KINGSTON, R.I. – August 5, 2015 – The latest episode of “URI Today” on Rhode Island PBS will air Sunday, Aug. 9 at 6 p.m. and will feature University of Rhode Island research on horseshoe crabs, a profile of long-time URI sports broadcaster Jim Norman, and the opening of the University’s Gender and Sexuality Center.

The 30-minute program is part of a quarterly television series that explores the work being done by URI faculty and alumni and how it contributes to a better understanding of the world around us. Previous programs have examined such topics as premature babies, Dengue fever, climate change and sharks.

The horseshoe crab segment focuses on URI faculty and students conducting late-night studies of the well-known armored creatures at Napatree Point in Westerly, where the animals arrive in early summer to lay their eggs. It will feature interviews with the researchers as they count and tag the crabs.

The profile of Norman will highlight the career of the Rhode Island Radio Hall of Fame member and voice of the Rams who called 1,286 consecutive URI football and men’s basketball games during his 34-year career behind the microphone.

The program will also recount how URI became the first institution in the country to design and build a freestanding gender and sexuality center and how URI’s record of diversity and inclusiveness earned it recognition as one of the most LGBT-friendly college campuses in the country.

After the program’s initial broadcast on Aug. 9, it will be repeated at various dates and times in August and September.

The series is co-produced by the New Media unit of URI’s Department of Marketing and Communications and Ocean State Video.