BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 28, 2022
Tens of millions of dollars could be headed to Maine to accelerate research into the state’s burgeoning forever chemical contamination problem as well as surveillance and management of the state’s growing tick population, which has driven a surge in tick-borne infections such as Lyme disease. Additional money would go toward the University of Maine’s Factory of the Future initiative that will rely on 3D printing and artificial intelligence to pioneer new manufacturing methods using bio-based and recyclable materials. The money for those initiatives is among more than $116 million earmarked for the University of Maine System in the U.S. Senate appropriations committee’s funding package for the coming fiscal year.