Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences

We envision a world where scientific understanding of the ocean inspires and informs responsible use, drives technological advances, and helps life on our planet thrive. To achieve this, we conduct fundamental research on our oceans, use what we learn to address global issues and opportunities through applied research and commercialization, and engage students of all ages with experiential programs that train tomorrow’s ocean leaders.

Our goals through 2025 are detailed within the strategic plan and can be summarized as follows:
1. To advance world class ocean science to improve the future
2. To educate the next generation of ocean leaders and the public
3. To promote organizational excellence in support of our mission

Bigelow Laboratory is aiming to be a leading global ocean research and education institution, generating beneficial outcomes for society through increased knowledge of marine ecosystems, innovative scientific applications, and sharing knowledge that not only educates, but informs decision making.

In addition to focusing on excellence in research, hiring and investing in great people, and operating with financial discipline, we will continue to make transformative contributions through three overarching strategies:

1. As an independent, entrepreneurial nonprofit institute, Bigelow Laboratory must remain competitive in recruiting and retaining the world class scientists to conduct the cutting-edge research that keeps the Laboratory at the forefront of ocean science. We will strengthen our scientific leadership in understanding microbial ocean life and its genetic potential to learn how these organisms function and impact human and environmental health, and leverage this knowledge to provide innovative solutions to pressing environmental issues.

2. Today’s environmental challenges require leaders in science, policy, and the general citizenry that understand the critical roles the ocean plays in our climate, economy, and well-being. Bigelow Laboratory’s education programs provide unique experiential, inquiry-based learning in a professional research environment for students ranging from the high school level to postdoctoral, as well as providing skills-based certificate training for established professionals. Our goal is to expand our capacity to provide these educational opportunities, introduce more opportunities for professional certification and executive education, and broaden our outreach to and engagement with the public.

3. Over the last decade, Bigelow Laboratory’s research programs have grown in number and become more complex and interdisciplinary. Increasingly, research grants are won collaboratively with outside partners. The best research often requires access to advanced technologies, which are shared across scientists. The ability to operate efficiently and effectively in this environment requires appropriate and consistent investment in both research and information technology and human resources. We are committed to attracting and retaining the most qualified people across the organization and to helping them develop the experience, skills and leadership to achieve their aspirations as well as those of the Laboratory.

During the last 48 years, Bigelow Laboratory has made transformative contributions to the understanding of our oceans and the tools used to study them, clearly demonstrating that our unique institutional model can achieve outstanding results. Bigelow Laboratory’s culture, financial model, and organizational structure make it unique among oceanographic institutes. It was designed from the ground up by scientists for scientists. It is an incubator for ideas that attracts leading researchers and fosters excellent research.

We do not have departments, believing that scientists of all disciplines need to interact directly to maximize discovery. We invest in shared Discovery Centers that facilitate science across our laboratory and around the world. All our scientists are responsible for obtaining competitive grants and contracts to fund their salary and their research, requiring all to remain at the cutting edge of their field.

We have maintained excellence as an independent research and education institution in the face of a competitive environment, and are buoyed by the successes achieved in our past strategic plans. Our 2020-2025 Strategic Plan maps our course in maintaining a thriving ocean research and education institution. Our success as an independent research institution will be the result of the quality and commitment of our scientists, research, technical, and administrative staff; the investment in infrastructure and advanced instrumentation; past experience with developing technology transfer and fee-for-service approaches to augment research; strong governance with well-connected Trustees; and a nimble approach to strategic decision making and implementation that is possible because of our size and self-governance.

Now in year three of our five-year Strategic Plan, we have achieved ambitious operational goals that support all of our research. These include better supporting scientists, expanding educational program reach, offering financial aid to undergraduate students, launching new science initiatives to respond to critical societal needs, and increasing parental leave for our staff.

The Bigelow team has weathered COVID-19 relatively well. During the past three years, it has been very important for us to keep as much of our science moving forward as possible, so that we could continue to charge against our federal and philanthropic grants. Because we were able to do this, we are doing well on the financial front. We were very conservative in our budgets because of pandemic uncertainty. We worked hard to end several recent fiscal years with modest surpluses that we reinvested into new efforts within our strategic plan such as the Center for Algal Innovation. This Center encompasses our research into developing algal-based solutions and technologies for food systems, aquaculture feeds, and wastewater microplastic bioremediation. The Center is also working with collaborators to strengthen our workforce development and professional training impacts.

Bigelow Laboratory is one of only three entities in the US approved by the World Intellectual Property Organization to serve as a patent repository for environmental microbes. After years of working to diversify revenue streams, we are extremely pleased with our stable patent deposit financial model. We have been able to reinvest the revenue into new efforts within our strategic plan such as hiring new scientists, establishing a seed fund for research, and more.

In the midst of the pandemic, we were voted as one of the 2020 "Best Places to Work in Maine" by the Maine State Council of the Society for Human Resource Management. Bigelow Laboratory is proud to be an economic driver for our region and state, attracting research grants and philanthropic investment that circulate throughout Maine and help sustain local jobs.