DARTMOUTH – The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth has secured $8 million in funding from the commonwealth to support the university’s blue economy core research facilities, and education and workforce development initiatives, the school announced Thursday.
UMass Dartmouth says the initial $5 million is for capital projects, which includes establishing a seawater wind-wave-current environmental testing laboratory at the university’s School for Marine Science & Technology in New Bedford. That funding will also help develop real-time trawl monitoring equipment, marine materials fabrication equipment, a marine Internet of Things test and development laboratory, a dual channel ion chromatography system, a biodegradability lab core facility expansion, instrumented autonomous underwater vehicles, and a prototyping and fabrication center at SMAST, UMass Dartmouth says.
UMass Dartmouth will review this fall what initiatives to invest the remaining $3 million.
University Provost Ramprasad Balasuvramanian said in the statement that the projects benefiting from this capital equipment will enhance UMass Dartmouth’s role and impact on the sustainability of coastal and ocean resources, the economic resilience and competitiveness of our regional blue economy, and the economic opportunities available to the region.
This latest funding UMass Dartmouth received builds upon
past federal grants the university got for blue economy-related initiatives.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on X at @James_Bessette.