Since 2015, JISAO and now CICOES has used internal funds to stimulate new, innovative research. Over time the name and the objectives of the program have evolved. The original “mini-grant” program provided salary to existing PIs to initiate or expand research efforts. This program has been expanded to enable grantees to collect proof-of-concept data in support of external research proposals, widened the eligibility pool to include non-PI Research Scientists and Postdoctoral Scholars, and now to include applicants from our partner universities. This larger, more inclusive eligibility pool enables early career scientists to gain experience in the conception, management, and execution of research projects and, at the same time, facilitates collaboration among scientists throughout the CICOES community. We now sponsor projects that are collaborative efforts among at least two of our three partner universities and maintain opportunities for UW-based scientists to broaden and deepen their research portfolios. While serving multiple purposes, you will see in the projects described below that this long-standing program continues to broaden and deepen the expertise of our research community.

The 2025 RFP can be found HERE

Current Projects

1. Spatial dynamics of Chinook salmon in the Gulf of Alaska (OSU-UAF)

Taylor Chapple (PI), Alexandra McInturf (Co-PI), Curry Cunningham (Co-PI)

2. Organic matter sources and cycling in the glacially-influenced marine environment of the Northern Gulf of Alaska (UAF-UW)

Sarah Johnston (PI), David Butman (Co-PI)

3. Socioeconomic vulnerability of coastal Alaskan communities to temperature dependencies in groundfish spatial distributions (OSU-UAF)

Lorenzo Ciannelli (PI), Franz Mueter (Co PI)

4. Enhancing the power of eDNA biodiversity assessment for understudied benthic ecosystems through reference DNA sequencing efforts (UW)

David Butterfield (PI), Shannon Brown (CoPI), Sean McAllister (CoPI)

5. Tsunami inundation caused by crustal faults in the Salish Sea: a hydrodynamic and morphodynamic approach guided by geological records (UW)

Yong Wei (PI), Ernesto Guerrero Fernandez (Postdoc Researcher)