As part of a CELS Summer Research Fellowship, Sharday Johnson is investigating whether a decades-old parasitic wasp is still protecting Rhode Island farms from a costly insect pest — research that could help reduce pesticide use across the state.

Through a summer internship in URI’s Biocontrol Lab, Andrew Swiader is helping rear tiny parasitoid wasps that could offer a natural defense against an invasive crop pest

A new project led by Simona Trandafir, associate professor in URI’s Department of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, will map how food moves through Rhode Island by tracing production and distribution networks from farms to buyers and linking them to where consumers shop.

Hosted by the University of Rhode Island, the Northeast SARE Farm Tour highlighted how farmer-led research and university, regulatory agencies and other partnerships, are advancing sustainable agriculture across the region.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature has reassessed the conservation status of all six Antarctic seal species, with contributions from Renato Borras-Chavez, a postdoctoral researcher in the College of the Environment and Life Sciences. His work aims to close critical knowledge gaps about the region’s seal species, helping to inform future conservation efforts.

CELS Summer Research Fellow Alyssa Kruger is helping researchers better understand how pollinators interact with native flowering plants in southern New England and how climate change is reshaping those relationships.