Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School Updates

Email updates from Kody Varahramyan, Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School, University of Maine regarding the research activities of the University of Maine during the COVID-19 pandemic

Office of the Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate_Research Continuity Update Email

Email from Kody Varahramyan, Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School, University of Maine regarding an update to the Plan for Phased Continuity of the Research Enterprise due to the announcements by the State of Maine in response to the surging cases of COVID-19 in Maine and the nation

Plan for Phased Continuity of the Research Enterprise Email

Email from Kody Varahramyan, Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School, University of Maine regarding the Plan for Phased Continuity of the Research Enterprise produced by the Research Continuity Task Force Plan who were responsible for looking at re-opening research at UMaine based on federal, state and UMaine system guidance, and the scientific evidence around COVID-19 infection control. The Task Force was established by Dean Varahramyan to assist with the anticipated changes to the research guidelines and their implementation as the COVID-19 conditions dictate

Update on the Plan for Phased Continuity of the Research Enterprise Email

Email from Kody Varahramyan, Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School, University of Maine regarding an update to the Plan for Phased Continuity of the Research Enterprise produced by the Research Continuity Task Force Plan who were responsible for looking at re-opening research at UMaine based on federal, state and UMaine system guidance, and the scientific evidence around COVID-19 infection control. The Task Force was established by Dean Varahramyan to assist with the anticipated changes to the research guidelines and their implementation as the COVID-19 conditions dictate

IMPACT_March 18 COVID-19 Research Impact Update

Screenshot of webpage with COVID-19 Research Impact Update from Kody Varahramyan, Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School, University of Maine

Institute of Medicine Advancing Human Health and Wellbeing in Maine and Beyond

Emergence of a transformative and coordinated community of collaborating researchers and educators, who in partnership with health care providers and other stakeholders are dedicated to the advancement of human health and wellbeing in the state of Maine and beyond, through discovery and learning in health and life sciences, from basic and translational research, to clinical practices and healthcare workforce development

Maine EPSCoR Annual Report 2018-2019

Over the past year, Maine EPSCoR has had the great pleasure of participating in and supporting some of the state’s most innovative research. The scientists, faculty, students, and staff involved with these efforts have made important social, economic, and educational impacts on the state of Maine. The achievements and discoveries highlighted in this annual report only graze the surface of what has been accomplished, and of what is surely yet to come. As Maine EPSCoR’s current Track-1 grant, the Sustainable Ecological Aquaculture Network (SEANET) completes its final year by delivering its most significant findings yet, several other grants awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) throughout the state are just getting started. This report will review these exciting new projects and their initial outcomes. In addition, we’ll take a look at what some of the state’s longest EPSCoR funded initiatives (such as NASA EPSCoR) have been up to, while announcing the newly reauthorized Defense Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DEPSCoR)

Poly(vinylidene fluoride-hexafluoropropylene) polymer electrolyte for paper-based and flexible battery applications

Paper-based batteries represent a new frontier in battery technology. However, low-flexibility and poor ionic conductivity of solid electrolytes have been major impediments in achieving practical mechanically flexible batteries. This work discuss new highly ionic conductive polymer gel electrolytes for paper-based battery applications. In this paper, we present a poly(vinylidene fluoride-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDH-HFP) porous membrane electrolyte enhanced with lithium bis(trifluoromethane sulphone)imide (LiTFSI) and lithium aluminum titanium phosphate (LATP), with an ionic conductivity of 2.1 × 10−3 S cm−1. Combining ceramic (LATP) with the gel structure of PVDF-HFP and LiTFSI ionic liquid harnesses benefits of ceramic and gel electrolytes in providing flexible electrolytes with a high ionic conductivity. In a flexibility test experiment, bending the polymer electrolyte at 90° for 20 times resulted in 14% decrease in ionic conductivity. Efforts to further improving the flexibility of the presented electrolyte are ongoing. Using this electrolyte, full-cell batteries with lithium titanium oxide (LTO) and lithium cobalt oxide (LCO) electrodes and (i) standard metallic current collectors and (ii) paper-based current collectors were fabricated and tested. The achieved specific capacities were (i) 123 mAh g−1 for standard metallic current collectors and (ii) 99.5 mAh g−1 for paper-based current collectors. Thus, the presented electrolyte has potential to become a viable candidate in paper-based and flexible battery applications. Fabrication methods, experimental procedures, and test results for the polymer gel electrolyte and batteries are presented and discussed

Paper-Based Flexible Lithium-Ion Batteries

Paper-based flexible batteries have a wide range of applications in paper-based platforms, including in paper electronics, packaging, product displays, greeting cards, and sensors. This poster will present lithium-ion batteries using flexible paper-based current collectors. These current collectors were fabricated from wood microfibers that were coated with carbon nanotubes (CNT) through an electrostatic layer-by-layer nanoassembly process. The use of paper-based current collectors provides flexibility and improved electrode adhesion. Electrodes were fabricated by casting thin layers of lithium titanium oxide, lithium cobalt oxide or lithium magnesium oxide on the conductive paper. Half-cell and full-cell devices were fabricated and tested. The results show that the presented batteries use reduced mass loading of carbon nanotubes (10.1 μg/cm2) compared to CNT film based batteries. Experimental capacities of the half-cell devices were measured to be 150 mAh/g for lithium cobalt oxide, 158 mAh/g for lithium titanium oxide, and 130 mAh/g for lithium magnesium oxide. Device designs, fabrication processes of paper-based current collectors, electrodes, and batteries, and further experimental results, including solid electrolytes, will be presented

Learning at the Nano-level: Exploring the unseen and accounting for complexity in how (and why) secondary STEM teachers learn

poster abstractThis study utilizes IUPUI’s Nanotechnology Discovery Academy (INDA) for secondary Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) teachers (n=13) as its starting point for exploring issues related to teacher learning and professional development (PD). Pilot data was collected as part of an evaluation of INDA during the summer of 2013. Teacher professional learning is often represented as the measurable change (e.g. content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, self-efficacy, etc.) that occurs via PD “best practices.” However, following constructivism, the processes of knowledge construction are complex, and what is learned — and, more importantly, how and why it is learned — is itself an assemblage of experiences oftentimes particular to the individual learner. Our preliminary findings suggest that while teacher perceptions of their pedagogical development and confidence may increase, their learning outcomes and subsequent practice take shape in relation to each individual’s teaching/learning history and the political and socioeconomic reality of their school. With teacher PD remaining an important focus of U.S. educational policy, it is important to correctly characterize the emergent outcomes of PD interventions to better understand how teachers learn, what constrains their learning and practice, and how teacher professional learning can, in turn, be mobilized to empower both teachers and their students