There are several funding opportunities for students and faculty working on projects about the North Woods. They include grants, fellowships, and internships. In addition to the opportunities here, there may be other funding sources available. Students and faculty are working to create a more comprehensive network to share projects and resources. URI students should pay attention to emails about the North Woods to keep up to date on funding opportunities. The DWELL News page will also feature recent information.

North Woods Educational Advisory Council Grants

The North Woods Educational Advisory Council administers a small grants program, funded by the Office of the Provost, that seeks to foster creative and scientific projects in the North Woods. The Request for Proposals (RFP) is generally distributed on the College of the Environment and Life Sciences (CELS) email listserv, and will also be announced on the DWELL News Page. Details of each grant cycle will be provided in the RFP for each year. In the past, funding has been used for equipment purchases as well as labor costs. Past projects funded through these grants have involved science communication, landscape design, remote sensing, GIS (Geographic Information System) mapping, augmented reality, photography, and videography. The following projects have been funded through the North Woods Educational Advisory Council Small Grants Program.

3D Mapping of the North Woods using UAS Remote Sensing, 2022 Investigators: Dr. Jason Parent, Chris Damon, Greg Bonynge, Charles LaBash Project investigators gathered detailed geospatial data in the North Woods via unmanned aerial system (UAS, commonly known as drone) technology to create datasets including true color image mosaic, colorized point cloud, digital elevation model (DEM), digital surface model (DSM), and digital height model (DHM). These datasets now serve as a resource for teaching and research in the North Woods across URI.

Learning about trail design and planning in the URI North Woods: a landscape architecture studio project for a healthy and vibrant university community, 2022 Primary Investigator: Dr. Jane A. Buxton Undergraduate Assistants: Seth Boyce and Maria Church Grant funding supported creation of materials for LAR244: Basic Landscape Architecture Design. Activities included GIS analyses, preliminary site inventory, and usage guidelines for the trail network. This laid the groundwork for a studio project where LAR244 students created designs for the North Woods trail system network.

The Digital Classroom in the Augmented Forest: Rhetorical Field Methods for Place-Based Teaching and Research, 2022 Primary Investigator: Dr. Madison Jones  Graduate Research Assistants: Gabrielle Pezich and Sarah O’Sullivan Grant funding supported creation of materials for BES521: Rhetorical Field Methods in Science Communication. Primary Investigator and research assistants created the foundations of an Augmented Reality (AR) mapping project and conducted site visits to test methods and feasibility of fieldwork for BES521.

Phase II: The North Woods Project Implementation Grant, 2023 Primary Investigator: Dr. Madison Jones Graduate Research Assistant: AnnaFaith Jorgensen Funded the storyboarding, web copy writing, and user experience (UX) design of the North Woods website, including interviews with faculty and students, archival work, and academic research to support the development of a permanent webspace for the North Woods on the URI website.

Visualizing the Northwoods: Capturing Northwoods Wildlife via Remote PhotographicCamera Trapping & Macro Photography, 2024 Primary Investigator: Jason Jaacks The proposed project will employ remote camera trapping technology to showcase the natural beauty of the North Woods, using state-of-the-art cameras to capture high-quality images of the wildlife we share our campus with. In addition, the Primary Investigator will use macro and ultra-macro photography to illuminate the natural wonders of the North Woods, changing the audience’s visual perspective. 6 photographs will be used to create large-scale prints from a professional printer with expertise in dye sublimation techniques.

Forest Species Mapping in the North Woods Using Drone Imagery (2024) Primary Investigator: Elliot Vosburgh Faculty Advisor: Jason Parent The project will use drone imagery to create a comprehensive map of North Woods trees at the genus or species level. Project investigators will use drone cameras to collect a time-series of aerial images during the early spring season that can be used to identify trees from above. Datasets will be shared within the University community to support research and teaching activities.

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DWELL Graduate Student SciComm Grants & Undergraduate Fellowships

The DWELL Lab offers two different funding opportunities for students currently enrolled at the University of Rhode Island:

• A science communication fellowship for undergraduates.
• A grant supporting science communication research for graduate students.
• A grant supporting science communication research for graduate students.

About This Funding

Additional Fellowship Opportunities

Students in the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) and Coastal and Environmental Fellows programs have conducted research and completed projects in the North Woods. Opportunities for specific North Woods projects vary annually, and application processes are coordinated by the respective programs.