U.S. Department of Energy grant supports 91¸ŁŔű study of forest recovery after timber harvesting led by Daniel Hayes, professor of geospatial analysis and remote sensing

Maine’s forests support jobs, supply wood for homes and businesses, and provide places to hunt, hike and enjoy the outdoors. University of Maine researchers will study what happens after a timber harvest — and how the forest grows back.

A U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant announced Friday, Oct. 16, will support the project.

The findings could help forest managers better understand how harvesting affects the trees left behind and the next generation of growth. The research focuses on partial harvesting, a common practice in northern U.S. commercial forests that removes some trees while leaving others standing.

Led by Daniel Hayes, 91¸ŁŔű professor of geospatial analysis and remote sensing, the team will study a section of Howland Research Forest in central Maine that was harvested in August 2025. Researchers will compare it with a nearby area that was not harvested to see how logging changes the forest’s growth and recovery.

Howland has been used for forest research for decades, providing researchers with extensive historical data.

“Here, we have this really unique opportunity. It’s almost a perfect test bed site for a research study,” Hayes said.

They will track the growth of remaining trees and seedlings and examine how leftover branches and wood break down. That process releases nutrients that can help new trees grow. Researchers also will measure how much carbon dioxide the forest takes in and releases.

An airplane carrying laser mapping equipment will capture detailed, three-dimensional pictures of the forest each year. Those images will show how its height and structure change as trees grow.

Researchers collected measurements from both the air and ground before the August 2025 harvest, establishing a baseline for studying the forest’s recovery.

“We measured everything we could in the short time that we had,” Hayes said.

The team will combine the images with tree rings, measurements from 96 forest plots and more than 25 years of carbon dioxide measurements at Howland.

The research will help improve the DOE’s Earth system model that predicts forest growth and carbon storage. It currently does not account for partial harvesting and recovery after logging.

The four-year project will provide new data on how forests respond to harvesting, helping researchers improve predictions of future forest conditions.

91¸ŁŔű School of Forest Resources researchers Shawn Fraver, Xinyuan Wei, Aaron Weiskittel, and Rose Z. Abramoff will collaborate with Hayes and Oak Ridge National Laboratory on the project.

Contact: David Nordman, david.nordman@maine.edu

John Daigle, professor of forest recreation management at the University of Maine, co-authored the first paper in a series designed to help communities nationwide prepare for future national disasters and other extreme weather events.

The paper, “Research Priorities for Robust Climate Assessments in the United States,” is the first contribution to the U.S. Climate Collection informing Assessment of Risks and Solutions, a joint special collection of the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society. The collection will feature climate assessment science and research synthesis papers to inform future national and sub-national assessments.

Daigle contributed by highlighting certain vulnerabilities facing Indigenous Peoples and demonstrating and explaining how their connections to the place and value systems can strengthen adaptation and resilience.

“Climate change impacts the relationships between people and nature, particularly for Indigenous Peoples and other communities with strong place-based cultural ties. Changes in timing of biological events, range shifts of plants and animals, and function can disrupt cultural

practices, subsistence activities and identity,” said Daigle. “At the same time, Indigenous Knowledges and relational worldviews offer valuable insights for adaptation and stewardship.”

The paper identifies research priorities, including how greenhouse gas emissions and laws compound the effects of extreme weather; how social systems shape planning; how climate-related weather risks threaten infrastructure and institutions; and how well existing intervention, mitigation, adaptation and disaster management efforts work. 

“Future assessments will be more useful if they go beyond species inventories to focus on dynamic processes, adaptive capacity, integrated system-level responses, and social and ecological feedbacks,” Daigle said. By synthesizing insights from ecological, cultural, and governance domains, the scientific community can better anticipate, manage, and leverage ecological transformation as climate change accelerates.”

Ivan Fernandez, University of Maine professor emeritus of soil science and climate research scientist, has been named the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award as part of the .

Fernandez was selected for more than four decades of research on the biogeochemistry of Maine’s forests and his contributions to climate science and policy in the state. His research has focused on how forests and forested watersheds respond to climate change, air pollution and forest management.

Fernandez is a member of 91¸ŁŔű’s Climate Change Institute and serves as director and principal investigator of the Maine Climate Science Information Exchange. He was appointed to the Maine Climate Council in 2019 and serves as co-chair of its Scientific and Technical Subcommittee. He also has served on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Science Advisory Board committees.

His previous honors include being named a 91¸ŁŔű Distinguished Maine Professor in 2007 and Maine Professor of the Year in 2008. He was named a fellow of the Soil Science Society of America in 2010 and received 91¸ŁŔű’s Presidential Public Service Achievement Award in 2018.

The Maine Science Awards recognize scientists, innovators, researchers and advocates advancing science across the state. Fernandez and four other inaugural honorees will be recognized Oct. 15 at Hollywood Casino Bangor.

For beverage coolers to keep drinks cold on a hot summer day, manufacturers rely on polyurethane foam, which is made from raw chemicals that are hazardous to handle before processing. To reduce health and environmental risks associated with this material, a University of Maine graduate student is designing an insulation component for coolers from an unexpected material: wood. 

Quazeem Tiamiyu’s wood fiber foam insulation serves as a bio-based alternative to replace polyurethane foam in conventional beverage coolers. 

Polyurethane is a petroleum-based material that is nonrenewable, slow to degrade and can pollute landfills and waterways while posing health risks for workers who handle it. Although people use coolers every day, few realize conventional ice chests typically rely on polyurethane foam for cavity insulation. 

“Polyurethane foam’s raw chemicals are highly toxic and carcinogenic. For people that work with it, it has also been reported to cause respiratory disease and skin irritation,” said Tiamiyu.  

Tiamiyu is a master’s student in the School of Forest Resources and graduate research assistant in the Laboratory of Renewable Nanomaterials. After earning his bachelor’s degree at the Federal University of Technology in Minna, Nigeria, he joined the research group of Mehdi Tajvidi, professor of renewable nanomaterials, to develop an environmentally-friendly alternative to polyurethane insulation.

The foam Tiamiyu and his colleagues designed consists of cellulose nanofibrils, wood fiber, finely ground wood flour and a surfactant that enables high foam volume. Cellulose nanofibrils are ultra-thin fibers made by breaking down wood pulp into strands much thinner than a human hair. Acting as both a binder and a stabilizer, the cellulose nanofibrils create strong web-like structures in the base materials — the wood fiber and wood flour. 

91¸ŁŔű’s Process Development Center is a leading CNF production facility and the only one in the United States capable of continuously producing up to four tons per day at pilot scale.

Tiamiyu mixes the ingredients in a blender to generate the foam, which is poured into molds designed to resemble actual cooler inserts. Then water is then drained from the molds, and the finished foam is dried before being enclosed in a protective plastic shell.

When Tiamiyu tested how well his foam insulates compared with polyurethane, the results were nearly identical. 

“For the thermal conductivity, we are close,” he said. “We actually found that we can compete with polyurethane foam. They have a close insulation property.”

Tiamiyu said the biggest hurdles now are achieving mechanical properties comparable to polyurethane and developing an efficient encapsulation method. Conventional coolers are easy to produce because manufacturers just inject liquid polyurethane into the shell, where the foam stays in place. Tiamiyu’s foam, however, must be made via a wet process, dried and then encapsulated or fitted into the cooler cavity, making production more challenging.

He is also focused on making the foam durable enough to withstand everyday use. If the foam is crushed or damaged, its insulating ability decreases.

Additionally, Tiamiyu plans to conduct ice retention tests to compare how long the foam keeps ice relative to conventional coolers.

“Usually when you process cellulose nanofibrils it tends to lose its nano-scale properties to be binded again so another one of our future objectives is to see if it’s possible to disperse the ready foam in water and then mold it again to whatever shapes possible,” Tiamiyu said. “If that is possible the ready foam can be shipped and the manufacturers can put it in water and mold it however they want.” 

While challenges remain, the researchers are hopeful for the future. The project demonstrates that renewable alternatives to petroleum-based insulation can be produced using materials derived from the byproducts of Maine’s lumber mills.

Story by Yoana Karageorgieva, research media intern

Contact: Daniel Timmermann, daniel.timmermann@maine.edu

When low-level flames spread across five acres of forestland in Old Town one June afternoon, University of Maine students Logan Quinn of Braintree, Massachusetts, and Mar Wiltz of Bloomington, Indiana, helped keep them under control while gaining hands-on experience that could shape their future forestry careers.

The two-hour prescribed burn at 91¸ŁŔű’s Dwight B. Demeritt University Forest was designed to reduce leaf litter and understory vegetation that can hinder red oak regeneration. Prescribed fire is also increasingly used across the country to reduce wildfire risk by removing accumulated fuels such as dead trees, branches and other forest debris.

Working as volunteer firefighters, Quinn and Wiltz, both pursuing master’s degrees in forest resources, cleared debris around the perimeter before igniting the fire, exposing soil that would stop flames from spreading past the designated burn area. With drip torches in hand, they joined Maine Forest Service firefighters in setting the prescribed fire. During the burn, they doused wayward flames to prevent them from spreading to the rest of the forest.   

Quinn and Wiltz earned their firefighter certifications through their undergraduate studies at 91¸ŁŔű and the University of Vermont, respectively. Their participation was made possible when Rose Abramoff, assistant professor in 91¸ŁŔű’s School of Forest Resources, connected them with the Maine Forest Service.

“What was nice about being a part of the holding crew is you get to pop in wherever you’re needed,” said Wiltz, who hopes to become a forester for a government agency. “A lot of state forestry employers are getting firefighters certified and sending them out west to fight fires. Getting this experience now is really wonderful to have moving forward.” 

Beyond providing hands-on firefighting experience, the burn also created a living laboratory for student researchers studying how fire affects Northeastern forests. The project supported research led by master’s student Cameron Chin, who is investigating how fire influences plant communities and soil health in temperate woodlands.

With less experience with wildfires than other parts of the U.S., the Northeast lacks research on how wild and prescribed fires affect its temperate forests, Abramoff said. She added that the region’s forests are generally less adapted to wildfire than woodlands in other parts of the country. 

“We expect the risk of wildfires to increase as the risk of droughts increase,” she said. “Tree pests encroaching on the Northeast — emerald ash borer, hemlock woolly adelgid, browntail moth, white pine weevil — create dead wood that could burn.” 

Preparing for the future of Northeast forestry

Chin is spearheading research into how fire affects the various plant species and soil properties in the temperate forests that dominate the Northeast. 

Days after that burn in the Demeritt Forest, Chin returned to the site with Quinn, Wiltz and Ph.D. student Colby Bosley-Smith. The group collected soil samples, inventoried plant species and analyzed burn severity to better understand how fire influences forest recovery.

As more forestland managers explore prescribed fire to reduce wildfire risk, improve forest resilience and promote ecologically valuable tree species, Chin is dedicating part of her research to understanding the benefits and tradeoffs of this practice in the region. 

More research is needed to determine what plants regenerate after a prescribed burn and whether they alter the chemistry of the soil, particularly its carbon levels, Chin said. 

Trees and other plant life rely on carbon to thrive in many ways. For example, Chin said carbon feeds microorganisms that liberate previously inaccessible nutrients from soil molecules that promote root growth. 

“Fire is one of those disturbances that can have an immediate effect on soil and soil nutrients,” Chin said. “Forestry as an industry has grown more interested in soil carbon.”

Researchers will revisit the plots to monitor forest regeneration over time. Chin is measuring soil carbon dioxide emissions on a weekly basis through the end of November. 

Through research, students apply concepts from statistics, chemistry and physics to real-world forest management challenges, Abramoff said. 

“We teach students how to observe what’s around them in quantifiable ways and make inferences based on that, and that’s useful in every industry,” she said.  

For Quinn, who graduated from 91¸ŁŔű with a bachelor’s degree this spring, helping Chin with her research and serving as a volunteer firefighter during the burn allowed him to expand his professional network and opened an opportunity to conduct his own research on prescribed burns in southern Maine. After earning a master’s degree, Quinn hopes to work in conservation. 

“Having these experiences is really helpful for me in my job pursuits,” he said.  

Contact: Marcus Wolf, 207.581.3721; marcus.wolf@maine.edu

Mehdi Tajvidi, a professor of renewable nanomaterials at the University of Maine, has been named the 2026 recipient of the FiberLean Distinguished Scientist Award from the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI) Advanced Renewable Materials division.

The award recognizes individuals whose work has significantly advanced scientific and engineering knowledge within the renewable materials sector. Division Technical Awards, presented by TAPPI, honor outstanding accomplishments or contributions that advance industry technology in a given field.

Tajvidi received the award on April 28 at the TAPPICon conference in Columbus, Ohio.

He holds appointments in 91¸ŁŔű’s School of Forest Resources, the Advanced Structures and Composites Center and the Forest Bioproducts Research Institute. His research focuses on alternatives to petroleum-based products, particularly within forest-based industries.

Photosynthesis is the oldest carbon-capture technology on Earth. For eons, plants have pulled carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and locked carbon — the building block of life on our planet — into their bodies and roots. 

In young forests, the widespread consensus is that this process rapidly pulls, or sequesters, carbon from the atmosphere. As forests mature, more trees start to die, releasing the carbon they captured in their wake. Carbon sequestration, the thinking goes, slowly stalls and old forests eventually release roughly as much carbon into the air as they capture.

Thirty years of measurements taken by University of Maine scientists at a remote 550-acre forest challenge this idea.

At Howland Research Forest, located about 30 miles north of 91¸ŁŔű, in the towns of Edinburg and Howland, 98-foot towers rise above the spruce and hemlock canopy. They are topped by instruments that measure carbon dioxide flux — the exchange of the gas between the forest canopy and the atmosphere. The measurements are so precise that they can detect the breath of a technician working nearby.

What they have recorded is a carbon record of exceptional length drawn from a mature, undisturbed forest. The data generated here is reshaping how the world understands forests and their influence on climate. The towers on Howland have been collecting data since 1996, making them among the longest-running records of their kind in the United States, second only to Harvard Forest. 

These findings are used by scientists, educators and land managers worldwide, informing forest management, timber production, carbon budgets, conservation and policy. But the future of this research is uncertain. For decades, the Howland towers were supported through the federally funded AmeriFlux network. As research priorities shifted, that support was interrupted, putting the long-running record at risk. 

A recent $175,000 private gift to the University of Maine Foundation — equal to the site’s annual operating cost— has temporarily filled that gap, keeping the research running through next year. Without it, the towers would have gone offline this August, bringing 30 years of continuous monitoring to a standstill. 

“We have funds to continue another year. But our latest research, the student experience, the experimental work on managed versus unmanaged forests — all of it depends on the towers being operational. If the tower goes offline, we lose the context this monitoring data provides, and everything that has been built on it.” Shawn Fraver, Associate professor of forest ecology.

While the gift provides a one-year lifeline, it does not solve the underlying challenge. Sustaining this irreplaceable observatory and training ground for 91¸ŁŔű students aspiring to become foresters, conservationists and researchers requires .

A living benchmark

Mature, unmanaged forests are exceptionally rare in New England. Centuries of timber harvest have reset the ecological clock across nearly every landscape. 

At Howland, the forest canopy is dominated by trees between 100 and 200 years old. Some are even older. They had already stood for centuries when Henry David Thoreau passed through central Maine on his way to Mount Katahdin in the 1840s.

A yellow birch documented in the forest’s permanent research plots dates to the mid-1600s — at least 367 years, the oldest of its species on record in Maine. Cedar and hemlock that sprouted in the 1700s stand alongside fallen logs in every stage of decay. Their slow decomposition is a critical part of the carbon cycle that researchers here are still working to fully understand.

Coarse woody debris — the fallen logs and standing dead trees so characteristic of old forests — are largely absent from managed landscapes. At Howland, it is everywhere. 

The forest is surrounded by active timber operations, which makes it something else: a control site. Without Howland as a baseline for what an unmanaged forest looks like, the comparisons that inform forest management across the Northeast would be far less meaningful.

The Northeast Wilderness Trust recognized that value in 2007, when it purchased the 550-acre site and permanently protected it as forever-wild. The protection came at a critical moment: the previous owner had considered resuming active management, which would have disrupted decades of research.

“We permanently protected Howland because ancient forests are rare and have so much to teach us,” said Shelby Perry, the Northeast Wilderness Trust’s wildlands ecology director. “Howland shows us the unique value of wild places amid managed landscapes. What researchers learn here informs forest policy at a global scale. Keeping this land wild and keeping the research going are inseparable.” 

For these findings, time is priceless

When a carbon flux tower was installed at Howland in 1996, it became a founding site of the AmeriFlux network, which has spread to more than 500 monitoring stations across the Americas. 

“We measure temperature, wind speed and direction, and the air’s carbon dioxide, water and methane concentration every tenth of a  second. That’s over 315 million data series a year,” says Roel Ruzol, 91¸ŁŔű research associate and Howland Forest’s site manager. 

Ruzol keeps the towers running, coordinates access for researchers and works with Fraver to eliminate what he calls “noise,” or anomalies in the data created by rain, snow, power fluctuations or a bird perching near the equipment. They then convert these measurements into precise half-hour flux rates, that is, how much carbon the forest absorbs and releases. The findings are online for anyone to access.

“Science is a continual and ever-building process. The continuity of monitoring at Howland is a big part of what makes this data so powerful.” Chris Hettwer, 91¸ŁŔű alum.

The Howland record is now 30 years old. The forest has stored, on average, nearly 3.5 tons of carbon dioxide per acre per year. That was not unexpected, but the long-term trend was surprising, even to the researchers who built the flux network. The rate of carbon uptake is increasing over time. This old forest has not plateaued; it’s accelerating sequestration.

“If you considered just the first 10 years, you would see a slight decrease and might conclude the forest was declining as a carbon sink,” said Shawn Fraver, associate professor of forest ecology at the University of Maine, who has conducted research at Howland since 2015. “However, when viewed over 30 years, we actually see an increase. That long-term view completely changes the story.”

The trend held through climate extremes. The 30-year record spans the warmest, wettest and driest years in the past 125 for Maine. Scientists do not yet know why, but the findings, which were in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, provide the basis for experimental research that can provide actionable insights. 

Another study co-led by Fraver, whose research program is partially supported by the Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station and the National Science Foundation, aims to identify the mechanisms by which forests switch from methane sources to sinks and back. Previous research showed that forest soils emit methane in wet conditions. Waterlogged soils favor the microbes that generate it. But those studies largely focused on landscapes that are known methane sources, ignoring sites like Howland that, depending on soil moisture, alternate between being a source and a sink. 

The documented source-sink switch at Howland has led to a National Science Foundation-funded project, now entering its final year, which attracted researchers from institutions across the country — San Diego State University, North Carolina State University, Arizona State University, and the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Massachusetts, as well as the University of Maine. The findings are expected to meaningfully revise how methane is accounted for in forest carbon budgets.

The data from Howland have been downloaded more than 16,000 times since being made publicly available in 2007. Researchers around the world have used Howland and the data gathered there to build climate models, calibrate satellite data, advise policymakers and teach the next generation of forest scientists.

A living lab for forest management

Howland’s scientific value extends beyond the conservation land itself. Three flux towers now operate across the area: two on Northeast Wilderness Trust land and a third on property managed by American Forest Management (AFM), a forestry consulting company that has been managing harvest activity nearby in recent years. “Not every forest company would be willing to cooperate with us on this. It’s a huge benefit to us as researchers,” Fraver said. 

The AFM tower, established in 2012, has been tracking carbon dioxide fluxes continuously through a period of active shelterwood harvest. With the Howland towers providing an unmanaged comparison site, researchers have a rare before-and-after opportunity that almost never presents itself in landscape-scale ecology.

A newly funded $243,000 study from the will extract maximum value from that natural experiment. Combining forest inventories, LiDAR-derived biomass estimates, ground and tower-level flux measurements and carbon modeling will give managers the most comprehensive picture ever assembled of how partial harvests affect the forest carbon budget.

“American Forest Management has always believed that good forestry and good science go hand-in-hand. Hosting the tower on our client’s land is one of the most tangible ways we can contribute to that.” said Jeremy Miller, Region Technical Manager at AFM and alum of 91¸ŁŔű’s School of Forest Resources. “The NSRC study will give us an idea of how partial harvesting affects carbon dynamics in the short and long term.”

The results will give forest managers who want to incorporate carbon objectives into their planning, alongside timber production, a quantitative foundation to build on.

A proving ground for people and technology

Howland also serves as a key research site for 91¸ŁŔű graduate students, along with undergraduate field technicians who spend summers gaining hands-on experience with advanced instrumentation and long-term ecological research methods. 

Chris Hettwer, who earned his master’s degree from the School of Forest Resources in 2025, said the opportunity to work at Howland helped draw him to Fraver’s lab. 

“Working at Howland was an instrumental experience that fundamentally shaped me as a scientist,” says Hettwer, who is now pursuing a Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. “In addition to learning the technical field skills for researching ecosystem processes, I gained a deeper understanding of how scientific research is conducted, communicated, and built cumulatively over time. Much of what I do now is grounded in what I learned at Howland.”

A network of approximately 150 permanent research plots distributed around the flux towers provides a training ground unlike any classroom. 

So does a 7.4-acre research plot, established by NASA in 1989 to ground-truth satellite instruments. This project led the site to be photographed from space more than anywhere else on the planet at the time. Every tree above 10 centimeters in diameter was mapped and measured. In 2015 and 2025, Fraver and his research team repeated the inventory and took core samples from 10% of the trees to track growth trends. 

That plot revealed the 367-year-old yellow birch. It also told the story of a forest shaped by centuries of disturbance: spruce budworm outbreaks, wind storms, selective harvests in the 1800s and the slow return of a mature forest carpeted with deadwood and moss. 

Howland is where emerging scientists and technology learn to read the forest.

One more year

Maintaining Howland’s flux towers, sensors and core infrastructure costs approximately $175,000 per year. That annual cost was historically covered through the federally-funded AmeriFlux network, but shifting research priorities have left the site without consistent support.

“Without this gift, the AmeriFlux tower would have shut down this August,” Fraver said. “We have funds to continue another year. But our latest research, the student experience, the experimental work on managed versus unmanaged forests — all of it depends on the towers being operational. If the tower goes offline, we lose the context this monitoring data provides, and everything that has been built on it.”

The recent private gift ensures operations through next year, but it does not establish a long-term solution. Keeping one of the longest carbon dioxide flux records in the Americas running, and preserving decades of continuous data, requires sustained annual investment.

“Science is a continual and ever-building process. The continuity of monitoring at Howland is a big part of what makes this data so powerful,” Hettwer said.  

The science at Howland is answering questions that matter in Maine and globally — how much carbon do mature forests sequester, how harvest practices affect forest-atmosphere interactions, and whether forest soils remove methane. These are not strictly academic questions. The findings help forest managers and policymakers make data-driven decisions in a changing world.

“The questions we are asking now about carbon, methane and how managed and unmanaged forests compare will offer critical insights for forest management in the coming decades,” Fraver said. “This forest is capable of providing those answers. It just needs the towers to keep running.”

Those interested in supporting monitoring at the Howland Research Forest may donate or contact Elizabeth Erickson,  senior director of philanthropy at the University of Maine Foundation, at elizabeth.erickson@maine.edu or 207.581.1145. 

Contact: Erin Miller, erin.miller@maine.edu

Categories:

School of Forest Resources / University of Maine Foundation

91¸ŁŔű Center for Undergraduate Research (CUGR) has announced the award winners from the 2026 91¸ŁŔű Student Symposium for Research and Creative Activity, which drew over 2,400 attendees.

The symposium awards undergraduate and graduate students who displayed outstanding research, presentation and creative ability. Award winners were selected through judging across academic categories, all receiving a medal and a $500 cash prize. There were also several special awards, including the Student Innovation and Commercialization Awards, given to students and faculty. 

Over 350 projects from researchers at 91¸ŁŔű and its regional campus, the University of Maine at Machias, were submitted to the annual event, co-hosted by CUGR, Student Government and the Graduate Student Government. 

Undergraduate category award winners

• Allied Health: Alyson Shook and Hannah Maker, for their project titled “Strengthening EMS Retention in Maine: A Path to Improved Patient Outcomes.” They were advised by Sarah Hanscome.
• Arts: William Fortier, Oliver Rodi and Mikey Arbelo, for their project titled “The Creativity of Mapping.” They were advised by Andy Mauery.
• Biomedical Sciences: Hayden Kittell, Diana Goode and Moria Weese-Myers, for their project titled “MHCII Expression in Differential Doses of Chemotherapy Treatment on Mice.” They were advised by William Otto.
• Business: Brady Merritt, for the project titled “Can Large Language Models Pass the CFA Exam.” Merrit was advised by Sebastian Lobe.
• Education: Carly Philbrook, for her project titled “Comparison of High School Mathematics Textbooks Analyzing Higher Order Thinking Skills in New England.” Philbrook was advised by Kamal Chawla.
• Engineering and Information Sciences: Elsa Perez Abella and Ahmed Kandil, for their project titled “Surface Flow Visualization Enhancement Using AI.” They were advised by Ahmed Aboelezz.
• Engineering and Information Sciences: Wyatt Fessler, Cadence Kluck, Isabelle Irani and Marc Zoorob, for their project titled “A Tissue-integrating, Resealable Hemodialysis Port for Reducing Complications Associated with Repetitive Vascular Access.” They were advised by David Neivandt.
• Interdisciplinary Research: Richard Viveiros, for the project titled “Sublethal PFAS Exposure During Larval Stages of Culex: Consequences for Development, Survivorship, and Tissue Bioacculation of PFOA, PFBA, and PFBS.” Viveiros was advised by Allison Gardner.
• Interdisciplinary Research: Luke Connolly, for the project titled “Nano-Pattern Fabrication Using Electron Beam Lithography.” Connolly was advised by Dinh Loc Duong.
• Natural Sciences: Josie Aprea, Brendan Dahl, Emma Perry and Ian Bricknell, for their project titled “pH vs. Predator.” Bricknell also served as advisor for the project.
• Physical and Mathematical Sciences: Avery Richard, Ziyad ur Rehman, Henry Carfagno and Nuri Emanetoglu, for their project titled “Fabrication and Characterization of Indenofluorene-based Organic Single Crystal Field-effect Transistors.” They were advised by Dinh Loc Duong.
• Social Sciences and Humanities: Maya Aylesworth, for the project titled “Robert Johnson, the Crossroad Mythos, and the Lasting Effects of a Legend.” Aylesworth was advised by Jennifer Moxley.

Graduate category award winner

• Allied Health: Katherine Brewer, for the project titled “Telehealth and Prenatal Care Utilization in Rural Communities: Addressing Access, Satisfaction, and Health Outcomes.” Brewer was advised by Kathryn Robinson.
• Arts: Celena Powell, for the project titled “At the Threshold: Domestic Space as a Site of Contemporary Resistance.” Powell was advised by Susan Smith.
• Biomedical Sciences: Chloe Bossow, Lydia McCarthy and Melody Neely, for the project titled “Interactions Between Group B Streptococcus and Candida albicans Are Influenced by Environmental Stress.” Neely also served as the advisor for the project.
• Education: Kayla McLagan, Kate Ruskin, Alison Jolley, Karen Pelletreau and Edgelynn Venuti, for their project titled “To What Extent Does a Weekend-long Field Course Influence Students’ Sense of Belonging? A Focus on Influential Course Elements.” They were advised by Kate Ruskin.
• Engineering and Information Sciences: Mahbuba Daizy, Yu Zhang, Douglas Bousfield, Jinwu Wang and David Neivandt, for their project titled “Comparison of Stabilization Systems for Soybean Wax Emulsions to Produce Sustainable Water-resistant Paper Based Packaging: Surfactant vs. Pickering.” Neivandt also served as the advisor for the project.
• Interdisciplinary Research: Zainab Jafri, for the project titled “Reimagining the Waste Disposal Landscape – Industrial Symbiosis in Maine.” Jafri was advised by Reed Miller.
• Natural Sciences: Nabanita Das, Islam Hafez, Colleen Walker, Douglas Bousfield and Mehdi Tajvidi, for their project titled “Factors Influencing the Effectiveness of Cellulose Nanfibril Coatings on Molded Fiber Substrates.” Tajvidi also served as the advisor for the project.
• Physical and Mathematical Sciences: Hettikankanamge Kalani Samarasekara, for the project titled “Paving the Way for Novel Drug Delivery Systems: Peptoid Nanoparticles.” Samarasekara was advised by Alessia Battigelli.
• Social Sciences and Humanities: Catherine Segada, Chyanne Yoder, William Breneman and Gianna DeJoy, for their project titled “ReuseME: Investigating Waste Reduction and Cost Benefits in Coastal Communities Through a Pilot Reusable Food Packaging Program.” They were advised by Cynthia Isenhour.
• Social Sciences and Humanities: Cynthia Cushing, Catherine Taylor, Rachel Coleman, MaryLou Ciolfi, Jennifer Crittenden, Len Kaye and Sarah Currie, for their project titled “Building a Workforce Readiness Model for Older Adults: Partner Insights From AmeriCorps Seniors Workforce Development Program.” Crittenden also served as advisor for the project. 

Student Innovation and Commercialization Awards

• First Place: Nabanita Das.
• Second Place: Amir Baharvand.
• Third Place: Noro John.

Additional awards

• Dean of Graduate School Undergraduate Mentoring Award: Joshua Hamilton.
• Dean of the Graduate School Faculty Mentor Award: Christine Beitl
• Bruce and Joanne Fournier Award: Gregory Simms, Mikayla Reynolds, Isabelle Irani and David Neivandt.
• Provost’s Innovative and Creative Teaching Award: Jillian Fedarick.
• Susan J. Hunter Undergraduate Award: Madelynn DeBest.
• Susan J. Hunter Graduate Award: Mya Griffith. 

Categories:

Outreach / Research / Student Life

At the University of Maine, 41 faculty members have received tenure and/or promotion or just-cause protection status and promotion effective July 1, 2026, or September 1, 2026. The annual announcement recognizes outstanding achievement in teaching, scholarship and research, and community engagement.

Tenure for 17 of the faculty members was approved by the University of Maine System Board of Trustees on March 16.

“These promotions highlight the excellence of 91¸ŁŔű’s faculty. Whether in the classroom, in the lab, or the field, their accomplishments are impressive and are a testament to their commitment to student success, discovery, and service to the state. We take great pride in the achievements of these faculty,” says Gabriel Paquette, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at 91¸ŁŔű.

“Each promotion and tenure decision reflects both individual excellence and the strength of our academic community,” said 91¸ŁŔű President Joan Ferrini-Mundy. “As a learner-centered R1 university, we advance research that matters while keeping students at the heart of all we do. These faculty exemplify that mission.”

University of Maine

Promoted to Professor

• College of Earth, Life, and Health Sciences
  • Alicia Cruz-Uribe, Petrology and Mineralogy
  • Adam Daigneault, Forest Policy and Economics
  • Shawn Fraver, Forest Ecology
  • Daniel Hayes, Geospatial Analysis and Remote Sensing
  • Anil Kizhakkepurakkal, Forest Operations
  • Melissa Maginnis, Microbiology
  • Caroline Noblet, Economics
  • Aaron Putnam, Earth Sciences
  • Kelley Strout, Nursing
  • Timothy Waring, Social-Ecological Systems of Modeling
• College of Education and Human Development
  • Catharine Biddle, Educational Leadership
• College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
  • Ryan Dippre, English
  • William Gramlich, Chemistry
  • Gregory Zaro, Anthropology and Climate Change
• Maine College of Engineering and Computing
  • Caitlin Howell, Bioengineering
  • Thomas Schwartz, Chemical Engineering

Promoted to Extension Professor

• Cooperative Extension
  • Colt Knight, Extension Livestock Educator

Promoted to Professor with Tenure

• College of Earth, Life, and Health Sciences
  • Lisa Kerr, Fisheries Science

Granted Tenure at Current Rank of Professor

• College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
  • Jonathan Barron, English

Promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure

• College of Earth, Life, and Health Sciences
  • Noah Charney, Conservation Biology
  • Katherine Weatherford Darling, Health Science
  • Philip Fanning, Agricultural Entomology
  • Jonathan Malacarne, Agricultural Economics
  • Jane Puhlman, Communication Sciences and Disorders
  • Jessica Riccardi, Communication Sciences and Disorders
• College of Education and Human Development
  • Melissa Cuba, Special Education
  • Kathleen Gillon, Higher Education
  • Daniel Puhlman, Family Studies
• College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
  • Gilbert Moss, Mathematics
  • Neel Patel, Mathematics
  • Franziska Peterson, Mathematics Education
  • Nimesha Ranasinghe, Spatial Informatics
  • Johanna Richlin, Anthropology
  • Jane Wang, Mathematics

Promoted to Associate Extension Professor with Continuing Contract

• Cooperative Extension
  • Sean Birkel, Climate Services
  • Michael Habte-tsion, Fish Nutrition
  • Glenda Pereira Parente, Animal Science/Dairy Specialist

Promoted to Associate Professor

• College of Earth, Life, and Health Sciences
  • Christina Murphy, USGS Maine Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit

Promoted to Senior Lecturer with Just-Cause 

• College of Education and Human Development
  • Maria Frankland, Educational Leadership
• College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
  • Matthew Bates, Mathematics

University of Maine at Machias

Promoted to Senior Lecturer with Just-Cause 

• University of Maine at Machias
  • Daniel Ellis, English

Contact: Marcus Wolf, 207.581.3721; marcus.wolf@maine.edu

91¸ŁŔű will honor five faculty members with its 2026 Presidential Awards, recognizing excellence in research, teaching, innovation, public engagement and extraordinary impact.

This year’s recipients are:

• Mehdi Tajvidi, Presidential Research and Creative Achievement Award.
• Darren Ranco, Presidential Public Engagement Achievement Award.
• Jay Wason, Presidential Outstanding Teaching Award.
• Melissa Ladenheim, Black Bear Award for Extraordinary Impact.
• William Davids, Presidential Innovation Award.

“These awards recognize the very best of the University of Maine,” said President Joan Ferrini-Mundy. “Each of these individuals demonstrates a deep commitment to excellence, innovation and service. Their work strengthens our university, advances knowledge and makes a meaningful difference for the people of Maine and beyond.”

Mehdi Tajvidi

Presidential Research and Creative Achievement Award

Mehdi Tajvidi, professor of renewable nanomaterials in the School of Forest Resources and Advanced Structures and Composites Center, is recognized for internationally distinguished research and scholarship. The award honors faculty whose work contributes knowledge to issues of local, national and global significance.

Since joining 91¸ŁŔű in 2013, Tajvidi has focused on the production, characterization and performance of renewable nanomaterials and their composites. His research centers on cellulose nanomaterials for applications including coatings, packaging and building products, spanning work from foundational science to industrial trials.

“Mehdi’s work reflects research leadership that brings global visibility to 91¸ŁŔű while delivering real value to our state,” Ferrini-Mundy said. “His focus on sustainable innovation is helping address important challenges in materials and manufacturing.”

Tajvidi’s lab has developed bio-based alternatives to synthetic materials, including technologies to replace formaldehyde-based resins in building products and PFAS in molded fiber packaging, as well as foam products used in packaging. He has also launched a line of research in mycelium-based biocomposites, using fungal materials to produce low-density insulation and packaging products.

His work supports collaborations with Maine-based and national companies and contributes to new product development in the forest products industry. He also mentors graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and undergraduates who have gone on to careers in academia, industry and national laboratories.

Darren Ranco

Presidential Public Engagement Achievement Award

Darren Ranco, professor of anthropology, faculty fellow in the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, and chair of Native American Programs, is recognized for public engagement that applies academic expertise to enhance the public good.

Since returning to Maine in 2009, Ranco, a Penobscot Nation citizen who grew up in Orono, has worked with Wabanaki Tribal Nations on environmental and cultural issues. His work includes leadership on responses to the emerald ash borer, an invasive species that threatens ash trees used in traditional basket making. His efforts contributed to agreements among tribal nations, the state and federal agencies.

“Darren’s work reflects a deep commitment to partnership and to connecting the university’s expertise with community needs,” Ferrini-Mundy said. “He builds relationships that lead to meaningful, lasting impact.”

He has also supported tribal climate resilience and land return efforts, working with communities to develop priorities, establish baselines and create plans to address environmental change. 

Ranco has contributed to strengthening relationships between the university and tribal communities, including efforts to support collaboration and culturally informed research practices.

His public engagement includes educational initiatives supporting the development of Wabanaki studies curriculum, public talks, working with legislators to support environmentally and culturally sound legislation, and participation in projects that address community needs.

Jay Wason

Presidential Outstanding Teaching Award

Jay Wason, associate professor of forest ecosystem physiology in the School of Forest Resources, is recognized for advancing student learning through teaching and mentorship.

Since joining 91¸ŁŔű in 2018, Wason has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in forest biology, plant structure and function, and research methods. His teaching emphasizes scientific thinking and applying knowledge to new problems.

“Jay’s teaching reflects a commitment to student learning that both challenges and supports students,” Ferrini-Mundy said. “He helps students build confidence and apply their knowledge in meaningful ways.”

His courses incorporate hands-on laboratory work, group activities and opportunities for students to design experiments and analyze data. These approaches support active learning and encourage students to engage directly with course material.

Student evaluations consistently highlight his preparation, clarity and enthusiasm, as well as his ability to help students understand complex topics.

In addition to teaching, Wason mentors undergraduate and graduate students and contributes to instructional development within his department.

Melissa Ladenheim

Black Bear Award for Extraordinary Impact

Melissa Ladenheim, associate dean of the Honors College, is recognized for exceeding expectations and making an extraordinary impact through service and leadership.

She coordinates the Maine Day Meal Packout, a campus-wide initiative that provides meals to food-insecure communities across the state. A central part of Maine Day Week of Service, the effort engages approximately 400 to 500 volunteers each year. Since its early years in the 2010s, the initiative will surpass 800,000 meals packed and distributed with the culmination of this year’s event.

“Melissa’s leadership shows how service can bring people together while creating opportunities for students to lead,” Ferrini-Mundy said. “Her work inspires a strong culture of engagement on campus and beyond.”

The Maine Day Meal Packout is student-driven, with a leadership team playing key roles in fundraising, logistics and partnerships, while Ladenheim oversees and coordinates the initiative. Through that work, students gain experience in leadership, project management and community engagement while contributing to a statewide effort to address food insecurity.

Ladenheim is also involved in the Servant Heart Research Collaborative, which develops educational initiatives addressing social and learning challenges in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Haiti and Uganda. Through this work, she helped create and build the National Education Test Tool, an online platform that prepares students in Sierra Leone for national exams, as well as the Attachment Theory Workshop, a caregiver training program focused on fostering healthy attachments in children who have experienced trauma.

Her work reflects a sustained commitment to service and student development, with impact across campus, throughout Maine and internationally.

Bill Davids

Presidential Innovation Award

Bill Davids, Bodwell University Distinguished Professor and chair of civil and environmental engineering, is recognized for translating research into technologies with economic and societal impact.

Over nearly three decades at 91¸ŁŔű, Davids has focused on engineering research that supports innovation and real-world application. He is a co-inventor of the CT Girder, a fiber-reinforced polymer bridge beam that is significantly lighter than steel and resistant to corrosion. The technology has been used in bridge construction projects in Maine, Rhode Island and Florida.

“Bill’s work demonstrates how research at 91¸ŁŔű can translate into practical solutions that strengthen infrastructure and support economic development,” Ferrini-Mundy said. “He connects innovation with real-world impact.”

He has also contributed to the development of the Continuous Forming Machine, a manufacturing technology for fiber-reinforced thermoplastic materials. This work has supported the creation of a startup company that is generating revenue, attracting investment and building a manufacturing facility in Maine.

His research has also contributed to improved methods for evaluating and maintaining bridges, helping extend the service life of infrastructure and reduce the need for repair and replacement.

Through collaboration with students and industry partners, Davids’ work has produced practical outcomes that advance engineering practice and support infrastructure solutions.

Contact: Marcus Wolf, 207.581.3721; marcus.wolf@maine.edu

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