Peter Lord wrote a nice overview of the Ocean SAMP for the URI Quadrangles magazine.
CRMC executive director Grover Fugate recalls his first meeting about the plan with Malcolm L. Spaulding ’69, Ph.D. ’73, a professor of ocean engineering at the Bay Campus, and former state energy commissioner Andrew Dzykewicz. Fugate recalls that Spaulding and Dzykewicz wanted to use experts at URI to do an environmental impact statement while he proposed the broader planning study of a vast area of state and federal offshore waters. The idea was to involve stakeholders such as fishermen, shipping companies, and birdwatchers to gain their input from the beginning.
Spaulding recalls that Daniel L. Mendelsohn, author of an early wind power survey for Rhode Island with his company, Applied Technology Management, was at the meeting. Spaulding says Mendelsohn also favored utilizing the “enormous capabilities” at the University rather than hiring a consulting company. “It’s one stop shopping here at URI,” Spaulding said. “We’re collecting an enormous amount of information useful to the project.”
