Students in the Spotlight

  • Intermedia Students, Alumni & Faculty Participate in Pixxelpoint New Media Arts Festival in Italy and Slovenia

    Posted December 8, 2011

    University of Maine faculty member Owen Smith and Intermedia MFA student Reese Inman recently traveled to Italy and Slovenia to participate in the Pixxelpoint New Media Arts Festival. This year's event was the 12th annual and was entitled "Lets Get Ready."  According to the Festival organizers the name Let's Get Ready ". . . merely defines a space of engagement driven forward by a generative force: “to begin again from the beginning” for those who seek what formulates new media art in its fluent transition between the various manifestations, which can take on new meanings in multiple contextual re-configurations no matter what of their materiality or mediality."
     
    The various events of the festival included exhibits, talks, and musical and other performances and were presented at a variety of locations throughout Nova Gorica, Slovenia and Gorizia, Italy. Owen Smith and Reese Inman were presenting their work as part of a specially selected group exhibition in the Festival highlighting the Intermedia Program and New Media Department at the University of Maine. This exhibition, at the Galleria Metropolitana in Gorizia, Italy presented installations, video works, sound art, and interactive works by Intermedia Students Justin Taylor and Reese Inman, Intermedia Alumni John Bell, Alex Gross and Abby Stiers, and Faculty members Owen Smith and Sheridan Kelly. The Festival was kicked of by a short talk by Owen Smith at the Galleria Metropolitana the opening events were attended by over 600 people. Two works in the presentation of Maine new media art, Inman's Times Square Garden and Gross' Flocking were nominated for the Jurors Festival award.  Image above is Reese Inman's Times Square Garden, three channel video projection.

  • Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Student, Stacia Dreyer Receives 2012 Endeavor Research Fellowship from Australian Government

    Posted December 5, 2011

    Stacia Dreyer, an Interdisciplinary Ph.D. student with the School of Economics, Department of Psychology and the Sustainability Solutions Initiative, was selected to receive a 2012 Endeavor Research Fellowship from the Government of Australia to conduct research with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Perth, Western Australia.  The Endeavour Award is an internationally competitive, merit-based scholarship program providing opportunities for citizens of the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas to undertake study, research and professional development in Australia.
     
    As part of her research, Stacia and her advisors will develop a survey to investigate environmental decision making and support for sustainable technologies, conservation practices and/or policies.  This interdisciplinary research will attempt to integrate the fields of environmental psychology and behavioral economics.  She will be advised by Dr. Iain Walker (CSIRO) in Western Australia and Drs. Mario Teisl (School of Economics) and Shannon McCoy (Dept. of Psychology) at the University of Maine.  Stacia is excited to begin her international research collaboration at the end of this summer and will be back for Spring semester 2013.

  • Physics Ph.D. Student, Edward Allgeyer Starts Post-Doc Position at Yale University

    Posted December 1, 2011

    Edward Allgeyer, who successfully defended his Ph.D. in Physics in October, has started a postdoctoral position at Yale University where he will continue to build on the skills learned during his graduate studies at UMaine. His doctoral research, under the mentorship of Drs. Michael Mason and David Neivandt (both professors in Chemical Engineering), focused on developing a unique instrument that combines traditional high resolution confocal fluorescence microscopy with a novel imaging modality, based on vibrational spectroscopy, that can elucidate surface specific lateral organization in a broad range of systems.

    Dr. Allgeyer's postdoctoral work will continue his efforts in the fields of quantitative microscopy and instrument development. Under the direction of Dr. Joerg Bewersdorf in the Cell Biology department at the Yale School of Medicine Dr. Allgeyer will be part of a team developing two new super resolution microscopes for biological applications. The completed instruments will allow researchers to peer into cells and biological systems at length scales well below the resolution limit of classical visible light microscopy.

  • Master of Business Administration Student Anna Assenmacher Making a Difference

    Posted November 28, 2011

    Anna Assenmacher graduated from the University of Maine in May 2011 where she majored in Business Management and minored in Political Science. As an undergraduate, she was a Senator on Student Government, Secretary of the Class of 2011, and Secretary of the American Marketing Association.  Immediately after starting the MBA program, Ms. Assenmacher took a leadership role in the MBA program with her work in the MBS Corps.  The MBS Corps is the volunteer outreach and social responsibility arm of the Maine Business School.  As soon as she began the program, Ms. Assenmacher "hit the ground running".  She planned, researched and organized the MBS Corps contingent to help with the annual Acadia National Park cleanup.  She is also currently planning and organizing a toy drive to help area children in need for the holidays, taking the initiative to involve both MBS students as well as one of the service sororities on campus.  She also assisted with the "Paint Penobscot Purple" campaign to raise awareness about domestic violence and helped with the food drive to benefit the Old Town Crossroads food pantry.  Ms. Assenmacher currently works at the Foster Center for Student Innovation as a graduate research assistant, where she helps with the Innovation Engineering curriculum, editing and compiling the teaching guides.  She also plans and promotes the events that the Innovation Center and recently has been helping with business counseling for students and community members.

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