| URI held its
First Annual Recognition Luncheon for Outstanding
Research and Outreach on May 10, 2000.
Candidates were nominated by the Council for Research,
the Council for Outreach, and the Deans of URI. President
Robert L. Carothers, Provost and Vice President for
Academic Affairs M. Beverly Swan and Thomas J. Rockett
Vice Provost for Graduate Studies Research and
Outreach honored those being recognized for all of
their hard work and dedication.
"We wanted to provide some formal
recognition for these outstanding faculty members who
do so much to support those important parts of the
University's mission which have to do with research
and outreach. These faculty help the University to
contribute to the economic development of the State of
Rhode Island as well as create and disseminate new
knowledge. These particular faculty members are
excellent examples of the contributions URI faculty
members make." ~ M. Beverly Swan
"The success of any outreach effort is
dependent first and foremost on those to whom you are
trying to involve in your work. In Rhode Island we are
extremely fortunate to have so many people who feel a
deep sense of stewardship for all of our invaluable
natural resources, and do whatever they can to
conserve and protect them. This award belongs as much
to all those who have invested their concern, time and
energy to enhancing our community, and have made our
work so easy and enjoyable." ~Virginia Lee
RECOGNITION
FOR OUTSTANDING RESEARCH 2000
Nikhilesh Dholakia top
Dr. Dholakia is Associate Director of the
Research Institute for Telecommunications and
Information Marketing. His research deals with
technology, innovation, market processes, and consumer
culture. In the field of telecom and information
technology, he has worked on projects dealing with
Organization Buying of Telecom Systems, Global Telecom
Markets, Information Technology in the Home,
Technology Adoption and Diffusion Processes, and
Public Policy towards Telecommunications. Dr.
Dholakia's research has been published extensively in
various international journals in marketing,
management, public policy, and technology.
Ruby R. Dholakia
top
Dr. Ruby Roy Dholakia has been at URI since
1981. Her research interests are in the areas of
consumer socialization and the market acceptance of
new technologies. For the past 15 years, she has
concentrated her research on new information and
telecommunications technologies and her efforts have
been supported by grants from private, state, national
and international organizations.
Margaret M. McGrath top
Throughout Professor McGrath’s career,
she has been intrigued with the concept of risk and
protection and the notion of vulnerable, under-served
populations. The concept of diversity and the paradox
of adversity having the potential to create
vulnerability, as well as resiliency, are a very
appealing conceptual underpinning for the science of
nursing. She has explored the mystery of risk and
protection in high-risk populations of children
defined by health risk, environmental risk, and
bioregulatory risk. Coupled with the newer notions of
protective processes, her aim has been to understand
developmental trajectories within the context of the
family and environment. As a result of Professor
McGrath’s longitudinal research over the past 12
years she has gained expertise that has both depth and
breadth in relation to child development and family
research.
James O. Prochaska top
Dr. James O. Prochaska is Director of
Cancer Prevention Research Center and Professor of
Clinical and Health Psychology at the University of
Rhode Island. He is internationally recognized for his
work as a developer of the stage model of behavior
change. He is the author of over 150 publications,
served as a consultant several major corporations,
universities, research centers, health organizations
and has won numerous awards. He is the principal
investigator on over $50 million dollars in research
grants for the prevention of cancer and other chronic
diseases. With the CPRC health promotion research they
have reached out to more than 50,000 Rhode Islanders
and have provided services worth more than 20 million
dollars. Additionally, they have helped tens of
thousands of Rhode Islanders live healthier and
longer.
James G. Quinn top
Dr. Quinn’s general area of research is
marine organic chemistry with emphasis on the
geochemistry of organic compounds in estuaries and the
coastal zone. In particular, his students, colleagues
and he have studied the sources, transport and fate of
natural and anthropogenic organic chemicals in
Narragansett Bay and Rhode Island Sound for over 30
years. These efforts have resulted in one of the most
extensive organic geochemical databases available on
any coastal ecosystem in the world.
Marie J. Schwartz top
Historian Marie Jenkins Schwartz is the
author of Born in Bondage: Growing Up Enslaved in the
Antebellum South, available this spring from Harvard
University Press. Schwartz has twice received
fellowships for her work on slave life and culture
from the National Endowment for the Humanities, as
well as other organizations including the American
Historical Association and the John Nicholas Brown
Center for American Civilization. Her latest research
entitled "Medical Men and Midwives: Managing
Pregnancy and Childbirth in the Slave South" has
received funding from the American College of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Ortho
Pharmaceutical Corporation.
Brent E. Stucker top
Dr. Brent Stucker's research interests are
in the area of rapid fabrication technologies and
their applications to manufacturing. He works with
laser consolidation processes that enable
geometrically complex parts to be made directly from
computer models in advanced materials. Dr. Stucker is
the Founder and Director of the Rapid Manufacturing
Center, an industry/university collaborative research
center, and over the past three years he has
established and developed a rapid manufacturing
laboratory with over $2,000,000 worth of equipment --
arguably the best facility of its kind in the world.
Stephen K. Swallow top
Professor Swallow conducts research on
economics of ecosystem management and environmental
resource uses, including valuation of environmental
qualities, dynamics of ecosystems and resource
extraction, policy decision making, open space
preservation and land use. He is particularly
interested in integrating economics and conservation
biology in relation to land use change and
conservation of biological diversity. Professor
Swallow is also known for active involvement in the
University of Rhode Island's development of
experiential learning and interdisciplinary research,
particularly as a founding Steering Committee Member
for the URI Partnership for the Coastal Environment,
which brings together students, researchers, and
outside professionals to address environmental
problems facing society.
Bingfang Yan top
Dr. Yan, Assistant Professor of
Pharmacology and Toxicology, joined the department of
URI in 1997. His research focus is on the elucidation
of molecular mechanisms on individual variations among
humans in responding to drugs and environmental
contaminants. Currently his research projects are
supported by the national Institutes of Health as well
as several foundations.
Betty J. Young top
Dr. Young’s work focuses on areas of
curriculum and assessment reform with a special
interest in elementary science and mathematics. As PI
on the Guiding Education in Math & Science Network
(GEMS-NET) project, She works with seven Rhode Island
school districts assisting in the implementation of an
innovative science curriculum by providing science
professional development for over 500 teachers. My
research relates to professional development for
school science reform, gender issues in technology,
science, math, and teacher education reform.
RECOGNITION
FOR OUTSTANDING OUTREACH 2000
John Boulmetis top
Dr. John Boulmetis has been the director of
the Center for Human Services since 1983. The Center
has had a contractual agreement with the RI Department
of Human Services since 1982 and the RI Department of
Children and their Families since 1986 to provide
supplemental training to the staff of those two
departments of state government. The intent of the
contracts is to use the rich talents of the faculty
and staff of the University of Rhode Island, Rhode
Island College and the Community College of Rhode
Island to provide professional development that is not
available through the staff development units of the
respective Departments.
Phillip G. Clark
top
The Program in Gerontology, the Rhode
Island Geriatric Education Center, and the Aging and
Health Team of the President's Health Promotion
Partnership are involved in multifaceted outreach
efforts involving a number of faculty and students
across the URI campus. In the area of health promotion
with older adults, we have received grants to support
programs to increase physical activity in older adults
across the state, sponsored wellness workshops at
senior centers and housing sites, and written a
"URI Research Update" column for the Senior
Living newspaper.
Philip Datseris
top
Professor Philip Datseris is the Director
of the Center for Automation and Robotics Research at
URI and has worked with many companies to design and
build intelligent automation systems--prototypes as
well as production machines. Some of these companies
are the Foamex Corporation, the largest manufacturer
of seat cushions for automobiles; the Heustis
Corporation, a manufacturer of medical equipment used
for radiation therapy of cancer patients; Dekalb
Genetics, a manufacturer of equipment for DNA
research; and Symettrix Inc., manufacturer of large
steel plates. The most recent project involves the
design of a portable, remote and computer controlled
system for diffusing live munitions, using a
high-pressure watejet system.
Marcia M. Feld
top
Professor, Marcia Marker Feld, Ph.D., AICP,
is on the faculty of CPLA and Executive Director of
the URI Urban Field Center. In her twenty-fifth year
as Director, she and the Center's professional team
have established the first partnership between URI and
Urban School Districts, organized a community-wide
Dropout prevention coalition and worked with local
communities in the development of leadership in
housing and neighborhood revitalization. The work of
the Field Center is predicated on the values of
equity, social justice and access.
Marion S. Gold
top
Marion Gold coordinates the URI Cooperative
Extension GreenShare Program. GreenShare's goal is to
provide horticultural professionals and the gardening
public with environmentally sound research-based
information on creating and maintaining beautiful
landscapes. To reach different target audiences they
use television and print media as well as workshops,
garden tours, demonstrations and field days.
Theodore Kellogg
top
Dr. Kellogg has worked with 2600 public
school teachers who received technology training
through the Rhode Island Teachers and Technology
Initiative and other URI programs over the last few
years. It is the teachers' excitement, leadership and
commitment that has made the University of Rhode
Island Involvement in these efforts professionally and
personally rewarding.
Ronald T. Lee
top
Ronald Lee serves as Artistic Director of
the University Artist Series, which this year included
performances by the Rhode Island Philharmonic
Orchestra and Ocean State Chamber Orchestra. As
Chairperson of the Music Department, he oversees and
guides four music festivals and one summer music camp
for talented high school musicians. The music division
serves 500 community residents, and a yearly
performance program of 125 concerts and recitals
attended by approximately 45,000 people. The Kingston
Chamber Music Festival is also presented in
conjunction with the Department of Music.
Virginia Lee top
Virginia Lee serves as leader of the Rhode
Island Sea Grant Advisory Services in Coastal
Management and as manager of the CRC U.S. Program. She
directs all of CRC's local and national projects
dealing with integrated coastal management, pollution
prevention, public access and hazard mitigation. She
has been in the forefront of creating special area
management and harbor management plans for Rhode
Island. She worked with a major interdisciplinary
research project on the Rhode Island salt pond lagoons
and barrier systems and worked with state agencies and
watershed municipalities to devise management policies
including zoning changes and a management plan adopted
by the Rhode Island Coastal Zone Program.
Virginia Nardone top
Virginia Nardone is the Director of the CCE
special programs office, the major outreach activity
of continuing education. The office provides contract
training and education for area businesses, offers
programs regionally and internationally. She has been
instrumental in articulating partnership agreements
with area hospitals for the cytotechnology program and
for the healthcare administration portion of the BGS
program at CCE, URI courses in writing and math in RI
high schools, and developing the ALTER program for
older adults.
Robert A. Saritelli top
The Pharmacy Outreach Program serves the
elderly, disadvantaged and the sometimes overlooked
members of society. The program is designed as a
reflection of an ideal of service to others.
It extends itself to provide education on healthcare
topics, to promote preventative medicine efforts and
to help people continue to function as participating
member of their communities.
The Pharmacy Outreach Program successfully delivers
information and provides needed services in a personal
and caring way. The program makes an extra effort in
teaching and outreach to those who can benefit most
from their services.
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