ORONO — The Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions at the University of Maine plans to host a talk about how collaborative teams can draw from lessons learned in kindergarten to tackle complex problems.

The talk is to be held at 3 p.m. Monday, Sept. 13, at the center — located at 107 Norman Smith Hall on the UMaine campus in Orono — and via Zoom.

Humanity is grappling with many “wicked” problems — such as climate change, ocean plastic pollution and the coronavirus pandemic — that are complex, dynamic and difficult to solve. No single person, approach or knowledge base can adequately address these issues, according to a news release from UMaine.

Collaborative research teams representing western science, traditional ways of knowing, funding agencies, businesses, municipalities and organizations have a greater capacity to develop novel and effective solutions. In this talk, “Team Science and Lessons from Kindergarten — The Essence of Collaborative Research,” Pips Veazey will discuss how people can draw from and expand on lessons learned in kindergarten to bolster collaborative research efforts today, according to the news release.

Veazey is director of the UMaine Portland Gateway, a new initiative that provides a dedicated office in Portland to help people and businesses in southern Maine access research and education opportunities at the flagship research university. She served as principal investigator for the Alaska Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research and led the University of Alaska Fairbanks Visualization Space, a high-resolution visual environment designed to promote conversations about complex problems, co-develop creative solutions and enhance team development.

Veazey has worked with research teams across the country to facilitate research collaboration and is a founding board member of the International Network for the Science of Team Science.

This is the first event in this fall’s Mitchell Center Sustainability Talks series.

Registration is required to attend the free event remotely; to register and receive connection information, visit umaine.edu/mitchellcenter.

Face coverings currently are required through at least Sept. 30 for all persons — including students, staff, faculty and visitors — when indoors at a University of Maine System facility. For the latest health and safety guidance, visit umaine.edu/return.

To request a reasonable accommodation, contact Ruth Hallsworth at 207-581-3196 or hallsworth@maine.edu.

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