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STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math

New Learning Community being offered for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics students!

EAST-2 (Eastern Alliance in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) supports students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Most recently EAST-2 is offering a STEM Learning Community to be held on the Gorham campus (Wednesdays, 4:10 - 5:30, dinner provided) starting in the spring semester. The Learning Community is for all students at all levels and will support communication with others having similar challenges, navigation of the college experience, connections with faculty, designing individual success plans, and meeting goals. Students will benefit who are wondering where their STEM major will take them, are eager to succeed in college, are looking for a supportive college network, want to improve their study skills and learn new ones, need to boost their math and science grades, want a boost in confidence. For additional information contact: Samantha Langley-Turnbaugh, Langley@usm.maine.due, 780-5361 or Pauline Mateyko, pmateyko@usm.maine.edu, 780-5785

"Ecoterrorism: Reality or Media Invention?"

A research presentation by Travis Wagner

Wednesday, November 12, 2008, 12:15 to 1:00 p.m. 205 Bailey Hall, USM-Gorham campus: Travis Wagner, Assistant professor of environmental science and policy, will be discussing his research on the media framing of acts of environmental sabotage referred to as ecoterrorism. His research sought to answer two questions. First, do national newspapers frame ecotage acts as terrorism? Second, if ecotage is framed as terrorism, is the discourse of fear used in reporting ecotage related stories?

Applied Medical Sciences

Seminar Series: Maine Medical Center Research Institute

Thursday, November 13, 2008, 2 - 3 p.m., Luther Bonney Auditorium, USM-Portland campus. Don M. Wojchowski, Ph.D., Director, Program in Stem and Progenitor Cell Biology, MMCRI, will be presenting his seminar: "Progenitor cell targets for EPO, and new EPO action mechanisms."

ASET news for week ending October 31, 2008

Engineering

A New Experiment

Engineering 100 students were introduced to a new experiment in October. After studying forces in trusses and forces and stored energy in elastic materials, they launched a hackisack from a slingshot attached to a truss. The objective was to determine how the range, the distance the hackisack traveled before landing, varied as the slingshot stretch and the angle of launch changed. In addition to learning some physics and mechanical engineering principles, they learned about modeling real systems based on experimental results as well as on theory.

Microbes, Microscopy, Molecules, and More

The NIH Science Education Partnership Award at work

October 27, 2008: The Duboise Lab in the Department of Applied Medical Sciences has an on-going six week Saturday morning program (Oct. 18 – Nov. 22) called Microbes, Microscopy, Molecules, and More for K-12 teachers as the first academic year offering generated from their five year NIH Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA). There are eight teachers in attendance from Auburn, Berwick, Brunswick, Freeport, and Portland schools. The program staff includes USM's electron microscopy lab staff, other scientific and education professionals with capable help from a few AMS and biology graduate students as well as Dr. Ah-Kau Ng and Dr. Gerald LaSala. Variations of this program are planned for future fall and spring semesters. For more information, contact Gail Fletcher, the Coordinator of Maine ScienceCorps.

NSF-Funded Project Launched To Attract Maine Students with Disabilities To Technology Careers

Eastern Alliance in Science and Technology

The National Science Foundation has awarded $3.1 million to a team based at the University of Southern Maine (USM) to increase the number and diversity of Maine students receiving degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The five-year grant will fund the development of an alliance among USM, several Maine Community Colleges and southern Maine high schools which will provide support and training in STEM activities for educators and students. The alliance, called the Eastern Alliance in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (EAST), will have an inaugural meeting to announce its plans from 3:30 to 5 p.m., Monday, October 27, at Portland High School. In addition to USM, EAST members include Portland High School; Deering High School in Portland; the Casco Bay High School For Expeditionary Learning in Portland; Bonny Eagle High School in Buxton; Southern Maine Community College and Central Maine Community College. The $3.1 million grant is an extension of a project first funded in 2003 designed to encourage students with disabilities throughout New England to study a STEM discipline and, ultimately, to pursue a STEM-based career. For more information, contact USM Professor Samantha Langley-Turnbaugh at 780-5362, langley@usm.maine.edu or Lynn Lovewell, director and project manager of EAST at 780-5449, llovewell@usm.maine.edu.

ASET news for week ending October 24, 2008

Computer Science and Undergraduate Research

Genetic and Evolutionary Computation

Pictured here are Computer Science Professor Clare Bates Congdon and students at the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO) this past July in Atlanta. Left to right are Junes Thete, Clare Bates Congdon, Rachel Teo, and Ryan Small. Junes and Ryan are USM undergrads; Rachel is an undergrad at the University of British Columbia who also worked with Dr. Congdon this summer. The students presented both talks and posters as part of the Undergraduate Research Workshop at GECCO:

Ryan Small: "Agent Smith: a Real-Time Game-Playing Agent for Interactive Dynamic Games"
Rachel Teo and Junes Thete: "Experiments with GAMI: Genetic Algorithms for Motif Inference"

Another great week in the Wise Laboratory

Published again!

The Wise Lab is having a really good month. Their paper: "Carcinogenicity of Hexavalent Chromium" by Amie L. Holmes, Sandra S. Wise and John Pierce Wise, Sr. was accepted for publication in the October 2008 issue of the Indian Journal of Medical Research. This is a review article that covered most of the recently published literature on chromium and in a companion to Sandra's review article published earlier this year. Amie and Sandra are doctoral students here at USM.

ASET news for week ending October 17, 2008

From the Wise Laboratory

John Wise in the Wise Laboratory reports some great news this week. Their paper "Zinc Chromate Induces Chromosome Instability and DNA Double Strand Breaks in Human Lung Cells" by Hong Xie, Amie L. Holmes, Jamie L. Young, Qin Qin, Kellie Joyce, Stephen C. Pelsue, Cheng Peng, Sandra S. Wise, Antony S. Jeevarajan, William T. Wallace, Dianne Hammond, and John Pierce Wise Sr. was accepted for publication in the journal Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology. Amie, Jamie, Qin and Sandra are all doctoral students at USM. Kellie was an undergrad at Drew University who is from Cumberland and came home in the summer to work. She is now working as a tech in the lab with hopes of graduate study here at USM, drawn back to Maine to do research at USM!. Jamie is a first generation college grad from rural Maine who stayed here in Maine because of research opportunities at USM.

Another Wise Lab Publication

The Wise Lab also reported that their paper, "Medaka (Oryzias latipes) as a Sentinel Species for Aquatic Animals: Medaka Cells Exhibit a Similar Genotoxic Response as North Atlantic Right Whale Cells" by John Pierce Wise. Sr., Sandra S. Wise, Britton C. Goodale, Fariba Shaffiey, Scott Kraus and Ronald B. Walter was accepted for publication in Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology - Part C: Toxicology & Pharmacology. Sandra is a doctoral student here at USM and Fariba is a master's student (biology) in the Wise Lab.

Undergraduate Research: Gravity

A diverse group of Maine students, calling themselves the DIRIGO Flyers of the University of Maine System, carried their experiments into near-space aboard a plane that is often referred to as the “Vomit Comet.” The nickname is typically associated with any airplane that briefly provides a weightless environment similar to what one would encounter in space flight. It is used to train astronauts and conduct research. Versions of the airplane are operated by the NASA Reduced Gravity Program at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas.

A team of students headed by USM undergraduate John P. Wise, Jr., collaborated with established scientists at NASA in testing the hypothesis that normal cell function changes in microgravity and hypergravity. Such changes may make it possible for toxic chemicals to have a more damaging effect on cells and DNA under conditions of weightlessness, as encountered during space travel. As a control for the change in conditions, each experiment tested in flight will also be conducted simultaneously in one of Johnson Space Center’s laboratory facilities on the ground.

Click here to read more about the work of the Dirigo Flyers.

From the Department of Engineering

Controlled mechanisms

During the Spring 2008 semester, students in MEE 373 Controlled Mechanisms designed and built a system for the tissue culture laboratory in the research vessel, Odyssey. In order for tissues in culture to remain alive and healty, they must be nearly constantly bathed in a nutrient medium. Ships rock and they roll or tilt in one direction for an extended period of time. On September 18, 2008 the class, along with instructor Dan Martin, tested the device on the Odyssey. Data was gathered on ship motions in beautiful Casco Bay, offshore from Portland, Maine, and is presently being analyzed. First indications are that motions of the ship are accurately collected and stored by the system. The information can be used to refine the control mechanism that keeps the platform level.

Read more at "Mechanical Engineering students ocean test a control mechanism. "

Internship at NASA's Glenn Research Center

During the summer of 2008, Department of Engineering student, Richard Borders, had an internship at NASA’s Glenn Research Center (GRC) in Cleveland, Ohio through the help of the Maine Space Grant Consortium. The specific program he was sent under was the Maine Aerospace Workforce Development Program.

Read more at "Student Richard Borders internship at NASA's Glenn Research Center."

Send your ASET related news to larsenault@usm.maine.edu.

Seminar Series in Applied Medical Sciences

On Thursday, September 25, 2008, Dr. Susan Ceryak, Associate Research Professor, The George Washington University, will present her seminar titled "Survival Signaling After Genotoxin Exposure." Free and open to the public in the Luther Bonney Auditorium from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. For more information, call 207-228-8250.

USM dedicates computer-aided design laboratory to Stantec

September 18, 2008: The University of Southern Maine (USM) has named a computer-aided design laboratory for the local engineering firm, Stantec. Stantec donated $100,000 to USM's School of Applied Science, Engineering, and Technology (ASET) to help develop the lab, which is located in the John Mitchell Center on the Gorham campus. The dedication took place in the lab, where representatives from Stantec told a group of students, faculty and staff how the technologies in the lab are used by the company. Stantec has locations all over the U.S., with four locations in Maine. Stantec, founded in 1954, provides professional design and consulting services in planning, engineering, architecture, surveying, economics, and project management. Continually striving to balance economic, environmental, and social responsibilities, they are recognized as a world-class leader and innovator in the delivery of sustainable solutions. ASET has a long history of launching students into careers that make a difference through research, scholarship, and creative activities with companies like Stantec.

The Wright Express Golf tournament for Computer Science: an annual favorite

Wright Express Golf Tournament On Monday, September 8, 2008 the annual Wright Express Governor's Golf Tournament was held to benefit scholarships at the University of Southern Maine. A morning and an afternoon flight of golf was held to benefit the Governor's Computer Science Scholarship in the USM School of Applied Science, Engineering, and Technology or scholarships in the USM School of Business. The tournament was held at The Woodlands Club in Falmouth, Maine where corporate friends and partners of both schools played a wonderful day of "golf with a purpose." This is an annual favorite scholarship fundraiser. Many thanks for all of the sponsors of the event, especially Wright Express.

ASET Research Awards for September, 2008

In the September 2008 Issue of So Noted, the USM Office of Sponsored Programs reported the following extramural awards: Wilson, Glenn for Maine GeoLibrary Project, Maine Department of Environmental Protection (R&D); Wilson, Karen for Colonization and Invasion: Continued Research in Sherman Marsh 2007-2008, Maine Department of Transportation (R&D), MDOT Contract-Sherman March Summer 2008, Maine Department of Transportation (R&D), and Penobscot River Research Collaboration Network Subaward, University of Maine at Orono (R&D); Wise, John for Effects of Hypergravity and Microgravity on DNA Damage, Repair and Cellular Uptake in Lung Cells, Maine Space Grant Consortium (R&D), Genotoxicity and Carcinogenicity of Particulate Depleted Uranium, U.S. Department of Defense (R&D), and NSF EPSCoR Forest Bioproducts Research 08/09, Maine National Science Foundation ESPCoR (R&D).

The continuation or supplemental awards include Congdon, Clare for INBRE 07/08, Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory with NH Funds (R&D); Duboise, Monroe and Ng, Ah-Kau for Sustaining of Maine ScienceCorps: Collaborative Integration of Research Experiences and Active Learning into Bioscience Education, National Science Foundation (R&D); and Guvench, Mustafa for Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) Gas Sensors- Year 2, Maine Space Grant Consortium (R&D).

Successful summer institute at USM brings science research to elementary and middle school science teachers

July 25, 2008: For two weeks in mid July, the Duboise Lab in the Department of Applied Medical Sciences had a very successful first summer institute (attended by twelve middle school teachers and one elementary school teacher) as the first public offering generated from their five year NIH Science Education Partnership Award. Dr. S. Monroe Duboise and Dr. Ah-Kau Ng were involved throughout, but the success was really built upon a major team effort of USM's electron microscopy lab staff and other scientific and education professionals together with some capable help from a few AMS students and one alumnus of Dr. Ng's lab group who is now at working at IDEXX Laboratories. Read about it in the Forecaster: http://www.theforecaster.net/story.php?storyid=15629

K-12 Teachers at USM for a Look Into an Invisible World

July 11, 2008: Fourteen K-12 teachers from Maine schools are spending two weeks of their summer getting a firsthand look into the usually invisible world of microbiology, virology, and immunology with the help of USM faculty and staff, and some highly specialized USM microscopes.

The first step of the project is to introduce K-12 teachers to detailed, visual images of micoroorganisms and cells using advanced lab equipment, including a digital transmission electron microscope. In subsequent phases, faculty and staff in USM's Department of applied Medical Sciences and the USM Southworth Planetarium will work with teachers to develop visual resources fro K-12 classroom use throughout Maine. The team also plans to integrate the academic year programs for K-12 teachers into the academic offerings of the Department of Applied Medical Sciences.

This program is made possible through a new, five-year Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) of more than $2 million from the National Center for Research Resources and the National Institutes of Health. These awards bring together biomedical researchers, educators and others to create and disseminate programs that give K-12 teachers, students and the general public a better understanding of life sciences.

ASET Doctoral Student receives a US EPA GRO fellowship!

June 13, 2008 Breaking News: Jamie Young, our GSBS doctoral student working with the Wise Laboratory has just been selected to receive a three-year, US Environmental Protection Agency Greater Research Opportunities (GRO) fellowship that could reach as much as $110,000. Jamie is from Fairfield Maine, and received her undergraduate degree from the University of Maine at Farmington. The US Environmental Protection Agency only gives out approximately 15 of these fellowships each year. The first in her family to attend college, Jamie is our third student to win an EPA fellowship. The other two were Amie Holmes who also received a GRO, and Laura Savery who received a STAR fellowship. For more information about the work of the Wise Laboratory, visit our Department of Applied Medical Sciences.

ASET Camp is back - bring on the gizmos!

Registration is open for 2008 ASET Camp, the science and technology camp at USM designed to provide 7th and 8th grade students with an opportunity to explore the many educational and career choices that exist in the fields of applied science, engineering, and technology. This year's theme is "Gizmos!" Download the brochure and application for complete information.