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 

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 nearly are slated to find out on Oct. 14, 2026, how much their monthly check will rise. This , or COLA, is how the government tries to make sure that the value of Social Security benefits keeps up with inflation. Without it, the same payment would cover less of what recipients are spending on medical care, housing, groceries, clothing and other necessities.

I am a finance professor, and one of the topics I research is how . And I believe the upcoming bump doesn’t capture the inflation challenges that many people who receive Social Security benefits face.

The percentage increase in Social Security benefits depends in part on the annual , which the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a government agency, will also release on Oct. 14. It , according to the BLS. Experts have no doubt that the cost-of-living adjustment for 2027 will be far above the and . Many forecasts .

But the size of the increase is only part of the issue. The index used to set the COLA reflects what working people buy, not retirees, and that is a mismatch at the heart of a long-running debate over how the adjustment should be measured.

Calculating the COLA

The government has to keep up with inflation since 1975. Congress previously had to pass a law each time it increased benefits. As a result, years could pass without an adjustment, despite climbing prices.

The metric that the government uses is its , known as the CPI-W. The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks changes in the prices of goods and services that working households typically buy to calculate this index.

The Social Security Administration then compares the average CPI-W reading for July, August and September with the average for those same months in the prior year to set the COLA adjustment, which kicks in the following January.

If the economy contracts and prices fall, however, . That happened in 2009, 2010 and 2015.

Spending much of the bump on premiums

One big problem with this calculation is that it understates healthcare inflation.

Out-of-pocket health costs, including for medical care and prescription drugs, typically consume nearly 30% of Social Security benefits, according to research from the nonpartisan .

For example, the government deducts directly from many retirees’ Social Security checks. The in 2026, from $185 to $202.90. That increase alone consumed roughly one-third of the average $56 monthly gain in benefits from the 2026 COLA.

More broadly, this big jump in healthcare costs for people covered by Medicare, as , helps explain why there is a long-running debate over how the program measures inflation.

Finding other options

Critics of the system the government uses to adjust benefits for inflation, including the and the , say the CPI-W reflects the spending habits of working people, who shell out less on medical care than retirees. Retirees also tend to spend less on clothing, education and transportation than people with jobs.

There are other ways the government measures inflation, including the , known as the CPI-E, that could be more accurate. The Bureau of Labor Statistics began to calculate this experimental index in the 1980s, but the Social Security Administration has not used it to set benefits yet despite to make the switch.

The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare has researched how much more older people spend on medical care. People 65 and older as younger Americans on out-of-pocket health and medical costs, the group estimates.

Those 75 and older spend nearly three times as much, the committee estimated after reviewing data from 1982 through 2014. It argues that a CPI-E weighted more toward medical care, housing and recreation would yield slightly larger cost-of-living adjustments than the CPI-W.

But an index tied to how older people generally spend their money does not always lead to a bigger cost-of-living adjustment. The CPI-E has . What’s more, the CPI-E was not designed to set benefits and would need a larger survey sample before it could be used for that purpose.

, Professor of Finance,

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

Every autumn, homeowners and gardeners tend to engage in a familiar ritual. As trees shed their leaves, people drag out rakes, leaf blowers and lawn bags to strip their yards bare before winter arrives.

It is a tidy habit rooted in aesthetics, but ecologically, clearing away fallen leaves strips the very foundation of local ecosystems. Far from dead debris requiring disposal, this fallen foliage forms a dynamic layer and a biological interface that drives nutrient cycling and is .

As a in yards and gardens, I would recommend leaving leaves on the ground. There, they can provide essential – even in places that don’t have freezing temperatures. And they act as a for the soil.

Here is the science behind why the first step of fall yard care could simply be doing less – along with practical ways to keep your yard looking neat while nourishing the ecosystem underneath.

A winter sanctuary for native pollinators

To understand why leaf litter matters, it helps to look closely at what happens beneath the surface as temperatures drop. While honeybees pass the winter in , the vast majority of North America’s native pollinators do not.

Up to 70% of native bee species, including many insects’ cocoons and larvae, . Fertilized queen bumblebees burrow to survive the freezing months ahead, to lay eggs in the following spring.

Raking, bagging and blowing leaves away destroys this crucial winter nursery.

Many other insects depend on the shelter of fallen foliage:

• Moths and butterflies: Species such as the and the Isabella tiger moth, whose , spin cocoons or roll themselves directly inside fallen leaves. Raking or shredding those leaves destroys the next generation.

• Fireflies: Adult fireflies lay eggs in moist soil, and their larvae spend up to two years hunting for their food, . Raking deprives them of moisture and habitat.

• : These beneficial predators , emerging in spring to feed on common garden pests such as aphids, slugs and mites.

Nature’s engineered soil insulator and fertilizer

In addition to being a shelter, . Trees actively pump vital elements, including calcium, magnesium, potassium and nitrogen from deep subsoils, into their foliage. When autumn comes and leaves drop, these stored nutrients are deposited back into the soil.

Leaving leaves in place triggers fundamental ecological benefits.

A thick blanket of intact leaves acts as a natural insulator for the ground. Air pockets trapped between overlapping leaves moderate the soil temperature and slow heat transfer, , fracture plant roots and expose beneficial soil microbes to lethal cold. The intact leaf blanket also conserves moisture and prevents soil from drying out over the winter.

As fungi, earthworms and micro-arthropods digest fallen leaves through late fall and spring, they . This slow-release organic fertilizer boosts soil structure, improves water retention in sandy soils, and .

Decaying leaves feed beneficial mycorrhizal fungi in the soil. Those fungi form , helping the roots collect water and nutrients from the soil to nourish the plants above. A natural layer of leaves also organically without needing synthetic chemical herbicides. And the moist, insulated microclimate under leaf litter is also critical for , to survive freezing temperatures.

How to ‘leave the leaves’

Adopting a softer approach to fall cleanup does not mean your yard has to look completely untamed or that you have to . Here is how to balance suburban expectations with sound ecological science:

• Move, don’t remove: Move the leaves from lawns and sidewalks, rake them into garden beds, around ornamental plants or into vegetable plots, using manual rakes or electric leaf blowers. Aim for a layer 2 to 3 inches deep. Leaving leaves in grassy areas can , but if you move the leaves to garden beds or spots that are used less, the ticks will be less likely to nest in the grass. Establishing on the property can also help reduce tick populations.

• Skip the leaf shredder: Mowing over leaves with a mulching mower is better than sending them to landfills, but high-velocity mower blades still kill overwintering insect eggs, chrysalises and larvae. Leave leaves intact wherever possible in plant beds.

• Wait for spring to clean up: Do not cut back hollow-stemmed perennials or clear leaf beds during early, warm spring days. Wait until temperatures consistently stay above 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius) so overwintering bees and butterflies .

When you bag leaves for disposal and then buy commercial wood mulch or synthetic fertilizers in the spring, you are effectively paying a price for what your trees provided for free. By rethinking the cultural expectation of pristine autumn lawns, it’s possible to transform silent landscapes into vibrant habitat sanctuaries, simply by stepping back and allowing natural processes to take over.

, Assistant Extension Professor of Horticulture and Ornamental Horticulture Specialist,

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

The , led by Rebecca MacAulay, an associate professor of psychology at 91����, is funded by the and will compare two 12-week music programs for adults with normal cognition and mild cognitive impairment.

If the approach proves successful, MacAulay said the program could eventually be offered through senior centers, libraries, retirement communities and other community organizations.

“I think it could be immense,” MacAulay said of the potential impact. “It’s something that could help people maintain cognitive abilities longer.”

The study will enroll 48 older adults, half with normal cognition and half with mild cognitive impairment. Mild cognitive impairment involves changes in memory or thinking that are greater than expected with normal aging but are not severe enough to significantly interfere with daily life.

Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups. One will learn to play the soprano recorder, while the other will participate in music listening and appreciation activities.

MacAulay said researchers expect both activities could provide benefits, though potentially in different ways.

“We really expect that people could get benefits in both groups,” MacAulay said. “We think the benefits are going to be different.”

How music may support brain health in older adults

Researchers will examine memory, attention, thinking skills, social connection and emotional well-being. They will also study cognitive control, including abilities such as multitasking, dividing attention and avoiding distractions.

Those abilities can decline with normal aging and may decline more sharply among people at risk of dementia, MacAulay said.

“The goal is helping people to maintain healthier brain function and social function as they get older,” she said.

Participants will complete testing before and after the 12-week programs. They will meet once a week in a group setting and complete activities at home between sessions.

Those in the music training group will receive a recorder and music stand. Participants in the music listening and appreciation group will receive digital music players and headphones for at-home activities.

No previous musical experience is required. People who already read music or play an instrument will not be eligible because researchers want participants without formal music training.

The recorder was chosen in part because it is inexpensive, portable and relatively easy for older adults to use.

“It’s portable and affordable,” MacAulay said.

The program uses a recorder with a fingering system that can be easier for people with limited finger dexterity, including those with arthritis. MacAulay said a recorder can cost about $10, making the program easier to expand if future research supports its use.

Social connection is another focus of the music study

The group setting is also an important part of the research.

In an earlier pilot study, participants frequently described social connection as an unexpected benefit. Some who were initially uncomfortable in social settings said the program helped them feel connected to people with similar interests.

MacAulay recalled receiving messages around Christmas from former participants who sent photos of themselves playing the recorder with their grandchildren.

“There’s something about jamming in a group,” MacAulay said. “You get that camaraderie.”

Social connection emerged as one of the top benefits reported in the pilot study, along with perceived improvements in attention and thinking, she said.

The new research builds on that pilot study, which suggested potential improvements in cognitive function but did not include a comparison group. The current randomized study will allow researchers to more carefully examine how different types of musical activity may affect participants.

MacAulay said music may engage the brain in several ways. Listening can stimulate areas involved in hearing, while learning to play an instrument also requires attention, movement and coordination.

“Music really is keeping the brain active in so many different ways,” she said.

Study could inform future Alzheimer’s and dementia research

Because the project is a feasibility study, its main goal is not to prove that either activity prevents dementia.

Instead, researchers will examine whether participants attend sessions, complete their activities, stay enrolled and learn the material. They will also determine whether their testing methods are sensitive enough to detect changes.

The findings could help researchers decide whether to move forward with a larger clinical trial.

The study is also notable for including older adults with mild cognitive impairment, a group sometimes excluded from similar research. Of the 48 participants, 24 will have normal cognition and 24 will have mild cognitive impairment.

That split will allow researchers to examine whether the programs affect the two groups differently.

MacAulay’s interest in the project began after she met Philip Edelman, director of 91����’s School of Performing Arts at a faculty event. MacAulay studies cognitive aging, while Edelman brought expertise in music education.

Their conversations eventually led to a larger question: What happens when older adults with no musical background are taught to play an instrument?

Their early work also uncovered a practical challenge. Most beginner music materials are designed for children.

MacAulay and Edelman developed materials specifically for older adults, using larger visuals, more repetition and other adjustments intended to make learning more accessible.

91���� researchers hope program could expand into communities

Those materials have since been organized into manuals that researchers hope could eventually allow community organizations to run the programs themselves.

“The idea is that we would disseminate this,” MacAulay said. “Really, if it is so, we could just turn this over. It’d be turnkey.”

Edelman is a co-investigator on the project. Shannon McCoy, a 91���� associate professor of psychology, is also a co-investigator and will serve as the study’s statistician.

Nathan Sprangers, a former 91���� student who studied in the School of Performing Arts and now teaches in the community, will lead the music instruction.

Researchers plan to hold the programs at community locations rather than requiring participants to travel to the 91���� campus, making it easier for more older adults to participate.

The first groups are expected to begin in the spring, with 12 participants in each study condition. A second round is planned for the fall, bringing total enrollment to 48.

The three-year project began in September and runs through August 2029. Researchers expect to begin analyzing outcomes toward the end of the study’s second year and use the findings to prepare for a larger trial.

Ultimately, MacAulay said the research is aimed not only at people at risk of Alzheimer’s disease but at supporting healthier aging more broadly.

“We really see this as being something that is for all older adults,” she said.

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

A new University of Maine research facility aims to help answer those questions, giving scientists, industries and communities across the state access to technology that can detect and measure microplastics.

Supported by a three-year , the facility will expand Maine’s ability to investigate where microplastics are being found, measure their concentrations and identify areas where additional monitoring may be needed. The findings could help communities better understand environmental conditions and provide local officials with information to guide decisions about water quality and pollution.

Researchers also hope the information could eventually be made available to the public, allowing Mainers to see where microplastics are being detected in their communities and where gaps in monitoring remain.

“The goal here is to provide a microplastics instrumentation facility for 91����, the University of Maine System, the state and beyond,” said distinguished professor Paul Mayewski, former director of 91����’s Climate Change Institute and the project’s principal investigator.

Expanding access across Maine

Nearly 30 prospective users and partners have expressed interest in the facility, Mayewski said. They include researchers from across 91���� and its Darling Marine Center, as well as private businesses, aquaculture and fishing interests, environmental organizations and groups concerned with contamination in local waterways and food.

For Maine’s seafood industry and environmental organizations, the facility could provide access to testing that has previously been difficult to obtain in the state.

Mayewski expects most of the facility’s early work to focus on Maine, although the team also welcomes researchers from elsewhere in the United States and internationally.

The NSF award began Aug. 1 and is expected to run through July 2029. The project is part of the agency’s Major Research Instrumentation program, which supports the acquisition of advanced scientific equipment.

Mayewski is joined by co-principal investigators Margaret Estapa, an associate professor of oceanography, and Mariusz Potocki, a postdoctoral researcher. Other collaborators include Carl Tripp, a professor of chemistry, and Onur Apul, a former 91���� associate professor of civil and environmental engineering who is now at Penn State. Both are former co-principal investigators on the project.

Potocki is expected to operate the new microscope and oversee much of the sample analysis once the facility is running.

Advancing microplastics research capabilities

The instrument, known as a Fourier Transform Infrared microscope, can automatically scan relatively large areas and identify microplastics by their chemical composition. Older methods often require scientists to examine suspected plastic particles individually. The new technology will allow researchers to analyze samples more efficiently and produce larger amounts of data.

Researchers also plan to investigate how microplastics move through the environment, how people may be exposed to them through food, water and air, and how the particles interact with other contaminants, including PFAS, metals and pathogens.

91���� currently lacks comparable microplastics instrumentation, Mayewski said, and similar equipment is rare elsewhere in Maine. The instrument is expected to arrive early next year.

Mayewski’s institute has previously developed public-facing tools that allow people to explore environmental data. He said a similar approach could eventually be used to share microplastics findings.

A broader picture of contamination across Maine will depend on collecting samples from enough locations over time. Public access to the findings could help residents and local officials recognize where additional monitoring is needed and encourage testing in communities where information is lacking.

The facility will also provide hands-on research opportunities for students and early-career scientists, supporting 91����’s learner-centered R1 mission. Students will collect environmental samples, analyze results and eventually learn to operate the microscope. 

By the end of the grant, the team hopes to establish a sustainable research facility that will give Maine’s communities, industries and researchers continued access to microplastics testing — and the information needed to identify gaps in environmental monitoring.

“Without monitoring in the environment, we wouldn’t understand a lot about what we do now with respect to what impacts and doesn’t impact our health,” Mayewski said.

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

The three-year project, which began Sept. 1, will provide 18 K-12 STEM teachers with research experiences alongside 91���� scientists and support them in turning what they learn into lessons for their students. The project is supported through NSF’s Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program.

Nuri Emanetoglu, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is principal investigator. Susan McKay, professor emerita of Physics and Astronomy and a founder of the Maine Center for Research in STEM Education, or RiSE Center, is co-principal investigator.

The project combines 91����’s expertise in emerging technologies with RiSE’s expertise in STEM education and teacher professional learning. Researchers will provide teachers with firsthand experience in advanced scientific research, while RiSE education specialists will help them translate those experiences into learning opportunities appropriate for their students.

“There are two parts to it,” Emanetoglu said. “One is exposing the teachers to the research projects and the state of the art in these fields. The second is translating that into an educational experience for their students.”

Each year, six teachers will be selected for the program. The first cohort will spend four weeks on 91����’s campus in summer 2027 conducting research with Electrical and Computer Engineering and with Physics faculty and working with RiSE education research specialists. They will have an additional three weeks to continue their research and develop classroom materials.

“One of the really exciting parts is bringing together faculty who do research in these new, fast-moving fields while also tapping into the expertise of the RiSE Center at the University of Maine,” McKay said.

Teachers will work directly with 91���� researchers on projects involving AI, robotics, sensors, microelectronics and other advanced technologies. Depending on their research group, they could test AI models used to help robots recognize and grasp objects, study how microelectronic devices perform in extreme environments or work with microscopic devices used for scientific and biomedical applications.

The teachers will then draw from those experiences to develop learning opportunities appropriate for their students. A teacher could, for example, bring data collected through their research into the classroom and have students analyze it and determine what conclusions they can draw.

“They can really be part of an exciting research enterprise,” McKay said. “The beauty of having teachers design these kinds of learning experiences is that they know their students. They know what the students will know and what they’ll get excited about.”

Teachers will work in cohorts of six, allowing them to exchange ideas and provide feedback to one another. They will also test their lessons with fellow participants, their research group and RiSE team members before using the materials in their own classrooms. RiSE will continue supporting teachers throughout the school year as they refine their lessons and introduce new approaches in their classrooms.

The project focuses on teachers in rural, high-need Maine school districts, where students may have fewer opportunities to interact with scientists and engineers working in rapidly developing fields.

Emanetoglu said exposing students to areas such as AI, quantum computing and microelectronics can introduce them to new educational and career possibilities while helping prepare the workforce needed in strategically important areas of science and technology.

McKay said those opportunities could have implications beyond individual students and classrooms by contributing to Maine’s future economy.

“This is where innovation is going to come from in our economy,” McKay said. “There’s no reason why these sites of innovation can’t be in rural areas with good connections all over the world.”

Maine already has a long history in semiconductor manufacturing, Emanetoglu said, including semiconductor facilities in South Portland. Emerging fields such as AI, cybersecurity and robotics also can create opportunities that do not require proximity to a large manufacturing center.

“As long as you have a good internet connection, you could run that business anywhere in the state,” Emanetoglu said. “You could be doing that in Portland. You could be doing that in Fort Kent.”

The project brings together researchers from 91����’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Frontier Institute for Research in Sensor Technologies and RiSE Center.

The program is also designed so its impact can extend beyond the initial 18 teachers. Participants will have opportunities to attend conferences and share the research and instructional materials they develop with other educators. Returning teachers will also share their experiences with subsequent cohorts.

“This is a real opportunity for them to emerge as leaders in the STEM teaching field,” McKay said. “That’s exciting because it helps sustain the work that they’ve started.”

The project complements other 91���� efforts to strengthen STEM teacher leadership, particularly in rural communities. McKay said these types of professional development opportunities can also help retain strong teachers.

For Emanetoglu, long-term success would mean seeing the impact move from 91���� laboratories into Maine classrooms and, eventually, the state’s workforce.

“From the students’ perspective, it’s being exposed to these high-tech, high-impact areas and new career opportunities,” Emanetoglu said. “Hopefully, we’ll get some of them to come to 91���� or another institution where they can further study these areas.”

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

The work is part of the Maine Forest Bioproducts Advanced Manufacturing Tech Hub, a statewide consortium led by the University of Maine. The federally supported initiative is helping companies transform low-value wood into advanced building materials, sustainable packaging and alternative aviation fuels.

For Maine, the potential impact reaches well beyond the laboratory. New forest products could create additional markets for landowners, expand manufacturing, support good-paying jobs and help rural communities build the next chapter of an industry that has shaped the state for generations.

The Tech Hub is one of many federally supported 91���� research projects announced or advanced during the past six months. Together, partnerships with the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Economic Development Administration, Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy and others are bringing national resources to Maine, addressing challenges Mainers experience directly and preparing students for the state’s future workforce.

President Joan Ferrini-Mundy has described 91���� as . Giovanna Guidoboni, 91����’s vice president for research, said that role brings together science, technology and people.

“Developing a new technology is only part of the work,” Guidoboni said. “We also have to prepare the people who can bring it into the field, put it to use and sustain it. Both are essential to what it means to be a learner-centered R1 university.”

The value of those partnerships is measured not only by the research conducted, but by what that research makes possible for Maine.

Building the future of Maine’s forest economy

For Maine landowners and logging companies, turning forest materials into energy begins with a practical challenge: transporting large volumes of wood at a cost that makes economic sense.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture-supported study is examining how new technologies could make woody biomass more efficient and environmentally responsible to harvest and transport. The findings could help landowners lower costs, support healthy forests and connect more of Maine’s wood supply with emerging energy markets.

Through the Tech Hub, 91���� will also help companies test and pilot new products before moving into full-scale production. State and industry partners will expand market development, entrepreneurship, apprenticeships and workforce training so innovations developed from Maine wood can create benefits within Maine.

Helping seafood producers respond before it is too late

An oyster or kelp farmer cannot easily see when changing water conditions are beginning to threaten a crop.

Through the National Science Foundation’s Seafood Engine, 91���� researchers are developing and testing more than a dozen low-cost sensors for scallop, oyster and kelp farms. The sensors will provide real-time information about temperature, salinity, oxygen, chlorophyll and acidity.

For producers, that could mean identifying harmful conditions earlier, choosing better locations and protecting crops before a problem becomes a major loss. The project also brings researchers together with the people already working on the water, ensuring the technology responds to the realities of Maine’s coast.

Keeping the power on

When severe weather strikes Maine, rural infrastructure and long distances can make outages more difficult to prevent and repair.

A U.S. Department of Energy-supported project led by 91���� is developing artificial intelligence technology that could help electric grids continue operating during cyberattacks, equipment failures, communication disruptions and extreme weather.

For Maine communities, a smarter and more secure grid could mean more reliable power and a system better equipped to recognize problems and respond in real time.

Protecting groundwater and planning safer infrastructure

Some of the most important environmental changes happen underground, where water, minerals, chemicals and microbes constantly interact.

91���� is leading Maine’s only project selected for the U.S. Department of Energy’s inaugural Genesis Mission. Researchers will use artificial intelligence to improve models of how those underground systems behave.

Better models could help scientists and decision-makers determine whether contamination will break down or spread, protect groundwater, clean up polluted sites and plan energy infrastructure more safely. The work begins with coastal environments, including salt marshes like those found throughout Maine, and will support a 91���� graduate student and postdoctoral researcher.

Finding new paths to better health

Could a system best known for controlling blood pressure help the body fight the flu?

With support from the National Institutes of Health, 91���� researchers are investigating why 90% of influenza-infected zebrafish treated with a common blood pressure medication survived in earlier experiments, compared with 52% of the control group. Understanding that connection could point scientists toward treatments that fight influenza without allowing the immune response to cause additional harm.

Another NIH-supported project is examining how bacteria-infecting viruses contribute to antibiotic resistance. The findings could help researchers develop more targeted treatments for tuberculosis and other difficult-to-treat infections while giving 91���� undergraduates experience working on an urgent global health challenge.

After a heart attack or stroke, restoring oxygen is essential, but it can also trigger cellular damage that increases the risk of organ failure. Through a fellowship from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, a 91���� doctoral student is studying that process and screening potential drugs that could prevent further damage.

With additional support from the NIH, 91���� researchers identified a protein essential to muscle development and a compensatory process that may explain why some muscle diseases remain hidden for years. The research provides a foundation for developing treatments and gave three graduate students and 11 undergraduates the opportunity to become published authors.

An NSF-supported mathematics project is developing tools to model the abrupt transition between the bladder filling and emptying. The models could help researchers identify what drives bladder dysfunction, focus future laboratory studies and eventually guide efforts to restore normal function for millions of people affected by bladder disorders.

Giving Maine teachers more control over classroom AI

Maine teachers often have ideas for interactive demonstrations, educational games and other digital tools, but lack the time or programming experience to build them.

Through an NSF-supported project called The Forge, 91���� researchers are exploring whether AI-assisted coding can help teachers turn their ideas into working classroom tools.

Maine educators, parents and students will help shape the project from the beginning. Their involvement will help researchers address privacy, data security, bias and appropriate classroom use while keeping teachers — rather than technology — in control of the educational process.

Helping students connect calculus with physics

A student can understand calculus and still struggle to recognize how it applies to a physics problem. Repeated difficulty making that connection can cause capable students to question whether they belong in physics or other technical fields.

An NSF-supported research team that includes 91���� is identifying where that connection breaks down. The researchers will use their findings to create practical teaching materials that instructors can add to existing courses, helping more students persist in physics and prepare for careers in science and engineering.

Teaching AI to read the ocean

Every day, tiny particles carry carbon, nutrients, microplastics and other materials from the ocean’s surface into deeper water. Scientists can photograph this “marine snow,” but determining what each particle contains can require months of manual work.

With support from the National Science Foundation, 91���� researchers are developing AI tools that could identify the chemical contents of particles from underwater images.

The technology could help scientists track how carbon and pollution move through the ocean while spending less time manually classifying images. The project will also train graduate students in both oceanography and artificial intelligence, fields with growing importance for Maine.

Detecting threats to salmon without harming the fish

Identifying disease in farmed salmon often requires physically examining or killing fish for testing. By the time visible symptoms appear, a problem may already have spread.

Through a U.S. Department of Agriculture-supported international project, 91���� researchers are developing a method to detect stress and disease by testing the water in which salmon swim. The approach uses environmental RNA to provide a near-real-time picture of what may be happening inside the fish.

Researchers ultimately hope to create rapid tests that aquaculture producers could use much like an at-home COVID test. Earlier detection could improve fish health, allow more targeted treatment and help farms avoid significant losses.

Tracking microplastics in Maine’s food and environment

Tiny plastic particles have been found in seafood, water and soil, but Maine lacks the testing capacity needed to build a clearer picture of where they are accumulating.

With support from the National Science Foundation, 91���� is establishing a facility that will identify and measure microplastics in environmental samples. The equipment could give researchers, seafood producers and communities better access to testing and help local officials see where more monitoring is needed.

Bringing emerging technology into rural classrooms

Students in rural Maine may have few chances to meet scientists working in fields such as artificial intelligence, robotics and microelectronics.

Through a National Science Foundation-funded project, 18 STEM teachers will conduct research alongside 91���� scientists and turn what they learn into classroom lessons. The project could introduce their students to new career possibilities while giving teachers research experience and continued support as they bring the lessons back to their schools.

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

Researchers still don’t fully understand why the lower urinary tract stops functioning normally or which part of the system should be targeted to restore that function.

University of Maine researchers believe mathematics could help answer those questions. But first, they have to invent some of the math they need.

The bladder fills gradually, then empties abruptly. That sudden switch is central to healthy function, but it is also the kind of behavior many conventional mathematical tools struggle to describe accurately.

Rather than ignore these sudden transitions or replace them with gradual ones to make the problem easier to solve, 91���� researchers are developing new mathematics that stays true to what the body is actually doing.

Peter Stechlinski, associate professor of mathematics, and Giovanna Guidoboni, vice president for research, are leading the . Their work is advancing the theory of nonsmooth dynamical systems while using the lower urinary tract as a real-world test case.

The researchers aim to develop methods that can show how changes in individual parts of a system affect its overall cycle and identify the conditions that allow those cycles to remain stable.

“Because this problem is inherently nonsmooth, we can’t rely on standard mathematical techniques developed for smooth systems,” Stechlinski said. “Those methods may give us inaccurate insights and predictions.”

Stechlinski is principal investigator on the project and Guidoboni is co-principal investigator. Rajat Rai, a 91���� Ph.D. student, also contributed significantly to developing the project and its proposal.

“We have to develop new mathematical tools in order to be able to actually help people,” Guidoboni said.

The lower urinary tract depends on a coordinated system of organs, muscles and neural signals. As the bladder fills, mechanisms controlling the release of urine remain closed. When it is time to urinate, the system rapidly switches states and releases urine.

Those abrupt transitions present a mathematical challenge. Many conventional methods are designed for systems that change smoothly. Researchers can replace a sudden transition with a smoother approximation, but doing so can remove a defining feature of the biological system.

“We don’t want to make it smooth,” Guidoboni said.

For Rai, that decision is central to the project. Instead of changing the representation of the urinary system to fit mathematics that already exists, the researchers are allowing biology to dictate the mathematics they need.

“We’re trying to stay true to the actual system,” Rai said. “The system demands new mathematics, so we choose to develop it rather than simplify the representation of the biology just to make the problem easier to solve.”

The researchers aim to create new ways to analyze sudden transitions, including methods for determining how sensitive a cycle is to changes within the system and whether it remains stable as conditions change.

Bladder function depends on interconnected factors, including neural control, muscle contractions and the mechanics of multiple organs. A disruption in one part can alter the behavior of the entire system, making it difficult to determine from symptoms alone what has gone wrong.

“Our work will study all these connections and provide a quantitative guide as to where to intervene, to regain function,” Guidoboni said.

One focus is voiding efficiency, or how effectively the bladder empties. The researchers want to determine what allows normal cycles of filling and emptying to occur and what causes those cycles to break down.

“We want to determine which factors are driving dysfunction and whether the system’s cycles remain stable over time,” Stechlinski said. “Answering those questions requires us to develop new sensitivity and stability theory for nonsmooth dynamical systems.”

Lower urinary tract research often relies on animal studies to investigate the causes of symptoms and dysfunction. Such studies can be costly, invasive and time-consuming.

The 91���� researchers will test their mathematical predictions against an extensive database of animal-study data to determine whether the models can reliably reproduce bladder behavior already observed experimentally.

If they can, researchers could use the models to investigate new hypotheses computationally and help identify which questions or potential interventions warrant further laboratory study.

The project also challenges the traditional divide between theoretical and applied mathematics. The researchers are not simply applying established mathematics to a medical problem. The medical problem itself is exposing a need for new mathematical tools.

“We don’t value the theory more than the application or vice versa,” Guidoboni said. “We value them individually and in connection.”

The project brings together expertise in mathematics, engineering and lower urinary tract physiology and includes collaboration with associate professor Zachary Danziger from Emory University School of Medicine.

Its mathematical reach could extend beyond the bladder. Rai noted that nonsmooth behavior can arise when parts of a system operate on very different timescales. In the urinary tract, for example, neural signals occur rapidly while the bladder fills over a much longer period.

Guidoboni pointed to the heart as another example. Like the bladder, it repeatedly fills and empties while valves rapidly open and close. New methods for analyzing these systems could have applications across biology, medicine and engineering.

For people living with bladder dysfunction, the goal is more immediate. By developing mathematics capable of showing why the body’s normal cycle of storing and releasing urine breaks down, the researchers hope to give scientists a clearer picture of where to look for ways to restore it.

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

A new research station has begun drifting with sea ice in the high Arctic, marking the start of an ambitious international effort to study one of the fastest-changing and least-understood regions on Earth. 

On Sept. 9, reached its target location in the central Arctic Ocean at approximately 82.4^oN and 155.1^oE. An accompanying research icebreaker helped clear a path through the ice to the station’s deployment site.

Now moored to a large ice floe, the station has begun its drift. As winter cold stabilizes the surrounding ice, scientists and crew will begin observations and sampling that will continue through the polar night and into next summer.

The expedition is the first of 10 repeated drifts planned as part of the Tara Polaris program (2026 through 2046). The program was developed jointly by the French non-profit Tara Ocean Foundation, with support from the French government and the European Union, and an international consortium of scientists. The program is designed to provide something scientists have rarely had in the high Arctic: sustained, long-term observations of the ocean, ice and atmosphere across seasons and years.

By studying those systems together, researchers hope to better understand how the Arctic is changing, how its ecosystems are responding and what those changes could mean for the global climate, productivity of the Arctic Ocean and food security, as well as Arctic conservation and policies. The Polaris I expedition involves 80 scientists from 32 institutions in 12 countries, including the University of Maine.

I have spent the past seven years working with the Tara Ocean Foundation and the international team of scientists preparing for this mission. Hearing that the Tara Polar Station made it safely to the starting point and is now anchored to the chosen ice floe is thrilling. The large ice floe, about 15 miles long and over three feet thick, will soon become the “winter wonderland” for the 12-member winter team aboard the Tara Polar Station. The team includes four sailors, six scientists, a doctor and a media specialist.. 

The team will spend eight months in the high Arctic and collect samples throughout the polar night, a period during which scientific observations remain especially limited. Yet processes that occur in winter set the stage for the following spring’s growth season. When my colleagues and I join the expedition in spring 2027, we will be building on these observations.

The high Arctic is changing rapidly. The old, thick, multiyear sea ice that once covered much of the region is giving way to younger, thinner ice that breaks apart and melts more readily. Climate models project that the Arctic Ocean could experience nearly ice-free summers by the middle of this centuryBecause sea ice helps regulate Earth’s climate and provides essential habitat for Arctic organisms, those changes have consequences far beyond the Arctic.

The region is one of the most difficult places on Earth to study. Its remoteness, persistent sea ice and extreme conditions require complex logistics and often large icebreakers. Research expeditions have therefore been relatively infrequent, leaving major gaps in scientists’ understanding of how the ecosystem functions across seasons and from year to year. We are in a race to establish a clear environmental and ecological baseline just as the ecosystem itself is being transformed.

The retreat of sea ice is also opening new possibilities for shipping, tourism, resource extraction and fisheries, bringing additional pressures to an already vulnerable ecosystem. Long-term observations can help scientists understand those changes and provide information that can guide future decisions.

Tara Polar Station is designed to provide those observations.

A research station designed to drift with the ice

The unusually shaped vessel was conceived by the French nonprofit Tara Ocean Foundation as an observatory capable of studying the Arctic over the next two decades. It was built in France with funds provided by the French government, the EU and other federal and private contributions.

Rather than avoiding sea ice, .

Its rounded profile and reinforced aluminum hull allow the station to rise as the surrounding ice compresses rather than being crushed by it. It can operate autonomously for up to 500 days in temperatures as low as minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit and gives scientists direct access to the ice and ocean beneath it through a moon pool. 

The station left its home port in Lorient, France, on July 19. After stopping in Norway, it continued to the expedition’s starting point with its first overwintering crew aboard.

The 12-member team is expected to spend more than eight months aboard, including about four months of polar night, before being relieved in spring.

With only a few scientists aboard, research activities are supported by multiple teams on shore, much like operations aboard the International Space Station. Our goal is to understand how sea ice, the ocean and the atmosphere interact over timescales ranging from days and seasons to years, and how those changes affect the productivity, biodiversity and functioning of the Arctic ecosystem. Scientists also will collect samples to study contaminants, including mercury and PFAS.

What lives beneath Arctic ice?

For me, one of the most important opportunities offered by Tara Polar Station is the chance to better understand life in one of Earth’s least-studied ecosystems.

The Arctic may seem an unlikely place to support much biodiversity. Yet within and beneath the ice are communities of microscopic organisms that form the foundation of Arctic food webs, ultimately supporting fish, seabirds and marine mammals.

These microbes have evolved ways to survive one of the harshest environments on Earth, including months of darkness when photosynthesis is impossible.

Understanding those adaptations could help scientists learn how Arctic ecosystems respond to environmental change. Some of these organisms also could provide useful models for considering how life might survive in other icy environments, including ocean worlds such as Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus.

As Arctic summer sea ice continues to decline, scientists have a narrowing opportunity to document how this living habitat functions before it changes further.

A long-term vision for Arctic research

The Tara Ocean Foundation plans to repeat drifting expeditions over the next 20 years, creating a long-term observing platform in the high Arctic.

Instead of relying primarily on snapshots collected during occasional icebreaker expeditions, scientists will be able to observe the region repeatedly across seasons and years as the Arctic continues to change.

Because Tara Polar Station has a much smaller footprint than an icebreaker, it can operate more economically and with less environmental impact. The trade-off is that only a small scientific team can live aboard at one time.

A trained group of researchers and crew will conduct experiments and collect samples on behalf of an international consortium involving 32 laboratories in 12 countries.

Preparing for the mission required a major effort to develop clear research protocols, install and test instruments, and train the overwintering team so samples can be collected consistently and preserved for analysis in laboratories around the world.

What began more than seven years ago as an ambitious idea is now underway.

Tara Polar Station is beginning to provide something scientists urgently need: sustained observations from the heart of one of Earth’s fastest-changing and least-understood ecosystems.

Those observations can help us understand how life survives within and beneath the ice, how that ecosystem is changing and what those changes may mean for the broader climate system in the decades ahead.

Lee Karp-Boss is a biological oceanographer and professor in the School of Marine Sciences at the University of Maine. One of three scientific co-chairs of the Tara Polar Station Executive Committee, she will serve as chief scientist during the expedition’s spring 2027 research leg.

That work eventually connected him with University of Maine professor of higher education Elizabeth Allan, whose research has helped shape the national conversation about hazing and its prevention.

Catullo’s latest film, “,” was inspired in part by Allan’s research. 91���� will host two screenings of the film at 6 p.m. Sept. 22 and 23 at the Donald P. Corbett Business Building.

The screenings will be held during National Hazing Awareness Week, Sept. 21-25.

“Dr. Allan and the University of Maine have set the standard for research into hazing and hazing culture,” Catullo said. “Her work has become an essential resource for so many of us working in this space, myself included.”

The feature-length documentary tells the stories of three families who lost sons to hazing as they turned their personal tragedies into a push for reform that ultimately led Congress to pass the 2024 Stop Campus Hazing Act. The bipartisan act requires colleges and universities to implement comprehensive hazing prevention programs and to increase transparency by publicly reporting hazing incidents in annual campus security reports, known as Clery Reports.

The film debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival over the summer and has since been shown at other festivals.

Allan, who directs 91����’s Hazing Prevention Research Lab and is principal and founder of the research group, was consulted by members of Congress and their staff while the Stop Campus Hazing Act was being written.

She co-authored the landmark 2008 study still the most comprehensive examination of hazing in higher education. She’s currently working with a team of researchers at 91���� and across the country on an updated national study.

Catullo said having the support of an expert like Allan helps validate a project like “4000 Days.”

“We hope that this partnership between our film and Dr. Allan’s groundbreaking work will help bring the issue to a much larger stage, raise awareness of how widespread and serious the problem of hazing is, and ultimately help drive meaningful change,” he said.

Allan has seen “4000 Days” a few times, including when it premiered at Tribeca, and says it adds to the national conversation about hazing prevention.

“Research can help us understand the scope, causes and the strategies that can be effective in the prevention of hazing, but stories help us understand the issue in human terms,” Allan said. “‘4000 Days’ is about the lived experiences of families whose lives have been changed forever by hazing. It has the power to deepen public understanding, strengthen the movement for prevention, and inspire the kind of collective action needed to prevent more senseless deaths.”

Catullo attended West Virginia University, where he was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. He later became a donor to the university and was inducted into WVU’s Greek Alumni Hall of Fame.

In 2014, WVU freshman Nolan Burch died from hazing as a fraternity pledge. Burch’s death led Catullo to begin directing documentaries and educational films about the harm caused by hazing. In 2019, he released his first hazing documentary, a 35-minute film about Burch’s death called

“Nolan’s death affected me deeply. It happened at my alma mater, and it was so senseless,” Catullo said. “My own fraternity experience in college had been such a positive and meaningful part of my life, so I struggled to comprehend how something that had meant so much to me could become so dangerous — and even deadly — for others. I couldn’t just stand by. I knew I had to do something.”

Joining Allan at the 91���� screenings will be Julie and Gary DeVercelly, who served as producers of the film and whose son, Gary Jr., died in a fraternity hazing incident at Rider University in New Jersey in 2007. The DeVercellys are longtime supporters of Allan’s work.

“After Gary Jr. was killed, the first National Study of Student Hazing, released in 2008, helped us understand that his death was part of a much larger national problem,” said Julie DeVercelly.

In 2014, they invited Allan to share her expertise in a short documentary — — produced in partnership with the, a national nonprofit dedicated to creating safer college campuses.

Julie DeVercelly serves on the Clery Center board of directors and says “We Don’t Haze” became an important part of their family’s journey from loss to education, advocacy and prevention.

“Research gave our loss a voice — and gave us a path forward,” she said. “Nearly 20 years later, a new national study is long overdue. The landscape has changed dramatically, and we need current data to understand hazing today so we can better protect students tomorrow.”

“The 2008 study helped inform We Don’t Haze, and our partnership with Dr. Allan and the Clery Center helped us take that message beyond education and onto Capitol Hill,” added Gary DeVercelly. “Together, we walked the halls of Congress, met with lawmakers, and advocated for the federal legislation that ultimately became the Stop Campus Hazing Act.”

Gary DeVercelly reiterates that there’s still much work to do to end hazing and that the federal legislation and the new national study of college student hazing provide an opportunity to build on the work that came before.

“Data drives everything. After nearly 20 years, we need to know what has changed, what hasn’t, and what we must do differently. This new study can help turn knowledge into meaningful prevention,” he said.

Audiences at both 91���� screenings will have opportunities to ask questions of Allan and the DeVercellys, who will be in person, and Catullo, who plans to join the Q&A’s virtually.

Contact: Casey Kelly, casey.kelly@maine.edu.

At the first, students received a numbered card after picking up their meals. Researchers photographed each tray from above.

Then they waited.

Before students dumped what was left into the trash, researchers photographed the trays again.

The images captured a problem that plays out every day in school cafeterias: Students were offered fruit, but much of it was never eaten.

Sometimes they did not take it. Sometimes an apple came back with one bite missing. Other fruit was barely touched.

For 91���� researchers, those trays became the starting point for a larger question: What would middle school students actually eat?

The answer was smoothies.

A three-year study led by researchers in 91����’s School of Food and Agriculture found that offering frozen fruit smoothies during lunch increased the amount of fruit students selected and consumed while sharply reducing waste. The work also showed something broader: Asking adolescents what they want — and involving them in designing a solution — can change their food choices.

The research led to , or Helping Early Adolescents Live Their Healthiest Youth, a four-part smoothie and nutrition education program developed at 91����. The program is now available to schools nationwide through a . The findings are also informing efforts to change federal school meal rules that can make it .

Start by asking students

“Middle school is often an overlooked age group when it comes to nutrition programming,” said Jade McNamara, associate professor of human nutrition at 91���� and registered dietitian, who directed the research. “Adolescents are at an age where they can tell you what they want to eat and what they’re interested in. And they have strong opinions.”

The age group also represents an important point for intervention, as fruit consumption declines as children move into adolescence.

Rather than enter schools with a predetermined program, McNamara and then-91���� doctoral student and registered dietitian nutritionist Amelia Sullivan spent about a year listening.

They held focus groups, studied cafeteria environments, used a Veggie Meter to estimate students’ fruit and vegetable intake and documented food selection and waste through tray photography.

Three trained research assistants independently scored how much food remained on each tray, then reviewed disagreements together. By the later phase of the study, their assessments agreed about 97% of the time.

The research was supported by the �²⳾����’s Wild Blueberry Research & Innovation Center Fund. , a Maine family-owned food company established in 1874, approached 91���� as part of its mission to help the world eat more fruit. The partnership offered a way to address the nation’s fruit consumption gap at the state level.

The researchers decided students should help determine how.

“We don’t, as researchers, want to go into an environment we have nothing to do with and assume we know the right answer,” Sullivan said. “We wanted to know what’s happening here.”

Sullivan led much of the work inside the schools as a 91���� doctoral student, working with undergraduate and graduate research assistants to collect and analyze data and helping turn student feedback into a program the team could test. She completed her doctorate in May and is now a postdoctoral researcher at Texas A&M AgriLife Research.

What Sullivan and the team saw in the tray photographs was striking: Fruit was one of the most wasted components of the meals they studied.

Nationally, only about one-third of adolescents consume whole fruit on a given day, and between 20% and 40% of fruit served through the National School Lunch Program is wasted, according to research cited in the HEALTHY toolkit.

Students chose smoothies

The 91���� team then asked students what might change that.

More than 400 students voted on strategies that previous research suggested could improve fruit consumption, including cafeteria murals, taste tests and a smoothie bar. 91���� 85% chose smoothies.

“We really needed to partner with the students and get their buy-in before we did anything,” McNamara said.

Sullivan and the research team developed four smoothies around themes students raised in focus groups, including athletic performance, skin and immune health, hydration and locally grown food. Each 8-ounce smoothie paired frozen fruit, milk and Greek yogurt with a short nutrition lesson and a SMART goal activity.

The program was tested at two experimental schools, with three other schools serving as comparisons.

In experimental schools, when smoothies were offered, fruit selection rose from 78% to 98%. Students consumed about 0.4 cups of fruit from smoothies, compared with about 0.1 cups from standard fruit. They wasted about 14% of smoothie servings, compared with 64% of standard fruit.

Researchers also saw improvement in Veggie Meter scores among students who began with the lowest readings, suggesting some of the largest changes occurred among students with the lowest baseline fruit and vegetable intake.

And students wanted more.

91���� nine in 10 said they would or might drink a smoothie again at school. Some took recipes home. Others asked how many smoothies they would need to drink to improve their Veggie Meter scores.

“These were students who felt like their voices were heard,” Sullivan said. “From that, they were more willing and open to try what we were giving them.”

From research to the cafeteria

The challenge is turning a successful program into something schools can actually use.

Many school kitchens were built for reheating and serving food, not preparing meals from scratch. Some lack commercial blenders, enough electrical outlets. Nutrition directors and their staffs are also stretched thin, leaving little time to prepare hundreds of smoothies during lunch.

One nutrition director, Sullivan recalled, posed a basic question: Where would the blender even go?

Nutrition directors interviewed as part of the study said they were interested in smoothies but needed practical guidance.

So the 91���� team turned the HEALTHY research into a 41-page implementation toolkit with scaled recipes, nutrition lessons, equipment options, student engagement strategies and evaluation tools. It includes four smoothie lessons — Power Play Shake, Citrus Splash, Hydration Hero and Maine Maple Blueberry — that can be offered as a series or individually.

There is also a federal obstacle.

Under current National School Lunch Program guidelines, whole fruit can count as fruit when served on a tray. Because no more than half of weekly fruit and vegetable offerings can be provided in juice form, the rule can limit how often schools serve smoothies.

That distinction has become the next phase of the project.

The research team, �²⳾����’s and the American Frozen Food Institute brought the issue to Washington, D.C., and have advocated for federal policy that better recognizes whole frozen fruit used in smoothies. They have also presented the work to nutrition professionals as a model other schools could adapt.

A bigger lesson than smoothies

Sullivan does not expect the exact HEALTHY model to work in every school.

“Do I think this exact smoothie program could be replicated in all 50 states? No,” Sullivan said. “Do I think the basis of the research can be translated to all 50 states? Yes. We need to engage students. We need to ask them what they want.”

The project’s lessons can extend beyond schools, too. For families interested in incorporating smoothies at home, Sullivan with tips for building a balanced smoothie and links to recipes.

For Sullivan, though, the broader takeaway is about rethinking what a school cafeteria can be.

“My biggest takeaway from this whole research is that we need to start reenvisioning the way we see the school cafeteria,” she said. “It can be more of a community setting and a collaborative, hands-on educational setting.”

And sometimes, finding a better answer starts with looking at what students leave on their trays.

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

The vessel, 3Dirigo X, was designed and manufactured at 91����’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center. It was built to handle offshore conditions at speeds approaching 40 knots.

Its launch marked a major step in moving large-scale 3D printing from a technological demonstration toward a practical manufacturing tool.

University, federal and defense leaders gathered in Hampden for the launch and on-water demonstration. They included University of Maine System Chancellor Dannel Malloy; 91���� President Joan Ferrini-Mundy; Habib Dagher, executive director of 91����’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center; U.S. Sen. Susan Collins; and Keith DeVries, Manufacturing Technology (ManTech) Director at the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Demonstration to high-performance vessel

3Dirigo X builds on 91����’s original 3Dirigo, unveiled in 2019. That vessel demonstrated that a boat of its size could be produced using large-scale 3D printing and earned three Guinness World Records. 

The new vessel goes further, with engineering designed for higher speeds and the forces of offshore operation.

“What’s different today, again, is the fact that we can model and design vessels,” Dagher said. “We have developed technologies to design vessels that can withstand the kinds of extreme environments in the open ocean.  Today is a big milestone for our  research and development projects. There is more work to do to continue to optimize the manufacturing process and the material properties.”

91���� researchers also have made the manufacturing process much faster. The printing rate has increased from about 20 pounds per hour when the research began to about 500 pounds per hour today, while improvements in composite materials, digital design, sensors and process controls have helped shorten production timelines. Because designs can be changed digitally, the same equipment can produce different hulls and components without requiring a new mold for each one.

91���� is also preparing to open its Factory of the Future within the new 55,000-square-foot GEM facility, which will further expand the university’s large-scale additive and convergent manufacturing capabilities.

“The Factory of the Future will allow us to significantly expand our capabilities and reach a deposition rate of 1,000 pounds an hour,” said Dagher, acknowledging the federal backing that helped move the project forward. 

“We’re grateful for Senator Collins’ support in helping make this facility possible,” he said.

Manufacturing and national defense

Collins said the launch shows the potential of that research for U.S. manufacturing and national defense.

“This really is a great day for the University of Maine, for American manufacturing and for our national security,” she said. “Three Dirigo X represents Maine ingenuity at its best — practical, innovative, forward thinking, hard working and focused on solving problems of national importance.”

The technology could have applications beyond commercial boatbuilding, including unmanned vessels, patrol craft, logistics vessels, sensor platforms, replacement components and other specialized systems. Digital designs also can be modified for different missions or operating environments without first building new molds and tooling.

3Dirigo X was developed through the federally funded Accelerated Rapid Prototyping initiative, which has brought 91���� together with national defense research organizations, national laboratories and industry partners to advance large-scale manufacturing technology.

Cox Marine provided the engine, while Tideman Marine supported the project by outfitting and preparing the vessel for launch and operation.

DeVries said digital manufacturing allows engineers to learn from each build and improve future designs.

“Digital manufacturing allows us to build the digital twin,” DeVries said. “It enhances our design cycle. It enhances our test modeling and iteration so that the next copy is that much stronger than what we had today.”

Testing technology for real-world use

He emphasized that the launch is another stage of development rather than the end of the research.

“This is not a finish line,” DeVries said. “This boat just started a new journey, being run through its paces to evaluate its suitability in the waters of the Atlantic, its ability to stand up over time, over stress. Those things need to be evaluated. We need to understand what this means and feed that back into our models.”

Moving from a successful prototype to widespread use will require the technology to be repeatable, inspectable and affordable. The goal is not to replace traditional shipyards or skilled workers, but to provide another tool that could reduce reliance on specialized molds, speed design changes and expand production capacity.

The project also gives 91���� students hands-on experience with advanced manufacturing technologies, digital design, material science and AI while working alongside researchers.

The Advanced Structures and Composites Center has employed more than 3,000 student interns over the years, reinforcing the university’s learner-centered R1 mission by giving students hands-on research and workforce experience.

Building Maine’s future workforce

“Students are working alongside world-class researchers on technologies that have real-world implications, and they earn their degrees along the way,” Ferrini-Mundy said. “Experiences like this prepare the engineers, scientists, innovators and manufacturing leaders that Maine and the nation need.”

That combination of research, technology and workforce development also has implications for Maine’s economy, where manufacturers can face high costs, long lead times and demand for workers with advanced technical skills.

“The work that you are doing, those of you who are here today, really is quite remarkable,” Malloy said. “It reminds the people of Maine, the people of New England, the people of the nation, about how important our institution is, and how we can contribute to the safety of our forces, how we can make sure that Maine has the people who will drive the economy going forward.”

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

The equations may look familiar. The math may even be something the student has already practiced. But figuring out which idea applies, how to set up the problem and what the answer means in the physical world can be much harder.

It is like a new driver learning the rules of the road, then having to apply them in real traffic.

John Thompson, a professor of physics at the University of Maine, studies that disconnect.

“The mathematical computation is typically the easiest part,” Thompson said. “Setting up the math problem that you have to do, and then understanding what it means at the end, are the hard parts, because they involve both mathematical and physical reasoning combined in often unfamiliar ways to students.”

Thompson is leading 91����’s participation in a new National Science Foundation research project with colleagues at California State University, Fullerton and the University of Washington. The team will study how physics students use knowledge from math courses and then develop practical teaching materials to support students bridge the mathematics and its applications more effectively.

If the research succeeds, physics instructors around the country could have practical teaching tools they can add to existing courses to help students connect calculus with the problems they are trying to solve.

A critical point for physics students

The stakes are higher than one difficult homework assignment.

The project will focus largely on a second-year course that teaches physics majors to apply the mathematics they will need to complex physics problems in more advanced classes. Similar courses are offered at colleges and universities across the country, and Thompson said they can come at a critical point in a student’s education.

For many physics majors, it is one of the first times they are taking a class mainly with other students in their major. Doing well can strengthen their confidence and sense that they belong in physics. Struggling can cause them to question whether they should remain in the field.

“It builds their identity as a physicist and their sense of, ‘I belong here,’” Thompson said.

That makes the research partly about keeping capable students in physics.

In physics, the symbols and equations represent something happening in the real world. A variable may stand for distance, time, force, speed or energy. Students have to know how to work through the math, but they also have to understand what the math is describing.

If students repeatedly struggle to use math they have already learned, they may begin to believe they are simply not good at physics.

“We want to support the students,” Thompson said. “We don’t want to just say, ‘Oh, well, I guess you can’t hack it.’”

Finding where the connection breaks down

The researchers will interview students and instructors, observe classes and review student work to identify where the biggest gaps appear. They also want to understand what instructors expect students to know when they enter these courses and how those expectations compare with what students can actually apply.

Thompson said the issue is not with math instruction. Math and physics use many of the same ideas, but each discipline applies them differently. The researchers want to better understand what happens when students move from one context to the other.

The next step is to turn those findings into something instructors can use.

Rather than redesigning an entire course, the team plans to create various activities — some shorter, some longer — aimed at specific points where students commonly get stuck. These would help students see how a mathematical idea they already know applies to a physics problem, or how to bring in extensions of familiar math to a problem.

“It might be a 10-minute thing,” Thompson said. “Here’s a good exercise for students to do.”

The materials could also help instructors recognize common misunderstandings and suggest questions they can ask to guide students toward a better understanding and to build their physics-specific reasoning skills.

The team plans to test the activities in their own classrooms, improve them based on what they learn and eventually make them available to other instructors.

An impact beyond the physics classroom

The potential impact could extend beyond physics. Students in chemistry, engineering and other science and technology fields also have to take knowledge from one course and apply it in another.

Thompson said that ability to transfer knowledge is part of the broader purpose of college.

“To me, college is about learning to think and reason more effectively no matter the major,” he said. “Reasoning quantitatively is crucial in science, and we’re hoping to improve that skill for our students.”

If the research works as intended, students could enter advanced science courses better prepared, more confident in what they already know and less likely to leave a field because they struggled to connect ideas taught in different classrooms.

Ultimately, success could show up in a much simpler moment: a student seeing — and recognizing — familiar mathematics in a physics problem and realizing they already have the tools to begin.

“Oh, yeah, we did that in calculus,” Thompson said. “All right, now I know what I’m doing.”

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

By David Nordman 

Mike DeVito waited until the second-down play was over, dropped to the turf at Lucas Oil Stadium and grabbed his leg.

He was not injured.

The Indianapolis Colts, led by Peyton Manning, were moving quickly toward the line of scrimmage, attempting to prevent the New York Jets from substituting defensive players. Jets head coach Rex Ryan needed a way to stop the clock and get the right personnel onto the field.

His solution was DeVito.

Ryan named the play “lobster,” a nod to the defensive lineman’s college career at the University of Maine. DeVito’s assignment was simple: Take a dive.

“At first, I was so excited to have a play named after me,” DeVito said. “But then I found out that I was the guy they could most afford to have off the field for the next play.”

DeVito stayed down and clutched his calf as Indianapolis offensive linemen stood over him. They knew what he was doing. The Jets’ medical staff ran onto the field anyway, obligated to treat the injury as real.

DeVito only had to run “lobster” once.

The Jets went on to hand the previously undefeated Colts their first loss of the season, 29-15, on Dec. 27, 2009. DeVito continued his NFL career without giving the moment much philosophical consideration.

Sixteen years later, he projects a photograph of the play onto a screen inside a University of Maine classroom.

Then he asks his students: Was it ethical?

Today, DeVito is a lecturer in philosophy at 91���� and the director of player development and alumni relations for the Black Bear football program. He teaches introductory philosophy, critical thinking and applied ethics.

The former NFL defensive end has found that the story is an effective way to ease students into questions of honesty, responsibility and right and wrong.

It is applied ethics, with shoulder pads.

The path from an NFL defensive line to a philosophy classroom took nearly a decade of graduate study. It began with a book handed to DeVito in a locker room and gained urgency after two concussions helped bring his playing career to an end.

“I knew when I got done with football that I wanted to pivot to the academic space,” DeVito said. “I knew I wanted to study philosophy.”

In the classroom, “lobster” gives students an accessible entry point into difficult moral questions.

“It’s a nice way to start because applied ethics gets into some real landmine issues,” DeVito said. “This is a fun way to enter. You put your toes in a little bit.”

From a distance, DeVito can identify the problems with what he did. If players routinely pretend to be injured, medical personnel may have difficulty knowing when someone is truly hurt, undermining the trust necessary to protect athletes in a violent sport.

His football brain still offers a different answer.

“Everybody’s job is on the line,” DeVito said. “If we don’t win, we don’t get paid. We go home. The morality goes out the window when you’re actually out there.”

He spent nine seasons colliding with offensive linemen and running backs for the Jets and Kansas City Chiefs. Now he asks students to examine free will, logic, metaphysics and the existence of God.

‘Whatever this guy is doing, I want to do this’

Born in Brooklyn, DeVito moved to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where he graduated from Nauset Regional High School. He attended 91���� from 2002-06 and played under longtime head coach Jack Cosgrove. An accounting major, he approached academics differently than he does now.

“Football was my Ph.D. then,” DeVito said. “I was going to put a Ph.D. into football. That’s why I was here.”

After going undrafted in 2007, he signed with the team he had grown up following, the New York Jets. He played six seasons in New York and another three in Kansas City.

His academic turn began during his third NFL season, when Jets chaplain Adam Burt gave him “The Reason for God,” a book by theologian and philosopher Timothy Keller.

DeVito was captivated by its arguments.

“I remember thinking, whatever this guy’s doing here, I want to do this,” he said.

He began reading philosophy in his free time, exploring questions of logic, knowledge, free will and metaphysics. The interest remained informal until the 2015 NFL season.

While playing for Kansas City, DeVito tackled Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson. Another defender arrived from the side, and the helmets of the two Kansas City players collided at just the wrong angle.

DeVito lost consciousness.

“They had to wake me up on the field,” he said.

The concussion kept him out for three weeks. He returned, then suffered another concussion two weeks later during a game against the Oakland Raiders.

The second hit came on the final play of the third quarter. DeVito was dazed but initially believed he could continue. When play resumed, he realized something was wrong.

“Everything was just sort of all over the place,” he said. “I couldn’t hone in on anything.”

Each game he missed cost him a $50,000 active roster bonus, but the league’s concussion testing left little room for bluffing.

“I was doing everything — ‘I’m fine. I’m good,’” DeVito said. “They had it down where you couldn’t fake it.”

The following offseason, a Kansas City coach called DeVito at home in Maine and offered him another contract.

DeVito delivered the news to his wife, Jessie. She was pregnant with their second child. Their oldest son was approaching 3.

She told him that if he returned to Kansas City, he would go alone.

The concussions had taken a toll on her, too. She did not want to watch her husband get knocked unconscious on television again. She wanted to have their baby in Maine, near their support network.

DeVito called his agent that night and retired.

“It was a hard decision,” he said. “But I got to go out on my own terms.”

Before leaving football, DeVito spoke with Chiefs head athletic trainer Rick Burkholder about protecting his brain from the potential long-term effects of repeated head trauma.

Burkholder advised him to exercise his brain as intensely as he had trained his body.

DeVito already knew what he wanted to study.

“I was like, ‘OK, then what I’ll do is go back and do philosophy in school,’” he said. “I’ll actually make a formal study of it.”

Starting again on academic probation

DeVito’s undergraduate record did not make him an obvious candidate for doctoral study.

He entered a master’s program in Christian philosophy at Houston Baptist University, now Houston Christian University, on academic probation.

He completed the program in 2018, proving he belonged in an academic setting, then earned a research-based master’s degree from the University of Edinburgh before applying to doctoral programs.

He was accepted at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom and began his Ph.D. in fall 2020.

He completed the degree in December 2025.

His dissertation examined the longstanding philosophical problem of divine foreknowledge and human freedom.

Suppose, DeVito tells students, that an infallible being already knows what they will choose for lunch tomorrow. When lunchtime arrives, are they genuinely free to choose a burger, Thai food or nothing at all?

If that being cannot be wrong, it appears that only one outcome is possible. Yet simply knowing that something will happen does not seem to cause it.

“I know right now that you’re drinking that can, but that doesn’t force you to do it,” DeVito said during an interview, gesturing across the table. “So why would it be that this being knowing the future would force you to do that?”

The question touches free will, time, logic, metaphysics and theology.

Defending the dissertation was intimidating.

DeVito compared it to a black belt test. He spent six months anticipating every objection his examiners might raise. Unlike a mathematical answer that can be checked, he said, a philosophical argument remains open to interpretation — and to an examiner who may challenge its premises, implications or entire approach.

“You have no idea what’s coming,” DeVito said.

He passed.

Back where it started

DeVito had not planned to work for the 91���� football program.

He and his family settled in Hampden, Maine, after his NFL retirement. He attended games, spoke with players and remained connected to the program as an alumnus.

Then Jordan Stevens became head coach.

Stevens and DeVito had played together on the 91���� defensive line. Stevens was a talented freshman when DeVito was a senior, and the two shared the field during DeVito’s final season.

When Stevens took over the program, DeVito offered to help.

“I’m down the street,” he told him. “Let me serve you, serve the team, however I can bring value.”

They identified an area 91���� football did not yet have: a player development department dedicated to the parts of college life that exist beyond practices, games and grades.

DeVito’s work focuses on five areas: leadership development, career development, alumni networking, social responsibility and community engagement.

He also leads a summer onboarding program for first-year players, helping them prepare for the simultaneous demands of college football and college academics.

The first group he welcomed as rookies is now entering its senior year.

“It’s almost like a parent, in a sense,” DeVito said. “You’re just like, ‘Wow, I’m so proud of these guys.’”

Because DeVito does not evaluate game film, decide playing time or monitor transcripts, players can approach him without wondering whether they are being assessed.

Sometimes player development has little to do with a formal program.

DeVito described supporting a player who was far from home and struggling with a family health crisis. It was a situation DeVito understood from his own first years at 91����, when he often felt homesick.

They talked on the phone and met for lunch.

DeVito did not have a solution for the player’s circumstances. He could listen, share his own experiences and offer a place where the student did not need to perform.

“They can just come to me and vent and talk,” he said. “We’re just going to work through this stuff together.”

DeVito also brings philosophy and cognitive science into his work with players.

He teaches them about “amygdala hijack,” a term used to describe how the brain’s threat response can overwhelm rational thought. Harsh criticism from a coach can trigger an immediate impulse to fight back, make excuses or stop listening.

DeVito tells players that the response is natural. That does not make it useful.

“Recognize that your initial response is going to be, ‘No, you’re wrong, and here’s why,’” he said. “The best thing you can do is just listen.”

The same lesson appears in his critical thinking and introductory philosophy courses. A conflicting political, religious or moral claim can feel like a personal threat, making it harder to evaluate the argument rationally.

In both the classroom and the locker room, DeVito asks people to create space between the first emotional response and the next decision.

Win at breakfast

Not every lesson DeVito brings into his work originated from a philosophy book.

During his final NFL season, the Chiefs began with one victory and five losses. No team had previously recovered from that record to reach the playoffs.

After the fifth loss, head coach Andy Reid addressed the team.

He told the players to stop thinking about their record, the playoffs or even Sunday’s game. Their next task was breakfast.

Win at breakfast, Reid told them. Then win in the weight room. Win in the training room. Continue through every item on the schedule.

The Chiefs won their next 10 regular-season games and a wild-card playoff game before losing in the divisional round.

DeVito shared that message with 91���� players last fall after the Black Bears began a season 0-4.

They responded with six straight wins.

Large problems invite people to catastrophize, DeVito said. Narrowing the focus to the next meal, meeting, practice or assignment makes forward movement possible.

DeVito still tries to apply Reid’s advice to his own crowded life.

In addition to his football position and philosophy courses, he homeschools his three sons. The family has three educational nonnegotiables: Each child must study a foreign language, learn an instrument and practice mixed martial arts.

DeVito decided he should not ask his sons to do anything he was unwilling to try himself.

He studies German, practices the drums and continues training in mixed martial arts. His sons are learning Japanese because they love anime, giving them a level of immersion that Italian lessons did not provide.

They read books from right to left and back to front, a format DeVito said he still struggles to follow.

His two older sons play piano, while his youngest plans to learn the drums alongside his father.

DeVito said the differences between his children have also given him a new appreciation for teachers. The programs that work for one son may not work for another.

“I don’t know how public school teachers do it,” he said. “You have 30 students, all different types of learning styles, and it’s just you.”

Finishing the Ph.D. freed about four hours in DeVito’s day. He quickly filled them.

There are moments when the former defensive lineman has to remind himself how improbable the combination once would have seemed: teaching the subject he loves at his alma mater, mentoring the next generation of Black Bear players and raising his family a few miles away.

“Life is great,” DeVito said. “I have to kick myself sometimes.”

In a University of Maine philosophy classroom, DeVito projects a photograph from Indianapolis: a defensive lineman lying on the turf, gripping a perfectly healthy leg while frustrated Colts players stare down at him.

The play was called “lobster.”

The ethical questions have lasted much longer than the injury.

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

Led by 91����’s Prabuddha Chakraborty, multidisciplinary teams across four states will advance smart and secure grid technologies. A smart grid uses sensors, software, communications technologies and AI to make real-time operating decisions, while a secure grid can continue operating during cyberattacks, poor-quality data, equipment failures or disrupted communications. 

Together, these technologies can improve the reliability, affordability and security of electric service while helping utilities operate more safely and efficiently.

Each jurisdiction brings unique expertise to the research team and will address a different cybersecurity barrier to adopting AI, including hardware security, anomaly detection and forecasting, self-healing systems and microgrid simulations. 

The 91���� team plays a central leadership role by connecting the research themes into a broader framework, rather than treating them as separate technical efforts. 

“No single field can solve this issue alone. The project combines power systems, AI, cybersecurity, hardware security, communications, sensing, economics, visualization and workforce training. If you leave out any one of those pieces, you may get an interesting technical result, but not a solution that works in the real world,” said Chakraborty, the Waldo Libbey Assistant Professor at the University of Maine. He holds appointments in 91����’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Advanced Structures and Composites Center.

The project is supported by a new two-year, $2.4 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DOE EPSCoR).

By combining advances in AI, cybersecurity and workforce development, the project aims to strengthen electric grid resilience while demonstrating how collaboration across DOE EPSCoR jurisdictions can help address some of the nation’s most pressing energy challenges.

The project includes researchers from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the University of North Dakota and the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez. Together, they will develop smarter, more secure electric grid technologies for regions particularly vulnerable to extreme weather and unreliable power systems. 

“We hope that this project allows jurisdictions like Puerto Rico to improve their ability to provide reliable electricity to citizens, especially in areas without electricity after Hurricane Maria,” said project co-principal investigator Juan Patarroyo Montenegro, an assistant professor at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez. This project is vital to modernize our grids so they can function properly while becoming stronger for future challenges and natural disasters.”

The project embeds workforce development throughout the research. Each team will train students, develop educational modules and build the long-term capacity needed to maintain smart, secure electric grids and respond to new challenges. 

“It is important to us that we help create a new generation of students who are passionate about cybersecurity and integrating secure sensing, learning and visualizations in electricity systems in a way that improves grid resilience and supports local communities to improve their lives,” said co-principal investigator Daisy Green, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at University of Hawaii Manoa.

Each jurisdiction is also collaborating with local utilities as part of the research process.

“Through our simulated microgrid testbeds, we are developing AI-driven, federated learning-based self-healing technologies to strengthen the cyber resilience of modern power systems,” said co-principal investigator Prakash Ranganathan, director of the Center for Cyber Security Research and associate professor at the University of North Dakota. “By working with utility partners, we aim to transition these innovations into real-world electric grids, enhancing their reliability, security, resilience and recovery from cyber and physical disruptions.”

Story by Heather Johnson, EPSCoR graduate assistant

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

University of Maine researchers are turning to artificial intelligence to help solve that problem.

The researchers are developing AI tools that could determine the chemical contents of “marine snow,” particles made up of organic matter, minerals and other material that continually sink through the ocean.

If successful, the approach could help scientists learn more from the underwater images they already collect, while reducing the time spent manually classifying particles and improving estimates of how material moves through the ocean.

The National Science Foundation awarded nearly $700,000 to 91���� researchers Meg Estapa and Chaofan Chen for the three-year project, which is scheduled to begin in January 2027 and run through December 2029. 

“That sinking marine snow is what makes the deeper part of the ocean have a different chemistry than the surface of the ocean,” Estapa said. “The acidity is different. The oxygen is different. The types of microorganisms and fish that live there are different.”

Underwater cameras can capture large numbers of marine snow particles and reveal characteristics such as their size, shape and transparency. Images alone, however, generally cannot tell scientists what the particles are made of.

Teaching AI to read the ocean

Estapa and Chen, along with collaborator Melissa Omand from the University of Rhode Island, will investigate whether AI can bridge that gap by predicting particle composition from characteristics visible in underwater images.

Researchers have used image-analysis tools to study marine snow for years, but much of that work remains labor intensive. Estapa said one of her graduate students spent months classifying particles and identifying what appeared in underwater images.

Her own work studying particles in the ocean has evolved over roughly two decades. Early in her career, Estapa said, the process involved collecting water samples at sea, bringing them back to the laboratory and spending significant amounts of time analyzing them for individual data points.

AI has the potential to accelerate that process, allowing scientists to collect and interpret more information while spending more time on scientific analysis and discovery.

The researchers will use data from six major oceanographic field campaigns to test whether groups of particles visible in images can accurately predict their chemical composition. The data include images collected from waters off West Africa, the North Atlantic and tropical regions.

Teaching AI what ‘marine snow’ is made of

The project will also provide interdisciplinary training for graduate students in artificial intelligence and oceanography, combining advanced research with hands-on learning in keeping with 91����’s R1, learner-centered mission.

During the first stage of the project, Estapa’s group will compile a database pairing marine snow images with information about what the particles contain, how much microplastic is present and where the samples were collected. Some physical samples collected for the project will also undergo laboratory analysis.

Chen will develop AI models that can learn from those data while also helping scientists understand how the models reach their conclusions.

“The overall goal would be to broaden the application of these techniques,” Chen said. “We are more interested in designing neural networks that easily explain conclusions to humans.”

That emphasis on interpretability is central to the project. Rather than creating a “black box” system that produces predictions without explaining them, Estapa and Chen plan to develop a model that shows scientists which characteristics influenced its conclusions.

“Every new scientific tool you want to approach with care,” Estapa said. “You want to understand what the benefits are and the places where this tool will trip you up and mislead you.”

By identifying those weaknesses, researchers can determine when an AI model’s interpretation does not align with physical or scientific understanding and refine it accordingly.

Tracking carbon, nutrients and microplastics

Microplastics will be one focus of the project. By identifying and quantifying plastic particles alongside naturally occurring marine snow, the researchers hope to better understand how plastic pollution moves from surface waters into the deep ocean and through marine food webs.

The same tools could help researchers better understand the natural cycling of carbon and nutrients through the ocean.

The approach could have applications outside oceanography. Scientific fields ranging from ecology to medicine increasingly rely on complex images that can be difficult and time-consuming to interpret.

For Chen, the project also represents a new application of his work in interpretable artificial intelligence.

“This will be one of my first projects actually using AI for scientific discovery,” Chen said. “It’ll be an exciting new thing for me.”

If successful, the approach could allow oceanographers to extract more information from large collections of underwater images gathered during research expeditions and better estimate how carbon, nutrients and pollutants move through the ocean.

“We hope this project will help us understand our ocean better — and our impacts on the ocean directly and indirectly,” Estapa said.

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

American fishermen, aquaculture producers, processors and seafood businesses now have a path for improved access to federal funding, technical assistance and new markets through a national collaboration involving the , based at the University of Maine.

An agreement between the and 91���� enables the network to help the recently created connect with fishing communities and better integrate seafood businesses into federal programs and services.

The Local Catch Network will lead industry outreach, host educational webinars and listening sessions, and gather recommendations from seafood harvesters, processors and distributors. The collaboration is intended to strengthen domestic seafood production and processing, support coastal economies and make more American seafood available to consumers.

Established in 2011, the Local Catch Network supports local and community-based seafood systems through technical assistance, business development, research and knowledge exchange. Its more than 2,500 members represent fishing communities across North America. 

The network’s growth and capacity have been supported in part by $2 million in congressionally directed spending secured in 2022 by U.S. Sen. Susan Collins. 

“Despite 50 years of progress and recognition that aquatic and marine foods make important contributions to the food and nutrition needs of the nation, ,” said Joshua Stoll, Local Catch Network co-founder and associate professor of marine policy in the School of Marine Sciences. “The Office of Seafood has the potential to be an important course correction that would not only benefit fishing communities and seafood harvesters but also the millions of Americans who stand to gain from the benefits of increasing access to some of the nation’s most nutritious and delicious foods.”

Connecting seafood businesses with USDA programs

The USDA Office of Seafood was announced April 15 following President Donald Trump’s executive order, “Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness,” and the passage of federal appropriations legislation.

The office is responsible for coordinating seafood-related work across USDA agencies and helping fishermen and seafood businesses access grants, loans, conservation programs and other services. Its creation marked the first time USDA had established an office focused exclusively on seafood.

Through the agreement, the Local Catch Network will host virtual webinars describing USDA programs available to seafood harvesters, processors and distributors. It will also organize listening sessions where industry members can share concerns, expectations and ideas directly with the Office of Seafood.

“Following the initial announcement of the Office of Seafood, the USDA received hundreds of direct inquiries from domestic seafood harvesters seeking clarity on program eligibility and calling for a targeted seafood marketing strategy,” said Michael Illenberg, interim director of the Office of Seafood. “This new agreement directly addresses those needs, serving as a pivotal step to fully integrate seafood harvesting, processing, and distribution into existing USDA programs and services.”

Bringing industry voices into federal strategy

A national trade panel at the 2026 Pacific Marine Expo in Seattle will provide another opportunity for federal officials to engage with commercial harvesters, seafood businesses and other industry leaders. The network will compile the feedback from these activities into a report outlining the seafood sector’s priorities and recommendations.

“This collaboration helps ensure that industry voices remain at the heart of the America First Seafood Strategy, setting clear expectations for support while building a competitive, fair and resilient future for American seafood producers,” said Jessica Gribbon Joyce, Local Catch Network program manager.

USDA is also working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other federal agencies to develop a broader national seafood strategy. The effort aims to increase domestic processing capacity, promote U.S. fishery and aquaculture products, educate consumers about the health benefits of seafood and increase seafood purchases through federal nutrition programs.

Serving the seafood sector

The agreement expands 91����’s role in supporting the national seafood sector. As Maine’s land-grant university, 91���� contributes expertise in marine science, fisheries, aquaculture, seafood processing, workforce development and coastal community engagement.

Stoll and researchers from the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association previously examined USDA’s history of grant funding for the seafood sector. Their analysis helped document gaps in federal support and demonstrate the need to incorporate seafood businesses more fully into USDA programs.

“The USDA and NOAA play an important role in building a resilient seafood sector. Combining access to USDA funding with NOAA’s regulatory oversight offers our fishing communities an opportunity to expand domestic and global access to some of the best seafood on the planet at a critical inflection point for many community-based fishing businesses,” said Elizabeth Dubovsky, strategy director for the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association and a co-author of the USDA funding analysis.

Interested parties can sign up for notifications of these Office of Seafood events, outreach, and reports hosted by .

Contact: Jessica Hathaway, jessica.hathaway@maine.edu

Researchers from the University of Maine and the University of Maine at Fort Kent (UMFK) are studying how new technologies could make that process more efficient and environmentally sustainable.

The five-year study focuses on woody biomass — wood and other forest materials used to produce energy — and how it can be produced, harvested and transported more efficiently.

The $649,836 project is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture through its Agriculture and Food Research Initiative. It is led by Libin Thaikkattil Louis, assistant professor of forestry at UMFK, in collaboration with 91���� School of Forest Resources faculty members Anil Raj Kizha and Adam Daigneault.

The research will examine how emerging technologies can improve the production, harvesting and transportation of woody biomass while supporting healthy forest ecosystems and sustainable economic growth.

The findings are expected to provide practical information for forest landowners, industry professionals and policymakers as the region transitions toward a more sustainable bioeconomy.

The project will support one master’s student and one doctoral student at 91����, the state’s only R1 learner-centered university.

“Our forests play a vital role in supporting both the environment and the economy,” Louis said. “This research will help us better understand how emerging technologies can improve the efficiency of biomass supply chains while ensuring responsible forest management. 

“By integrating ecological, economic and social considerations, we hope to provide stakeholders with the information they need to make informed decisions that support healthy forests and thriving rural communities.”

Louis, whose research focuses on sustainable forest management and timber-harvesting economics, earned his Ph.D. from 91����.

The USDA-funded project is titled “Assessing Forest Readiness for Creating Efficient Biomass Supply Chains: Perceptions on Emerging and Innovative Technologies.”

The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative is the nation’s leading competitive grants program supporting research, education and extension projects that address critical challenges facing agriculture, natural resources and rural communities.

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

Turning that idea into a working digital tool, however, can require programming experience that many educators do not have.

“Teachers have lots of great ideas for the technology they and their students could use in the classroom,” said Justin Dimmel, associate dean for academics and student engagement in the University of Maine College of Education and Human Development. “But teachers are very busy. They don’t usually have the time, capacity or expertise to build their own tools.”

Dimmel is leading a 91���� team exploring whether artificial intelligence can help remove those barriers while keeping educators in control of the creative process.

The U.S. National Science Foundation selected the team’s project, The Forge, for a planning award through FINDERS FOUNDRY, a national initiative focused on challenges in K-12 education. 

The 91���� team will bring together educators, researchers, technologists, parents and students to explore a teacher-centered environment for creating interactive learning materials with AI-assisted coding tools.

Putting teachers first

The Forge is not a finished platform being introduced into Maine schools.

The team will first study what teachers need, how AI could support learning and how schools can address concerns including student privacy, data security, inaccurate information, bias and appropriate classroom use.

Those questions matter to parents and teachers alike: Who decides how AI is used in the classroom? How will student information be protected? And can the technology support learning without replacing a teacher’s judgment and creativity?

The team includes co-principal investigators Zihan Wu of the Maine College of Engineering and Computing and Kamal Chawla of the College of Education and Human Development. Five teachers from different Maine schools and two parents also will participate, with students expected to contribute as teachers develop and test early ideas.

The project grew from a challenge submitted by a Maine teacher who wanted educators and students to have a greater role in creating educational content. 

Teachers often imagine games, demonstrations and other interactive experiences that could benefit their students, Dimmel said, but many ideas are never developed because the process is technically demanding and time-consuming.

The researchers describe that unrealized potential as an “innovation reserve” within schools. The Forge will explore whether AI-assisted design — a practice commonly referred to as “vibe coding” — can help educators tap into it.

From classroom idea to working tool

A chemistry teacher, for example, might want to create an interactive demonstration. Another educator might want to produce a video for a flipped classroom or build a digital learning game app. AI-assisted coding tools could make it easier for teachers without programming experience to turn those concepts into working prototypes.

The goal is not to replace teachers, and the proposed environment would differ from a generic chatbot, automated lesson-plan generator or learning management system. Instead of beginning with an empty prompt box, educators could receive guidance, workflows and specialized tools for different classroom projects.

The details have not yet been determined. Dimmel said the planning process will allow educators and families to help shape the project rather than have researchers build a product based only on their own assumptions.

“We want to try to put teachers’ creativity at the center of what we’re going to design,” Dimmel said. “We see this as an accelerator or an incubator, not a replacement.”

While much of the public conversation about generative AI has focused on what the technology might automate, The Forge asks how it could expand what teachers and students are able to create.

“We’re trying to think about putting teachers and students in the roles of being content creators, rather than consumers,” Dimmel said.

Working directly with the technology also could help teachers and students understand what it can do, where it can fall short and how it can be used responsibly.

Testing what teachers need

During a concentrated design process in September and October, participating teachers will use existing AI-assisted coding tools to build early versions of their instructional ideas. Researchers will study the obstacles they encounter and what support could make the process more accessible.

Dimmel said the work also could show that existing general-purpose AI platforms are sufficient if educators receive appropriate training. The team is not assuming that a separate platform will necessarily be the best answer.

For Dimmel, success would not depend solely on whether the work leads to a new platform. Participating teachers could become a core group of educators prepared to help their schools and students approach AI with greater knowledge, creativity and confidence.

“We inspire teachers to consider themselves and their own creative agency,” Dimmel said.

Expanding who gets to create

Dimmel compared AI-assisted coding to the printing press, which lowered barriers to producing and sharing information. Until recently, creating an application or interactive digital resource often required significant programming knowledge, time and other resources. AI tools could make that type of creation more accessible to people who have ideas but do not consider themselves software developers.

“We want to make sure that teachers are participating in that, that they have the skills, experience and knowledge that they feel like their agency is valued, and they can see a way to get their ideas out into the world,” Dimmel said.

Contact: Casey Kelly, casey.kelly@maine.edu

, the largest male white shark tagged in the western North Atlantic, was recently detected near North Carolina’s Outer Banks. tagged him off Florida and Georgia in January 2025.

Contender is not one of Walter Golet’s tagged sharks. But the University of Maine associate professor of marine sciences has tagged more than 100 sharks in the Gulf of Maine through his work with 91����’s Pelagic Fisheries Lab and the .

Golet said shark tracking is widely misunderstood.

Fish tags are not exactly like the GPS devices most people are familiar with. Scientists cannot continuously follow sharks in real time because they don’t spend all their time at the surface. Each point on a tracking map might represent locations a few minutes apart, or even weeks or months apart. What happened between those points is often unknown, so researchers never really know all of an animal’s movements.

Do shark tags use GPS?

The answer is somewhat nuanced. The original SPOT tags, short for Smart Position and Temperature, relied on the Argos satellite system. They calculated positions using the Doppler shift of radio signals transmitted when an animal broke the water’s surface. 

More advanced SPOT tags can now take advantage of GPS technology. However, in both cases, radio signals do not work underwater, Golet said. Because sharks can remain below the surface for long periods, their tags cannot continuously report their locations as they could on land.

Many larger sharks are capable of carrying SPOT tags on their dorsal fins. The tag can, Golet said, communicate with a satellite only when the fin breaks the surface and its antenna is exposed to the air.

“When that dorsal fin of a shark breaks the surface, it can make contact with the satellite, and it can say, ‘Hey, here I am. I’m right here,’” he said.

That location can be quite precise, but researchers may wait days, weeks or even months for the next one.

“We don’t have our finger on the button and know exactly where these sharks are all the time,” Golet said. “There are limitations.”

How is Contender being tracked?

According to OCEARCH, Contender carries one of these SPOT tags on his dorsal fin.

The dots on his tracking map represent individual satellite detections. The lines connecting those dots do not necessarily show the exact route he followed.

“Those straight lines are really simplifications of what’s likely a complex series of movements,” Golet said. “Those types of maps seldom give you a complete picture of what the shark did.”

Depending on the type of tag used, Golet said, researchers can use swimming speeds, water temperatures and other ocean conditions to estimate where a shark may have traveled. Its exact path between detections, however, is generally unknown.

Maps showing the movements of two blue sharks tagged last summer in the Gulf of Maine using Wildlife Computers pop-up satellite archival tags. (Credit: John Carlucci, 91���� Pelagic Fisheries Lab, and Matt Davis, Maine Department of Marine Resources.)

Why do scientists tag sharks?

Even without showing a continuous route, tags provide very valuable data that can reveal where sharks travel, which habitats they use and where they may feed or reproduce, Golet said.

The information can guide decisions about fishing, conservation, public safety and other uses of the ocean. In the Gulf of Maine, movement data could help determine whether sharks regularly use areas being considered for offshore development and how that development might affect their life histories.

Tags can also show whether a shark survives after being caught and released, Golet said.

“A mortality is a mortality,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if the fish dies because you harvested it and you’re going to eat it, or if it dies once you release it. They all need to be accounted for.  These mortality tags can also help us develop best practices for handling sharks to ensure they survive once they are released.”

How did shark tagging begin?

Early tagging programs used numbered pieces of nylon tubing attached to a dart or anchor, Golet said.

Scientists inserted the tag into a fish’s muscle and released it. They then relied on another angler to catch the animal and report the tag.

The method showed where a fish was tagged and where it was recaptured. It was the first method to describe the wide-ranging habits of these fish, but it did not reveal what happened between those points.

A fish tagged in the Gulf of Maine one August and recaptured there the following August could have crossed the Atlantic and returned, but this type of tag would not reveal that, Golet said.

Electronic tags now provide orders of magnitude more information, but no single tag offers a complete picture.

How do acoustic tags work?

Acoustic tags emit coded ultrasonic signals and can last up to 10 years, Golet said.

Underwater receivers called hydrophones detect the signal when a tagged shark swims close enough.

“You catch the shark, you tag it, you let it go, and that tag is just pinging away the entire time it’s on the shark,” he said.

According to Golet, traditional receivers store the information until scientists retrieve them and  manually download the data. Newer buoys can transmit a detection immediately, but are more expensive, harder to maintain and generally used on a limited basis.

“If one of these real-time detections alerts us that there is a shark nearby, it doesn’t mean everybody has to panic,” Golet said. “It just means that, ‘Hey, there’s an animal here.’”

If the shark swims beyond the network of receivers, however, its signal will not be detected.

What do archival tags record?

Archival tags can record depth, water temperature and light levels. Scientists use that information to estimate where a shark traveled and what habitat they occupied.

Golet said some archival tags collect information for up to four years, but researchers must recover the device to access the full record.

“It’s like you and I,” Golet said. “I tag a shark, but you would have to catch it again for me to get the data back, or I’d have to catch it.”

According to Golet, pop-up satellite archival tags release from the shark after a set period, float to the surface and transmit their stored information to a satellite constellation.

Scientists then reconstruct the shark’s likely route using the data from the tags and other environmental data collected by other programs around the globe. The result is an estimate of where researchers believe the shark went, not a continuous series of exact locations, Golet said.

What else can tagging reveal?

Long-term records can show whether sharks are appearing in different places or at different times.

“You always get these things, especially in the media, where people say, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re seeing so many more sharks now than we did before,’” Golet said. “Well, the question is, are you?”

For example, Golet said white sharks have been present along the Maine coast for millennia. People often judge their abundance based only on what they have personally experienced, but white shark sightings along the Maine coast have certainly increased in recent years.

“All of us are victims of our own timelines,” he said.

Tagging data across species allow scientists to compare current observations with earlier years and identify feeding areas, reproductive grounds, different shark populations and the structures within those populations. Scientists use this information to learn more about the animals and, more importantly, to determine how to effectively manage and conserve the species. 

Can the public help researchers?

The Maine Department of Marine Resources asks members of the public to report possible shark sightings .

Some reported white sharks turn out to be basking sharks or ocean sunfish. Still, Golet said uncertain reports can help researchers document where animals are being observed and help members of the public confirm their observations.

“Citizen science does play an important role,” he said. “The public has many, many more sets of eyes out there and can cover a whole lot more coastline than the scientists can themselves. I would encourage people to report their sightings.”

Contender’s map may look like a continuous record of his journey along the East Coast. It is actually a collection of isolated moments when his tag connected with a satellite.

Most of his journey remains hidden beneath the water.  

“The marine environment is a harsh one to work in,” Golet said. “Salt water is not forgiving, and neither is pressure, so engineering tags to perform in the marine environment is challenging. But tagging is a critical technology scientists need to use.”

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

Texts. Emails. Reporters he knew by name. He didn’t know why yet. So he pulled over.

A quick search told him everything. The Graham Platner story had broken. Brewer, chair of the University of Maine’s Department of Political Science, understood immediately what came next.

“Oh, OK,” he remembered thinking. “This makes sense.”

By the next evening, he’d fielded at least 20 interview requests. For Brewer, it was just the latest chapter in a role he’s played for Maine media for more than two decades.

The state’s go-to voice

Brewer has logged his media interviews since 2004. The count now stands at more than 1,780. Roughly 150 of those have come in 2026 alone, already his busiest year on record.

Brewer has fielded interview requests from The New York Times nearly 40 times over the past two decades. Four of those have come this year alone.

Reuters, The Associated Press, Bloomberg, Newsweek, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Politico, The Hill, the Los Angeles Times and the Financial Times have all called in 2026, too. NBC’s Boston affiliate has called seven times since spring.

German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle, a Danish newspaper and Canadian radio and television outlets have also sought him out.

Brewer said this summer marks the busiest stretch of his career, with reporters reaching out nearly every day since October.

Through it all, he has stuck to one rule: no opinions.

“What I always tell my students is that if you can tell my own politics by the time this class is over, then I haven’t done my job,” Brewer said.

He knows he’s succeeded, he said, when students confront him at the end of a semester with opposite conclusions. Some are certain he leans “to the left of Marx.” Others are just as sure he’s a conservative. “It’s like, OK,” he said. “I think I’ve done my job.”

Brewer votes. He serves on the Orono school board. But when reporters call, he said, they’re not looking for his personal views. They want analysis.

“Sometimes that doesn’t make people happy,” he said. He’s fielded angry emails and phone calls, some from ordinary voters, some from chiefs of staff and sitting officeholders. His answer doesn’t change. “I always try and be fair and objective, and keep it factual.”

A national spotlight on Maine

Maine’s U.S. Senate race is one of the most closely watched contests in the country this year, as Democrats look to flip the seat held by five-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Former Democratic State Senate President Troy Jackson is now the presumptive nominee, stepping in after Graham Platner’s campaign was derailed by controversy.

Brewer said the sustained national and international attention on the race is rare for Maine.

The range of reporters calling him varies widely. International journalists, Brewer said, tend to arrive with the fewest assumptions, often asking basic questions about how Maine’s elections even work before digging deeper. National reporters generally want to connect Maine’s race to the fight for Senate control. Local and state reporters stay closest to the ground, focused less on what a race means for Washington and more on what it means for Maine.

He expects the media frenzy to ease somewhat through late summer before picking back up after Labor Day. Still, he doesn’t expect it to fade the way election coverage typically does in a normal August.

Brewer said the attention carries real benefits for Maine, beyond politics. Visiting journalists spend money in the state, on hotels, meals, rental cars. One Reuters reporter, based in New York, flew into Bangor and drove out to Sullivan, Platner’s hometown, to cover the story, then asked Brewer where to spend her last few hours in Maine before her flight home.

“I think it’s a net benefit for the state, for sure,” he said.

Bringing the headlines into the classroom

For Brewer, the media work and the classroom work aren’t separate. Last year, the University of Maine recognized that connection between research and teaching, naming Brewer the 2025 Distinguished Maine Professor, the university’s top faculty honor, given for excellence in teaching, scholarship and public service. He also served as a campaign analyst for PolitiFact and his textbook, “Parties and Elections in America,” co-authored with L. Sandy Maisel, is among the best-selling books on the subject.

Brewer’s media presence shapes his teaching, though differently depending on the class.

In his introductory American government courses, filled mostly with non-majors, students are often surprised to see their professor quoted in the news. It’s an opening, Brewer said, to pull them deeper into current events.

In upper-level courses like Parties and Elections, which he teaches every other fall to mostly majors and minors, it plays out differently. Those students are already following the same coverage he is. When Brewer shows up in a story, it feels less like a surprise and more like a continuation of conversations already happening in class.

Brewer said he tries to accommodate as many interview requests as he can, especially from former students now working as journalists. He said he’s hard-pressed to turn down a former student unless he lacks the expertise to answer. In that case, he’ll point them toward a colleague instead.

Brewer studied journalism as an undergraduate before turning to political science, a background, he said, that has shaped how he approaches interviews.

For Brewer, all of it comes back to one idea: turning what he studies into something useful for the people reading about it.

“The way I view it is an opportunity to take the kind of stuff that I study and know as a political scientist and apply that to real-world politics, in a way that will hopefully help people who are reading it have a better understanding of what’s going on,” Brewer said.

That day on the side of the road, Brewer didn’t stay pulled over long. He answered what he could, made a plan for the rest, and got back on the road.

He still had a kid to pick up.

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

Existing computer models used to guide decisions about energy infrastructure and contamination often treat microbes as fixed and unchanging, even though they constantly adapt to their surroundings. For decades, incorporating molecular biology information into those models has remained one of the field’s biggest unsolved challenges.

Now, a research team led by University of Maine professors Jiaze Wang and Amanda Albright Olsen is aiming to close that gap after receiving funding through the .

Using artificial intelligence, the 91���� researchers are working to incorporate molecular biology information into the physical models scientists rely on to predict what’s happening underground. The challenge is one of scale. Microbial genomic data is extraordinarily detailed but has historically been too complex to integrate into large-scale underground models.

The project will analyze microbial genetic information using AI to identify the biological processes that most strongly influence underground chemical reactions. Those insights will then be integrated into existing subsurface models, allowing scientists to better simulate how microbes, minerals and groundwater interact in changing environments.

By bringing molecular biology into subsurface models, the researchers hope to improve predictions that support groundwater management, environmental remediation, responsible critical mineral development and energy infrastructure planning. Improved models could help scientists and decision-makers protect groundwater, clean up contaminated sites and plan energy projects with greater confidence.

The Genesis Mission award

The Genesis Mission is a historic new national initiative led by the U.S. Department of Energy, which is building the world’s most powerful integrated science discovery platform. By uniting government, industry, academia and philanthropy, it is accelerating breakthroughs in energy, scientific discovery and national security through a new platform that combines AI, supercomputing, quantum systems and advanced scientific instruments.

91���� was selected as part of the inaugural cohort of Genesis Mission-funded research teams, making it one of the first universities participating in the innovative initiative. The awards were announced Wednesday at a U.S. DOE event in Washington, D.C.

91���� is leading the project in partnership with the University of Delaware and Argonne National Laboratory. The collaboration brings together expertise in bioinformatics, computational biology, AI, subsurface modeling and geochemistry.

The 91����-led project was one of 278 selected by the DOE from more than 5,000 proposals. It was also the only project selected from Maine.

What it means for 91����

The project builds on 91����’s nationally recognized strengths in environmental research and computational modeling while expanding collaborations across disciplines and institutions.

The grant funds a graduate student and postdoctoral researcher at 91����, both of whom will train directly on the project. That hands-on experience reflects 91����’s mission as the state’s R1, learner-centered university, giving students opportunities to contribute to nationally significant research while working alongside leading scientists and preparing to lead and innovate in the state’s workforce.

“We are proud to be part of the inaugural Genesis Mission and to see our researchers contributing to this new era of scientific discovery,” President Joan Ferrini-Mundy said. “This project exemplifies what makes 91���� such a special place to learn and innovate. Our students have the opportunity to work alongside nationally recognized experts on projects that address some of the world’s most pressing challenges while developing solutions that can make a difference here in Maine and well beyond.”

Giovanna Guidoboni, interim vice president for research, said the award reinforces 91����’s leadership in interdisciplinary research.

“At 91����, leading research that addresses complex, real-world challenges is at the heart of our mission,” said Guidoboni, also the dean of the Maine College of Engineering and Computing. “This project demonstrates the impact of bringing together expertise across disciplines while creating meaningful, research-based learning opportunities for our students. What we learn matters, but how we apply that knowledge to improve lives and communities is what defines us.”

AI and environmental science converge

Wang, the principal investigator, said the project brings together disciplines that have historically worked in isolation.

“This project is trying to bring together concepts from very different disciplines and unite them,” Wang said. “We know the subsurface is a combination of geology and biology, and our goal is to bring that expertise together.”

The challenge, she said, extends to the microbes themselves.

“The microbes are like magicians,” Wang said. “They can transform the subsurface in ways we don’t fully understand yet, and we know so little about them.”

For Olsen, the co-principal investigator, the use of AI and the Genesis Mission award represents a turning point.

“This is a problem I didn’t think we would solve,” she said. “Having this project, where I can actually see a path to solving something people have worked on for my entire career, that feels like a paradigm shift in how we do this kind of work.”

Starting with the coast

In this first phase, the team is focusing on coastal systems, including salt marshes like the ones that define much of Maine’s shoreline. The team will test its work using real-world data from coastal wetlands from Lake Erie to the Chesapeake Bay.

Coastal environments change quickly, making it easier to observe how microbes, minerals and groundwater interact than in slower-changing systems. They also face challenges such as saltwater intrusion, groundwater contamination and declining water quality, making them an ideal testing ground for the team’s approach.

Salt marshes are systems people in Maine already understand and value, Olsen said, making them a natural starting point for tools that could eventually benefit land-locked communities.

Applications far beyond the coast

Although the work begins on coastlines, the researchers say the tools they’re developing could be applied to subsurface systems around the world. The same modeling approach could help determine where it’s safe and healthy to build energy infrastructure, whether contamination found at a site will break down or spread and how critical minerals can be mined more responsibly. 

The work could also inform decisions about using the subsurface in other rapidly changing environments, including polar regions.

By the end of the project, the team plans to deliver:

• A library of microbial genetic information for subsurface physical models
• An upgraded version of a widely used subsurface simulation model
• A faster AI model emulator capable of running large-scale subsurface predictions

“Any system where you’re trying to understand whether a soil is healthy, or whether water is contaminated, requires understanding how these reactions couple together,” Olsen said. “That’s true almost anywhere on Earth’s surface.”

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