UM chancellor touts importance of $20 million research bond

When Maine’s lobster industry was in dire trouble because red tail disease was killing the crustacean, who stepped in to solve the problem?

The University of Maine, through its Lobster Institute which developed a medicated feed to prevent the spread of the disease.

When the timber industry was looking for new uses for low-grade wood, it was the university that glued composite materials to waste wood to create timbers strong enough to be used for highway bridges.

As he travels the state to tout the virtues of Question 1, a $20 million bond issue to support scientific research, University of Maine System Chancellor Terry MacTaggart talks of these projects complete with props — a stuffed lobster, a potato, a hunk of “wonder wood” — that he carries in an L.L. Bean bag.

He says passage of the bond issue will support existing industries, like fishing and wood harvesting, while also helping new ones grow. With the help of the university, for example, three new companies now flash freeze lobster which is sold around the world. The companies employ 150 people.

“It’s about preserving the industries of today while creating the industries of tomorrow,” MacTaggart said.

Question 1 on the Nov. 3 ballot asks whether voters support a $20 million investment in research and development in five areas: aquaculture, forestry, information technology, biotechnology and advanced materials such as wood composites.

The bulk of the money — $13.5 million — would go to the university system with much of that flowing to the Orono campus. Another $4.5 million would go to the Maine Science and Technology Foundation, which would use the money to award grants to promising marine research projects conducted at private or public laboratories. A research facility at the yet-to-be-built Gulf of Maine Aquarium in Portland would get $2 million of the bond money.

Maine now ranks second to last nationally for the amount of federal research money its universities attract — about $27 million last year. In the past, Maine has foregone federal research funding opportunities because it did not have the necessary matching money — oftentimes as little as one-quarter of the grant total — to get the grants.

“I’m always skeptical of new state spending,” said Sen. Rick Bennett, R-Norway, who co-chaired a legislative committee that reviewed the state’s R&D efforts and recommended the bond issue. “But what is remarkable about this is that it is highly targeted money that goes to the areas that promise to create the most new jobs.”

He said passage of the bond will allow people to continue to work in the state’s traditional industries, such as wood products and blueberries, which are now in decline.

In addition, he said, the money will go to entities such as the university system which have a track record of leveraging state money into large amounts of federal funding while working with industry to do research that benefits the state of Maine.

“It’s a small step in the right direction,” Bennett said. “It helps us keep pace with what other states are doing.”

All of the gubernatorial candidates, as well as many candidates for other offices, have said they support the bond.

Earlier this month, Gov. Angus King, who is running for re-election, announced that he would commit to a $25 million annual appropriation for research if the bond issue is passed and the money is available in the state budget. Of that total, $10 million would go to the university system. The rest would go to three “virtual” institutes in the areas of marine technology, composite technology and biotechnology. The institutes would bring academic labs together with private ones, under the governor’s proposal.

With this investment, King said, he envisions thousands of new jobs — each paying at least $35,000 a year — being created.

That’s a major benefit of the bond, said UM President Peter Hoff: New jobs will be created so that local students can stay in Maine rather than go out of state to look for work.

“This is the best chance Maine has had in I don’t know how long to get back into the federal research program,” Hoff said.

The push for more research money began more than two years ago, when five professors from the University of Maine began traveling the state to talk to civic groups about the importance of a state investment in scientific endeavors. They called for a $100 million investment.

Senate President Mark Lawrence, D-Kittery, took up their cause and proposed a $20 million annual state investment in research as part of his Jumpstart 2000 economic initiative.

Lawmakers then dramatically pared back Lawrence’s proposal and gave the university $400,000, which it leveraged into more than $2.5 million in federal grant money. In addition, a committee was formed to review the state’s research efforts.

The committee recommended the $20 million bond as well as a five-year commitment from the state to spend $10 million a year to build up the state’s research capacity by hiring people to staff labs and providing matching funds for grants.

Gov. King did not support this expenditure, and it was eliminated from the Democratic budget.