Alumni News

News from campus and about COA alumni, faculty, and current students

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  • Man working on suspended skeleton model.
    Humpback whale becomes first new exhibit at Maine State Museum

    News Center Maine reports on College of the Atlantic Allied Whale Research Associate Dan DenDanto ’91 leading the rearticulation of two whale skeletons that form the centerpiece exhibit.

  • COA alumni up for prestigious James Beard Awards

    Two College of the Atlantic alumni are among the 2025 semifinalists for one of the nation’s most coveted honors in food.

  • Person posing outdoors near trees.
    Alum creates open-access map of toxic chemical supply chain

    Three million people are at risk of exposure to vinyl chloride on a daily basis as it is transported by rail from Texas to New Jersey, according to the work of Selena Sillari ’23, which has been cited in The Washington Post and NBC News.

  • People interacting at an outdoor event.
    Summer symposium engages and inspires

    College of the Atlantic campus comes abuzz with thought leaders and ample food for thought during the annual COA Summer Institute, focused this year on Questions of Democracy.

  • Person sculpting pottery by window
    Alum awarded for ceramics work

    Through her work as a ceramicist and cultural producer, 2023 Jorum Craft Award recipient Eleanor White ’22 aims to nurture multispecies relationality with participatory art interventions.

  • Person examining drawer of specimens
    Gill presented with Friend of the Planet award by National Center for Science Education

    Paleoecologist Jacquelyn Gill ’05 is named a 2020 Friend of the Planet for her “extraordinary” research, outreach, and education on climate change.

  • People sailing on a boat.
    River Gull returns home

    A 400-mile journey, fog-bound nights, navigational surprises, and long days on the water provide the backdrop for bonding and self discovery for a crew of students and alumnx tasked with bringing a donated sailboat from New York to Bar Harbor.

  • Person in black jacket, artistic background
    College of the Atlantic names philosophy chair

    Dr. Heather Lakey ’00, M.Phil. ’05 makes philosophy accessible and relevant, encouraging students to slow down, think through their experiences, and recognize the ideas that shape their perspectives. She is the inaugural holder of the COA McNally Family Chair in Philosophy and Human Ecology, a newly endowed faculty position.

  • Person standing in a green park.
    How A Man Born Into Poverty In Nepal Inspired Thousands Of Children To Finish School

    Education pioneer Surya Karki ’16 has been working to transform Nepal’s school system since he was a student at College of the Atlantic, opening his first school in the country in 2015, as he tells The Telegraph. Since that time, Karki and his charity, United World Schools Nepal, have launched 30 schools, with seven more on…

  • Woman in airplane cockpit, historical photo
    Finding Amelia Earhart’s plane seemed impossible. Then Came a startling clue

    Robert Ballard has found the Titanic and other famous shipwrecks. Now, Ballard’s crew, co-lead by Allison Fundis ’03, are trying to solve one of the 20th century’s greatest mysteries. Fundis is a rising explorer Ballard hopes will eventually take his place. “I feel like Leakey handing it off to Jane Goodall,” he says to the New York…