At the College of the Environment and Life Sciences, you’ll deepen your understanding of the living world and your place within it.
The work that happens here is rooted in our land- and sea-grant mission, and connected to the needs of the local, regional, and global communities. Our faculty researchers work collaboratively across disciplines, drawing from a broad, inclusive field of human knowledge to make critical discoveries within their fields. URI’s core research facilities and specialized labs offer the latest technologies that will enable you to gather field data, synthesize vast amounts of information, and develop solutions to real world challenges. Whether you are interested in urban food systems; protecting marine wildlife; understanding what makes an organism adapt and an ecosystem thrive; or assisting policy makers in the shift towards renewable energy and sustainable natural resource management, you’ll find your place here.
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Education and engagement with Rhode Island communities is at the core of what we do. As a land-grant and sea-grant university, our mission is to ensure URI provides education and applied research that helps communities and improves the lives of Rhode Islanders.
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Rhode Island 2026 food summit aims to meet the moment January 7, 2026 - On Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, starting at 9 a.m., the free event will bring state government, academic, business, and community partners together in person for URI’s ninth Rhode Island Food System Summit to discuss ways to build the state’s food future.
URI and local colleagues solicit hunter-harvested ducks to study microplastic ingestion by waterfowl January 5, 2026 - Four Rhode Island institutions partner in GI/ingestion study to assess microplastic levels in Narragansett Bay waterfowl
Dr. Becky Sartini Completes APLU’s Food Systems Leadership Institute January 2, 2026 - Associate Dean Becky Sartini recently completed the Food Systems Leadership Institute, a two-year program that equips leaders across the country to a
URI researchers uncover molecular mechanisms behind speciation in corals December 29, 2025 - Matías Gómez-Corrales, a recent biological sciences Ph.D. graduate, and his advisor, Associate Professor Carlos Prada, have published a paper in Nature Communications, revealing key mechanisms in speciation in corals and proposing a new hypothesis on the origin of species in the ocean.
