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NJ Sea Grant College Program
Request for Pre-Proposals 2010-2012
The New Jersey Sea Grant College Program is part of the National Sea Grant College Program housed within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce. Sea Grant addresses marine issues and coastal sustainability in the context of wise resource use and management. In New Jersey, we are interested in balancing economic growth with resource stewardship to sustain the state’s $80+ billion coastal economy.

The New Jersey Sea Grant College Program fulfills its mission through relevant research and student training, educational excellence, and rapid dissemination of acquired knowledge. New Jersey Sea Grant is a statewide program housed at the New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium. The program brings together the best talent within the region’s member colleges and universities without regard to academic affiliation.

In the 2010-2012 Omnibus Cycle, New Jersey Sea Grant will continue an approach recommended by its Sea Grant Advisory Council (SGAC) that encourages fewer, but larger multi-investigator, multi-institution (a complete list of member institutions is appended to this RFPP), transdisciplinary awards focused on critical regional research needs. It is the intent of this Request for Pre-Proposals (RFPP) to ultimately award up to three 2-year grants of $200,000 each including indirect costs. Funding for new projects will generally begin on February 1, 2010 pending the federal appropriations process. The New Jersey Sea Grant College Program makes resource allocation decisions annually, dependant on the availability of federal funds. Because New Jersey Sea Grant supports scientific excellence integrated into coastal issue relevancy, sociological and economic impacts, applications of research results through the New Jersey Sea Grant Extension Program are important considerations in funding. Collaboration with industry, state and regional agencies is strongly encouraged.(please see Contacts).



RESEARCH PRIORITIES

Based on input from its Sea Grant Advisory Council (SGAC), its Sea Grant Advisory Board (SGAB, or stakeholder community), and guidance from the National Sea Grant Strategic Plan 2009-13, New Jersey Sea Grant has identified four (4) Focus Areas and one Cross-Cutting Theme for this funding cycle:

  • Sustainable Coastal Development
  • Safe, Sustainable Seafood Supply (Fisheries, Aquaculture, Seafood Technology)
  • Hazard Resiliency
  • Healthy Coastal Ecosystems
  • Urban-Industrial Estuaries/Ports and Harbors (Cross-Cutting Theme)
New Jersey Sea Grant will review any proposal dealing with issues of major concern to the region, but relevance to the Focus Areas listed above is an important consideration in funding (see Proposal Evaluation). New Jersey Sea Grant is also interested in the impacts of climate change on issues within these Focus Areas and the utilization of Integrated Ocean Observing Systems to address these issues.  Some specific areas of interest are noted below:

Sustainable Coastal Communities

Manage sustainable coastal communities in the context of:
  • Developing appropriate methods to preserve working waterfronts
  • Impact of offshore conventional and alternative energy development
  • Understanding and predicting the consequences of storm events, sea level rise, and climate change
  • Quantifying socioeconomic and cost-benefit implications of coastal zone management rules (including public access decisions)
  • Cost-benefit impact of implementing green practices in communities (energy, water, etc)
  • Protecting people and property
  • Developing predictive models for the outcome of ocean zoning decisions, including  socioeconomic impacts
  • Developing appropriate social marketing tools to address maritime safety, coastal zone management, or public access
Safe, Sustainable Seafood Supply (Fisheries, Aquaculture, Seafood Technology)

Needs and priorities:
  • Economic evaluation of shellfish aquaculture in New Jersey
  • Assessment of the socioeconomic value of fishing communities (commercial and recreational) to New Jersey
  • Quantifying the economic impacts of management decisions and the regulatory process on fisheries and aquaculture
  • Developing New Jersey specific protocols and methods for reintroduction of anadromous fish to local rivers and streams
  • Understanding stock recruitment relationship in commercially and recreationally important fish species including summer flounder, black sea bass, winter flounder, weakfish, hard clams, horseshoe crabs and oysters
  • Evaluate data gaps or model parameters in fish stock assessment through archival analysis, and laboratory or field studies on population age structure, sex ratio and mortality especially for “data poor" species, such as scup, black sea bass and tautog
  • Socioeconomic (multi-use conflicts) or ecological assessment of pot fishing on artificial reefs  
  • Developing new aquaculture technology (designs and techniques)
  • Development and assessment of marine recreational fishing surveys especially in relation to the new national registry of salt water anglers
  • Impact of regulation on leasing approaches on aquaculture
  • Develop integrated ocean observing system tools to assess the response of commercially and recreationally important fish species to climate change and its socioeconomic impact
Hazard Resiliency

Address hazard resiliency in the context of:
  • Consequences of storm events, sea level rise, and climate change (including predictive and response models)
  • Green infrastructure to address sea level rise, storm events and climate change and stormwater management
  • Offshore alternative energy development as energy security
  • Developing predictive and response models for hazardous events (including spills, beach closures, and rip currents)
  • Navigation safety
  • Developing appropriate social marketing tools to respond to or mitigate hazards
Healthy Coastal Ecosystems

Address habitat and resource management issues of ongoing concern in New Jersey:
  • Quantifying the economic, social, and ecological impacts, costs and benefits of coastal habitat preservation and restoration
  • Quantifying the ecological goods and services derived from coastal habitat
  • Managing impacts of antifouling paints
  • Quantifying economic and ecological impacts, costs and benefits of offshore energy development (including landside impacts)
  • Predicting and managing the onset of sea nettle blooms
  • Develop plant technologies to integrate plants into structural shoreline treatments effectively and successfully (living shorelines)
  • Restoration of shellfish reefs including quantifying success of restoration, affects of policy (closed vs. open waters), living shorelines, impact on species diversity (habitat), ecological services, and use of non-edible shellfish
  • Quantifying impacts of endocrine disrupters (estrogen mimics) on marine life
  • Onset, extent and duration of hypoxia
  • Human health impacts of coastal ocean processes
Urban-Industrial Estuaries / Ports and Harbors (Cross Cutting Theme)

Manage New Jersey’s urban-industrial estuaries and ports in the context of:
  • Resiliency of ports and working waterfronts
  • Methods for the beneficial use and management of dredged material at all spatial scales
  • Diversity and habitat restoration (e.g., oyster gardens) in urban estuaries and waterfronts
  • Models, technology and sensor development for port security, navigation safety, and coordination of maritime industry activity
  • Understanding the fate and transport of sediments and contaminants
  • Managing species adapted to human modified habitats (including invasive species) and/or restoration of "signature species" in urban estuaries
  • Watershed → estuary → coastal zone connectivity (riverine and estuarine drainage areas, riverine plumes)
  • Hypoxic events and their impacts
  • Port expansion and intermodal transportation in relation to multi-use issues and climate change
  • Understanding the urban recreational and subsistence fishery
WHAT TO SUBMIT

Each pre–proposal should include the items listed below.  All text should be single spaced, with 1” margins, using at least an 11–point font on 8 ½” x 11” pages. Text may not exceed 2 pages, exclusive of pre-proposal form, budget form, budget justification, literature cited, and vitae.
  • New Jersey Sea Grant College Program, Pre-proposal Form, as a Word file (please see Contacts)
  • Statement of Problem
  • Project Goals and Objectives
  • Research Plan
  • Statement of Extension Goals: You are encouraged to meet with and jointly prepare this section with NJSG Extension personnel
  • Summarize the Relevance of the Project to New Jersey and/or the Mid-Atlantic Region: Include a rationale that stresses the importance of the project, who the actual or potential users are and how they are involved or benefit from the project
  • What other State, Federal, or Private Organizations will be Involved in this Proposal: Include at what level of participation and/or what funding will be available
  • Budget: Submitted on a Sea Grant Budget Form which also available through e-mail as an Excel file (Please see Matching Funds and Budget Aspects)
  • Budget Justification
  • Vitae: Maximum two pages per investigator
MATCHING FUNDS AND BUDGET ASPECTS
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Matching funds are required for this program (Please see Contacts.) Sea Grant investigators must include a non-federal contribution of at least $1 for every $2 of Federal support requested. Potential matching non-federal support includes:
  • Salaries, wages, and benefits of those working on the project
  • Expendable supplies equipment and ship time
  • Indirect costs
  • Contributions such as private, local, or state contracts and special project funds
PRE-PROPOSAL EVALUATION

All pre-proposals will be subjected to coordinated review and numerical ranking by the SGAB (optional for this group) and the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) with latter made up of peer scientists from outside the New Jersey area.  New Jersey Sea Grant strives to fund the best science that is relevant to New Jersey and the region.  Ultimately, a “technology transfer” component (to the user community) will become an important consideration in the full-proposal review.  New Jersey Sea Grant encourages early dialogue with its Extension Program to implement this process.  Relevance to program objectives will be reviewed by the SGAB while scientific merit and ranking will be reviewed by the SAC.  Based on panel evaluations, investigators may be asked to modify objectives, work plans or budgets. 

The criteria for pre-proposal evaluation and their respective weights are:
  • Scientific Merit and Innovativeness (40 pts)
  • Responsiveness to New Jersey Sea Grant Priorities and Extension Activities (30 pts)
  • Expected Benefits (20 pts)
  • Professional Qualifications of the Investigators (5 pts)
  • Budget (5 pts)
The New Jersey Sea Grant College Program encourages multidisciplinary research and interdepartmental, inter-institutional and public/private collaboration.  Part of New Jersey Sea Grant’s recent success has been the development of funding partnerships with institutions/organizations that are external to the Sea Grant community but share common interests in marine affairs.  The New Jersey Sea Grant College Program will actively encourage other state, federal and private organizations to co-fund projects where appropriate, and where programmatic needs set the priorities.

CONTACTS
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New Jersey Sea Grant College Program
22 Magruder Road
Fort Hancock, NJ 07732
Phone: 732–872-1300 Fax: 732–872-9573
Website: www.njmsc.org


Questions on Possible Collaborations, Research Priorities and Evaluation Criteria:
Dr. Peter Rowe, Associate Sea Grant Director
732/872-1300, ext. 31

Questions on Extension Components:
Dr. Peter Rowe, Extension Director
732/872-1300, ext. 31

Questions/Requests for Forms, What to Submit
Ms. Jenny McCormick, Coastal Communities Agent
732/872-1300 ext 24

Questions on Budget Aspects:
Mr. Augustine Anfuso, Sea Grant Accountant
732/872-1300 ext 26

Proposal Submission:
Ms. Tara Shah, Executive Assistant
732/872-1300 ext 10

Member Institutions

Because we encourage multi-institution proposals, the following is a list of NJMSC/NJSG's member institutions:
Academy of Natural Sciences
Brookdale Community College
Burlington County College
The College of New Jersey
County College of Morris
Cumberland County College
Georgian Court University
Kean University
Monmouth University
Montclair State University
New Jersey City University
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Ocean County College
Ramapo College
Richard Stockton College of NJ
Rowan University
Rutgers University
Seton Hall University
Stevens Institute of Technology
Union County College
University of Medicine & Dentistry of NJ
William Patterson University

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