Then, in January, the University of Maine student boarded a flight in Boston bound for Barcelona, Spain.

She was nervous. But mostly, she couldn’t wait.

“I’ve never been more excitedly anxious in my life,” Hussey recalled. “The adrenaline and the excitement was unreal.”

For Hussey, a senior from Winthrop, Maine, majoring in marketing and management, the trip was more than an opportunity to see the world. It changed how she sees herself and what she believes she can accomplish.

“Studying abroad mostly just taught me confidence,” she said.

The Annie P. Norton Memorial Scholarship helped make the experience possible. Established in memory of the late wife of longtime 91���� faculty member Steve Norton, the scholarship was among the endowed funds recognized at the University of Maine Foundation’s annual luncheon Oct. 23, where Hussey shared her story.

Growing up in Winthrop, Hussey dreamed of traveling, particularly to Paris, where she imagined pursuing her longtime interest in fashion. Her mother still reminds her that, even at age 5, she was eager to explore the world beyond Maine.

Studying abroad wasn’t part of her original plan. Hussey, who described herself as shy and insecure, struggled to imagine living independently in another country. She also assumed the cost would put it out of reach. But hearing friends describe their experiences studying in Scotland and Barcelona sparked her curiosity.

A 91���� study abroad adviser helped Hussey explore programs and funding opportunities. With guidance from the adviser and financial support that included the Norton scholarship, she enrolled at LCI Barcelona, a school specializing in design and creative industries.

When Hussey received the scholarship, she appreciated its emphasis on experiencing other cultures but didn’t yet fully understand its significance. In Barcelona, she began to understand that emphasis through everyday interactions, friendships with local residents and new perspectives in the classroom.

At LCI Barcelona, Hussey took courses in fashion design, fashion sociology and graphic design. The classes introduced her to European fashion and sustainability while giving her creative skills she could apply to marketing.

The learning environment was different, too.

Classes were small, generally no more than 20 students. Rather than relying heavily on traditional exams, professors emphasized discussion and experiences outside the classroom.

Each week brought opportunities to explore the city. Students visited designer stores, studied fashion trends and toured a museum focused on design and fashion.

Some of her most memorable experiences came from daily life in Barcelona.

Hussey lived in an apartment with 11 other American students. She arrived knowing just one other 91���� student and speaking little Spanish, despite practicing extensively before leaving. She quickly learned to navigate a city where everyday interactions required adapting to unfamiliar customs and languages.

Friendships with Barcelona residents helped Hussey experience the city from a local perspective.

“My best moments were with locals,” she said.

During her three months overseas, Hussey also traveled to Amsterdam, Paris, Malta and Budapest. Visiting Paris fulfilled a childhood dream.

Yet when her semester ended in April, leaving Barcelona proved more difficult than arriving.

“I honestly also felt more of a culture shock coming back than going there,” she said.

The experience helped her see a possible career path in fashion marketing, combining her business education with the creative interests she has held since childhood. She is still considering her plans after graduation, but living abroad showed her she could build a life somewhere unfamiliar.

“Study abroad taught me that I can do that and I will be okay and I’m capable,” she said.

After returning to Maine, Hussey became a senior alumni ambassador for the organization that coordinated her trip. She now plans events, conducts campus outreach and helps other students explore study abroad opportunities, including ways to address financial concerns.

Hussey said the experience taught her to say yes to opportunities she once might have avoided. She now feels more comfortable interviewing for jobs, networking with professionals and speaking publicly. She recently attended a women’s business conference in South Portland, an experience she said would have been intimidating before her time overseas.

She hopes scholarship donors understand that their generosity continues to shape students’ lives long after they return home.

“I truly believe that’s gonna follow me everywhere,” she said. “I’ve already felt it follow me into my classroom, and my jobs.”

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

When these powders become mixed or cross-contaminated during material changes, handling, recovery or multimaterial 3D printing, they may no longer meet the strict requirements for reuse. Leftover powders, contaminated feedstock and material from failed production attempts may then be discarded even when they contain valuable metals.

A University of Maine research team has developed a process that could help recover these materials for reuse in 3D printing, sintering and other powder-based manufacturing processes.

The method, called shear-assisted particle entrapment (SHAPE), separates microscopic metal particles and captures them in a polymer film. In a new study published in , researchers tested the process using aluminum and copper powders mixed in a liquid and placed in a spinning machine.

“We’re trying to solve a significant materials-loss problem that occurs during the production of high-value components and products across critical sectors, such as aerospace, energy storage, tooling, biomedical devices and electronics,” said lead researcher Bashir Khoda. “It is also an ongoing challenge for strengthening ‘Made in USA’ manufacturing, where uncertainty in the supply chain for critical minerals can affect cost, availability, and production resilience.”

Khoda, a 91���� associate professor of mechanical engineering, said his team’s findings could be particularly relevant to 3D printing and other powder-based additive manufacturing processes, in which metal powders can become mixed. 

Khoda said recovering the particles without melting and completely reprocessing them could eventually reduce material waste, energy-intensive reprocessing and demand for new raw materials.

“Our longer-term objective is not simply to separate particles in the laboratory, but to develop a scalable and AI-driven manufacturing system that could recover cross-contaminated powders and return usable material to the additive manufacturing supply chain and beyond,” said Khoda, also an associate faculty member with the Advanced Structures and Composites Center (ASCC).

Khoda devised the particle entrapment method in collaboration with William Gramlich, associate professor of chemistry and associate faculty member with the ASCC; Khalid Jawed, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles; and graduate student researchers Ibrahim Khalil, Adeeb Alam and Md. Akibul Islam.

Researchers tested aluminum and copper microparticles between 0 and 25 micrometers in diameter. The particles were mixed in a liquid carrier and subjected to rotational speeds ranging from 200 to 1,500 revolutions per minute (rpm).

The team found that fine-tuning process parameters resulted in different particles being captured. At approximately 200 rpm, about 87% of the particles captured on the substrate were aluminum. As rotational speed increased, copper became increasingly dominant. At 1,500 rpm, about 90% of the entrapped particles were copper.

“What makes this interesting for separation is that different particles respond differently to the same flow conditions,” Khoda said.

Although the researchers achieved high particle-level selectivity, the overall amount of material captured from the starting mixture remained relatively low under laboratory conditions.

“The current study demonstrates the selectivity of the mechanism, rather than an industrially ready recovery process,” Khoda said. “The next challenge is to maintain this selectivity while substantially increasing the amount of material that can be processed and recovered.”

Future research will examine ways to increase the amount of material processed while maintaining selective separation. Researchers are investigating substrate size and geometry, the use of multiple substrates, particle loading, polymer concentration, processing time and continuous or multistage operation.

The team also plans to further study the physics behind particle transport and retention and test additional material combinations. Ultimately, the goal is to determine whether recovered powders retain the chemistry, morphology, flowability and manufacturing performance necessary for reuse.

The study was partially supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

Story by William Bickford, graduate student writer

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

Amanda Skinner still remembers the knitted animal pelts.

As an undergraduate art history student at the University of Maine, Skinner helped install an exhibition at the Zillman Art Museum (ZAM) featuring the work of artist Ruth Marshall, who used yarn to create lifelike representations of animal skins, including those of endangered species.

The artwork was striking. So was the artist’s background. Marshall had worked designing animal habitats for zoos, combining an understanding of science with an artist’s eye for detail.

For Skinner, the experience offered an early glimpse of the unexpected ways art, science and education can intersect — and the role museums play in bringing those connections to the public.

“It was a formative experience,” Skinner recalled.

More than a decade later, Skinner is assistant director for museum communications at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, where she helps connect audiences with art through exhibitions, publications and public outreach.

Her career began, in part, behind the scenes at ZAM.

Skinner is among a group of 91���� graduates who have built careers in museums after participating in ZAM’s curatorial internship program. Established about 15 years ago, the paid internship gives students hands-on experience with the work that happens long before visitors walk through an exhibition.

The program reflects 91����’s learner-centered approach to education, bringing students alongside experienced professionals to apply classroom knowledge in a working museum.

George Kinghorn, the museum’s executive director and curator, established the program in collaboration with 91����’s Department of Art. Each year, one student is selected to work alongside museum staff, gaining access to a permanent collection of more than 6,000 works of art. Interns learn to develop exhibition concepts, research and select artwork, write interpretive materials and help with art installations.

Originally a semesterlong experience, the internship expanded to a full academic year in 2019, allowing students to participate more fully in the curatorial process.

Kinghorn said one measure of the program’s success is seeing former interns pursue graduate studies and enter the museum profession.

For Skinner and fellow graduates Caroline Strolic and Delaney Burns-Fumagalli, those careers have taken distinctly different directions, from managing collections at one of the Southwest’s major art museums to helping oversee communications and operations at museums in Maine.

Their experiences illustrate the range of careers available in museums, and how an internship focused on curatorial work can help students translate different academic interests into professional opportunities.

Finding a place behind the scenes

Strolic, now an assistant registrar at the Phoenix Art Museum, was drawn to museums long before she understood the jobs available inside them.

Growing up in Arizona, she visited the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., where she became fascinated not only by the objects on display but by the decisions that brought them before the public.

“There’s people out there who decide what I get to see and how I learn it,” she recalled thinking.

She wanted to become one of them.

Strolic enrolled at 91����, where she competed on the swimming team and studied art history. Her ZAM internship unfolded during the COVID-19 pandemic. With the museum operating under restrictions, she researched artwork, wrote interpretive materials and developed a proposal for an exhibition.

She also gained experience at 91����’s Hudson Museum.

Those opportunities helped her discover the range of work involved in running a museum and where her interests fit.

“It really helped me figure out which path I wanted to go in,” said Strolic, who graduated in 2021.

She went on to earn a master’s degree in the history of art and architecture and a certificate in museum studies from Boston University.

At Taliesin West, architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s former winter home in Arizona, she helped inventory a collection that had accumulated over decades.

Now, at the Phoenix Art Museum, she coordinates loans, shipping and other logistical aspects of exhibitions, helping ensure that artwork is properly documented, transported and cared for.

Much of the work happens out of public view. But for Strolic, its value becomes clear when visitors encounter something that sparks their curiosity.

She finds particular satisfaction in hearing people discuss the artwork and ask questions about what they are seeing.

“The arts do matter,” she said.

Art beyond the gallery walls

For Delaney Burns-Fumagalli, the ZAM internship was an opportunity worth pursuing more than once.

“I think I applied for it two or three years in a row,” she said. “I was like, I need to do this. This sounds amazing.”

A native of Gorham, Maine, Burns-Fumagalli was studying marketing and studio art at 91����. She had developed a passion for printmaking, but she also wanted to understand how museums operated and cared for the art entrusted to them.

Selected for the internship during her final year, she worked closely with ZAM’s registrar, documenting works on paper in the museum’s collection.

The assignment introduced her to the meticulous work of cataloging, organizing and preserving artwork. It also exposed her to artists and techniques that influenced her own creative practice.

“It was really exciting to see what a collection looks like, how it’s managed, how it’s cared for,” she said.

Burns-Fumagalli graduated in 2022 and earned a master of fine arts in print media and photography from Boston University, concentrating on printmaking.

Today, she is assistant to the executive director at the Ogunquit Museum of American Art, where her work encompasses board relations, marketing, advertising, graphic design and other administrative responsibilities.

She has also designed the museum’s annual publication, bringing together her interests in art, design and communication.

The job has shown her how many different skills are needed to sustain an arts institution, something she first began to appreciate while working with ZAM’s collection.

Burns-Fumagalli has continued making art and teaching, including two semesters of introductory printmaking at 91���� and teaching at Maine College of Art & Design.

A career comes full circle

For Skinner, the path to the museum profession began with a career she quickly realized she did not want.

The daughter of two medical professionals, she initially enrolled at Saint Anselm College with plans to study nursing. But on the first day of a nursing-related biology class, she knew she had made the wrong choice.

“I was like, this is not me,” she recalled.

She transferred to 91���� to study art history and graduated in 2013 with minors in business administration, digital arts and anthropology.

At ZAM, she helped write interpretive labels explaining artwork to visitors, an experience that proved particularly valuable preparation for her career in communications.

After earning graduate degrees in museum studies and art history from Tufts University, Skinner joined the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, starting as an art handler before moving into administration and communications.

Today, her responsibilities include exhibition promotion, graphic design, media relations, website management and social media. She also teaches art history at Maine College of Art & Design.

Her work draws on a lesson she first learned at ZAM: Museums have an educational responsibility that extends beyond displaying objects.

“Not just spaces for enjoyment, but also spaces for learning and for education,” she said.

Now, working at another college museum, Skinner helps provide undergraduates with the kind of experience that shaped her own career.

The next generation

At ZAM, that opportunity has passed to Liz Cambron.

A fifth-year 91���� studio art major who specializes in oil painting, Cambron began her yearlong internship in August. She was immediately drawn into the work of dismantling an exhibition, learning how to handle, pack, move and store artwork.

She then helped install an exhibition celebrating the museum’s 80th anniversary, gaining experience with the decisions and physical work involved in transforming a gallery.

Cambron, who initially enrolled at 91���� to study biomedical engineering, had not always envisioned a future in the arts. Even after switching to studio art, she knew relatively little about the professional work involved in running a museum.

The internship has begun to change that.

She has learned how collections are cared for, how exhibitions come together and how museum staff work with contemporary artists. The experience has also given her a clearer sense of what she wants to do after graduating in May.

Kinghorn said that exposure to the profession was precisely what he hoped to provide when he, along with professor of art history Justin Wolff,  established the internship. As a college student, he had known little about the range of careers available in museums.

For Cambron, a museum career remains a possibility rather than a destination. But the work she is doing now — handling artwork, preparing exhibitions and learning from museum professionals — resembles the experiences that helped Skinner, Strolic and Burns-Fumagalli find their places in the field.

Cambron hopes to remain in Maine after graduation. The internship has also helped her see that a museum career is within reach, even without a museum studies degree.

Learning that, she said, made it feel much more accessible.

“I want to stay in the museum field,” she said. “I’m really enjoying it.”

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

The three-day gathering features football, ice hockey, soccer and softball games, as well as tailgating, concerts and campus tours. Several events require registration. A full schedule of events and more information is available at .

Saturday tailgates and big game vs. Campbell

Black Bear pride will be on display on Friday with a “Welcome Home” reception for alumni and their guests at 4:30 p.m. at the Buchanan Alumni House.

Friday highlights include:

• A closing reception for “A Sense of Wonder: The Maine Landscapes of Vincent Hartgen, Michael Lewis, and James Linehan,” at 5 p.m. in the Lord Hall Gallery
• A Maine softball alumni game at 5 p.m. at the Pierre & Catherine Labat Softball Complex.
• The men’s hockey vs. Colgate game at 7 p.m. in Alfond Arena.
• A performance of “Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom” at 7:30 p.m. in Hauk Auditorium. The play will be performed again on Saturday.
• Tours of Fogler Library Special Collections, the Honors College and the Process Development Center, among other facilities. 

Saturday tailgates and big game vs. Campbell

Before 91���� faces off against Campbell University at 1 p.m. in Alfond Stadium, a full day of activities kicks off with pregame tailgating which opens at 9 a.m. in the parking lots near Alfond Stadium.

Reunion Row, a large pregame party for alumni and guests, runs from 9 a.m.–1 p.m. in the Corbett lot.

After the game, The MisAdventures, a New England-based band playing alt-country, roots and classic rock, will perform  at 4 p.m. in the Wells Central Pub. 

Closing out with more games and performances

Saturday night brings even more energy and school spirit with:

• Men’s hockey vs. Colgate at 7 p.m. in the Alfond Arena.
• The School of Performing Arts alumni concert at 7:30 p.m. in Minsky Recital Hall.
• “Rocky Horror Picture Show” with a shadow cast at 8 p.m. in the Collins Center for the Arts.

On Sunday, Homecoming weekend closes out with: 

• A 91���� women’s soccer game against Binghamton University at noon in the New Balance Soccer Complex.
• A symphonic band and jazz ensemble concert at the CCA, also at noon.

The colloquium, “The Health, Legal, Social and Community Dimensions of Solo aging,” gathers researchers, clinicians and community leaders to analyze the realities of aging without accessible caregiving support networks. Participants will examine the health, legal, social and community factors influencing solo agers through keynote talks and interactive workshops while identifying practical tools and resources to support older adults.

The event includes breakout sessions led by local experts such as Janet May, who serves as the transition and adult coordinator at 91����’s Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies.

Opening remarks will be provided by 91���� President Joan Ferrini-Mundy, with closing comments delivered by Patricia Oh, assistant director for community innovation & research at the Center on Aging.

The 2026 event highlights three keynote speakers specializing in health policy, interpersonal relationships, networks of support and aging:

• Mara Getz Sheftel, an instructor at Rutgers Center for State Health Policy, will examine the intersections of health disparities, aging alone and social isolation.
• Ashton M. Verdery,  a professor at The Pennsylvania State University, will focus on how social connectivity and personal networks influence the aging process.
• Karl Pillemer, a professor at Cornell University, will address family dynamics, relational estrangement and late-life experiences.

Registration information is available . Participants will have the opportunity to earn 0.5 Continuing Education Units through participation in this year’s colloquium.

The effort, led by Penobscot Valley Senior College (PVSC) and the University of Maine Center on Aging, seeks to understand what adults in the region would like to learn, how they prefer to participate and where classes and programs would be most convenient.

“We are thankful for the support of our members and the staff of the 91���� Center on Aging, which has been a partner since the college’s inception 25 years ago,” said Suzanne Gordon, president of the PVSC Board of Directors. “Through public feedback we aim to serve older adults in new ways as they seek to expand their knowledge, skills and hobbies.”

Adults 50 and older who live in the Penobscot Valley region and are not active PVSC members are invited to participate. The survey is available online at until November 20. Respondents who would like help completing the survey may contact the 91���� Center on Aging at jennifer.crittenden@maine.edu. 

Eligible participants who complete the survey can also enter a drawing for a gift card. To help keep responses confidential, raffle entry information will be collected separately from survey responses.

The volunteer-run PVSC offers noncredit courses, lectures and social field trips designed for adults who want to explore a new subject, pursue an interest or connect with others, without tests, grades or academic pressure. 

The Center on Aging promotes and facilitates research, education and community service activities to maximize the quality of life of older citizens and their families in Maine and beyond.

Organizers hope the survey will help identify interests and perspectives from people who are not currently part of the college’s community.

The by President Donald Trump’s administration on imports from Canada in July 2026, and the by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s administration on imports to Canada from the U.S. a month later, do not include oil and natural gas. Electricity and some petroleum products were also left out, although they remain subject to a imposed in 2025.

That’s because the two countries’ energy systems and markets are so intertwined that tariffs would devastate both economies. Canada is the to the United States, supplying . It is also the only direct foreign supplier of electricity to the U.S., with moving electricity from Canada south across the border.

In truth, Canada could , as Ontario provincial Premier Doug Ford threatened in August 2026.

But researchers like , who study the historical links that have shaped Canadian and U.S. business relations, know that over the past 50 years Canada has expanded its energy production with one specific goal: serving U.S. consumption. In 2024, were exported to the U.S. Without American buyers, there is no real energy market in Canada.

Early connections

Since the second half of the 19th century, energy generated on – and across them – has connected the two nations. The Great Lakes Basin was the hydraulic center of energy interconnectivity, as both nations shared the energy generated by Niagara Falls and the .

During the early stages of World War II, even before the U.S. entered the fight, Canada and the U.S. started to integrate their energy systems. That work was part of through the integration of defense manufacturing production systems.

The of 1940 and the 1941 consolidated and formalized the strategic economic and military cooperation between the two countries and set the foundations for future collaboration.

From cooperation to integration

After the war, Canadian and U.S. businesses liked the idea of sharing production and manufacturing operations, even beyond war-related work.

Nevertheless, manufacturing on both sides of the border went back to prewar ways of producing things domestically. Nationalist voices opposed the idea of further integrating the Canadian and U.S. economies.

Less than two decades after the war ended, though, the two nations signed the , which eliminated tariffs on cars, trucks and automotive parts. Canadian parts manufacturers could compete directly with those based in the U.S., all to serve U.S. automakers.

This initial experiment in free trade revealed to businesses on both sides of the border that supply chain integration could benefit other production and service industries.

By 1989, the two countries had that removed tariffs for goods crossing the border in either direction. That opened the door for more closely integrating their energy markets too.

In 1992, a U.S. over the country’s energy markets. Some of the provisions allowed Canadian companies to sell excess energy to the U.S., and two years later the brought Mexico into the relationship too.

NAFTA integrated the production, processing and distribution of thousands of goods and services across all three countries.

But it was the interconnection of energy infrastructure that turned the Canadian and U.S. economies into one single energy market. Today, four major U.S. electrical grids depend on imported power from Canada: those serving the six , , , and .

Moreover, there are connecting Canada with the United States. And although energy products move back and forth across the border, the with Canada. Much of the U.S. economy runs on Canadian energy, and much of Canada’s energy production is sold to the U.S.

The current reality on the ground shows an integrated energy system between the two nations: something very difficult and costly to untangle, and a process that would take decades to reengineer.

Local impact

Today, those links form the basis for very tight integration between the two countries’ business and industrial marketplaces.

For example, Maine, where I live and work, gets close to from Canada.

The state’s northern electrical grid is run by the , owned by the province of New Brunswick, which serves Mainers.

Today, Maine’s electric grid is owned mostly by foreign interests, including , and the owner of Versant Power, which serves 16% of Maine’s market. is served by Central Maine Power, which is from Spain.

Canadian energy reaches deeper into the U.S., too. In 2025, Hydro-Quebec, a company that , secured a deal with local regulators to use Maine as a corridor to supply clean energy to Massachusetts. Hydro-Quebec is of the province of Quebec.

The bilateral integration of energy infrastructure over the past 30-plus years explains why this sector was exempt from the most recent tariffs.

, Senior Lecturer of Management,

This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the .

U.S. Department of Energy grant supports 91���� 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���� 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���� 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

As computer chips approach the limits of miniaturization, University of Maine researchers are exploring new quantum materials that could help power the next generation of electronics.

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

Led by Tomas Marangoni, an assistant professor of chemistry, the team will build materials from metal atoms held together by organic molecules. These tiny parts form a repeating structure, much like a framework, built from joints and connecting pieces.

Marangoni said the project takes a different approach to developing electronic materials.

“The main goal is basically to get away from the concept of miniaturization, which is making things smaller, smaller, smaller,” he said. “And to try to create material with new types of electronic and magnetic properties.”

The researchers want to find out whether changing the connecting molecules’ electronic states can make the entire material behave differently.

In many existing materials of this type, the connections do little to allow the metal atoms to interact electronically and magnetically. The team is developing a novel class of molecules, called radicaloids, that are expected to strengthen those interactions across the material, allowing its components to work together more effectively.

Researchers also will test whether adding or removing electrons could further enable the manipulation of the electronic properties of these materials. This matters because engineers need materials whose behavior they can predict and control. A material that can be adjusted after it is built could give them more flexibility when designing future technology.

While the research could eventually contribute to advances in electronics, Marangoni emphasized that the Department of Energy’s investment focuses on fundamental discoveries rather than immediate commercial applications.

“It’s not a project that is interested in making microchips tomorrow,” Marangoni said. “It’s a project that is interested in seeing what comes after that. Like, in the future, how we can get away from that technology and create the next electronic revolution.”

The project brings together researchers from chemistry, physics, engineering and nanotechnology. 91���� professors Nicholas Bingham, Alice Bruce and Mitchell Bruce will join Marangoni as co-principal investigators. The team will collaborate with Yi Liu, an international expert in framework materials at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Molecular Foundry in California.

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

The event, which is free and open to the public, will feature a short recording of remarks by longtime federal attorney and best-selling author Andrew Weissmann, followed by an in-depth conversation with four panelists and an audience Q&A. 

With two decades of experience at the Department of Justice (DOJ), Weissmann has held several high-profile roles, including lead prosecutor for Robert Mueller’s Special Counsel investigation, chief of the DOJ’s Fraud Section and General Counsel for the FBI. He’s the author of “Liar’s Kingdom,” co-hosts the popular podcast “Main Justice” and frequently contributes to various news outlets, such as MS NOW, The New York Times, The Atlantic and The Washington Post. 

Panelists for the Q&A discussion include

• Justice Donald G. Alexander, retired from the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, after more than 21 years of service.
• William Harwood, retired lawyer who served as Maine Public Advocate from 2022 to 2025.
• James Munch, lawyer in private practice in Bangor at Vafiades, Brountas & Kominsky.
• Mark D. Brewer, Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Maine.

Sponsors for the event include Maine Lawyers for the Rule of Law; Vafiades, Brountas and Kominsky; the 91���� Department of Political Science; the 91���� College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the 91���� Honors College.

Call volumes across the state have increased by 78% in the last decade, with some individual fire departments saying they doubled, if not tripled.

The strain extends beyond fighting fires. Maine firefighters also respond to floods and storms, provide emergency medical services and serve as planners, educators and communicators for emergency management. 

One volunteer fire chief from Washington County interviewed for the study called the number of calls “too much to be a volunteer,” while another from York County called it “too demanding.” 

The findings highlight a vulnerability in a fire service heavily dependent on volunteers: During working hours, many firefighters are unavailable to respond. 

Financial pressures, inflexible work schedules and family obligations prevent many Mainers from volunteering and leave others at risk of burnout, said study co-author Alexander Rezk, a Ph.D. student and research associate with 91����’s Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center.

“Exploring pathways to sustainable volunteerism will be essential not only to the fire service, but all community resilience-building,” Rezk said.

The research team received survey responses from 219 of Maine’s estimated 398 fire departments and gathered information from code enforcement officers and municipal administrators. 91���� researchers interviewed 25 fire chiefs across 14 counties to examine the challenges and their effects on local communities.

“This work will help lawmakers make informed decisions affecting Maine’s fire service for years to come,” said State Fire Marshal Shawn Esler. “It documents the challenges our firefighters face and gives us a clearer understanding of the support they need to continue protecting their communities.”

Lost wages, retirement, travel distances and competing work and family obligations are among the driving forces behind staff and volunteer turnover, as well as barriers to recruitment. The survey found that 94% of responding departments rely at least partly on volunteers and 60% are entirely volunteer. 

“Being a call company, most work a full-time job, thus no time for training,” an Oxford County fire chief said in the survey. “They offer very little training in Western Maine. You have to drive a long way to get it.” 

Departments increasingly turn to neighboring communities for help, but those communities often face the same staffing gaps, according to the study. For example, the Hermon Fire Department reported having 21 mutual aid relationships, and the Kennebunk Fire Department reported having 20. 

Maine fire departments also face an aging fleet and an aging workforce — challenges that complicate their ability to protect local communities. 

Nearly half of the departments surveyed reported having fleets that were more than 20 years old. Survey respondents reported that the average cost of a fire engine doubled between 2020 and 2026, and new engines can take three to four years to build. 

“These are incredibly resilient organizations. They are coming up with creative solutions to meet their communities’ needs and often with very limited resources,” said Dominic Piacentini, also a research associate with 91����’s Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center. “In many cases, these local solutions are working, but they just need more support.”

The project’s recommendations focus on three areas:

• Maintaining reliable statewide information about the firefighter workforce.
• Improving access to training by addressing distance, time and cost barriers.
• Strengthening employer support so volunteer firefighters can attend training and respond to emergencies.

The Office of the State Fire Marshal has from the multiyear project on its website. A comprehensive report is expected in early 2027.

The project grew out of a 2019 pilot study in Hancock County. Statewide planning and grant applications began in 2022, followed by statewide surveys in 2025. Contributors included former state fire marshals Joe Thomas and Rich McCarthy and Richard Taylor, a senior research and planning analyst for the state.

The project received funding through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program.

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