data points to understand the problem from both a large- and fine-scale lens and ultimately developed an app to map salt patches that can occur when high salinity is present on coastal farmlands. She discussed the work, which has the potential to inform researchers, farmers and community members alike, at the inaugural statewide research symposium hosted by Delaware EPSCoR and the Delaware IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (DE-INBRE), held April 10 on UD's Science, Technology and Advanced Research (STAR) Campus.

While the research is ongoing, the value of such seed funding for this project can be found in the data, Mondal said.

"If we look at just the numbers, this little pot of seed money supported five graduate students and eight new projects. It resulted in six journal articles and four data sets so far, as well as 19 media mentions and 35 conference presentations, mostly led by the graduate students," said Mondal, who also is a resident faculty member in UD's Data Science Institute.

According to Fabrice Veron, UD interim vice president for research, scholarship and innovation, these outcomes are a testament to the benefits of a strong research ecosystem.

"As a senior research leader, I see firsthand how these programs serve as on-ramps to bigger ideas, bolder collaborations, and sustained research trajectories - supporting early-career investigators, expanding access to research for students, and positioning Delaware to compete successfully on the national stage," Veron said.

Over the past 20 years, Delaware INBRE has supported the research of more than 100 faculty members - leaders in Delaware's biomedical research community - and over 1,000 undergraduate researchers. In fact, about 85% of INBRE summer research scholar alumni continue to work in biomedically relevant fields, and one in three has gone on to graduate school. These outcomes speak volumes to INBRE's vital role in strengthening the biomedical workforce pipeline in Delaware.

The reach of Delaware EPSCoR is equally impressive. Since its inception in 2003, the program has engaged more than 1,600 students with the potential to become future environmental leaders. Among them are 45 graduate fellows who have gone on to serve as university faculty, business owners and scientists in government agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Gulni Ozbay, associate dean of cooperative extension and applied research at Delaware State University, recalled her early EPSCoR-funded research on oyster gardening for ecosystem restoration with John Ewart, then the aquaculture and fisheries specialist with Delaware Sea Grant, which is housed in UD's College of Earth, Ocean and Environment. It was a project that allowed her to build a collaborative network and participate in community engagement activities. That formative experience taught her a great deal about the power of EPSCoR to seed new researchers, collaborations and partnerships.