Aboard GSO, Fall 2024
It all started 60 years ago…
Perhaps the warmest moment at the Graduate School of Oceanography observed its 60th anniversary this year. The traditional boat burning was started by the late Don Gordon, M.S. ’64, who merged a picnic welcoming new students with his need to dispose of a derelict boat. The occasion proved so popular that every academic year since has kicked off with a boat burning.
For the diamond jubilee, the Chowder and Marching Society, with help from GSO senior maintenance technician Tom Penhallow, appropriated one of the largest wooden boats in event history. Into this boat, Arthur Gaines, Ph.D. ’75, tucked a note to Gordon, his GSO classmate. Before Gordon passed away earlier this year, he wrote to GSO: “My fond thoughts will be with you all in early September at the 60th boat burning, a fine tradition I am pleased to have started.”
The huge blaze did justice to the occasion. Associate Professor Jaime Palter was the featured speaker. She offered two pieces of advice to students: “First, remember your original motivation to pursue these studies and let that power you over the obstacles. Second, find the relationships that sustain you and nourish those relationships. You can rely on each other and hold each other up. It’s the people and the laughter and camaraderie that will get you through it all and will become your most lasting memories.”
It is reported that GSO received $3.1 million in new research funding in the third quarter of FY 2024. Researchers also submitted and/or participated in more than $66.3 million in proposals during the same quarter.
The spring 2024 degree recipients—seven online M.O., two M.S. and four Ph.D.— are honored at the Annual GSO Shirting Ceremony.
The fifth season of water quality monitoring at South Ferry Beach begins. Throughout the spring and summer, water samples will be taken and analyzed at URI’s Watershed Watch Lab.
URI and the Bay Campus is honored at R.I.’s Lead by Example Clean Energy Awards ceremony. Notable projects on the Bay Campus include LED lighting upgrades, replacement of building management system and boilers, and converting the vehicle fleet to low-speed EVs.
R/V Endeavor departs on EN 717—a R.I. Teachers At Sea (RITAS) cruise. The science team ventures out to the “Mudhole,” south of Martha’s Vineyard, to take several multi-core casts and CTDs, then to deep water for more science drills and a deep CTD cast.
12 “SURFOs”—undergraduates from across the nation—arrive at the Bay Campus for a 10-week research experience with GSO faculty and graduate student mentors, doing laboratory and field work, data analysis, instrument development, numerical modeling and a research cruise.
Eight students—Thomas Caero, Zhangbao Cheng, Erica (Rickie) Ewton, Diana Fontaine, Meng Gao, Joshua Pi, Coralie Rodriguez and Corinne Truesdale—receive awards from the GSO Alum Fund to help cover spring and summer projects and travel. A portion of these awards are from funds donated in honor of GSO Professor Emeritus Michael E.Q. Pilson.
At the Ocean Robotics Laboratory, the first five-foot “lift” of excavation with soil nailing is complete. Site excavation will continue until the “bottom-of-tank” elevation is reached.
Dean Bontempi announces the expansion of a suite of online programs under the banner “URI Oceans and Coasts Online.” Designed for professionals pursuing opportunities in the blue economy, the programs focus on work in ocean-related business, education, government and non-government institutions. They build on URI’s leadership as a major hub of blue economy education.
“The Synergy Project: A Collaboration of Art and Science,” opens at Studio Blue. Featuring 50 pieces, the exhibition is a collaboration between Art League RI and GSO. It is created by scientists from URI and WHOI with artists employing various media.
At a community outreach meeting, the Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation outlines the details and results of its efforts to remove ghost gear in Narragansett Bay.
On South Ferry Beach, Chowder and Marching hosts the “60th Annual Boat Burning, a Diamond Jubilee” (see above).
Science Saturday 2024 draws more than 2,000 friends and neighbors to the Bay Campus for a day of family fun, featuring activities and exhibits presented by more than 200 volunteers from the GSO community.
R.I. Sea Grant sponsors “Barrington Shoreline Access Walking Tour” at which the public meets with researchers and specialists in GIS mapping, natural resource economics, coastal geology and law.
It is reported that GSO received $15.8 million in new research funding in the fourth quarter of FY 2024. Researchers also submitted and/or participated in more than $40.3 million in proposals during the same quarter.
URI President Parlange and Provost Wolfe meet with staff over coffee to discuss current issues facing higher education, including URI’s new budget model and the strategic plan.
A Progress Celebration commemorates the beginning of construction of the Ocean Robotics Laboratory and recognizes completion of other Bay Campus improvements. Elected officials from federal, state and local government join URI President Parlange, GSO Dean Bontempi and College of Engineering Dean Marchese for a convivial ceremony and a traditional “beam signing.”
At the 2024 Fish Lecture, Dr. Susan Solomon, Lee and Geraldine Martin Professor of Environmental Science at MIT, probes how understanding the past helps us to better understand that we can be optimistic about managing today’s pressing environmental problem—climate change.
The URI chapter of the Society for Women in Marine Science (SWMS) reactivates. Planned events and impromptu lunch gatherings populate the fall semester calendar.