2008 Woodie Awards
URI builds new library for undersea research
Tyler Will
Issue date: 11/6/07 Section: Campus
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11/06/07 -The University of Rhode Island will begin construction on a new library on the Narragansett Bay Campus in the coming weeks. The new Pell Marine Science Library will serve as headquarters to oceanography research projects conducted throughout the world.
A ceremony yesterday on the Narragansett campus commemorated the groundbreaking of the library. Several government officials were present, including R.I. Gov. Donald Carcieri, R.I. Sen. Jack Reed and former R.I. Sen. Claiborne Pell, for whom the library is named. The library will be built on the corner of the campus off of Aquarium Road.
URI President Robert L. Carothers said construction will take about 18 months and will cost $15 million. Voter-approved state bonds will cover $14 million and private donations will cover the remaining costs, according to a press release by the URI Department of Communications.
Carothers called the ceremony a "historic day" and referred to the efforts of numerous people.
"Without extraordinary minds, none of this would be important, none of this would have happened," Carothers said.
Carothers said the building will feature offices, classrooms, an Inter Space Center and a cafeteria. The Inter Space Center will use state-of-the-art technology to communicate between marine operations around the world. A satellite system and an internet server called Internet2 will enable this communication. According to the Internet2 Web site, Internet2 is a network for "institutions of higher learning."
Bob Weygand, the Vice President of Administration and Financing at URI, said this new technology will allow the university to "collaborate in new ways."
Robert Ballard, a professor at URI's graduate school of oceanography, enthusiastically described the library's capabilities.
"We can now have lectures from the bottom of the ocean," Ballard said. The unprecedented connectivity is a result of the technology in the Inter Space Center.
A ceremony yesterday on the Narragansett campus commemorated the groundbreaking of the library. Several government officials were present, including R.I. Gov. Donald Carcieri, R.I. Sen. Jack Reed and former R.I. Sen. Claiborne Pell, for whom the library is named. The library will be built on the corner of the campus off of Aquarium Road.
URI President Robert L. Carothers said construction will take about 18 months and will cost $15 million. Voter-approved state bonds will cover $14 million and private donations will cover the remaining costs, according to a press release by the URI Department of Communications.
Carothers called the ceremony a "historic day" and referred to the efforts of numerous people.
"Without extraordinary minds, none of this would be important, none of this would have happened," Carothers said.
Carothers said the building will feature offices, classrooms, an Inter Space Center and a cafeteria. The Inter Space Center will use state-of-the-art technology to communicate between marine operations around the world. A satellite system and an internet server called Internet2 will enable this communication. According to the Internet2 Web site, Internet2 is a network for "institutions of higher learning."
Bob Weygand, the Vice President of Administration and Financing at URI, said this new technology will allow the university to "collaborate in new ways."
Robert Ballard, a professor at URI's graduate school of oceanography, enthusiastically described the library's capabilities.
"We can now have lectures from the bottom of the ocean," Ballard said. The unprecedented connectivity is a result of the technology in the Inter Space Center.