Website launced for a program to train PhD students for research on diseases of marine organisms (DIMO program)

By Rudi Hempe, CELS News Editor

A new three-year program, designed to train PhD students to perform research on diseases of marine organisms has been launched at URI through a USDA training workforce grant.

Heading up the multidisciplinary program is Dr. Marta Gomez-Chiarri, associate professor in the department of Fisheries, Animal &Veterinary Science (FAVS). The program is called DIMO Graduate Fellows (as in DIseases of Marine Organisms) and is funded by a $229,000 grant that can be renewed after the initial three years.

With the initial grant, URI will be able to hire three PhD students and URI will pick up their tuition waivers. One student has to be from an underrepresented group.

What is unique about the program says Gomez-Chiarri, is that it is an integrative, multidisciplinary, collaborative research training venture that involves four colleges—engineering, pharmacy, the Graduate School of Oceanography and CELS. The latter college will have three departments involved—Cell and Molecular Biology, Natural Resources Science and FAVS.

The plan is to have the first student on board in the fall and the other two by the end of the spring, 2009 semester.

The multidisciplinary approach will enable students to learn about pathogens from so many aspects. “It will provide the glue to manage disease in fisheries, farm and wild,” says Gomez-Chiarri.

The program will also give students the ability to interact with fellows in programs with an emphasis in management of the coastal environment and policy as well as with industry and governmental partners.

The program will utilize the unique ecological and environmental assets of Narragansett Bay and the Rhode Island coastline.

Dr. Marta Gomez-Chiarri, associate professor, CELS FAVS and DIMO project head demonstrates the features of the new website with Chandu Dondeti, web developer at CELS during a recent launch ceremony.

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To get the word out about the program, a website was set up by Chandu Dondeti, working as a senior information technologist in the CELS Communication Office. One of the features on the site is a cartoon showing a sick quahog on a hospital bed. Don Bousquet, famous Rhode Island cartoonist, gave permission to use the artwork and Gomez-Chiarri is quite appropriate and eye-catching.

Glenn A. Schroder, director of CELS Communications, said the website creation is a service that can be provided to other CELS-based programs as resources permit. Collaboration between the CELS Communications office and the CELS department or program area on various aspects of the project facilitates project success.

For a related press release about the DOMO program on CELS News click here.

Visit the new DIMO project website at: http://cels.uri.edu/dimo.