A forestry extension specialist at the University of Rhode Island, Christopher Riely works with faculty and students across campus, and off-campus partners, to help improve Rhode Island’s forests and the wildlife they support.

Alex Rebelo and Alannah Lee, both animal science and technology majors, are working on conservation efforts alongside Justin Richard, assistant professor in the Department of Fisheries, Animal and Veterinary Science, to ensure native New England cottontails are born and released into the wild every year to support declining populations and establish new ones

Earlier this month, the Blue Trail in URI’s North Woods was busy with students investigating vernal pool amphibians, aquatic invertebrates, camera trapping as part of the Department of Natural Resources Science field day.

Cooperative Extension is hosting this year’s 31st annual Rhode Island Food Safety Task Force Conference on Thursday, April 24. The conference, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Radisson Hotel in Warwick, will provide attendees with information on the Food Safety Modernization Act’s Food Traceability Rule and how it applies to food businesses and operations.

“It has completely evolved my knowledge and opinions on animals in aquaria, animal behavior, and has made me think about how to convey knowledge in an accessible way,” Pizzano says. “It has been rewarding to research animals that have been minimally studied and to make sense of their behaviors in social and other contexts.” 

‘Community of Practice’ listening sessions to launch this April, part of URI Energy Literacy Initiative

New science shows that overfishing is eroding the sustainability of tropical coral reef fisheries in East Africa, with small-scale fishers losing out on fisheries productivity as entire species disappear from their catch. “These diverse species provide essential proteins and micronutrients that aren’t easily replaced, threatening both food security and the livelihoods of fishing families,” says Associate Professor Austin Humphries of URI’s Department of Fisheries, Animal and Veterinary Sciences.

URI’s Natural Resources Science department launching solution to identify and address roadkill hotspots in state with virtual data collected by Rhode Islanders

Emma Ventura, a senior in environmental science and management, worked with the URI Cooperative Extension’s Vegetable Production Program, collaborating with Dr. David Weisberger. a crop scientist and Extension agent.

Madison Jones, assistant professor of professional and public writing and natural resources science, is helping both students and scholars shift the ways that we approach writing and rhetoric, specifically in the context of environmental advocacy. He and co-editor Sid Dobrin’s recent book “Rhetorical Ecologies” dives into the history behind, and contemporary work that employs, ecology as a term and concept within writing and rhetoric.