URI Professor Tapped to Chair State Climate Change Science Board

A distinguished professor in Department of Natural Resources Science at the University of Rhode Island has been appointed chairman of the newly-created Rhode Island Executive Climate Change Science and Technical Advisory Board.

Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo announced Friday that August, along with the other members of the board, will “help Rhode Island develop real world solutions to address the impact climate change has in our state,” according to a news release.

August is the past director of URI’s Coastal Institute and has has been involved in climate change issues and environmental management for decades, said David Dooley, URI President.

“As founder of URI’s Environmental Data Center, he has applied cutting-edge mapping technologies to address land conservation issues,” Dooley said in a statement. ”He is an award-winning researcher, and his leadership and expertise will be of great benefit to the statewide climate change advisory board.”

The nine member board was formed as part of the 2014 Resilient Rhode Island Act passed by the General Assembly. The board was created “to provide guidance to the RI Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council (EC4) on issues such as aligning academic research around issues of climate resiliency, communicating scientific and technical information to the public, and taking inventory on public and private sector work to achieve greater coordination and efficiency,” the Governor’s office said.

“I want to thank Dr. August for committing his time and knowledge to help protect our state’s most important resources for generations to come,” Raimondo said.

Photo Courtesy: URI News Bureau