{"id":34725,"date":"2025-05-13T12:42:02","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T16:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/?page_id=34725"},"modified":"2026-04-03T13:01:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T17:01:33","slug":"at-a-glance","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/about\/at-a-glance\/","title":{"rendered":"Building a Better World, Beginning in Maine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
The Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions was created to address sustainability challenges \u2013 challenges of both improving the well-being of people and protecting the environment. Tackling these challenges requires the ability to \u201cconnect the dots\u201d across economic, social, environmental and other factors that often influence sustainability problems. The Mitchell Center brings together teams of faculty, students and partners from many different fields to link knowledge with actions to help solve these thorny problems.<\/p>\n\n\n
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A portfolio of projects and partnerships<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Sustainability challenges come in many different sizes and shapes, so our projects are tailored to the characteristics of each challenge and specific stakeholder concerns. No matter what the topic or scale, the Mitchell Center starts by listening to the stories and aspirations of diverse stakeholders, meeting them where they are. This is the essential foundation for strong collaborations. As we gain a deeper understanding, it often becomes clear that we can make more progress by working together than any of us could make on our own. One key step in the Mitchell Center process is then to assemble an interdisciplinary team of faculty and students whose mix of knowledge and skills complements and augments the expertise and know how of our partners. This way, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Together, the teams sharpen their understanding of the challenges, identify information and knowledge gaps that need to be filled, and develop real-world solutions. Along the way, we are learning-by-doing and growing our collaborative capacity to tackle future challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Mitchell Center\u2019s teams aren\u2019t off in a classroom, out of touch with the real world. Instead, they work in close partnerships with business leaders, community nonprofits, tribal communities, and local, state, and federal government representatives to solve problems together. The durability of these partnerships depends upon open communication, mutual respect and trust that must be carefully nurtured.<\/p>\n\n\n
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Investing in a sustainable future<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Solving Real-world Problems<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
The Mitchell Center seeks to \u201cconnect knowledge with action to create a brighter environmental, social, and economic future in and beyond Maine.\u201d Our dual focus on the well-being of people and the natural world makes the benefits of this strategy applicable to a wide range of challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Mitchell Center has become a national role model for building productive community-university partnerships that can help solve complex societal problems by demonstrating how the University of Maine is aligning its work with the needs of diverse communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Training the next generation of leaders and problem solvers<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Providing students with hands-on experiences in solutions-driven research ignites passions and nurtures skills they will carry forward, spreading the capacity for this grassroots, collaborative and knowledge-based approach to meet future challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Representative projects from the center\u2019s diverse portfolio<\/h3>\n\n\n
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Lowering Risks of PFAS Contamination<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Our teams were among the \ufb01rst in Maine to focus on these \u201cforever chemicals\u201d by assessing their occurrence and evaluating strategies for reducing exposure associated with water, farm products, \ufb01sh, and game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Accelerating Climate and Energy Action<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Our teams are leaders in helping local communities and low-income and disadvantaged Mainers lower energy costs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and adapt to the growing impacts of climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reducing Food Waste and Food Insecurity<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Food waste is exacerbating climate change and food insecurity. Our teams are piloting food waste solutions across Maine in collaboration with food businesses, non-pro\ufb01ts, municipalities, and state agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Supporting Lake Conservation Initiatives<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Our teams worked with diverse partners to develop a comprehensive valuation of Maine lakes. The results are helping citizens and policy makers prioritize water quality protection strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n
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Strengthening the Resilience of Coastal Fisheries and Communities<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Our teams work with \ufb01shing communities and managers to address a complex set of challenges including climate change, trade disruptions, local food systems, and water quality impairment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Protecting Ash in the Dawnland<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Led by Wabanaki faculty and students, our teams are helping Native ash harvesters and basketmakers sustain Indigenous lifeways despite threats posed by the invasive emerald ash borer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our teams are helping farmers and other agriculture leaders respond to changing environmental and economic challenges by developing regenerative practices that enhance the well-being of farms and people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions was created to address sustainability challenges \u2013 challenges of both improving the well-being of people and protecting the environment. Tackling these challenges requires the ability to \u201cconnect the dots\u201d across economic, social, environmental and other factors that often influence sustainability problems. The Mitchell Center brings together teams of faculty, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":957,"featured_media":0,"parent":31967,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"templates\/page-withsidebar.php","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-34725","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"taxonomy_info":[],"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"mitchellcenter","author_link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/author\/mitchellcenter\/"},"comment_info":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/957"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34725"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36496,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34725\/revisions\/36496"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/31967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mitchellcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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