Genes to Environment: Modeling, Mechanisms and Mapping (GEM3)

_{Image Credit: Zhongqi Chen}

The University of Idaho is leading an award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support research aimed at uncovering and predicting how rainbow trout and sagebrush adapt to changing environments. Led by principal investigator and interim Idaho EPSCoR Project Director Janet E. Nelson, this is one of the largest statewide, multi-institutional research and education projects in Idaho’s history.

The five-year, $24 million project, Genes to Environment: Modeling, Mechanisms and Mapping (GEM3), is funded by the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII) program, which is designed to fulfill NSF’s mandate to promote scientific progress nationwide. In addition to the $20 million in funding from NSF, $4 million in matching funds were provided by Idaho’s Higher Education Research Council. GEM3 will look into the genetic, environmental and social systems connected to rainbow trout and sagebrush populations while helping researchers better understand a broad range of organisms in the Gem State.

The project will foster a deeper integration of research expertise from many of Idaho’s top academic research centers and strengthen Idaho’s research capabilities to address some of the greatest challenges in understanding the natural world. The award is shared with collaborating Idaho EPSCoR partners at Boise State University and Idaho State University and will help inform natural resource policies and management decisions throughout the American West.

This is the eighth such EPSCoR RII award Idaho has received and a notable example of what Idaho’s universities can achieve by working together.