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2022 Winter Newsletter

Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center Racing Towards Finish Line

A busy Fall 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 August 2022.

This fall/winter has seen the completed of major portions of the project. The 3 floors now have all the interior walls erected with the top two floors having most of the dry wall completed. Additionally, the upper floors have started to be painted with the work quickly progressing to the lower floors.

On the exterior of the building, the majority of the brickwork has been put into place. Crews are also installing pieces of the granite facade and other exterior features. The upper two floors have most of the windows installed, along with the skylight that runs the length of the building.

Watch the latest tour of the Ferland Engineering Education and Design center.

UMaine College of Engineering presents its top annual awards

The chief engineer of the Maine Department of Transportation is among the recipients of the University of Maine College of Engineering’s top annual awards to alumni, faculty, staff and students.

Joyce Taylor, chief engineer for MaineDOT and a 1986 graduate, received the Edward T. Bryand Distinguished Engineering Award. Others honored at the 42nd Annual Edward Bryand Awards Ceremony were William Desisto, professor of chemical engineering, Ashley S. Campbell Award; Lauren Ross, assistant professor of hydraulics and water resources engineering, Early Career Research Award; Meredith Kirkmann, assistant professor of construction engineering technology, Early Career Teaching Award; Kimberly Goff, large center development associate, Vice President for Research Office, Leila C. Lowell Award; Saman Zare, mechanical engineering; Graduate Assistant Research Award; Brandon Dixon, chemical and biomedical engineering, Graduate Assistant Teaching Award.

This year’s Bryand Awards Ceremony was a hybrid event on Jan. 20th that included a small group of award winners, and their friends and family, gathered in Wells Conference Center on campus, and dozens of participants virtually.

The annual event was established in 1979, by Engineering Dean Jim Clapp The first College Recognition Banquet was held in 1980. Criteria were established for two awards: Ashley S. Campbell Award and the Edward T. Bryand Distinguished Engineering Award. Other awards for individuals and students have been added throughout the years, and the ceremony has continued every year since 1980, including the Leila C. Lowell Award for staff members that began in 1983.

Full story here…

New Issue of the College of Engineering Magazine

Cover story: Enhanced capabilities New AMC equipment furthers the future of Maine manufacturing

The University of Maine’s Advanced Manufacturing Center has completed a series of major equipment upgrades designed to enhance capabilities to support industry partners and develop workforce, as well as accelerate the adoption of additive metal manufacturing in Maine. After a series of delays related to the coronavirus pandemic, the full suite of new equipment — made possible by two significant grants totaling $2.5 million — was installed in 2021. The upgrades include a Desktop Metal FDM additive metal machine with testing equipment, 5-axis machining center, hybrid metal additive cell, wire EDM (electrical discharge machining), 4-axis lathe with live tooling, a coordinate measuring machine and a 6KW 5-axis laser with directed energy deposition. Read More…

Sarah Glatter: Focused on a future in STEM
Sarah Glatter always knew she would attend the University of Maine like her older brother and sister. While she hails most recently from Houlton, Glatter says she grew up “all over Maine.” She remembers visiting her brother on campus when he was studying chemical engineering. Her sister completed her degree in food science and human nutrition, and is currently enrolled in a food science master’s program.

Sarah Glatter always knew she would attend the University of Maine like her older brother and sister. While she hails most recently from Houlton, Glatter says she grew up “all over Maine.” She remembers visiting her brother on campus when he was studying chemical engineering. Her sister completed her degree in food science and human nutrition, and is currently enrolled in a food science master’s program.

Seeing her siblings succeed at UMaine, and becoming familiar with campus life through family visits made her college choice easy.

“At UMaine everybody knows everybody. But in a good way,” she says.

Full Story…

Dean Humphrey features in Maine Trails magazine

MBTA’s Maria Fuentes talks with UMaine College of Engineering’s Dr. Dana Humphrey about the university’s new engineering building, Maine’s perennial shortage of engineers and what’s different and what is the same since he first came to Orono to teach 35 years ago. Humphrey has announced his plan to retire later this year.

Full article…

Brian Sanchez: Pathways graduate excels in NROTC, engineering

Brian Sanchez, a first-generation college student at the University of Maine, 3,000 miles from his home in Soledad, California, became a top performer in the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) and in the Department of Mechanical Engineering through grit and a determination to succeed.

Sanchez, now a junior and midshipman third class, joined UMaine in 2019 as part of the Pathways to NROTC program. The initiative serves as a commissioning opportunity for high school students participating in Naval Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (NJROTC) who demonstrate strong leadership and academic capabilities and are interested in pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. In its inaugural year, 10 students, including Sanchez, were selected to join from a pool of 77 applicants from across the nation.

Full Story…

UMaine civil engineering researchers part of $4M NSF project to create next-gen sensor networks to monitor infrastructure

Three University of Maine civil and environmental engineering researchers will collaborate with Vermont engineers to create the next generation of sensor networks for infrastructure monitoring.

Researchers from the University of Vermont, UMaine and Vermont Technical College were awarded a $4 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop and test new technologies that could make monitoring the safety and performance of infrastructure less expensive, more accurate and more widespread, resulting in more dependable, durable structures in the future.

Full Story…