More Than $12.3 Million for Bigelow Lab Secured by Senator Collins in Funding Bill

Washington, D.C.--U.S. Senator Susan Collins, a senior member of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, announced that she secured $12,326,000 for Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in the Fiscal Year 2023 Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations bill.

The omnibus funding package passed the Senate by a vote of 68-29.  It will now be passed by the House before heading to the President’s desk to be signed into law.

“Bigelow Laboratory is a leader in efforts to study and improve the health of our oceans and the Gulf of Maine, which is vital to preserving the health of the entire global ecosystem.  The research done by Bigelow Lab’s skilled oceanographers and other scientists is of enormous benefit to Maine’s seafood and tourism industries and supports our coastal communities,” said Senator Collins.  “This funding will help expand and enhance Bigelow Lab’s research as well as create new educational opportunities for the region.”

"We are honored to be the recipient of this extraordinary appropriations funding,” said Dr. Deborah Bronk, Bigelow Laboratory's president and CEO. "With Senator Collins’ and Congress' support, we are excited to reach new levels of achievement in ocean research and science education to benefit our region, state, and nation."

The funding will be used for Bigelow Lab’s Innovation and Education Wing project, which will expand the main laboratory building in East Boothbay to meet increased demand for its transformative science education initiatives and to support ongoing growth in its innovation and commercial work.  The new wing will contain classrooms, artificial intelligence collaboration space, laboratories, as well as new additions to campus, including Bigelow's first teaching labs, a state of the art cryopreservation space for its growing patent repository service, and a 300-person auditorium that will be a resource for the broader community in the region.

###