01:00 AM EDT on Saturday, June 10, 2006

BY TIMOTHY C. BARMANN
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Amid some of the rosy charts about the state's economy presented to the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council at the group's quarterly meeting yesterday, there was one that didn't look so good.

It showed how the University of Rhode Island and Brown University ranked nationally, in terms of science and engineering research.

In 1982, both ranked among the top 100 universities in the country. Since then, Brown's ranking has stayed almost the same, while URI's has been dropping steadily. The most recent figures from the National Science Foundation placed URI at about 140th.

The issue was one of several discussed by the 27-member council, which is made up of Rhode Island leaders from the private sector, government, labor and academia, and co-chaired by Governor Carcieri and Paul J. Choquette Jr., the chairman and CEO of Gilbane Building Co. The group is charged with analyzing the challenges facing the state's economy, and with developing and launching initiatives to help it grow.

At yesterday's meeting -- held at the new headquarters of Save the Bay, at Fields Point -- the council discussed why URI's ranking had fallen, and what can be done to raise it again.

University President Robert Carothers, who is a member of the council, said the main problem has been a lack of money from the state to support research at the school.

"I think the thing that people need to understand is that you can't run a research facility on tuition," Carothers said.

Sen. William Walaska, D-Warwick, responded that he didn't think the issue was all about money.

"I think we've been generous with the colleges in the past," Walaksa said. "It's not always dollars; it's priorities. . . . It's a direction the college chose to go."

"The direction we chose," Carothers retorted, "was to pay our bills."

The university is very much a consumer-based operation, he said. Any time he pulls someone out of the faculty to do research, Carothers noted, that person is not teaching, and therefore is not helping to bring in more revenue for the school.

Carcieri intervened, urging the council to focus on where the university is now, and where it's heading, rather than how it got there.

"We need the university to be a leader in science and technology, if we're going to develop the economy of the state in that direction," he said.

"We all, I think, believe that's really the salvation for our state, probably our nation."

The problem, Carcieri said, is finding the money to support that goal. "When you look at the state budget, after you get through with human services and K through 12, there isn't any money left."

The governor suggested the solution might lie in "getting creative" about finding new resources for the public colleges. One possible approach is encouraging the state's universities to collaborate, he said, and another is to involve the private sector in research funding and finding grants.

Council member Saul Kaplan, who is also executive director of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, suggested the Economic Policy Council create a focus group to look at "specifically, what will it take to increase research capacity, so we'll all understand the issue."

The council's next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 15. At that session, Kaplan said, the group should review a letter it sent to the General Assembly in 2004, expressing its opposition to casino gambling in the state. There will be a lot of discussion about the issue in the next few months, he said, so the council should decide whether it wants to revise its position.

tbarmann@projo.com / (401) 277-7369