... The Champlin awards include:

• A $119,800 grant to help fund a new digital production studio for broadcast journalism studies. The facility – set to open in the fall semester – will include a main studio and control room where students will learn to produce daily newscasts, conduct interviews and role-play ethical case studies from real news situations.

• A $109,000 grant to provide equipment for a state-of-the-art underwater and coastal archaeological digital teaching and research laboratory on the Kingston campus. The laboratory, to be fully functioning by April 2009, will teach students about underwater archaeology and deep-submergence archaeology.

• A $106,000 grant – augmenting a $394,000 grant from the R.I. Division of Technology – to equip the 300-seat auditorium in the URI Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences with the latest audio and visual equipment. The project is slated for completion next January.

• A $96,790 grant to provide video technology, software and related systems, as well as therapy tables, to allow physical therapy students to simultaneously observe and interact with patients from a remote location...

• A $59,580 award to update the Independence Hall screening room with state-of-the-art equipment. The facility, for film media students, was established in 1999 with the help of Champlin funding.