Aboard GSO, Fall 2021
2020
Paula S. Bontempi (Ph.D. ’01) arrives as GSO’s sixth dean.
Many in the GSO community participate in the Ocean Race Summit to share solutions and experiences around critical issues relating to ocean health.
The Charles and Marie Fish Lecture is delivered online. The event features investigative journalist Ian Urbina with a live discussion about his reporting
on environmental and human rights crimes at sea through The Outlaw Ocean Project.
The annual Coastweeks celebration of the coast offers virtual and socially distant events for all ages through the month, sponsored in Rhode Island by R.I. Sea Grant, the Coastal Resources Center and the Coastal Resources Management Council.
The STEEP Superfund program hosts the online “PFAS In Our World: What We Know and What We Can Do” conference with an emphasis on how the next generation of scientists can rise to meet the PFAS crisis.
R/V Endeavor embarks on a 19-day cruise to Gulfport, Miss., her first visit to another port since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
The Knauss Quadrangle memorial plaque returns to public display, set in a boulder of Narragansett Granite that was quarried in Westerly, R.I.
A pillar of the GSO and Sea Grant communities for decades, R.I. Sea Grant Director Dennis Nixon retires.
Angel Reyes Delgado, a 2020 SURFO student who worked in Kelton McMahon’s lab researching cod in southern New England, wins the AGU 2020 virtual meeting Outstanding Student Presentation Award.
2021
The UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2031) begins. GSO community members submit five “Ocean Shots”—ambitious, transformational research proposals to fundamentally advance ocean science.
Adam Soule is appointed director of the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute and joins the GSO community as a Professor of Oceanography.
Dean Bontempi establishes a JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) Committee within the Narragansett Bay Campus community. Volunteers are charged with crafting a charter, developing a strategic plan for JEDI at GSO, and articulating an overall agenda for change.
The Student-Alum Networking Series kicks off. The program of virtual talks allows students to hear from alumni about their work and career paths and fosters relationships between students and alumni.
A URI virtual film screening is held for the documentary film “Frozen Obsession,” which follows the 18-day, 2,000-mile Northwest Passage Project expedition through the stunningly beautiful Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The Inner Space Center, GSO faculty and students, and film producer David Clark participate in a post-screening panel discussion.
TEDxURI 2021, “Decoding the Language of Climate,” is broadcast live. GSO researchers are among the leading climate scientists, philosophers, professors and designers from around New England who share their unique experiences and perspectives of this multifaceted field.
The webinar series “Offshore Renewable Energy: Learning As We Go” continues. The series shares URI’s learning of various aspects of the offshore wind energy (OWE) industry and is a production of R.I. Sea Grant, Coastal Resources Center, GSO and District Hall Providence.
Anthony Geffen, a pioneer in immersive storytelling, gives a Vetlesen Distinguished Speaker Series talk about the emergence of immersive technologies and their potential within the oceanographic community.
MARITiMES, a new GSO email newsletter launches with a monthly summary of top stories, upcoming events and trending topics.
A global GSO community joins the virtual Harpoon Seminar, a decades-old tradition where Bay Campus folks give scientific talks about subjects appropriate for April Fool’s Day.
Nearly 200 R.I. K-12 students, and 25 professional artists, display their work at “Ocean View,” an art exhibit and youth art competition at the URI Feinstein Providence Campus to celebrate GSO’s 60th anniversary.
Twenty-three new GSO graduates are feted at the annual GSO Shirting Ceremony.
GSO professor Robert Ballard (Ph.D. ’74) shares his 50-year career of discovery in a memoir, Into the Deep, recounting the backstories of many of his greatest adventures, as well as some personal revelations.
12 students from across the U.S. and its territories are welcomed for the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship in Oceanography (SURFO) program.
In recognition of World Ocean Day, students, staff and faculty share their ocean knowledge with visitors to the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence.
URI, the East Coast Oceanographic Consortium and the NSF announce a name for the new regional class research vessel: Narragansett Dawn. A committee reviewed 141 submissions to the national contest. The name celebrates excellence in ocean research and declares our commitment to justice, diversity, equity and inclusion.
In an online gathering, faculty, students, staff and alumni join in a toast, celebration and games to usher in the 60th anniversary of GSO’s founding on July 1, the day the school was officially established in 1961.