Faculty

aaron putnam

Climate change and the rise of the Mongol Empire

Could the rise of the Mongol Empire, the greatest land empire ever on Earth, have been linked to climate change? Aaron Putnam thinks so. In 2010 and 2011, Putnam, previously at Columbia University and now an assistant professor in the School of Earth and Climate Sciences and the Climate Change Institute at the University of […]

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cross-laminated plywood

‘Plywood on steroids’ could help grow industry

Nicholas Willey once planned to be a lawyer. Then, at his mother’s suggestion, the then-Caribou High School student attended the free University of Maine Pulp & Paper Foundation program “Consider Engineering” that gives juniors insight into the field. “It really opened my eyes to what engineering encompassed,” says Willey. As well as persuasively made the […]

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DNA class

Going viral: First-year students get hands-on experience in phage genomics course

There is a long list of learning objectives for the HON 150/155 phage genomics course, in which first-year undergraduates conduct hands-on research. They learn how to purify and isolate novel bacteriophages — viruses that infect bacterial hosts — from soil samples. The students learn how to characterize their individual phages — which have the miniscule […]

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potatoes

Mallory receives USDA grant for potato and grain research in Chile

Ellen Mallory, University of Maine Cooperative Extension specialist and associate professor of sustainable agriculture, was awarded $11,902 grant for food research from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The project is supported by the USDA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) and is titled, “Investigating Diversity as a Climate Resilience Strategy for Potato and […]

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adaptive exerciser

Researchers awarded $225,000 for testing, commercialization of mobility aid

An aesthetically designed mobility aid created by University of Maine researchers to meet the growing need for adaptive exercise engagement has received nearly $225,000 from the National Institute on Aging. The one-year $224,999 National Institutes of Health Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant will involve precision testing and the initiation of commercialization of […]

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Atlantic

Oceanography professor selected to deliver Rachel Carson Lecture

A prominent University of Maine oceanographer will deliver a lecture named in honor of her inspiration, pioneer marine biologist Rachel Carson, at the American Geophysical Union fall meeting in December in San Francisco. School of Marine Sciences Professor Mary Jane Perry’s address is titled “The Subpolar North Atlantic Spring Bloom – What Did We Learn […]

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warbler

Holberton: Birds of a feather don’t always migrate together

The half-ounce songbirds that fly 1,800 miles nonstop over the Atlantic Ocean to winter in South America haven’t had a lot to chirp about lately. The number of Blackpoll warblers (Setophaga striata) documented on the move through migration monitoring sites in the Gulf of Maine region has declined dramatically at some locations over the last […]

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Norway spruce lumber

UMaine tests Norway spruce to see if it makes the cut for construction

University of Maine scientists are testing wood from some of the 3 billion trees the Civilian Conservation Corps planted during the Great Depression. Staff and students at the UMaine Advanced Structures and Composites Center are evaluating strength values (including bending and tension) of about 1,200 pieces of lumber milled from Norway spruce that grew in […]

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economics student

Students in economics class work with community to keep homes warm

Students in University of Maine economics professor Sharon Klein’s service learning class have spent the semester working with the community to help keep homes warm throughout the winter. The pilot course, “Building Sustainable Energy Communities Through Service Learning,” teaches students about sustainable energy through hands-on community engagement. Throughout the semester, the 10 students in the […]

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