Compiled and edited by Veronica M. Berounsky
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1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s | In Memoriam
1970s
Candace Oviatt, Ph.D. ’67, received the GSO Dean’s Award for the URI Distinguished Achievement Awards given on October 23, 2021. Before that, Oviatt gave a seminar on October 20 and was introduced by Dean Paula Bontempi, Ph.D. ’01, who listed some of Oviatt’s “firsts:” in first class of GSO, first woman to receive her Ph.D. from GSO, first woman on the Trident (1964), first woman on the GSO faculty (1970), and first woman to become full professor (1982). In November the R.I. Natural History Survey selected Oviatt to receive its Distinguished Naturalist Award. In April 2022, Oviatt was one of five scientists honored as Distinguished Senior Fellows, URI Coastal Institute’s highest honor. Oviatt was recognized for her coastal research, particularly for her work on nitrogen and climate change
In September, the Coastal Resources Center (CRC)’s celebrated their 50th Anniversary with “CRC at 50 Years: Successes and Future of Coastal Management.” Lynne Hale, M.S. ’75, who worked at CRC for years, was moderator for some of the talks. In October Lynne and Steve Hale, M.S. ’74, moved to a farm in northwestern Vermont. Their goal is to make it a net zero energy home.
Robert D. Ballard, Ph.D. ’74, Hon. ’86, was invited to give two important talks for URI. In October 2021, he gave the 2021 Charles and Marie Fish Lecture: “Adventures In Deep Sea Exploration: Living the Dream” at District Hall Providence and also live-streamed. The talk was based on his recent memoir, Into the Deep. Ballard also delivered the keynote address for the University of Rhode Island’s 136th Commencement ceremony to the class of 2022 from aboard the E/V Nautilus, located in the Pacific, on May 22, 2022.
CK Unni, Ph.D. ’76, spent 12 years at GSO (1969-1981), a time he considers “a wonderful part of my life.” During a visit to Denver in April 2022, Unni visited with Lola Tapia, M.S. ’76. Both were graduate students in geological oceanography under Prof. Jean-Guy Schilling. He says “Lola is vibrant as ever and enjoying her retired life with outdoor activities like hiking, bicycling, skiing and kayaking with friends. Unfortunately, she lost her husband in 2018 after being married for 34 years.”
William (Bill) White, Ph.D. ’77, was awarded the Urey Medal for 2022 by the European Association of Geochemistry. The association noted his “research has focused on using radiogenic isotope ratios to understand the sources of volcanism and the large-scale evolution of the Earth’s mantle.”
1980s
In December, Steve Granger, M.S. ’84, was inducted into the URI Lifetime Service Society which honors retired staff and faculty members who were employed at the University of Rhode Island for 40 or more years. Granger worked as the lab and field manager for Professor Scott Nixon and later worked for facilities and was known for turning faculty and student visions for research projects into practical reality.
Huasheng Hong, Ph. D. ’84, is a professor for the State Key Lab of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
Robert Kenney, Ph.D. ’84, a marine research scientist at GSO, was interviewed in 41N, the R.I. Sea Grant magazine, for the article “Saving an Endangered Species and Iconic Fishery.” Kenney discussed his research on right whales and his role as co-founder of the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium.
Harry (Chip) McCarty, Ph.D. ’84, wrote “I am still working as a government contractor in the D.C. Metro area. I have supported the same clients at EPA for 36 years now, under five different company names, as small companies were gobbled up by bigger ones, etc. My daughter went to URI and now lives in Wakefield, R.I. During a recent visit, I was pleasantly surprised that despite the growth of the whole area, there are still a number of things downtown that have not changed since I lived there from 1978 to 1984.”
In August 2022, Esther C. Peters, Ph. D. ’84, will be promoted to Professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at George Mason University in Fairfax Va., where she has been since 2008. She continues researching invertebrate diseases, especially corals, and is teaching comparative histopathology, conservation medicine, and wildlife diseases, as well as lab histotechniques. She also assists teaching a SCUBA course and training American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS) graduate student divers.
Walter Berry, Ph.D. ’87, retired from the Environmental Protection Agency at the end of December. Happily for GSO, he is willing to continue to work on the Harpoon Seminar, and as chair of the committee for the alum funds for students. In April, Berry’s nomination as an “Environmental Science” member of the Rhode Island Rivers Council was approved by the R.I. Senate for appointment by Governor Daniel McKee.
Legally blind since 1983, WHOI oceanographer Amy Bower, Ph.D. ’88, founded a new project, “Accessible Oceans,” to increase opportunities for the blind, those with learning impediments, and other segments of the population who are underrepresented in science. Bower is working with Leslie Smith, Ph.D. ’11, owner of Your Ocean Consulting LLC to develop auditory displays and “data sonification” to convey complex quantitative ocean science information.
Since retiring in 2017 from NOAA and moving to southern Maine, Linda Stathoplos Ph.D. ’89, (pictured at top) has taught classes on “Climate Change in Wells, Maine” through the Wells-Ogunquit Adult Education program, and the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve. With her husband, John Lillibridge (who worked at GSO for Professor Tom Rossby) they continue to do volunteer monthly beach profiling, sending Ogunquit Beach profile data to Steve Dickson, M.S. ’86, who is now the Maine Geological Survey State Geologist.
Ewa Wlodarczyk, M.S ’88, is now retired and still living in her native Poland.
1990s
Barbara A. Dorf, Ph.D. ’94, who retired in 2018 from Texas Parks and Wildlife, writes “when Tracy A. Villareal, Ph.D. ’89, retired from the University of Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute we moved to Vancouver, Wash.! No more mosquitos! No more hurricanes!”
Veronica M. Berounsky, Ph.D. ’90, is chair of the the Rhode Island Rivers Council, which received a grant from the Appalachian Mountain Club Waters and Rivers Protection Fund to develop and produce videos on three of their member rivers and watersheds.
Joceline Boucher, Ph.D. ’91, officially retired from Maine Maritime Academy but still has one student project to tend to. In cleaning out her office, where she has worked for over 30 years, Joceline came across the “Bay Notes” from March 30, 1984, which was the Friday before April Fool’s Day and sent it to GSO. This will probably show up at the 2023 Harpoon Seminar!
Professor Steven D’Hondt and Marine Research Scientist Robert Pockalny, Ph.D. ’91, led the February research cruise on the R/V Neil Armstrong where they collected cores from the deepest part of the Puerto Rico Trench, about 8,385 meters (27,510 feet or 5.21 miles). These cores are believed to be the deepest water core samples ever taken in the Atlantic. The science team collected the cores to investigate how microbes living beneath the sea floor respond to a high-pressure environment.
2000s
U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (left), sporting a classic GSO polo shirt that was a gift from his wife Sandra Thorton Whitehouse, Ph.D. ’84, caught up with R. Duncan McIntosh, MMA ’18 (center), and Whitley Saumweber, Ph.D. ’05 (right), in Palau at the “Our Ocean” Conference.
Rebecca Asch, M.S. ’06, was the recipient of 2022 Dean’s Early Career Award for East Carolina University’s Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences. Asch, a student of Professor Jeremy Collie, received her Ph.D. from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, did post-doctoral research at Princeton University and joined the faculty of ECU in 2017.
In December, Lauren B. Decker, M.S. ’09, was named by the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development as a “2021 Native American 40 Under 40 Award Recipient.” Lauren, a Yup’ik Alaska Native, is co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer for PolArctic and provides scientific consulting expertise in research, modeling, and data analysis.
In February, Joseph Kuehl, Ph.D. ’09, now at the University of Delaware, gave a virtual seminar at GSO entitled “Ocean Systems Analysis of the processes governing Loop Current systems.”
Colleen Mouw, M.S. ’03, Ph.D. ’09, has been a professor at GSO since September 2016. As of January 2022, she is also the Associate Dean for Diversity and Academic Affairs for the URI Graduate School.
2010s
Natasha Pinckard Dickenson, M.S. ’10, a marine scientist at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, R.I., was the March GSO Student-Alum Networking Seminar speaker. She spoke about, “A Non-Traditional Path Along the Seafloor.”
Louis A Licate, M.S. ’10, is the Engineering Division Deputy Chief for NOAA’s Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS), the source for accurate tides, water levels, currents, and other coastal oceanographic and meteorological information.
Laura Windecker, M.S. ’10, is a program officer at the National Academies of Sciences in Washington D.C. Her big news is that after nearly two years of hard work as the study director, the report, “An Approach for Assessing U.S. Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration,” was released this year. In her free time, she races her Laser sailboat on the Potomac River.
For the month of March, the “If Then, She Can” display on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. presented 120 life-size statues that honored contemporary women who have made significant contributions in science. Two have ties to GSO: Katherine “Katy” Croff-Bell, Ph.D. ’11, and Allison Fundis, COO of the Ocean Exploration Trust. Katy’s statue is now featured in the Ocean Hall at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.
Anupa Asokan, M.O. ’12, is now a Senior Oceans Advocate for the Natural Resources Defense Council
Nathan Vinhateiro, Ph.D. ’12, is working on a project for the URI’s Coastal Institute that is documenting how much beach the public can actually access in R.I. and for how long over the course of a typical day.
Now living in in Riccarton, a suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand, with her husband John Montgomery (Ocean Engineering), Kelsey Obenour Montgomery, M.S. ’13, is a hydrological modelling technician at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.
Justine Sauvage, M.S.’13, Ph.D. ’18, was elected into the Young Academy, part of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts and the Royal Academy of Dutch Language and Literature. The Young Academy is an interdisciplinary meeting place of top young researchers and artists to discuss science, society, art and policy. Sauvage, who was a student of Professor Steven D’Hondt, is researching the conversion of carbon dioxide and renewable hydrogen into microbial biomass.
The February GSO Student-Alum Networking Seminar speaker, Erin Markham, M.S. ’15, a hydrographer at Leidos in Newport R.I., talked about her career in “Just Over the Bridge: Mapping the Path to a Career in Hydrographic Survey.”
On April 7, several alums returned to the Bay Campus to participate in events leading up to the Scott W. Nixon Lecture. All events were organized and sponsored by the Coastal Institute. A breakfast panel discussion, “Coffee and Climate: The Future of Our Coastal Zone,” was led by Candace Oviatt, Ph.D. ’67, her students—Jason Krumholz, Ph. D. ’12, and Brita Jessen, Ph.D. ’16, and others. Present graduate students attended the lunchtime discussion “Between a Trek and a Stroll: Pathways to a Career,” with Anna Pfeiffer-Herbert, Ph.D. ’12, Jason Krumholz, and Leslie Smith, Ph.D. ’11, and moderated by Nathan Vinhateiro, Ph.D. ’12. In the afternoon, the theme for the Nixon Lecture was “Shaping Our Future: Ensuring Sustainable Life in the Coastal Zone” and it was a panel of three speakers, including Jessen who earned her Ph.D. with Scott W. Nixon and Candace A. Oviatt. A recording of the Nixon Lecture is available at ci.uri.edu/nixon2022.
In April, the Student-Alum Networking Seminar Series presented three GSO graduates who are all working in fisheries at the R.I. Department of Environmental Management. The speakers were (From left) Chief, Division of Marine Fisheries, Conor McManus, M.S. ’12, Ph.D. ’17; Supervising Marine Biologist, Division of Marine Fisheries, Corinne Truesdale, M.S. ’18; and Deputy Director, Bureau of Natural Resources, Jason McNamee, Ph.D. ’18.
Carrie McDonough, Ph.D. ’17, of the Department of Civil Engineering at Stony Brook University, gave a talk to the URI Department of Chemistry in November on “Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and fluorinated organic ‘dark matter’ in human blood.”
2020s
In December, Kevin Rosa, Ph.D., ’20, and co-founder of Current Lab was named by R.I. Monthly as a winner of the “Next Tech Generation—the future of the industry.” Kevin wants to make ocean data “more open, accessible and useful” and have local algal bloom predictions as “straight forward as local weather forecasts.”
Olivia Ahern (Schmidt), Ph.D. ’21, is currently a postdoctoral scientist working for senior scientist Julie Huber at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and senior scientist Joseph Vallino at the Marine Biological Laboratory, in Falmouth, MA.
Raytheon Technologies in Portsmouth, R.I. has employed GSO graduates over the years. Now John Cosgrove, M.O. ’21, is there as a senior principal engineer and Kevin P. Bongiovanni, M.O. ’21, is an engineering fellow.
In Memoriam
Leonard A. Tucciarone
Leonard (Lenny) A. Tucciarone, age 88, passed away May 19, 2022. He was born on March 1, 1934, a son of the late Daniel and Mary (Rasile) Tucciarone. He was the beloved husband of the late Elaine R. (Bongignore) Tucciarone and leaves five children, seven grandchildren, and 8 great-grandchildren. He was an artist who loved to paint pictures and china as well as teach people how to paint china. He loved his family. He could find humor in almost any situation and loved laughing with his family and friends.
Lenny was a Senior Maintenance Technician at GSO for ten years, from 01/18/1987 until his retirement on 03/02/1997. He worked closely with Dave Traficante. Bob Sand remembers working with him about 1990 in Horn and Watkins labs when the GSO Computer Center first ran network cables in those buildings. Eric Klos noted that “Lenny was known for his carpentry and painting. He built many of the custom bookshelves at GSO. Lenny came to Maintenance Christmas parties for several years after he retired and always brought cannoli. He was a great guy.”
Condolences to the family can be sent to the Pontarelli-Marino Funeral Home, 971 Branch Ave, Providence. On May 23 a Mass of Christian Burial was held in St. Ann Church, 280 Hawkins St, Providence. He proudly served in the United States Navy during the Korean War and burial with military honors was in the R.I. Veterans’ Cemetery, Exeter. His full obituary with photo can be found online.
Barbara Lathrop Welsh, Ph.D. ’73
The esteemed scientist, accomplished sailor, and role model for women, Barbara Welsh, passed away at age 86, on January 31, 2022, after a long illness. Born July 30, 1935, In New London, Conn., Barb learned to sail on Long Island Sound as a young girl. Sailing and racing became a lifelong passion, and her scientific life’s work became understanding Long Island Sound. Barb received her Ph.D. from GSO in 1973, working with her major professor Nelson Marshall on grass shrimp in Bissel Cove. Meanwhile, Barb was also raising her five children at home in New London, so spent much time commuting. Barb became a tenure-track university professor at both the University of Connecticut, Storrs and Avery Point campuses, and the first female faculty member of the university’s Department of Marine Sciences, hired in the 1980s. Because of her interest in Long Island Sound, she led several studies for the State of Connecticut including establishing hypoxia monitoring and nitrogen management programs in Long Island Sound. Her research revealed phytoplankton blooms and the resulting alarmingly low oxygen concentrations in Western Long Island Sound in the summer.
Barb was respected internationally. She led teams within the U.S. and Puerto Rico to study the environmental impacts of oil spills. She was president of New England Estuarine Research Society (NEERS) from 1976-78, and later was elected president of its parent organization, Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF). During her term, 1981-1983, she led a team of scientists to China to learn about the watersheds and give a paper on the effects of industry on the environment of their bays and estuaries. Her husband (and sailing partner) Bob Welsh was very supportive and sometimes attended NEERS and CERF meetings with her. Barb traveled the world during sabbaticals and numerous research projects with her graduate students, and also often with Bob and their children.
Donations in memory of Barbara Welsh may be made to the LLS-Leukemia and Lymphoma Society or the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. The family will announce a Celebration of Life ceremony at a later date. Condolences can be sent to her family at 52 Shore Dr., Waterford, CT 06385. Arrangements made by Byles Memorial Home, 99 Huntington St. New London, CT. Her full obituary with photo can be found online.
Thomas E. White
Thomas “Tom” White died on November 3, 2021, at age 87 in Smyrna, Del. He is survived by his son Thomas Jr. of Belmont, N.C., daughter Kathryn Lemon of Smyrna, Del., son Stephen of East Greenwich, R.I., ten grandchildren and thirteen great-grandchildren.
Tom was born in 1933, on a farm in West Virginia. Tom felt that the United States Marine Corps, where he served from 1952-55, enabled him to move from the farm to executive positions at two universities.
He graduated from URI in 1959 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. He moved the family to Washington, D.C. to work for the U.S. General Accounting Office.
In 1964 he returned to URI to become the Business Administrator of GSO. Tom hired Richard McGannon. Tom also hired Sue Ann Burgess in 1967 when she was 18. Sue Ann remembers Tom: “He was a good boss.That was back in the day when GSO was still small. My office received packages and sold sandwiches and we had a 50-extension telephone board. I was the Lily Tomlin operator. Good memories.”
In 1979 Tom moved to be head of the Contracts and Grants Office at the University of Delaware. He retired from there in 1996.
Interment was made at Glenwood Cemetery, East Greenwich, RI on November 13, 2021
Donations may be made in Tom’s memory to St. Luke’s Catholic Church, Rangeley, Maine 04970, or to any worthy cause. Tom lived with his daughter Kathy Lemon and condolences can be sent to her at 45 Larkspur Lane, Smyrna, Del. 19977. His full obituary with photo can be found online.