Archive for the ‘Campus Announcements’ Category

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UMaine’s One Million Bones Event Set for April 13

Friday, April 5th, 2013

As part of a national project to raise awareness of genocide in Africa, the University of Maine Office of Multicultural Student Affairs is taking part in One Million Bones, a large-scale social arts practice. Participants in Maine will make bones out of clay or recycled materials that will be used in a campus event at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 13 in King Plaza.

In the UMaine observance, Maine participants hope to place 1,000 of the handmade bones in the plaza in a reflective effort to remember victims and survivors of genocide. Each bone created through this initiative generates a $1 donation through the Bezos Family Foundation to CARE for its work in Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Before the April 13 event, members of the UMaine community can create a clay bone or donate $5 to have one made for them at the following times and locations: 3 p.m. April 6, Coe Room, Memorial Union; 7 p.m. April 7, Office of Multicultural Student Affairs, Memorial Union; 6 p.m. April 9, Somerset Hall; and 7 p.m. April 11, Totman Room, Memorial Union.

Students from the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs hope to take the bones to the national One Million Bones event June 8–10 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. More information is online.

Posted in Campus Announcements, Student Affairs |

Juried Student Art Exhibition April 5–May 5

Friday, April 5th, 2013

The University of Maine Department of Art will hold an opening reception and award ceremony for the annual Juried Student Exhibition from 5:30–7 p.m. Friday, April 5 at the Lord Hall Gallery on campus.

The exhibition is free and open to the public from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday until May 5.

For more information or to request disability accommodations, call the Department of Art at 207.581.3245.

Posted in Campus Announcements, Liberal Arts and Sciences |

Sappi Fine Paper Donates $100,000 for Scholarships

Thursday, April 4th, 2013

Sappi Fine Paper North America will donate $100,000 over the course of four years to the University of Maine Pulp & Paper Foundation to establish an endowed scholarship fund for engineers. The Sappi Scholarship Fund is a leadership gift to the University of Maine Pulp & Paper Foundation’s $2 million fundraising campaign, which begins this year. Sappi Fine Paper North America has supported the University of Maine Pulp & Paper Foundation since its inception in 1950. The company is a member in the foundation, supports the foundation’s Consider Engineering Program, provides internship and co-op positions for undergraduate engineering students, and ultimately hires qualified University of Maine graduates. Many former recipients of University of Maine Pulp & Paper Foundation scholarships are found at all levels of leadership throughout Sappi’s two Maine-based mills in Skowhegan and Westbrook, and across the company in North America.

Posted in Campus Announcements, Engineering |

Public Invited to Free Master Classes with Brass Artists

Thursday, April 4th, 2013

The public is invited to a series of master classes in April, the first featuring trumpeter Bryan Davis, and others with Mnozil Brass as part of the University of Maine School of Performing Arts season.

Davis, a British trumpeter, based in New York City, will perform as a guest artist with the UMaine Jazz Ensemble in its at 7:30 p.m. April 25 concert at Minsky Recital Hall, admission is $9 or free with student MaineCard. Tickets are available at the Collins Center for the Arts or at the door.

The next day, Davis will offer a free public master class from 1–3 p.m., in Room 100 Class of 1944 Hall.

Also on April 26, the UMaine Jazz Ensemble and Davis will perform live on MPBN Radio’s Friday Night Jazz with Rich Tozier, 9–11 p.m.

The Austrian brass septet Mnozil Brass will perform at the Collins Center for the Arts at 3 p.m. April 28. For tickets, call the Collins Center box office, 207.581.1755.

The day before their concert, the Mnozil Brass artists will offer free public master classes from 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m., Room 100 Class of 1944 Hall. The public is welcome to come and observe the master classes; participants have to bring their instruments. Their April 27 master classes schedule is:

All Brass, 10 a.m.–12 p.m. — a fundamentals workshop for all brass players, led by Roman Rindberger, trumpet

Exhibit of Schagerl instruments, 12–1 p.m. — open for testing

Trombone, 1–2:30 p.m. — led Gerhard Füssl, trombone

Tuba, 2:30–4 p.m. — led by Wilfried Brandstötter, tuba

Jazz Combo, 4–5:30 p.m. — led by Leonhard Paul, trombone/bass trumpet

For more information on the School of Performing Arts concert and the master classes, or to request disability accommodations, contact Monique Hashey, 207.581.4721.

Posted in Campus Announcements, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Outreach, School of Performing Arts, Story Ideas |

Two UMaine Math Majors Among High Scorers in Challenging Competition

Wednesday, April 3rd, 2013

UMaine mathematics majors Nathan Dunn and Stuart Lathrop each scored 10 points (out of 100), placing them in the 70th percentile in the 37th William Lowell Putnam Competition that took place Dec. 1. This competition is regarded as the most difficult college-level mathematics contest in North America. In all, 4,277 students from 578 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada competed. Only seven contestants received 69 or more points, including one perfect score. About half of the participants did not earn any points at all, according to Eisso Atzema of the UMaine Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

Posted in Campus Announcements, Liberal Arts and Sciences |

Susan Gardner New Director of ADVANCE Rising Tide Center

Wednesday, April 3rd, 2013

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.

Posted in Campus Announcements, Education and Human Development |

2013 GradExpo Winners

Wednesday, April 3rd, 2013

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”

Posted in Campus Announcements, Graduate School, Research |

Natural Science Illustration Workshop Aug. 5–9

Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013

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.

Posted in Campus Announcements, Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture, Outreach, Story Ideas |

Art Class Making, Selling Mugs to Benefit Hirundo

Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013

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.

Posted in Campus Announcements, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Outreach |

Marine Scientist Jeremy Jackson to Speak April 11

Monday, April 1st, 2013

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.

Jeremy Jackson’s lecture, “Ocean Apocalypse,” begins at 4 p.m. April 11 in Wells Conference Center, 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. Jackson and filmmaker Randy Olson co-founded the Shifting Baselines initiative in which filmmakers and marine scientists collaborate to bring marine environmental issues to the larger public.

Posted in Campus Announcements, Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture, Story Ideas |

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