February 2019 Letter from the Director

Hello from MAISRC!

It may be cold outside, but things are heating up at MAISRC. After issuing a Request for Proposals in November, we received a record 24 pre-proposals! All of the projects address high-priority research needs to prevent, control, and manage AIS in Minnesota as determined by our research needs assessment process. This is our fourth RFP, and every year I am energized and excited by the submissions we receive. The next step for selected pre-proposals will be for project managers to incorporate feedback, expand the content, and be sent out for external peer-review. Look for an announcement in June about which projects were selected!

The downside of this exciting RFP process is that we can’t fund all the projects we wish we could. We are extremely grateful for the grant-based funding we receive from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources, but long-term, stable funding is critical to our success. When we first attempted to secure stable funding 2017, we were humbled by the outpouring of support we received from legislators and concerned citizens alike; however, our original funding request was cut by 74%. This legislative session, we’re making another push to secure stable funding through the General Fund - special thanks to Sen. Ruud and Rep. Persell for their help to get us on the right path. We’ll be sure to update you as the bill progresses. Thanks in advance for your support!

Time to get back to the lab…

Nick

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