Our research typically occurs at the nexus between established scientific disciplines, i.e. chemistry, economics, natural resources & ecology, environmental sciences, engineering, business and management, social science, wood science and technology, computing, operations research and management science. Because of this we adopt a multi-scale, multi-disciplinary, integrative approaches that enable us to bring a wide range of skills to bear on pressing environmental and sustainable development challenges. We work with experts from the School of Forest Resources, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and across the University of Maine, as well as with institutions in Asia, Europe, Africa and the USA.

Core Research Areas include:

· Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Integrated Environmental Assessment of Transportation Fuels, Bioproducts and Biofuels

· Green Supply Chain Management

· Sustainability and Resilience of Industrial and Ecological Networks

· Systems Modeling and Agent based Modeling in Industrial Ecology

· Integrated Modeling of Economic, Environmental and Industrial Systems

· Carbon Footprinting and Climate Change Policy

· Modeling Life Cycle Impacts of Developing Biorefinery Systems on Land Use, Biodiversity and Ecological Services

· Sustainability Modeling and Assessment of  Built Environment

· Ecogically based Life Cycle Assessment of Emerging Technologies such as Nanocomposites and Biotechnologies

Our research emphasizes the development of scientifically rigorous methods, tools and techniques for evaluating the sustainability and resilience of products and processes. We adopt a holistic view to allow consideration of details of individual processes and phenomena without missing their interaction with other systems. This enables consideration of systems at different temporal and spatial scales and levels of aggregation. The impact of our reserch is on improving the efficiency of value chains, reducing their negative environmental impacts, and designing effective government policies.