2015 Aging Research and Technologies Seed Grant Program Awardees Announced

Over the past year, Vice President Kim has championed the Successful Aging Initiative for Living (SAIL) on campus and around the state.  Maine has been touted as the “oldest state in the nation” and, as demographics continue to change in our state and across the nation, many older adults and their caregivers are facing challenging quality of life issues.  The solutions to many of these issues could potentially be identified through aging research and the development of technologies that help older adults successfully age and thrive in place.  The purpose of this seed funding program is to enhance aging research capacity and interdisciplinary collaboration among UMaine faculty and address a very pressing issue for the State of Maine and beyond.

The Office of the Vice President of Research is pleased to announce the awardees of the 2015 Aging Research and Technologies Seed Grant Program. The program will provide seed funding for pilot research and technology development projects, enabling the early stages of data collection and project development.

Eleven multidisciplinary projects have been approved for preliminary funding (ranging between $10,000 and $50,000) and awardees will be required to submit a grant proposal to a federal funding agency by June 2016 to expand and sustain the pilot work.  There are nineteen different faculty members involved as principal investigators and/or collaborators and the awarded projects span eight academic departments, four colleges, and three research centers.