April 29, 2026

Nine students will share their experiences at the University of Rhode Island and words of encouragement and wisdom with fellow graduates during the University’s Spring 2026 Commencement Weekend, held May 15-17 in the Ryan Center on the Kingston Campus.

URI will celebrate the achievements of approximately 3,400 graduate and undergraduate degree recipients with their families and friends—and student speakers will again be part of the pomp and circumstance. On May 17 at 9 a.m., Zoie Ndonye of the College of the Environment and Life Sciences and Asta Habtemichael of the Graduate School of Oceanography will speak to their fellow graduates at a joint ceremony for the two colleges.

Asta Habtemichael, from Eritrea, will graduate with a doctorate in oceanography. A member of GSO’s Lohmann Lab and trainee in the STEEP Superfund Research Program, Habtemichael pursued interdisciplinary research around bioaccumulation of persistent pollutants in the marine food web. Notably, he spent the last year in Washington D.C. as a John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellow, completing a prestigious NOAA-funded fellowship that places recent graduate students in offices either in the Executive or Legislative branch of government.

Looking to the future, he will participate in the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education’s postdoctoral fellowship program to conduct research at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington. URI became Habtemichael’s second home, he said, meeting collaborators and friends, and building lasting relationships along the way.

“I feel proud being an alum of such an incredible institution,” Habtemichael said. “My academic, research, and service experiences at URI have taught me the importance of humility, empathy, and community in leadership. As a scientist, I carry these values with me as I engage with different communities to tackle deep-rooted and complex problems and develop holistic solutions.”