KINGSTON, R.I — Aug. 15, 2024 – URI and RISD – two leading Ocean State institutions – will partner with other research universities on ambitious, multidisciplinary four-year projects to develop strategies to enhance community resilience to climate change. This was made possible by securing one of multiple grants totaling $3.4 million in new federal funding by the U.S. National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) program.
Co-PI on the URI grant is Madison Jones, professor of professional and public writing and natural resources science. “My interest in this project is to think about the ways that I can contribute to these large-scale scientific processes with the roles of engineering, art, and design in order to communicate and collaborate with communities for climate change solutions,” said Jones. The URI team will be led by Soni M. Pradhanang, professor of geosciences in the college of environment and life sciences, and Co-PIs Jason Parent, professor of natural resources science, and Emi Uchida, department chair of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics.
A portion of URI’s grant and research will examine the landscape design process, cultivating environmental literacy in local communities while fostering collaboration. In turn, the long-term goal is to develop portable methods that can be used in other contexts in other places/situations. Working closely with RISD professor and landscape architect, Johanna Barthmaier-Payne, the collaboration will center around creating 3D models and using augmented reality that will empower people to work with these tools.
The technology and methods for this project will empower local residents to contribute to design as part of an iterative process. The research team will provide models to community members, and they arrange them into stormwater mitigation designs that are then reviewed by a specialist. This is an invaluable opportunity for community members to understand first-hand how they can protect their livelihood and that of generations to come in the state of Rhode Island.
“URI has a unique understanding of the importance of climate resilience and the integration of nature into the development of socially equitable solutions for coastal and ocean-reliant communities,” said Dr. Bethany Jenkins, Vice President for Research and Economic Development at the University of Rhode Island.
Jones’s participation did not just happen in a vacuum; his role as founder of the URI Dwell Lab plays directly into the university’s capacity to conduct interdisciplinary climate change research for this project.
Dwell Lab is interested in using emerging technologies like augmented reality and 3D modeling to change the way that people interact with places and to disrupt the way people think about the natural world. Which is exactly why the project has the potential to change the national and international paradigms for designing and implementing socially equitable nature-based solutions.
“Dwell really sits at the intersection of my responsibilities as a researcher, teacher, and my service work to the state. In my science writing classes, I often try to impress on students the need for creative approaches to science communication – not just technical genres or communicating their work to the public. [This project] will be an influence in some of the classes that I teach. Our department is very multimodal – and I think that’s a really wonderful thing,” said Jones.
URI students interested in taking a course with Dr. Jones can view his courses here: https://madisonpjones.com/pages/teaching.html