Maine-eDNA

Three women stand in tide pool, two with their arms raised in celebration.

Exploring Maine’s Tide Pool Ecology through 4-H SPIN Club

By Nhan Chau, Media Intern Introducing students to the breadth of different species in intertidal zones helps introduce young people to community science, stewardship, and the impact of invasive species and humans on Maine’s coastal habitats. This spring, Maine-eDNA graduate student Emily Pierce (UMaine, Marine Science) ran a six-week 4-H SPIN Club focusing on exploration […]

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Group of seals together at their "haulout"

Using eDNA to Study Gray Seals with Julia Sunnarborg

By Nhan Chau, Media Intern & Daniel Timmermann For any species, it is helpful to have a wide range of traits in their genetic pool. This diversity helps them evolve as a species and buffers them against future threats. Losing this protection could be a problem, especially for species that have experienced a dramatic decline […]

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Sydney Jackson stands to the right of her poster wearing a white jacket.

Maine-eDNA Undergraduate Student Sydney Jackson Tests eDNA Sampling Methods

By Caty DuDevoir, Maine EPSCoR Media Intern Maintaining the natural state of an ecological community better informs future research and avoids disrupting the species that are present. Environmental DNA (eDNA) provides researchers with a cost-effective way to prevent significant invasion of an ecosystem while still being able to collect useful data. Determining the efficiency of […]

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Heather Richard holds a bang with crushed strawberry and a solution to extract DNA in a zoom window.

Maine’s Mysterious Marshlands Workshop with Heather Richard

By Daniel Timmermann In person STEM education has been difficult the past couple years. Due to restrictions, bringing students into a lab was not an option and outdoor programs are obviously limited by weather. Maine’s Mysterious Marshlands: Using eDNA to Understand Climate Change, a recent workshop led by Maine-eDNA graduate student Heather Richard, sought to […]

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Maine EPSCoR Spring 2022 Newsletter

The Maine EPSCoR Spring 2022 Newsletter is out now. This newsletter covers some of the amazing work happening across Maine EPSCoR from new classes to partnerships and sampling efforts. We also take a look at SEANET, Maine EPSCoR’s last Track-1 grant, and its long lasting impact. Spring 2022 Newsletter: Featured Stories: Developing Innovative Partnerships: How […]

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Photo of four individuals stand on dock practicing index sampling.

Maine-eDNA Students Make Headway on Sampling Index Sites Over the Summer

By Attis Bielecki, ME EPSCoR Student Writer EPSCoR’s Maine-eDNA program acts as a hub of research that is searching for the uses and limitations of environmental DNA (eDNA). Many graduate students are conducting research on this program; Sharon Mann from the Ecology and Environmental Science department and Emily Pierce from the Marine Science department are […]

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Where are They Now! Catching up with past Maine EPSCoR participants

Brianne Suldovsky, was a valuable member of the Maine EPSCoR research community during her graduate studies. Suldovsky completed her Ph.D. in communications from the University of Maine in 2016, where she simultaneously worked with the Maine EPSCoR office. At Maine EPSCoR Suldovsky worked as a graduate research assistant on two projects, the Sustainability Solutions Initiative […]

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New Faculty Hire: Chaofan Chen

By Attis Bielecki, ME EPSCoR Student Writer Dr. Chaofan Chen is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maine in the School of Computing and Information Science. He joined the National Science Foundation EPSCoR RII Track-1 award, Maine-eDNA, in September 2020. With his Ph.D. in computer science from Duke University, he is guiding data science […]

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