Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

The Department of Ocean Sciences is a research intensive department where field research is at the core of its mission. The faculty are actively engaged in numerous research projects encompassing marine ecology, fisheries and aquaculture, oceanography, physiology, evolution and fish health. Situated in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), the Department is relatively close to a number of pristine and largely untouched cold ocean environments. As such, field-intensive research programs are common, particularly among the four co-applicants, while others in the Department that primarily carry out lab-based research still need to collect animals and samples from the field. While not a particularly "sexy" piece of research equipment, a 4x4 pickup truck with towing capacity is truly essential and critically important for sustaining our field programs where most sites in the sparsely populated NL are remote and rugged. These field-based research programs have been highly productive (e.g., publications, grants, theses, community engagement) and impactful, supporting more than 25 highly qualified personnel (HQP; e.g., graduate and undergraduate students, postdoctoral fellows, technicians)  annually. At one time, there were 4 pick-up trucks in the Department which had been purchased through start-up and CFI grants. These trucks were used extensively, however, there is now only one remaining operational and it is over 16 years old with over 100K km on it. Auto mechanics estimate that it has a year left in its life at most, given heavy corrosion of key structural components, and has become a safety concern. Thus, there is an urgent need to replace the last remaining field vehicle in the Department, as a field vehicle is essential to sustaining the field-based programs that are critical to ocean science and instrumental in the training of HQP. The University has no pool of vehicles that can be used by researchers and their HQP, and in the summer it is almost impossible to rent a truck in NL, unless it is booked months in advance, and even then costs run over $150/d (i.e. annual cost of ~$32,000). Our request is for a half ton 4x4 pick-up truck with full size bed and cap, seating for five persons and ability to tow boats and trailers. Users will be charged a cost recovery fee which will be used to cover maintenance, insurance, registration and fuel charges. We expect the truck to have a useful life of 15 years, and thus it will significantly aid and impact research and training programs involving hundreds of HQP, as well as supporting equity, diversity and inclusion in their opportunity to undertake field research.