Programs highlight sustainability science
Maine Public Broadcasting Network has produced "Sustainable Maine," two half-hour television programs focusing on sustainability science in Maine. Several UMaine experts appear in the programs which detail "a new way of combining biophysical sciences with social science and economics to study Maine's changing landscape, and how to sustain it for future generations." The first program airs Tuesday Sept. 27 at 8 p.m. See press release.
SSI Graduate student project highlighted in Bangor Daily News article.
SSI master student Tony Sutton’s community-based work with the Aroostook Band of Micmacs is featured in a Bangor Daily Article. Click here for full BDN article.
Tests of Downeast Tidal Power System a Success, Company says
A Maine-based energy company is calling the successful testing of a Downeast tidal power system a "huge milestone" for America's Ocean Energy industry. Ocean Renewable Power Company today announced that its $2 million underwater power system has successfully generated grid-compatible power from tidal currents in the waters off Eastport in Washington County.
Click here for full MPBN article
"Wildlands and Woodlands" Report released
After about 150 years of natural growth, forest land is declining across all six New England states. That's according to a report released today by the Harvard University Forest in Massachusetts, in conjunction with some University of Maine researchers. The report calls for conserving 70 percent of New England, or 30 million acres of forest land over the next 50 years.
Click here for full MPBN article
Click here to read the report
Click here for press archive
Docks to Doorways; New project calls for public access, green space and a resource center
BELGRADE -- "Oh yea!" Whitney King exclaimed. "We got it this time!"
The Colby College chemistry professor had been anxiously waiting for Josie Thiele, a 20-year-old chemistry major, to pull in a metal contraption with jaws that scooped up muck 60 feet below the surface at an official sampling site on Great Pond.
King and his three student assistants were out on the lake earlier this month to conduct a sediment analysis.
They want to know how much phosphorus is contained in the material that settled on the bottom of the lake. He said sediments can be a significant source of phosphorus in a lake. Phosphorus is essential for plant growth and can trigger algae blooms, he said.
Meanwhile, another student research assistant at the helm of the 24-foot pontoon boat, Katherine Murray, of Birmingham, Ala., struggled to keep the floating laboratory from drifting away from the sampling site.
Click here for full article in Morning Sentinel
Researchers Hope to Stop Threat Before it Reaches Maine
The emerald ash borer, which already has devastated ash tree populations in states like Michigan and Ohio, and is now found in New York and the province of Quebec, is threatening Maine’s ash and thousands of forest-related jobs, including Native American basketmaking. In an effort to research this potentially devastating new invasive species and minimize its impact, basketmakers, tribal members, state and federal agencies, and University of Maine researchers have joined forces.
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No Small Threat
University of Maine researcher Darren Ranco joins forces with Maine tribal members and basketmakers to address new invasive species threat
Click here for full article in UMaine Today
Made from native brown ash trees, Maine Indian baskets are functional art forms that have been passed down through generations of the region’s tribal communities. But the future of the art is being threatened by an invasive beetle species — the emerald ash borer — that already has devastated the ash populations in states such as Michigan and Ohio, and is being found in trees in New York and the Canadian Province of Quebec.
For centuries, the Maliseet, Mi’kmaq, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot tribes have had a deep cultural and spiritual connection to ash or wikepi, the basket trees, using them to weave intricate and functional baskets from patterns and stories passed down from their ancestors.
In an effort to research this potentially devastating new invasive species and minimize its impact, basket makers, tribal members, state and federal agencies, and University of Maine researchers have joined forces to develop research questions and potential solutions.
National Science Foundation Press Release 09-176
Building Research Competitiveness
9/22/2009
Through $20 million, five-year awards, NSF investment in multi-institutional and interdisciplinary projects provides physical, human and cyber infrastructure aimed at improving research competitiveness in six states.
From biodiversity in the Hawaiian Islands to sustainable development in Maine, six research projects, each representing a state-wide consortium of institutions, have received awards from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for $20 million over five years.
UMaine Announces $20M National Science Foundation Grant for Sustainability Initiative
This article available at: http://www.umaine.edu/news/blog/2009/07/15/umaine-announces-20m-national-science-foundation-grant-for-sustainability-initiative/
July 15, 2009
Contact:
Vicki Nemeth, Maine EPSCoR Director, 581-3399
Joe Carr, 581-3571, joecarr@maine.edu
ORONO -- Gov. John Baldacci and other state leaders joined University of Maine and University of Southern Maine officials on Wednesday morning to announce a $20 million National Science Foundation EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) grant for a wide-ranging new project called the Sustainability Solutions Initiative.
The research portion of this five-year initiative Maine EPSCoR initiative, led by UMaine's Senator George J. Mitchell Center, will bring together core research teams from UMaine and USM, as well as government and industry stakeholders, to improve the science and practice of sustainable development.
