Watershed Process and Estuary Sustainability Research Group

Lara Luczak, a Senior Undergraduate Research Assistant in the School of Earth and Climate Sciences is researching hydrologic inputs in Frenchman Bay, Maine. Her project is supported by The Water Cycle Center, a research cooperation between the U.S. Geological Survey and academic partners in the Northeast, USA (link for more info: The Water Cycle Center). Lara’s […]

The University of Maine’s College of Earth, Life, and Health seeks an applicant with enthusiasm and a background in science or engineering who is professional, adaptable, and a good problem-solver to support activities related to campus residential life, programmed learning activities, and research operations at the Darling Marine Center. The person in this position will […]

A recent Maine Public Film Series special, “Salmon Restoration on the Penobscot River” [external link], shares the story of a collaborative effort led by the Penobscot Nation and Maine DEP to restore Atlantic salmon to their historic spawning habitat in the headwaters of the Penobscot River near Mount Katahdin. The ability of salmon to access […]

WPES participated last week in the 2026 Atlantic Salmon Ecosystems Forum held in Bangor, ME. This biennial meeting brings together tribal, state, and federal resource managers, academic researchers, and others from New England and Atlantic Canada to share the latest about monitoring and habitat rehabilitation for Atlantic salmon and other diadromous fish. David Libby, George […]

Please consider participating in an ecohydraulics-focused session at the 2026 Maine Sustainability & Water Conference hosted by the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions. The meeting is scheduled to take place Thursday, March 26, 2026 in Augusta, ME. A description of the session is provided below. The abstract submission deadline for talks is […]

WPES researchers were among over 50 scientists, managers, and stakeholders to dive into discussions about coastal research at the inaugural Maine Land-Sea Connections Information Exchange at UMaine’s Darling Marine Center in Walpole, ME on July 16. The event was facilitated by WPES co-leader Dr. Sean Smith to bring together researchers from multiple New England universities, […]

Lauren Ross will be presenting on Tuesday, June 10, summarizing her research focused on three estuary study sites, two of which are in Maine. The title of her presentation is “Observations of the Structure of Eddy Viscosities in Mid-Latitude Estuaries: Implications for Mixing Processes“. https://www.grc.org/coastal-ocean-dynamics-conference/2025/

WPES PhD candidate Taylor Bailey Spencer will be defending her doctoral dissertation, “Material Transport Around Complex Coastlines,” at 10 AM Wednesday, April 23 in 165 Barrows Hall on the UMaine campus. Please see the flyer below for more information about Taylor’s defense.

Students from the WPES group exhibited their latest research in Augusta on March 27 at the 2025 Maine Sustainability & Water Conference. The annual event, which set a new attendance record this year, brings together researchers, resource managers and planners, regulators, and other stakeholders at the university, municipal, state, and federal levels to discuss water […]

Please consider participation in a technical session at the 2025 Joint Northeastern-Central Meeting of the Geological Society of America hosted by affiliates of the Northeast Water Cycle Center and focused on water cycle research in the Northeast.  The meeting is scheduled to take place March 27-30 in Erie Pennsylvania. A description of the session is […]

Maine Water Resources Research Institute Communicating Water Resources Science Student Internships The Maine WRRI seeks to improve the transfer of knowledge between researchers and their partners in Maine by establishing an internship program for undergraduate/graduate students to help develop resources focused on facilitating the adaptation of water science into practice. Students will work collaboratively with […]

Please join us Wednesday, Oct. 23 from 12:00-1:00 pm in BGSC 100 for the weekly School of Earth and Climate Sciences Seminar Series. Dr. Karen Prestegaard from the Department of Geology at the University of Maryland will be giving a talk on hydrological and geomorphological controls on water, sediment, and solute fluxes in Urban Fall […]

WPES faculty, staff, and graduate students convened with other coastal scientists to share research at the 2024 Physics of Estuaries and Coastal Seas (PECS) conference in Bordeaux, France in September. The conference, co-organized by WPES co-leader Dr. Lauren Ross, brought together an international group of researchers to discuss topics including wave, tide, and salt wedge […]

Taylor Bailey (PhD candidate) is first author of a new paper in the journal, Science of the Total Environment. The paper, Geomorphological Controls on Estuary Hydrodynamics with Implications for Diatom Blooms in Deglaciated Coastal Areas, informs current practices of harmful algae bloom (HAB) monitoring and management by linking coastal geomorphology to hydraulic conditions influencing HAB […]

The WPES research group has initiated a new collaborative project focused on mapping channel bottom textures in the Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam. The work uses data acquired by the USGS during previous river measurement expeditions and expands on techniques described by Buscombe, Grams, and Smith (2015). The research has relevance to river management […]

A case study detailing concentrations and chemical compositions of microplastic fibers in Frenchman Bay and its upstream estuaries and rivers has been published in the journal Environmental Engineering Science. The paper, Land–Sea Connection of Microplastic Fiber Pollution in Frenchman Bay, Maine, reveals that as many as 400 billion microplastic fibers may be found in the […]

MS student Cade King was awarded first place in the graduate poster competition at the 2024 Maine Sustainability & Water Conference in Augusta.  His poster summarizes research on Analyzing Measured Flows for Salmon Habitat Management in the Upper Penobscot River. Congratulations, Cade! WPES undergraduate intern David Libby also made a strong showing with his first […]

Please join us Wednesday, November 8th from 12-1pm in BGSC 100 for the weekly School of Earth and Climate Sciences’ Seminar Series. This week, Dr. Taylor Rowley from UMass Amherst will be joining us to discuss the Surface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission developed by NASA. All are welcome to join and talk with Dr. Rowley. For those […]

Zydlewski J, Coghlan S, Dillingham C, Figueroa-Muñoz G, Merriam C, Smith S, Smith R, Stich D, Vogel S, Wilson K and Zydlewski G. 2023. Seven dam challenges for migratory fish: insights from the Penobscot River. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, Vol. 11:1253657. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2023.1253657