University of New England (United States)
UNE is Maine’s largest private university with two distinctive coastal campuses and a vibrant campus in Morocco. Over 12,000 students study throughout the year, in 70+ undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs on campus and online. No other Maine institution of higher education offers UNE’s depth and breadth of comprehensive academic programs, research infrastructure, and entrepreneurial culture.
UNE’s world class team of medical, public health, social work, marine, and environmental faculty and research scientists offer innovative academic programming in Marine Entrepreneurship, Ocean Food Systems, Climate Change, and Social Work that address current North Atlantic/Arctic marine, business and environmental challenges and opportunities that bridge all of the cutting edge areas of modern sustainability science.
When looking at a map of North America, Maine is on the periphery of our USA–centric view of the world. But with a shift in global orientation northward towards the North Atlantic, and Maine is in the center of an emerging network of North Atlantic states and interests. Awareness of Maine’s natural connection to points North has grown stronger in recent decades, creating new opportunities for cultural and academic exchanges and economic partnerships that will strengthen and transform Maine. The University of New England plans to play a leading role in the exploration and development of this potential by coordinating communication and consolidating expertise.
Partners / Researchers
Barry Costa-Pierce
Barry Costa-Pierce is the Henry L. & Grace Doherty Professor of Marine Sciences and Executive Director of UNE NORTH: The Insitute for North Atlantic Studies at the University of New England in Maine, USA. He is a marine ecologist with broad research interests in “ocean food systems”: how fisheries, aquaculture, and seafood value chains throughout the world interact locally with marine ecosystems and people.
Dr. Costa-Pierce research team is involved in integrated shellfish/seaweed farming systems and seaweed/sea vegetable aquaculture. Costa-Pierce was a team member that developed the FAO protocols for an “Ecosystems Approach to Aquaculture”. He currently a co-PI on a 5-year, US$20 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant that established the Sustainable Ecological Aquaculture Network (SEANET) – the largest grant ever given by the NSF to US aquaculture. Costa-Pierce has been an Editor for Aquaculture for 20 yars and has served for the last 3 years as its Editor-in-Chief. In 2017, he was selected by the Swedish Royal Academy of Agriculture and Forestry as a Knut & Alice Wallenberg Professor at the University of Gothenburg where he currently resides.
