Around the world, more than three times the population of the United States lack access to safe drinking water and more than 2 million people–most of them children–die every year from water-borne illnesses. Tsunamis are both unpredictable and deadly.
At the University of Rhode Island, researchers are seeking better ways to provide potable water and stop pollution from contaminating water supplies.
Associate Professor Vinka Oyanedel-Craver is helping communities in remote villages in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, India, Jordan, and Kenya manufacture inexpensive ceramic water filters. Her students have developed a small, portable solar water treatment system for the rural city in the Dominican Republic.
Assistant Professor Ali Akanda and his expertise in computer modeling of water supplies, floods and droughts. He combines the models with research in water security, climate change and global health to create early warning systems to benefit public health.
Tsunamis are both unpredictable and deadly. 100,000 souls were lost during the Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami in 2004. Distinguished Engineering Professor Stephan Grilli is studying Tsunamis, and is considered one of the world experts on the topic.
Fulbright Award Winner to Make Clean Water Access a Priority - By Hugh Markey Professor Joseph Goodwill of the College of Engineering will soon be bringing his teaching and researching skills to the University of Trento in Italy now that he has become a Fulbright scholar. Goodwill studies and teaches the application of physics and chemical principles to improve water quality, with the objective to improve […]
Save the whales- but from what? - By Hugh Markey When ten whales washed up on the New Jersey shoreline over the course a few months in 2023, people were understandably concerned. What happened here? How did these beautiful animals meet such ignominious deaths? Might the cause have something to do with wind turbines? URI Ocean Engineering Prof. James Miller says the […]
Offshore wind turbines not cause of whale strandings, deaths, says URI ocean engineering professor - James Miller, University of Rhode Island professor of ocean engineering and department chair, answered several questions recently about whether wind turbines have an effect on whale safety and health.
The van Beuren Charitable Foundation Awards $3 Million to URI - March 13, 2023 – The van Beuren Charitable Foundation has generously awarded the University of Rhode Island a $3 million grant to support the development of a new Ocean Engineering Complex on the URI Narragansett Bay Campus (NBC) that will propel the development of the region’s blue economy.
Engineering isn’t about doing research for the sake of doing research. It should be useful and make an impact in people's livesAssociate Professor, Vinka Oyanedel-Craver
Faculty
Associate Professor and Department Chair
Civil and Environmental Engineering
401.874.2693 – lt@uri.edu
Associate Professor and Graduate Director
Civil and Environmental Engineering
401.874.7050 – akanda@uri.edu
Professor (Courtesy Appointment)
Civil and Environmental Engineering and Geosciences
401.874.7053 – tboving@uri.edu
Professor & Associate Dean of Research
Civil and Environmental Engineering
401.874.2784 – craver@uri.edu
