Funding research

One of the most promising new Maine industries in years seems finally ready to cross over from theory to practice, thanks to support from the University of Maine and federal grants. But even as work on wood-composite bridges expands, other university researchers are awaiting local match money for federally awarded grants.

The formation of the university’s Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center is actually part of an encouraging trend in Orono. UMaine staff and faculty received $26.4 million in outside grants last year, a 30 percent increase over the previous year. The money used by the School of Marine Science for studies on fish populations; the Department of Anthropology investigated archeological sites in Maine; the Laboratory for Surface Science and Technology tested materials used in manufacturing for friction and wear; the Department of Geological Sciences and the Institute for Quaternary Studies conducted research on glacial geology and climate.

Students benefit enormously from such research by having professors doing significant work in their fields and by gaining access to up-to-date equipment that research money brings. The university, however, still has a long way to go in emphasizing this part of its mission.

UMaine food-science researchers, for instance, have won a $550,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for product testing but cannot collect the funds until the university can offer matching money. The same is true at Nutting Hall, which has $200,000 waiting at the National Science Foundation for a local match to renovate lab space. Millions of dollars, literally, has been lost over the years because of Maine’s inability to make matching grants.

Former UMaine President Fred Hutchinson worked hard to change that. Chancellor Terrence MacTaggart has found money in the University of Maine System to help out. The Legislature has been less generous — an important proposal to fund research was beaten up by lawmakers and turned, instead, into a smaller, one-time bond proposal.

Adequate research funding enhances the value of the university, creates good jobs in Maine, uses local goods and services and makes the state more attractive to re-locating businesses. Projects such as the wood-composite bridges show how this work can directly help the state. The university is making progress in its research funding; it needs and deserves greater public support for the long term.