BDN interviews Rubin for article on biofuel research

UMaine Alert

Posted: April 19, 2024 - 1:32 PM

At approximately 9:24 a.m. on Friday, April 19, a University of Maine graduate student was struck by a university vehicle on Long Road at the University of Maine campus in Orono. The student reports that they are at a local hospital with minor injuries.

Emergency services, including the Orono Fire Department, University Volunteer Ambulance Corps, University of Maine Police Department, Orono Police Department and Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene.

The university vehicle involved in the incident was a Chevrolet Express van. It was being operated by a university employee.

Counseling services and support are available for students, faculty or staff who may have been affected. The Counseling Center can be reached at 207-581-1392 and the Dean of Students Office can be reached at 207-581-1406.

The scene has been cleared and Long Road is now accessible. An investigation is being conducted by the University of Maine Police Department with assistance from the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office Crash Reconstruction Unit. Any witnesses to the incident are encouraged to contact Lt. Noel Santiago at noel.santiago@maine.edu.

August 22, 2016 Economic Development, Outreach, Research, UMaine in the News

The Bangor Daily News spoke with Jonathan Rubin, an economics professor at the University of Maine, for an article about biofuel research in the state. Efforts to develop a wood-based biofuel, particularly jet fuel, from Maine’s abundant timberland got a boost last month when the U.S. Department of Defense announced a $3.3 million investment into ongoing research at UMaine, according to the article. The new investment from the federal government can potentially give the university’s Forest Bioproducts Research Institute the support it needs to “scale up” the production of biofuel for demonstration purposes to test it for commercial use, said Jake Ward, UMaine’s vice president of innovation and economic development. Rubin said the support from the federal government “helps us commercialize and learn how to make biofuels cheaper.” He estimates Maine could support at least one modest-sized biorefinery to produce cellulosic biofuel and jet fuel. Rubin, along with fellow UMaine economist Sharon Klein and economics graduate students Binod Neupane and Stephanie Whalley, published a study in a recent issue of the Journal of the Transportation Research Board that estimated 3.9 million dry tons of wood are available for biofuel production, the article states. Not all of that wood, however, would realistically be available to a biorefinery because of hauling costs. “It’s a challenging world to produce a biofuel with gasoline at just over $2 a gallon,” Rubin said.