The College of Engineering is home to more than 75 faculty whose research tackles today’s most pressing local and global challenges. From coastal resiliency and offshore wind energy to robotics, nanotechnology, and water reuse, our faculty lead nationally and internationally recognized work that blends interdisciplinary discovery with user-driven, applied solutions to real-world problems.
Over the past two decades, the College of Engineering at the University of Rhode Island has received 16 CAREER Awards from the National Science Foundation—more than half of all such awards granted to URI faculty. Four faculty have also earned prestigious Young Investigator Awards from the Office of Naval Research. These national honors reflect both the exceptional talent of our early-career faculty and the growing recognition of URI Engineering’s leadership in key research areas, including resilient infrastructure, advanced materials, AI and cybersecurity, robotics, biomedical technologies, and naval and marine engineering.
This momentum is backed by a dramatic rise in research activity. Since 2017, external research funding has has an eight time increase, driven by interdisciplinary collaboration with government, industry, and academic partners at the state, national, and global levels.
Research News
Samantha Kipper B.S. ’26 - Samantha Kipper, of Huntington Beach, California, graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a bachelor’s degree in ocean engineering and minor in sustainability before heading off to pursue graduate studies.“I was enticed by the friendly faculty, course content, and research focus of URI,” said Kipper on making the trek across the country for her […]
NSF CAREER awarded to engineering professor to study new class of fluidic acoustic metamaterials - KINGSTON, R.I. – May 06, 2026 — Mechanical engineering assistant professor Yang Lin has been awarded the prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award. The CAREER program is one of NSF’s most competitive and highly regarded awards for early-career faculty, recognizing those who demonstrate strong potential to serve as academic role models while advancing the mission […]
College of Engineering’s 2026 Excellence Award Recipients - KINGSTON, R.I. – May 1, 2026 – The University of Rhode Island’s hosted their academic excellence award ceremony on April 30, 2026. URI proudly sponsors the University Academic Excellence Awards to recognize outstanding achievements in research and scholarship, teaching and service, and graduate education. These awards celebrate the faculty, staff, and students whose contributions advance […]