The Gulf of Maine Research Institute enables Maine students to use scientific tools and methods to investigate the state's fresh and saltwater ecosystems. We use communications and computing technology to create authentic, hands-on research experiences for students and link them with world-class scientists. Our programs bring students into a working research laboratory, take them out into the field to collect scientific data about their local waterways, and enable them to use the Internet to share their observations and explore new marine science topics.

Because middle school is a critical time for the development of science interests and skills, GMRI focused on developing rigorous and locally-relevant science learning opportunities for students in grades 5-8. Our programs leverage Maine's unique cyber-infrastructure: high speed Internet in every school and laptops for 7th and 8th graders. We are committed to making our programs available free of charge to ensure that they are universally accessible to all students regardless of their personal circumstances or where in Maine they live. The result will be successive classes of Maine students who are excited about science and better-equipped to responsibly steward our aquatic resources.

GMRI's website, the cornerstone of GMRI's educational efforts, records over 15 million hits each year, reaching all fifty states and 130 countries. Topics range from how satellites image the Earth to detailed examinations of species and habitats including lobsters, turtles, herring, marine mammals, and aquatic environments from Katahdin to the sea.

GMRI has enjoyed a fruitful working relationship with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration since 1994, resulting in sites that describe global climate change, hurricanes, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, and over a hundred classroom-tested activities. A recent web-based project provided outreach for a three-year biological nanotechnology project that investigated how marine organisms construct shells out of molecular-scale building blocks of calcium and silica.