The town of Laurel, DE suffers from significant housing challenges. Census statistics indicate that almost half of Laurel’s residents struggle with housing affordability, spending 30 percent or more of their income on housing-related costs.

Delaware Sea Grant collaborated with partners to submit a successful grant application for a Delaware Strong Neighborhoods Fund grant to help address the town's affordable housing deficiencies. The $500,000 grant will be used in the construction of four new homes and the purchase-rehabilitation of six more in Laurel's Old Towne neighborhood.

Delaware Sea Grant’s early investments in technology development for coastal applications helped establish the University of Delaware Robotics Discovery Lab (RDL). Sea Grant's early investments demonstrated the feasibility of deploying underwater vehicles for coastal mapping to leverage the infrastructure provided by RDL and develop new technologies for improving our understanding of natural environment. Sea Grant continues to support RDL with funding for drone and autonomous vehicle applications for coastal resilience, including shoreline management and pre- and post-storm mapping.

Microplastics are an emerging contaminant in aquatic systems with many uncertainties on their source, fate, and ecological effects. No published reports exist for microplastics distributions in Delaware Bay, and as such, resource managers do not have information to evaluate whether microplastic pollution warrants concern. 

In 2017, Delaware Sea Grant researchers conducted a seasonal study of microplastics in Delaware Bay and found that microplastics concentrations were relatively low and comparable to measurements made in Chesapeake Bay tributaries. The types of microplastics differed between Bay (primarily plastics fragments) and tributary samples (mostly filaments, e.g. rope, textiles). The findings affected research plans and protocols for upcoming studies by management agencies.