Media Coverage

Caleb Bitting '23 was quoted In a CNBC article focused on students' perspective about how their peers are behaving on campus in light of COVID-19. “At my college, I would say that social distancing and masks are adhered to at least 90% of the time,” Bitting said. He went on to say that "Colby is communicating regularly with students about lower-risk ways to socialize, such as outdoor walks." 

As the Waterville Planning Board prepares to consider plans for and vote on Colby's proposed performing arts center, the Morning Sentinel ran an extensive story on the center, providing an overview of the building and its programs as well as Colby's other projects in Waterville centered on the arts.

The low numbers of positive COVID-19 test results at Colby and other Central Maine colleges were the subject of the Morning Sentinel article "Central Maine colleges continue COVID-19 testing as students return to campus." The numbers are a good sign of how well the testing program is working at Colby. “And we hope that will continue and even be reduced," said Colby's George Sopko. "Imperative to this will be for our community to continue to be diligent with prevention and mitigation efforts.” 

Dominick Leskiw '21 wrote an article published by the Earth Island Institute. Titled "Forecasting Marine 'Bioinvasions" in a Warming World," the piece looks at the wide-ranging sources of bioinvasions, from "travel and trade, colonization and war, fisheries and aquaria, and the countless physical means of carriage, called vectors, that allow humans — and the organisms we bring with us — to reach oceanic habitats all around the globe." Leskiw gives examples of "modern case studies" to show that invasive organisms "can devastate local ecosystems, destroy coastal infrastructure, and cost billions of dollars to combat every year," underscoring "the urgency of researching and responding to species introductions across the contemporary world ocean." Leskiw conducted a part-time internship at the Earth Island Institute last summer.

Colby mourns the loss of David H. Firmage, the Clara C. Piper Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies, Emeritus, who passed away Aug. 28, 2020, at his home in Fairfield, Maine. A beloved professor for 35 years and an esteemed scholar, he was one of three founders of Colby’s current Environmental Studies Program, nationally recognized as one of the best undergraduate environmental programs. A plant biologist, Firmage arrived at Colby in 1975. With F. Russell Cole, Oak Professor of Biological Sciences, Emeritus, and Thomas Tietenberg, Mitchell Family Professor of Economics, Emeritus, he helped guide the fledgling Environmental Studies Program from a concentration within biology to the full interdisciplinary program it is today with distinct majors in policy and science and 156 majors and nearly 80 minors.   [caption id="attachment_44344" align="aligncenter" width="580"] Professor David Firmage, seen here in an undated photograph, taught courses in biology and environmental studies at Colby from 1975 until he retired in 2010.[/caption]   “He has always been a powerful force supporting the growth of the program and a devoted and passionate protector of its students and resources,” said Professor of Environmental Studies Philip Nyhus. After earning an M.S. in botany from Brigham Young University, Firmage earned a Ph.D. in botany: ecology and systematics from the University of Montana. His research focused on pollination ecology, and at Colby he taught courses in ecology, plant biology, and environmental studies. He also taught innovative Jan Plan field study courses in Costa Rica, Belize, and California’s Mojave Desert. Jan Plans, Firmage felt, were “the most important things we do” for both science and non-science majors. “We’ve had cases in which Jan Plans have determined students’ career plans,” he said in a 1995 Colby Magazine article. "He guided so many of us in exploring the world around us, in understanding the natural world and its complex systems,” recalled Colleen Balch ’87, a naturalist and interpretative educator in Yosemite National Park. “So many of the profound gifts that Colby provided me to build my life came from the privilege of being his advisee, his student, his research assistant, his mentee, and his friend. He was always a model for me as both a scientist and an educator.” [caption id="attachment_44343" align="alignleft" width="258"] David Firmage and his family took an active part in student life at Colby when they lived in the faculty apartment in Colby's Mary Low Hall in the 1980s.[/caption] Firmage also helped develop Colby research programs on Maine’s Belgrade Lakes. Along with Cole, he designed and co-taught Problems in Environmental Science, a capstone, service-learning course in which students conduct water-quality research on area lakes. Firmage and Cole wrote a monograph about the program included in the book Acting Locally: Concepts and Models for Service-learning in Environmental Studies. Other significant contributions include serving as chair of the Biology Department, the Environmental Studies Program, and the Interdisciplinary Studies Division. He contributed to the 1998 Award for the Integration of Research and Education from the National Science Foundation, a grant that supported the first Colby Undergraduate Research Symposium, co-organized by Firmage. He also played a key role in bringing millions of dollars in science funding to Colby, including from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Olin Foundation, which resulted in the Olin Science Center and significant expansion in environmental studies at Colby. The author of more than 25 publications, he was also a project manager for evaluations of proposed natural landmarks for the National Park Service. In 1982 he conducted water-quality analysis and environmental impact studies for EPA projects while working as a research scientist through a fellowship from the George I. Alden Trust. Throughout, Firmage was known for his wisdom and grace. “David was not only a superlative educator, but he was also a kind, generous, and unselfish mentor and colleague,” Nyhus said. “His church and his family meant everything to him, but he treated everyone like family.” David Firmage served as a bishop for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as well as a temple worker and missionary internationally. He enjoyed gardening, photography, reading, and traveling. Survivors include his wife of 55 years, Alexandra, four children, 18 grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, and two siblings.

The story of brothers Logan and Max Morrione was told in the Morning Sentinel article "To go or not to go: Colby students take different paths to Waterville college." Logan, a sophomore, decided to come to campus for the year while younger brother Max opted to defer his first year in hopes that next year will bring a more traditional freshman year.

"Can a Bubble Net Stop a Hurricane? Some Norwegians Think So," reads the Wired headline. The idea to stretch an underwater "bubble net" to allow deep ocean water to flow upward and cool hurricanes wouldn't be enough, says James Fleming, Colby's Charles A. Dana Professor of Science, Technology, and Society and currently a visiting professor at Harvard University. “Hurricanes certainly need warm water, but they also need convection, a rotational component, and light wind shear above them,” said Fleming, a weather historian and author of the book Fixing the Sky: The Checkered History of Weather and Climate Control. 

Associate Professor of Psychology Christopher Soto coauthored the paper "People with disagreeable personalities (selfish, combative, and manipulative) do not have an advantage in pursuing power at work" recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.  Popular science journals such as Psychology Today and Science News ran stories about the paper. The coauthors research found that "when pursuing power in the workplace, a failure to build alliances, engage in more cooperative behaviors, and help others appears to negate any gains that a 'selfish jerk' makes by using fear, intimidation, or aggression to get ahead," Psychology Today reports.

Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Gail Carlson was quoted in a Bangor Daily News story titled "Some basic items in your home might be toxic to you." The article discusses several household items that contain toxins. “Because they’re not well-regulated, there are certain chemicals that are actually quite toxic, but the government is under no obligation to regulate or inform you,” said Gail Carlson, assistant professor of environmental studies at Colby College. “A lot of people think if it’s on the shelf on the store it’s probably safe, which is completely false.”

The Portland Press Herald ran a story about the appointment of Maya Lin as senior fellow of the Lunder Institute for American Art. Beth Finch, interim director of the Lunder Institute, told the Press Herald that "Lin has built her practice balancing art and architecture, using science to create art that engages viewers to think about their relationship to nature." Lin's yearlong fellowship “epitomizes the Lunder Institute’s potential to create interdisciplinary synergy between a renowned American artist and the intellectual and creative resources of our community,” Finch said. “This captures the whole of it. We see opportunities for dynamic interconnections.”  The Morning Sentinel also covered the news of Lin's appointment.