Climate Driven<\/em>: A deep dive into Maine’s response, one county at a time \u2014 Maine Public<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nMaine Public\u2019s long-term project examining the effects of climate change on Maine, county by county, turned to Bates experts for two installments of the series in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Sagadahoc County installment of Climate Driven<\/em> visited Bates\u2013Morse Mountain Conservation Area for a conversation with BMMCA director Caitlin Cleaver about how undeveloped beaches in the state can help us understand rising seas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Caitlin](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2019\/08\/190816_Caitlin_Cleaver_9781.jpg\")
Caitlin Cleaver, director of the Bates\u2013Morse Mountain Conservation Area and Shortridge Coastal Center poses at BMMCA on Aug. 15, 2019. (Theophil Syslo\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\u201cThis is one of the largest undeveloped barrier beaches in Maine,” Cleaver says. “And we have a conservation area behind it that is close to 600 acres.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While many of the state’s beaches are lined with houses and roads, this stretch of sand, and adjacent Popham Beach State Park, could reveal how beaches and dunes behave with limited human intervention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mike Retelle, professor emeritus of earth and climate sciences who has done research on dune movement at BMMCA, also contributed to the story, which was picked up by WBUR and aired throughout the greater Boston area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"For](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2023\/04\/120710_Bates_Morse_Mountain_1970.webp\")
Student researchers study carbon storage the salt marshes at Bates\u2013Morse Mountain Conservation Area. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThen Climate Driven<\/em> visited Androscoggin County to talk about the impacts of climate change on Lake Auburn with Holly Ewing, professor of environmental studies and Johnson Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n“Lake Auburn is one of our kind of jewels, if you will, of the drinking water systems,” Ewing told Maine Public. She\u2019s studied Lake Auburn for more than a decade, and explained how Lake Auburn is one of the few water systems in the country that has such high quality it doesn\u2019t need to be filtered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Ewing says she and others have substantial concerns about its water quality. What\u2019s happening on land upstream of the lake is bringing pollutants into the lake, particularly nutrients such as phosphorus that degrade water quality by causing algae blooms. A factor in those damaging algae blooms are rising water temperatures, caused in part by diminishing ice cover in the winters and also by rising temperatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Sagadahoc episode: \u201cMaine beaches that have escaped development can help us understand rising seas<\/a>,\u201d Maine Public, April 3, 2023<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Androscoggin episode: \u201cClimate change is worsening the water quality issues at the center of a dispute over Lake Auburn<\/a>,\u201d Maine Public, April 6, 2023<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nMount David Summit<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nThe Lewiston Sun Journal<\/em> visited campus for the Mount David Summit on March 31 and spoke to students about their research projects and findings, highlighting the work of students that connected to issues and places in the greater Lewiston-Auburn area.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThat included Avrah Ross \u201923 of Lafayette, Calif., who talked to the paper about her work on the lead paint crisis in Lewiston, telling the paper the community has a major problem with lead paint, mostly in the older homes downtown and might be connected with the high levels of special education in Lewiston schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs Malcolm Hill told the Sun Journal<\/em> that the students offered many \u201cnew ideas and new ways of seeing the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n- Read the full story: “Mount David Summit: Bates College\u2019s version of \u2018March Madness<\/a>,\u2019” Lewiston Sun Journal<\/em> and Portland Press Herald, <\/em>March 31, 2023<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nTara Humphries \u201917 <\/h3>\n\n\n\nLetter to the editor: Maine should ensure trans residents can thrive \u2014 Portland<\/em> Press Herald<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nTara Humphries \u201917, a minister at the Allen Avenue Unitarian Universalist Church in Portland, wrote a letter to the editor of the Portland<\/em> Press Herald<\/em>, celebrating the humanity of transgender people and condemning anti-transgender legislative efforts in Maine and across the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Tara](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2023\/04\/TH-9-send-1.webp\")
Tara Humphries ’17 is a minister at the Allen Avenue Unitarian Universalist Church in Portland. (Courtesy of Tara Humphries ’17)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\u201cThere are hundreds of anti-trans bills making their way across government desks across the country right now,\u201d Humphries wrote, including bills in the Maine Legislature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am a genderqueer Mainer. We are not scary. And we are not scared,\u201d Humphries wrote. \u201cTrans people have always been here. In Maine. In Portland. In the church. And we will always be here. Let us create a state in which all people of all genders can thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Read the letter: \u201cLetter to the editor: Maine should ensure trans residents can thrive<\/a>,\u201d Portland Press Herald<\/em>, March 18, 2023<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nDiane Saunders ’11<\/h3>\n\n\n\nSaunders receives diabetes research innovation award \u2014 VUMC Reporter<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nDiane Saunders \u201911, a researcher at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, was recognized for helping to create innovative approaches to fight diabetes, pancreatic cancer, and pancreatitis, reports the VUMC Reporter<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nOne approach is the new tool Pancreatlas<\/a>, for which Saunders served as co-scientific director: a curated, publicly available database of high-resolution images of human pancreas samples. Because the pancreas cannot be safely biopsied, existing images of pancreatic tissues have previously been scarce and\/or low-quality \u2014 not widely available to the scientific community. <\/p>\n\n\n\nSaunders received an Innovation Award from the Network of Pancreatic Donors with Diabetes for her work on Pancreatlas, and for her own research applying new multiplex imaging approaches to studies of the human pancreas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSince each one of the organs we study unfortunately represents a family\u2019s tragedy, it is our responsibility as researchers to gain as much information from them as possible,\u201d said Saunders, who is a research assistant professor in the Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology & Metabolism. \u201cI feel privileged to have trained with mentors who model this accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Read the announcement: \u201cSaunders receives diabetes research innovation award<\/a>,\u201d VUMC Reporter<\/em>, March 23, 2023<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nNicholas Shadowen ’12 <\/h3>\n\n\n\nNicholas Shadowen \u2014 TechBullion<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nIn a Q&A with Techbullion<\/em>, Nicholas Shadowen \u201912, a social justice attorney based in Austin, Texas, about how he hopes to use litigation to stop gun trafficking in the U.S. and internationally.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAs an example, Shadowen has filed federal lawsuits in Massachusetts and Arizona on behalf of the country of Mexico, seeking to hold U.S. gunmakers accountable for gun-related deaths in Mexico, where, despite having strict gun-control laws, the country \u201chas the third highest rate of gun-related deaths in the world\u201d due to guns flowing into the country from the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S., he said, \u201ccannot turn a blind eye to the reality\u201d that easy access to guns \u201ccan have a negative impact on other nations.\u201d The answer is \u201cstrong international norms, and litigation to produce those norms,\u201d he added. \u201cThis is an international human rights issue,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it needs to be solved in our lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Read the story: \u201cNicholas Shadowen<\/a>,\u201d TechBullion<\/em>, April 4, 2023<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nGreg Bernhardt ’99 and Hannah Sessions ’99<\/h3>\n\n\n\nChildren\u2019s books and cheese \u2014 the Brandon Reporter<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nGreg Bernhardt ’99 and Hannah Sessions ’99 spoke to The Reporter<\/em> of Brandon, Vt., about their latest creative venture, Rosalyn Thought She Was a Goat<\/em>, a children\u2019s picture book<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe married couple own and operate Blue Ledge Farm of Leicster, Vt., a goat dairy and cheesemaking operation, and are also artists who exhibit their oil paintings in the area. The book, written and illustrated by Sessions with graphic design help from Bernhardt, is based on a true story about an abandoned lamb who grew up alongside the farm\u2019s goats. \u201cWe tried introducing it to other sheep,\u201d said Bernhardt, \u201cbut she didn\u2019t relate. She just wanted to be with the goats.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd that was the inspiration for Rosalyn,\u201d said Sessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Read the story: \u201cChildren\u2019s books and cheese<\/a>,\u201d the Brandon Reporter<\/em>, April 5, 2023<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nNicole Rom ’00<\/h3>\n\n\n\nWorking to create a planet where wild places, wildlife, and people thrive together, with Nicole Rom \u2014 Outdoor Biz<\/em> podcast<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"Nicole](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2023\/04\/0036.webp\")
Nicole Rom ’00 is the executive director of the Conservation Alliance. (Courtesy of Nicole Rom ’00)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nA guest on the podcast Outdoor Biz<\/em>, Nicole Rom \u201900, executive director of the Conservation Alliance<\/a>, recalled a seminal Bates moment that helped to inspire her career: the 1998 Otis Lecture by Terry Tempest Williams, an American author, educator, conservationist, and activist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cI remember specifically her talk that she gave at the school, connected all of the courses that I was taking at the time, and helped me really realize that I could choose environmental studies as a major and as a career path. And it wasn\u2019t just something I could enjoy reading or doing on the side, that it actually could go from passion and interest to career.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Listen to the episode: \u201cWorking to create a planet where wild places, wildlife, and people thrive together, with Nicole Rom<\/a>,\u201d Outdoor Biz<\/em> podcast, April 4, 2023<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nMelissa Wong ’01<\/h3>\n\n\n\nThree lessons grocers can learn from specialty retailers \u2014 Retail TouchPoints<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nWriting for Retail TouchPoints, <\/em>Melissa Wong \u201901, co-founder and CEO of Zipline, a retail-focused software development company, notes that the grocery industry hasn\u2019t kept up with other retailers when it comes to customer experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTo catch up, Wong offers three tips. First, grocers need to do a better job at improving customer loyalty, to \u201cencourage their community to see their store as more than just a place to buy dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Second, grocers need to be more intentional about recruiting. \u201cAttracting and hiring employees that can foster a culture of community is critical to elevating the experience and driving customer loyalty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Third, grocers need to invest in company communications, a \u201csingle source of truth through a task management and communications platform [to] streamline building new experiences while ensuring team members are all on the same page.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Read the story: \u201cThree lessons grocers can learn from specialty retailers<\/a>,\u201d Retail TouchPoints<\/em>, April 17, 2023<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nChuck Radis ’75<\/h3>\n\n\n\nNew biography tells the remarkable story of John Jenkins \u2014 Lewiston Sun Journal<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nA new biography about John Jenkins \u201974, former mayor of Lewiston and Auburn and Maine\u2019s first Black state senator, written by classmate Chuck Radis \u201975, tells the \u201cunlikely story of a New Jersey native who became a karate champion in a place he never imagined as a youngster,\u201d wrote Steve Collins for the Lewiston Sun Journal<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n- Read the story: \u201cNew biography tells the remarkable story of John Jenkins<\/a>,\u201d Lewiston Sun Journal<\/em>, March 27, 2023<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nOwen Schmidt ’21<\/h3>\n\n\n\nBoston REI workers file for union election, joining the rising tide of retail organizing \u2014 The<\/em> Boston Globe<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nOwen Schmidt \u201921, a part-time worker at REI\u2019s Fenway store in Boston, was interviewed by The Boston Globe<\/em> about union organizing efforts at the outdoor retailer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cThe outdoors industry thrived during the pandemic, as more people headed out to explore the wilderness,\u201d writes reporter Katie Johnston. \u201cBut REI has lost experienced employees who can help properly outfit novice hikers and bikers <\/strong>because the company hasn\u2019t invested in its staff, said Owen Schmidt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maine Public\u2019s long-term project examining the effects of climate change on Maine, county by county, turned to Bates experts for two installments of the series in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Sagadahoc County installment of Climate Driven<\/em> visited Bates\u2013Morse Mountain Conservation Area for a conversation with BMMCA director Caitlin Cleaver about how undeveloped beaches in the state can help us understand rising seas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is one of the largest undeveloped barrier beaches in Maine,” Cleaver says. “And we have a conservation area behind it that is close to 600 acres.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While many of the state’s beaches are lined with houses and roads, this stretch of sand, and adjacent Popham Beach State Park, could reveal how beaches and dunes behave with limited human intervention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mike Retelle, professor emeritus of earth and climate sciences who has done research on dune movement at BMMCA, also contributed to the story, which was picked up by WBUR and aired throughout the greater Boston area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then Climate Driven<\/em> visited Androscoggin County to talk about the impacts of climate change on Lake Auburn with Holly Ewing, professor of environmental studies and Johnson Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Lake Auburn is one of our kind of jewels, if you will, of the drinking water systems,” Ewing told Maine Public. She\u2019s studied Lake Auburn for more than a decade, and explained how Lake Auburn is one of the few water systems in the country that has such high quality it doesn\u2019t need to be filtered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But Ewing says she and others have substantial concerns about its water quality. What\u2019s happening on land upstream of the lake is bringing pollutants into the lake, particularly nutrients such as phosphorus that degrade water quality by causing algae blooms. A factor in those damaging algae blooms are rising water temperatures, caused in part by diminishing ice cover in the winters and also by rising temperatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Lewiston Sun Journal<\/em> visited campus for the Mount David Summit on March 31 and spoke to students about their research projects and findings, highlighting the work of students that connected to issues and places in the greater Lewiston-Auburn area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That included Avrah Ross \u201923 of Lafayette, Calif., who talked to the paper about her work on the lead paint crisis in Lewiston, telling the paper the community has a major problem with lead paint, mostly in the older homes downtown and might be connected with the high levels of special education in Lewiston schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs Malcolm Hill told the Sun Journal<\/em> that the students offered many \u201cnew ideas and new ways of seeing the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tara Humphries \u201917, a minister at the Allen Avenue Unitarian Universalist Church in Portland, wrote a letter to the editor of the Portland<\/em> Press Herald<\/em>, celebrating the humanity of transgender people and condemning anti-transgender legislative efforts in Maine and across the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n \u201cThere are hundreds of anti-trans bills making their way across government desks across the country right now,\u201d Humphries wrote, including bills in the Maine Legislature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI am a genderqueer Mainer. We are not scary. And we are not scared,\u201d Humphries wrote. \u201cTrans people have always been here. In Maine. In Portland. In the church. And we will always be here. Let us create a state in which all people of all genders can thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Diane Saunders \u201911, a researcher at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, was recognized for helping to create innovative approaches to fight diabetes, pancreatic cancer, and pancreatitis, reports the VUMC Reporter<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One approach is the new tool Pancreatlas<\/a>, for which Saunders served as co-scientific director: a curated, publicly available database of high-resolution images of human pancreas samples. Because the pancreas cannot be safely biopsied, existing images of pancreatic tissues have previously been scarce and\/or low-quality \u2014 not widely available to the scientific community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Saunders received an Innovation Award from the Network of Pancreatic Donors with Diabetes for her work on Pancreatlas, and for her own research applying new multiplex imaging approaches to studies of the human pancreas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSince each one of the organs we study unfortunately represents a family\u2019s tragedy, it is our responsibility as researchers to gain as much information from them as possible,\u201d said Saunders, who is a research assistant professor in the Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology & Metabolism. \u201cI feel privileged to have trained with mentors who model this accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a Q&A with Techbullion<\/em>, Nicholas Shadowen \u201912, a social justice attorney based in Austin, Texas, about how he hopes to use litigation to stop gun trafficking in the U.S. and internationally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As an example, Shadowen has filed federal lawsuits in Massachusetts and Arizona on behalf of the country of Mexico, seeking to hold U.S. gunmakers accountable for gun-related deaths in Mexico, where, despite having strict gun-control laws, the country \u201chas the third highest rate of gun-related deaths in the world\u201d due to guns flowing into the country from the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The U.S., he said, \u201ccannot turn a blind eye to the reality\u201d that easy access to guns \u201ccan have a negative impact on other nations.\u201d The answer is \u201cstrong international norms, and litigation to produce those norms,\u201d he added. \u201cThis is an international human rights issue,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it needs to be solved in our lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Greg Bernhardt ’99 and Hannah Sessions ’99 spoke to The Reporter<\/em> of Brandon, Vt., about their latest creative venture, Rosalyn Thought She Was a Goat<\/em>, a children\u2019s picture book<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The married couple own and operate Blue Ledge Farm of Leicster, Vt., a goat dairy and cheesemaking operation, and are also artists who exhibit their oil paintings in the area. The book, written and illustrated by Sessions with graphic design help from Bernhardt, is based on a true story about an abandoned lamb who grew up alongside the farm\u2019s goats. \u201cWe tried introducing it to other sheep,\u201d said Bernhardt, \u201cbut she didn\u2019t relate. She just wanted to be with the goats.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd that was the inspiration for Rosalyn,\u201d said Sessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A guest on the podcast Outdoor Biz<\/em>, Nicole Rom \u201900, executive director of the Conservation Alliance<\/a>, recalled a seminal Bates moment that helped to inspire her career: the 1998 Otis Lecture by Terry Tempest Williams, an American author, educator, conservationist, and activist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI remember specifically her talk that she gave at the school, connected all of the courses that I was taking at the time, and helped me really realize that I could choose environmental studies as a major and as a career path. And it wasn\u2019t just something I could enjoy reading or doing on the side, that it actually could go from passion and interest to career.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Writing for Retail TouchPoints, <\/em>Melissa Wong \u201901, co-founder and CEO of Zipline, a retail-focused software development company, notes that the grocery industry hasn\u2019t kept up with other retailers when it comes to customer experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To catch up, Wong offers three tips. First, grocers need to do a better job at improving customer loyalty, to \u201cencourage their community to see their store as more than just a place to buy dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Second, grocers need to be more intentional about recruiting. \u201cAttracting and hiring employees that can foster a culture of community is critical to elevating the experience and driving customer loyalty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Third, grocers need to invest in company communications, a \u201csingle source of truth through a task management and communications platform [to] streamline building new experiences while ensuring team members are all on the same page.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n A new biography about John Jenkins \u201974, former mayor of Lewiston and Auburn and Maine\u2019s first Black state senator, written by classmate Chuck Radis \u201975, tells the \u201cunlikely story of a New Jersey native who became a karate champion in a place he never imagined as a youngster,\u201d wrote Steve Collins for the Lewiston Sun Journal<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Owen Schmidt \u201921, a part-time worker at REI\u2019s Fenway store in Boston, was interviewed by The Boston Globe<\/em> about union organizing efforts at the outdoor retailer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe outdoors industry thrived during the pandemic, as more people headed out to explore the wilderness,\u201d writes reporter Katie Johnston. \u201cBut REI has lost experienced employees who can help properly outfit novice hikers and bikers <\/strong>because the company hasn\u2019t invested in its staff, said Owen Schmidt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nMount David Summit<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n\n\n\nTara Humphries \u201917 <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Letter to the editor: Maine should ensure trans residents can thrive \u2014 Portland<\/em> Press Herald<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n\n\n\nDiane Saunders ’11<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Saunders receives diabetes research innovation award \u2014 VUMC Reporter<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n\n\n\nNicholas Shadowen ’12 <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Nicholas Shadowen \u2014 TechBullion<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n\n\n\nGreg Bernhardt ’99 and Hannah Sessions ’99<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Children\u2019s books and cheese \u2014 the Brandon Reporter<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n\n\n\nNicole Rom ’00<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Working to create a planet where wild places, wildlife, and people thrive together, with Nicole Rom \u2014 Outdoor Biz<\/em> podcast<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n\n\n\nMelissa Wong ’01<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Three lessons grocers can learn from specialty retailers \u2014 Retail TouchPoints<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n\n\n\nChuck Radis ’75<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
New biography tells the remarkable story of John Jenkins \u2014 Lewiston Sun Journal<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n\n\n\nOwen Schmidt ’21<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Boston REI workers file for union election, joining the rising tide of retail organizing \u2014 The<\/em> Boston Globe<\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n