KINGSTON, R.I. May 12, 2022 – The University of Rhode Island has named its 2022 Research and Scholarship Excellence Awards recipients. Undergraduate and graduate students, staff and faculty were among the 9 recipients honored during recent ceremonies at the Higgins Welcome Center.
The award categories and recipients are as follows:
Undergraduate Student Research and Scholarship Excellence Award
Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities
SHELBY KANSKI ‘22
Department of Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design, College of Business
Kanski’s sustained research during her time at URI demonstrated exceptional leadership capabilities. Kanski, of Dickinson, North Dakota, excelled during the height of the pandemic as a student, teaching assistant, and president of the Fashion Merchandising Society. Displaying an entrepreneurial spirit, she also designed and produced several Rhody facemasks sold by the URI Bookstore.
As an undergraduate, she enrolled in a graduate class focused on 20th century designer fashions in the Historic Textile and Costume Collection, performing as well as if not better than some graduate students in the course. For her senior honors project, Kanski researched the Met Costume Institute and its annual exhibition and fundraiser, the Met Gala, receiving a grant for a research trip to the Institute. Her research aims to understand how the institute’s exhibitions and gala diverged from the world of historic costume and transformed into the mainstream cultural event it is today. She investigates the interconnected factors that have shaped this phenomenon, such as celebrity culture and the Institute’s connection to Vogue. Kanski is interested in today’s global sustainability challenge and how the fashion industry can evolve to fulfill the needs of tomorrow.
Undergraduate Student Research and Scholarship Excellence Award
Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Engineering
MARIA CHERRY ‘22
Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, College of Health Sciences
A Dean’s List student with a track record of accomplishment, the Cranston resident’s interest in gaining research experience in URI’s Big Data and Eating Decisions (Byte) lab led to her honors project focused on the food environment at URI and its alignment with national recommendations for health. Cherry conducted comprehensive analyses of the URI dining halls using standards from the Partnership for Healthier America’s Healthier Campus Initiative and developed a survey in Qualtrics to evaluate students’ perceptions of healthy dining options on campus.
Cherry has grown considerably as a researcher, learning how to conceptualize research problems, organize her time, and work with staff, faculty, and registered dietitians on campus to conduct her work and ultimately earning a competitive $2,000 College of Health Sciences Research Award. In July she will present at the 2022 American Society for Nutrition conference, one of the primary professional organizations for nutrition professionals.
Graduate Student Research and Scholarship Excellence Award
Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities
SILVI C. GOLDSTEIN ‘24 Ph.D
Department of Psychology, College of Health Sciences
Goldstein’s research focuses on substance use-related health inequities among marginalized racial groups, with a particular emphasis on harm reduction and alcohol use. The Providence resident has earned several prestigious grants to support her work, including a Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health, for $81,900, to assess race and sex as moderators of harm reduction pharmacological treatment for alcohol use disorder among people experiencing homelessness. She also received the American Psychological Association Division 50 Society of Addiction Psychology’s Student Research Grant to assess the acceptability and feasibility of harm reduction in one First Nation community.
Goldstein has published 18 peer-reviewed publications, with another 5 manuscripts under review, as well as delivered 19 research presentations at national and international conferences. She has made substantial contributions to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts, notably receiving the 2020 Stanley Berger Social Justice Award. She was a founding member of the Psychology Department’s Multicultural Consultation Team, an initiative of graduate students assisting in facilitating the conduct of culturally-informed, inclusive, and equitable research, teaching, service, and practice. She has also worked to develop scholarships for researchers from underrepresented groups and worked to increase recruitment and retention of diverse students in psychology.
KEVIN H. WONG ‘22 Ph.D.
Graduate Student Research and Scholarship Excellence Award
Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Engineering
KEVIN H. WONG ‘22 Ph.D.
Department of Biological Sciences, College of the Environment and Life Sciences
Wong’s research is focused on the mechanisms of coral acclimatization to climate change within and across generations. He has pioneered multiple techniques and analyses ranging from physiology to metabolomics to epigenomics in corals. His multi-year study published in the prestigious journal Global Change Biology provides a compelling and comprehensive view into long term environmental impacts as well as short-term perturbations due to heat waves on coral reproduction, which is essential for reef persistence under climate change. Wong’s body of work for his Ph.D. is exactly the kind of research that will help understand, manage, and restore coral reefs. He is a resident of Saunderstown.
As a graduate student, Wong received $72,238 in competitive funding from 10 awards, including those from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the National Geographic Society, and the International Coral Reef Society. In addition to his Ph.D. research in Bermuda, he assisted in multiple research expeditions to French Polynesia and Hawai’i. Wong successfully mentored 17 undergraduate students and taught three laboratory courses at URI. Additionally, he led lab components of three field courses focused on coral reef ecology at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences.
Research Staff Research and Scholarship Excellence Award
Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Engineering
DIRECTOR IRENE ANDREU BLANCO, PH.D.
Rhode Island Consortium of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, College of Engineering
Blanco has demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to enhancing the facility, which is vital to URI research and provides advanced scientific instrumentation to academic and industry researchers.
The Dedham, Massachusetts resident effectively led the expansion of the facility, which houses well over $6 million in equipment for materials characterization beginning at the atomic scale. This includes the addition of a new $2.3 million electron microscope awarded through a National Science Foundation Major Instrumentation Grant, and a $1 million X-ray microscope awarded through state funds via the Polaris Manufacturing Extension Partnership.
Blanco organized a public webinar series showcasing the available instrumentation. She achieved financial stability for the facility by revamping business operations, preparing detailed and well-conceived annual business plans and reports. Her commitment to training the next generation of scientists and engineers is outstanding. She has provided training to 150 graduate and undergraduate students since 2018, playing important roles in the research programs of more than 30 faculty at URI and at least 10 private companies. She embodies interdisciplinary work and has presented more than 20 guest lectures in the colleges of Engineering, Pharmacy and Environment and Life Sciences, and invited seminars in the departments of Chemical Engineering, Physics, and Geosciences.
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR EMILY P. DIAMOND, PH.D.
Early Career Faculty Research and Scholarship Excellence Award
Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR EMILY P. DIAMOND, PH.D.
Department of Marine Affairs and the Harrington School of Communication and Media
College of the Environment and Life Sciences and College of Arts and Sciences
With joint appointments in the Harrington School of Communication and Media and the Department of Marine Affairs, Diamond investigates how messaging influences environmental decision-making, risk perception, and policy preferences. Her interdisciplinary research draws on the fields of communication science, environmental politics, and political psychology to examine how frames and identities shape environmental attitudes and behaviors. The Wakefield resident has successfully partnered with colleagues in the sciences, engineering, film, economics, writing, political science, and public health on various research projects and grants. The quality and scope of her research has impressed colleagues across campus, leading to high-quality publications as well as conference papers and a technical report.
Diamond has completed a collaborative pilot study among coastal fishers in Rhode Island on identities and environmental perception that reaches marginalized populations. Her scholarship addresses environmental justice concerns when working with indigenous leaders, notably the Wampanoag Tribe on Cape Cod. Recognizing the need for more inclusive science communication, she has dedicated significant efforts through the STEEP research project to engage traditionally marginalized tribal communities in bidirectional, cutting-edge research. Her work reflects a commitment to rectifying environmental injustices and ensuring all communities benefit from scientific progress.
Early Career Faculty Research and Scholarship Excellence Award
Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Engineering
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR ROXANNE A. BEINART, PH.D.
Graduate School of Oceanography
A marine microbial ecologist and physiologist, the South Kingstown resident’s groundbreaking research is in deep-sea biology, high pressure systems, and chemosynthetic and anoxic ecosystems. Beinhart’s work links microbial ecology and physiology to understand how symbiotic microbes can impact marine ecosystems. She has done extensive work at Pacific hydrothermal vents and studies symbiosis in Narragansett Bay organisms. She sustains an active seagoing program and is serving as chief-scientist on oceanographic research cruises.
Beinart has published in high caliber peer-reviewed journals and encourages her students and postdoctoral fellows to lead on publications. This record and approach reflect her mentorship and leadership in the scientific community. She contributes generously as a guest lecturer in undergraduate and graduate classes across disciplines at URI and has initiated sustainability efforts, recycling programs and waste reduction at the Bay Campus. She is an outspoken advocate for justice, equity, diversity and inclusion, putting remarkable effort into recruitment, retention and mentoring students from formerly marginalized groups. Beinart has also excelled at securing competitive funds from federal agencies, as well as local, national, international and philanthropic institutions. She received a Simons Foundation Early Career Investigator in Marine Microbial Ecology and Evolution award, a large National Science Foundation award and a National Science Foundation CAREER award.
Advanced Career Faculty Research and Scholarship Excellence Award
Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Engineering
PROFESSOR SCOTT R. MCWILLIAMS, PH.D.
Department of Natural Resources Science, College of the Environment and Life Sciences
McWilliams, a resident of Kingston, ranks among the most prolific faculty members at URI with an exceptional national and international reputation. He is an integrative scientist who studies animals across the full spectrum of biological organization (from genotype to phenotype to populations, communities, and landscapes) with a strong desire to apply results to the conservation of wildlife and their habitats.
McWilliams has been awarded more than $18 million in funded research from agencies such as the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Netherland Science Foundation, and the U.S. National Science Foundation, including an NSF CAREER Grant.
He has more than 150 publications in high impact peer-reviewed journals and received more than 4,700 citations. He has presented at more than 130 national and international conferences and actively engaged in outreach with the community via hundreds of public presentations. To date, he has formally mentored 8 faculty at URI, 12 postdoctoral fellows, 38 graduate students, and hundreds of undergraduates. He also is actively involved with the URI science writing program, known as SciWrite@URI, which ensures science-focused students learn the fine art and science of writing well.
Advanced Career Faculty Research and Scholarship Excellence Award
Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Engineering
PROFESSOR OTTO J. GREGORY, PH.D.
Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering
A world-renowned expert in sensors for harsh environments, in particular physical and chemical sensors, Gregory has been teaching and conducting research at URI for 44 years. During his tenure, he has mentored new faculty, dozens of graduate students, and hundreds of undergraduate students in his laboratory. A resident of Narragansett, Gregory has fostered collaboration with academia, government and industry, and with colleagues from Brown University, Florida International University, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Raytheon, Pratt and Whitney, NASA, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and the Department of Homeland Security. His “Digital Dog Nose” invention received international attention in the media, including The Discovery Channel, CBS Evening News, CBS Morning News, a dozen TV networks in Boston, Providence and New York and in 155 newspapers around the world.
As an innovator, Gregory has received more than 30 U.S. patents and published more than 100 peer reviewed journal articles in the best journals in his field. He also served URI as the Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies. He has also served in other important research administration roles at URI, including director of The Rhode Island Center for Thin Film and Interface Research, and the co-founder and director of the highly regarded URI Sensors and Surface Technology Partnership. Within this research center he has built a state-of-the-art laboratory dedicated to designing and testing wired and wireless sensors. He also is the director of the Environmental Electron Microscopy Cost Center and the Thin Film Surface Analysis Cost Center.