Focus on the Colleges

Mary Healey-Conlon

Arts & Sciences

Journalism students had a chance to experience some of the challenges of their chosen profession at a recent mock press conference. The press conference was designed by journalism alumni Kristen Cyr ’95, editor of The North East Independent and an instructor in media writing, and Jim Beardsworth ’95, state director of communications for the American Cancer Society and an instructor in public relations.

§ A lecturer’s film on abuse cover-up in the Catholic Church has won a coveted CINE Golden Eagle Award The one-hour documentary, Holy Water-Gate: Abuse Cover-Up in the Catholic Church, was written, directed, and produced by Mary Healey-Conlon, a lecturer in communications and film studies. Prior recipients of the Golden Eagle Award include Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Ken Burns. The film premiered at the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline, Mass., on January 10.

§ The Debate Team has received a $123,000 gift from the estate of Martha McCormick Kelly ’37, a former president of the women’s debate team. The Martha McCormick Kelly Endowed Memorial Fund will support student participation in intercollegiate debate. The Debate Team is part of the Communication Studies Department and is coached by John Devine. The team belongs to the National Forensics Association, which includes competitors from Boston University, Cornell, Northeastern, and Harvard.

§ Computer science students can now become experts in computer forensics, a field that helps obtain and analyze digital evidence from a wide variety of sources. “Computer forensics is an emerging, rapidly expanding, and constantly changing field. Experts are rare and much sought after,” said Victor Fay-Wolfe, professor of computer science and statistics who, with his colleagues James Kowalski, Lisa DiPippo, and Timothy Henry, has received a two-year, $300,000 National Science Foundation grant to train students in computer forensics and to create an education model can be replicated by other colleges and universities.

Mark Higgins and Peg Ferguson Boyd

Business Administration

The college has undergone some changes thanks to new ideas by the new associate dean, Mark Higgins, a professor of accounting, and assistant dean Peg Ferguson Boyd, former assistant director of Career Services. The pair spent the fall semester implementing enjoyable programs for business students while making sure their academic experiences are second to none. “It is important to build a sense of community,” said Higgins. “This should be the students’ academic home.”

Mayrai Gindy, left, and Yan Sun

Engineering

Most researchers are careful with the results of their research. Not Yan Sun. As soon as she builds her system, she tries to break it. That’s because her research is aimed at improving computer network security. “You have to attack the system to test its security to see how well it fares against hackers,” said Sun, one of two new assistant professors of engineering. Sun and Mayrai Gindy are among five new faculty members hired through the National Science Foundation’s ADVANCE program, which is designed to boost the careers of women scientists and engineers.

§ Engineering students seeking intercultural learning and career opportunities in today’s global workplace are finding new options available through URI’s International Engineering Program. One of the first programs in the country to combine engineering and foreign language components with a year studying and working abroad, IEP is now offering a similar program for graduate students and will soon begin to offer a Chinese language option for undergraduate students interested in studying and working in China.

Environment & Life Sciences

When dinosaurs became extinct from the effects of a massive asteroid hitting Earth 65 million years ago, there were more varieties living than ever before, says a new analysis of global fossil records by a team of researchers led by David Fastovsky, professor of geosciences. Fastovsky’s analysis was published in the October issue of Geology. “Dinosaur diversity was increasing logarithmically throughout their 160 million years on Earth,” said Fastovsky, who is conducting research at the National Autonomous University of Mexico through July 2005 as a Fulbright Scholar.

§ When young adults move away from home for the first time, the result is often the most rapid weight gain of any period in their lives. Geoffrey Greene, professor of nutrition, and colleagues in eight states are developing a Web-based intervention designed to provide young adults with the skills to resist this weight gain. Thanks to a $1.1 million grant from the Department of Agriculture, the researchers are testing a non-dieting approach that has proven effective with middle-aged, overweight women but is untested on young adults.

§ Many countries facing questions about the sustainable management of their coastal and ocean areas are being advised by URI Marine Affairs graduates, as is every U.S. government agency concerned with coastal and ocean resources. The URI program—this year celebrating its 35th anniversary—was the first in the nation to educate students in multiple academic fields related to the management of the coastal and marine environment. “Our department has had a significant impact on marine policy,” said Department Chair Lawrence Juda. “We’ve graduated many extremely capable people who are helping to make a difference in shaping the future of ocean/coastal governance.”

Children from the Pat Feinstein Child Development Center gathered with their teacher, Kristin Lamont (left) and URI Student Government Board President Thea Gonzalez to present a $760 check and boxes of food to Stephen Michalczyk from the Rhode Island Community Food Bank.

Feinstein College of Continuing Education

A recent art show at the Feinstein Providence Campus exhibited far more than works of art. It also showed the heart of the campus community as students, faculty, staff, and others located in or visiting the Shepherd building contributed to a food drive. The project was directed by URI Feinstein Providence Campus Arts and Culture Director Steven Pennell as part of the University’s Honors Colloquium, “Food & Human Rights, Hunger & Social Policy.”

Human Science & Services

The School of Education has been awarded a $7.55 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s competitive Teacher Quality Enhancement program. The five-year grant, the largest ever received by the school, is targeted to state-wide reform of teacher education through a partnership with all colleges and agencies involved in the education and certification of teachers in Rhode Island. David Byrd, director of the School of Education, and Professor Peter Adamy are the principal investigators for the grant.

§ At the annual meeting of the Association of Teachers of Mathematics in New England, Assistant, Professor Anne Seitsinger and four of her elementary education program seniors presented a session on “Service-Learning and Parent Involvement in Mathematics Education.” Their presentation focused on many collaborative service-learning projects created by the teacher candidates for their class on Mathematics Methods in Elementary Teaching.

§ Martin Bide, professor of textiles, fashion merchandising, and design, and Matthew Phaneuf, president of BioSurfaces, have invented a wound dressing surface based on polyester that combines infection resistance with enhanced blood-clotting properties. “We have this technology and we know it works. We’re going to continue to refine it, but if there are companies, agencies, or businesses interested in buying it, URI would be interested in talking about how that could be accomplished,” said Bide.

§ According to a new study by two URI researchers, Rhode Islanders wear seat belts at rates below the national average, with the rate for the state’s high school students even lower. Daniel Berman, executive-in-residence at URI and assistant division administrator for the Federal Highway Administration, and Jerome Schaffran, professor of human development and family studies, found that 69.5 percent of state high school students wear seat belts, compared to a rate of 74 percent for all Rhode Islanders and 80 percent nationwide.

Nursing

The college recently launched its 60th anniversary celebration by announcing a $100,000 gift that will help young nurses prosper in their careers. Dean Dayle Joseph made the announcement about the anonymous gift during the annual Friends of the College of Nursing ceremonies. Another cause for celebration for the college was its recent selection as the recipient of the 2004 Stand-Alone Baccalaureate Geriatric Nursing Course Award by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and the John A. Hartford Foundation. URI was one of only five schools of nursing in the country to be honored with this award.

Pharmacy

Thanks to a $100,000 grant from the Champlin Foundations, the college is using powerful animation tools to study complex biomedical processes. This animation technology helps students see and understand—in bright and dynamic color—how Prozac works, how an antiviral drug inhibits AIDS, and how drug metabolism works. “The core of this project is that students and faculty have come together to create animation segments that can be used to illustrate important and hard to understand biomedical concepts,” said Professor Bongsup Cho, the lead faculty member of the project. Professors Keykavous Parang and Clinton Chichester are also playing major roles in the project.

The University College Scholars with Dean Jayne Richmond of University College and President Carothers.

University College

Ten students have been named University College Scholars (the top students in the 2003-04 freshman class). Each student received a certificate of achievement and a $500 check from the URI Alumni Association. This year’s scholars and their majors are: Jeff Grant, aquaculture and fisheries technology; Nicholas Mandler, civil engineering, German, and French; Rebecca Harlow, accounting with an early childhood minor; David Hathaway, business with a pre-med minor; Meghan Skira, Spanish and economics; Katherine Guilfoyle, biological sciences and pre-med; Casey Johnson, pharmacy; Lindsey Valentine, undeclared major; Garrett Passarelli, civil engineering and math; Sarah Elizabeth Brescia, pharmacy with a French minor.