Coral Reef Resilience
Geoff Cook, associate professor, Biology, New England College and Chery Whipple, associate professor, Biology, Colby-Sawyer College
To investigate driving forces allowing certain resistant strains of corals and sea grass to survive stressful conditions, such as high temperature and low pH, Cook and Whipple are collaborating to identify key factors enabling tolerance to climate change in coral reefs and seagrass beds. This tropical research project combines their expertise in marine ecology, bioinformatics, and molecular genetics and utilizes our already developed tropical ecology courses.
Health Sciences Innovation Network
Margaret Henning, professor, Health Sciences, Keene State College. Collaborators include faculty and students from multiple institutions and industry.
Create a Health Sciences Innovation Network (HSIN) that will serve as a foundational, state-level collaboration designed to catalyze new research and education pathways that integrate STEM disciplines, specifically focused on advances in biotech, Al, communications, wireless tech, and cyberinfrastructure/cybersecurity.
A Collaboration for Early-Stage Product Development
Jared Nelson, associate professor, Sustainable Product Design & Innovation, Keene State College. Dan Larochelle, professor, Automated Manufacturing Technology, Mechatronics, Robotics & CAD, Manchester Community College
Bridging the Valley of Death: a collaboration for early-stage product development will utilize the Sustainable Product Design and Innovation (SPDI) program at Keene State College as a practical anchor for strengthening New Hampshire’s product development ecosystem. Collaborators include MCC, Plymouth State University, the UNH Olsen Center and Dartmouth College.
Characterization of fire-impacted mesic Northeastern biological soil crusts
Juhee Park, assistant professor, Biology, Rivier University. Rachel Thiet, Core Faculty and Chair, Department of Environmental Studies, Antioch University New England.
PhD student Shanna Demers will study the mesic biocrusts in the fire-affected regions in Flat Rock, a unique Jack Pine barren in northern New York. To complement the morphological assessment of the biocrust community, molecular biology and biochemistry experiments will be conducted to investigate the presence of specific microbes and enzymatic activity in the biocrust samples.
- Members of the Franklin Pierce University and Keene State College nursing faculty teamed up to attend the Eastern Nursing Research Society conference. The goal was to find a collaborative research project.
- New England College used SPARC grant funds to help support the cost of a keynote address at the Eastern New England Biological Conference held at their institution on April 25, 2026.
- Faculty at Keene State College secured funding to support a Spring 2026 semester three part STEM focused speaker series. Series included both in-person and virtual attendance.