Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions

Diminishing snowpack in Maine is a very real repercussion of global climate change. From maple syrup production to animal food availability to fresh water resources, the phenomenon is not going away, scientists say. But right now, outside Old Town High School in 15 degree cold, it’s come down to “the tube”. “Hold on, hold on. […]

Black ash trees are in the crosshairs of the emerald ash borer (EAB) with the deadly insect knocking on the door of Northeastern coastal states. Kara Costanza concentrated her studies on the precious tree species, working on multiple preemptive  solutions. Costanza, a student with the former Sustainability Solutions Initiative (SSI), studied black ash stands in Maine and northern New […]

Excessive sediment and the contaminants absorbed to sediment particles cause habitat and water quality problems in water bodies throughout the country. Efficient reduction in the sediment loads to receiving waters requires identification of the most prominent sediment sources. Better knowledge of watershed sources and their relation to the loads delivered from large rivers was the […]

Her doctoral research concentration may have been the life cycle of juvenile frogs and salamanders, but Britt Cline’s research ended up involving an awful lot of humans, many of them far outside the world of biology: social scientists, economists, community members and elected officials. And she’s convinced that’s the way of the future. “I sincerely […]

Effective communication and shared decision-making may lead to better outcomes for sustainability science teams working on collaborative research. Communication affects project participants’ ongoing commitment to collaboration, their ability to combine different ideas and understand one another, and eventual project outcomes such as developing research methods, implementing new technologies, and enacting legislation. Those are the findings […]

Honors College seniors Audrey Cross and Ashley Thibeault are tracking every single food purchase made by UMaine Dining Services over a period of two months in the 2012-13 academic year. If this sounds meticulous, it’s because it is. The task involves combing through thousands of line items, noting every acquisition of every bit of dining hall […]

Last year, citizen scientists across the nation collected dragonfly larvae, which were tested for mercury levels. The final results could indicate risks for other species, including humans and the fish we eat Sarah Nelson, an associate research professor at UMaine’s Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions and the School of Forest Resources, was one […]

UMaine’s Tim Waring is a lead investigator on a newly funded initiative that seeks to better understand the common factors that underlie widely ranging studies in sustainability science. The aim is to find guiding principles that will help shape and expand the scope of research in the discipline. Waring, an Assistant Professor in the School […]

Few would have guessed cusk, an elusive fish that emerges from lobster traps with inside-out guts and bubbling skin, would become a focal point in the Gulf of Maine. The bottom dwellers have no commercial value; with their tough skin, they’re not even considered viable as bait. Still, a group of researchers, lobsterman and others […]

Conducting research aboard a lobster boat involves a lot more than research. “There’s a lot of really getting your hands dirty. I’ve spent a lot of time fishing with these guys,” said Jocelyn Runnebaum, a UMaine PhD student in Marine Biology, who spent the spring and summer collecting data on cusk in the Gulf of […]