Last week, from October 4-6, the National Association of Marine Laboratories (NAML) held its biennial meeting at the Schiller Coastal Studies Center, drawing 33 in-person representatives and more tuning in virtually from the NAML’s 110 laboratories nationwide.
With 216 miles of rocky shores, the Town of Harpswell has the longest coastline in Maine. But as housing grows less affordable, families and fishermen fear losing access to the Gulf of Maine, and Bowdoin’s 118-acre Schiller Coastal Studies Center finds its community role expanded.
From students making bioplastic with the shells of invasive green crabs to mapping microplastic levels throughout the Harpswell Sound, the Schiller Coastal Studies Center was far from idle this summer.
Students took up jobs and research projects to further their understanding of the complex ecological systems in the Casco Bay region and humans’ vital role in maintaining this habitat.
On Thursday, the Schiller Coastal Studies Center (SCSC) was officially dedicated fifteen months after construction was completed. The Board of Trustees attended the ceremony and reception as part of its first in-person meeting in over two years.
On Wednesday, the College announced plans to construct a new dry laboratory and convening center, complete with housing and dining services, at the newly renamed Schiller Coastal Studies Center (SCSC). This marks the College’s second major investment in the study of the environment in recent years, with the Roux Center for the Environment expected to open in September 2018.