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 

Chantelle Flores of Oakland, Maine, has been by the national honor society of Phi Kappa Phi. She is one of just six students nationwide to receive the fellowship this year.

The Marcus Urann Fellowship awards $15,000 to undergraduate members of Phi Kappa Phi who are entering their first year of graduate or professional study. Named for the 91¸ŁŔű student who established Phi Kappa Phi’s first chapter in 1897, it is among the society’s most prestigious honors. This year, Phi Kappa Phi awarded 48 fellowships nationwide, including six Marcus Urann Fellowships.

“I was honored, for one. And it was very much a surprise to me,” Flores said. “When I got the email, I thought I had received one of the $8,500 fellowships. Then I opened it up and learned it was the $15,000 one. It’s going to make such a wonderful difference in the amount of opportunities and graduate programs I can really look to. It’s such a tremendous honor.”

Flores graduated this spring as the Outstanding Graduating Student in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. She earned dual degrees in English and art history, with minors in classical studies and creative writing, while also completing the Honors College. During her undergraduate career, she served as a McGillicuddy Humanities Center Undergraduate Fellow, a Zillman Art Museum Research Curatorial Fellow through the McGillicuddy Humanities Center, interned at the 91¸ŁŔű Writing Center and served as co-editor-in-chief of Spire magazine.

The fellowship will help Flores as she prepares to apply to graduate programs this fall.

“Winning this award really allows me to choose a program based on what I’m passionate about and what I want to do, rather than being held back by all those financial details,” she said.

Flores said the fellowship also reflects the support she received from faculty mentors throughout her undergraduate career. Her application included letters of recommendation from Justin Wolff, her honors thesis adviser and professor of art history, and professor Diana Baumbach of the Department of Art, who taught one of her first classes at 91¸ŁŔű.

“Winning that award also meant that I had a really wonderful faculty network that was really supportive of my postgraduate decisions,” Flores said. “It’s really cool to have that connection after graduation.”

Founded at the University of Maine in 1897, Phi Kappa Phi is the nation’s oldest and most selective multidisciplinary collegiate honor society, with more than 1.75 million members. Flores said she did not fully appreciate the university’s connection to the organization until she began preparing her fellowship application.

“I didn’t know how deep Phi Kappa Phi’s roots are at 91¸ŁŔű,” she said. “I feel like that’s a part of history that I didn’t really learn about until I applied. I thought, ‘That’s really cool.’”

Flores plans to apply to graduate programs this fall as she pursues her long-term goal of earning a doctorate in art history and becoming a college professor. She also enjoys teaching and said she would be happy pursuing a career in higher education or teaching in an elementary school classroom.

Looking back on the fellowship application process, Flores encourages other students to pursue opportunities, even when they seem intimidating.

“I always encourage everyone to take every opportunity that comes your way, even if you’re not sure how you want to approach it quite yet,” she said. “The scariest part was looking at that blank page. Just take it one step at a time, reach out to professors for support and don’t forget the connections you have at 91¸ŁŔű.”

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

The partial solar eclipse will be visible throughout Maine around midday, weather permitting. The event is especially notable because another solar eclipse will not appear in Maine’s sky until 2045.

When can Mainers see the eclipse?

In the greater Bangor area, viewers will see the partial eclipse between 12:54 and 2:49 p.m., according to Shawn Laatsch of the University of Maine’s Versant Power Astronomy Center. As much as 23.6% of the sun will be blocked by the moon at the eclipse’s peak at 1:53 p.m., he said.  

“The timings for viewing the maximum across the state will be within a minute or two of each other,” Laatsch said. “Also, the farther north and east you are, the more coverage you’ll see. Caribou will have about 25% of coverage, while Portland will have about 21%.” 

Although Maine is not in the path of totality, residents across the state should still be able to see a noticeable portion of the sun covered by the moon. The path of totality, where the moon will completely block the sun, passes through parts of Greenland, Iceland and Spain, according to the .

Where can people watch it?

The Versant Power Astronomy Center will welcome members of the public  to view the eclipse for free from the Historic Clark Telescope Observatory from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. on Aug. 12. 

“Because the telescope gives you a magnified view, you’ll probably see some sun spots,” Laatsch said. “We have about 100 solar filter glasses we’ll be selling for $3 a set.” 

People do not need a telescope to experience the eclipse, but they must use eye protection or an indirect viewing method.

How can viewers watch safely?

Viewers should never look directly at the sun during a partial solar eclipse without proper protection, Laatsch said.

Regular sunglasses are not safe. People should use eclipse glasses or filters specifically designed for viewing the sun with cameras, binoculars or telescopes.

Laatsch said people can also safely view the eclipse indirectly by turning their backs to the sun and holding up a collider or piece of paper pierced with a pin-sized hole. The shape of the partially covered sun will then be projected onto the ground or another surface.

“You should never look directly at the sun for more than a second or two without protection,” Laatsch said. “Solar eclipse glasses and solar filters block out 99% of the sun rays.”

What if I miss this solar eclipse?

The next partial solar eclipse in Maine will occur in 2045, Laatsch said. The next total solar eclipse visible in Maine will occur on May 1, 2079.

“People with any interest in astronomy will enjoy seeing this partial solar eclipse, especially if they can’t travel across the world to see the total solar eclipse,” Laatsch said. 

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

University of Maine nursing students worked to change that.

Many children in the villages had little experience with healthcare beyond routine immunizations, making trust one of the students’ first priorities.

Over eight days in May, the students cared for more than 150 people across two rural communities in Peru’s Amazonas region, building trust through conversation and compassion while gaining confidence in their own abilities as future nurses.

For Nadia Tarbell, one of the first things she noticed after arriving in Peru was how different daily life looked compared to the United States.

“My first impression when I arrived in Peru was that the living conditions were much different from what we are used to,” Tarbell said. “It showed me what I really take for granted where I live.”

She said she expected to see more illnesses tied to limited infrastructure, including unsafe drinking water and a lack of plumbing or refrigeration, but was surprised that many patients instead sought care for conditions related to physically demanding work, such as arthritis and chronic muscle pain.

“It was surprising to me to see how different the normal is for the Peruvian communities and how people have adapted to living in those conditions in ways I hadn’t anticipated,” she said.

Learning through service

The trip was part of NUR 419, Introduction and Service to Global Health, an elective course in 91¸ŁŔű’s School of Nursing that combines classroom learning with international service-learning. Led this year by Colleen Marzilli, a professor of nursing, the course gives students the opportunity to provide supervised clinical care while learning firsthand about global health and culturally responsive nursing.

Eleven students traveled May 11-19, flying first to Lima before continuing to Chachapoyas in Peru’s Amazonas region. Working through International Service Learning, they established temporary clinics in the nearby communities of Huancas and San Jerónimo, where they worked alongside three Peruvian physicians to care for more than 150 patients.

The students also visited the Universidad Nacional Toribio RodrĂ­guez de Mendoza de Amazonas, where they presented on nursing education in the United States and participated in a conference with Peruvian nursing students and faculty.

The experience is designed to strengthen students’ clinical skills while developing cultural competence, communication and adaptability. For many students, it was their first opportunity to provide healthcare outside the United States and work across language and cultural differences.

Tarbell said the experience reinforced that effective nursing communication extends far beyond spoken language.

“Since I am not fluent in Spanish, I had to come up with unique ways of communicating such as translation, hand gestures and body language,” she said. “Effective communication relies on more than just speaking.”

Tarbell said adapting to the language barrier helped prepare her for future patients who may communicate differently because of language, hearing or visual impairments.

Marzilli said one of the biggest takeaways from the trip was watching students become more confident.

“It was remarkable to watch the students grow,” she said. “Even though they haven’t graduated or become licensed nurses yet, many of them said they finally felt like real nurses. Seeing that transition happen while providing care in communities with such great need was really special.”

Caring across cultures

Each day began with a trip from Chachapoyas to one of the two villages, where students established temporary clinics. In Huancas, they worked in a government-supported community nursing clinic. In the more remote mountain village of San JerĂłnimo, they transformed a community center into a clinic after traveling nearly two hours along winding mountain roads.

Working alongside Peruvian physicians, students performed patient assessments, checked vital signs, measured blood pressure, gathered medical histories and presented their findings before physicians determined treatment plans and prescribed medications.

Patients sought care for a range of health concerns, including chronic back pain, hypertension, diabetes and intestinal parasites, which are common in the region.

Among the many patients they treated, one young girl left a particularly lasting impression.

Students identified a young girl with a mass on her back and worked with physicians to arrange a referral to a surgical center in Lima for further evaluation.

Marzilli said another memorable part of the experience was watching students build relationships with children who were initially hesitant to interact with healthcare workers.

Before the trip, 91¸ŁŔű students learned medical Spanish and worked alongside interpreters in Peru, allowing them to communicate directly with patients while helping children feel more comfortable.

“Our students spent time talking with them, making them feel comfortable and building trust,” Marzilli said. “That human connection became one of the most important parts of the experience.”

Lasting lessons

Beyond the clinics, students learned about the culture and history of the Amazonas region. In Huancas, they explored the community’s pre-Incan pottery traditions. At the Universidad Nacional Toribio Rodríguez de Mendoza de Amazonas, they met with nursing students and faculty to discuss nursing education and healthcare in Peru and the United States.

Marzilli said the experience also gave students a better understanding of what it feels like to navigate healthcare in a different language and culture.

“Maine is a predominantly white state, and many of our students have limited opportunities to care for patients whose backgrounds differ significantly from their own,” she said. “Being the minority, navigating a different language and culture themselves, gave them a much deeper understanding of what many patients experience when they seek healthcare.”

For Tarbell, that lesson will stay with her long after graduation.

“The biggest thing I will carry with me in my nursing career from this trip is how important developing trust and connection is when treating patients,” she said. “Even though we couldn’t understand each other, simply showing you are there to do your best, listen, learn and consider the patient’s values makes all the difference. I was able to make the patient feel like they mattered and were cared for. That’s something I’ll carry with me throughout my nursing career.”

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

And Michelle Kearney
Professor of Literacy, University of Maine

The following article was first , an independent nonprofit news organization that shares faculty expert analysis with a global audience.

Reading allows children to live in a vibrant world, surrounded by fairies, elves and talking animals, transporting them to places where the impossible becomes real. But reading for pleasure also helps children and broadens how they view, interpret and . It gives them a form of expression that fuels their imagination and empathy for themselves and others.

But the percentage of children who read for fun is declining.

Just 37% of 9-year-olds and 14% of 13-year-olds almost every day in 2025, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress. By middle school, just 1 in 7 kids say they read for pleasure each day.

The U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics has in kids and teens who read for fun, finding that in 2023, 14% of 13-year-olds read for fun each day, down from 27% who said they did so in 2012.

Slightly younger kids tend to read for pleasure a bit more. Approximately 39% of 9-year-olds said they read for fun in 2022, down from 53% of 9-year-olds who said they did so in 2012, according to the Department of Education.

This trend is showing up alongside another concern: , especially among teenagers. It’s tempting to treat those as separate problems. But as scholars of literacy, we don’t think they are.

Reading for fun isn’t just about fun

Outside of schoolwork, a child can read anywhere from as or more for the most voracious readers.

This gap can why some children’s vocabularies grow so much faster than others.

Kids absorb words from context, over and over, across thousands of pages. One of us, for example, has a son named Andrew, who, at the age of 2, once absorbed and correctly used the word “viaduct,” without anyone defining it for him, after he encountered it in a book about trains.

Older kids and teenagers who describe themselves as committed readers tend to have since they were young, kept books around as their interests changed and made reading together a genuine priority.

A well-selected book, in particular, has the ability to enhance a child’s reading pleasure and reading ability, allowing them to with fresh insight.

Research shows a connection between teenagers who read for pleasure as young children: They tend to score higher on , memory and speech development.

Reading for pleasure can also help build vocabulary and reading fluency while .

Reading to develop empathy

There are other benefits to reading that won’t show up on a reading assessment.

We believe that reading is empathy operating in its simplest form: imagining your way into and understanding the ripple effects of their actions.

Reading for pleasure, especially the kind that starts on a parent’s or caregiver’s lap, is one of the earliest and most reliable places kids get repeated practice doing that complex work.

Reading with a caregiver often progresses into children reading on their own, whether with a flashlight in bed or in the middle of the day on the couch.

When children become immersed in a book series on their own, in particular, it can help them develop connections with characters they grow to know, love or scorn. They inhabit a character who isn’t them. They sit with an idea long enough to understand why someone acts the way they do.

Feeling emotionally invested in a character’s decisions can also influence how young readers and treat people with civility and kindness in real life.

This skill doesn’t arrive automatically with age. It is built through practice, and recreational reading in childhood is the main training ground for it.

Implications for school and home

Within the past 10 years, many schools have invested in , with a renewed emphasis in to improve students’ reading proficiency.

This shift has been an important and necessary step in helping students develop the foundational skills they need to become successful readers. At the same time, some classrooms and reading simply for enjoyment.

In 2024, literacy researcher recalled whether a classroom reading activity had made him a better reader. The child responded, “No, because it’s fun.”

Already, that young student senses that fun and learning have been filed into separate categories at school. This highlights the real cost of letting effective instruction and engaging instruction drift apart, as though a teacher must choose between them.

This doesn’t mean abandoning structured reading instruction, which matters enormously for students who are learning to decode written language by connecting sounds and symbols. It means reading a book that a child actually chose, rereading an old favorite, and allotting time for a teacher to read aloud purely because it brings joy to the class.

This effort extends outside of a classroom. When children live in homes where they see books around, where their parents and siblings read together, and where their caregivers also read for fun, they are likely to see reading as enjoyable and .

People who enjoyed reading as children are more likely to .

We each read to our children from when they were young and watched as they grew and developed their own love of books, ranging from the “” comic series to the “” and “” series.

Another one of us, Dee, has a daughter named Addie who remains an avid reader in her early 20s. She is currently reading the “” fantasy series, among others.

And Andrew, the 2-year-old who once learned the word “viaduct” from a book, is still an avid reader. At 18, his shelves are now filled with manga and comic books, including a special section for “.” His choice of genre and formats has evolved over the years, but his joy of getting lost in a story has not.

That’s the version of reading we’d like more kids to fall in love with – before school, however well meaning, might convince them that fun and learning have to live in different places.

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

The following article was , an independent nonprofit news organization that shares faculty expert analysis with a global audience.

As the 250th anniversary of American independence approaches, many people in the U.S. are deeply concerned about the country’s future.

by Elon University found that 69% of respondents “believe the signers of the Declaration of Independence would feel more disappointment than pride about modern American democracy.” Confidence in public institutions is , and the most recent indicates that just a quarter of 18- to 29-year-olds “feel hopeful about the future of America.”

Many are also afraid. For the 10th consecutive year, Americans reported corrupt government officials to be their single greatest fear, according to the , ranking above financial collapse or a loved one becoming seriously ill.

“Americans have come to see threats as not just the possibility of attack by a foreign adversary. The potential for political violence at home is part of it, along with polarization, corruption and a sense of cultural dysfunction,” pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson wrote . “Americans increasingly view the survival of the country as being at stake.”

How are people in the U.S. to make sense of these trends? As Americans celebrate the country’s 250th anniversary, how faithful is the U.S. today to its founding principles? I’m a political philosophy scholar who studies constitutional government. In my view, an especially helpful approach to answering such questions is to revisit the towering but neglected influence of the French philosopher Montesquieu on the founding of this country.

Montesquieu and the American founding

Charles Louis de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu, was an 18th-century philosopher and aristocrat whose book “” caused a sensation when published in 1748. His ideas shaped the American founders. At , .

On the separation of powers, Montesquieu was, in , “the oracle who is always consulted and cited.” Of all authors cited in political writings published by Americans between 1760 and 1805, . that “American republican ideologues could recite the central points of Montesquieu’s doctrine as if it had been a catechism,” according to historian Forrest McDonald.

Montesquieu was especially celebrated for his account of how and why political power needs to be separated into branches. But behind this now familiar idea was another that is less remembered: Montesquieu’s theory of liberty inspired the founders’ own understandings of this core concept of American politics.

A theory of liberty

In “The Spirit of the Laws,” political liberty as a “tranquility of mind arising from the opinion each person has of his safety.” To be free is to believe that one is secure. But to believe as much, “it is requisite the government be so constituted as one man need not be afraid of another.”

Liberty cannot be a matter of “doing what one wants,” . What if what one person wants threatens others? Then one person’s freedom to act limits everyone else’s. No one can feel secure unless everyone lives under laws that regulate what each may do. Montesquieu understood liberty in terms of this confidence or “tranquility” because it amounts to being free from the arbitrary will of others.

When Montesquieu stresses freedom from fear of other citizens, he doesn’t just mean private individuals. He especially means those acting in a public capacity, like “magistrates” or “rulers.” If public officials’ behavior doesn’t conform to predictable norms set by law, if agents of the government can summarily arrest people, seize their property or revoke their citizenship – say, by them without due process – it becomes impossible to feel secure.

Even if such actions aren’t directed against me or those like me, such lawlessness is still threatening because it’s unpredictable. I might support the government’s moves against other groups in the moment, but what’s to stop the government from suddenly turning on me when the political winds change?

To prevent public officials from simply doing what they want, Montesquieu famously called for the into branches headed by different citizens.

But, he explains, it is not enough that people live under free institutions. They must also believe those institutions to be in the service of their freedom. Liberty, then, is as much a matter of opinion as of fact.

The tyranny of opinion

Montesquieu shows in “The Spirit of the Laws” how the fundamental laws of a country can permit a free way of life even as the country’s cultural norms prevent it. A country might have a free constitution while its citizens believe they hold moral obligations inconsistent with it.

For example, today, Americans might believe that the demands of racial equity or of evangelical Christianity are so pressing that in ignoring the legislature or the judiciary to serve them.

“In these instances,” , “the Constitution will be free by right and not in fact.” The people – or some of them – will experience the law as a hindrance to what they believe they ought or ought not to do.

In such cases, there arises a tyranny “of opinion.” The laws that would otherwise free people from fear of one another and of the government instead inspire a fear all their own. The laws might prevent what some people believe is morally right, or command – in the name of protecting others’ rights or the common good – what others regard as unjust or unholy.

That misalignment between constitutional law and cultural norms makes people feel insecure. It makes the Constitution seem opposed to their will and sense of duty. It can then seem appealing for a leader to promise, in the name of freedom, to ignore the law.

A bracing reminder

In recent years, figures across the political spectrum have called for radical constitutional change – or for ignoring the Constitution outright. There are calls not only or , but also .

From Montesquieu’s perspective, polarization worsens this appetite for disregarding constitutional norms. Each party champions a cultural agenda from which . Whenever either party is in office, even when it respects constitutional law, its rule can feel to the other side much like the tyranny of opinion Montesquieu describes. The other side’s policies can seem to violate deeply held values, whether it’s from competing in girls sports or immigrants residing in the U.S. illegally.

According to Montesquieu, liberty depends on the kind of civic culture the U.S. seems at risk of losing. No institutions, however well designed, can preserve liberty if citizens believe their preferred cultural norms are so obligatory that political power is needed to enforce them, opposition be damned.

A culture more tolerant of moral disagreements and less quick to reach for political power to force others to accept what they find morally wrong would help ease the toward the government and one another. Until then, Americans will continue drifting away from the liberty that the U.S. was founded to secure.

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

The fellowships were developed to increase undergraduate student involvement in faculty-supervised research and creative activity. Winners receive $3,000 to put toward their research projects over the summer months.

The 2026 CUGR Summer Undergraduate Fellowship Recipients are:

• Abigail Bergmark, microbiology, for a project titled “Cyclic-di-GMP Effects on Candida albicans in the Presence of Fluconazole.” Bergmark will be advised by Robert Wheeler.
• Amelia Bradford, anthropology, for a project titled “Who’s Who In Biddeford, ME: The Life of 20th Century Textile Mill Workers as Told Through the Company Newspaper.” Bradford will be advised by Susan Pinette.Ěý
• Rachel Harrington, marine science, for a project titled “PFAS Contamination and Temperature Effects on American Lobster.” Harrington will be advised by Amalia Harrington.
• Alyssa Hinderer, marine science, for a project titled “Predicting PFAS Deposition In Maine Estuaries.” The award for Hinderer, who will be advised by Margaret Estapa, was funded by Maine Sea Grant.Ěý
• Emily Leszczewski, marine science, for a project titled “Effects of 41% Glyphosate Exposure On Behavior, Molting, And Stress Response Of Postlarval American Lobsters (Homarus americanus).” Leszczewski will be advised by Amalia Harrington.
• Tyler Lilya, marine science, for a project titled “A Novel Multi-Trophic Bio-Filter Apparatus To Remove Point Source, Anthropogenic Eutrophication From Waste Treatment Outflows.” Lilya will be advised by Timothy Bowden.
• Willow McConochie, botany, for a project titled “Assessing the Emotional Responses of Hikers to Hand Drawn Versus Generative AI Imagery of a High Alpine Species.” McConochie will be advised by Jacquelyn Gill.
• Declan Mercer, engineering physics, for a project titled “Fueling The Magnetic Machine: Applications Of Superparamagnetic Functionalization.” Mercer will be advised by Ioan-Augustin Chioar.
• Mackenzie Michaud, wildlife ecology, for a project titled “Nesting Ecology of Maine Wood Turtles.” Michaud will be advised by Matthew Chatfield.
• Emma Morrison, biochemistry, for a project titled “Antibacterial Agent Cetylpyridinium Chloride (CPC) Ironically Inhibits Immune Cell Function: Mechanisms of Action on Signaling and Cytokines.” The award for Morrison, who will be advised by Julie Gosse, was funded by the 91¸ŁŔű Institute of Medicine.Ěý
• Lindsey Pellett, child development and family relationships, for a project titled “Parental ACE Scores and Family Dynamics: A Qualitative Study.” Pellett will be advised by Daniel Puhlman.
• Wyatt Perron, philosophy, for a project titled “Posing In Bondage: A Phenomenological Investigation of The Male Loneliness Epidemic.” Perron advised by Derek Michaud.
• Jayde Temby, child development and family relations, for a project titled “A Qualitative Analysis of Family Relations with Children with ASD.” Temby will be advised by Puhlman.

The 2026 MSGC Summer Undergraduate Award Recipients are:

• Berra Algul, engineering physics, for a project titled “Polar Magneto-Optic Kerr Effect Microscopy.” Algul advised by Nicholas Bingham.
• Keith Falkner, physics for a project titled “Inverse Magnetic Origami: Exploring Collective Magnetic Behavior By Unfolding Platonic Solids.” Falkner will be advised by Chioar.
• Eloise Fontaine, physics, for a project titled “Measuring Exchange Bias in Hysteresis Loops.” Fontaine will be advised by Bingham.
• Drake Grove, biomedical engineering, for a project titled “Improving CNF Processing Through Press-Assisted Dewatering.” Grove will be advised by Caitlin Howell.
• Mino Iobs, physics, for a project titled “Growth, Characterization, and Quantum Analysis of Weyl Semimetal Mn2Sn Thin Films.” Iobs will be advised by Bingham.
• Mackenzie Jones, physics, for a project titled “Creating Fe3O4 Films for Quantum Sensing & Astronomy Applications.” Jones will be advised by Bingham.
• Gavin Libby, engineering physics, for a project titled “Solar Thermal Reactor Prototype Sensor Update.” Libby will be advised by Justin Lapp.
• Benjamin Morgan, mechanical engineering, for a project titled “Education for K-8 in Manufacturing Engineering.” Morgan will be advised by Philip King.
• Alexander Thayer, physics, for a project titled “Investigating Electronic Band Structure of Cr-doped WSe2 via Vertical Magnetoelectrical Transport.” Thayer will be advised by Dinh Loc Duong.

To be eligible for the full-time Dean’s List, a student must have completed 12 or more calculable credits in the semester and have earned a 3.50 or higher semester GPA. Students who have part-time status during both the fall and spring semesters of a given academic year are eligible for the part-time Dean’s List in the spring. They must have completed 12 or more calculable credits over both terms and earned a combined GPA of 3.50 or higher.

Please note that some students have requested their information not be released; therefore, their names are not included.

Contact: Office of Student Records, umrecord@maine.edu

Director of the Versant Power Astronomy Center, University of Maine

The following article was , an independent nonprofit news organization that shares faculty expert analysis with a global audience.

As humans, we live out our lives on a planet that is constantly from the . For the most part, our world glides silently through space, shielded by Earth’s thin atmosphere.

Occasionally, however, the rest of the universe reminds us of its presence with stunning, visceral clarity.

Residents along the Massachusetts–New Hampshire border were startled by a on the afternoon of May 30, 2026. A large number of people up and down the Eastern Seaboard witnessed it.

imagery from , they identified the culprit as a small meteor measuring roughly 3 to 5 feet (1 to 2 meters) across. It was screaming through space at an astonishing 42,000 miles per hour (68,000 kilometers per hour) when it plunged into Earth’s upper atmosphere.

Friction between the meteor and the increasingly dense air quickly turned the kinetic energy of the rock shooting through the sky into blistering heat. At an altitude of roughly 40 miles (60 kilometers), the immense overcame the structural integrity of the meteor, causing it to fragment in a brilliant flash.

The breakup released a staggering burst of energy . When an object travels through the air at speeds faster than sound, which is 761 mph (1,225 kph), it creates a shock wave creating a thunderous clap, or sonic boom. While the majority of the rock vaporized, the remaining fragments rained down harmlessly into the waters of Cape Cod Bay.

In the past, such an event might have passed as an unverified sighting in the daytime sky. Today, however, our planet is wired with an accidental network of planetary defense sensors: , .

Because meteor entries like this one last , they were easily missed in the past. Now, our collective digital eyes capture these spontaneous cosmic intrusions almost instantly, bringing the universe directly into our daily news feeds. While dramatic, these events are more common than most people imagine.

As someone who has worked as a for over four decades, I often get emails, social media messages and phone calls about such objects and sightings. While hearing a sonic boom can be a bit unsettling or even shocking, it reminds us we live in an active universe and may want to occasionally look up instead of down at our devices.

A meteoric spring

The Cape Cod fireball was the latest sighting in an active season of meteoritic arrivals. Just months earlier, the solar system seemed to be sending a parade of rocky objects down to Earth.

, observers in Northern Europe witnessed large, slow-moving fireballs in their skies. Enthusiasts and scientists successfully recovered several fragments. Lab analysis of these specimens revealed their place in a fascinating lineage – scientists determined that they had , a massive, pristine asteroid orbiting between Mars and Jupiter.

On March 17, a 7-ton asteroid measuring roughly 6 feet across entered the atmosphere directly over Lake Erie. Traveling at 45,000 mph (72,400 kph), it generated a brilliant daytime flash and a powerful sonic boom, unloading an energy equivalent to 250 tons of TNT. about its trajectory, allowing meteorite hunters to recover pristine fragments in Valley City, just a short drive from Cleveland, Ohio.

Only four days later, on March 21, another cosmic fragment blazed across the skies of Texas. This object was about 3 feet wide, and it traveled at , releasing the energy of .

Outside of Houston, homeowner Sherri James was startled by a sudden crash, only to discover a 6-inch (15-cm) hole in her roof and a resting on her floor.

Thank goodness for Earth’s atmospheric shield

The benchmark for modern atmospheric impacts is the , which exploded over Russia on Feb. 15, 2013.

That object was significantly larger than any of the meteors researchers have observed in 2026, measuring 60 feet (18 m) across and weighing roughly 10,000 tons. When it shattered 18 miles (29 km) above the ground, it produced an airburst with an explosive force 30 times greater than the Hiroshima atomic bomb.

The resulting shock wave shattered glass across hundreds of square miles, and registering as a seismic event between 2.7 and 3.7 on the Richter scale. The incident was a stark reminder that while Earth’s atmosphere is an incredibly effective shield, absorbing the lion’s share of cosmic impacts, a large enough kinetic punch can still reach the surface below.

Despite the dramatic stories around these meteor impacts, history shows that the cosmic lottery rarely targets humans directly. In all of recorded history, there is only one universally confirmed case of a person being directly struck by a space rock.

In 1954, an 8.5-pound (3.8 kg) meteorite crashed through the roof of a house in Sylacauga, Alabama, ricocheted off a heavy wooden radio and struck a sleeping woman named . Though it left a severe bruise on her hip, the radio absorbed the brunt of the impact. Had it not been for the radio, there is a chance she could have been seriously injured or killed by this object.

Living with the cosmos

So, are you in any imminent danger from meteors? The mathematics of the cosmos provide profound reassurance. The are vanishingly small. You stand a better chance of winning a multimillion-dollar lottery jackpot 10 times in a row than ever being hit by a meteorite.

The vast majority of the tons of that bombard Earth daily arrive as harmless dust grains, burning up as elegant meteors or shooting stars. But when the larger pieces do break through and land on our planet, they offer a rare, tangible connection to the beginning of the solar system.

If you ever happen to witness one of these magnificent fireballs ripping open the sky, consider . The organization keeps track of sightings and falls from around the globe. Recovered fragments provide a way for scientists to gain valuable information about the origin of our solar system, and of our home planet.

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

In “AI Ethics and Governance: Historical, Cultural, and Regulatory Perspectives,” Wörsdörfer explores AI through the lens of history, philosophy, ethics, political economy and public policy. Through six interconnected essays, the book analyzes the origins of AI research, portrayals of artificial intelligence in popular culture and the emerging approaches to regulation.

The panel follows the journal’s release of . It will will feature leaders in healthcare, economic development and agriculture who contributed to the publication, including: 

• Rhiannon Hampson, vice president for economic development and the Gulf of Maine Research Institute.
• Shelley Megquier, director of policy and research for Maine Farmland Trust.
• Dora Anne Mills, chief health improvement officer at MaineHealth.
• Tora Johnson, director of the Sunrise County Economic Council’s Sustainable Prosperity Initiative.
• David Vail, professor of economics emeritus at Bowdoin College
• Ann Acheson, former research associate at Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center.

Housed at 91¸ŁŔű’s Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, the Maine Policy Review is the leading peer-reviewed journal focusing on policy analysis and research in the state. It’s published twice per year by the center and Margaret Chase Smith Foundation. 

“At 91¸ŁŔű, we are intentionally building a coordinated system of support and opportunity that reaches students early and continues throughout their academic journey,” said Scott Marzilli, senior associate provost for student success and innovation. “This work is not about isolated initiatives, but about creating a consistent, high-impact experience that prepares students for success in their studies and their careers from day one.”

The student experience is being transformed from beginning to end at 91¸ŁŔű through the Student Success and Retention Initiative, a hallmark of UMS TRANSFORMS. Thanks to the historic investment from the Harold Alfond Foundation, over half of all first-year students at 91¸ŁŔű engage in research and inquiry-based creative work early in their college careers. 

As a result, more students have been able to succeed in challenging, core courses, and build essential skills that support participation in high-impact internships along the way.

The initiative is organized around three interconnected efforts: Research Learning Experiences (RLEs), Gateways to Success (Gateways) and Pathways to Careers (Pathways). Together, they ensure that students are engaged early in their college careers, have the academic support they need to succeed and are connected to opportunities that prepare them to enter the workforce after graduation.

RLEs were first piloted at 91¸ŁŔű and 91¸ŁŔű Machias in fall 2021 with more than 30 course sections enrolling 250 students. Following the pilot, courses expanded across Maine’s public universities, and participation increased by 800%. In 2025, 2,374 students enrolled in 207 sections across 103 unique courses systemwide. More than 5,500 students have benefited. 

Maeve Littlefield, a sophomore majoring in biology, didn’t always imagine a career for herself in STEM. She didn’t develop a passion for the scientific process until late in her high school career.

Last fall, she enrolled in “Creative Expression of Science,” a Research Learning Experience (RLE) that combined creativity and science by exploring new ways to understand and communicate research and science. In examining prints, paintings, drawings and examples of digital storytelling, she began to see ways in which she could combine her creativity and interest in science to promote a broader understanding of changes in our natural world.

“Sometimes we get caught up in seeing statistics about the environment and human impact,” Littlefield said. “But we also forget that adaptation and evolution make really resilient communities and populations, and that it’s not hopeless. It makes you want to fight more for these things that are important — that if we do lose them, they aren’t coming back.” 

Experiences like Littlefield’s are foundational to the initiative’s broader effort to engage students in meaningful, hands-on learning early in their academic careers. They are designed to build skills and confidence, and to promote a sense of belonging through creative learning opportunities and research.

Following the success of the RLEs, Maine’s public universities began offering Advanced RLEs (ARLEs). They provide students who have completed one semester with more in-depth knowledge and experience, enhancing their critical thinking and building specialized skills.  

Recent ARLEs have tasked students with identifying methods to treat human polyomavirus-induced diseases, pitching business strategies to Maine businesses such as Aroma Joe’s and Bath Iron Works, and conducting group research on tidal marshes, forests, seaweed and historical artifacts along the Schoodic Peninsula. 

While RLEs are designed to engage and empower, Gateways to Success aims to eliminate barriers to ongoing success for students in entry-level courses by implementing strategies such as mentorship, early alerts and curriculum updates. 

“Students struggling in certain courses isn’t new. What is new is that now because of the generosity of the Harold Alfond Foundation, we’ve been able to implement a number of interventions to address the issue,” said Gateways coordinator Mark Brewer, also professor and chair of 91¸ŁŔű’s Department of Political Science. 

Since Gateways’ launch, the vast majority of students who were enrolled in historically challenging “gateway” courses have participated in pilot interventions to support their course experience. The program is currently in the third year of studying impacts from the pilot process to select and expand the strongest interventions. 

“I’ve seen an incredible amount of energy and enthusiasm from faculty across the colleges and at Machias in designing interventions to improve student success,” Brewer said. 

In the Maine Business School, a Gateways coordinator sent students notices about exams and other assignments, connected them with tutoring and review sessions, coached them on time management and facilitated weekly tutoring and academic support sessions. These efforts correlated with a 7% improvement in course success for MBS students.  

The College of Education and Human Development launched similar interventions through its Academic Support and Advising Program. By fall 2025, 92% of Gateway course enrollments led to successful course completion, compared to an average of just 79% from fall 2018-2022. 

For the course “Algebra for College Mathematics,” faculty updated the course to support students who would not historically qualify for it. Their efforts paid off, with 62% of students earning a C grade or higher. 

In fall 2025, over 5,000 students across UMS were supported by one or more of 24 Gateways-funded projects, including 67% of Gateways-eligible students at 91¸ŁŔű.

As students progress through their academic journeys at 91¸ŁŔű, Pathways to Careers bridges classroom experiences and real-world opportunities, making it easier for students to gain relevant experience and prepare to enter the workforce. High-impact practices such as early-stage career exploration, pre-internship training, networking support and mentorship are the cornerstone of gold-standard internship programs.

Internships are a hallmark of the 91¸ŁŔű experience, and graduates report high rates of participation. For the Class of 2025, 62% reported participating in at least one internship, totaling over 477,000 hours of experience. Furthermore, preliminary data from the first year of tracking graduates who participated in RLEs reveals that students who enrolled in them were more likely to complete an internship than students who did not participate.

For many, these opportunities are transformative.  

Pathways connected student Nathaniel Walker to an internship as a marketing and communications assistant at 91¸ŁŔű’s Advanced Manufacturing Center. This summer, he will intern with the company Intuit.

“A year ago, I was unsure how to even find a job and honestly felt pretty overwhelmed and lost, but the Pathways to Careers coordinator went above and beyond to help me find a role,” Walker said. “That chance has opened the doors for completely new opportunities and directions for me to pursue, and I am beyond grateful.”

Student Holly Zschetzsche said Pathways’ networking support allowed her to secure an engineering internship with manufacturer Corning. 

“Pathways to Careers doesn’t just prepare students,” she said, “it actively connects them to opportunities where they are seen and considered.”

Systemwide, 51% of students surveyed in 2025 report undertaking at least one internship, resulting in 695,000 hours of workforce participation.

Taken together, Research Learning Experiences, Gateways to Success and Pathways to Careers reflect the university’s commitment to ensuring that every student is engaged in their academic studies and community from the start, and that they receive the support and opportunities they need to succeed at 91¸ŁŔű and beyond.

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

Tim’s unlikely journey from rural Readfield, Maine, to 91¸ŁŔű to Los Angeles provides a backdrop for his latest gig: speaker for the 2026 undergraduate commencement ceremonies at his alma mater.

In this episode of “The Maine Question” podcast, host Ron Lisnet and Allen Adams, communications specialist and marketing coordinator for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, speak with Tim about his journey, the business of show business, memories of his days in Orono and much more.

Listen to the podcast on , , , , or “The Maine Question” website. 

What topics would you like to learn more about? What questions do you have for 91¸ŁŔű experts? Email them to mainequestion@maine.edu.

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

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

Undergraduate category award winners

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

Graduate category award winner

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

Student Innovation and Commercialization Awards

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

Additional awards

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

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

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

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

University of Maine

Promoted to Professor

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

Promoted to Extension Professor

• Cooperative Extension
  • Colt Knight, Extension Livestock Educator

Promoted to Professor with Tenure

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

Granted Tenure at Current Rank of Professor

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

Promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure

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

Promoted to Associate Extension Professor with Continuing Contract

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

Promoted to Associate Professor

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

Promoted to Senior Lecturer with Just-Cause 

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

University of Maine at Machias

Promoted to Senior Lecturer with Just-Cause 

• University of Maine at Machias
  • Daniel Ellis, English

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

The cohort is implementing ReuseME, a pilot program in partnership with the coastal towns of Bar Harbor, Bath and South Portland. Participating eateries include Cafe This Way and Coffee Matter/Mother’s Kitchen in Bar Harbor, Solo Pane in Bath, and Second Rodeo Coffee and Verbena in South Portland.

By testing the viability of reusable takeout packaging in participating restaurants, students are at the forefront of developing a model that reduces waste, prevents plastic pollution and saves local businesses and municipalities money on the purchase and disposal of single-use food and beverage packaging.

Throughout this project, 91¸ŁŔű student researchers are working directly with these businesses to track results and analyze usage patterns to refine the returnable model.

“The driver for this project has been a focus on wanting to maintain and protect Maine’s coastal environment because it’s a very important part of the state’s culture,” said Ryan Kennedy, a University of Maine senior in the Department of Anthropology.

Kennedy, an undergraduate research assistant on the project, has been involved since the initial baseline surveys last June. They noted that the team met with restaurant owners to discuss their establishments’ capabilities and customer habits.

“I want to help bring cost savings to the frontline because that drives most business decisions,” Kennedy said. “On the commercial side, choosing between the wallet and the planet can be difficult. With the cost of everything going up, people want to know if a change will save them money. By providing hard data to businesses and a simple message to its customers, we can show that sustainable swaps don’t have to be a complicated transition.”

These five local eateries now offer diners the option of having their food and/or beverage packaged in returnable stainless steel containers. Customers can check out these containers by signing up for a free account in the Recirclable app. After enjoying their takeout meals, customers can return the containers to any of the participating establishments.

“I think we’re starting to see people realize how easy it is to make more sustainable swaps,” Kennedy said. 

In just a little over a month since the Reuse Maine pilot project launched, more than 100 customers across the state have borrowed nearly 500 reusable containers. 

Other student researchers involved in the project include Chyanne Yoder, Catherine Segada, Gianna DeJoy, William Brenneman and Alejandro Snell. They are joined by project advisor Cindy Isenhour, a professor in the Department of Anthropology and the Climate Change Institute.

As part of an extensive, interdisciplinary effort to mitigate marine pollution, the project is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Maine Sea Grant and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. The support allows the team to tackle environmental challenges while providing student researchers with the resources needed to develop scalable, real-world solutions.

“I think the hard data and transparency between the businesses, their customers and our team is what’s really driving the success and the happiness with this project,” Kennedy said. “It helps people feel like they’re making a difference without having to go out of their way. It’s just a part of their routine when they pick up a coffee or grab lunch.”

Story by Alexa Rose Perocillo, news intern

Contact: Marcus Wolf, marcus.wolf@maine.edu; Cindy Isenhour, cynthia.isenhour@maine.edu

The team designed the app so event organizers can instantly notify student users when they have leftovers available by sharing posts with pictures, locations, event end times and potential allergens or dietary restrictions. 

“We’re taking out two birds with one stone here, trying to reduce some food waste and trying to give students just a little something for a bit more reliable nutrition on campus that’s free and accessible,” said Moody-Broen, a computer science major and English minor, and his colleagues. 

The project was one of more than 350 on display during the 91¸ŁŔű Student Symposium for Research and Creative Activity on April 17. From lobster shell styrofoam and a shark fossil study to an autonomous model race car and a community loom, the event demonstrated the hard work and ingenuity of undergraduate and graduate students from both 91¸ŁŔű and its regional campus, the University of Maine at Machias. 

The symposium reflects 91¸ŁŔű’s commitment being a learner-centered R1 that offers hands-on, real-world research learning opportunities, where undergraduate students work directly with faculty and industry partners to tackle challenges facing Maine communities.

Participating in the symposium not only allows students to showcase their work, but also develop skills in poster design, presentation, communication and networking, all of which will serve them in future careers and advanced degree programs. For Moody-Broen, the event served as an opportunity to test how he presents his work and gain more exposure to his field.

“I think it’s great to be interacting with other researchers and other products and seeing what that looks like in an early professional, late graduate setting,” he said. “It’s good to be able to get your work out there for the first time.”

Over 200 judges from 91¸ŁŔű and the community perused the posters and interviewed the students about their work. Among them was David Barrett, lecturer in accounting for the Maine Business School, who returned for a second year to support the students and enjoy their “really neat research.”

“What I’m looking for is that the presenter knows what they’re talking about and can communicate it effectively,” he said during the event. “Getting students more practice and getting them more comfortable with talking about something with someone they’ve never met is a massively important skill for students to have as they go out of that comfort zone.” 

Several rows down, Mya Griffith, a master’s student studying aquaculture and aquatic resources, presented her project to a judge, detailing her group’s ongoing investigation into the bioaccumulation of a group of toxic chemicals known as PFAS in seafood. Her team plans to integrate monitoring, predictive modeling and intervention for seafood food systems. 

For Griffith, participating in the symposium helps her refine her communication skills and network, both of which will help her toward pursuing a Ph.D. and career in sustainable agriculture. She also cares that people hear more about the issues she researches. 

“Even though I don’t have results, I want to bring awareness to it,” she said, “collaboration with the community is super important. And just raising awareness and making sure that people understand that these things are occurring in the environment and that they do affect us as humans, is super important.”

91¸ŁŔű’s Center for Undergraduate Research has hosted a student symposium since 2008. At their first symposium, only 98 projects were presented. Now there are more than seven times that. The growth has been made possible by students, staff, faculty and community members investing their time and effort into the research experience. It is also aided by generosity of community sponsors who help cover the costs of the event itself. 

“As you go around today, I encourage you to ask our students what is their ‘why?’ and what they love about research. Please support them through the journey that actually never stops,” said Giovanna Guidoboni, interim vice president for research and dean of the Maine College of Engineering and Computing, during her remarks at the symposium. “Today is an opportunity to engage, connect and learn, be curious, ask questions and embrace the unexpected connections that emerge from conversations across the community.” 

Jordan Potter, a senior majoring in biomedical engineering, stood alongside his partners and their poster ready to answer questions about their project, “Smart Scrubs: Enhanced Scrubs for Medical Personnel.” The group was designing moisture-resistant scrubs to protect healthcare workers from contaminants and prevent microbe colonization microbes through the application of water-resistant and microbiostatic coatings.

“What I want to do directly after I graduate is go to graduate school,” Potter said, adding that participating in the symposium helps me prepare for grad school because of the aspect of getting to present to people.I get to meet new people and tell them what we’ve been working on.”

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