| |  | 2021 Summer Newsletter | |  | Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center Nearing Milestone
A busy summer has seen huge progress being made on the FEEDC building. Crews from all over the state of Maine and beyond have been working non-stop this summer to reach the completion date of fall 2022.
This summer has seen the completion of the concrete flooring, exterior sheathing, third floor wall layout and much more. Crews are working hard to make the building weather tight before winter. This includes starting with the brick facade and installing the windows. | |  | Ross earns NSF CAREER award to study fresh, saltwater mixing in estuaries The National Science Foundation awarded Lauren Ross, an assistant professor of hydraulics and water resources engineering at the University of Maine, a more than $600,000 CAREER Award to improve scientists’ understanding of how estuary shape, river discharge and tides influence fresh and saltwater mixing. The award is the organization’s most prestigious for early career faculty. Full Story | |  | NIH funds UMaine, Notre Dame study of novel liquid coatings to reduce catheter-associated infections The research, funded by a five-year, upward of $2 million NIH grant, seeks to understand how protein adhesion influences bacterial colonization on commercial catheters, and will explore the development of liquid-infused catheter surfaces for controlling protein deposition. The study is led by principal investigators Ana Lidia Flores-Mireles, Hawk Family Assistant Professor of the Department of Biological Sciences at Notre Dame, and Caitlin Howell, UMaine assistant professor of biomedical engineering. This Research Project Grant — R01 — is the original grant mechanism used by NIH, and is an exciting endorsement of the biomedical research underway at the UMaine College of Engineering. The NIH grant is administered and funded through the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, grant number R01DK128805, titled “Understanding the role of catheter-associated protein deposition in the development of CAUTI.” Full Story | |  | ENR highlights construction of Ferland Center at UMaine Engineering News-Record New England reported that the construction of the Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center is moving forward in spite of rising prices and material and labor shortages. The new engineering center, which will house the biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering programs, is on track for completion in 2022. Full Story | |  | Grace Bradish: Peace scholarship recipient to study engineering at University College Cork Orono, Maine — University of Maine sophomore Grace Bradish of Wells, Maine will study engineering in Ireland with a George J. Mitchell Peace Scholarship. The merit-based scholarship allows recipients to participate in semester-long student exchanges at the University College Cork, providing funds for 12–15 credits of study, housing and meal and airfare stipends. UMaine partnered with UCC to create the scholarship, and it honors the 1998 Northern Ireland peace accord brokered by Sen. Mitchell between Ireland and the United Kingdom. UMaine Story | | |  | UMaine surveying students awarded national scholarships Five University of Maine students have received scholarships of $2,000 each from the National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS) Foundation, a national professional organization that offers the largest number of surveying scholarships in spring each year. NSPS awarded 18 scholarships nationwide in 2021 including four to UMaine students in the online bachelor of science in Surveying Engineering Technology program and one to a student enrolled in the on-campus program. UMaine Story | |  | Two UMaine master’s students win TAPPI NANO awards Alexander Collins and Rakibul Hossain, bioproducts engineering master’s students at the University of Maine, won 2021 TAPPI NANO Student Poster Competition awards at the TAPPI annual conference. Both students are advised by Mehdi Tajvidi, associate professor of renewable nanomaterials with the School of Forest Resources.
The annual TAPPI conference is considered the world’s largest cellulose nanomaterial forum where scientists, students and the industry gather to exchange recent findings and progress in the field of renewable nanomaterials technology. Collins won second place for his presentation titled, “Contact‐dewatered Cellulose Nanofibers for Reinforced Bio‐polymer Composites,” and Hossain won third place for his presentation titled, “Novel Multi‐layer Oil‐resistant Food Serving Plates Using Nanocellulose Composite.” UMaine Story | |  | Journal of Applied Physics publishes mechanical engineering team’s research paper
A mechanical engineering research team consisting of Assistant professor, Sheila Edalatpour and graduate student Saman Zare have had their research paper published by the Journal of Applied Physics. The paper, titled “The quantum confinement effect on the spectrum of near-field thermal radiation by quantum dots”, focuses on near-field thermal radiation. Due to its unique properties, near-field radiation has many promising applications in imaging, thermal management of electronic devices and thermal rectifications. Full article... | |  | Maine Summer Transportation Institute During the week of July 9th, UMaine hosted over a dozen 6th-8th graders for the annual Maine Summer Transportation Institute. The College of Engineering has been hosting the week long camp since the summer of 2008 for middle school students in the Foster Student Innovation Center. The purpose of the Institute is to create awareness and stimulate interest in students to take full advantage of the opportunities that exist in the transportation industry. The MSTI is funded by a grant from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and is open to students attending public and private schools in the Greater Bangor Area. | | |  | Engineering Faculty. Davids and Goupee win prestigious awards The college of Engineering would like to announce that Bill Davids has been appointed as the inaugural holder of the Russell S. Bodwell University Distinguished Professor and that Andy Goupee has been appointed as the inaugural holder of the Donald A. Grant Professor of Mechanical Engineering.
Davids is a Professor of Civil Engineering who joined UMaine in 1998. He received a BS and MS of civil engineering from UMaine in 1989 and 1991, respectively, followed by a PhD from the University of Washington in 1998. He worked as a structural engineer for Sverdrup Corporation from 1991 to 1994. Davids recently completed a 9-year term as Chair of the Department of Civil Engineering. The professorship was created by Russell S. Bodwell, UMaine civil engineer class of 1944, who went on to found the engineering firm Henderson and Bodwell. Goupee is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering. He received a BS, MS, and PhD in mechanical engineering from UMaine in 2003, 2005, and 2010, respectively. He also worked as a research engineer for the Advanced Structures and Composites Center from 2010 to 2014. He joined the UMaine faculty in 2014. The professorship was created in honor of Department Chair Emeritus Donald A. Grant who taught at the University of Maine from 1956 to 2020. Goupee had Don as one of his professors. | | | | |
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