From the Editor

You’ll see a new section, Aperture, in the magazine’s opening pages this issue. In it, we showcase photographs that take us inside the worlds that URI alumni, students and faculty explore here and around the globe. This issue, we launch the section with the winning photos from URI’s first Research and Scholarship Photo Contest.

When the editors of URI’s magazines—Momentum editor Melissa McCarthy, 41°N editor Monica Allard-Cox, and I—dreamed the contest up, we never guessed we’d get almost 300 entries, from fine art to photography, and from electron microscopy to computerized imaging outputs. The submissions show how deep URI’s scholarship runs, and how broad its reach is: they came from all seven continents, plus New Zealand. Taken together, they demonstrate just how many opportunities are available to members of our community. It was humbling and inspiring to review them.

Many thanks to the contest judges: John J. Palumbo ’76, publisher of Rhode Island Monthly magazine; Krisanne Murray ’95, owner of Wakefield, R.I., firm Designroom; Kim Robertson, assistant director of URI’s Department of Publications and Creative Services; and Nora Lewis, URI photographer. And congratulations to undergraduate student Temitope Ogunwumi ’18, master’s candidate M. Lubetkin ’19, and Ph.D. candidate Jessica Vandenberg ’20, our three winners, whose photos opened these pages. Ogunwumi, who submitted several photos that made our shortlist, will pursue a career in photography; Lubetkin plans to continue their work in ocean exploration and applied research; and Vandenberg hopes to remain focused on development and conservation in Indonesia. Vandenberg’s photography graces our feature on Indonesia, starting on page 16, giving us a rich and intimate window into some of that country’s diverse landscapes, while a photo of deep-sea coral by Lubetkin is on page 11.

Aperture is a first step toward a full redesign of this magazine, which we’re planning to launch later this year. Over the past few years, we’ve used email surveys to ask readers what they like and don’t like about this magazine, including its name. As a result, we’ll publish the first issue of the University of Rhode Island Magazine this winter. Your revamped alumni magazine will come three times a year, instead of four, but with a new format that will include more pages per issue. These moves reflect our desire to bring you a higher quality publication while being mindful of state budget constraints. Rest assured that while the name QuadAngles will disappear from this cover, we’ll still bring you the same mix of stories and news, supporting our mission of keeping you connected with other alumni and with the University as it seeks to make sense of, and improve, an ever-changing world. As always, we look forward to any feedback you have.

Speaking of feedback, it was you, dear readers, who alerted us to a mistake we made in the last issue—and right on the cover, too. Many of you noticed that the photo we ran to illustrate a story on yellowfin tuna was, in fact, of trout. We’re deeply embarrassed to have misled you, and have taken a hard look at our photograph procurement process as a result, as well as resolving to do a better job at tapping the expertise here on campus.

Thanks for reading.

—Pippa Jack

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Gone Fishing

Thanks to everyone who wrote to tell us about our cover mistake in the last issue. Those conversations sparked some interesting new ones:

The fish on the Spring 2018 QuadAngles cover is not a yellowfin tuna but an eastern brook trout—the only native trout species in R.I. It’s a beautiful photo of a beautiful fish, and I was hoping that there might be an article in QuadAngles about the still substantial, but threatened, brook trout population in the Ocean State.

There are a lot of threats to this beautiful fish in R.I., from state stocking of non-native trout that outcompete brookies for habitat, to climate change and development—both of which warm the clean cold water that these fish need to survive and thrive.

—Peter J. Marx ’77, M.A. ’81, Annapolis, Md.

While I love to see articles about my alma mater doing good works, I feel compelled to point out that the fish pictured on the cover are not yellowfin tuna. To my untrained eye, they appear to be brown trout. As the University is well known as an international research center and resource for aquaculture, perhaps a correction is in order?

A friend of mine once worked for the Roaring Fork Transit Authority near Aspen. He put up several banners over the roads in the valley advertising the local bus service. The phone number he put on the banners to call for information was his grandmother’s, not RFTA’s. In the end, we acknowledge our mistakes and move on. Love to get the news from URI.

—Jim Marshall, M.B.A. ’78, Lafayette, Colo.

Great article and congratulations to Peter and Terry on persevering and making the Greenfins Aquaculture Tuna Center of Excellence (GATCE) a reality—no easy task [Big Fish, Spring 2018]. This is a critical research facility that URI should support. My best to both of you in your future research, and in your collaboration with other research organizations in saving a threatened species.

—Jean Riendeau ’80, via uri.edu/quadangles

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Hello from California

Thank you for your latest issue of QuadAngles. It always reminds me of happy memories from the two years I spent in Kingston working for my master’s degree.

It began in 1962 with my decision to leave teaching in a secondary school in the Philippines to work and study in the U.S. I got my M.S. in horticulture from URI, then a Ph.D. in horticulture from Washington State University. I went on to lecture in plant science at California State University, teach and research horticulture and genetics at the University of Missouri, and work as an agricul-tural biologist at the Monterey County Agricultural Commission and the California Department of Food and Agriculture. I’ve also written for the Salinas Californian as an agricultural columnist.

Now retired, I can say I have gone through the ups and downs of life with family in my adopted country. We visited campus four years ago. I recently published my third novel, with more to come.

—Expedito Ibarbia, M.S. ’64, Salinas, Calif.

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Kudos

I was so moved by Laurie Rockewell Sharma’s story [Passage to India, Spring 2018]. And I can also feel that pull of horses… they really just understand how you feel! Bravo for creating a school and stepping in to help those children. I feel Laurie’s biological mother is sitting in Heaven smiling at all Laurie’s good works. We continue to pray for Laurie and her school. Thank you.

—Miriam Erick, via uri.edu/quadangles

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