Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions

Study explores ‘wicked problem’ of COVID-19’s impact on research and scholarship in higher education The COVID-19 pandemic has been a “wicked problem” for higher education, argue researchers from the University of Maine who recently published a study exploring how the first year of the pandemic affected research activities at the institution. As is often the […]

Dianne Kopec, faculty fellow at the Mitchell Center, spoke to Undark about PFAS in marine life. Kopec explained that unlike pollutants such as PCBs or DDT, which primarily accumulate within fatty tissue, or mercury, which primarily accumulates in proteins and muscle tissue, PFASs concentrations are highest in the liver, blood and kidneys, and tend to […]

Investigating how a rapidly warming Arctic will affect American lobster populations and the communities that depend on them in New England and Atlantic Canada will be the focus of a University of Maine-led study backed by a $3 million award from the National Science Foundation’s Navigating the New Arctic Program (NNA). Mitchell Center researchers involved […]

Darren Ranco and Jamie Haverkamp are guest editors for a Genealogy Special Issue on “Storying Indigenous (Life)Worlds.” The Special Issue “is to critically reflect on storytelling from, with, and for alternative (life)worlds and to create a space in which these stories can gather.” There are six papers in the special issue which includes an editorial […]

Susanne Lee will give a talk about the link between food waste and climate change at the Northeast Harbor Library on December 8 at 5:30 p.m. The public can attend the talk in person or by Zoom. Go to the December calendar on the library’s website for information on registering for the Zoom option. Lee […]

Mitchell Center researchers co-authored an article for Issues in Science and Technology on how community-university partnerships can strengthen deliberative and democratic practices. “The guiding frame for this essay—community-university partnerships—may suggest that these partnerships tend to occur in formal, easily-identifiable spaces where community members participate in a project led by the university, or vice versa, with […]

Rachel Schattman, assistant professor of sustainable agriculture and Mitchell Center Faculty Fellow, was one of three people studying “forever chemicals” and removing the toxic compounds from the environment who discussed what they want to see happen next to address contamination, at a forum on Tuesday, November 15 organized by the Bangor Daily News and Maine […]

Sharon Klein, associate professor at the UMaine School of Economics and Mitchell Center Faculty Fellow, was featured as an expert on solar panel efficiency in EcoWatch’s 2022 guide to the 10 best solar panels for homes. Klein explained that crystalline solar panels are generally more efficient than thin film, and cloudy weather, shade and temperature […]

With so many visitors, Acadia National Park is a hotspot location for exposure to tick borne diseases, which are on the rise in Maine. A new study from the University of Maine has found clusters of tick populations in the park, which could help inform prevention strategies for tick-borne illnesses like Lyme disease. Former UMaine […]

Though it is an important economic and environmental issue for all sectors, food waste is an element of the health care waste that often goes unnoticed. Hospitals in Maine could do more to reduce their contribution to the food waste stream, according to a study by the University of Maine. The research team, led by […]