As Rhode Island’s only public research institution, the University of Rhode Island has led the Rhode Island NSF EPSCoR program since the early 2000s. The university has helped EPSCoR researchers examine pressing issues around science, from harmful algal blooms in Narragansett Bay to microplastic pollution across state water ways, all while bringing key instrumentation into the state and developing the careers of thousands of students pursuing STEM research.
Current Projects
Latest News
EPSCoR-affiliated faculty win $15M U.S. National Science Foundation award to strengthen fisheries and aquaculture across New England - The U.S. National Science Foundation announced a major new award to bolster the American seafood industry through the NSF Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) program within the Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships.
Bay to bayou: URI biologist to lead $4 million NSF EPSCoR grant to advance wetland restoration in Rhode Island and Louisiana - Ying Zhang, professor of cell and molecular biology at the University of Rhode Island, recently received a $4 million grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation to co-lead a collaboration with Louisiana State University to improve coastal wetland management in both states.
URI and EPSCoR investigators from Nepal share insight into recent flood in South Asian nation - A water scientist at the University of Rhode Island, Soni Pradhanang is balancing the professional and the personal, watching her home country of Nepal make news after the recent glacial collapse and flooding there.
RI-NEST Graduate Completion Fellowship Supports Three URI Doctoral Researchers - The University of Rhode Island Graduate School has named three doctoral candidates as recipients of the 2026-27 RI-NEST Graduate Completion Fellowship, recognizing outstanding graduate researchers whose work addresses pressing challenges facing Rhode Island and communities worldwide.
Student Success
Lilah Saunders, a 2025 and 2026 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow, takes her studies on salt marsh monitoring to Alaska.
Jezell Green, a 2025 Open Newsroom Fellow, helps peers through the Seeds of Success program in CELS.
Faculty Spotlight
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RI NSF EPSCoR is supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation under EPSCoR Cooperative Agreements #OIA-2433276 and in part by the RI Commerce Corporation via the Science and Technology Advisory Committee [STAC]. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. National Science Foundation, the RI Commerce Corporation, STAC, our partners or our collaborators.