The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine General University of Maine Publications University of Maine Publications 2009 2009, UMaine News Press Releases University of Maine George Manlove University of Maine Joe Carr University of Maine Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/univ_publications Part of the Higher Education Commons, and the History Commons Repository Citation University of Maine; Manlove, George; and Carr, Joe, "2009, UMaine News Press Releases" (2009). General University of Maine Publications. 1091. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/univ_publications/1091 This Monograph is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in General University of Maine Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact [email protected]. UMaine News Press Releases from Word Press XML export 2009 UMaine Climate Change Institute Community Lecture in Bangor Jan. 14 02 Jan 2009 Contact: Gregory Zaro, 581-1857 or [email protected] ORONO -- Gregory Zaro, assistant professor in the University of Maine's Anthropology Department and Climate Change Institute, will present "Ancient Civilizations, Archaeology and Environmental Change in South America" from 6:30 to 7:45 p.m. Wednesday, Jan.14, at the Bangor Public Library. Zaro's talk is the third installment in the Climate Change Institute's monthly lecture series, which is free and open to the public. According to Zaro, humans are active components of the environment and have been manipulating the physical world for thousands of years. While modern industrial nations are often viewed to have the greatest impact on ecological change, ancient civilizations have also left long-lasting imprints on the landscape that continue to shape our contemporary world. In his lecture, Zaro will draw on his research from the Peruvian south coast to illustrate how archaeology can help reveal long-term ecological change and humans' role in that change. Zaro spends several months each year in remote locations in Central and South America investigating the manners in which ancient civilizations interacted with their physical world. He is in his third year at the University of Maine, where he teaches courses centered on Latin American archaeology and the environment. The lecture series is intended to make the science of climate change accessible to a broad audience. All lectures are free and open to the public. University of Maine Museum of Art Winter Art Camp February 16 - 20, 2009 02 Jan 2009 Contact: Kathryn Jovanelli at 561-3350 Camp Information: Time: 8:30 -- 12:00 Dates: February 16 -- 20, 2009 Grades: 3rd - 5th Grade Tuition: $115; Members of the Museum of Art - $100; Early Bird (by January 9) - $90 (includes all materials). The fifth annual UMMA Winter Art Camp, an in-depth art experience held at the University of Maine Museum of Art, is scheduled for Feb. 16-20 at the Bangor facility. Camp participants will have direct access to the art being shown in the museum galleries and they will be able to create their own art in response to what they experience. Projects often include any combination of painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture and drawing. Each week is packed with activities including behind-the-scenes tours, scavenger hunts, and a Friday reception and art show for family and friends. The cost is $115 for the week and includes all supplies. The Museum offers a discounted rate of $100 for museum members. If you register your child by Friday, January 9, 2009 you will qualify for our discounted early-bird rate of $90. Class size is limited to ten. To register online or to download a printable registration form, please see the Education page at www.umma.umaine.edu. Please call 561.3350 for more information or to register by phone. Exhibitions: Metaphysics of Landscape: Works by Timothy McDowell A Bit of Colored Ribbon: Paintings by John Bailly Gyotaku Prints by Boshu Nagase January 16 - April 1, 2009 University Musicians Extending Tours into Portland, Boston 05 Jan 2009 Contact: Karen Cole, 581-1407; Curvin Farnham, 581-1254 or 581-4702 ORONO -- University of Maine musicians are extending performance tours in 2009 to Southern Maine and Boston, all part of an initiative to extend the university's cultural and artistic presence to wider audiences. The University Singers and the UMaine Jazz Ensemble are scheduled to perform at Merrill Hall in Portland on March 19, and the 65-member Symphonic Band will perform at Boston Symphony Hall April 15. It will be the second year UMaine has sent musicians to Merrill Auditorium and the first time to play Symphony Hall. Symphonic Band conductor and music professor Curvin Farnham says it's important for the university to be more visible in Southern Maine, particularly after the success of last year's performance by the Symphonic Band at Merrill. The concerts also are good for UMaine student musicians to experience some of the nicer concert halls. "We had a very good crowd and there was a reception at the beginning of the concert with university alumni," Farnham says. UMaine President Robert Kennedy, who also attended the concert and spoke to the audience, "liked the concept that the arts were really having an impact in Southern Maine," according to Farnham. The School of Performing Arts intends to continue with the Merrill performances, rotating ensembles from year to year. While the future of concerts in Boston is still under discussion, Farnham expects a good turnout from UMaine students, parents and UMaine alumni from Southern Maine, Southern New Hampshire and throughout the Boston area. "Boston Symphony Hall is one of the finest concert halls in the world, without a doubt," he says. "It's the home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra." Farnham will conduct the Symphony Band's Boston concert, which will begin after a companion performance by the Timberlane (Plaistow, N.H.) High School wind ensemble. Music professor Dennis Cox will conduct the University Singers and music professor Jack Burt will conduct the Jazz Ensemble for the Merrill Auditorium concert. The public and University of Maine alumni are invited to both concerts. Choral director Cox plans a diverse program, including Renaissance motets ranging from "Ave Maria" by Jean Mouton to W.A. Mozart's "Laudate Dominum," and also Vaughan Williams' "Toward the Unknown Region," "Gloria" by Randol Bass, "Water Night" by Eric Whitacre, in addition to a gospel tune, "John the Revelator" by Sean Ivory. The University Singers is an auditioned ensemble, with as many as 100 students trying out for 65 choral seats each year. Cox and the Singers have toured Europe, Canada and the United States since the mid-1980s. For the Jazz Ensemble performance, Burt has planned a varied selection of big band music, featuring music from the libraries of the big bands of Buddy Rich, Stan Kenton and Thad Jones. Also featured will be music transcribed for big band from the great fusion guitarist Pat Metheny. The Jazz Ensemble is designed for students from all academic disciplines at UMaine. It, too, is a highly selective ensemble and admittance is by audition. The band performs on campus, throughout the state, and also presents a live two-hour radio broadcast from the studios of MPBN Radio every April. Scientists at UMaine Trying to Fill Ocean Data Void 05 Jan 2009 Contact: Aimee Dolloff, (207) 581-3777; Mark Wells, (207) 581-4322 Scientists at UMaine Trying to Fill Ocean Data Void ORONO, Maine -- The study of climate change has fueled the need for more detailed scientific data, and scientists at the University of Maine are doing their part to try and make it easier to collect some of those data. UMaine scientists Mark Wells and Carl Tripp, and their colleague Whitney King at Colby College, recently received a nearly $1.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation to continue their work in developing a sensor to measure the micronutrients iron and copper in ocean water. These metals are important for sustaining the natural growth of phytoplankton -- tiny plants that not only serve as the foundation to the marine ecosystems, but also sequester carbon dioxide, the predominant greenhouse gas responsible for global warming. Currently, the process to measure iron and copper is time consuming, requiring that water samples be collected individually from large research vessels and be brought back to the lab for analysis. "Even then, you can only get [measurements] from one spot at a specific time," Wells said. Compared to the millions of measurements available for major nutrients such as nitrate and phosphate in the ocean, there are only about 3,000 to 4,000 iron measurements, and only about 400 of those are from the deep ocean. There are even fewer measurements of copper. "Scientists need far more data on iron levels in surface and deep ocean waters to model climate change more effectively," Wells said. "And there is emerging evidence that copper also will be important in this goal." The ultimate goal is to create a small sensor for measuring iron and copper that can be attached to a mooring, to drifting floats that travel vertically to collect data, or to underwater gliders. Gliders would be ideal, Wells said, because their underwater travel is controlled remotely and their data-gathering sensors can run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. "Until recently, we were a very long way away from developing such a sensor," Wells said. But his work with Tripp, King, UMaine doctoral graduate Cuihong Jiang and doctoral candidate Eric Roy over the last three years has led to the development of a novel nano-structured surface that is able to selectively bind iron from seawater using a combination of nanotechnology and biology.