Triple Threat

Public research universities like UNH occupy a special place in the American education landscape. We are beholden to serve our state by educating its citizens and creating knowledge that will ensure a safe, prosperous future for everyone in New Hampshire.

At UNH, those fundamental pillars of education, research and engagement with the wider world stand on another powerful triad: UNH is one of the nation's few Land, Sea and Space Grant universities. These federal designations entrust us with extending our significant research and educational assets to solve problems facing our state and region, whether it's producing food in a changing climate, measuring geomagnetic storms by deploying sensors at high schools or marshalling volunteers to monitor and protect our coastal ecosystems.

This issue of Spark centers research as the nucleus for these intertwined aspects of the University of New Hampshire experience. Read on for stories that amplify the role of our research in understanding and protecting the land, sea and space around us. Learn how we're mapping the seafloor and finding "forever chemicals" in our watershed. And meet some undergraduates who reflect on how research in disciplines as varied as fiddle, methane or birdsongs deepened their educational experiences.

Land, sea and space. Teaching, research, engagement. It's this triple threat - times two - that makes UNH exceptional.

Marian McCord
Senior Vice Provost
Research, Economic Engagement and Outreach