University of Wisconsin-River Falls
IN-1: Innovation 1

The goal of the KinniConsortium was to link campus-wide social-ecological research efforts taking place at UWRF with external agencies or organizations, actively communicate with the public about watershed issues, and provide undergraduate students opportunities to learn and practice research skills. The KinniConsortium established and enhanced partnerships and collaborations internally among UWRF research programs, and externally with agencies, organizations, and public stakeholders in the watershed.

The goals of the project were achieved by creating a framework for easy access to information about various research interests within the watershed, and through public engagement activities that allowed constructive deliberation among UWRF scientists, community leaders, agencies, and interested publics. A key priority of the KinniConsortium was to implement new undergraduate research activities during the 2015 calendar year and beyond. The Undergraduate Research and Discovery Grant (URDG) provided a foundation for the KinniConsortium, undergraduate research, and curriculum development that will continue to build UWRF capacity in the future. We also leveraged other undergraduate research funding opportunities at UWRF (i.e., the Undergraduate Stipend and Expenses Grant) to expand the project’s reach beyond the 6 students funded directly by the URDG. Further, our intent was to use the KinniConsortium as a pilot project to pursue additional funding, and we were successful in obtaining a grant through the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Capacity Building Grants for Non-Land Grant Colleges of Agriculture Program towards an expanded undergraduate research portfolio that bridges boundaries between UWRF programs, colleges, and external youth outreach partners.