PEOPLE THE WORLD OVER KNOW New Hampshire for its beautiful mountains, lakes and forests, charming small towns and vibrant cities and a robust economy, which consistently place it at the top of national rankings for quality of life. So, it’s not too surprising that 12.8 million visitors came to New Hampshire in 2021 — more than nine times our state’s population — and spent more than $5.5 billion.

But on a two-day tour of the state with other UNH leaders last fall, what stood out most for me is how resourceful, innovative and hard-working Granite Staters are — not only at solving the biggest challenges in their regions, but also at creating new opportunities that are improving local lives and economies.

In early November, we set out on a 300-mile road trip, with nine stops in eight communities, from the Seacoast and Lakes Region to the North Country and central New Hampshire. Along the way, we met more than 100 Granite Staters from all walks of life and an almost dizzying array of businesses, state and federal agencies and community organizations.

Our trip reflected UNH’s focus on “Embrace New Hampshire” — one of four strategic priorities that drive our major initiatives across the university. While our founding mission has always been rooted in the state of New Hampshire, this commits us to redoubling our efforts to make everyone in New Hampshire incredibly proud of their flagship public university. Funding for the trip came from former USNH trustee John Small ’76, who says his passion is to have residents here “better understand just what a gem we have in UNH.”

TODAY I’m bringing you some highlights of what you’ll find in this magazine, which, in itself is one big highlight of all the amazing things happening at the University of New Hampshire. Since I have taken over as editorial director and editor-in-chief, it has been a challenge to fit everything that deserves to be in the magazine in here, so sometimes being editor means being chief curator of the good news of UNH, too!

One caveat: I share these gems with no slight to the rest of the stories here. Something about this edition makes me think of my newspaper days, when we’d talk about a real “Hey, Martha!” story — a story that was so captivating or interesting that it would make someone shout out to a person across the room (the proverbial Martha) that they just had to read it. As I pulled this collection of content together and got to know some of the stories more deeply, I found myself having a “Hey, Martha” reaction to much of what I learned about the people who make up our vast and varied UNH community — lots of stories I’d shout across a room about.

“We had no idea what we were in for when we signed up,” Glennon says, laughing.

In April 1971, Glennon and Sawtelle were tasked with monitoring how the Dungeness crab, a West Coast species, interacted with native species like lobster and wolffish in the Gulf of Maine. But the star of the show was EDALHAB, a portable underwater habitat that was constructed, in the words of former New Hampshire Congressman Louis C. Wyman, “by means of Yankee thrift and ingenuity.” A half-century later, it’s hard to believe that an 8-by-12 cramped metal tube stuffed with a set of bunk beds, two folding chairs and three exhausted students kicked off a marine science revolution.

“We were flying by the seat of our pants,” Sawtelle says. “But it had a big impact and it really put UNH on the map.”

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That’s the message shared by Sustainability Institute founding director Tom Kelly at the institute’s 25th anniversary celebration, held to mark the progress in the vast field of sustainability that has been made to date.

“As we pivot into the next 25 years and we think about where we’ll be in 2047, we have our work cut out for us,” Kelly told the crowd that had gathered on DeMerritt Hall lawn to enjoy local food and hear more about what sustainability means at UNH.

“Fortunately, we have a new generation of activists, demanding and driving change even in the face of active resistance by powerful political and economic actors.”

UNH has long lived out the belief that sustainability is about much more than being environmentally friendly. “We follow the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals that there is no true sustainability without equity — that ecologic health is inextricably linked to human well-being and vice versa,” explains Fiona Wilson, deputy chief sustainability officer and director of the Sustainability Institute. “A sustainable world is also an equitable and just world, so sustainability really puts front and center access to education, basic healthcare for everyone and reduced inequalities of all kinds.”

An edible supplement made from seaweed to reduce methane production in cows, a device that can detect the presence of date rape drugs in drinks and a process to produce renewable jet fuel were some of the student-generated entrepreneurial ideas that took center stage at UNH’s annual NH Social Venture Innovation Challenge (SVIC) on Dec. 1.

Ten awards were given out in a combination of judge- and audience-choice categories, each of which carries a cash prize, as students presented their ideas on how to solve some of the most pressing sustainability problems facing society at the state, national or global level.