Final preparations are under way for the USM-Ocean Alliance research expedition to the Gulf of Mexico. It is a joint effort by this international research and conservation organization, and USM researchers and students to evaluate the impact of the environmental disaster on whales, the marine life on which they feed and the ecosystem that supports them.
The 21st-Century USM: From President Selma Botman
The USM-Ocean Alliance research expedition to the Gulf of Mexico is a unique, joint effort to evaluate the impact of the unprecedented environmental disaster in the Gulf, with a focus on whales and the fish whales consume.
The Gloucester (Mass.) Times recently reported, “The University of Southern Maine is one of the nation’s leaders in marine mammal toxicology, while the Ocean Alliance has been a global leader in whale research and education for nearly four decades…”
For the next several months, researchers and students from the Wise Laboratory for Environmental and Genetic Toxicology will be aboard the Ocean Alliance’s RV Odyssey, the only sailboat in the world equipped with a state-of-the-art cell culture laboratory. USM researchers, students and Alliance staff will be collecting tissue samples from whales, and other species and analyzing them onboard. Further analysis will be done in the Wise Lab. It is the only research project designed to develop whale cell lines to research the impact of the massive spill on whales.
This research expedition makes so much sense on so many levels, aside from the visibility it is attracting and will continue to generate.
First, it applies the University of Southern Maine’s intellectual resources to a better understanding of the true, longterm impact of the worst ecolological disaster of our lifetimes.
Second, it builds upon our existing partnership with Ocean Alliance, thereby making possible the only research expedition designed to develop whale cell lines to research the impact of the massive spill on whales, the marine life on which they feed and the ecosystem that supports them. USM awarded an honorary degree in 2009 to Iain Kerr, chief executive officer of Ocean Alliance.
Finally, the expedition gives USM researchers and students — those on the boat as well as those back in our campus lab facilities — firsthand experience with this unique and historic research project.
You can find out more about the project at a public meet-and-greet to be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., this Friday, July 16, at the pier on the campus of Southern Maine Community College, South Portland. Tours of The Odyssey will be available, along with opportunities to talk with researchers, staff and students.
If it fits your schedule, I hope you can drop by and wish them well. The Odyssey is scheduled to set sail for the Gulf at 7 p.m., this Saturday.
Read a wonderful July 7 Portland Press Herald article about USM biology senior Adriana Lombard, who is building a lending library of musical instruments for school children who do not have the financial resources to rent or purchase their own instruments.
Lombard was also interviewed July 8 on WMPG’s “Wheeedoggies!” program (no link available).
On July 8, The Portland Press Herald and the Kennebec Journal ran an article naming first recipients of USM’s Presidential Scholarships.
Read a July 8 Lewiston Sun Journal story about three USM music students who played at The Lovell Brick Church for the Performing Arts on July 10.
The Lewiston Sun Journal announced on July 9 that the Maine Crafts Association recently honored Lewiston-Auburn College Director of Exhibitions Robyn Holman in appreciation of her scholarly contributions to the field of craft.
On July 9, The Portland Press Herald ran a story about USM’s Department of Environmental Science winning a National Science Foundation grant to develop a renewable-energy curriculum.
On July 12, The Portland Press Herald followed up with a positive editorial supporting USM’s work in this direction, while Mainebiz.com posted the news on its website.
Read a July 10 Portland Press Herald article about Professor of Toxicology John Wise and the USM students who will be sailing to the Gulf of Mexico on Ocean Alliance’s sailboat, the Odyssey, collecting water and whale tissue samples.
The Center for Law and Innovation at the University of Maine School of Law is hosting a daylong conference, “Data Security and Management in Global Commerce,” on Thursday, August 5. The conference will take place from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m., in USM’s Wishcamper Center, Portland. Registration is $95 per person and can be done online at lawandinnovation.org, or by calling 207-228-8430.
The University of Southern Maine recognized excellence in two professional staff members during the 2010 Professional Staff Senate Awards and Recognition Ceremony held June 3 in Hannaford Hall.
