School of Biology and Ecology

Greg LeClair, a graduate student at the University of Maine, leads The Big Night, a citizen science initiative in Maine through which volunteers tally up migrating frogs and salamanders and escort them across roads. This spring, he assumed that coronavirus concerns would shut down the project; instead, he rallied more participants than ever. Read more: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/07/pandemic-roadkill/613852/

Please visit the UMaine Return to Campus website for the latest information for students, faculty, and staff as it becomes available. Like the UMaine and UMM COVID-19 website, this Return to Campus site will be a go-to resource, complete with a phone number and email address where you can request more information.

Maine’s higher education leaders propose principles for safe fall reopening 

Congratulations to this year’s SBE scholarship and award winners! Academic Awards – Highest GPA: First Year Emma Downing Liv Fitzpatrick Casey Kneissler Kaitlin Liu Samantha Reimer Ross Sousa Willow Rain Throckmorton-Hansford Maria Vina Lopez Myky Hong Weinstein Second Year Devon Varney Junior Claire Schaffer Senior Kaylee Brann Academic Achievement Award: Ryan LaGross Auburn E. and […]

2020 Outstanding Students

With the World on Pause, Salamanders Own the Road

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Disease-transmitting blacklegged ticks invading new areas are a threat to the health of people and animals and are a burden on the economy. Allison Gardner will seek to isolate ecosystem factors — including temperature and snow pack — that inhibit their geographic spread and that lead to methods to control them during vulnerable life stages […]

The Maine Forest Tick Survey based at UMaine seeks volunteer landowners with 10–1,000 wooded acres in Androscoggin, Cumberland, Hancock, Knox, Kennebec, Lincoln, Sagadahoc, Waldo and York counties. More information.

Undergraduate Biology student Katie Tims is featured in an article recently posted by the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainable Solutions. The article, “Helping Maine Businesses Find Food Waste Solutions” focuses on Katie’s work researching potential solutions for reducing food waste in Maine, keeping organics out of landfills, and addressing food insecurity. Congratulations, Katie!

Since we couldn’t host in-person Accepted Student Days this year, the School of Biology and Ecology created this informational video for those students and families who would have attended, or anyone just interested in learning more about SBE at UMaine, including student life here and tips for student success.

Congratulations to Kit Hamley, SBE/CCI Ph.D. student, and Sara McBride, EES M.S. student, winners of the 2020 Edith Patch Award!

Congratulations to Caleigh Charlebois, an NSFA junior in Zoology and Professional Writing and Honors student! Caleigh has been awarded the Goldwater Scholarship. This $7,500 award is given to undergraduate sophomores or juniors with strong research experience who plan to continue their careers with a Ph.D.  Read the press release here.

Cass Clemmer, an Orono woman with a background in public health education, last Friday started the Maine Coronavirus Community Assistance Facebook page. For more information, please read the Bangor Daily News story. The Facebook group can be found at Maine Coronavirus Community Assistance.

Due to COVID-19 precautions and the University of Maine campuses transitioning to online-only for the spring, the rest of the 2020 Spring Seminars have been cancelled. We are hoping to reschedule as many as possible for future semesters. Please check back for any future updates to this status. Thank you.

Unfortunately, due to precautions in light of COVID-19, Accepted Student Days have been cancelled for the Spring Semester (the events for NSFA/SBE were scheduled for 3/13 and 4/3). We will reach out to accepted students in the near future, and will post updates as we have them.

Per President Joan Ferrini-Mundy’s email sent at 4:20 pm on 3/11/20: “Dear colleagues, students and community members at the University of Maine and University of Maine at Machias: “Today, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus (COVID-19) a pandemic, prompting the University of Maine System to transition to remote instruction for classes on all campuses […]

Please join us in 102 Murray Hall this Friday, March 13th at 3:10 pm for Dr. Andrei Alyokhin’s rescheduled talk, Of Mites and Men: Spirotetramat, Lysenko, and Frida Kahlo.  For our Spring Seminar Schedule, please visit the SBE Seminars page.

We sure hope to see you here! To register, visit UMaine Undergraduate Admissions.

This Friday, March 6, at 3:10 pm in Murray Hall, UMaine, Dr. Jess Vickruck will give a seminar titled “Nest site availability influences community structure, interspecific competition and evolution in wild bees.” SBE Seminar Series