USM joins Arctic network to boost North Atlantic ties
Photo / Courtesy University of Southern Maine
USM President Glenn Cummings, at Stockholm University in Sweden last week, said USM's new membership in the University of the Arctic cooperative will provide new research and partnership opportunities for faculty and students.
As it strengthens ties with North Atlantic countries, the University of Southern Maine has been accepted into the University of the Arctic, a cooperative network of over 200 international universities, colleges, research institutes and other organizations concerned with education and research about the region.
Membership in the network will "provide new research and partnership opportunities for our faculty and students in this ever-increasing important region of the world," USM President Cummings said in a news release last week following a presentation at Stockholm University in Sweden.
“Over the past four years, the University of Southern Maine has played a leading state and national role in establishing North Atlantic partnerships and initiatives with universities and organizations here and overseas,” he added.
In 2018, USM formed the Maine North Atlantic Institute to forge greater business, educational and social connections between Maine and countries throughout the North Atlantic.
The institute brought together dozens of ongoing projects in which USM students and faculty are working with schools, including Reykjavik University in Iceland and the University of Tromso in Norway, and companies such as Whole Oceans, which is building a land-based salmon-farming operation in Bucksport.
Last month, the National Science Foundation awarded a $60,607 grant to the Maine North Atlantic Institute to encourage study of the northern New England coastline and its resilience to climate change. USM and its partner school on the project, the University of New Hampshire, also plan to reach out to private industry along the coastline, according to USM.
And in fall 2020, the Maine North Atlantic Institute is scheduled to host an interdisciplinary workshop that will collect student internship projects aimed at engaging communities in research.
UNH and the University of New England, with campuses in Biddeford and Portland, are also members of the University of the Arctic.
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