University of Maine - Research

Research

UMaine is one of the National Science Foundation's top 100 public universities for research. In FY10, UMaine exceeded $100 million in external expenditures for research — 86% of which was federal funding. Leading sectors of the university in generating external support are advanced materials, marine sciences, climate change, environmental studies, forestry, precision manufacturing, and aquaculture. Undergraduate research is a priority at UMaine, and in 2008, the Center for Undergraduate Research was established to connect students with faculty projects that suit their interests.

Notable research by college includes:

College of Engineering

• High Performance Computing
• NASA EPSCoR Wireless Shape Monitoring of Inflatable Structures (as of November 2010, UMaine hosts NASA's only mock-up of the Lunar Inflatable Habitat)
• Modular Advanced Composite Hull (MACH) forms for Hybrid Ship Structures
• Structural Integrity Assurance of Aerospace Vehicles for the Maine Space Grant Consortium
• Modular Ballistic Protection System (MBPS) with the U.S. Natick Army Soldier RD&E Center
• Bridge-in-a-Backpack
• Blast-Resistant Wood Structures with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers R&D Center

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

• One of the world's largest collections of chromosomal images that will be used to compare normal and abnormal cells to indicate the onset of tumors
• "Thwarted Voices", recovered music of composers silenced by the Third Reich
• Development of rodent models of intermediate behaviors associated with the complex phenotypes of alcoholism/drug addiction
• Moral and ethical issues surrounding medicine and medical research
• Infant sleep neurophysiology and behavior studied to analyze the consequences of prenatal exposure to alcohol, opiates, and other drugs on the developing brain
• Archaeological field research in Machias Bay with the local Passamaquoddy to analyze subsistence changes along the coastal regions of Maine at the time of European contact
• Computing and information science, especially high-performance computing, databases, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, ice sheet modeling, and spatial information/GIS

Maine Business School

• "What Is Wrong with this Picture? A Problem with Comparative Return Plots on Finance Websites and a Bias Against Income-Generating Assets"
• Organization research: how sports teams (baseball, football, ice hockey) enable knowledge sharing, creativity, and team learning
• Knowledge Transfer Alliance, connecting UMaine professors in business, economics, and engineering to Maine businesses to help improve their efficiency and effectiveness
• "Sustainability, Complexity and Learning: Insights from Complex Systems Approaches"

Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture

• The ecology of the Canada lynx in Maine's northern forests
• Cellular and molecular processes that allow plants to respond to low-temperature stress
• Bear Brook Watershed Project – climate change, air quality regulation, surface water quality, and forest sustainability
• Use of cellulose nanofibrils in thermoplastic composites
• Economic impacts and spending patterns of cruise ship passengers visiting cities
• Consortium of 11 state universities working to develop a program for promoting healthful eating and improving the quality of life of young adults
• Satellite ocean color imagery to study ecological processes, such as what species of phytoplankton dominate, and biogeochemical processes, including how fast carbon is fixed by phytoplankton into organic material

College of Education and Human Development

• Literacy i3 (Investing in Innovation) grant
• Using the State Longitudinal Data System to examine the impact of student mobility on the changing educational services needs throughout Maine and to evaluate the state professional development activities targeting special education teachers and staff
• The Developmental Epidemiology and Biobehavioral Informatics group continues to work with the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention to provide state-of-the art informatics that support enhancing the state's capacity to identify at-risk children and ensure they receive services, and has partnered with the Maine Developmental Disabilites Council on the Maine Autism Spectrum Disorders Development Project to assess
• the prevalence and nature of autism in Maine
• Aunts and uncles and their relationship with nieces and nephews
• Contexts, causes, and consequences of women faculty's advancement, recruitment, and retention at UMaine
• Hazing on college campuses
• Kinesiology: Aerobic capacity in 17 schools across Maine; and, in partnership with Logan Chiropractic University, research on sophisticated gait measurements with implications for athletes with concussions