Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions

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, […]

As scientists comb the globe for renewable energy ideas, biomass – the use of plant material and animal waste as fuel – has come to the fore as a potential solution. Could this new market have a future in Maine’s northernmost county? Researchers at the University of Maine at Presque Isle (UMPI), University of Maine […]

Each year the Maine Water Resources Research Institute (WRRI) funds projects that further knowledge of the State’s water resources. Three projects are being funded in 2015 that range in focus from the water flow puzzle of vernal pools to the deconstruction of an algae outbreak to a novel fix to a difficult drinking water problem. […]

John Kramer says he feels kinship with those at UMaine’s Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions who work to link knowledge with action, homing in on real world, place-based problems. His work has similar characteristics, but on a broader scale. Kramer is Director of Interdisciplinary Science at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC). […]

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 […]

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 […]

David Hart, Director of the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, joined U.S. Senator Angus King, fishermen, community leaders, and stewards of the environment for a conversation on climate change and its effects on Maine’s winters. The forum, held at Naples Town Hall across from Long Lake, was organized to discuss the impact […]

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 […]