The University of Rhode Island celebrated a major milestone in the $300 million, multi-phase revitalization of its Narragansett Bay Campus with a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Ocean Robotics Laboratory on June 25.
Students Elliot Roman and Jake Bonney piloted URI’s remotely operated vehicle Rhody to cut the ceremonial ribbon underwater in the building’s 20-foot-wide by 30-foot-long test tank. Gov. Dan McKee, House Speaker Emeritus K. Joseph Shekarchi, other state and local elected leaders, members of the URI Board of Trustees, and University faculty, staff, students and alumni were among the hundreds who attended.
“This is a major milestone in the revitalization of this campus,” said URI President Marc Parlange. “This campus is truly a hub for the blue economy in Rhode Island, with education, with research, with training, with extension, and partnerships with industry, as well as state and federal agencies.”
Rhode Island voters supported the revitalization measures by approving two bond referenda totaling $145 million. “URI has one of the best oceanography programs in the entire country, and yet, we hadn’t really invested a great deal in the infrastructure on the campus,” McKee said. Citing a state commerce board report that estimated up to 60,000 jobs are available in the blue economy with proper investment, he added, “What better place to invest than the University of Rhode Island.”
Margo Cook, chair of URI’s Board of Trustees, said the new lab is both a research resource and a recruitment tool. “Because of this investment made by our state leaders and the voters of Rhode Island, the new Ocean Robotics Laboratory is a cutting-edge resource to support our students, faculty, and our industry partners,” she said. “It’s also a new recruitment tool for the state of Rhode Island that will attract and retain talent to advance the blue economy.”
Shekarchi recalled visiting the Narragansett Bay Campus soon after becoming speaker. “I always held the oceanography school as a national treasure,” he said, describing antiquated facilities where umbrellas were needed indoors because of leaks. “President Parlange, ever the salesman that he is, took me through a few buildings.”
Faculty and students said the facility fills a long-standing gap. “The people who will work in the Ocean Robotics Laboratory are building the robots and instruments that are needed to solve challenges by giving them shared space, innovative infrastructure, and place-based partnership opportunity,” said Steve D’Hondt, interim dean of URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography. “The facility will enable Rhode Island to take a commanding global lead in robotic ocean exploration and automated sensing of the ocean.”
Lora Van Uffelen, associate professor of ocean engineering, pointed to the three words — research, development and deployment — that greet visitors at the entrance. “We’re all familiar with research and development. These are pillars of innovation everywhere. But what really makes us special and what makes this work unique is the deployment aspect,” she said. “We as oceanographers and ocean engineers take instrumentation to sea … one of the most extreme environments we have on our planet. Facilities like this tank behind me are really essential for refining our systems before they head out to sea.”
Jason Noel, a Ph.D. candidate in ocean engineering, said the lab is exactly what the department had been lacking. “We have always been at the forefront of research and talent, with amazing faculty, graduate students, and undergrads. The one thing that we were missing was the facilities to do our work,” he said, adding that the space will support partnerships with private industry. “This creates a direct conduit between university minds and the state’s industry, keeping our talent local to our region.”
Anthony Marchese, dean of the College of Engineering, said the timing could not be better. “The taxpayers of the small but mighty state of Rhode Island were not only generous, but visionary because we are now poised to cut the ribbon on the ocean robotics laboratory at URI at a time when such a facility could not be more important for the region and for society at large,” he said.
