The Soil and Groundwater Contamination and Remediation Field School is a partnership between the University of Rhode Island (URI) and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM) that gives students hands-on experience assessing and remediating contaminated sites. Working alongside URI faculty and RIDEM professionals, participants combine classroom learning with fieldwork to develop practical skills in environmental investigation and cleanup.

What Students Do

Site Assessment
Students learn how to identify and evaluate subsurface contamination through:
– Soil boring and sampling
– Photoionization detector (PID) screening
– Monitoring well installation using the Geoprobe® system
– Groundwater gauging and sampling

Remediation
Students also gain experience with remediation efforts, including:
– Slug testing
– Evaluating and selecting remediation technologies

Why Participate?
The field school gives students experience beyond the classroom while building technical skills sought by environmental employers. Participants work directly with professionals from URI and RIDEM and contribute to real-world environmental projects.

Program Leadership
The field school is coordinated by Dr. Tom Boving, professor and chair of the Department of Earth Sciences, Planning, and Design at URI, and Michael Cote environmental scientist with RIDEM’s Underground Storage Tank Management Program and Office of Land Revitalization and Sustainable Materials Management.

Contact Information
For more information contact: tboving@uri.edu, michael.cote@dem.ri.gov, lina.fuentezlopez.int@dem.ri.gov.