Former Governor, State of Maine
The Institute has been executed brilliantly, far beyond my expectations, to be honest with you. They’ve brought in world-class scientists. They’re doing incredible research, but also maintaining connections with the community, with the fishermen, with the waterfront community, and doing an outreach to kids that is absolutely extraordinary.
One of the greatest assets that Maine has is the Gulf of Maine. There’s an enormous untapped potential there, for energy, for food, for biomass, for all kinds of things. GMRI’s role is as an honest broker. Don Perkins as co-chair of the ocean energy task force, I think is a perfect example. He doesn’t come to it with an agenda. He comes to it with a science-based, open-minded approach...What is the potential, how do we realize that potential, but also, how do we make it consistent with traditional uses and other uses that are very important historically, and in the future?
The ongoing challenge is to engage Maine young people in science education. It’s just tough. But I think one of the neat things about it is if you can engage kids, it’s a way to keep them in Maine. Close to my heart is the laptop project. And the institute has also had some extraordinary success in linking up with that project. To have a program like Vital Signs that allows the students to use the computer to deal with things that they can understand, that are relevant, and they can say, Ah ha! Look at this! In real life, in real time. That’s the whole idea, that’s the spark. 