The Mitchell Center is the congressionally-authorized water resource center for Maine. In 1999, the USGS ranked the Mitchell Center as one of the 5 top performing water centers during the previous five years, and described it as a ' model for national water resource centers '. The Institute also won the Governor's Environmental Excellence award in 1999 in environmental education. The Mitchell Center is closely involved with the environmental consulting industry, state and federal agencies including EPA, USGS, National Park Service, and the Maine Departments of Environmental Protection, Transportation, the Maine Geological Survey and State Planning Office. Students have opportunities for practical hands-on interactions and formal internships with these partners, facilitating both training and future employment opportunities.
Students typically interact frequently with agency staff, enhancing future employment options.
This laboratory has been the water quality laboratory for the operations of the flagship EPA Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program operating east of the Mississippi River. Our instrumentation capabilities include organic compounds ranging from dioxin to gasoline, and inorganic substances from arsenic to zinc. Facilities include three specialized 'clean rooms' for analyses as low as the parts per quadrillion level in our role as the Maine environmental contaminants laboratory. Water Resource graduate students enrolled in the Engineering or Geology typically have a background in these disciplines, or may be required to complete one or more undergraduate prerequisities as part of their graduate program. The Mitchell Center welcomes your comments and suggestions about this webpage.