The URI college of the environment and life sciences (cels) is the home of rhode island's agricultural experiment station (AES) and cooperative extension (extension)

URI's land grant programs address a wide range of national and international issues, with an emphasis on the needs of our state. Our research and extension programs seek to improve rhode islanders' quality of life, their livelihoods, and the health of our natural environment, with special attention to local problems. Agriculture and food systems - increase our ability on local, regional, and global levels to sustainable grow, harvest, market and consume food from both terrestrial and aquatic species. Local to global environmental change - increase our ability to respond and adapt to local, regional, and global environmental changes. Human and environmental health - increase our ability to recognize and manage emergent human and environmental health challenges. Youth, outcomes/deliverables - better understand the hydrological, biogeochemical and pedological properties and processes that affect SOM decomposition, CO2 and CH4 greenhouse gas fluxes, and c sequestration in depressional wetland ecosystems, as e xpressed across geographical and climatic gradients. Advance water quantity and quality models for mixed-use watersheds. Conduct integrated assessment of uncertainty and sensitivity analysis of monitoring and modeling approaches both individually and in combination. Examine the social, physical, and governance structures of values-based food supply chains (vbscs) and the internal and external constraints on their ability to preserve values along the supply chain. Investigate the effects of systemic disruptions (i.e., covid, climate change) on mid-scale food supply chain resilience, including on social equity (marginalized populations, racial equity) and environmental justice. Determine the ecology and geographic distribution of invasive and native disease vectors under changing environmental conditions to enhance our ability to predict conditions leading to existing and novel animal and human diseases.