The IACR supports and grows collaborative research through a wide range of activities, including:
- networking events
- seminars
- regional collaboration activities
- interdisciplinary & convergent seed funding (2025 call archive)
The IACR’s Research group is led by Michael Puerrer, and includes Joan Peckham and additional faculty members. The Institute does not have its own research agenda or program — rather it serves as a focal point for computational researchers at URI and in the region with the goal of strengthening research collaboration and networking. A quick snapshot of the IACR resources is available here: IACR at-a-glance. For details on the broad topic of Generative AI, and the relevant university-wide efforts and guidelines, please visit the URI Provost’s AI page.
Faculty researchers from across the university engage with the IACR in a wide variety of ways. A partial list of the affiliated faculty appears below.
Our Team
Michael Puerrer
Computational Scientist
Joan Peckham
Strategic Advisor
Arts & Sciences
Big Data • Quantum Computation • Computational Relativity & Astrophysics • Machine Learning Applications • Digital Humanities & Art • Mathematical Modeling
Department of Physics
- Aidan Chatwin-Davies
- Rob Coyne
- Gaurav Khanna
- Len Kahn
- Peter Nightingale
- Michael Pürrer
- Vanita Srinivasa
- Wenchao Ge
- Jaewoong Jung
- David Heskitt
- Derek Davis
- Deborah Ferguson
- Trevor Arp
- Jacob Beckey
Department of Computer Science & Statistics
- Joan Peckham
- Sarah Brown
- Abdeltawab Hendawi
- Noah Daniels
- Nina Kajiji
- Gavino Puggioni
- Marco Alvarez
- Lutz Hamel
- Natallia Katenka
- Lisa DiPippo
- Haihan Yu
- Kaleel Mahmood
- Krishna Venkatasubramanian
- Shaun Wallace
- Jing Wu
- Jungjun Choi
- Alina Barnett
- Ruyu Zhou
Department of Mathematics & Applied Mathematical Sciences
- Nancy Eaton
- James Baglama
- Tom Bella
- Lubos Thoma
- Jonathan Chavez-Casillas
- Vasilije Perovic
- Mustafa Kulenovic
- Mark Comerford
- Kelum Gajamannage
- Nhu Nguyen
- Pengyu Liu
- Ayse Sharland
Department of Chemistry
Harrington School of Communication & Media
Department of Art & Art History
Department of History
Department of Sociology & Anthropology
Department of Political Science
Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice
Business
Big Data • Computational Finance • Machine Learning Applications
Department of Finance
Department of Business Analytics & Information Systems
Department of Accounting
Department of Supply Chain Management
Department of Marketing
Engineering
Materials Research • HPC • Engineering Optimization • Molecular Dynamics • Computational Mechanics
Chemical, Biomolecular & Materials Engineering
Civil & Environmental Engineering
Electrical, Computer & Biomedical Engineering
- Resit Sendag
- Bin Li
- Yalda Shahriari
- Hui Lin
- Tao Wei
- Qing Yang
- Kunal Mankodiya
- Sungho Kim
- Yeonho Jeong
- Dhaval Solanki
- Megan Chiovaro
- Rahul Singh
- Guoyi Xu
- Weiwei Jia
- Mohammad Zaeri Amirani
Mechanical, Industrial & Systems Engineering
Ocean Engineering
- Lora van Uffelen
- Stéphan Grilli
- Reza Hashemi
- Jason Dahl
- Bradford Knight
- Che-Wei Chang
- Jim Miller
- Stephen Licht
Environment & Life Sciences
Big Data • Computational Molecular Ecology • Computational Evolutionary Genetics • Machine Learning Applications
Department of Natural Resources Science
- Jose Amador
- Roland Duhaime
- Thomas McGreevy
- Scott McWilliams
- Kathleen Carroll
- Brian Gerber
- Johanna Harvey
- Todd Guilfoos
Department of Fisheries, Animal & Veterinary Sciences
Department of Biological Sciences
- Jason Kolbe
- Chris Lane
- Carlos Prada (a.k.a. Carlos Prada Montoya)
- Jon Puritz
- Hollie Putnam
- Andy Davies
- Alison Roberts
Department of Cell & Molecular Biology
- Bethany Jenkins
- Kathryn Ramsey
- Matthew Ramsey
- Lenore Martin
- Ying Zhang
- Jodi Camberg
- Nic Fisk
- Laura Eme
- Claudia Fallini
- Rachel Schwartz
- Niall Howlett
- Caitlin Murdoch
- Steven Gregory
Institute for Immunology & Informatics (I‑Cubed)
Department of Environmental & Natural Resource Economics
Department of Geosciences
Nursing
Health Sciences
Big Data • Computational Social Science • Machine Learning Applications
Department of Nutrition & Food Sciences
Department of Public Health
Department of Psychology
- Ryan Chapman
- Lyn Stein
- Ted Walls
- Manshu Yang
- Chris Urban
- Von Marie Rodriguez-Guzman*
- Justin Parent
- Christopher Beevers
Department of Human Development & Family Science
Oceanography
Big Data • Physical Oceanography • Seismology • Machine Learning Applications
Graduate School of Oceanography (GSO)
- Roxanne Beinart
- Tatiana Rynearson
- Susanne Menden-Deuer
- Steve D’Hondt
- Isaac Ginis
- Chris Kincaid
- Yang Shen
- Meng Wei
- Peter Cornillon
- Brice Loose
- Kelton McMahon
- Tetsu Hara
- Lew Rothstein
- Keisuke Inomura
- Jaime Palter
- Colleen Mouw
- Kristy Lewis
- Kathleen Donohue
- Nicholas Pizzo
- Robert Campbell
- Jeremy Collie
- Russell Shomberg
- Mingxi Zhou
Pharmacy
Big Data • Bioinformatics
Department of Pharmacy Practice & Clinical Research
Department of Biomedical & Pharmaceutical Sciences
- Christopher Hemme
- Matt Bertin
- David Rowley
- Chang Liu
- Anne Reid
- Bailey Miller
- Amanda Alker
- Merina Varghese
Email us at iacr-group@uri.edu with questions, comments, suggestions — anything!
News
New Spring Course: Applications of AI Methods Across STEM Disciplines - Graduate students (master’s and PhD) in any STEM field can learn applied AI for their research in Spring 2027 in PHY 591 AAI4STEM: Applications of AI Methods Across STEM Disciplines. To enroll, register for PHY 591-0001, listed in the catalog as “Special Problems.” The course meets Tue & Thu 11:00–12:15 in Swan Hall 211 and is capped […]
URI AI Retreat: AI and Advanced Computing in Research - Faculty and graduate researchers from every discipline are invited to the URI AI Retreat on November 6 at the Mosby Center to connect, exchange ideas, and explore AI and advanced computing in research.
URI Faculty and Students Offered Free Access to AWS Kiro - AWS is offering URI students free access to Kiro, an AI-powered development platform, with complimentary access also available for participating faculty.- URI Releases 2026 AI Task Force Report and Campus AI Resources - URI’s new 2026 AI Task Force report highlights progress and recommendations for thoughtful, responsible AI across teaching, research, and University operations, with links to campus guidance, workshops, and research support.
NSF Opens New AI Infrastructure and AI-Ready Dataset Opportunities - Two new NSF solicitations may interest URI teams working with AI, scientific data, research computing, and cyberinfrastructure. Full proposals are due November 4, 2026.