Centers and Institutes

Our faculty collaborate across disciplines to advance our land and sea grant university service mission. As a part of this effort some of our faculty are significantly involved with the following University of Maine and college groups.

Center on Aging. The mission of the Center on Aging is to promote and facilitate activities on aging in the areas of education, research and evaluation, and community service to maximize the quality of life of older citizens and their families in Maine and beyond.
Initiative for One Health & the Environment. This National Science Foundation supported initiative builds on UMaine’s strengths in climate change and emerging issues in animal, plant, and human health.
Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station. The state’s center for research in agriculture, forestry, wood products, marine fisheries and aquaculture, wildlife, rural economic development, and tourism for Maine and its people.
Maine Climate and Ag Network. The Maine Climate and Agriculture Network (MECAN) is a group of individuals organized through the University of Maine who recognize the importance of climate and weather impacts on agriculture. The network’s mission is increase communication and identify challenges, opportunities, and potential solutions regarding climate and Maine agriculture.
Maine Food and Agriculture Center. The Maine Food and Agriculture Center coordinates and seeks to expand the University of Maine System’s research and educational services for Maine food and agriculture.
Lobster Institute. The Lobster Institute’s core mission is to sustain both the lobster resource and a viable lobster fishery through conservation, outreach, research and education.
Maine Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit. The Cooperative Fish and Wildlife research unit strengthens professional education and training of fisheries and wildlife scientists; carries out research onaquatic, mammalian, and avian wildlife and their habitats; and disseminates research results.
Bear Brook Watershed in Maine. This research program on adjacent forested stream watersheds in eastern Maine is recognized internationally for its contributions to understanding the effects of elevated nitrogen and sulfur deposition on forested watersheds.

Affiliated UMaine Centers, Institutes, & Programs

Aquaculture Research Institute. The mission of the Aquaculture Research Institute is to serve Maine as an objective authority on aquaculture research with the goal of advancing a sustainable aquaculture future in Maine and beyond.
Center for Tourism Research and Outreach. CenTRO is an effort by the University of Maine System to bring educational research and resources to the task of sustaining a healthy and growing tourism industry in Maine.
Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research. This center assists the aquaculture industry in developing new technologies for existing species and to diversify into new species.
Center for Research on Sustainable Forests. CRSF work closely with University of Maine forest resources researchers, in academic fields spanning forestry, parks & recreation, soil science, resource economics, spatial engineering, and more.
Climate Change Institute. CCI is an interdisciplinary research unit that conducts research and graduate education focused on variability of Earth’s climate, ecosystems, and other environmental systems and on the interaction between human beings and the natural world.
Cooperative Forestry Research Unit:. CFRU conducts applied scientific research to provide Maine’s policymakers and forest landowners with the information necessary to ensure both sustainable forest management practices and effective public policy.
Maine Center for Research in STEM Education (RiSE Center). The RiSE Center conducts research into education at all levels of instruction within the disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (the STEM disciplines). It also works to integrate education research into STEM teaching and learning through our many programs, projects, and partnerships.
Maine Sea Grant. Maine Sea Grant is a state-federal partnership based at the University of Maine and sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the state of Maine. Sea Grant is part of a network of 30 Sea Grant programs throughout the coastal and Great Lakes states. It supports marine and coastal scientific research and education.
Maine’s Sustainability Solutions Initiative. Maine’s SSI is a partnership between the University of Maine, the University of Southern Maine, and other institutions of higher education. Its central focus is on producing knowledge and linking it to actions that meet human needs while preserving the planet’s life-support systems.
The Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center. The Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center is a nonpartisan, independent research and public service unit of the University of Maine. The Center is dedicated to improving and promoting the quality of public dialogue about state, regional, and national policy issues through applied policy research and projects that seek innovative solutions to practical problems.
Forest Bioproducts Research Institute. The Forest Bioproducts Institute strives to create and commercialize new bioproducts from forests while promoting forest health for a stable bioeconomy.
Advanced Structures and Composites Center. The Advanced Structures and Composites Center is a state-of-the-art one-stop-shop for integrated composite materials and structural component development. It offers in-house capabilities for developing a composite product or structure from the conceptual stage through research, manufacturing of prototypes, comprehensive testing and evaluation, code approval and commercialization. The Advanced Structures and Composites Center’s research initiatives include cutting-edge materials and structures technology development for deepwater offshore wind, civil infrastructure, boat-building, residential and light commercial construction, defense, and homeland security.
Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions. The Mitchell Center has a diverse interdisciplinary mission focusing on environmental research, graduate education, and outreach. The Mitchell Center works to provide Maine’s citizens and policymakers with unbiased and credible information that can enhance efforts to achieve healthy ecosystems, strong communities, and robust economies.