Marine Affairs Professor and Director of Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus Yoshitaka Ota was recently awarded the Taiwan Peace Fellowship, a fellowship that brings together leaders and scholars from around the world in Taiwan to gain a deeper understanding of the country’s historical and cultural context through dialogue and peacebuilding.

A flexible new program from URI’s Department of Landscape Architecture will prepare students and working professionals to be community planners equipped to address complex environmental, social, and economic problems. The Community Planning Graduate Certificate gives students the opportunity to pursue professional training in sustainable community planning, now through a fully online option.

They sing for the love of the sea—and for a good cause. The URI Sea Shanty Social Club has turned maritime music into a force for community building and giving back.

Over the past decade, the URI Master Gardener Program has played a critical role in helping transform the community garden at Mount Hope Farm into an accessible, productive, educational, and sustainable community asset. The farm will now transition into being a part of the Master Gardeners’s alumni network.

URI’s Soil Judging Team took second place in both team and group categories at the recent Northeast Regional Soil Judging Competition. As students dig into the technical details of soil, they’re also developing a deeper understanding of soil’s central role in the environment.

On Alaska’s Prince of Wales Island, gray wolves are exhibiting surprising behavior: hunting sea otters. URI Ph.D. candidate Patrick Bailey is investigating this shift to understand how wolves adapt to changing environments and how it affects coastal ecosystems.

At a recent forum in Indonesia, URI and Rhode Island DEM helped representatives from Southeast Asian nations shape fisheries policy, data-management, and regional cooperation by sharing expertise in managing migratory fish.

Aquaculture/Fisheries Professor Marta Gomez-Chiarri is leading efforts at the University of Rhode Island to help position New England as a national leader in the seafood industry, hoping to secure final funding through the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Regional Innovation Engines program.

URI’s Coco Committee offers a unique blend of service, education, and animal care. Founded in Spring 2023, the club has grown to include 30–35 active members who participate in regular community outreach events, including nursing home visits and on-campus appearances.