University Field Trips

Are you a professor of marine science or oceanography? Bring your students to UMaine’s Darling Marine Center for a salty marine adventure they’ll never forget. You will find that teaching on-site at a coastal marine lab gives students a unique educational experience. In addition, student exposure to the numerous undergraduate and graduate research activities at the Center is equally rewarding.

The DMC’s Visiting College and University Field Trip program makes it easy for faculty to add a hands-on field component to a regular classroom syllabus. A typical field trip is two to three days long and includes a half-day sampling cruise aboard the R/V Ira C. on the Damariscotta River Estuary, a tromp in the mud flats at low tide, and plenty of lab time for identifying organisms in a flowing seawater classroom. Some groups add a rocky intertidal specimen collection trip, or conduct individual experiments along the coast or in our wet labs.

We urge you to take full advantage of the resources we have to offer and customize your visit. DMC staff is available to provide assistance with specimen collection, equipment use, classroom/lab setup, housing and meals. We can even arrange for guided field trips to rocky shore and mud flat habitats, as well as lectures by resident researchers.

Visiting Colleges & Universities

For over 20 years, academic institutions from Maine to Nebraska have staged their ocean explorations from the DMC. The following institutions have participated in the Visiting College and University Field Trip Program:

Adelphi University, NY	Mt. Holyoke, MA
Amherst College, MA	Mulhenberg College, FL
Baldwin Wallace College, OH	Northeastern University, MA
Bates College, ME	Quinnipiac University, CT
Bradford College, MA	Simmons College, MA
Bowdoin College, ME	Smith College, MA
Brown University, RI	Southampton College, NY
Bucknell University, PA	SUNY, Geneseo, NY
Colby College, ME	St. Lawrence University, NY
College of the Atlantic, ME	Unity College, ME
Connecticut College, CT	University of Maine, Augusta
Crowder College, IA	University of Maine, Farmington
East Stroudsburg University, PA	University of Maine, Presque Isle
Eastern Connecticut State University, CT	University of Pennsylvania, PA
Fairleigh-Dickenson University, NJ	University of South Alabama, AL
George Washington University, DC	Villanova University, PA
Gordon College, MA	Wayne State College, NE
Harvard University, MA	Wayne State University, MI
Kennebec Valley Community College	Westfield State College, MA
Laval University, QC, Canada	Yesheva University, NY
Manhattan College, NY

In recent years, middle school and high school groups have developed similar field trip programs. These schools include:

Chewonki Semester School, ME
Conant High School, NH
Essex High School, MA
Lincoln Academy, ME
Poland High School, ME
Sanford High School, ME
The Village School, NJ
Waynflete School, ME

If we’ve sparked your interest, please contact dmc@maine.edu or 207-563-8144