News

Mitchell Center Doctoral Candidate Builds Computer Models that Analyze Cooperative Behavior

Sandra Goff’s sustainability science research went to the heart of the discipline’s integrative mission. She created dynamic computer models of the interactions between social, economic and environmental systems. Working on a research assistantship with the Sustainability Solutions Initiative (SSI), a program of the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, Goff and colleagues looked […]

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Student Helping to Unlock Mysteries of Watersheds

Watersheds still contain many mysteries. For example: how, specifically, does water pick up harmful bacteria as it flows toward its destination? And what factors within particular streams, rivers or lakes help filter out bacteria before water reaches its outlet? Graduate student Brian Van Dam has been researching and mapping the Gulf of Maine watershed and early […]

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Diverse Sustainability and Water Research Reflected in Conference Posters

The poster exhibition at this year’s Maine Sustainability & Water Conference reflected the conference’s broadening agenda on urgent issues affecting New England and beyond. Diverse research on citizen science, fisheries, energy conservation and other sustainability topics grabbed the interest of attendees, who had a midday opportunity to peruse the poster gallery. The poster session offered […]

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Researchers to Engage Fishermen on Topic of Sustainable Management

Farmers have some measure of control over the land they till. They can buy it, divide it, get rid of things they don’t want. Not so for fishermen Like the fish and crustaceans they seek, fishermen are at the mercy of submerged ecosystems they cannot control. And, increasingly, scientists are aware that these systems are […]

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Student Researcher Gets Taste of Sustainability Science in Action

Economics major Tagwongo Obomsawin didn’t anticipate huddles with biologists or shellfish harvesters during her undergraduate program. But as a research assistant for the New England Sustainability Consortium (NEST) Safe Beaches and Shellfish Program, she’s moved into the bustling crossroads of sustainability science. “I love that no day is same. I’m involved in a wide variety […]

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Can Maine’s Native Bees Be the State’s Top Pollinator?

With commercial honeybees dying off and prices for their pollinating services threatening to rise, UMaine researchers are taking a closer look at Maine’s native bees. Blueberry growers have been wary of depending on these local pollinators. They’re hard to get a handle on. Unlike honeybees, which live in manufactured hives up to 70,000 insects deep, […]

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Student’s Research to Help Growers Identify Native Pollinators

When most of us think of bees, we think of a buzzing hive of yellow-back striped bodies. We think of the big, winged queen pumping out eggs in the heart of the action. But while honeybees may live this way, most of Maine’s native bees do not. In fact, their lifestyles are a mystery to […]

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