Spring Break
URI receives $500,000 to research invasive insects
Andy Blais
Issue date: 10/11/07 Section: Campus
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10/11/07 - In late July, Evan Preisser, an assistant professor at the University of Rhode Island's College of the Environment and Life Sciences, received a $500,000 grant to study the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid.
The Hemlock Woolly Adelgid is an invasive insect thought to be originally from Asia, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The invasive species lives in states north of Georgia, east of Tennessee and south of Maine.
"We are trying to figure out how species both get to someplace … and once they get there how they can survive there," Preisser said.
He said he thought that Hemlock Woolly Adelgid would be a great way to determine answers to those questions.
"That will help us determine where the insect will go in Rhode Island," Preisser said.
The $500,000 grant was given to Preisser from the National Science Foundation for the research. Preisser said that 10 percent of projects are recommended for funding, but only 6 percent are actually given funding.
"Fifth time is the charm, maybe it was the fourth," Preisser said.
He said sending in the proposal each time was like sending out a ship to sea. Each time the ship came back broken, he was able to fix it so eventually it became an unsinkable proposal.
"Gradually, your proposal gets tighter and tighter, I was very pleased … There are no guarantees at this point," Preisser said.
Preisser, who teaches Introduction to Ecology to undergraduates this semester, will share his grant with four other researchers, two at the University of Massachusetts and two at Harvard Forest. The grant originated with the five while Preisser was doing his post-doctorate work at the University of Massachusetts where he worked for the Forest Service.
But when Preisser applied this time, he applied by himself. He said those who apply by themselves for the first time often get a better shot.
"They give a little advantage, it's called new investigator status," Preisser said.
The Hemlock Woolly Adelgid is an invasive insect thought to be originally from Asia, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The invasive species lives in states north of Georgia, east of Tennessee and south of Maine.
"We are trying to figure out how species both get to someplace … and once they get there how they can survive there," Preisser said.
He said he thought that Hemlock Woolly Adelgid would be a great way to determine answers to those questions.
"That will help us determine where the insect will go in Rhode Island," Preisser said.
The $500,000 grant was given to Preisser from the National Science Foundation for the research. Preisser said that 10 percent of projects are recommended for funding, but only 6 percent are actually given funding.
"Fifth time is the charm, maybe it was the fourth," Preisser said.
He said sending in the proposal each time was like sending out a ship to sea. Each time the ship came back broken, he was able to fix it so eventually it became an unsinkable proposal.
"Gradually, your proposal gets tighter and tighter, I was very pleased … There are no guarantees at this point," Preisser said.
Preisser, who teaches Introduction to Ecology to undergraduates this semester, will share his grant with four other researchers, two at the University of Massachusetts and two at Harvard Forest. The grant originated with the five while Preisser was doing his post-doctorate work at the University of Massachusetts where he worked for the Forest Service.
But when Preisser applied this time, he applied by himself. He said those who apply by themselves for the first time often get a better shot.
"They give a little advantage, it's called new investigator status," Preisser said.
