UMaine News

News Report Features Extension’s Senior Companions

bdoane — Fri, 25 May 2012 16:38:51 +0000

The Channel 7 (WVII) May 23 evening news report featured the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Senior Companion Program, which matches older volunteers with elders, many of whom are living at home alone, to provide companionship, conversation and camaraderie.

Contact: George Manlove, (207) 581-3756

Horticulturist Stack in Toxic Giant Hogweed TV Report

bdoane — Fri, 25 May 2012 16:38:07 +0000

University of Maine Cooperative Extension professor and ornamental horticulturist Lois Berg Stack was interviewed for a May 23 Channel 7 (WVII) news report how to handle giant hogweed, a large, attractive plant with a chemical in its sap that burns the skin when exposed to sunlight. State horticulturists suggest eradicating the weed, but only after taking protective measures.

Contact: George Manlove, (207) 581-3756

Fried Is Guest on MPBN Political Civility Discussion

bdoane — Fri, 25 May 2012 16:37:11 +0000

University of Maine political scientist Amy Fried was a guest Thursday on the Maine Public Broadcasting Network call-in program Maine Calling on civility and politics, with former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell and Jeffrey Selinger, a Bowdoin College government professor. Fried observed that the unprecedented incivility in national politics is reflected in Maine politics, but to a lesser extent, given the smaller political arena and longstanding working relationships among many politicians.

Contact: George Manlove, (207) 581-3756

Media Covers Student Laptop Conference

bdoane — Fri, 25 May 2012 16:36:13 +0000

The Bangor Daily News carried an Associated Press report and an online video about the annual Maine Learning Technology Initiative conference held Thursday at, and co-organized by, the University of Maine.

More than 1,000 Maine middle and high school students participated in multiple breakout groups on computer game creation and software applications, and collaborated with live musicians at the Collins Center for the Arts to perform a synchronous concert. The Channel 7 (WVII) 6 p.m. news program also carried a report.

Contact: George Manlove, (207) 581-3756

Blog Cites UMaine Lamprey Eel Research

bdoane — Fri, 25 May 2012 16:34:56 +0000

University of Maine researchers’ work studying lamprey eel spawning was cited in a Bangor Daily News blog about Atlantic salmon by outdoors writer John Holyoke. Holyoke wrote that UMaine researchers informed him that lamprey spawning in tributaries of the Penobscot River could benefit spawning salmon, since lampreys clear silt during their nesting process, which could create streambed spawning areas suitable for salmon.

Contact: George Manlove, (207) 581-3756

Monhegan Test Turbine Launch Postponed

bdoane — Fri, 25 May 2012 16:34:11 +0000

The coastal newspaper The Free Press published an article about the postponement of the launch of a test wind-energy turbine off Monhegan Island from this summer to 2013 because of pending permits for the project. Habib Dagher, director of the UMaine Advanced Structures & Composites Center, told the paper that all of the permits are expected to be approved within a few months, but the launch date will have to be postponed.

Contact: George Manlove, (207) 581-3756

Science Website Posts Reference to UMaine Commentary on Cod

bdoane — Fri, 25 May 2012 16:33:11 +0000

The science news Phys.Org website has posted a University of Maine article about UMaine marine scientist Robert Steneck’s perspective on cod stocks, the subject of an commentary in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Steneck discussed why fisheries management should include the interaction among multiple species, particularly predators and prey, as indicators of cod colonization and reproduction success or failure.

Contact: George Manlove, (207) 581-3756

Gabe Creative Class Research Cited in Huffington Post

bdoane — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:35:08 +0000

A column in the United Kingdom’s Huffington Post about disparity in earnings among various occupations cited research by University of Maine economist Todd Gabe, whose research has shown that people in many creative jobs, like physicists, writers, artists and actors, are paid less than people in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) fields. Gabe’s observation that UMaine engineering graduates can earn $25,000 more a year
than liberal arts graduates speaks to the phenomenon, the column notes.

Contact: George Manlove, (207) 581-3756

Students to Present Results of Mercury Research

bdoane — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:34:15 +0000

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

Extension Educators Attend Blaine House Gardening Event

bdoane — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:33:05 +0000

Ellen Libby, University of Maine Cooperative Extension educator in Knox and Lincoln counties overseeing 4-H Youth Development and Healthy Lifestyles programs, and UMaine Extension educator Caragh Fitzgerald this week participated at the invitation of the Maine Commissioner of Agriculture in an event at the Blaine House governor’s mansion. The event highlighted school gardens and Libby’s role as the UMaine Extension contact for FoodCorps and as a board member of Maine School Garden Network. Fitzgerald leads several master gardener volunteers who work on gardens at the Blaine House.

Contact: George Manlove, (207) 581-3756