2020 CRSF Annual Report

Published: 2020

Author(s):
Meg Fergusson
Aaron Weiskittel

Abstract:

Highlights

  • In FY20, CRSF researchers brought in 13 awards worth $4,303,096. This is an increase of nearly $3.75M from FY19.
  • CRSF researchers submitted 20 proposals in FY20 that, if awarded, could bring in more than $5M in extramural funding.
  • A key source of financial support for the CRSF is provided by the Maine Economic Improvement Fund (MEIF). The $202,058 investment from MEIF leveraged $546,944 from other CRSF sources and $4,303,096 in extramural grants for a total leverage of $4,850,040 of additional research funding—a $24.00 return on investment for every dollar of MEIF funding.
  • PI Weiskittel awarded $500K from NSF for a 5-year Phase 3 of I/UCRC CAFS program that links UMaine to 6 other universities across the country and is led by CRSF.
  • CRSF Director Weiskittel received the 2019 Maine Forest Products Council’s Presidential Award for his dedication and service to the state’s forest industry.
  • The $3 million INSPIRES NSF EPSCoR Track 2 project started Aug 1, 2019 and is an interjurisdictional partnership between Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
  • INSPIRES-affiliated UMaine researchers include 20 faculty (9 early career), 1 post-doc, 3 professional staff, and 4 students (2 graduate level).
  • With UVM, UNH, and SUNY-ESF, CRSF successfully relaunched the Northeastern States Research Cooperative (NSRC) with $1.6M in available for research funding.
  • IGS released the web-based, interactive decision-support tool, Maine Forest Ecosystem Status and Trends (ForEST) App.
  • IGS established a collaboration with the Maine GeoLibrary, NOAA Coastal Change Analysis Program, and University of Maine Wheatland Geospatial Lab to fund and develop a next-generation, high-resolution land cover map of Maine, including detailed forest type information at 10 m spatial resolution.
  • FCCI co-hosted a Science & Practice forum for nearly 60 stakeholders from across Maine to catalyze scientist-manager discussions about current research and stakeholder needs, grow Maine’s forest climate adaptation community of practice, and provide useful information for the work of the Maine Climate Council.