David Dooley, president of the University of Rhode Island, wants to make the school a top-tier research university.

The Providence Journal / Bob Breidenbach

Robert Carothers, former president of the University of Rhode Island, understood the link between education and economic development, especially the role of university research in creating jobs.

When URI’s rank among research institutions tumbled to 140th in the United States after a series of state budget cuts, he sounded off by publicly by questioning state leaders. Then, he set out to find out-of-state money to rebuild URI’s reputation for research.

With that history in mind, I listened last week to the first address given by David M. Dooley, URI’s new president, to business and academic leaders gathered at a Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce breakfast.

Dooley is a scientist and he offered an organized, thoughtful outline of where he wants to take URI. One goal is to make URI a top-tier research university. That will help URI compete for students and faculty who develop new ideas that can be turned into companies that put Rhode Islanders to work.

Dooley has the resumé to get the job done. After teaching chemistry at Amherst College, in Massachusetts, he moved to Montana State University in 1993 and later became provost and vice president of academic affairs and a professor of chemistry and biochemistry. He earned a reputation for expanding the school’s research budget to $100 million.

Dooley made two key points at the start of his speech.

URI’s main mission is to give as many Rhode Islanders as possible access to a quality education. He said the establishment of land grant universities such as URI was one of humanity’s greatest ideas.

He said that goal is “not incompatible” with the other, to embrace a vigorous research agenda that drives a university forward.

“Research is critical to higher education,” he said, “It’s never been more important to a public university.”

He explained that a research university creates new knowledge and intellectual property, which are foundations on which a new economy can be built. It’s also essential to sustaining the standard of living that Rhode Islanders enjoy.

“Knowledge creation has to play a bigger role than ever in history,” he said. “URI has to step up.”

He also told the crowd of about 100 people that URI’s role has to be much broader than creating a skilled work force for existing companies. He said URI has to be an environment that spawns new employers who develop companies based on new technologies. And the students must learn in classrooms and in outside settings, where analytical skills can be developed.

That can take place when partnerships are created between the university and private companies.

Dooley, standing under a banner that read CVS/Caremark, the Woonsocket-based company that sponsored the event, was asked by a member of the audience about his expectations from Rhode Island businesses.

“You mean besides writing big checks,” he chuckled. He added that he knows resources are now strained because of the recession, but undergraduates can contribute to a company without expecting to be paid a lot. The experience is more valuable, he said.

In turn, Dooley said URI can help companies by assisting in the transfer of technologies developed in federal laboratories into commercial applications.

He said the Bozeman area in Montana became known as “Silicon Gulch” because of the concentration of high-tech companies that worked with Montana State to develop federal technologies.

“The university became the research arm of many companies,” he said.

Dooley also warned that there is no quick fix to enhancing URI’s research identity.

There must be “sustained investment” for four to eight years to create new intellectual property and new knowledge.

And the process has to be transparent and accountable.

“We owe it to the taxpayers of Rhode Island, to the parents and the students,” he said.

Carothers, Dooley’s predecessor, set a goal of increasing research grants to $100 million by 2010. After tapping federal sources, especially the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, URI brought in $85 million in grants in 2008-2009, an increase of $20 million over the prior year.

That leaves room for Dooley to reach, and extend, Carothers’ goal. The new URI president has the vision to get there.

Now, he has to execute his plan. If he succeeds, he’ll move the state’s flagship institution in the right direction toward rebuilding Rhode Island’s economy.

John Kostrzewa is assistant managing editor/commerce & consumer issues. Reach him at (401) 277-7330 or at jkostrze@projo.com