Seed Grants

UMaine MARINE Seed Grant Awardees

The Office of the Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School presents the following awardees for the 2022 MARINE Initiative Seed Grant.

The following three projects were competitively selected to receive seed grant funding from a field of 14 projects. The teams commenced their one-year projects on Jan. 1, 2022. Each of these teams will provide an update on their progress to the university community as part of the UMaine MARINE initiative’s researcher spotlight series in the UMaine MARINE monthly newsletter.

Do biological particles scavenge and remove microplastic fibers from the ocean? PI: Margaret Estapa (School of Marine Sciences (SMS)), Co-PIs: Onur Apul (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)), Lauren Ross (CEE), Mikayla Clark (SMS), Sudheera Yaparatne (CEE), Colleen Durkin (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute).

Creating Partnerships to Provide the Communities of Jonesport and Beals with Economic Data to Guide Local Decision-Making. PI: Kristen Grant (Maine Sea Grant and University of Maine Cooperative Extension), Co-PI: Megan Bailey (Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center).

Developing pathways for new approaches to blue carbon science: Filling a critical knowledge gap in coastal ecosystem management using a model eDNA collaborative science initiative. PI: Andrew Rominger (School of Biology and Ecology (SBE)), Co-PIs: Heather Richard (SBE), Suzanne Ishaq (School of Food and Agriculture), Bridie McGreavy (Department of Communication and Journalism), Katharine Ruskin (SBE).