News

The Bangor Daily News and WABI (Channel 5) were among news organizations to cover the Friday unveiling of the University of Maine’s offshore buoy-based system that will measure wind speeds above the Gulf of Maine.

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The University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center’s latest technology, a buoy-based floating LIDAR system, to collect deepwater offshore hub-height wind and other metocean measurements in the Gulf of Maine.

Last October, UMaine’s Composites Center, NRG Systems Inc., AWS Truepower LLC, UMaine’s Physical Oceanography Group (PhOG) and Leosphere SAS established a research and development partnership to gather deepwater metocean data in the gulf. UMaine has designed a floating system to house a modified WINDCUBE® v2 Offshore LIDAR Remote Sensor, which has been adapted to a dynamic marine environment.

The floating system, which incorporates a proven LIDAR system that detects wind conditions using laser technology up to 200 meters above the ocean surface, is based on buoy technology developed and tested by UMaine’s Physical Oceanography Group over the past decade in the Gulf of Maine and abroad. AWS Truepower will conduct a campaign to validate the data collected by the floating system.

The buoy is scheduled for deployment alongside UMaine’s VolturnUS 1:8 floating offshore wind turbine, the first grid-connected offshore wind turbine in the U.S., on June 1 off the coast of Castine, Maine.

“This partnership between UMaine and our private industry leaders will advance resource assessment technology and will help propel the U.S. forward in deepwater offshore wind technology development,” says Habib Dagher, director of UMaine’s Composites Center. “Floating LIDAR technology, once fully validated, will provide us with a cost-effective method to assess the wind resource in areas traditionally off-limits to offshore wind developers.”

With funding from the Maine Technology Institute and the U.S. Department of Energy, UMaine’s Composites Center is leading this effort to enable cost-effective measurements hub-height winds in deepwater where fixed-based towers are not feasible. UMaine’s Composites Center is actively developing and testing innovative floating wind turbines for deployment in deep water.

UMaine’s Physical Oceanography Group develops and operates real-time ocean observing systems. It operates the Gulf of Maine Observatory as part of the Northeast Regional Association of Coastal and Ocean Observing Systems and the real-time buoy array of the Caribbean Integrated Ocean Observing System.

NRG Systems is an independently owned company that has served the global renewable energy industry for 30 years. Its measurement equipment, turbine health monitoring systems, and LIDAR remote sensors can be found in 150 countries on every continent, serving electric utilities, renewable energy developers, turbine manufacturers, consultants and research institutes.

AWS Truepower is one of the world’s leading providers of renewable energy solutions to developers, investors, utilities and governments.

Contact: Elizabeth Viselli, 207.581.2831

The Portland Press Herald carried an Associated Press story Friday about the University of Maine’s offshore data-collection wind buoy being ready for testing in the ocean.

UMaine plans to commercialize the system, which will examine whether off-shore locations are suitable wind resources for wind farms.

A Bates College sociology professor will discuss factors that can lead adults to reinforce gender stereotypes during a presentation Thursday, June 6, at 7 p.m. at the University of Maine Hutchinson Center in Belfast. Speaker Emily Kane is author of The Gender Trap, which explores how adults can unintentionally reinforce traditional roles and expectations. The free presentation is part of the Maine Mother-Daughter Project developed by Kimberly Huisman, UMaine associate professor of sociology.  The project is intended to create a community that strengthens mother-daughter relationships.

A Bangor Daily News story about growing local interest in beekeeping cites the importance of University of Maine Cooperative Extension expertise.

University of Maine economist Jim McConnon is cited in a Lewiston Sun Journal story on the new U.S. Census data that show Maine gained slighted and Massachusetts grew significantly.

Director of Multicultural Programs Judith Josiah-Martin’s May 21 community presentation on Indian Island on the realities of opiate dependency was covered by WLBZ (Channel 2).

The Maine Edge interviewed University of Maine economics professor Todd Gabe and cited his 2012 study on the economic effects of Bangor’s Waterfront Concerts series.

The newest entry in the Bangor Daily News blog “Education: Future Imperfect,” by UMaine Professor of History Howard Segal is online.

Mainebiz reported Blackstone Accelerates Growth, a $3 million effort started in 2011 to create innovation hubs in Maine, is now being run by Maine Technology Institute. The University of Maine, MTI and Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development are the three main parties under the Blackstone agreement.

Twenty-eight female college students from Maine institutions will arrive at the University of Maine on Thursday, May 30 to take part in the fifth annual Maine NEW Leadership session.

The event is a free, six-day, public leadership training program aimed at strengthening leadership skills, learning how to network and encouraging running for public office.

Throughout the session, students will participate in a variety of workshops hosted by guests including state politicians, public leaders and members of the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center and UMaine faculty.

The students will also travel to the State House in Augusta and Margaret Chase Smith Library in Skowhegan.

More information is available online or by contacting Mary Cathcart, co-director of Maine NEW Leadership and a senior policy associate at the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, at 207.581.1539.

WABI (Channel 5) previewed the upcoming Clean Sweep Sale at the University of Maine. Lisa Morin, coordinator of the Bodwell Center for Service and Volunteerism, and UMaine student Robbie Bickford spoke about preparing for Friday and Saturday’s sale. Items were donated by the university or students who moved out of the dorms at the end of the semester. Proceeds will benefit programs and services offered by the Black Bear Exchange and the Bodwell Center for Service and Volunteerism.

Two entries from University of Maine graduate students have been submitted into the National Science Foundation’s Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program’s 2013 Video and Poster Competition.

Maureen Correll and Bjorn Grigholm, graduate students in the Adaptation to Abrupt Climate Change IGERT program at UMaine, submitted a video and poster titled “Abrupt Climate Change in Atlantic Tidal Marsh Communities.”

Melinda Neville, a graduate student in the Sensor Science, Engineering, and Informatics (SSEI) IGERT program at UMaine, entered media for her project “Mercury (Hg) Research Ontology: Employing Informatics in Geochemistry.”

The contest is open to graduate students from IGERT programs across the country and invites them to share videos and posters describing their innovative and interdisciplinary research and its significance. The competition features 119 presentations made by students nominated from IGERT Ph.D. programs, the contest website states. Judging will be done by 50 IGERT faculty members who will announce 20–25 winners Friday, May 24. Community Choice and Public Choice winners will also be chosen. The general public can vote for their favorite entries online.

The videos submitted by the UMaine students can be seen online.

The Ecologist interviewed Bob Bayer, executive director of the Lobster Institute at the University of Maine, and Robert Steneck, professor in the School of Marine Sciences at UMaine’s Darling Center, for the article “Fishing the Gulf of Maine: Tradition at a Crossroads.” Bayer spoke about lobster bait while Steneck spoke about the complex Gulf of Maine ecosystem.

Recharge News reported the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center is interested in a direct-drive permanent magnet prototype wind turbine created by Goldwind, a Chinese vendor. Elizabeth Viselli, communications director at the Advanced Structures and Composites Center, told Recharge the technology is promising and the center is interested in Goldwind’s tests.

University of Maine Athletic Director Steve Abbott told the Bangor Daily News the search for a new men’s ice hockey coach is progressing well and he expects to make an announcement next week.

Seacoast Online spoke with students and teachers from Traip Academy in Kittery after participating in the statewide Maine Wind Blade Challenge and the Windstorm Challenge hosted by the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center earlier this month. One of the two Traip teams earned second place for its floating turbine platform design.

The Associated Press, Kennebec Journal, Bangor Daily News and WGME (Channel 13) were among several news organizations to report on the University of Maine System trustees’ decision to freeze tuition rates at all seven campuses for the upcoming school year at 2012 levels for in-state undergraduates. Annual tuition and fees for in-state students at the University of Maine is currently $10,600.