BDN previews Maine Science Festival featuring UMaine participants

The Bangor Daily News advanced the third Maine Science Festival set for March 16–19 at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. Linda Silka, a senior fellow at the University of Maine’s Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, has been a board member and volunteer for the festival since it began. “It’s so important to bring people into the fray and get the average person involved in research and learning and contributing,” Silka said. “The festival really shines a light on the incredible scientific work being done here in Maine. If we want to keep our youth in Maine, we need them to know about all the opportunities that are here and get them involved.” This year’s program will feature presentations from six scientists, including Nadir Yildirim, who earned his Ph.D. from UMaine and will present his work using nanocomposites from forest resources, the BDN reported. Other events will show the connection between the humanities and science, such as an art project Saturday afternoon at the University of Maine Museum of Art, in which people can help construct a large-scale sculpture of the human cranium, the article states. The Maine Edge and WABI (Channel 5) interviewed Kate Dickerson, director of the Maine Science Festival, and WLBZ (Channel 2) also previewed the event.