Courtesy / University of Maine
Alice "Pips" Veazey, director of Portland Gateway
February 2, 2022
Bioplastics and equitable energy among goals of new UMaine seed grant awards
Screenshot / courtesy, University of Maine Portland Gateway
The CONVERGE Maine program of UMaine Portland Gateway brings together the University of Maine System and other institutions and organizations to address societal or scientific questions.
By Staff
Creating plastics from kelp and bridging gaps in energy research are among the goals of the newest projects to receive competitive seed grants through University of Maine Portland Gateway.
The projects represent the first round of awards through the CONVERGE Maine program of UMaine Portland Gateway. The Gateway, initiated in 2021 and located in Portland, is designed to serve as a connection from UMaine research to southern Maine and beyond, according to a news release.
Alice “Pips” Veazey was named the inaugural director of the Portland Gateway in June 2021. She joined UMaine from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where she was the principal investigator and project director of the Alaska National Science Foundation Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research.
Portland Gateway was envisioned as a "one-stop connection and point of access to the vast array of innovative research, education and outreach resources, programs and services at the state’s research university in Orono and its facilities statewide," the university said when she was hired.
The recent awards are focused on meeting Maine needs and were awarded to facilitate convergent research across the University of Maine System.
The grant program, CONVERGE Maine, brings together University of Maine System experts with an interest in transdisciplinary work, developing and strengthening partnerships with other institutions and organizations within the state, and addressing a societal challenge or scientific question facing Maine today.
Faculty and professional research staff and scientists were invited to submit proposals in late 2021. Each team agreed to attend a kickoff event to co-develop a research collaboration plan prior to receiving the award. Proposals that engage community members in a meaningful manner were given special consideration.
One project, dubbed "Building Sustainable Transdisciplinary Networks to Support Just and Equitable Energy Transitions," aims to establish a cross-campus network to advance research on energy transformation, with a particular focus on inclusive, equitable and just approaches to that process.
Collaborators from UMaine include Jessica Jansujwicz, research assistant professor in the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology; Linda Silka, a senior fellow at the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions; and Sandra De Urioste-Stone, an associate professor in the School of Forest Resources and assistant vice president for research.
Another project, "Transdisciplinary One Health Approach to Zoonotic Canid Parasites in Maine," will work is to better understand the risk of parasites to wild and domestic dogs, as well as to human health.
Collaborators from UMaine include Pauline Kamath, assistant professor of animal health, and Sue Ishaq, assistant professor of animal and veterinary sciences, both in the School of Food and Agriculture; and Darren Ranco, associate professor of anthropology and chair of Native American Programs. External collaborators include Michele Walsh, state veterinarian, Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry.
The following University of Maine One Health National Science Foundation Research Traineeship graduate students also are participating in the project: Elizabeth Pellecer Rivera, Alaina Woods and Tegwin Taylor, Ph.D. candidates in ecology and environmental sciences; and Remy Babich, a Ph.D. candidate in biochemistry and biomedical sciences.
In addition, researchers in "Farm-to-Product: Creating Sustainable Kelp-Based Bioplastics" will work to create fully vertically integrated kelp-based bioplastic production in Maine, hoping to propel development in the blue economy by leveraging the plastics and aquaculture expertise in the area.
Collaborators from University of Southern Maine include Asheesh Lanba, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Composites Engineering Research Laboratory, and Eklou Amendah, an assistant professor of marketing. Collaborator Adam St. Gelais is an aquaculture innovation specialist at the UMaine Aquaculture Research Institute.
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