University of Maine News

Susan Gardner has been appointed director of the ADVANCE Rising Tide Center at the University of Maine, effective April 1, according to Susan Hunter, executive vice president for academic affairs and provost. Hunter is the principal investigator for the five-year, $3.3 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant that funds the Rising Tide Center.

Gardner, an associate professor of higher education and co-principal investigator of the grant, replaces Mary Madden, who has served as the center’s director since July 2011. Madden has rejoined the College of Education and Human Development, where she will lead a consortium of colleges and universities in a hazing prevention project.

The NSF ADVANCE program seeks to develop systemic approaches that can be institutionalized at higher education institutions to increase the representation and advancement of women in academic science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and social-behavioral science careers. Programs sponsored through the Rising Tide Center include monthly workshops on topics such as promotion and tenure, annual department chair training workshops and a statewide networking conference, and the professional development grant program that supports new collaborations and activities to improve campus or departmental climate.

Other personnel changes at ADVANCE include the November 2012 appointment of Devon DeMarco as the ADVANCE faculty liaison. DeMarco is available to improve problem resolution by directing faculty to the proper university office, serving as a bridge between faculty and administrators to ensure that problems are resolved, and enhancing materials that explain resolution processes.

Now fully staffed, the ADVANCE Rising Tide Center is well poised to sustain the positive effects realized in the first two years of the project.

More than 120 presentations were made made during the 2013 Graduate Academic Exposition in separate categories of four areas of competition — poster presentations, oral presentations, intermedia and fine arts exhibits, and a PechaKucha, or rapid-fire slide show event — as well as a graduate student photo contest.

More than $10,000 in cash prizes were awarded at this year’s expo, including the $2,000 President’s Research Impact Award given to the graduate student and adviser who best exemplify the UMaine mission of  teaching, research and outreach.

Following are the winning presentations:

• President’s Research Impact Award — Alison Mitchell and adviser Jennifer Middleton for “What Happens Next? Examining Child Protection Outcomes for a Cohort of Opioid-Exposed Infants”

• Dean’s Undergraduate Mentoring Award — Alper Kiziltas, “Natural Fiber Blend-Nylon 6 Composites” and Katharine Ruskin, “Testing for Stability in the Sharp-tailed Sparrow Hybrid Zone: 130 Years of Plumage Comparisons”

• Graduate Student Photo Contest, Research Category — Mariusz Potocki, first; Bridie McGreavy, second; Bjorn Grigholm and Luke Groff, third

• Graduate Student Photo Contest, Graduate Student Life Category — José Carrasco, first; Amy Pierce, second; Jincy Joseph and Jocelyn Runnebaum, third

• Foster Center for Student Innovation Commercialization Award — Heather Perry, in intermedia; Hari Prasanth Palani, in science and technology

• PechaKucha Competition — Amy Pierce, “12 Steps to Planning the Perfect Wedding,” first; Hollie Smith, “Intersections of Higher Education, State Policy, & Economic Development: Understanding the Connections in Maine Communities,” second; Jessica LeClair, “Be Prepared,” third

• Intermedia Competition — Heather Perry, “Queen for a Day,” first; Benjamin Burpee, “Spaz.lab,” second; Tara Law, “Enchanted,” third

• Humanities/Social Sciences Poster Competition — Stacy Doore, “Movement Matters: Using State Longitudinal Mobility Data to Improve School Policy, Intervention and Academic Outcomes,” first; Bridie McGreavy, “A Collaborative Model for Conservation Action Planning: Communication and Resilience in the Frenchman Bay Partners,” second; Chris Bennett, “Non-Visual Graphical Accessibility,” third

• Humanities/Social Sciences Oral Competition — Karen Hutchins, “Improving Links Between Knowledge and Action by Identifying Factors that Influence the Structure of Municipality-University Partnerships,” first; Rebecca White, “The Ragged Edge of Motherhood: Mothers’ Allowances in Policy and Practice, 1924–1960,” second; Ian Jesse, “Bad Men and Horrible Bosses: Masculinity and the Folksongs of Larry Gorman,” third

• Physical Sciences and Technology Poster Competition — Abolfazl Razi, “Delay Optimal Packetization Policy for Wireless Sensor Networks,” first; Hannah Breton, “Mechanically Fastened Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Flexural Retrofit Systems for Reinforced Concrete Flat-Slab Bridges,” second; Samuel Roy, “The Influence of Tectonic Strain on Landscape Evolution,” third

• Physical Sciences and Technology Oral Competition — Silas Owusu-Nkwantabisah, “Novel Approach to Controlling Layer-by-Layer Polyelectrolyte Multilayer (PEM) Formation & Application as Sensor,” first; Bess Koffman, “Centennial-Scale Shifts in the Position of the Southern Hemisphere Westerly Wind Belt over the Past Millennium,” second; Delia Massey, “Use of Diffusive Gradients in Thin Films (DGT) as an Assessment Tool for Bioavailability of Mercury Species in Sediment,” third

• Natural Sciences Poster Competition — Richard Luc, “The Role of Caveolin in the Toll-Like Receptor Signaling Pathway,” first; Brianna Hughes, “Effect of Rigor Status during High Pressure Processing on Abalone Texture and Color,” second; Luke Groff, “Hibernation Ecology of Lithobates Sylvaticus in Maine’s Montane Landscape,” third

• Natural Sciences Oral Competition — Nadir Yildrim, “Nanofibrillated Cellulose (NFC) Insulating Foams,” first; Katharine Ruskin, “Testing for Stability in the Sharp-tailed Sparrow Hybrid Zone: 130 Years of Plumage Comparisons,” second; Anna Breard, “Comparison of the Effect of Peroxyacetic Acid and Lactic Acid Washes on the Removal of Toxoplasma Gondii Oocysts from the Surface of Blueberries,” third

• People’s Choice Award — Roghaiyeh Ebrahimi Kalan, “Surface Modification of Mesoporous Silica in Supercritical CO2”

WABI (Channel 5) spoke to Nancy Boyington, assistant director at the University of Maine Hutchinson Center in Belfast, about the center’s workshops for nonprofit businesses. The center offers a nonprofit certificate management program that requires participants to take six different one-day workshops. The workshops are offered to help nonprofit workers deal with changes in the industry. “Nonprofits tell me that they really aren’t nonprofit, that they are businesses who are really trying to be able to pay all their bills and look forward,” Boyington said.

State science fair winner and Bangor High School student Mary Butler told the Bangor Daily News she had never been in a science fair before working with University of Maine students and faculty on her project, “Nanofibrillated Cellulose as the Potential Component of a Low-cost Water Filtration System.” Butler said she worked with UMaine chemical engineering graduate student Finley Richmond on the filter project over the summer, and the collaboration was arranged by University of Maine Chemical and Biological Engineering Professor Doug Bousfield. Butler’s project won first place in the “Energy, Transportation and Environmental Science” category, as well as best in show at the Maine State Science and Engineering Fair on March 23 in Bar Harbor.

Ana Bonstedt, home horticulture coordinator at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension in Piscataquis County, offered advice on preparing seedlings on WLBZ (Channel 2). Bonstedt spoke about planting dates and building seedling containers.

WVII (Channel 7) interviewed Bananas, the University of Maine mascot, for an April Fools’ Day edition of its series “Maine’s Most Fascinating People.”

The University of Maine’s Darling Marine Center in Walpole will offer a Natural Science Illustration Workshop from Aug. 5–9. Participants will have the opportunity to collect and draw live marine specimens and work with instructor David Wheeler’s collection of shells, bones and artifacts. Wheeler, who teaches at the Pratt Institute’s Center Extension Campus at Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute in New York, is a marine science illustrator whose artwork is in the permanent collections of museums, universities and marine centers in the country and abroad. He has made life-sized models of dinosaurs for the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and the Osaka Museum of Natural History in Japan. Previous workshop participants have included high school and college students, K–12 educators, artists and illustrators interested in natural sciences, art, anthropology and archaeology. The cost of the five-day workshop is $370; registration deadline is June 1. Room and board at the Darling Marine Center are available for an additional fee. Course information and registration materials are available on the DMC website. For more information or to request disability accommodations, contact Linda Healy, 207.563.8220.

An advanced art education course taught by Constant Albertson at the University of Maine is making and selling ceramic mugs to support educational programs for children at Hirundo Wildlife Refuge in Alton, Maine. Students in the course are collaborating to make the mugs, manage a blog, market, budget, sell and write a research paper on the project.

The mugs are $10 and being sold at upcoming events, including from 6–7 p.m. Friday, April 5, during the opening of “Making Art” the annual student exhibition at Lord Hall on campus and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 27 at the Hirundo Table during the Hope Festival at the New Balance Student Recreation Center.

For future sale locations or for more information, call Albertson, 207.581.3251 or visit the students’ website.

The goal of the four students in the class is to make and sell 500 mugs, and to work together to spread knowledge and inspire the community. Each handcrafted mug features a unique design inspired by nature.

Hirundo Wildlife Refuge is a 2,400-acre nature preserve 10 miles from the UMaine campus. The Hirundo land was deeded to UMaine in 1983, cementing a long-term collaboration based on research and scientific studies, according to its website.

The Bangor Daily News published an opinion piece by Dr. Robert Dana, vice president for student affairs and dean of students at the University of Maine. In Dana’s article, “Marijuana legalization: An easy way out,” he speaks about the complications associated with legalizing the drug and offers ways ordinary citizens can help stop drug abuse.

WABI (Channel 5) cited Marjorie Peronto, educator at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension in Hancock County, in a story about a countywide food drive. The drive, which started at the beginning of March and had contributions from over 120 businesses, schools and churches, ends April 3. Peronto spoke about March being a “dry month for food pantries” and said “it’s a good time for us to try to restore their shelves.”

The Portland Press Herald spoke to two faculty members of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension for an article about ways gardeners can prevent deer from eating their crops. Donna Coffin, an extension professor in Dover-Foxcroft, spoke about the deer problem in gardens and the use of fences to keep the animals away. Diana Hibbard, home horticulture coordinator at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension in Cumberland County said deer usually don’t like plants with fuzzy leaves, prickly foliage or strong smells.

The Portland Press Herald previewed the exhibition “Place of Mind: The John Bailly-Richard Blanco Collaborative Project” that opens Friday at the University of Maine Museum of Art in Bangor. The exhibit features mixed-media art by French-American painter and printmaker Bailly and Cuban-American poet and teacher Blanco, who read at President Barack Obama’s second inauguration.

The Portland Press Herald published an opinion piece by Charles Scontras, historian and research associate at the University of Maine’s Bureau of Labor Education. Scontras’ article, “Maine Voices: Maine lobsterman no stranger to unions,” focuses on how Maine lobster fishermen are turning to the labor movement to protect their interests.

The St. John Valley Times advanced the upcoming University of Maine Symphonic Band concerts to be held in Aroostook County. The shows, presented by the University of Maine School of Performing Arts, are free and open to the public. The band will perform at 9 a.m. Friday, April 5 in the Van Buren High School Gymnasium and at 7 p.m. April 5 at Madawaska High School.

The transformation of the world’s oceans due to overfishing, pollution and climate change will be the focus of a lecture at the University of Maine by a senior scientist emeritus at the Smithsonian Institution.

Dr. Jeremy Jackson’s lecture, “Ocean Apocalypse,” begins at 4 p.m. April 11 in Minsky Recital Hall, sponsored by the UMaine School of Marine Sciences. The lecture, followed by a reception, are free and open to the public. For more information or to request a disability accommodation, call 207.518.4385.

Overfishing, pollution and climate change are laying the groundwork for a massive transformation of the oceans with dire implications for biodiversity and human well-being. Jackson will speak about the fundamental changes humans need to make in order to save the oceans and themselves.

Jackson, the author of “Shifting Baselines: The Past and Future of Ocean Fisheries,” also is professor of oceanography emeritus at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He studies human effects on oceans and the ecology and paleoecology of tropical and subtropical marine ecosystems. He has written more than 150 scientific publications and is the author or editor of eight books.

Jackson has received many awards including the 2012 Darwin Medal from the International Society of Reef Studies, the Peterson Medal from Harvard University and the Paleontological Society Medal.

Click here to view the “Preparing the Garden” video on YouTube.

Click here to view the “Pruning Apple Trees” video on YouTube.

A ribbon cutting to mark the opening of the nation’s first cellulose nanofiber pilot plant and a keynote address by U.S. Sen. Angus King will highlight the 63rd annual Paper Days at the University of Maine, April 3–4.

Innovation, with a focus on biobased nanoparticles and biofuels, is the theme of this year’s Paper Days, coordinated by the University of Maine Pulp & Paper Foundation and expected to draw more than 300 industry leaders, researchers and students from throughout the U.S. and Europe. An estimated 60 paper companies and engineering firms are expected to send representatives.

The event is designed to facilitate the connection between the university and industry by getting UMaine students and faculty, and industry representatives together to learn about the latest topics in the field and to network, says Jack Healy, executive director of the UMaine Pulp & Paper Foundation.

Following a luncheon and address by Larry Montague, president and CEO of TAPPI, there will be seminars on biobased nanoparticle opportunities led by Alan Rudie, Forest Products Laboratory; Robert Moon, Purdue University; and UMaine alumna Beth Cormier, Sappi Paper and Agenda 2020 Technology Alliance. All occur in Wells Conference Center.

Tours of Jenness Hall will focus on the Process Development Center, which is observing its 25th anniversary, and the Cellulose Nanofiber Pilot Plant, funded by a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Forest Service.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the pilot plant begins at 3:30 p.m. in D.P. Corbett Business Building. Expected to be on hand to offer remarks will be UMaine President Paul Ferguson; Michael Rains, USDA Forest Service; Theodore Wegner, Forest Products Laboratory; and Sean Ireland, TAPPI and Verso Paper Inc.

The pilot plant manufactures cellulose nanofibers (CNF), a wood-based reinforcing material that is increasingly of interest to researchers worldwide in the development of high-value materials. Last year, UMaine and the Forest Products Laboratory began a research collaboration on the conversion of wood components into novel nanomaterials; the incorporation of an array of nanomaterials into forest products to increase their functionality, durability and end-use performance; and development of new generations of high-performance wood-based materials.

UMaine is in a consortium with the Forest Products Lab, six other universities and numerous industrial partners pursuing research using CNF. Nanomaterial has applications in automobile components, paint and coating additives, composites and filtration media.

The Paper Days honors banquet begins at 6 p.m. in Wells Conference Center featuring a keynote address by Sen. King, and award and scholarship presentations.

Also being announced is a leadership gift by Sappi Fine Paper North America to help launch the UMaine Pulp and Paper Foundation’s $2 million fundraising campaign for scholarships.

The following day, Paper Days participants will tour the Forest Bioproducts Research Institute’s Technology Research Center in Old Town, Maine, followed by an industry panel discussion, “Biofuels in the Face of Changing U.S. Energy Availability.” At the luncheon that day, Frederick Clark of EKA Chemicals will speak on “The Business Case for Sustainability.”

Contact: Margaret Nagle, 207.581.3745; 207.949.4149; Pros Bennett, 207.581.2281

The Bangor Daily News reported on a keynote address given by Walter Echo-Hawk, a Pawnee lawyer, professor, activist and author on campus Thursday. Echo-Hawk spoke about indigenous people in Maine and the crossroads between two legal frameworks.

WVII (Channel 7) and the Bangor Daily News covered the University of Maine GradExpo. The annual event was held in the new Innovative Media Research and Commercialization Center, and allowed graduate students to display their research, artistic works, projects and collaborations.