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Students to Present Results of Mercury Research

Thursday, May 24th, 2012

More than 200 students and science teachers from Bangor, John Bapst, Old Town, Mount View and Sumner Memorial high schools who have been conducting research on mercury in local watersheds will present and explain their findings at a poster session at John Bapst High School in Bangor at 9 a.m. on Friday, May 25. The research project, “Acadia Learning,” is a program of the Schoodic Education and Research Center (SERC) Institute at Acadia National Park, which works with the Mitchell Center and Maine Sea Grant at the University of Maine to train and support teachers for research designed to engage high school students in sample collection and data analysis for mercury. UMaine’s Sawyer Environmental Chemistry Research Laboratory did the analyses.

Students use the data to investigate their own research questions about how mercury accumulates in food chains in local streams. The data have become part of a regional database coordinated by UMaine scientist Sarah Nelson, adding to a regional picture of mercury in fresh waters across the Northeast. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Maine Department of Education, private donors and the Davis Foundation fund Acadia Learning.

Contact: Sarah Nelson, (207) 581-3454 / sarah.nelson@umit.maine.edu

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

Silver, Colleagues to Record Music of Bernhard Sekles

Thursday, May 24th, 2012

University of Maine music professor and pianist Phillip Silver will be joined May 29-31 by fellow music faculty member and cellist Noreen Silver and acclaimed violinist and music professor Solomia Soroka of Goshen College in Indiana for a CD recording of music from the German-Jewish composer Bernhard Sekles. Sekles was an influential pedagogue who founded and directed the Hoch Conservatorium in Frankfurt in 1928, which offered the first academic course in jazz studies. Sekles was fired in 1933 and his music banned. The recording will be released on the Toccata Classics label in London. Phillip Silver, an expert in composers of the Holocaust era, has been contracted to record in 2013 another Toccata Classics label CD, the solo piano works of Sekles.

Contact: George Manlove, (207) 581-3756

Posted in Campus Announcements, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Story Ideas |

Marine Scientist Discusses Cod Colonization

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012

New evidence suggests that Atlantic cod may have the ability to affect entire food webs in both benthic and pelagic marine ecosystems, according to a University of Maine marine scientist, writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

“Not only are (cod) strong interactors capable of limiting the abundance of their prey and their prey’s prey, but also the prey themselves may limit the recovery of this predator,” says Robert Steneck of the large carnivore that, prior to overfishing, was “widespread, abundant and possibly the most important predator throughout the coastal regions of the North Atlantic.”
“In most countries where fisheries management exists, the focus is on the dynamics of single species,” says Steneck, “and often there is no consideration of how two or more managed species interact or how such interactions can affect the entire ecosystem.”

In his PNAS commentary published May 14, Steneck points to an event in which an overabundance of Atlantic Cod in the Baltic Sea spilled over into the Gulf of Riga, as reported by a research team led by Michele Casini of the Swedish Board of Fisheries. The “predator pulse” — in-migration of juvenile and adult cod — into the gulf lasted a decade, causing a trophic cascade in the marine food web. Cod ate the herring, causing the herbivorous zooplankton population normally eaten by herring to increase. Because zooplankton consumed phytoplankton, water in the Gulf of Riga cleared, but only for the decade when cod spilled into the region.

This example of successful, albeit serendipitous, cod colonization provides clues as to how cod repopulation occurs and why it isn’t as simple as closing large areas to fishing when Atlantic cod stocks collapse, Steneck contends. In the case of Canada and the United States, fishing managers expected a full recovery of cod stocks within a decade after the closures in the early 1990s; nearly two decades later, cod stocks remain historically low. It is possible that colonization of new or depleted areas occurs by influx of larger cod rather than cod larvae when adjacent populations reach high population densities, which has not happened in New England for at least decades, says Steneck.

Contact: Margaret Nagle, (207) 581-3745

Posted in Natural Sciences, Forestry and Agriculture, News Releases, Story Ideas |

Sculpture Symposium Announces Sculptor-Site Matches

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012

The Schoodic International Sculpture Symposium (SISS) has named the sculptors for each of the eight sponsor sites that will receive artwork made during this summer’s symposium, which is being held in partnership with the University of Maine.

Each sponsor committee reviewed the portfolios of the eight artists and then selected its top three choices of sculptors that the sponsor felt best matched the site and the spirit of the community. SISS art director Jesse Salisbury made the final match selections.

“This time, as in past symposia, we were able to match each artist with a community that selected that artist as one of their top choices,” Salisbury says. “The final matches are always exciting. There are an amazing variety of artistic styles represented each time, but also the sites for the finished work are very unique and the committees involved all have their own character. Somehow, this merges in the matching process and we are able to match our artists with sites that suit their work and committees that respond to their unique style.”

The sculptor-sponsor matches are as follows:

  • Acadia Hospital – Andreas Von Huene (Woolwich, Maine)
  • City of Bangor – Koichi Ogino (Japan)
  • Husson University – Hwang Seung-Woo (Republic of Korea)
  • City of Old Town – Ton Kalle (Netherlands)
  • Town of Orono – Shan-Chi Teng (Taiwan)
  • UMaine campus (Oxford Hall) – Lee Zih-Cing (Taiwan)
  • UMaine campus (Nutting Hall) – Tim Shay (Old Town, Maine)
  • University of Maine Foundation – Johnny Turner (New Zealand)

This year’s symposium will be held July 22-Aug. 30 and is a partnership between SISS and UMaine. The sculptors will work during their six weeks at UMaine from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. most days of the week in the steam plant parking lot off College Avenue in Orono. The site is free and open to members of the public who want to watch the sculptors at work.

Each sponsor community is doing its own fundraising for SISS. For more information, please contact the following community representatives:

Contact: Tilan Langley, (207) 267-6057 or tilan@schoodicsculpture.org; Jessica Bloch (207) 581-3777 or jessica.bloch@umit.maine.edu

Posted in Liberal Arts and Sciences, News Releases, Story Ideas |

Extension Expert Update on Pest Insects, Blight Outlook

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012

Jim Dill, University of Maine Cooperative Extension professor of biological sciences and pest management specialist, is available to discuss the status of several seasonal insect pests, including mosquitoes, black flies and a new arrival in Maine, the spotted wing drosophila, a fruit fly that threatens soft fruit and vegetable crops.

Also know as the Asian fruit fly, the spotted wing drosophila was captured for the first time in Maine last fall. The fly, about the size of the little fruit flies that buzz around bananas, arrived on the West Coast four years ago and in that short of time made it across the country.

“It can be a very serious pest of small fruits, especially late season strawberries, raspberries and blueberries,” Dill says. “Unlike its cousin, which likes those over-ripe bananas or other fruit, this new pest will attack ripening fruit in the  fields. We are working on a trapping and mapping system to see where they are in Maine.”

Dill can also discuss early season mosquitoes, which are just beginning to show. These snow-pool or snowmelt mosquitoes, as they are called, Dill says, are late this year due to lack of snow and early spring rains. In the last couple of weeks, however, rain has started filling in depressions and other areas where last season’s mosquito eggs wait for water to cover them, which enables them to hatch. Black fly females are starting to show up and are biting; males show up earlier than the females.

Dill also can recommend management methods for white grubs, which are destroying lawns in many parts of Maine, and late blight, which can devastate tomato and potato crops.

Contact: Jim Dill, (207) 581-3879; George Manlove, (207) 581-3756

Posted in Cooperative Extension, Story Ideas |

UMaine Student Wins Mitchell Peace Scholarship

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012

University of Maine sophomore Terri Bastarache of Gorham, Maine, is the recipient of the prestigious George J. Mitchell Peace Scholarship and will receive a full scholarship to spend the 2013 spring semester at University College Cork in Ireland.

The scholarship honors the 1998 Northern Ireland peace accord brokered by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell between Ireland and the United Kingdom. The scholarship is an agreement between Maine and Ireland for a university-level student exchange.

Bastarache, who is pursuing a double major in business management and communication, and was a Mitchell Scholar in high school, is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and a tri-chair for Colleges Against Cancer and a Relay for Life volunteer. She is a Team Maine student ambassador, tour guide and telecounselor, and is active with softball and volleyball intramurals at UMaine. As an Alternative Spring Break participant, she plans to lead next year a winter trip to work with disabled and homeless veterans.

Bastarache chose double majors in business management and communication because both will benefit her social and professional plans for the future, she says. Those plans include possibly managing a non-profit organization, such as the Dream Factory or the American Cancer Society, or even opening a coffee shop.

“I love working with people, so I want to find a career where I can work with people every day,” she says.

Bastarache selected UMaine after applying to 11 schools and visiting most of them. UMaine, she says, was “the only college I visited where I felt at home and got that tingly feeling. The campus was so welcoming, everyone says ‘hi’ when you walk by, and students will wait just to hold open a door for you. For me, it just felt right and I always follow my gut instincts.”

Her semester in Ireland will be her first visit to the British Isles, although she has traveled outside the United States, when she lived a short while in Romania as a child.
“This will be my first time to the U.K. and to Ireland and I can’t wait,” Bastarache says.

Contact: George Manlove, (207) 581-3756

Posted in Campus Announcements, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Maine Business School, Story Ideas, Student Affairs |

Nichols Named Dean of UMaine’s College of Education and Human Development

Monday, May 21st, 2012

William Dee Nichols has been named Dean of the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Maine, effective July 1. Nichols, who is nationally recognized for his work in the field of literacy, will replace Anne Pooler, who is retiring after 36 years at UMaine. Nichols was recommended following a national search.

Nichols serves as professor and head of the School of Teaching and Learning at Western Carolina University. Prior to his current position, he served as professor and department head for elementary and middle grades education at Western Carolina University, associate professor in the Department of Reading and Elementary Education at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Virginia Tech University.

Nichols received a master’s degree in elementary education from Appalachian State University and a Ph.D. in educational curriculum and instruction from Texas A&M University.

UMaine’s College of Education and Human Development offers four-year programs in elementary and secondary education, child development and family relations, athletic training, and kinesiology and physical education to approximately 1,000 undergraduates annually. Approximately 1,055 graduate students annually are enrolled in the college’s many programs offered at the master’s, certificate in advanced study (CAS) and doctoral levels. The doctoral programs include educational leadership, higher education and literacy. Accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education since 1971, the College of Education and Human Development is the home of statewide, regional and national research and professional development programs. It leads the state in research that informs policy and practice for educators, child and family specialists, school counselors and educational leaders.

Contact: Margaret Nagle, (207) 581-3745

Posted in Campus Announcements, Education and Human Development, Story Ideas |

UMaine’s Hart a Panelist at National Sustainability Symposium

Friday, May 18th, 2012

David Hart, director of the Senator George J. Mitchell Center at the University of Maine and research leader for the UMaine-based Sustainability Solutions Initiative (SSI), was in Washington, D.C. this week serving as a panelist at the prestigious National Academies Symposium “Science, Innovation, and Partnerships for Sustainability Solutions.”  Hart, a professor of in the School of Biology and Ecology, was to discuss SSI as part of a panel discussion “Science for Sustainability: Case Studies of National and International Research.” The symposium’s objective is to showcase federal investments and institutional structures fostering sustainability and identify opportunities to help promote practices to lead communities toward sustainability. SSI is a partnership among UMaine, University of Southern Maine and other institutions to connect knowledge with action to promote strong economies, vibrant communities and healthy ecosystems.

Contact: George Manlove, (207) 581-3756

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

UMaine Business Challenge Winners Announced

Friday, May 18th, 2012

Two brothers from Orrington, Maine, have won top prize in the first annual UMaine Business Challenge for UMaine student entrepreneurs.

UMaine marketing student Luke Thomas and Jake Thomas, an outdoor recreation and business student at the University of Maine at Farmington, won $5,000 cash and start-up business support to promote and market their company, AerialFly, which plans to use low-level unmanned aerial vehicles to assist public safety agencies in emergency situations.

Second place went to Shannon Byers, a UMaine student pursuing a master’s degree in business administration, for her business Best in Show Paws, a mobile nail clipping service for dogs. Byers received a $1,000 prize.

The competition, started by 2010 UMaine graduates Owen McCarthy, James Morin, Matt Ciampa and Sangam Lama, was designed to foment new businesses started by UMaine students. The founders, who put up their own money for the cash prizes, also say they want to help boost Maine’s Forbes Magazine ranking from 50th to 35th in the nation as a business-supportive state within a decade. They have since received support from the UMaine Class of 2010, the Maine Business School and the Foster Center for Student Innovation.

Other finalists in the business challenge were James Beaupre, a doctoral candidate in chemical engineering at UMaine, and Nate Wildes, a fourth-year political science student, for their Stillwater Poster Company, an outlet for UMaine artists to sell their work. Tory Stark, a second-year computer science student, and his wife Kimberly Stark had submitted a pitch for their alternative energy company, Bio-Remediation, which uses pelletized industrial waste to convert to bio-gas then energy. They will all receive free business counseling and advice from several independent Maine businesses supporting the program.

Contact: George Manlove, (207) 581-3756

Posted in Campus Announcements, Engineering, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Maine Business School, Story Ideas |

SkyWarn Storm-Spotter Class May 23

Friday, May 18th, 2012

As part of its designation as a StormReady Campus, the University of Maine will host a National Weather Service SkyWarn storm-spotter training class at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 23 in the Bangor Room of the Memorial Union. Presented by the National Weather Service office in Caribou, training topics include storm identification, reporting procedures, awareness and safety. The class is free and open to the public.

Contact: Tom Spitz, Facility Emergency Coordinator, 207-581-4071

Posted in Campus Announcements, Story Ideas |

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