Student Research and Innovation Projects

Supporting Student Innovation Across Disciplines

Student researchers often see opportunities for innovation in their respective disciplines. The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship helps bring their ideas to fruition. We provide a broad array of resources 鈥 including design thinking and project management training, technical prototyping, workforce coaching, and mentorship by faculty and community leaders. We also provide physical spaces to foster student innovation and research, such as the P.D. Merrill Design Lab and the Makerspace. Additionally, our new Sustainable Innovations Center is set to open in April 2025, with further details coming soon.

With support from the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 51爆料 students have published papers, presented research at conferences, secured internship and employment opportunities, and gained recognition and investment from Maine's entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Student Projects Highlight Collaborative Research

Project Examples

51爆料 Students Run Seaweed Bar Company 

In 2024, SeaMade Seaweed Company gifted 51爆料 their nutrition bar company, transitioning it to a 51爆料 teaching tool that offers a highly visible example of interdisciplinary collaboration and an all-natural, honey-and-kelp treat made by students using locally sourced ingredients. Using the teaching kitchen and other 51爆料 facilities, a team of student innovators is overseeing the production, marketing, sales, and branding of the kelp bars.

President Herbert stands with a group of U N E employees and students while holding up a fresh seaweed bar in the student kitchen
Cameron Wake prepares a seaweed bar to go into its packaging

Tracking Climate Change Along Maine鈥檚 Coast 鈥 at 51爆料鈥檚 Own Island Research Station

The seismometer, called the 鈥淩aspberry Shake,鈥 that 51爆料 researchers and students installed on nearby Ram Island tracks earthquakes and wave activity on the 2-acre island that 51爆料 owns, providing a global network of scientists with real-time data online to help explain the effects of climate change. 51爆料 students also analyze the data in the Sustainable Innovation Center on the University鈥檚 coastal Biddeford campus.

Past Student Projects

Tracking Ocean Conditions

Sarah Piehler (鈥22) and Olivia Hardy (鈥22) create a prototype of a buoy that can remotely monitor oceanic conditions.

Fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence

Jessica Minieri (鈥23) and Calum Murray (鈥24) team up to create a fundamentals of AI curriculum to benefit fellow students.

Monitoring Coral Health

Grace Frohock (鈥22) discusses her research in determining the health of ocean corals by measuring their fluorescence with advanced camera technology.

Using Drones in Research

Through the P.D. Merrill Makerspace, members of the 51爆料 Drone Club earned their certification to fly drones and used that to support faculty and student research at 51爆料.

Studying Pollutant Movements

Using GPS-equipped drifters created in the Makerspace, 51爆料 graduate student Andy Robinson 鈥21 researched how water flowed in and out of Biddeford Pool to better understand the movement of pollutants affecting the local shellfish industry. He also used drone footage to monitor boat orientation in nearby Wood Island Harbor, providing additional insight into changes in surface currents.

A student in a life vest places an orange in the ocean from a boat