KINGSTON, R.I. – June 3, 2025 – With unlimited drive and determination – and a passion for true crime – University of Rhode Island senior Brigid Killoran will cross the stage at Commencement Weekend fully prepared to tackle whatever comes next.
A first-generation student and biology major with a minor in forensic science, Killoran is the embodiment of every college student who’s had to carve his or her own path from the first day of classes freshman year to the day they submit that final project or finish their last exam as seniors.
From sophomore to senior year, the Boston native served as a Resident Assistant at Burnside, Barlow, and Browning halls in addition to her roles as an ambassador for the College of Environmental Life Sciences and a URI 101 student mentor. She also worked myriad jobs from bartending to dog walking to pay for her tuition.
The URI experience was a complete 180 for Killoran; she arrived in 2021 amidst COVID-19 restrictions with no friends from home and little to no idea how to navigate college life and graduates this semester as an invaluable on-campus resource for those facing similar challenges.
“Living on campus all four years allowed me to be more active and involved,” she said. “
As she looks back on her busy, but remarkable, four-year journey, Killoran is thankful for the personal and professional growth she experienced at URI through the wide range of opportunities the university offers for students to get involved, many of which will guide her as she begins to write her next chapter.
“It’s about who you surround yourself with,” Killoran said. “The friends I’ve made here are very like-minded and driven.”
The middle child in her family, Killoran comes from working-class roots. Her father is employed by the city of Boston while her mother is a stay-at-home mom. She faced the usual challenges first-generation students wrestle with upon enrolling in college, including the “nightmare” of filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA.
Applying to become an RA was a logical choice because of the financial benefits, but the leadership and community-building skills she learned in the process shaped her next three years at URI. While Killoran handled her fair share of roommate conflicts, she also worked with Health Services to promote programs on alcohol safety and skin cancer prevention and published newsletters each semester focused on helping students improve their mental health and reduce stress.
With a growing desire to help others traveling the same path, Killoran became a URI 101 student mentor, playing an influential role in helping first-year students transition to life on campus by working with instructors to create lesson plans that teach newcomers to develop essential academic skills and utilize their resources. As an ambassador for the College of Environmental Life Sciences, she worked open houses and welcome days, providing information to students and families and giving personalized tours of the college’s facilities.
This past summer, she took her work ethic overseas, interning for a gin distillery in Dublin, Ireland, where she bottled gin in the warehouse, made friends with fellow URI students she hadn’t previously met on campus, and wrote copy for the company’s public relations and sales teams; she even had one of her articles published in an Irish food and wine magazine. For the past two years, she’s worked at Boon Street Market in Narragansett bartending, hosting, and waiting tables to cover tuition and other costs.
Inside the classroom, Killoran further developed her passion for true crime – she’s always been a fan of the genre and enjoys watching the television series Criminal Minds – through URI’s forensic science minor, home to the Rhode Island State Crime Laboratory at Fogarty Hall, where police officers train to investigate crime scenes. The amenities include a mock crime scene with mannequins, objects riddled with bullet holes, and other clues to emulate what an investigator might encounter upon arrival.
She learned under chemistry professor Jimmie Oxley – co-director of URI’s Center of Excellence in Explosives, Detection, Mitigation, and Response – and last year for her final forensics project examined archives from the infamous Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman murder case courtesy of the Herbert Leon MacDonell Papers in URI’s University Archives and Special Collections unit. The collection includes crime scene photos, notes, and examples of evidence from the O.J. Simpson murder trial. Considered the “father of blood spatter analysis,” MacDonell graduated URI in 1956 and was hired by Simpson’s defense team in 1994 to demonstrate that the notorious glove found at the murder scene did not shrink after being soaked in blood.
“Usually, in these cases, you will see a blood spatter analyst get called upon and they will write, based off their findings and based off the pictures, what the cause of death was, the manner of death, the objects, or the murder weapon,” Killoran said. “It was really cool and a great opportunity to learn.”
Killoran hopes to work in handwriting analysis, a scientific process used to identify the writer of a document or signature by comparing it to known writing samples. As she begins her forensics pursuit, she’s mostly proud of the progress she made in four years starting from scratch with few family members or friends to lean on. Advisors and professors helped her narrow her field of study and the Center for Career & Experiential Education helped her build her dream résumé.
The opportunity to pay it forward by mentoring and guiding others brings her journey full circle.
“I was always self-motivated to get through college because no one was forcing me to do it or holding my hand along the way,” she said. “I had to do that myself. Also, since I was paying to be here, I wanted to take advantage of everything. There are a lot of resources on campus. Everything you need is here. You just have to know where to find it and be willing to work for it.”