Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions

For graduate student Elisabeth Maxwell, the best part of her research on shellfish fisheries management is working with fishermen who are her close collaborators every step of the way. Working side-by-side with these crucial stakeholders gives her a rich, real world perspective that propels her research forward. “Talking to the shellfish harvesters is the best […]

A multi-institutional research team is working to understand the vital connections between landowner concerns, municipal planning, conservation activities, and the ecology of vernal pools. The team, led by Mitchell Center fellow Aram Calhoun, has created a new website (vernalpools.me) designed to provide information on vernal pools. The site contains a variety of resources on vernal […]

Often hidden from both sight and mind, solid waste is a complex and cross‐cutting sustainability challenge in Maine. Researchers at UMaine are exploring sustainable options that address long-term environmental, social and financial concerns as solid waste accumulates at a clip. Cindy Isenhour, Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology, is leading a team of researchers […]

The summer 2015 edition of UMaine Today features the accomplishments of several of our researchers and collaborators. Jennifer Neptune, a collaborator on the Mobilizing to Fight the Emerald Ash Borer project, is featured for her work recreating historical replicas for her Penobscot community. See Sources of Inspiration… Researcher Jessica Leahy, with student Sabrina Vivian, has […]

A new Mitchell Center project will take a unique look at the health of Maine’s lakes. A collaborative team will introduce a two-pronged approach, looking at both water quality and levels of stakeholder engagement. It’s all part of the effort to develop a new lake vulnerability index for the state. The project is a pilot […]

Four diverse projects covering pressing sustainability issues in Maine have each been awarded research funding by the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions. The awards fund innovative projects that further the Mitchell Center’s vision to connect knowledge with action to create a brighter environmental, social, and economic future in and beyond Maine. Funded […]

A group of UMaine Honors College students have undertaken an intensive summer session in an area of study coming alive with new focus: food and food-related topics. “Maine is the heaviest state in the Northeast. If you look at the way the topic is framed in the news, it’s an individual problem. Blame is placed […]

In a concept that touches the very mission of sustainability, Sarah Ebel and her colleagues went directly to Maine lobstermen to ask questions. They were not merely asking these stakeholders for information about what they do. They were asking lobsterman how they think about their role in collaborative research – if they think they have […]

If sustainability science is about reaching beyond the borders of academia into communities, then it follows that a class focused on the growing discipline might land a student in a group of fishermen concerned about their livelihoods. Students at UMaine and University of New Hampshire taking the newly offered Sustainability Science and Stakeholder Engagement course […]

Researchers studying team building in collaborative sustainability projects have teased out factors that affect these enterprises and their outcomes, things like personality and worldview and how they shape the way people work together. But few studies have looked closely at communication. For Bridie McGreavy, communication is at the heart of successful collaborations. In her work, […]