ST. PAUL and DULUTH, Minn. — The Minnesota Sea Grant and Wisconsin Sea Grant programs announce a joint 2026-2028 request for proposals (RFP) competition with up to $100,000 per state team, per year for two years available.
The Minnesota and Wisconsin Sea Grant programs are seeking interstate proposals for research projects that will advance climate adaptation and resilience for Lake Superior coastal communities and resources in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Proposed projects should be broad in scale and tackle regional-scale challenges. Proposals must describe a single project with participating and collaborating researchers from both Minnesota and Wisconsin. Only projects that involve both Minnesota and Wisconsin researchers will be considered for this joint competition.
Preproposals are due Friday, January 17, 2025, by 3 p.m. CT and must be submitted to Wisconsin Sea Grant following the directions detailed in the Wisconsin Sea Grant RFP.
Joint Priority Topics Include, but are not limited to, the list below:
Hazardous Material Transport
- Assess existing strategies and develop novel strategies to reduce the risks to communities and ecosystems from hazardous material transport near or on Lake Superior.
Storms, Infrastructure, and Preparedness
- Analyze historical trends of Lake Superior storms and build predictive models to assess current and likely risks to onshore infrastructure and habitat.
- Identify coastal hazards and extreme weather risks to people and their livelihoods and identify associated solutions for vulnerable coastal communities.
- Design, test, or model novel coastal infrastructure approaches that increase resilience to future climate conditions and coastal hazards.
- Develop novel and transferable methods to assess Great Lakes coastal communities' vulnerability and/or associated climate adaptation pathways.
- Develop or assess collaborative planning approaches and/or tools to advance the incorporation of natural hazards resilience and climate adaptation principles into community plans, policies, and actions.
Resilient Fisheries
- Analyze how the historic 2022 Cisco year class is influencing the food web dynamics in Lake Superior and the associated management implications for the Lake Superior commercial and recreational fisheries.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Minnesota Sea Grant is a systemwide program of the University of Minnesota and one of 34 Sea Grant federal-university partnerships across the country that bring applied water science to communities. MNSG has staff and offices on the Duluth and St. Paul campuses. Our extension educators, researchers, and communicators work with community members, local decision-makers, policy leaders, and personnel from resource agencies, business, and industry to enhance the use and conservation of Great Lakes and Minnesota’s inland water resources to create strong and sustainable economies, healthy environments, and resilient and inclusive communities.
CONTACTS:
Alex Frie, research and fellowship coordinator, Minnesota Sea Grant, University of Minnesota, and University of Minnesota Duluth, afrie@umn.edu
John A. Downing, director, Minnesota Sea Grant, University of Minnesota and University of Minnesota Duluth, downing@d.umn.edu
Marie Thoms, communications director, Minnesota Sea Grant, University of Minnesota and University of Minnesota Duluth, methoms@d.umn.edu