![\"Gayle](\"https:\/\/machias.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2025\/04\/Gayle-Kraus-Portrait-221x300.jpg\")
<\/span><\/p>\nKraus significantly enhances her students\u2019 educational experiences by designing coursework that gives them an opportunity to be on the sea and along the coast. Her use of immersive field experiences deepen student understanding by connecting classroom learning to real-world application. With an expertise that spans the topics of ichthyology, marine biology, marine mammals, invertebrates, ornithology, skeletal articulation and wildlife rehabilitation, Kraus has a personal way of connecting those around her with knowledge. She teaches others to imagine the world as she does: through the eyes of the subject, whether that be a New Zealand abalone shell or a harbor seal.<\/span><\/p>\n During the fall, spring and summer, Kraus works with students to create and maintain the aquaculture laboratory, where they are tasked with nurturing a healthy ecosystem in fish tanks, and the campus labyrinths, which are creative pathways for people to explore made of logs, flowers and other natural elements. For over two decades, she and her students have participated in the Marine Mammal Stranding Network to collect and assess data on the carcasses of marine animals such as seals, sharks and whales, as well as rescue and perform basic triage on a variety of seal species. She also helps students set up research aquariums for culturing corals, a skill needed to restore reefs that provide habitats for endangered marine species.<\/span><\/p>\n Throughout her career, Kraus\u2019s research on marine ecosystems \u2014 from soft shell clams to macrobenthic organisms \u2014 has been included in over a dozen abstracts and publications.<\/span><\/p>\n Her advice to future teachers is to not be afraid of extending beyond the comfort zone and learn along with students, which is when Kraus said the adventures start. She strives to keep her courses experiential, ever changing and relevant so that her students are always entertained.<\/span><\/p>\n Kraus was recognized by Commissioner Judy Camuso of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife in 2021 for her volunteer work to stabilize and rehabilitate injured birds and mammals. She has been a Maine state permitted wildlife rehabilitator for approximately 30 years and participates annually in the Audubon Christmas Bird Count.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Brian Beal (\u201879 UMM, \u201894G UMaine) has spent four decades improving the economic impact and relevance of Maine’s coastal communities. Beal\u2019s methods for cultivating commercial shellfish have helped Maine\u2019s blue economy adapt to the impact of changes in the Gulf of Maine. He contributed to the rise of the Downeast Institute for Applied Marine Research and Education from its position as a local shellfish hatchery to the easternmost marine research and education center in the U.S. Formerly known as the Beals Island Regional Shellfish Hatchery, the Downeast Institute started as a six-town affair in the basement of a retired elementary school. Within a decade, involvement in the facility grew to 72 communities. Beal, director of the Marine Science Field Station at the Institute, further expanded its scope by introducing research on scallops, mussels and oysters.<\/span><\/p>\n A professor of marine ecology, Beal splits his time between teaching at the University of Maine at Machias and conducting research. Each year since 1987, he selects two or more undergraduate students to participate in 12-14 week internships at the Downeast Institute. He also guides students who conduct marine biology or ecology studies as part of their Senior Thesis in Biological Research course.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nBrian Beal<\/h3>\n
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