The University received approximately twice the number of applicants for the number of spots available in the 2015 TRI-Lab by the Oct. 19 deadline, a statistic consistent with past semesters, said Allen Hance, director of the TRI-Lab.
Spring 2015 will mark the start of the third iteration of the TRI-Lab, a University initiative that allows students, faculty members and community members to learn about and develop potential solutions to pressing social issues. The 2015 TRI-Lab will commence in the spring and conclude in the fall, and it will focus on climate change and environmental justice in Rhode Island. The pilot version of the program during the 2013-2014 academic year centered on healthy early childhood development, while the current 2014-2015 program explores healthy food access in Providence, The Herald previously reported.
Though applications closed on Oct. 19 for Brown students applying to the 2015 TRI-Lab, students at the Rhode Island School of Design can still apply until Nov. 7, Hance said.
The University received as many applications from Brown students as expected, he said, adding that he anticipates a total of 30 Brown and RISD students to submit applications and 18 to 20 students to ultimately participate in the program.
Applications for Brown students were initially due sooner, but the deadline was extended because students reported that they did not have enough time to finish their applications, Hance said.
Though the applicant pool is relatively small, the application process is competitive because “the program sets a pretty high bar” for students to already demonstrate experience in the chosen theme and in community service, Hance said.
The 2015 TRI-Lab will focus on two to three neighborhoods in Providence, Hance said. In conjunction with the Rhode Island Department of Health, the lab will develop community partnerships and research projects in those neighborhoods to increase understanding about the health risks linked to climate change in Rhode Island, he said.
In particular, the lab will focus on the impacts of increases in heat and precipitation in urban areas as well as rising sea levels along Rhode Island’s nearly 400 miles of coastline, said J. Timmons Roberts, co-chair of the 2015 TRI-Lab and professor of environmental studies and sociology.
The upcoming lab will begin with “an initial period of time that’s devoted to understanding the background of the issues” before breaking into research teams associated with the particular neighborhoods, Hance said.
For almost a year, the 2015 TRI-Lab has been in a planning stage that has involved reaching out to students, faculty members, community groups and state agencies to determine what areas of the issue to focus on, what populations and communities are most vulnerable and how to balance the needs of the community with the number of students available to participate in the lab.
Topics for each iteration of the TRI-Lab are chosen from proposals based on student interest, faculty capacity and the availability of community partners who understand the issue, Hance said. A planning grant has been issued to develop a proposal for a future lab exploring the “health issues faced by incarcerated populations,” he said.
Each version of the TRI-Lab presents a new set of challenges because “different problems require different types of teams to be put to work,” Hance said, adding that one anticipated challenge of the upcoming lab is that climate change issues in Providence are often viewed in terms of health issues such as asthma, not in terms of scientific issues.
The next TRI-Lab will let participants work directly with a group of “amazing community partners” and will therefore feel “more like a real job” than a class, Roberts said. The program is particularly well-suited to Brown students, who “are really interested in … saving the world,” he added.
The TRI-Lab was piloted with support from Roger Nozaki MAT’89, former director of the Swearer Center for Public Service and associate dean of the College for community and global engagement, and Katherine Bergeron, former dean of the College. Kate Trimble, acting director of the Swearer Center, said she intends to continue supporting the TRI-Lab in her role.
The TRI-Lab exemplifies the Swearer Center and the University’s conceptions of “engaged scholarship,” Trimble said, adding that it “pulls in people from a lot of different perspectives who care about the same issue but are approaching it as an economist, or approaching it as a nonprofit manager, or as a policy maker or a cognitive science concentrator.”
One of the benefits of the TRI-Lab is that it can function as a “living laboratory,” evolving its model with each successive program, Trimble said.
Since its inception, the TRI-Lab has increased the number of participating students, created an advisory board of experts and leaders throughout Rhode Island and implemented summer internships with participating agencies, she said, adding that it will continue to evolve and become more meaningful in the future.
Both Trimble and Roberts noted that committing to participate in the TRI-Lab is difficult for students because it spans two semesters, and efforts are being made to potentially create a one-semester lab in the future or to accept students who are only available for one semester.
Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this story attributed information to an incorrect source. It was J. Timmons Roberts, not Allen Hance, who said the next TRI-Lab will let participants work directly with a group of “amazing community partners” and will therefore feel “more like a real job” than a class, and the program is particularly well-suited to Brown students, who “are really interested in … saving the world.” The Herald regrets the error.
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