2000 NASA EPSCoR Program

Maine became eligible for NASA EPSCoR in 2000. The 2000 competition provided each NASA EPSCoR the opportunity to submit three research proposals. With this opportunity, we issued a statewide solicitation to all institutions of higher education and research organizations. Each proposal we received was subjected to an extensive peer review process that included instate and out-side of the state reviewers. NASA EPSCoR funded two if the three proposals. The following is a brief description on each funded projects for which NASA EPSCoR funding will end June 2007.

Lead Institution: Gulf of Maine Research Institute

“The Maine Biological Nanotechnology Effort” – Principal Investigator: Dr. H. William Harris of Marical Inc. The central goal of this project is to achieve improvements in nanotechnology by advancing our understanding of how marine organisms fabricate their own building blocks of calcium and silica into complex structures on a nanoscale.  This project is also exploring the commercialization potential of these technologies.  The Collaborating NASA Centers are Johnson Space Center and Langley Research Center. For more information on the project contact Don Perkins, President of GMRI.

Lead Institution: University of New England

“Viral Control of Meso-scale Coccolithophore Blooms in the Gulf of Maine” – Principal Investigator: Dr. James Vaughn, Professor of Microbiology at the University of New England.  Coccolithophore blooms have covered half of the Gulf of Maine during past algal bloom events.  Due to the sheer magnitude of these events and their global significance, there has been great interest in the factors that control them, such as grazing, sinking, viral predation and other cellular death caused by microbial diseases. In the broad ecological context, the results of this study will provide insight into the importance of viruses in the control of marine algal blooms.  The Collaborating NASA Center is Goddard Space Flight Center. For more information on the project contact Dr. Vaughn.