Maine Sea Grant awards nearly $1M to research projects, Mainebiz reports

Mainebiz published a University of Maine news release announcing the Maine Sea Grant College Program has awarded funds for four new projects, representing nearly $1 million in research investment from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and matching sources. Grants were awarded to faculty at the University of Maine and other research institutions statewide. Research recipients are Amanda Klemmer and Brian Olsen of UMaine’s School of Biology and Ecology, who will lead an investigation of the role of rockweed in intertidal food webs; Robert Steneck of UMaine’s School of Marine Sciences, and Douglas Rasher and Thew Suskiewicz of Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, who intend to identify how kelp forests are responding to changing environmental conditions; Michele LaVigne and David Carlon of Bowdoin College, who will lead a multidisciplinary team on a project evaluating acidity of Gulf of Maine waters; and Lisa Kerr, Kathy Mills and Andrew Pershing of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, who will apply funds to a synthesis of 20 years of data collected as part of the Maine-New Hampshire Inshore Trawl Survey. Investigators will present their projects at the Maine Sea Grant Biennial Research Symposium on April 20 at the University of Maine Buchanan Alumni House. The Associated Press also reported on the projects. The Portland Press Herald, WABI (Channel 5), WRAL and The Seattle Times carried the AP report.