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News
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Congratulations to our Prof. Emi Uchida for the 2013 CELS Research Scientist Excellence Award! ( May 2013 )
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We are very proud to announce that our very own Professor Emi Uchida wins the 2013 College of the Environment and Life Sciences' Research Scientist Excellence Award! Congratulations! Well deserved!
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Economic impact of climate change on aquaculture: ENRE major Mallory Frank coauthors with ENRE graduate student and faculty! ( March 2013 )
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ENRE undergraduate major Mallory Frank coauthors with Kyle Montanio (Ph.D. Candidate, ENRE) and Tom Sproul (Assistant Professor) on what climate change risks mean to aquaculture farmers in RI.
http://www.nbep.org/admin/NBJ/NBJ26/Eonomic-Impacts-Aquaculture.pdf
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ENRE undergraduate student finds his way with Al Jazeera internship ( October 2012 )
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Kingston, Oct.5, 2012 – Eight years ago, Mark Scialla was a 10th grade dropout hanging out with drug dealers and other teenagers whose idea of a good time was drinking on school nights.
Now he’s an aspiring foreign correspondent, thanks to an internship last summer in Washington with Al Jazeera, the international news network that covers the Middle East and the world.
No, Scialla is not Arabic, and he isn’t majoring in Islamic studies at URI, where he’s a 25-year-old senior. Scialla sought out Al Jazeera for one reason: He believes it’s one of the best news organizations on the planet.
There are two divisions of the network — the Arab version, which reaches about 40 million viewers, and the English program, launched in 2006 and slowly gaining a presence in the American market. The main base of both programs is in the tiny Persian Gulf emirate of Qatar.
Scialla says his experience working for the English version changed his life. Not only did he learn how to whip up a television news story, he got experience that should make him a standout in a job search.
“It opened new doors and pathways,’’ he says.
It’s been a long journey from his tough days with gangs to a worldly newsroom in the nation’s capital.
Scialla was a lackluster student at Cranston West High School, where he got mixed up with the wrong crowd. He skipped classes and even his detention.
“I just didn’t go to school,’’ he says. “The teachers were good, but there wasn’t much room for creativity. It was predictable, not exciting.’’
After a fistfight and other troubles, the school essentially kicked him out. He took his exam for his general equivalency diploma, but still didn’t know what to do. He ended up in Jacksonsville, Fla., and found a job shucking oysters.
Without the old influences, he dug deep and tried to put meaning back in his life. He took a philosophy course at a local community college. He loved it and soon found himself flipping the pages of Sartre and Nietzsche. From there, he moved on to political theory with Marx, Chomsky, and Smith.
His mind was full of possibilities.
“When I spent time in Jacksonville, it gave me a lot of time to think,’’ he says. “I needed to realize who I wanted to be. I wanted to learn as much as I could. I had a desire, for the first time, that I wanted to make the world a better place.’’
Nine months later, he moved back to Rhode Island, fresh with ideas. He enrolled in URI’s College of Continuing Education, in Providence, and eventually transferred to the University’s College of Arts and Sciences, in Kingston.
At first, he pursued a degree in political science, but then switched to environmental and natural resource economics and journalism, a perfect fit for a guy curious about the world. He studied how to create sustainable markets; he wrote for The Good 5⊄ Cigar, the University’s student newspaper.
By his junior year, he was restless — again. He thought about scrapping journalism. Why not? Newspapers were folding all over the country. The celebrity-obsessed reporting was a turnoff.
“Then the Arab spring happened,’’ he says.
The wave of protests and demonstrations throughout the Arab world in 2010 fascinated him, and he scoured news sites for information. Al Jazeera English, he says, was clearly the best. The Arab version of Al Jazeera has been criticized as anti-American propaganda; Scialla says the reporting for the English-language network is fair and honest.
“I was glued to my computer for weeks watching,’’ he says. “They weren’t afraid to do real journalism. There wasn’t any sensational stuff. They tried really hard to report the truth.’’
He set his mind on getting an internship in the network’s Washington bureau. It was a long shot. He had no experience, especially with a worldwide news group. Linda Lotridge Levin, a URI journalism professor, helped him reach someone at the station. Scialla sent his resume, but was told the position he applied for only takes graduate students.
Still, he pressed on. One day, he got an internship application in the mail. An invitation for a phone interview followed. “Tell me about yourself in five minutes,’’ the woman asked. He talked about the community garden he started in his neighborhood and his edible forest garden. A week later, the e-mail arrived.
“I was elated,’’ Scialla says.
His first assignment was covering a storm that devastated the Washington area. He went out in the field with a cameraman and talked to homeowners. “I finally felt what it was like to be a professional journalist,’’ he says.
He was pumped. He covered the National Aids Conference, where he interviewed the civil rights activist Al Sharpton. He spoke to the head of a nonprofit group about sex trafficking in Washington, and he talked to an expert about the stockpiling of chemical weapons in Syria. One day, he stood outside a Chick-fil-A restaurant to interview people about the company president’s controversial comments against gay marriage.
Those troubling days of his youth were in the past.
“All the people at the station were more than willing to help,’’ he says. “They were loaded with experience and advice, people well-trained in their craft.’’
It was thrilling. At any given time, he would hear five languages from reporters in the newsroom — Portuguese, Italian, French, Arabic, and English. Even the interns were a diverse bunch, with some from Australia and France.
He never appeared on air, but he made three demo tapes and learned how the news business works on the world stage.
“I felt like I was part of a larger global network,’’ he says. “It made me feel like I was contributing to something that had global implications.’’
If all goes as planned, he’ll graduate in December. He’s applying for a six-month internship with his old boss and hopes to return to Al Jazeera in the spring.
Levin says there’s one word to describe her student: persistent.
“He just kept going at it, going at it,’’ she says. “I was very impressed. He was determined, and he did it.’’
URI Marketing & Communications photo by Michael Salerno Photography.
http://www.uri.edu/news/releases/?id=6415
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Two ENRE Undergrads featured in the news for their new recycling business! ( May 2012 )
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URI students launch recycling company
Saving local auto companies hundreds of dollars
Updated: Friday, 27 Apr 2012, 6:47 PM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 25 Apr 2012, 11:31 AM EDT
By Matt Smith
NARRAGANSETT, RI (WPRI) - Two URI undergraduate students have launched a recycling company that is saving local auto companies hundreds of dollars in recycling costs each month.
Dylan Gregory of South Kingstown and Cory Harrigan of Narragansett invested their own money to purchase 12 dumpsters of various sizes and contracted with several vendors that pay the students in return for the recyclables they collect.
The company is called Scrap Specialists Recycling and is based out of South Pier Road in Narragansett.
In the fall of 2011, the two students partnered with a local auto body shop with three locations.
By testing out the waters, they dropped off a dumpster at each location, collecting paper, boxes, plastics, auto parts and scrap metal.
The students then removed and sorted the material, bail them, and then sell the recyclable materials.
"Recycling is something that needs to be done, and people shouldn't be charged for it," Gregory said.
The auto body company is saving $200 to $400 a month by allowing the students and their company to keep their dumpsters there and empty them themselves.
Scrap Specialists Recycling now has a half dozen customers and everything they earn is invested back into the business to purchase more dumpsters.
For more, check out the following link:
http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/south_county/uri-students-launch-recycling-company?ref=scroller&categoryId=20000&status=true
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Congratulations to our staff Judy Palmer for the 2012 CELS Staff Excellence Award! ( May 2012 )
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Our staff Judy Palmer wins the 2012 College of the Environment and Life Sciences' Staff Excellence Award! Congratulations!
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Prof. Tom Sproul is featured in the news for his analysis of the RI agricultural industry! ( May 2012 )
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R.I. Ag Day Offers Good News, Big Numbers
Monday, April 30, 2012 at 4:59PM
ecoRI News
By DAVE FISHER/ecoRI News staff
PROVIDENCE — “Every day is agriculture day in Rhode Island” is how state Department of Environmental Management Director Janet Coit kicked off the annual event April 26 at the Statehouse. But Agriculture Day 2012 truly was a special day for Rhode Island’s farmers and fishermen.
To begin the day, Gov. Lincoln Chafee signed into law the Local Farms and Seafood Act. This law will provide a framework for funding the growth of local farms and fishermen as businesses by creating a small grants and technical assistance program. The act also charges the DEM director with establishing and administering a program to promote the marketing of Rhode Island seafood and farm products grown and produced in the Ocean State to encourage the development of the state's commercial fishing and agricultural sectors.
A three-member interagency Food Policy Council has been established by the act, and it consists of representatives from the state departments of Health, Environmental Management and Administration who will examine issues regarding the development of a strong sustainable food economy and healthful nutrition practices.
“Rhode lsland’s green and blue economy are growing, and this law will continue to grow our outdoor green economy," Rep. Deborah Ruggiero, D-Jamestown/Middletown, said.
Sen. Susan Sosnowski, D-New Shoreham/South Kingstown, said the bill would "offer some protection to our state and regional food supply which are extremely important to the environmental and economic health of our state.”
While the farms and seafood act is a big deal, another major step forward for Rhode Island’s agricultural sector also was taken at Agriculture Day, with the release of the preliminary findings of the first Rhode Island Agriculture and Green Industry Economic Impact Study, conducted by the University of Rhode Island in partnership with DEM, the Rhode Island Nursery and Landscape Association, the Rhode Island Turf Grass Foundation, the Rhode Island Agricultural Partnership and the Economic Development Commission (EDC).
This study culled information from about 2,500 "green" businesses statewide, including farms, landscape professionals, arborists, lawn and garden centers, plant brokers, power equipment rental and sales, golf courses and masonry contractors.
The study was conducted by a group of URI students under the guidance of Tom Sproul, an agricultural economist recently added to the teaching staff at URI. Sproul, a University of California at Berkeley graduate and recent Rhode Island transplant, provided the statistical analysis of the surveys. The preliminary numbers produced through the analysis are quite striking.
The study showed that these some 2,500 businesses contributed 12,300 jobs to the state, and generated $1.7 billion to the local economy. That $1.7 billion represents nearly 3 percent of the state’s total economy.
“What made this study different than similar studies is that we did our best to actually count people and businesses,” Sproul said. "Rhode Island’s size made this type of survey possible.”
For many years, these businesses have been viewed by economists and economic development professionals as residing somewhat on the fringes of the state economy. But, "this study shows that these industries are a major economic driver for Rhode Island," Sproul said.
He stressed repeatedly during his presentation that "these are extremely conservative estimates. We rounded down and made sure that we weren’t double-counting any one person or business.”
http://www.ecori.org/front-page-journal/2012/4/30/ri-ag-day-offers-good-news-big-numbers.html
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Prof. Opaluch, ENRE's Departmental Chair, is appointed to EPA's Science Advisory Board ( January 2012 )
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The U.S. Environmental protection Agency (EPA) has appointed Professor Opaluch to its Science Advisory Board. For more information, see http://www.uri.edu/news/releases/index.php?id=6062
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ENRE faculty featured in a press release on interdisciplinary research: Protection of mangroves provides short-term costs, long-term benefits to local communities ( September 2011 )
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Below is a press release on a recent publication in PNAS by faculty Uchida, coauthored by a PhD candidate and a faculty in NRS:
http://www.uri.edu/news/releases/?id=5951
When the government of Tanzania established Saadani National Park in 2005, it enhanced protection of the coastal mangrove ecosystem from further degradation. A study by a team of University of Rhode Island researchers found that the new park caused a short-term negative effect on the livelihood of those who harvest mangrove trees for fuelwood but a long-term benefit to their local communities from increased fishing opportunities.
The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on August 22.
See the website for the full press release.
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ENRE welcomes two new faculty: Dr. Corey Lang and Dr. Thomas Sproul! ( August 2011 )
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ENRE is thrilled to announce that Dr. Corey Lang (Cornell University) and Dr. Thomas Sproul (University of California, Berkeley) have joined URI's Department of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics as assistant professors in August 2011.
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Ph.D. graduates win Best Student Paper prizes ( April 2011 )
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Matthew Freeman, Ph.D. 2010, won the Best Student paper award in 2011 from the North American Association of Fisheries Economics (NAAFE). Gina Shamshak, Ph.D. 2010, won Honorable Mention in the same competition. Congratulations to them both!
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ENRE ranked nationally by NRC for research productivity ( September 2010 )
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The National Research Council ranked ENRE's faculty sixth nationally for research productivity among Ph.D. granting departments in agricultural and resource economics.
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Undergraduate student William Anderson named as one of five Metcalf Fellows ( April 2010 )
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William Anderson, a junior in the ENRE major, has been named as one of five Metcalf Fellows. Bill will go to Guyana to work at the Foster Parrots Ecolodge, which develops employment opportunities as an alternative to trading in world parrots.
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Pratheesh Omana Sudhakaran selected for Honorary mention of 2010 IAAEM MS Thesis award ( March 2010 )
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Our graduate student Pratheesh Omana Sudhakaran has been selected for Honorary mention of 2010 IAAEM MS Thesis award for his masters thesis "Improved Inventory Techiques in Commercial Catfish ponds" done at University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
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Gina Shamshak bagged 2010 IAAEM Best PhD Thesis/Dissertation Award ( March 2010 )
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Our graduate student Gina Shamshak bagged 2010 IAAEM (International Association for Aquaculture Economics and Management) Best PhD Thesis/Dissertation Award for her dissertation.
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Simona Trandafir selected as the winner of the 2009 URI Best Transportation Thesis/Dissertation Award for her dissertation ( October 2009 )
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Simona Trandafir has been selected as the winner of the 2009 URI Best Transportation Thesis/Dissertation Award for her dissertation, A Strategic Model of Price and Investment Competition among Container Ports .
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The Great Salmon Run: Competition Between Wild and Farmed Salmon ( March 2007 )
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A new report, The Great Salmon Run: Competition Between Wild and Farmed Salmon, co-authored by Cathy A. Roheim and James L. Anderson of the University of Rhode Island and Gunnar Knapp of the University of Alaska, Anchorage was released in March 2007. It is the first report to take a comprehensive look at market competition between wild and farmed salmon, sheds new light on the contentious and complex issues surrounding farmed and wild salmon. For more information, see http://cels.uri.edu/testsite/enre/Salmon_Report.aspx
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Department of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics ranked the fourth most productive research department ( January 2007 )
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The Department of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics was recently ranked the fourth most productive research department in the country. For more information see http://www.uri.edu/news/releases/?id=3822
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