An SIU researcher is turning to a relatively new funding tool to help pay for one of his projects.
SIU Fisheries Director Jim Garvey studies sturgeon both in his lab in Carbondale and along the Mississippi River. He and other scientists want to know more about when and where the fish spawn, and now he's turning to the crowd-funding website "Kickstarter" to raise money for his research. Garvey says the traditional funding structure - federal and state grants - is uncertain... so he's trying something new:
"The problem is, federal funding has become so limited over the last few years, the competition has increased amazingly. So some of the best scientists out there can't get funding."
Garvey says there are things they want to do that they can't necessarily fund, and when he looked at Kickstarter and the other crowd-funding sources out there, it sort of dawned on him that this is an opportunity that he should pursue. Garvey's Kickstarter campaign aims to raise $100,000 by July 3. The money would pay for research on a sensor, which could be attached to the sturgeon track hormone levels - allowing his team to better understand spawning and other activities.
