Maine Economic Improvement Fund

Small Campus Initiative

The MEIF Small Campus Initiative is designed to support research performed at the five University of Maine System institutions that previously haven’t received MEIF funds: University of Maine at Augusta, University of Maine at Farmington, University of Maine at Fort Kent, University of Maine at Machias, and University of Maine at Presque Isle.

The fund is distributed annually on a competitive basis and helps ensure that each campus in the System has an opportunity to compete for MEIF funds to help build and improve research infrastructure and capacity. The fund is administered by the University of Maine System Office.

Fund guidelines:

• Funds must be used to perform university-based research in one of the seven designated MEIF strategic research areas: aquaculture and marine sciences, biotechnology, composites and advanced materials technologies, environmental technologies, information technologies, advanced technologies for forest and agriculture, or precision manufacturing.
• Funding decisions will also take the following criteria into account: extent to which external funding sources can be leveraged, extent to which research will result in long-term, direct application to enhance Maine’s economic or commercial capacity, and extent to which the research builds on a program of successful partnerships, funding and economic impact.
• No single item or request will exhaust the supplemental funds available to the five eligible universities.
• Projects that feature collaborative work between the university applying for the funds and the University of Maine or the University of Southern Maine will receive preferential consideration.

FY09 Small Campus Initiative grant recipients:

University of Maine at Augusta

Project: The Genetic Stock Structure of Spiny Dogfish from the Gulf of Maine: a Collaborative Project between UMA and the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory

Christopher Lage, assistant professor of biology

Award: $10,000

University of Maine at Fort Kent

Project: An Undergraduate Research Study to Investigate the Source of Fecal Contamination in a Fort Kent River Using a DNA-Based Technique

Kim Borges, associate professor of environmental studies

Award: $25,000

University of Maine at Machias

Project: Developing Marine Science Programs with Fishermen and Communities to Create New Economic Opportunities in Downeast Maine and Washington County

Brian Beal, professor of marine ecology and Douglas

McNaught, assistant professor of marine biology

Award: $50,000

University of Maine at Presque Isle

Project: Developing a Cemetery Geographic Information System (GIS) Database for Historic, Cultural, and Social Research in Aroostook County

Chunzeng Wang, assistant professor in geology; Lynn Eldershaw, assistant professor in the School of Professional Programs and Business; Kimberly Sebold, associate professor of history; Michael Sonntag, vice president of Academic Affairs

Award: $15,000

Image Description: UMPI

Image Description: UMFK