Jessica Vandenberg (MAF PhD) spent the summer conducting her dissertation fieldwork on the island of Bontosua, a small island located in the Spermonde Archipelago of Indonesia. Jessica’s research focuses on understanding the influence that external development projects have on small island communities. More specifically, she is investigating the impacts of a community-supported coral restoration project […]

On May 23rd MAF PhD candidate Peter Stempel was awarded a scholarship by the Propeller Club of Narragansett Bay.  The propeller club’s mission to promote and support the American merchant marine and maritime industries.  The scholarship was awarded based on the potential contribution of Peter’s ongoing visualization work to the resilience of port facilities on which […]

Professor Robert Thompson and students Melvin Alvarez (2017), Katie Canfield (2018), and Rennie Meyers (2018) presented papers at the 9th International Congress on Coastal and Marine Tourism June 13-16, Gothenburg, Sweden. Accompanied by Professor Rob Thompson, the URI team presented everything from preliminary to final thesis research and connected with international researchers critically engaged with […]

Hilary focused her Master’s program on social resilience and the human dimensions of protected areas in the tropical developing world, specifically small island developing states (SIDS) of the Caribbean. Her thesis was published in Ocean & Coastal Management’s Special Edition on Oceans and Climate Change (2016), Comparing vulnerability and adaptive capacity to climate change in […]

MAF faculty member Dr. Hollie Smith has been selected as a recipient of the National Academy of Science’s Sackler Colloquium Early Career Researcher Award. Smith, an assistant professor in communication studies and marine affairs, is one of ten researchers from across the U.S. to receive the award. Smith’s collaborative research, with partners at the Metcalf […]

Just off the coast of Morocco, the Canary Islands play host to tourists from across the European Union. Making a short flight for watersports, fresh fish, or just the sun and sand, increasing numbers of EU tourists strain the carrying capacity of this island archipelago as they anxiously cancel trips to the Middle East. In […]

MAF professors Dalton and Thompson, WHOI scientist Di Jin, and URI undergraduate Allie Katzanek recently published a new article in the Marine Policy journal on aquaculture in Rhode Island.  To better understand public opinion about aquaculture, researchers conducted a state-wide survey of RI residents.  Findings showed that respondents do not strictly support or oppose aquaculture development; instead […]