Students in the Spotlight

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Posted October 9, 2009

Intermedia MFA graduate student John Bell's research has recently been recognized in the October issue of the online journal Open Source Business Resource.  The article gives an overview of his research work at UMaine with professor Jon Ippolito and others. His essay, "Opening the Source of Art," can be viewed at: http://www.osbr.ca/ojs/index.php/osbr/article/view/980/943 The abstract of the essay reads: "The open source community has developed a number of tools and philosophies to assist in distributed software development. The Still Water Lab at the University of Maine believes that these tools and philosophies can be adapted to facilitate other forms of distributed creative endeavors. It has developed two tools that reinterpret the ideas used in open source software through the lenses of artistic creation and preservation: The Pool and the Variable Media Questionnaire. This article discusses how several of the ideas used in software development have influenced Still Water's approach to making tools that support artistic production." The Open Source Business Resource (OSBR) is a free monthly publication of the Talent First Network. The OSBR is for Canadian business owners, company executives and employees, directors of open source foundations, leaders of open source projects, open source groups, individuals and organizations that contribute to open source projects, technology transfer professionals, and government employees who promote wealth creation through innovation.

Posted July 23, 2009

Killarney pictured here with his winning poster.

James Killarney a Doctoral student in Chemistry  recently won the $100 dollar cash prize for the best new student poster presenter at the regional Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Conference is Durham, N.H.  Killarney's poster explained "Fluorescence Spectroscopy as a Rapid, Cost-Effective Method to Monitor and Analyze Low Levels of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCP) in Environmental Water Samples."  Killarney's work is focused on using synchronous scan and Excitation-Emission Matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy as an analytical tool to identify low levels of PPCP's in Maine waters.

Posted May 22, 2009

History doctoral student Stefano Tijerina has received a Doctoral Student Research Award from the Canadian Embassy to support archival research in Ottawa on the historical developments behind the construction of Canadian-Colombian relations during the government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau (1968-1984). Doctoral Student Research Awards offer doctoral students an opportunity to conduct part of their dissertation research in Canada. The program is intended for full-time students at accredited four-year colleges and universities and whose dissertations are related in substantial part to the study of Canada. This year, two awards were given to environmental topics, one to research on immigration and one (Tijerina) on Canadian foreign policy. For more information on the award please go here.

Posted May 15, 2009

Research by UMaine wildlife ecology professor Cynthia Loftin, doctoral student Amanda Shearin, and recent doctoral graduate Emily Schilling is featured in a New York Times story. Loftin, Shearin, Schilling and others are researching the ecosystems of fishless lakes, which are "becoming increasingly rare" but are scattered around Maine. Shearin received a Maine Ecomonic Improvement Fund (MEIF) summer research fellowship from the Graduate School in 2007. Schilling was the recipient of two University Graduate Research Assistantships from the Graduate School.

Amanda Shearin

Margaret Estapa

Michael Sauer

Two University of Maine Oceanography graduate students received NASA fellowships last year. Doctoral candidate Michael Sauer received a $30,000 NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship to create a more accurate calculation of the amount of chlorophyll in the water using optical equipment, sensors and data from Gulf of Maine Ocean Observing System (GoMOOS) buoys. Doctoral candidate Margaret Estapa is studying the release of carbon from mud delivered from the Mississippi River to areas along the Gulf Coast. For more information see: "How Green is the Gulf"

Posted April 24, 2009

Brenton Murray, a Master of Business Administration student is the recipient of the 2009 Active Citizenship Award in Community Service from the Bodwell Center for Service and Volunteerism for his charitable work most notably in organizing a UMaine chapter of Habitat for Humanity.  Dr. Nory Jones nominated Murray for his leadership in many fundraising events around campus and has been quoted saying "he consistently demonstrates qualities of dedication, leadership, teamwork and a commitment to helping society."  To see the full story from UMaine News, please click here.

Brenton Murray seen here participating in his charity work.

Posted April 16, 2009

Stephanie Leonard, a candidate in the Maine Studies Master of Liberal Studies has recently won the 2009 Maine Studies Research and Creativity Graduate Award for her paper titled, "Uncovering the Myth: LL Bean and the Maine Mystique."  Her paper was also awarded the Vincent Hartgen Art History Travel Award for 2009 from the Department of Art. Leonard currently teaches art at Fairmount School in Bangor.

Posted April 8, 2009

Helen York, PhD student in History has been awarded a New England Regional Fellowship Consortium Grant for 2009-2010. The Consortium includes 18 major historical institutions with collections and archives broadly representative of all parts of New England and spanning the period from before the sixteenth century to the present day. York's research deals with the underlying conscious and unconscious social structures that determine how modern electronic media history is preserved.  Her immediate focus is the loss of the audio record of the broadcast medium of radio, especially radio produced by marginalized segments of society. During her research visits to the Maine Historical Society, The Rhode Island Historical Society and the Schlesinger Library as part of her Consortium Fellowship, York will examine the records of regional broadcasters, French-language radio stations and women in New England broadcasting to search for patterns of historic social disenfranchisement . "This is not about Jack Benny or Wolfman Jack, " said York, "This research is about the radio that's really not there, because it wasn't considered important enough to keep. That boundary between what we choose to add to History and what we choose to forget is what really interests me."

Posted March 2, 2009

Dan Flannery, a student in the Intermedia MFA program has won a Grand Prize Award in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest.  Flannery's song "One Wasn't Enough" won in the Children's category, and can be described as 'a catchy tune with funny lyrics.'  He is also a finalist for both the Lennon Award, and the Maxell Song of the Year that will award $20,000 (winners to be announced in July 2009).  To listen to Flannery's song, and see a listing of other category winners, please click here.  For a full story please click here.

Posted February 13, 2009

A Master of Science student in Civil Engineering, Daniel Alvarez was recently recognized by the American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA) for his research at UMaine's Advanced Structures & Composites Center (AEWC).  Alvarez, along with Dr. Roberto Lopez-Anido, Dr. William Davids, and AEWC Director Habib Dagher were acknowledged for having the best technical paper in the green composites track.  For the full story please click here.

Posted February 10, 2009

Gold Quilts, Detail 2007

Gabriella D'Italia, a MFA Intermedia student has been selected for the first National Biennial Exhibition of MFA Students for her piece Gold Quilts.  The Imaging Desire: Aegis First Biennial Graduate Student Exhibition  will be shown in Gallery X at the Hite Art Institute at the University of Louisville, KY from February 12th to March 21st.  For more information about the exhibition, and for the full story please click here.

Posted January 16, 2009

MFA graduate student Dan Flannery was featured in a Bangor Daily News story on January 9, 2009 for the songs he and his brother Mike have written and recorded for kids. Flannery recently won two 2008 Children's Music Awards (see story below).

Posted November 20, 2008

Dan Flannery, a MFA Intermedia student has been awarded two Children's Music Web Awards for 2008 .  Dan is currently pursuing his Intermedia degree with a focus on exploring new ways to present abstract concepts, stories, and information to children through a variety of interactive media. Dan has worked in the field of children's media since 2001 when he began writing and producing music for a children's hip-hop project called MeeWee.  MeeWee is designed to provide children of the hip-hop generation with positive, educational music. To date, it has been successfully integrated into hundreds of school programs across the country. The album, "MeeWee: Hip Hop for Kids" was recently released and just won Best Album for School Aged Children in the 2008 Children's Music Web Awards.  His latest record, "Show Me How You Dance" is a collection of animal inspired dance songs, and aims to help kids develop a strong sense of self while having fun and enjoying music. After learning a wide array of animal dances, listeners demonstrate how a person dances by performing their own unique moves. A track from this album, "The Crab Walk" won Best Song for School Aged Children in the 2008 Children's Music Web Awards.

Jamie Young, a PhD student in Biomedical Science has received a Greater Research Opportunities Fellowship from the U.S. EPA for her work in Cancer Research.  Her research focuses on the potential exposure of environmental pollutants; hexavalent chromium and arsenic to the general public.  Young is one of only two recipients of the award granted in New England .   For more information please click here.

Posted November 3, 2008

UMaine doctoral student Nancy Forster-Holt, a UMaine business lecturer who is also a business owner, has been elected to the Institution of Management Accountants' Small Business and Regulatory Affairs Committee. According to John Mahon, Dean of the College of Business, Public Policy, and Health, "Nancy Forster-Holt is an incredibly talented colleague, teacher and student at Maine Business School. In addition to running her own small business she teaches classes for us in several areas and is a very popular instructor. Bright, engaging and creative in her teaching style and approach she is a credit to us."

Posted September 15, 2008

Ph.D. student Jeff Marsh is interested in the formation of shear zones in Earth’s crust, and how processes like fluid flow, metamorphic reactions and grain-size reduction keep these shear zones weak over geologically long periods. Jeff has two field areas – one in Maine and another in Ontario, Canada . Here, Jeff is in Ontario , peering at foliation deflected into a shear zone cored by pegmatite (once molten rock injected into the shear zone). The pegmatite appears to have brought water into the host rocks, allowing reactions to weaken the rock along the pegmatite boundary.

Jeffrey H. Marsh is a PhD student in the Department of Earth Sciences. His dissertation research addresses how the strength of large faults (and their deeper shear zones) in Earth’s crust evolves with time and progressive tectonic plate motions. This question is at the core of cutting-edge research in fault mechanics, and has important societal implications owing to the hazards posed by seismogenic faults like the San Andreas Fault in California . Jeff passed his comprehensive examination and advanced to candidacy in the fall of 2007, 18 months after arriving. In the 2.5 years that Jeff has been at the University of Maine , he has attracted more than $10,000 in competitive research funding from organizations like the Geological Society of America and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. This year, Jeff won the 2008 Outstanding Research Grant Proposal Award by the Geological Society of America (one of 20 recipients in a field of 302 grant awardees drawn from 570 applicants). He simultaneously won the Exceptional Merit Award for research grant proposal, Structural Geology and Tectonics Division, Geological Society of America (one of 3 awards). Jeff has also won awards for conference presentations, and published six abstracts from his work at UM. Jeff (with advisor Scott Johnson) is currently a recipient of a University of Maine Doctoral Research Fellowship.

Posted September 11, 2008

Posted September 2nd, 2008

Posted July 2nd, 2008

Shannon Risk is a 2008-2009 Fullbright Fellow. Shannon's Dissertation Title is: "In Order to Establish Justice": The Nineteenth-Century Woman Suffrage Movement in Maine and New Brunswick Her study will explore whether or not the U.S.-Canadian border loomed large in the formation of nineteenth-century women's political struggle to attain the vote. This project will also demonstrate that, despite the formation of female political organizations in the more urban areas of Maine and New Brunswick, the suffrage movement was sustained by women (and men) in rural areas. Finally, my project will attempt to explain how citizenship, and the rights of citizenship were perceived in Maine and New Brunswick during the woman suffrage movement, and how those ideas played out well into the twentieth century. This project is significant in that it counters the assumption that progressive ideas only flow from urban areas, it demonstrates detailed study of women's political behavior across a national border in a field that has neglected this topic, and it shows the strategies of a disfranchised group to pressure the male political system, in many respects, by creating its own political power structure.

Posted May 23rd, 2008

Kurt Rademaker, a  Interdisciplinary Studies Ph.D. candidate in Quaternary archaeology, recently received two national awards: the Kellogg Award for geoarchaeological research from the Society for American Archaeology, and the Claude C. Albritton Award for geoarchaeological research from the Geological Society of America. The Society for American Archaeology is an international organization dedicated to the research, interpretation and protection of the archaeological heritage of the Americas. The Geological Society of America is the leading organization of earth science professionals. Kurt is only the second person to receive both awards, and the first to do so in the same year.  Kurt was also featured in a recent Portland Press Herald report on Maine-based archaeologists and how their academic and career choices have been affected by the Indiana Jones movies.

 

Posted May 13th, 2008

The Graduate School has received notification that the following students were named the Most Outstanding Graduate Students in their department/program.

• Alicia Jewel - Communication Sciences and Disorders 
• Taryn Reese - Music 
• Abigail Johnson Cronkite - School of Nursing 
• Jason Bolton - Food Science & Human Nutrition (MS) 
• Monica Nelson - Food and Nutrition Sciences (PhD) 
• Jason Oliver - Ecology and Environmental Science
• Kristen Covino - Zoology 
• Christy Finlayson, Biological Sciences 
• Shannan Fotter - Kinesiology and Physical Education 
• Ana Zivanovic - Business Administration 
• Erin Hews - Accounting 
• Priscilla Jewell - School of Social Work 
• Alma Delic-Ibukic - Electrical and Computer Engineering
  

Posted May 1st, 2008

Laurie Pinkert, a Master of Arts student in English, was recently honored as the University of Maine's 2008 Graduate Student Employee of the Year.  Laurie was recognized for her work as a teaching assistant in the English program and as the coordinator for the Graduate School's fall orientation program.  The announcement was made during UMaine's Student Employee Appreciation Week.  Laurie's citation noted that her "many contributions to the English Department, to the Graduate School, to the Center for Teaching Excellence, and to the University of Maine in general as a student, teacher, and leader will be her legacy. She naturally improves any organization that is fortunate to have her involved." After planning the Graduate School's orientation program again this summer, Laurie will enter a Ph.D. program in English at Purdue University.

Posted April 22nd, 2008

On April 9th, 2008, the Penobscot Valley Chapter of Maine Audubon awarded the 1st Annual Inez Boyd Environmental Prize Award to two University of Maine Graduate students.  Robert Freeman, a doctoral student in Ecology and Environmental Sciences, was awarded the $1000 first prize for his research entitled "Modeling the impacts of land use change on vernal pool-breeding amphibians." Michael Bailey, a doctoral student in Zoology, was awarded the $500 second prize for his research entitled "Effects of age and size on relative survival of newly stocked Atlantic salmon fry."  The Inez Boyd Environmental Prize Award was established to encourage and reward academic research at the University of Maine on topics that promote the mission and major initiatives of the Penobscot Valley Chapter of Maine Audubon. It is named in honor of the late Inez Boyd, one of the chapter's original founders. Inez Boyd was a lifelong environmentalist and an inspirational leader.

A research paper written by Rodrigo Silva-Muñoz, a doctoral student in Civil Engineering, won a 1st-place Outstanding Paper award for the upcoming 2008 international conference of the Society for the Advancement of Materials and Process Engineering (SAMPE).  Rodrigo's paper, entitled "Monitoring of Marine Grade Composite Doubler-Plate Joints Using Embedded Fiber Optic Strain Sensors," co-authored by associate professor of civil engineering Roberto Lopez-Anido, reports on research done at UMaine’s Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center into a new structural health monitoring system for U.S. Navy vessels. A news release with more information is available HERE. 

Laura Brothers and Jeff Marsh, both doctoral students in Earth Sciences, won awards at the recent 43rd Annual Meeting of the Northeastern Section of the Geological Society of America (NEGSA) this past March in Buffalo, New York. Laura won NEGSA's Best Student Poster Award and Jeff won 2nd Place for his poster.

Posted February 14th, 2008

Julie-Ann Scott, a doctoral Interdisciplinary Studies student in Communications with concentrations in gender studies and higher education, recently published an article in a top communications journal (Scott, J., 2008. Performing unfeminine femininity: Bulimic women's personal narratives as performance of identity. Text and Performance Quarterly, volume 28, page numbers 116-138). This article was selected to be translated into a more public piece that has just been published in the February 2008 issue of Communication Currents and can be viewed HERE.  Text and Performance Quarterly and Communication Currents are publications of the National Communication Association. The authors of all of the other articles in the February issue of Communication Currents are professors at institutions such as the University of Georgia and the University of Hawaii. Julie-Ann is the Graduate Student Government (GSG) Grants Officer and a former two-time President of GSG.

A Canadian news service story reported on new research related to melting at the Barnes Ice Cap in the Canadian Arctic. The full Canada.com article is available HERE.  The story includes comments from William Sneed, a doctoral student in Interdisciplinary Studies at UMaine, who analyzed the melting over the past 22 years for an article in the journal Geology. Climate Change Institute scientists Gordon Hamilton and Roger Hooke collaborate on that research. Sneed is the lead author of the article that appeared in the January 2008 issue of Geology, the flagship journal of the Geological Society of America.  A link to the full text of the Geology article is available HERE.

Four UMaine graduate students were recently selected as winners of the annual Dow, Griffee, and Clements Graduate Student Competition, staged each year by UMaine's Maine Agriculture and Forest Experiment Station:

• Lee Beers, Masters student in Botany & Plant Pathology, "Comparative analysis of the low temperature transcriptomes of Solanum tuberosum and Solanum commersonii"
• Sean Blomquist, doctoral student in Wildlife Ecology, "Relative fitness and behavioral compensation of amphibians in a managed forest"
• Philip Hofmeyer, doctoral student in Forest Resources, "Ecology and silviculture of northern white-cedar (Thuja occidentalis L.) in Maine"
• Erin Simons, doctoral student in Wildlife Ecology, "Spatial and temporal dynamics of habitat supply for Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) and American Martens (Martes americana) on Commercial Forest lands in Maine"

Emily Notch, a doctoral student in Biochemistry, Microbiology and Molecular Biology, was profiled in the latest issue of UMaine Today for her research on environmental estrogen. Notch is a recent recipient of a prestigious STAR Fellowship from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The full UMaine Today article is available HERE.

Patrick Devanney, currently a Master of Education student in Higher Education and Vice-President of UMaine's Graduate Student Government, was chosen as one of three graduate students for the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Region I Conference Committee Internship for the conference in Burlington, VT. Patrick will also sit on a panel for undergraduate students interested in pursuing a career in Student Affairs.

Robert "BJ" Kitchin, a doctoral student in Interdisciplinary Studies and a Teaching Assistant in Disability Studies, was recently named the recipient of the American Public Health Association’s DisAbility Forum Student Member Award. The award is presented each year to one college student in the United States who has contributed promising work to advance the health and quality of life of people with disabilities. The American Public Health Association is one of the nation’s largest public health associations. "BJ is a role model and ambassador who puts disability studies in the forefront of student’s minds," says Elizabeth DePoy, coordinator of interdisciplinary disability studies at the Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies. A news release with more information is available HERE. 

Robert Freeman, a doctoral student in Ecology and Environmental Sciences, was awarded the best student paper prize at the recent Transatlantic Land Use Conference held in Washington, DC. Additional information is available in the September edition of Network07, the Northeast Rural Development quarterly newsletter that can be viewed HERE.  Freeman's advisors include Prof. Kathleen Bell in the School of Economics.

Alan Wanamaker, a UMaine Graduate Alumni who is currently in a postdoctoral program at Bangor University of Wales, was featured in a BBC story for the 440-plus year-old clam he and his colleagues discovered.  The scientists believe that the clam is the longest-lived animal ever discovered.  Alan, who obtained his Ph.D. in Earth Sciences in 2007,  is featured in an accompanying video clip with the BBC story that is available HERE.

Posted October 30th, 2007

Terri Garner, a doctoral student in History, was recently named director of the William J. Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Ark.  Terri is currently the executive director of the Bangor Museum and Center for History and begins her new job on November 5th.  A Bangor Daily News article with more information is available HERE.

Jennie (Leland) Woodard, a doctoral student in History, will hold a signing of her first children's book entitled Mardelia and the Princess of Thean.  The book signing will be held on November 9th, 2007 at 7:30PM at Borders in Bangor, ME as part of their Local Author Showcase.

Jenna Morency, currently a Master's student in History at the University of Maine and a recent 2007 magna cum laude graduate of the University of Maine at Farmington, has been awarded a Fulbright grant to research the plight of U.S. citizens imprisoned by British forces at a Tasmanian penal colony in 1839 for their participation in the Canadian Rebellion.  A Sun Journal article with more information is available HERE.

Joy Giguere, a doctoral student in History, had her article entitled "Virtuous Women, Useful Men, & Lovely Children: Epitaph Language and the Construction of Gender and Social Status in Cumberland County, Maine, 1720-1820" published in the recent edition of Markers.

Posted September 4th, 2007

Christy Finlayson, a doctoral student in Biological Sciences, leads the charge to protect the ecology of a tiny island from the ravages of unwanted guests.  Midway Atoll, once a regular stop for transpacific military flights, and its isolated location and nearly predator-free terrain have made it the perfect nursery for more than 2 million nesting seabirds.  Finlayson and her team have employed a multipronged approach to removing invasive golden crownbeard and restoring Midway's native vegetation in a way that is both effective and ecologically sound — pulling up plants, carefully using herbicides, replanting native species and educating the public.  Finlayson's project combines research, educational outreach, and good old-fashioned muscle to combat the tenacious plants, and has proven effective so far. The project began as an assignment for a graduate-level course on biological invasives taught by Finlayson's adviser, UMaine biological sciences professor Andrei Alyokhin.  A link to the article featured in the September/October issue of UMaine Today is available HERE.

Posted August 29th, 2007

Jason Bolton, a Master's student in Food Science & Human Nutrition, was recently feature on the "Back to Business" segment on WVOM/WABI radio's "Maine in the Morning" program.  Bolton spoke about YoBon Berry Bites, a dessert snack developed by a UMaine student group in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition. The group took first place in a national competition for food developers, and efforts are underway to commercialize the product.

Soren Hansen, a doctoral student in Marine Biology, is the subject of two write-ups in the September/October issue of UMaine Today.  Hansen runs Sea & Reef Aquaculture, raising tropical fish such as clownfish and seahorses to supply the home aquarium industry.  A link to the full article is available HERE.  Hansen also provides some insight into the fascinating characteristics of seahorses in a column available HERE.

Michele Garrity, Mary Kellogg, Kenneth Gates and Dyan Villeneuve are all recent UMaine Graduate Alumni from the Master of Social Work Program and are featured in the September/October issue of UMaine Today.  The UMaine Today article discusses the experience graduate social work students gain with specialized geriatric training.  A link to the full article is available HERE.

Michele Garrity	Kenneth Gates

Mary Kellogg	Dyan Villeneuve

Micah Pawling, a doctoral student in History, recently had a book published with the University of Massachusetts Press, Wabanaki Homeland and the New State of Maine: The 1820 Journal and Plans of Survey of Joseph Treat.  Edited, annotated, and with an introduction by Pawling, this volume includes a complete transcription of Joseph Treat's journal, reproductions of dozens of hand-drawn maps, and records pertaining to the 1820 treaty between the Penobscot Nation and the governing authorities of Maine.  A press release is available HERE.

Posted May 15th, 2007

Jessica Muhlin, a doctoral student in Marine Biology who is planning on graduating in May, recently won the Robert Wilce Award for the best oral presentation by a graduate student at the recent annual meeting of the Northeast Algal Society.  The prize includes an award of $575.  This regional society draws presentations and members from eastern Canada and the American Northeast.

Joshua M. Smith, a UMaine Graduate Alumni, recently won the John Lyman Book Prize in American Maritime History for his book entitled Borderland Smuggling: Patriots, Loyalists, and Illicit Trade in the Northeast, 1783-1820.  Smith is an Assistant Professor of Humanities at the United States Merchant Marine Academy and his monograph is based on his dissertation at the University of Maine.  Smith obtained his Ph.D. in History from UMaine in 2003 .  

Daniel Sandweiss, Dean and Associate Provost for Graduate Studies and Professor of Anthropology and Quaternary & Climate Studies at UMaine, and Kurt Rademaker, an Interdisciplinary PhD student, were among the authors of "Starch fossils and the domestication and dispersal of chili peppers (Capsicum spp. L.) in the Americas" which was published in a recent edition of Science.  A link to an abstract of the article is available HERE.

Posted April 25th, 2007

Michele Garrity, Ronald J. Reid, Dyan Villeneuve and Mary Kellogg wrote an op-ed column for the Bangor Daily News this past Monday April 23rd, 2007 entitled "Your help needed for elder wave."  Garrity, Reid, Villeneuve, & Kellogg are all graduate students in the Master of Social Work program here at UMaine, and all four students are planning on graduating this May.  A link to the full text of their column in the Bangor Daily News is available HERE.

Brooke Dupuy, a Master's student in French, recently attended the linguistic conference Les Journées de Linguistique at Université Laval in Québec, where she presented a paper titled “La diphtongaison dans le français de Waterville, ME: une étude sociolinguistique”, for which won the jury prize. Dupuy’s paper examined the variety of Franco-American French spoken in Waterville, ME focusing specifically on diphthongs, a feature typical of Quebec French pronunciation. Her research aims to find correlations between a speaker’s rate of diphthong use and specific social factors (age, education, sex and language of education). Dupuy’s paper is based on her research under the direction of Prof. Jane Smith.  Dupuy is planning to graduate in May.

Katie McCann, a first-year Master of Science in Teaching student, recently was awarded a prestigious Knowles Science Teaching Fellowship from the Knowles Science Teaching Foundation.  The fellowships support young scientists and mathematicians who are committed to teaching high school science and/or mathematics in U.S. schools.  As an undergraduate student, McCann was the only biomedical physics major in her class at Northeastern University , where she graduated as Class Marshall (valedictorian) for the College of Arts and Science in 2006. McCann, a native of Greenville , Maine , is steadfast in her desire to teach science in her home state where she can inspire young people from small towns like hers to pursue higher education and envision the possibilities for rewarding careers as scientists.  She has been working as a teaching assistant in the Department of Biological Sciences during her first year as a UMaine graduate student and is currently conducting MST thesis research into student learning of physics under the direction of Professor Michael Wittmann.  A website with more information about the award is available HERE.

Marie Dubord, a Master of Education student in Higher Education, recently won the Richard F. Stevens Outstanding Graduate Student Award for the State of Maine.  This aware is given to a student who has made a significant contribution to their home campus, demonstrated academic achievement, exceeded the expectations of their respective leadership positions, assumed a leadership role at their institution and/or at the state or regional levels, and demonstrated an interest in the field of student affairs.  Dubord is planning to graduate in May.  A write-up of all the awards given by the Maine Association of Student Affairs Practitioners (MASAP) is available HERE.  Dubord also recently received the University of Maine Graduate Student Employee of the Year Award  for exceptional professionalism, responsibility and service to her department and the university.  A UMaine news release with more info is available HERE.   

Jessica Muhlin, a doctoral student in Marine Biology who is planning on graduating in May, recently won 3rd Place for her poster entitled "Reproductive Timing in the Intertidal: Developing a Regional Model of Reproduction for Fucoid Algae" by the American Society for Limnology & Oceanography (ASLO) at their Aquatic Science Meeting in Santa Fe, NM.  ASLO's newsletter with a brief write-up is available HERE.

Nadine Villani recently had a journal article published in ADVANCE for Nurse Practitioners entitled "Treating Dog and Cat Bites: General Principles of Care."  Villani, a Master's student in Nursing, is planning on graduating in May.  A full text of her article is available HERE.