It was a pleasure hosting 8 @schmidtsciences.bsky.social Eric and Wendy Schmidt Awards for Excellence in Science Communications winners last week! We explored a range of climate and environmental topics during Metcalf's workshop for journalists at @universityofri.bsky.social and @urigso.bsky.social
URI Graduate School of Oceanography
@urigso.bsky.social
URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography is one of the world’s premier academic institutions of oceanography and ocean exploration. An anchor of the blue economy.
🌊 Did you know University of Rhode Island was one of the first four Sea Grant Colleges in the U.S.? Thanks to the vision of #URIGSO's founding Dean John A. Knauss & Senator Claiborne Pell, who recognized that strong science, education, & community partnerships are essential to healthy oceans/coasts.
🌊 Save the Date! Science Saturday returns to the URI Bay Campus on Saturday, September 26, 2026. Discover the fascinating world of ocean science through interactive exhibits, hands-on activities, & conversations with the researchers shaping our understanding of the ocean. web.uri.edu/gso/science-...
🌊🐟 The University of Rhode Island and regional partners have secured a $15 million National Science Foundation award to launch the NSF Seafood Engine. This initiative will strengthen fisheries, aquaculture, and seafood innovation across the region. Learn more: buff.ly/V87k2aJ
Did you catch #URIGSO's Emmanuel Oyewole on @wpri12.bsky.social this week? 📺 Working in the McMahon Ocean Ecogeochemistry Lab, he is studying how offshore wind projects may influence Jonah crab populations & what that could mean for Rhode Island's fisheries. @leahbcrowley.bsky.social 🌊 🦑 🐠
🌊 Come along with us for water quality sampling at South Ferry Beach! Every week during the summer, volunteers from the Bay Campus collect water samples that are analyzed by the URI Watershed Watch Laboratory for enterococci & fecal coliform. We want to make sure our favorite beach is safe to enjoy!
🦈 🌊 A recently documented juvenile great white shark feeding on a humpback whale carcass just a few miles off Block Island is a reminder that Rhode Island's coastal waters are part of a dynamic marine ecosystem! #SharkAwarenessDay 🦑
The Atlantic Shark Institute shared a rare underwater video of a great white shark off Block Island. https://bit.ly/4p6kIOJ
Tiny organisms, massive impact. 🌊🔬 #URIGSO Professor Tatiana Rynearson and the students in her lab study phytoplankton, the microscopic organisms that produce half the world's oxygen, absorb carbon dioxide, and form the foundation of marine food webs. ➡️ Read more buff.ly/qKdc6v2 🧪 🦑
There’s nothing quite like the summer in New England 🌊☀️🏖️🪻✨ Enjoy 30 seconds of sights and sounds from URI's Narragansett Bay Campus!
Since the start of 2026, the NES-LTER team has published 7 more data packages in the EDI Repository, from grazing rates, DOC, DIN, Chl, to Microzoop biomass. Details to follow! @uslter.bsky.social @whoi.edu @urigso.bsky.social @wellesley.edu
🌾🌊 #FieldworkFriday: What does a baseline presence of microplastics in Narragansett Bay look like? #URIGSO Ph.D. student MC Cicenia recently wrapped up the first field season of the SIMCoast (Socio-Ecological Impacts of Microplastics in Coastal Ecosystems) project. ➡️ buff.ly/FSIzlc0
From PFAS in New Jersey rivers to black carbon in Atlantic Ocean sediments to hydrothermal vents nearly 13,000 feet below the sea surface, #URIGSO alum Sam Katz, M.S. '21, Ph.D. '24, has followed his curiosity wherever it leads. ➡️ : buff.ly/8aWAm9G
🚢 On #DayOfTheSeafarer, we recognize the people whose skill, dedication, and hard work make ocean science possible! We're sharing *People of R/V Endeavor*, a series highlighting just a few of the captains, engineers, technicians, and crew members who spent years supporting research on our ship.
🌊 Today's front page of The Providence Journal takes a closer look at beach replenishment efforts in Rhode Island. It features #URIGSO alum Emily Hall, M.S. '23, now a coastal geologist with the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council. ➡️ Read the story here: buff.ly/JmeZmH5
#WhereInTheWorldIsGSO 📌 North of Fogo Island, Newfoundland, Canada 🧊 This spring, #URIGSO's Mingxi Zhou and members of his Smart Ocean Systems Lab were in the field mapping icebergs using the Robotic Iceberg Sentinel (RISE) system, a platform they developed right here on the Bay Campus!
🪴 Last night, #URIGSO alum & Alumni Relations and Communication Coordinator Veronica Berounsky, Ph.D. ’90, got a chance to meet URI's newest botanical celebrity: Morticia the corpse flower! She was visitor #3,420 when she stopped to catch the rare bloom and experience its infamous aroma for herself.
We love cheering for Rhody the Ram 🐏, but what if #URIGSO had its own ocean-themed mascot? 🌊 Meet the contenders: 🐙 Olli the Octopus 🦪 Quinn the Quahog 🦭 Grace the Gray Seal Who gets your vote? Or do you have a better mascot idea for GSO? 👀 #NationalMascotDay
Last week, #URIGSO hosted the "Air-Sea Interaction: A Symposium in Honor of Isaac Ginis and Tetsu Hara,” celebrating the careers and scientific contributions of two longtime faculty members ahead of their retirement. Congratulations to Isaac Ginis and Tetsu Hara on this well-deserved milestone! 🎉
🐟 The URI Coastal Institute has received $24 million from the U.S. Department of State to continue and expand its fisheries work in the Philippines, building on eight years of collaboration to strengthen fisheries management and coastal livelihoods in the region. ➡️ Read more: buff.ly/RVpchw2
Nathan Vinhateiro, Science Director of the URI Coastal Institute and a research professor at #URIGSO, spoke with @carlosrmunoz.bsky.social at the @bostonglobe.com about a new study investigating more than a century of coastal change on Block Island. 🔗 www.bostonglobe.com/2026/06/08/m...
🌊 We had a great time celebrating World Ocean Day at @rwpzoo.bsky.social on Sunday! Visitors joined us for hands-on ocean science activities, from slipping on a “blubber glove," testing their predictions with a sink-or-float challenge, to ocean science careers. Thanks to everyone who joined us!
🌊 Happy World Ocean Day! From crashing waves along our coast to the deepest parts of the sea. From microscopic plankton to vast ocean currents. From student fieldwork aboard small boats to discoveries made on research vessels around the globe. The ocean connects us all. 🌎 #WorldOceanDay
🌈 🌊 This Pride Month, we celebrate the vibrant contributions of the LGBTQ+ community in ocean science & beyond. Our strength comes from the diversity of our community, and we're committed to fostering a safe, welcoming environment where everyone can thrive, contribute, and belong. #ScienceForAll
#URIGSO researchers found that hurricanes can intensify winds over nearby ocean waters even while the storm’s center remains 60–120 miles offshore. As a hurricane approaches land, friction from the land surface slows winds onshore, creating an imbalance that can strengthen winds over the ocean.
As part of an ongoing National Park Service project focused on marsh migration, #URIGSO researchers established monitoring sites, deployed loggers/cameras, & measured elevations using RTK GPS and laser scanning technology at Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park in Maryland.
For four weeks, #URIGSO researchers were aboard the R/V Thomas G. Thompson studying deep-sea hydrothermal vent ecosystems in the Lau Basin near Tonga as part of the #NSFfunded #SnailRising Survey. 🌊 🦑 🐌 🧪 @symbiosisrox.bsky.social
🎉 #URIGSO student Alyssa Tsukada was recently named a 2025 Asian Cultural Ambassador Award winner at URI’s fourth annual Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month luncheon. ➡️ Congratulations, Alyssa! Read more: buff.ly/r1Ax4LZ
Three generations of #URIGSO plankton trawl assistants were out on the water together this week during the Narragansett Bay Long-Term Plankton Time Series’ regular collection. Since 1957, weekly samples have been collected to monitor phytoplankton communities and changing conditions in the Bay.
Two new URI studies will help decode more than a century of coastal change on Block Island, delivering scientific guidance and planning tools directly to the community through more than $800,000 in combined Rhode Island Sea Grant funding and matching support. 🌊 ➡️ buff.ly/bMEssRE
To our graduating oceanographers: congratulations on this incredible achievement. 🌊🎓 As you take your next steps, know that the work you do matters: for our ocean and coasts, our communities, and the future of our planet. We can’t wait to see where the tides take you next. Congrats, Class of 2026!