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Arts & Sciences Political Science Professor Marc Genest, who is on sabbatical at the Naval War College in Newport, recently returned from Israel after attending a 10-day course entitled “Defending Democracy, Defeating Terrorism,” offered in conjunction with the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University. Genest and his colleague Norm Zucker were among 20 U.S. college professors named Academic Fellows of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a non-profit think tank in Washington, D.C. • Communications Studies Professor Tony Silvia was one of 16 broadcast educators named a 2003 Educator in the Newsroom Fellow by the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation. The program places educators who have been out of the newsroom environment for more than five years into radio and television newsrooms for four weeks during the summer. Silvia completed a four-week stint reporting for NBC affiliate KNSD-TV in San Diego.
Environment and Life Sciences Studies conducted by Scott McWilliams, assistant professor of natural resources science, have shown that birds have a flexible digestive system that they modify to meet the changing energy demands of migration. “The gut of a migratory bird is a really dynamic organ. In preparation for migration, the gut increases in size tremendously over several days” McWilliams said. The study is funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture with logistical support provided by The Nature Conservancy. • W. Michael Sullivan, professor of plant sciences, traveled to Greece last summer to advise organizers working with the Athens Olympic Committee and its building contractors about grass varieties, soil conditions, fertilizers and environmental considerations for the playing fields. He was one of 30 turf experts from around the world invited by the International Horticultural Society to tour the facilities and conduct workshops for Olympic Committee officials, university representatives, and the workers who will be installing the grass. Graduate School of Oceanography The Office of Marine Programs has received a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to establish a five-year national program, the ARMADA Project, to involve K-12 teachers in active ocean science research and mentoring experiences. The project will be managed by the office in collaboration with the Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education, the Joint Oceanographic Institutions, and the JASON Foundation for Education. • Oceanography Professor Thomas Rossby received the Walter Munk Award for Distinguished Research in Oceanography Related to Sound and the Sea on June 4, 2003, at the Oceanography Society-Oceanology International Americas Ocean Conference in New Orleans. Rossby’s research includes studies of the dynamics and kinematics of ocean currents with special interest in the Gulf Stream and the circulation of the North Atlantic. His interests also include development of ocean instrumentation, and he has contributed several novel technology designs and applications. • Hercules, a remotely operated vehicle built to conduct the first archaeological excavation in the deep sea, made its debut last summer on a 41-day expedition to the Black Sea and eastern Mediterranean led by Robert D. Ballard, president of the Institute for Exploration at Mystic Aquarium and an Explorer-in-Residence at National Geographic. Working under the dual auspices of Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration and URI’s Institute for Archaeological Oceanography, Ballard returned to sites in the Black Sea and Mediterranean where his team have previously made significant discoveries. National Geographic Television will produce a one-hour documentary for PBS on the expedition, and National Geographic magazine will feature it in an article. |
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