MAINE NSF EPSCoR - Year 3     Research & Educational Outreach Awards Forest Bioproducts Research Initiative CLOSED for Maine colleges & universities, Maine small businesses, Maine K-12 STEM education sectors, or Maine non-profit organizations serving the above or involved in relevant activities.  Can support: Research, development, and educational activities supplies, small equipment, travel, consultants, etc. K-16 educational outreach & professional development  Click for application & information:  Year 3 RFP as Word document Year 3 RFP as PDF document

 

Year 2 & 3 Outreach Partners:

STEM Education & Workforce Development Partners:
UMaine Wabanaki Center - Orono, ME
The Wabanaki Center, in an integral partnership with Maine EPSCoR, is working to increase participation of tribal groups in STEM activities through their Native Scholar Educational Outreach Project. An initial planning phase allowed for needs assessment and establishing contacts within the tribal communities, and the Center is now implementing Phase II of their project. This will include: establishing a mentor program where Native alumni STEM scholars provide on-going support to students who wish to pursue a career in a STEM-related field; website enhancement to provide students with STEM resources; and student events in which tribal high school students can explore STEM program at the University.

Washington Academy - East Machais, ME
Washington Academy is a private high school on the coast of Maine. Washington Academy’s outreach award allowed them to construct a larger, and portable, biodiesel unit that it utilized for teaching students about this field. By making the unit portable with its own trailer, it also allowed for the ability to bring increased awareness of biofuel technologies to a broader audience by “taking it on the road.” In its first test run, the portable biodiesel unit was utilized during UMaine’s Upward Bound program, which focused entirely on FBRI research.

UMaine Upward Bound - Orono, ME
Upward Bound is a non-profit educational program that involves high school math and science students in a summer research opportunity. Upward Bound’s outreach award supported 35 high school students as they worked with FBRI faculty and graduate students during six-week summer program. Students conducted individual and group research, presented project posters at a science fair, and prepared articles that were published in a special book.

UMaine Women's Resource Center - Orono, ME
The Women’s Resource Center provides services and programs to women of the University of Maine as well as those through the state of Maine. Maine EPSCoR has provided support for the Women’s Resource Center’s annual one-day conference entitled “Expanding your Horizons” which is focused on providing middle school girls with opportunities to connect with women in under-represented career fields, including science, engineering, mathematics, and technology. This year 507 girls attended with 69 teachers and/or chaperones from 29 schools around the state. A total of 59 women acted as presenters, including many FBRI faculty and graduate students.

UMaine Pulp & Paper Foundation - Orono, ME
The Foundation financially supports and helps prepare engineering students for careers in the pulp and paper and allied industries. The Pulp and Paper Foundation’s outreach award supported the addition of a third one-week program. This allowed 30 more high school juniors to experience various engineering activities with UMaine faculty and students, and to participate in hands-on engineering teams. This year a total of 101 high school juniors were able to attend, and FBRI faculty and graduate students participated as mentors.

UMaine Center for Science & Mathematics Education Research - Orono, ME
The Center is a joining effort of the university’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, College of Education and Human Development, and College of Natural Sciences, Forestry and Agriculture, and provides an integrated approach to University-based research and training in science and mathematics education. The Center’s outreach awards have provided support for the exchange of research-suppported content focused on the best practices in K-16 science and math teaching and learning, as well support for the Center’s fourth biennial national conference and Summer Academy. A total of 284 people, comprised off 121 K-12 teachers, 81 university students, and 82 other educators, participated in four collaborative efforts and two conferences.

UMaine Department of Mathematics & Statistics - Orono, ME
Associate Professor Tod Shockey will train 2 middle school teachers and 1 university faculty member in the work of the Spatial Population Ecological and Epidemiological Dynamics (SPEED) Lab. The 3 teachers will then provide unique mathematics activities to students at the Beatrice Rafferty School which serves the Passamaquoddy People in Pleasant Point. Project will also partner with the Wabanaki Center to recruit undergraduates into the STEM fields.

Maine TREE Foundation - Augusta, ME
The Maine TREE Foundation is a private, non-profit environmental education organization with a focus on the forest. With Maine EPSCoR support, the Maine Tree Foundation has annually conducted four-day “Forests of Maine Teachers’ Tours,” held additional teacher professional development workshops focusing on forest bioproducts, and conducted extended Facilitators Conference for K-12 teachers from throughout the state.

Troy Howard Middle School - Belfast, ME
Troy Howard Middle School received an outreach award in order to establish an after school environmental club for 6th and 7th graders. Support was also provided for the purchase of scientific equipment which was used for club activities, as well as for new environmental educational activities for STEM classroom curriculum. School teachers worked with FBRI faculty and other outreach partners to maximize the impact of their award.

Institute for Broadening Participation - Damariscotta, ME
Build and maintain the state's STEM education website providing up-to-date resources on STEM education and career opportunities particularly relevant to Maine citizens.

Maine Association of Conservation Districts - Belgrade, ME
MACD is a non-profit organization connecting Maine’s Soil and Water Conservation Districts. MACD provided educational outreach through the Maine Envirothon Program to increase public awareness and participation in environmental issues. Envirothon is a natural resource problem-solving competition for students in grades 9-12.

UMaine Center for Research on Sustainable Forests - Orono, ME
The CRSF is a research center at the University of Maine, working closely with its forest resources researchers. Forests for Maine’s Future, a collaborative of Maine organizations that includes the CRSF, held a day-long community event in Portland titled “All things Woods.” The event featured exhibits, activities, and interactive workshops, and outreach funding was provided to sponsor special educational activities for youth. Approximately 800 adults attended the event, the majority of which brought one or more children with them.

Maine Energy Education Program - Parsonfield, ME
MEEP is a non-profit organization focused on helping Maine students become energy-literate citizens. Maine EPSCoR provided outreach support for MEEP to research and develop materials on ethanol production from forest products that would complement their existing K-12 educational materials. The newly developed visual information and experiential activity was piloted with 100 students, and will be integrated into MEEP’s on-going educational programs.

Maine Forest Service - Parsonfield, ME
Updated the Maine Forest Service's 2000 Directory of Primary Wood Processors.

Foster Student Innovation Center - Orono, ME
Annual innovation and commercialization plan contest open. 2 years of support: 12 competition participants & 90 workshop participants.

Research & Education Partners:
Center for Toxicology & Environmental Health - Portland, ME
In 2 projects over 3 years, students were trained to conduct toxicology studies on cellulosic nanoproducts that are being produced by the core FBRI research team: summer & academic year research internships; and 1 graduate, 3 undergraduate, and 4 high school students participated.

Small Business Partners:
Don MacKay, Forest Research LLC
Relative market value of chemicals and pharmaceuticals potentially extracted from trees in Maine. Involved 1 FBRI-sponsered Orono High School student.

Steve Young, Habitat Planning
Upper St. John Valley Community Forest Project. Computer forest modeling development and community forest management plan development. Involved 1 undergraduate student.

Nancy Kravit, Tethys Research
Improving Woody Biomass Separation by Enzymatic Means.