About Us

Mission Statement and Vision

The Center for Undergraduate Research’s (CUGR) primary mission is to increase, improve, and enhance undergraduate students’ participation and experiences in research, scholarship, and creative activity. Undergraduate research allows motivated and interested students to become critically engaged in a culture of independent learning and participate in the creation of new knowledge. Through student-faculty collaborations and mentoring partnerships, students develop the tools and resources needed to achieve an authentic understanding of the research endeavor, the pinnacle of an educational experience. Undergraduate research, broadly defined and understood, incorporates current students into the fabric of the University and attracts prospective students who want to be active participants in their education. Undergraduate research also provides an opportunity for faculty to expand their own research programs and enhance mentoring skills through training new members of their disciplines.

CUGR achieves its mission by providing leadership, coordination, and support for research activities across campus. It builds upon UMaine’s strengths and strategic goals as the state’s leading research university, taking advantage of the hundreds of faculty and graduate students involved in research and creative projects who can teach and mentor undergraduate researchers and scholars.

“I’ve had a wonderful experience working with CUGR this last semester and would like to thank them for my opportunity to push forward my research on Spatial Frequency Domain Imaging applications in diabetics.”
–Christian Crane, student researcher

CUGR Advisory Committee

  • Ali Abedi, Associate Vice President for Research, and CUGR Director, Professor of ECE, MCEC
  • Laura Artesani, Chair and Associate Professor, Music Education Coordinator, CLAS
  • Joshua Bohm, Student Government Representative
  • Timothy Cole, Associate Dean for Academics, CLAS
  • Amelia Couture-Bue, Assistant Professor of Communication and Journalism, CLAS
  • Nives Dal Bo-Wheeler, Director for the Office of Major Scholarships
  • Justin Dimmel, Associate Professor of Mathematics Education and Instructional Technology, Associate Dean for Academics and Student Engagement, EDHD
  • Val Herbert, Assistant Professor of Nursing, ELHS
  • Caitlin Howell, Associate Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Associate Director of CUGR
  • Jean MacRae, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, MCEC
  • Anna Martin, Lecturer, Honors College
  • Ellen Weinauer, Dean of Honors College