Commencement in the news

Commencement weekend not only brought thousands of graduates and family members together for a giant celebration, but it also brought media to campus to report on the celebration.  The ceremonies were covered by the Providence Journal, Boston Globe, Rhode Island Public Radio, and others.  In addition, notable graduates were featured in the Westerly Sun, Providence Journal, Narragansett Patch, and more.  Additional stories about our notable graduates can be found here.

More on arming campus police, commencement security

• In wake of Boston attack, graduation security tightened
  USA Today - 5/15
• Panel tables bill to arm campus police
  Providence Journal - 5/15
• Reps postpone vote to arm URI police
  Channel 12 - 5/14

Executive pay, Economic Index, Watershed Watch and Stingrays

• Executive pay at public universities: How Rhode Island measures up
  Rhode Island Public Radio - 5/13
• Lardaro: First Quarter ends on positive note, Prof. Leonard Lardaro's Current Conditions Index
  Providence Business News - 5/13
• Rhode Island economy perks up in March
  Providence Journal - 5/13
• Watershed Watch keeps RI rivers clean - Opinion piece about the value of the URI Watershed Watch program
  Providence Journal - 5/12
• Tourism changes stingray behavior in the Cayman Islands - Interview with Prof. Bradley Wetherbee, WBEZ Radio - 5/8

Intelligent Car Competition

Three computer engineering students placed second in the Freescale Cup, a national competition to build and race a model intelligent car.  The students won the Eastern regional contest in April but lost out to the Western regional winner, the University of California at Berkeley.  The contest generated considerable interest among the local media, with stories appearing in the Boston Herald, Attleboro Sun Chronicle, Providence Journal, Channel 12, Providence Business News and others.  The URI news release about the competition can be found here.

Arming police, moving commencement

The announcement to move commencement ceremonies indoors and the discussion and debate about arming campus police has generated considerable media interest this week. The commencement decision was featured on the front page of the Providence Journal as well as on Rhode Island Public Radio, Channel 6, Channel 12, New England Cable News, WPRO and other media outlets.  The debate about campus police was reported by the Providence Journal, Rhode Island Public Radio, Channel 10, Narragansett Times, Boston Globe and elsewhere.  The URI news release about the commencement decision can be found here.

Flu, Lava, and Krill

• US invokes emergency act to keep N7N9 flue threat at bay - This report includes comments from Prof. Annie De Groot
  New Scientist - 5/8
• Peering into a 40-acre crystal ball at URI’s ‘urbanscape’
  Providence Phoenix - 5/8
• Lava shows most of our carbon churns up in deep Earth - Report on research by Prof. Kathleen Kelley
  NBC News - 5/7 - also appeared in Huffington Post, Discovery Channel News
• URI faculty, students to take krill cruise to Antarctica
  WPRO Radio - 5/6

Fertilizer plant, climate change, and arming police

• Fertilizer plant blast: Does post-9/11 secrecy make your life riskier?
  
• Fertilizer plant blast: How lax security hints at regulatory gaps in Texas
  Christian Science Monitor - 5/5 - Both of these stories quote URI Assistant Professor Erik Loomis


• Human ingenuity vs. climate change: scientists build body of knowledge
  
• Human ingenuity vs. climate change: coping with life on the edge
  Westerly Sun - 5/5 - Both stories quote several URI faculty and students


• Heading outside to tick country? Here’s how to be prepared
  Cape Cod times - 5/5 - Features comments from Prof. Thomas Mather


• Panel proposes arming campus police
  Providence Journal - 5/4


• URI launches green business program
  Westerly Sun - 5/4

Cybersecurity symposium

The annual Cybersecurity Symposium on campus on May 2 included presentations by the entire Rhode Island Congressional delegation and a keynote presentation by alumnus Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency. The program resulted in a front page story in the Providence Journal, as well as an Associated Press story that ran in the Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Channel 10 and elsewhere. Some of the promotional coverage included New England Cable News, and Providence Business News.  The URI news release about the symposium can be found here.

Lyme disease, Opinion, Writing Conference and Microbes

• State launches campaign to combat Lyme disease
  Jamestown Press - May 2
• Quidnessett rock returned to state - historic rune stone recovered, transported to GSO for study
  Jamestown Press - May 2
• Special May 10 concert heads up last weekend of concerts at URI
  Cranston Herald/Warwick Beacon - May 1
• Opinion: Protecting R.I's water wonderland
  Providence Journal - April 30, Judith Swift, director of the URI Coastal Institute, describes the work of the Watershed Counts partnership.
• URI shows speaker savvy
  Providence Journal - April 29, Summer writing conference has had two Pulitzer Prize winners, other luminaries
• Microbes a big help for good health
  Providence Journal - April 29, Kathleen Melanson, associate professor of Nutrition Science, discusses research and importance of consumer information available about digestive health-promoting probiotics and prebiotics.
• URI's Green Business Program
  Providence Journal - April 28, Notice about the new double major included in the At The Colleges Column
• Opinion: Rhode Island needs Big Brothers
  Providence Journal - April 28, Written by former president Robert L. Carothers on behalf of Big Brothers.

Experts' Voices on Health, Ticks, Railroads and Architecture

• New Study of American Workers
  Daily Finance, April 30 -- Director of Cancer Prevention Research Center and Professor of Clinical and Health Psychology James O. Prochaska, comments on the importance of a groundbreaking study that looks at the overall impact of health risk behaviors. This news was carried by several media outlets nationwide.


• How Did the Railroads Survive and Prosper?
  History News Network, April 30 -- Maury Klein is author of "Union Pacific: The Reconfiguration: America's Greatest Railroad from 1969 to the Present" and professor emeritus of history at the University of Rhode Island. Chances are that most Americans think railroads are a thing of the past ...


• RI residents urged to stay safe from ticks
  Boston.com, April 29 -- A Providence Journal and Associated Press story about the pending tick season has received significant attention. Thomas Mather, professor and director of the university’s Center for Vector-Borne Disease, says the number of ticks in Rhode Island was up significantly last year compared to the previous five-year average. He was also interviewed by Turnto10 and WPRI.


• Best Anti-Aging Foods
  WebMD, April 29, -- But berries of all hues are antioxidant-rich, reports Navindra P. Seeram, Ph.D., assistant professor at the URI College of Pharmacy. That means they combat free radicals, molecules that can cause widespread cell damage


• 101 Ways to Burn Belly Fat Fast
  Mensfitness.com, April 29 "Most people who have been lean their whole lives have a much better understanding of proper portion size than people who are overweight," says Deborah Riebe, Ph.D., a professor in the department of kinesiology at the University of Rhode Island


• 15 infant dinosaurs discovered crowded in nest "The evidence suggests they may have been overrun by migrating dunes during a sandstorm," researcher David Fastovsky, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Rhode Island, told LiveScience. The searing hot locale in the heart of the Gobi Desert


• How Historic Architecture Can Anchor Economic Development
  The Atlantic Cities.com, April 29 -- Coverage of the session held at the Providence Campus as part of the Urbanscape program which was moderated by Marc Levitt, host and co-executive producer of the WGBH radio program Action Speaks.