Discovering tomorrow.

$35M+Research Funding

75+Faculty

50+Active Research Projects

$150MNew Facilities

The College of Engineering has over 75 tenured / tenure-track faculty performing research focusing on solving the most pressing local and global challenges. Their nationally and internationally recognized research expertise encompasses areas such as coastal resiliency, materials for extreme environments, nanotechnology, robotics, underwater exploration, offshore wind energy, and water reuse, among others, using an interdisciplinary and user-oriented approach to integrate the discovery of fundamental knowledge and applied research to solve societal issues.

The College of Engineering hosts three research centers funded by federal, state, and private sources and two research core facilities with more than $10M on state-of-the-art characterization and analytical capabilities.

Over the past 5 years, the College of Engineering has received 6 NSF CAREER Awards (60% of all URI NSF CAREER) and 4 ONR Young Investigator Awards. Our faculty’s research activity thrives thanks to the extensive collaboration across engineering disciplines, the university at large, government, academia, and industry worldwide.

This has resulted in a doubling of external research funding from 2016 to 2022, from $6M to $18M. A $150M investment in the Fascitelli Center for Advanced Engineering (opened in 2019) and the recent approval of state bond to build the new Ocean Engineering building at the Bay Campus is giving URI Engineering some of the best engineering facilities in the country.

Take a look at the construction of the new Ocean Robotics Laboratory.

Fascitelli Center for Advanced Engineering and Shimadzu Core Laboratories

A state-of-the-art, 190,000 square foot, $150M complex. More than $15M in core analytical equipment for use by our researchers and for hire by external researchers.

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Faculty Research Labs

More than 75 labs with cutting-edge research, from sensors to voting systems.

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Engineering Computer Center (ECC)

The Engineering Computer Center serves as the hub for computer educational services and support for the College of Engineering. The center manages more than 100 workstations along with printers, plotters, scanners and sophisticated software for student and faculty use.

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Research Themes

Alternative Energy, Biomedical, Clean Water, Cyber Security, Nanotechnology, Robotics, Sensors

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National Center for Underwater Vehicle Technology (NIUVT)

The National Institute for Undersea Vehicle Technology is a URI and UCONN-industry partnership that collaborates with the Navy to advance the capabilities of the next generation US undersea fleet by training innovative workforce and by accelerating the research, development, and transition of key enabling technologies.

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Center for Cyber-Physical Intelligence and Security

The Center is committed to advance fundamental research, technology advancement and transfer, as well as workforce and education development in broad domains of cyber-physical security and trustworthy artificial intelligence (AI). The Center develops partnerships among academic, industry, and government on innovations to secure and intelligent critical cyber-physical systems, address the workforce gap in cyber-physical security and artificial intelligence, and foster technology transfer with lasting impact.

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RI Water Resources Center

The Rhode Island Water Resources Center is one of the 54 Water Resources Research Institutes located at the land-grant university in each state, the District of Columbia, and three U.S. territories. Created by Congress through the Water Resources Research Act of 1984 and administrated by the U.S. Geological Survey. Changes in climate patterns, emerging contaminants of concerns, social and economic changes are putting pressure on our local, regional, and global water resources. To solve this complex problem, participation from a diverse pool of stakeholders is needed.

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News in Research

Biomedical Graduate Pursues Pre-Med Track - Saying the University of Rhode Island always felt like home is probably an understatement for Joseph Confessore, ’25. Not only is he from just a town over in North Kingstown, but he attended alongside his twin sister, Mia, both carrying on the legacy of URI graduates in his family that started with his great-grandfather in […]
URI taking part in international research to measure hydrogen emissions - Researchers from the University of Rhode Island are partnering with a team including global industry leaders to measure hydrogen emissions from operating infrastructure in North America and Europe, filling a gap in empirical data.

New phase of deep-sea research on fragile organisms using novel technology begins for URI professor - URI Professor Brennan Phillips will work with multidisciplinary team of scientists to glean greater details about fragile marine animals
Grad student pursues commercialization of startup - Andrew Sheerin, civil and environmental engineering, M.S. ’23, Ph.D. ’25, of Newport, Rhode Island, came to the graduate program at the University of Rhode Island to deepen his understanding of sustainable systems and address his research gaps. He had a background in systems engineering and computer science, having earned a B.S. from George Washington University […]