Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions

Mitchell Center Faculty Fellows Heather Leslie and Kate Beard-Tisdale have received funding from the Northeast Sea Grant Consortium to advance social science and technology research on offshore renewable energy in the Northeast. Leslie’s project, “Building Capacity for Participatory Approaches to Community Resilience and Ocean Renewable Energy Siting” will characterize values and beliefs in three communities […]

Allison Gardner, assistant professor of arthropod vector biology and Mitchell Center Faculty Fellow, is the principal investigator of the Maine Forest Tick Survey, a multiyear, multidisciplinary project examining the link between forest land management and ticks. Recently announced 2021 study results indicate that nine southern and coastal Maine counties had a three-fold increase in ticks […]

On May 4, John Daigle, a citizen member of the Penobscot Nation, professor of Forest Resources and Mitchell Center Faculty Fellow, and Ph.D. students Emily Francis and Tyler Everett hosted a workshop for more than 35 staff from the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands. The focus of the workshop was the emerald ash borer […]

Cindy Isenhour, associate professor of anthropology and climate change and Mitchell Center Faculty Fellow, recently spoke with Waste Dive about her research on reusable takeout containers. In fall 2021, Isenhour worked with graduate student Jared Entwistle to present a few possible models for reusable takeout containers to a group of 35 Maine hospitality, waste and […]

Brian McGill’s Barracuda (Biodiversity and Rural Response to Climate Change Using Data Analysis) project is highlighted in the Spring 2022 edition of the Maine EPSCoR newsletter. The research is funded by a four-year, $4 million (RII Track-2 FEC) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). McGill, whose career passion has been to combine environmental data […]

Mitchell Center Director David Hart gave the keynote address (“Building strong research partnerships between universities and diverse stakeholders”) at the annual meeting of the HIBAR Research Alliance (HRA) on May 3, 2022. HRA is an international network of research universities (e.g. UC Davis, Arizona State, U. Maryland, Oregon State, U. British Columbia) focused on using […]

The Maine Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is hosting a series of Food Scrap Diversion Workshops in collaboration with the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry and the University of Maine Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainable Solutions. These half-day workshops offer a chance to learn about the most up-to-date information on local […]

Of the food produced in the United State, 40 percent is wasted. Not only could this wasted food help feed those who need it, food waste also contributes to climate change. To mark Earth Day, Maine Public presented a Maine Calling show, “The harms of food waste, its links to climate change, and how Maine […]

Over 25 research posters and displays were presented by students and researchers at a 3-hour Networking Session for Sustainability Solutions on Friday, April 22 in Memorial Union. The event was attended by close to 100 people and provided opportunities for attendees to discuss new research ideas, build collaborations on interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary related topics, and […]

Research co-authored by Tim Waring on what goes into scaling up societal change was recently highlighted by UMaine News. Waring is an associate professor of social-ecological systems modeling in the School of Economics and the Mitchell Center. The study examines the need for both behavioral and policy change, and how the two interact to create […]