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UMaine Today University of Maine Publications
2011
College of Engineering Magazine College of Engineering Magazine
University of Maine College of Engineering
Dana N. Humphrey Dean, College of Engineering
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ENG
INEER
ING
COLLEGE OF
Setting the coursefor deepwateroffshore wind
Welcome to the annual edition
of the UMaine College of
Engineering magazine,
featuring stories of our faculty and
students carrying on the proud, 147-year
legacy of engineering excellence that
remains Maine’s premier source for
engineering education and research.
Education, innovation, research and
economic development — they are what
we do. Our faculty has generated more
than $13 million in research funding in
the last year. We are conducting game-changing work resulting in job
creation and innovation in offshore wind, tidal energy, smart grid,
robotics, biofuels, sensors and nanoscale engineering.
This fall, UMaine engineering is setting records in enrollment with
more than 400 incoming students. Twenty-four percent of those
students are women, compared to a typical average of 15 percent.
This is due in part to our Girls Engineering Maine program that brings
middle school girls to campus for a day of hands-on activities. Those
enrollment numbers are headed in the right direction; however, it
will take this class and many more to maintain and grow Maine’s
engineering workforce. In fact, Maine would need to at least double
the number of engineering graduates to reach the national
average. For the sake of the state and national economies, we must
continue to make progress in this critical area.
As we look ahead, we continue to build opportunities for
engineering education through the Maine Advanced Technology &
Engineering Center (MATEC). This fall, we are offering several online
courses tailored to professional engineers, including reliability and
aeronautical engineering. In addition, a University of Maine System
grant will allow us to offer the first two years of undergraduate
engineering education at MATEC starting in fall 2012.
Whether you look at engineering through our graduates, our
cutting-edge research or our impact on manufacturing and
engineering in the state, one thing is clear: UMaine engineering is
the engine of economic growth in Maine and beyond.
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE 1COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
1 Offshore options
5 Alumni Focus: Lynda Fredette
6 Improving the prognosis
8 Supersized benefits
10 Serious physics
12 Paper trail
14 Improving heart valve surgery
15 Engineering economic development
16 Alumni Focus: Steve Swan
17 Student Focus: Travis Wallace
18 Jet efficiency
19 Student Focus: Jamie Reinhold
20 Engineering ingenuity
22 College Spotlight
Message from the Dean
Dana N. HumphreyDean, College of Engineering
ModelingMaine’s
DeepCwind and Department of Energy focus on data collection
CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
offshore options
ON THE COVER: University of Maine second-yearstructural engineering master’s students ChristaMiller-Shelley of Pine Plains, N.Y., and GarrettLuszczki of Augusta, Maine, stand in the soon-to-be-completed Offshore Wind Laboratory, a 37,000-square-foot addition to AEWC Advanced Structures &Composites Center. Behind them is the 15-foot-square mounting plate on the wind blade test fixture.
facebook.com/umaine.engineering
engineering.umaine.edu
This past spring, the 1:50-scaleturbine designed by AEWCresearchers was tested inCastine Harbor prior to sendingit to MARIN for use on thethree platforms being tested.
Ateam of student researchers and engineers fromthe University of Maine’s AEWC AdvancedStructures & Composites Center traveled to the
Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN) thisspring to test 1:50-scale, or approximately 10-foot,floating wind turbine models against simulated wind andwaves.
The goal was to collect data that will refine andvalidate numerical models developed by the Departmentof Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory(NREL), which is working with UMaine’s DeepCwind
2 COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING UNIVERSITY OF MAINE 3
Heather Martin, center, a UMaine graduateresearch assistant in civil and structuralengineering, assisted in the development andtesting of the scale-model turbine.
In the Netherlands, Andy Goupee, second from the left, a UMaine assistantresearch professor in mechanical engineering, collected data for dynamicsand numerical modeling to refine the Department of Energy’s NationalRenewable Energy Laboratory models.
CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
Consortium to develop floatingoffshore wind turbines. Complexequations predict the effects ofinteracting forces like wind,waves and gravity on floatingwind platforms, and representthe best knowledge available inthe field. However, they remainincomplete until morecomprehensive testing isfinished.
The offshore wind researchprogram began in 2008 withdiscussions between AEWCDirector Habib Dagher, AssistantDirector Robert Lindyberg andMaine Maritime AcademyAssociate Professor ofEngineering Richard Kimball,who set out to enter the offshorewind industry and prove themodels created by NREL. Theyobtained their first grant of$600,000 from the NationalScience Foundation in 2009.
“We saw an opportunity tojump-start the program here inMaine, specifically at theUniversity of Maine, to provideuseful data for the industry and,in the process, become experts inthe design of offshore windturbines,” says Kimball.
This vision has developedinto a multiphase, 20-year MaineOffshore Wind Plan, led by theapproximately 35-memberDeepCwind Consortium, whichincludes academic institutions,nonprofits, governmentagencies, utilities andmanufacturers. The program hasgarnered $1 million in fundingfrom the Maine TechnologyInitiative, another $7.1 millionfrom the Department of Energyand $6 million in state bondfunds for an offshore wind testsite off Monhegan Island.
I’ve been acting as kind of aproject manager and by defaultI’ve become the go-betweenbetween UMaine and MMA.”
The long hours and hands-onexperience helped Martin writeher graduate thesis focused onocean engineering, and propellerand turbine design. Workingwith other laboratories andsubcontractors has opened hereyes to the many opportunitiesshe can pursue after graduatingthis year.
“I think of this not just as mygraduate school experience, butthe beginning of my professionaltrack,” Martin says. “I am verygrateful for it because I’m gettinggreat exposure to interestingpeople and I’m able to heighten
my own skills, not just as astudent and a learner, but as adoer.”
Martin’s team faced thedaunting challenge ofconstructing a wind turbine with“robust and durable instru-mentation” that weighed lessthan 10 pounds. As a result, shelearned attention to detail and isfamiliar with every piece of themachine.
“Every bolt on the turbine hasbeen specially engineered andevery sensor has been sized withat least two or three peopledoing the research,” Martin says.“Everything on this turbine istop-notch.”
A single turbine is a greataccomplishment, but Martin and
The offshore wind program’sgrowth can also be marked bythe number of youngprofessionals, graduateresearchers and undergraduatestudents who are involved in theproject.
Assistant Research Professorin Mechanical EngineeringAndrew Goupee received hisundergraduate, master’s anddoctoral degrees in the disciplinefrom UMaine. In that time, heconducted research in“everything from composites torocks” and now uses hisdynamics and numericalmodeling experience to refineNREL’s models.
Goupee is enthusiastic aboutproviding other students withthe research opportunities he hasfound at UMaine, noting that theprogram has received internshipapplications from students atUMaine and other universities.
“I hope to involve moregraduate students and transitionto a role where I’m working withthem on the research end ofthings,” Goupee says. “We havea few good students in thepipeline and more are coming.”
A growing offshore windindustry would provide Mainecollege graduates withopportunities to stay in the stateand build a career, Goupee says.
“When I got myundergraduate degree in 2003,there were all kinds of jobopportunities. They couldn’t(hire) engineering graduatesfrom UMaine fast enough,”Goupee says. “There’s a greatsense of pride in working on thistype of project.”
UMaine and AEWC have thepotential to serve as a resource
and stepping-stone for bringingrenewable energy technology toMaine. According to Goupee, thecenter’s greatest strength is itshistory of developing technologyand intellectual property thatcan benefit Maine companiesand generate revenue.
“We’ve shown a track recordof being able to create oradvance products that are viablein the marketplace and createjobs. There is a lot of work to bedone in the renewable energysector, but there’s so muchpotential in my opinion,” hesays. “That is the best angle thiscenter can take — to create morejobs in the state.”
Heather Martin, a graduateresearch assistant in civil andstructural engineering, played alead role in the manufacture andassembly of the scale-modelwind turbine used to test theplatforms, and hopes to work forone of the many Mainecompanies that will form thestate’s offshore wind supplychain.
“I would love to stay in Maineand continue to work towardmaking this a reality,” Martinsays. “I see myself in more of apeople-to-people managerialrole, though it will take somework to get there.”
Martin had the opportunity tosupervise and manage multipleundergraduate and graduateassistants as they constructed 4-foot carbon fiber blades thatweigh less than a third of apound, a process that she calls “a great but tough learningexperience.”
“My role has been theresearch, fabrication and designof a scale-model wind turbine.
Offshore options
4 COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
The 1:50-scale turbine blades weremanufactured using a lightweightcarbon fiber. Each blade weighedless than a pound.
Offshore options
her colleagues needed to go astep further and build a secondone simultaneously. The pre-caution was tedious, she says,but necessary because theoffshore wind team was creatingoriginal technology and couldn’tbe sure how it would perform atMARIN.
“They have a wealth ofexperience in the model testingworld and Habib (Dagher) istrying to bring that back so wecan do that sort of thing hererather than outsourcing outsideof the country,” she says.
Goupee agreed that partner-ing with MARIN provided newopportunities and capabilities forthe model testing program.
“It truly is a groundbreakingtest. We have enlisted the help ofone of the best— if not the bestwave basin facility in the world,”he says.
The 1:50-scale testingfollowed an aggressive timetable,but Goupee was confident itwould be a success. He says thateven if the team had gathered 95percent of the data, it will be“infinitely more than anyone hasever produced before.”
“All of our partners who havehelped us greatly have put a lotof effort into this. We’re proud ofwhat we’ve done so far and if itworks out, you’ll see a lot ofsmiles,” Goupee says. “It will besomething for the center to hangits hat on.”
Kimball, who consulted as atechnical lead for the modeltesting program, says thisexperiment is one of the mostchallenging and rewarding hehas worked on in his career.
“The combination of two verydifferent industries — the
offshore industry and the windturbine industry — focused onnew technology, has been veryexciting for me, for the studentsand also for the future of Maine,”he says.
Goupee is excited to see theseindustries come together toimprove Maine’s economy andsays the offshore wind project isequipping AEWC to lead theway.
“We’ve learned a lot. Whenwe started this project, we didn’thave a clue where to begin,” hesays. “We’re looking to be theexperts so when people areinterested in this area in thefuture, we can be the place forthem to start.”
A piece of this vision is theOffshore Wind Laboratory, a37,000-square-foot addition toAEWC that was completed inAugust. The expansion enablesthe design, prototyping andtesting of composite or nano-composite structures for thedeepwater offshore windindustry.
“We will have the knowledge,the skill and, of course, thefacility for structural testing anddeveloping manufacturingaspects,” Goupee says.
For students and youngresearchers at the university,these achievements and develop-ments represent a brighterfuture.
“I feel like I’m at the forefrontof something that could reallychange Maine — and,potentially, the United States —for the better. I’m extremelylucky,” Martin says. “The timingwas really right in terms of myeducation and what I couldbring to the project.” �
Milestones in your career aftergraduating from UMaine?I was a research chemist/engineer with the U.S. ArmyCold Regions Research andEngineering Lab, part of theArmy Corps of Engineers’Engineer Research andDevelopment Center, Hanover,N.H. (environmental contamin-ation assessment/cleanup-related projects) from 1985 to1986, then worked as a civil/environmental engineer withthe consulting firm of LoureiroEngineering Associates, Avon,Conn. In 1988, I joined Pratt &Whitney as an environmentalengineer, then worked as anenvironmental, health andsafety (EHS) managementsystems specialist; the facilitiesand services health and safetycoordinator; EHS manager forPratt & Whitney’s largest factorysite in East Hartford; EHSinformation technologymanager; Green Engine Programmanager; and, since 2004, asglobal EHS manager.
From your perspective, what’s thenext big thing in engineering?Civil and environmentalengineers will have greateropportunities to get involved inresearch and design of moreenergy-efficient structures andproducts as the world placesgreater emphasis on reducedcarbon footprints. LEED-certifiedbuildings are one example.
Manager, Global Environment Health& Safety Compliance Assurance,United Technologies Corp., Pratt &Whitney, Hartford, Conn.
Pratt & Whitney, a UnitedTechnologies Corp., company, is aworld leader in the design,manufacture and service of aircraftengines, industrial gas turbines andspace propulsion systems. Pratt &Whitney reported an operating profitof $1.99 billion in 2010 on revenuesof $12.94 billion. The company’s36,000 employees support more than11,000 customers in 195 countriesaround the world.
ALUMNI FOCUS
How did UMaine prepare youfor this career? Environmental engineeringand chemistry coursesprepared me to understandU.S. environmentalregulatory requirements,pollution sources andtreatment system designprinciples. Engineeringeconomics and projectmanagement helped memanage projects efficientlyand cost effectively.Mechanical engineering gaveme a basic understanding ofmaterials and combustionengine design principles, andsome of my humanitiescourses like Chinese historycame in handy when I had acouple opportunities totravel to Asia. �
Lynda FredetteB.S. in civil engineering, UMaine, 1984M.S. in management, with aconcentration in environmentalmanagement and policy, Rensselaer, 2000
Environmental health
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE 5
6 COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING UNIVERSITY OF MAINE 7
CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING
In the past five years, Mason’steam has received more than$600,000 to investigate biologi-cal and medical applications ofnanoparticles. Funding sourceshave included the Maine CancerFoundation, the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and theDefense Department.
Mason’s team also hasdeveloped its own devices to aidin the discovery and characteri-zation of new nanomaterials,some of which he hopes tocommercialize. He is particularlyinterested in collaborating withsurgeons on the front lines —the doctors who he says arethinking, “We need to do betterat this.”
“At first, scientists can’t askthe right questions, and doctorsdon’t know what the scientistsare capable of,” he says. “Theyhave to spend enough timetogether to establish a dialog.”
After talking to surgeons,especially pancreatic cancersurgeons, the ability to improvethe prognosis and the potentialto help patients is motivating,Mason says.
“Seeing something go fromthe lab bench to being in use isawesome,” he says. “What wehave is very exciting, and we’redefinitely looking into intellec-tual property.” �
In the ongoing effort forearly detection and treat-ment of cancer, nano-
particles are helping shine newlight — and offer new hope —in biomedicine. At theUniversity of Maine, thatbiomedical research is led byMichael Mason and his team ofgraduate and undergraduateresearchers who are focusingon the photophysics ofnanoparticles and molecularnanoprobes.
Mason, an associateprofessor of chemical andbiological engineering,collaborates extensively withDr. Peter Allen of theMemorial Sloan-KetteringCancer Center in New YorkCity, who specializes intreating pancreatic cancer.Together, they have developeda minimally invasive diagnos-tic procedure that tests tissuefor cancer cells while thepatient is still on the operatingtable.
Gold nanoparticles are usedto tag cancer cells, allowingsurgeons to identify canceroustissue more quickly andefficiently. The metallicnanoparticles are guided byattached biomolecules that areattracted to specific moleculeson the surface of cancer cells.
The technique is sensitiveenough to reveal even a singlecancer cell.
The researchers also havefound noninvasive methods thatmake use of nanoparticles asimage contrast agents for X-rayCT imaging. While traditionaliodine-based agents are easilyflushed out of the human body,gold nanoparticle-basedcontrasting agents can remaincirculating in the bloodstreamfor many hours, allowing fordramatically improved imagingand earlier detection of cancer.
The nanoparticles used inthese methods are grown in thelab as miniature crystals, andtheir potential application depends on the material used,size, shape and surface chem-istry. New nanoparticles are designed based on photophysicallaws or chemical principles,which dictate how the nano-crystals will interact with specific kinds of light or behavein a certain biological environ-ment.
For example, Mason says,spherical silver nanoparticleswith diameters on the order of15 nanometers efficiently scatterblue when a white light is shinedon them, while gold nanoparti-cles of the same size reflect redor green. That way, oncologists
know what color to look forwhen they get under the micro-scope. For X-ray contrast, differ-ent selection criteria is used todetermine the optical size or ma-terial used.
To ensure the gold nano-particles find and latch on tocancer cells, Mason engineersthem specifically to bond with acancer antibody. The antibodysearches out cancer cells in thebody, and the bonded nano-particle then becomes visiblewhen illuminated with light.
The challenge arises when thenanoparticles meet the humanbody. While noble metals such asgold and silver are inert at themacroscale, say for use asjewelry, they may be veryreactive and even toxic at thenanoscale. For example, silverand platinum are toxic in minuteamounts because they haveextremely high surface energy. Toavoid these complications,Mason coats the surface of themetal nanoparticles with abiologically inert polymercontaining sulfur atoms. Thesesulfur atoms form a nearlyunbreakable bond with gold,protecting the patient from theadverse effects of the metalsurface, and the metal surfacefrom the aggressive biologicalenvironment.
Improving the prognosisNanoparticles offer new hope in the fight against cancer
Biomedical researcher MichaelMason, pictured above, focuses hisresearch on photophysics ofnanoparticles and molecularnanoprobes, single-moleculeimaging and time-resolved singlephoton spectroscopic imagingtechniques. Among the chemicalengineering Ph.D. students in his labare Anna Sitarski and SanjeevKandpal, pictured far right.
Electron micrograph of typical spherical goldnanoparticle cores used for imaging study.
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE 9
ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING
8 COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
High-performance com-puting that began in2000 with the University
of Maine’s first supercomputerand an assignment to help themilitary refine guided missileaerodynamics is now becomingavailable for Maine businesses,students, libraries and state gov-ernment.
UMaine’s advancing super-computing capabilities — cou-pled with ongoing upgrades anda federally funded expansion ofhigh-speed Internet infrastruc-ture for thousands of Mainehouseholds, businesses and labo-ratories — are creating new in-formation superhighways andopportunities for a growing com-munity of users with high-per-formance computing needs.
“Supercomputing is criticalfor industries in Maine, as wellas many R&D efforts,” says DanaHumphrey, dean of UMaine’sCollege of Engineering. “It’s usedby many companies, such asJackson Lab, Central MainePower and Applied Thermal Sci-ences for their high-capacitycomputing needs, allowing themto move their businesses for-ward.”
Maine businesses, for exam-ple, can determine the best hullshape to reduce drag, model thebest artificial heart valve design,quickly render multiple architec-
supersizedtural drawings and concepts,predict how new regulatory poli-cies will affect fisheries, andstudy growth scenarios and mar-ket planning. Students can betterunderstand how shifting atmos-pheric conditions affect climatechange by suggesting variouscondition changes. Scientists andresearchers, meanwhile, canwiden collaborative networksand use the university’s super-computing capabilities to ad-vance research with the newhigh-speed data transmissionsystem.
“The state’s infrastructure isgrowing by leaps and bounds,”says Bruce Segee, the Butler Pro-fessor of Electrical and Com-puter Engineering, and technicaldirector of UMaine’s supercom-puter projects. “Supercomputingisn’t a bunch of techno geeks andscience wonks who are advanc-ing the state of the art in com-puting. It’s scientists and climatemodeling, and people looking atbusiness growth and the statusof marine science. It’s not thetechnology, but what it’s capableof doing.”
The university’s supercom-puter at Target Technology Cen-ter in Orono has 100 terabytes ofmemory and a bank of morethan 500 computer processingunits. And now with fundingfrom the Maine Technology
Asset Fund, a second supercom-puter, to be housed in NevilleHall on campus, will be avail-able in early 2012 to multipleusers in co-op fashion, muchlike a utility — a more efficient,economical model than if all theusers invested in smaller sys-tems.
It’s important to Segee thatuser costs be kept affordable sothe supercomputer remains ac-cessible to the expanding andvaried groups of new users.
“We want to have the nursesand the biologists and the socialworkers on the supercomputer,”he says, in addition to thosewith limited budgets, such asstate government, libraries ornonprofits. “I think as a state,we benefit more from the out-comes this resource deliversthan from any fees it could gen-erate.’’
Similarly, enabling Mainestudents to access the super-computer from their desks “lit-erally opens them up to theworld, and the number of thingsthat it allows is just phenome-nal,” Segee says.
Driving the most recent sys-tem enhancements are the pub-lic and private partnershipsforming complex symbiotic re-lationships with varied fundingresources. That’s allowed multi-pronged progress — from so-
phisticated scientific research topublic interests, according toSegee and Phil Lindley, execu-tive director of the ConnectMEAuthority, which coordinateshigh-speed broadband expan-sions in rural Maine.
Segee describes the relation-ships and upgrades as a jigsawpuzzle. “Any piece by itself isn’tparticularly useful,” he says.“You have to have all the piecesput together the right way.”
Through major funding fromthe National Science Founda-tion’s EPSCoR (ExperimentalProgram to Stimulate Competi-tive Research) and the NationalInstitutes of Health, the MaineTechnology Foundation and theUniversity of Maine System’sCIDER (Cyberinfrastructure In-vestment for Development, Eco-nomic Growth and Research),participants have coalesced inpurpose over the last decade.
At least 14 higher educationinstitutions, with more than 250faculty and students directly en-gaged in research, now haveUMaine supercomputer access,according to Vicki Nemeth, di-rector of Maine EPSCoR.
“The ability to effectivelycommunicate, collaborate anddo synergistic research acrosscampuses is key to the successof these programs,” saysNemeth. “Maine EPSCoR has
been a key supporter of cyberin-frastructure improvements inthe state, including increasedaccess to high-speed bandwidththrough the expanding fiber-op-tics system — which gives ourresearchers access to the na-tional backbone — new video-conferencing and visualizationcapabilities, and the use ofUMaine’s supercomputer fordata sharing, analysis and cloudcomputing.”
In addition, the upgrades areaugmented by $25 million in2009 federal stimulus moneyfrom the Department of Com-merce for the Three Ring BinderProject that strings 1,100 milesof new fiber-optic broadbandcable in three redundant loopsin northern, eastern, central andsouthern Maine.
“I would say that UMaine isleading the way in Maine,” saysJeffrey Letourneau, executive di-rector of Networkmaine for theUniversity of Maine System whohelped coordinate the ThreeRing Binder Project.
“I don’t know that there isanybody else in Maine to driveforward the investments in in-frastructure to improve econo-mic development,” Letourneausays. “This supercomputer is abig part of that. It’s the nextlayer of what’s been happeningin the state.” �
BENEFITS Maine businesses and schools plugging into UMaine’s supercomputing capabilities
Bruce Segee is the technical director ofUMaine’s supercomputer projects.Supercomputer collaborators include theUniversity of Southern Maine, NorthEastResearch and Education Network, andNortheast Cyberinfrastructure Consortium(NECC). NECC has opened collaborativedata sharing with researchers in Maine,New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Islandand Delaware — five states consideredlacking in regional cyberinfrastructure.
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE 11
As George Bernhardt will tellyou, every science profes-sor at some point in his or
her education has had “thatteacher” — the one who seemscapable only of facing the black-board and solving problems in amonotone.
Bernhardt has a different strat-egy. Self-described as “loud andslightly obnoxious,” he likes tomake side comments and jokesthroughout his lectures for PHY121 and 122, a pair of required,introductory, calculus-basedphysics courses at the Universityof Maine for engineering andphysical science majors. As aresult, his classes are memorable— and legendary.
For example, Bernhardt wasderiving equations on the board inclass one day when a studentspilled a bottle of iced tea. Bern-hardt’s response: “Now we see thedangers of drinking and deriving.”
“Is my humor any good? Nah,it’s horrible,” says Bernhardt, aresearch scientist with UMaine’sLaboratory for Surface Science andTechnology (LASST) and therecipient of the 2010 Leila C.
Lowell Award in the College ofEngineering. “But what it does is itgets them engaged.”
Bernhardt has a real talent forexciting people about science,engineering and technology,whether through the physicscourses he’s been coordinating for20 years, the students he mentorsas a LASST researcher or theeducational outreach he does topromote understanding of engi-neering.
For him, success is re-creatingthe moment years ago when engi-neering and science clicked forhim. Today, seeing students under-stand is an enormous satisfaction.In the rigorous physics courses,disarming humor helps theUMaine students connect with theconcepts. They also discover apassion — comparable to Bern-hardt’s — for engineering andscience.
“He does tell a lot of jokes,”says Finn Bondeson, a first-yearcivil and environmental engineer-ing major in the class. “Not onlydo they lighten the mood of theclass and make it a comfortablelearning atmosphere, most of them
are based on physics terms. Thishelps students remember what aterm means or how to use theconcept.”
Bernhardt really knows how toget students involved, whether heis making jokes, showing the classexperiments or relating the mate-rial to real life, says Audrey Knowl-ton, a first-year marine biologymajor. “He has a positive andenthusiastic energy that constantlygrabs your attention,” she says.
The classes, often with enroll-ments of more than 200, involveBernhardt’s painstaking coordina-tion, including the training ofteaching assistants to carry out thecourses’ related laboratories andrecitations — sessions in whichstudents go over their homeworkwith either Bernhardt or a TA. It isa monumental orchestration effortconsidered essential to the teach-ing mission of the College of Engi-neering.
“Finding time to go get helpcan be challenging for a lot ofstudents in big classes,” says KaraZadakis, a first-year civil engineer-ing major. “Recitations help thisbecause it’s a set period in yourschedule where you can go to getmore information about a topicdiscussed in class, along with talkto the TA if you need help on ahomework problem.”
PHY 121 and 122 are criticalcourses not just to engineeringmajors but students from differentscience majors — biology, physics,chemistry, marine science,biochemistry, zoology, pre-med,Earth science and wood science.The goal is to “give them thesebasics so that when they go backinto their major and the physicscomes back to haunt them, they’llthink, ‘I know how to do this,’”Bernhardt says. “It’s critical thatthey can think critically, that theycan solve problems. And that
means that they have to be payingattention.”
To lay that foundation,Bernhardt collaborates withDavid Clark in the PhysicsDepartment and with JohnThompson and Michael Wittmanin UMaine’s Physics EducationResearch Laboratory to bringcontent to the classroom in away that is most helpful tostudents. Bernhardt compareslearning science to using acookbook: You can follow therecipe and it will come out prettywell, he says, but “true genius ismodifying that recipe, saying,‘Well, this would be better if Iadded this or took this out.’”
The key is in equippingstudents with the skills — a tool-box — to tackle any problem.
In that way, he says, studentsshould know theoretically how tosolve a certain type of problembefore they ever encounter it. �
10 COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
At the Laboratory for Surface Scienceand Technology, George Bernhardt isinvolved in cutting-edge research innumerous projects, and operates andmaintains the equipment in the Thin FilmSynthesis and Processing Facility, and theMicro/Nano Device Fabrication CleanRoom Facility. That research experiencecomes into the classroom to showstudents in Physics 121 and 122 coursesthe real-world applications of whatthey’re learning. “Research keeps youfresh and helps you keep up with thescience, which I can bring into theclassroom,” says Bernhardt. “Teachinghelps you keep up with the students. Youcan’t teach in isolation.”
seriousPHYSICSGeorge Bernhardt’s blend of offbeathumor, science and engineering results in memorable lessons
ENGINEERING PHYSICS
Take a look at the paperthis magazine is printedon. Run your hand over
the surface. Hold it up to thelight and notice the sheen. Bybringing the pages really close toyour eyes, you might even seewhere the ink from each letterends and the paper begins.
There’s a lot more to paperthan casual readers notice. Forstarters, some of what you read— this magazine, for instance —is printed on coated stock, thatis, paper covered with a thinlayer of pigments held togetherwith latex or other binders. Thecoating makes the papersmoother, heavier, stronger andbrighter.
The interplay of coating, inkand paper is pivotal toprinters, designers and thepaper industry. Given thatMaine is a leader in coatedpaper production, anythingthat makes that interplaybetter or more efficient isgood for the economy. That’s where UMaine’s
Paper Surface ScienceProgram comes in. Since 1993,
this consortium of graduatestudents, faculty researchers andindustry professionals hasworked to improve the processand the product. The programcomplements UMaine’s PilotPlant, which works withcompanies to find quick, oftenconfidential solutions to specificproblems.
“We’re trying to do long-termprojects that are beneficial to theindustry,” says the program’sdirector Doug Bousfield, aUMaine professor of chemicaland biological engineering. “Forexample, maybe one company ishaving trouble with a coatingthat is too rapid in setting. Itwould go to UMaine’s PilotPlant to try various things tosolve the problem quickly,without a deep understanding ofwhat needs to change. What wedo should be helpful for them inthe future — help find a betterunderstanding of why thathappened and how they canavoid it.”
It’s a rare model, one inwhich participatingcorporations make a donation
— enough to fund a graduatestudent for one year — so thatthe entire industry can benefitfrom the body of research.
Some of the partneringcompanies end up hiring thestudents they’ve put through theprogram, while others just likethe idea of furthering theindustry as a whole.
“We’re trying to find verypractical, real-life problems andissues in the paper and printingindustry that also can make goodtheses for graduate students,”Bousfield says.
A representative from one ofthose companies, Sappi Fine Paper North America, saysmembership on the consortium’sboard has provided anopportunity to recommendresearch projects that aremutually beneficial, includingcoating-ink interactions,development of micro- andnanoscale testing of paper surfaces for uniformity, andinvestigations into layer strengthin multilayer paper structures.
“We have also been able tohear about
this work many months inadvance of formal publicationand have the uniqueopportunity to discuss theimplications of the results withthe work’s authors directly,” saysAl Osgood, associate researchfellow at Sappi Fine Paper’sTechnology Center.
According to Osgood, theprogram regularly attractsvisiting scientists, doctoralcandidates and postdoctoralresearchers from worldwidecoated paper manufacturingareas — Japan, China andEurope — to study paperstructures, surfaces and thecolloidal interactions of thematerials used in and on them.The consortium is often invitedto present at such events asTAPPI’s peer-reviewed CoatingConference. In addition, manytechnical journals worldwidepublish the group’s research.
By examining coating, sizingand printing practices, theresearch group has been able tomake key contributions to theindustry, including a betterunderstanding of the rate of ink
Paper trailsetting on paper — similar to theway glue sets or dries. Bousfield’steam has also examined howlatex binders work and how theyimpact the strength of thecoating layer. If a coating isn’tstrong enough, it will pull off thepaper during the printingprocess. But paper makers arealways looking for ways to useless latex — in part because ofcost concerns, and in partbecause latex is petroleum-based.
A Ph.D. candidate in theprogram, Finley Richmond, istrying to find a way to makecoatings that containnanocellulose, produced fromwood fibers, to increase theeffectiveness of latex. Onemaster’s student, Pavan Shinde,is working to understand whatproperties of latex are mostimportant to improve its bindingbehavior.
“If a paper company canadjust its coating formulation asmall amount, it could save alarge amount of money,”Bousfield says. “Small thingstranslate to big savings.” �
Current members of UMaine’sPaper Surface Science researchteam are, left to right, graduatestudents Pavan Sindhe andMuddasir Khan, professor DougBousfield and graduate student Finley Richmond. UMaine’s PaperSurface Science Program is one ofonly a handful of such programs inthe world and is an internationalleader in the investigation ofpaper and coating surfaces on amicro/nano scale and theapplication of leading-edgeinstrumentation to these areas ofinvestigation.
UMaine’s surface scienceresearch benefits papercompanies and the industry
CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING
12 COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING UNIVERSITY OF MAINE 13
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE 15
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
14 COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
5Spin-off companies
BY THE NUMBERSEngineering is vital to growing Maine’s economy. From 2007–11, the College of Engineering powered economic development with:
Sources: University of Maine Department of Industrial Cooperation and
Office of Research and Sponsored Programs
21U.S.PatentsIssued
69U.
S. Paten
ts Sub
mitt
ed
94InventionDisclosures Submitted
13 LicensedTechnologies
$11.9million inContracts& GrantsWITH INDUSTRY
TOTAL RESEARCH EXPENDITURES
$118,799,000
68,737,000 FEDERALLY FUNDED EXPENDITURES
$
Institutes of Health grant tovalidate the fluid-structureinteraction model ofpercutaneous mitral valve repair— the largest NIH grant ever toUMaine. With validation, thefluid-structure interaction modelcould aid clinical assessment andsurgical planning not just formitral valve conditions, but alsofor many diseases and repairsdone surgically or withpercutaneous techniques.
Kunzelman is collaboratingwith Cochran and professorBruce Segee, the technicaldirector of the UMainesupercomputer, as well asresearchers at Georgia Instituteof Technology and theDepartment of Energy’s PacificNorthwest National Laboratory.They are comparingcomputational FSI results to datafrom in vitro experiments doneat Georgia Tech’s Left HeartSimulator. The experiments willsimulate normal function, twopathological mitral valveconditions, and the procedureknown as edge-to-edge repair.
In the coming year, twoUMaine postdoctoral researchassociates will work withscientists at Pacific NorthwestNational Laboratories, where thefocus is on developing a series ofnext-generation procedures andfluid-structure interactionmodels of the mitral valve. Theresults will aid surgeons andcardiologists in providing thebest possible interventionaloptions for patients with mitralvalve disease, Kunzelman says. �
For more than two decades,she has collaborated on medicaland surgical research with Dr.Richard Cochran, a member ofUMaine’s mechanical engineeringgraduate faculty and director ofcardiovascular and thoracicsurgery at Maui Memorial MedicalCenter. Kunzelman and Cochranare internationally recognized fortheir use of computer modelingand engineering analysis of theheart and heart valves, cardiacdevices and surgical procedures.They also are developing surgicalrepair techniques.
In 2006, they founded SuperiorSurgical Solutions, which focuseson research management, programdevelopment, and productdevelopment and evaluation. Thebusiness started in Auburn, Maine,when Cochran was medicaldirector of cardiac surgery andKunzelman was director ofresearch at the Central MaineHeart and Vascular Institute atCentral Maine Medical Center.Kunzelman is president ofSuperior Surgical Solutions.
Kunzelman and Cochrancreated the first 3-D structuralfinite element computer model ofthe mitral valve to aid in structuralanalysis of normal function,pathological alterations andsurgical correction. They alsodeveloped the first fluid-structureinteraction (FSI) model to analyzemechanical and fluid flowdisturbances resulting frompathologic conditions andproposed repairs.
In 2009, Kunzelman received afive-year, $3.1 million National
In recent decades,biomedical technology hasrevolutionized human
surgical procedures, leading toeffective and less invasivetreatments for a myriad ofhealth conditions. Thoseinclude matters of the heart.Today, coronary artery diseaseand other cardiac conditionsoften are treated withpercutaneous procedures, suchas angioplasty or stents,requiring small incisions ratherthan full, open heart surgery.
But some heart conditionshave defied such surgicaladvances. Among them is oneof the most common heartvalve conditions — mitralregurgitation, in which thevalve between the left atriumand ventricle does not closeproperly. In patients with life-threatening dysfunction, openheart surgery is done to repairor replace the valve.
To advance percutaneousmitral valve repair,computational models areneeded to help surgeons andbiomedical engineersunderstand what’s needed andwhat’s possible for less-invasivetreatment alternatives. One ofthe leaders in that modelingresearch is Karyn Kunzelman, aresearch professor in theUniversity of Maine’sDepartment of MechanicalEngineering. Kunzelman hasdeveloped and incorporatedmicrostructural analysistechniques into her modelingstudies of cardiac valve tissue.
Biomedical engineering researchfocused on giving patients minimallyinvasive treatment options
Improving heart valve surgery
16 COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
When Tavis Wallace firstheard about thepotential of
thermoelectric power generation— which relates to theproduction of electric powerfrom waste heat — the then-Maine Maritime Academyundergraduate from Crawford,Maine, could easily picture thetechnology’s possibilities for themaritime industry. A marinevessel running on the energycreated by its own exhaust heat?The potential for millions ofdollars in energy savings? Howcould Wallace not be interested?
Now a graduate student atthe University of Maine, Wallace
is combining his pursuit of amaster’s degree in mechanicalengineering with his own start-up business centered on thethermoelectric technology.
While at Maine Maritime,Wallace worked with otherundergraduate students andfaculty to build one of the firstthermoelectric-powered hybridmarine vessels in the world. Hefounded his company,Thermoelectric Power SystemsLLC, with the goal of developingand marketing the technology tothe marine industry.
“We took an encapsulatedlifeboat and retrofitted it with anew diesel electric propulsion
system so we could utilize theenergy harvested from thegenerator and put it back into thesystem,” says Wallace, who is anadvisee of UMaine assistantprofessor Zhihe Jin and PaulWlodkowski, a Maine Maritimeengineering professor who holdsa UMaine graduate facultyappointment. “Basically what it’sdoing is reducing the load on thegenerator and therefore reducingthe fuel consumption.”
UMaine electrical andcomputer engineering associateprofessor Bruce Segee is involvedin the project’s instrumentationand automation. MaineMaritime’s Peter Sarnacki, anassociate professor of engineeringat Maine Maritime with technicalexperience in the type ofpropulsion system Wallace isusing, is also involved.
Wallace has set an aggressivegoal of working toward a 5percent decrease in fuelconsumption for the entire fleetin Maine, from lobster boats toluxury yachts. That 5 percentreduction translates into millionsof dollars per year.
Thermoelectric Power Systemshas received more than $175,000in grants for research anddevelopment from organizationssuch as the American Bureau ofShipping and the Office of NavalResearch. This winter, it received asmall but prestigious grant fromthe Portland, Maine-based LibraFoundation. The grant wasenough to update thethermoelectric generator’s dataacquisition systems. �
Travis Wallace’s retrofitted vessellooks more like a submarine than aboat. The technology involves installing a thermoelectric generatorin the exhaust path of a vessel’s internal combustion system, enabling the recovery of energy that is otherwise lost through heatin the exhaust gases.
Recovering energy
STUDENT FOCUS
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE 17
Milestones in your career after graduating from UMaine?I started as an equipment engineer at Fairchild Semiconductor inSouth Portland, then went into process engineering before movingto Digital Equipment Corp. (now an Intel plant) in Massachusetts. In1993, I joined National Semiconductor in South Portland as anengineering manager on the team that started this facility. This isclassified as a 200 mm fab, which, at the time, was cutting edge —the coolest technology around. This chip factory represented thenext generation of growth for National. Again, I was fortunate tobe at the center of the latest technology. My current responsibility isto ensure that every chip we produce meets customers’ expectationsfor quality and performance. We strive for a theoretical benchmarkof zero defects, so that means the pressure’s always on.
From your perspective, what’s the next big thing in engineering?Some new trends that we are seeing are high-voltage chargers forelectric cars, current drivers for LED light bulbs and high-speed chipsfor wireless technologies. It’s impossible to say for sure what will bethe next killer technology, but it could very well be something noone’s thought of yet.
How does UMaine continue to influence your life? I’m on the College of Engineering board of advisers. In theDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, NationalSemiconductor is involved in an active co-op program and amicroelectronic scholarship program. A third of our engineersgraduated from UMaine and we have a strong interest in theprogram continuing to thrive. �
Site Engineering Manager for Quality at National Semiconductor,South Portland, Maine.
National Semiconductor’s plant in SouthPortland specializes in complex analogcomputers. The products cover thou-sands of applications across markets,such as smart phones, wireless commu-nication, LED lighting and industrial ap-plications. Each month, more than 100million chips comprising 20 differenttechnologies are shipped from its plant.Products made in Maine are shipped toMalaysia for assembly, and then sold tocustomers such as Apple, Cisco, Ford,Motorola, Nokia and Seagate.
Earlier this year, National Semiconductorand Texas Instruments entered into anagreement whereby TI would acquire itssmaller rival, pending regulatory ap-proval. Swan says that developmentopens even more doors for him andother National engineers to take theircareers to the next level.
ALUMNI FOCUS
Steve SwanB.S. in electrical engineering,UMaine, 1982M.B.A., University of Phoenix
Managing technology quality
18 COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
After nearly a decade in re-search, development andtesting, engineers in the
University of Maine’s Laboratoryfor Surface Science and Technol-ogy (LASST) have created wire-less high-temperature sensorsable to stand up to at least 1,800degrees Fahrenheit — more thantwice the heat endurance of ex-isting wireless sensors.
The sensors are expected tosave the aerospace industry andmilitary billions of dollars incosts associated with jet enginemaintenance.
Prototypes are now beingtested in a jet turbine engine onindefinite loan to UMaine fromthe Maine Air National Guard.
The wireless, harsh-environ-ment sensors were developed byMauricio Pereira da Cunha, pro-fessor of electrical and computerengineering, and Bob Lad, pro-fessor of physics and director ofLASST. Funding has come fromthe U.S. Air Force and Army, anduniversity and state grants.
The sensors can be attachedto jet engine blades and othermoving parts operating with a g-force acceleration in excess of50,000 and temperatures in ex-cess of 1,800 F. With them, tech-nicians can monitor suchvariables as pressure, tempera-ture, strain, vibration and corro-sion, and better control enginehealth and maintenance.
Because such sensors havenot been available, jet enginemechanics routinely and labori-ously dismantle engine parts ac-cording to maintenanceschedules to look for evidence ofwear or damage. In addition, thesensors will improve engine effi-ciency, saving fuel costs.
Demonstration of the per-formance of wireless sensors injet engines is being watched by anumber of groups, da Cunhasays. Partnering organizationsrange from private sector compa-nies including Pratt & Whitney,Rolls Royce, Honeywell andGeneral Electric to NASA andseveral miliary branches.
UMaine has two patents andthree pending on the microwaveacoustic sensor devices, high-temperature materials and wire-less communication. In addition,the university has received morethan $3.6 million from theWright-Patterson Air Force Re-search Laboratory in Dayton,Ohio, to help develop the tech-nology for commercializationand deployment in military air-craft.
The UMaine technology isbeing licensed to EnvironetixTechnologies Corp., a new spin-off company from LASST and located in Orono’s Target Tech-nology Incubator, where it em-ploys several recent UMainegraduates. �
Two of the wireless microwave acousticsensors. A key component of thetechnology is the use of a piezoelectricmaterial known as langasite, which isshock resistant and stable at such hightemperatures. Changes in the langasitematerial properties that occur in theharsh environment are used to performthe sensing.
Jetefficiency
New sensors could improve performance
ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING
Why electrical engineering?I’ve always loved to build things.I’m also a strong math and sciencestudent so engineering wassuggested to me as a major. Ipicked electrical partially becausemy dad is an electrical engineerand because of scholarship moneyI got from the department fresh-man year, but I’m really glad Ipicked it. Electrical engineers havea ton of job opportunities with allof the upcoming technology, plusit’s really fun to design a circuitand get it to work.
Tell us about your REU last summer.Last summer I worked for electri-cal engineering professor Rose-mary Smith on microfabrication ofpressure sensors that will hope-fully be used to wirelessly detecteye pressure to diagnose glau-coma. The project is still in its earlystages, but I had the opportunity
to design and fabricate thesensors in the Laboratory forSurface Science and Technology(LASST) clean room and do sometesting at the end of the summer.REU (the National Science Founda-tion’s Research Experience forUndergraduates) is a really coolprogram because you get to workon a specific project with a profes-sor all summer and learn whatresearch is all about. I havesubmitted some CAD designs ofsensors to a company that willfabricate them. The designs aresimilar to the sensors I worked onduring REU. I hope to get thechips back for testing.
Have you participated in any otherinternships or co-ops?The summer after my first year, Iinterned at Fairchild Semiconduc-
tor in South Portland for theDevice Engineering Department.I’ve also worked at Network Alliesin Andover, Mass.
Who’s your mentor? I’ve worked closely with quite afew professors; however, Dr. Rose-mary Smith is an amazing mentorto me. She is the only womanprofessor in the ECE Departmentand is an inspiration to all womenwho are pursuing degrees inmale-dominant fields. I’ve spent alot of time in her office talkingabout everything from currentprojects and homework to whatit’s like at a job interview or howto fit in.
What research do you hope to beinvolved in as an electrical engineer-ing graduate student? I’m hoping to continue workingon the pressure sensors that Iworked on during REU. I’d like totry to get the wireless portion ofthe design working. After gradu-ate school, I plan to apply for jobsin the semiconductor industry. Ihope to work in chip design andeventually move up to a manage-ment position. �
Jamie ReinholdSouth Portland, MaineMay graduate and incoming gradstudent in electrical engineering
Member of the UMaine chapter of
IEEE, Eta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi
and Kappa Kappa Psi; Black
Bear Marching Band, Pep Band
and Concert Band (playing
clarinet and tenor sax); and
the championship-winning
Hippie Flicks intramural
frisbee team.
STUDENT FOCUS
The REU difference
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE 19
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE 2120 COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
NEn
gine
erin
g inge
nuity For three decades, two MET
capstone courses have set the bar high on addressinghumanitarian needs
In his 2011 State of the Union address, Presi-dent Barack Obama called for innovation intoday’s global marketplace. He pointed out
how such countries as China and India haveadapted to compete in the world. And he assuredthe nation that the U.S. has what it takes to con-tend as well.
“We know what it takes to compete for thejobs and industries of our time,” Obama said.“We need to out-innovate, out-educate and out-build the rest of the world.”
And as Herb Crosby tuned in at his home inOrono, Maine, that line caught his attention.
“He described our students to a T,” saysCrosby, who teaches mechanical engineeringtechnology at the University of Maine.
Particularly the students of MET 464 and 465,a pair of courses in which mechanical engineeringtechnology seniors complete a yearlong designproject that serves as their capstone requirementfor graduation. Crosby has taught the coursessince 1980 and in those 31 years has facilitatedhumanitarian projects ranging from a device tohelp wheelchair users load a canoe or kayak ontoa car to adaptive tricycles for land mine victims inMozambique.
However, Crosby gives all the credit to his stu-dents, who select the projects themselves. He saysthat while he sets the course framework and is-sues final grades, the students are the true master-minds and heroes.
“It’s exciting to me to see how smart our stu-dents are and how well they work together,”Crosby says. “They’re creative. I’m in awe ofthem, I really am.”
The students determine their project at the be-ginning of the school year, when they select atopic from the pool of ideas Crosby receives fromthe public and class members. Ideally, Crosbysays, each project has a real-life client who can be
consulted to help students un-derstand the need.
“That act of providing a prod-uct which is designed to helpothers feels great and is very mo-tivating, knowing that someoneis excited to see what the teamscreate,” says Justin Hagelin, anMET senior in Crosby’s capstoneclass. “It gives teams experiencedealing with the consumers andusers of its product, which isoften the hardest obstacle toovercome in a design.”
For example, the 2010–11project idea came from one ofthe many older, nontraditionalstudents in the class whose wifeworks at Westgate Manor in Ban-gor, Maine. At the nursing home,staff members have to crush pillsthat seniors can’t swallow. How-ever, the pill crushers on themarket can be difficult to useand can injure nurses’ hands,Crosby says.
“The MET capstone projectsin particular are often aligned toimprove a specific product forhandicapped individuals withlimited mobility, loss of extremi-ties, or a number of other vari-ous products designed toimprove the quality of life formembers of society,” says RyanKeezer, the student whose wifesuggested the pill crushers. “Thecapstone projects are what theMET program is all about.”
“You have to think, ‘Theremust be a better way,’” saysCrosby, whose hope is for hisstudents not just to build some-thing for a grade, but to buildsomething that works and has areal-world application.
And if the projects help stu-dents gain a greater understand-ing of the world around them, all
the better. For instance, with the2009–10 tricycles for land minevictims, Crosby says developingand testing the designs helpedstudents put their own strugglesin context.
“I think it speaks well of thestudents to pick something likethis,” Crosby says of the human-itarian projects, which he notesclass members care more aboutbecause they have final say onthe which topic to choose.“Often, these are underservedpeople whom the big companiesdon’t cater to.”
With a $200 budget goal thepast two years and no taxpayermoney involved, the studentsrely on donations, and eachgroup does all the work in solic-
iting its own materials from areabusinesses.
The students put in around1,000 hours per team, meetingoutside of class as well. Crosbyhopes that the projects sum upwhat they’ve learned in earliercoursework and emphasize theneed for teamwork and ingenu-ity. Crosby also encourages a bitof competition as well: The win-ning team gets an A and all areprepared for the global work-force. And designing safe prod-ucts fosters a concern for what isright, instilling a sense of ethics.
“It’s a labor of love,” Crosbysays. “I know from experience— our students are not quitters.There’s a lot of pride here andnot much sleep sometimes.” �
This year’s top design for a pill crusher(pictured above) was created by the teamof Thomas Evans, Justin Hagelin, PaulMcClay, Brad McLeod and Kevin Scott.When the MET teams work on theirdesigns, they have to create user-friendlyblueprints that could be followed bysomeone not involved in the project. Thestudents research prior designs andpatents, as well as what is currently onthe market, before coming up with theirgoals. They also brainstorm manydifferent solutions to the selectedproblem, then develop plans, some ofwhich they even document with videodemonstrations. In addition, teams needto perform calculations to gaugestrength and safety. With the pill crusherproject, the groups needed to provemathematically that their products couldbe used by the average person and thatthey wouldn’t pinch anyone’s fingers inthe process. These calculations are keptin a log book that also contains notesand photos the teams compile over theyear through class assignments.
Professor Herb Crosby, right, has taught MET 464 and 465 since 1980, and hasfacilitated countless humanitarian projects with global implications.
ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE 23
I n February, more than 200 students and teachers from three area middleschools were on campus for the University of Maine NANO EXPO, one of four
events in the state planned as part of the Making Stuff educational outreachcampaign, sponsored by WGBH in Boston and the Nanoscale Informal ScienceEducation Network. Like the Public Broadcasting NOVA program “Making Stuff,”the daylong workshop at UMaine focused on materials science, featuring studentand faculty researchers from the Biomedical Engineering Advanced Robotics Lab,AEWC Advanced Structures & Composites Center, the Laboratory for SurfaceScience and Technology, and the Forest Bioproducts Research Institute. Maine wasone of 15 sites nationwide selected as outreach centers. The statewide events arefunded through a grant to the Maine Discovery Museum on behalf of a 17-member coalition, including the College of Engineering and its departments.
UMaine lands ADVANCE grant
A five-year, $3.3 million National Science FoundationADVANCE grant is funding a new University of Maine
initiative to improve institutional conditions disproportion-ately affecting female faculty in the sciences, technology,engineering, mathematics and the social-behavioralsciences.
Last fall, the grant established the Rising Tide Center,which supports the initiative at UMaine and in the Univer-sity of Maine System. Karen Horton, associate professor ofmechanical engineering technology, served as the center’sinterim director.
The goal of the center is to increase the number offemale faculty members in the STEM disciplines (science,technology, engineering and mathematics) and social-behavioral sciences by defining the practices thatattract and support the retention of female faculty, facilitating promotion through the academic ranks andto administrative positions, and providing professional satisfaction.
This past spring, the center announced its first round of grants aimed at fostering the professionaldevelopment of UMaine female faculty members. Nine grants totaling more than $76,000 were awardedto UMaine faculty members in a range of academic fields in one of four granting categories: researchseed, leadership development, unit climate award and climate research.
UMaine has a combined 114 female faculty members teaching in STEM and social-behavioral fields,compared with 284 male faculty members in those areas.
Five UMaine faculty members co-authored the ADVANCE grant: Susan Hunter, UMaine’s senior vicepresident for academic affairs and provost., and a biology professor who is the principal investigator onthe project; Amy Fried, associate professor of political science; Susan Gardner, associate professor ofhigher education; Karen Horton; and Jody Jellison, former professor of molecular plant pathology anddirector of the School of Biology and Ecology.
This past spring, Ellie Groden, professor of entomology, replaced Jellison on the team and nowadministers the Rising Tide grants program. Mary Madden, an associate research professor in the Centerfor Education and Research, was named director of UMaine’s ADVANCE Rising Tide Center.
COLLEGE SPOTLIGHT
FBRI breaks ground for new facility
In May, the University of MaineForest Bioproducts ResearchInstitute (FBRI) held agroundbreaking ceremony fora 3,300-square-foot additionto Jenness Hall. The additionwill feature space for varioususes, including areas whereFBRI technical staff will workwith visiting researchers andindustrial collaborators onbioproducts and the processesnecessary to develop them.Training space, video-conferencing facilities andoffices also will be included.Funding for the project comesfrom the Maine TechnologyAsset Fund, a competitiveaward program funded byvoter-approved bonds.
Brian McLaughlinMechanical Engineering
Brian McLaughlin of Standish, Maine, wasnamed the 2011 OutstandingGraduating Student in the College ofEngineering. McLaughlin majored inmechanical engineering and minored inmathematics. His many honors include theRalph Sanborn ‘39 Scholarship, a Top ScholarAward and the Doreen Thibodeau UnsungHero Award. Since his junior year, he hasworked as an assistant in the Rehabilitation
& Neuromuscular (ReNeu) Robotics Laboratory of Professor Ashish Deshpande,where he designed, fabricated and built biomechanical models of robotic jointswith compliant, humanlike characteristics. In summer 2009, McLaughlin interned asa safety engineer with Pike Industries Inc., in Westbrook, Maine. Last summer, heinterned as a design engineer with Mega Industries LLC in Gorham, Maine. Oncampus, he was the lead engineer of UMaine’s Formula SAE Suspension Team,supervising the student engineers responsible for designing, modeling andanalyzing the racecar’s high-performance components. He has been hired as adesign engineer at Pratt & Whitney in North Berwick, Maine.
Jonathan BalentinaCivil Engineering
Jonathan Balentina of Curacao, NetherlandsAntilles, was named the 2011Outstanding Graduating InternationalStudent in the College of Engineering.Balentina majored in civil engineering andwas a pitcher on the UMaine Baseball Team.The Scholar-Athlete Award winner wasnamed to the America East Baseball All-Academic Team in 2009, and was a memberof Team Maine in 2010. He plans to pursue agraduate degree in civil engineering atUMaine.
2011 Outstanding graduating students
Karen Horton
In complying with the letter and spirit of applicable laws and pursuing its own goals of diversity, the University of Maine shall not discriminate on the groundsof race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, including transgender status or gender expression, national origin, citizenship status, age, disability, genetic in-formation or veteran status in employment, education, and all other areas of the University of Maine. The university provides reasonable accommodations toqualified individuals with disabilities upon request. Questions and complaints about discrimination in any area of the university should be directed to KarenKemble, Director of Equal Opportunity, University of Maine, 5754 North Stevens Hall, Room 101, Orono, ME 04469-5754, 207-581-1226, TTY 207-581-9484.
Mohamad Musavi is now the associatedean of the College of Engineering.Musavi joined the College of Engineeringin 1983. He has served as chair of the Department of Electrical and ComputerEngineering since 2004.
Chet Rock, a professor of civil engineeringsince 1979 who was tapped to be associ-ate dean in 1997, retired May 13.
SIE merges into a new school
T he Department of Spatial Information Science and Engineering (SIE) has merged into a newly created School of Computing and Information Science in the College ofLiberal Arts and Science. This represents the next step in the evolution of this department, whose roots go back to the B.S in surveying engineering that was housed in
the then Department of Civil Engineering. In the late 1980s, the group split off into its own department. Over time, its emphasis shifted from traditional surveying and more toward the creation of systems to manage and display spatial information. In 2005, this
resulted in the traditional surveying component being spun off into a separate B.S. in surveying engineering technology in the School of Engineering Technology.The decision to merge SIE into the new school, that also includes computer science, was made after a year-long discussion with faculty and administration.
The new school will have strengths in undergraduate and graduate education, combined with a strong focus on research.
22 COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
A dvancing research, development andcommercialization of private sector
manufacturing projects in need oftechnological assistance is the focus of aMaine Technology Institute grant to theUniversity of Maine and University ofSouthern Maine.
The three-year grant of more than$493,000 from MTI’s Cluster InitiativeProgram will enable precisionmanufacturers in Maine to advance,expand and increase hiring as they moveforward with new project development.
With an estimated $567,000 more inmatching contributions, UMaine’sAdvanced Manufacturing Center (AMC)and USM’s Manufacturing ApplicationsCenter (MAC), in addition to privatesector partners, are launching a $1 millioninitiative to help businesses overcometechnological barriers preventing themfrom bringing to market hundreds of newproducts and manufacturing processes.
The two centers help businessesacross Maine improve infrastructure andoperations through technological andmechanical assistance from facultyresearchers and students. The newinitiative is based on the recognition thatMaine universities and educationalinstitutions have both the capacity andobligation to assist Maine businesses —from financial, business and marketingconsulting to engineering-based problemsolving in shops, classrooms andlaboratories, according to the grantapplication, co-written by John Belding,director of UMaine’s AMC and Mike Wingof USM’s MAC.
The funds will be used for personneland equipment to expand services.Anticipated goals include development ofnew products and increasedmanufacturing, project-based learning forMaine’s STEM (science, technology,engineering and mathematics) students,new STEM jobs in Maine and improvedpartnerships.
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE 2524 COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
� Three students in an electrical and computer engineering independent studycourse developed a mobile application for smart phones to better managetheir academic life on campus. The application, freely available through theonline Android Market, is an open-source application that allows students andothers to view weekly class schedules, class locations, textbook lists andinstructor contact information. It provides information on parking, a buildingmap and a faculty/staff directory, which could be particularly helpful to newstudents and visitors, according to Yifeng Zhu, associate professor of electricaland computer engineering, who taught the class.The students were computerengineering majors Jason Monk of Pittsfield, Maine, and Robert King of Rich-mond, Maine, and computer science major Jerry Zhu from China. Monk andKing are now computer engineering graduate students working as researchassistants on projects funded by the National Science Foundation.
� The University of Maine approved three new 18-credit minors for implementa-tion this fall. Students can choose tracks in renewable energy engineering,renewable energy science and technology, and renewable energy economicsand policy. There’s also an option for a concentration in renewable energy forstudents pursuing bachelor’s degrees in economics. The faculty are from all ofthe engineering departments, as well as the School of Economics and Schoolof Forest Resources. “The College of Engineering has so much research inrenewable energy across a number of fields that it made sense for a curriculumto dovetail into it,” says James Passanisi, project coordinator for renewableenergy curriculum. “Now students can have a degree with the breadth of
broad training in a conventional engineering field and the specificity of therenewable energy minor.” The academic curriculum includes laboratory workand summer internships.
� The Charles Pankow Award for Innovation from the American Society of CivilEngineers (ASCE) was awarded to the AEWC Advanced Structures & Compos-ites Center at the University of Maine for development of the Bridge-in-a-Back-pack™. The Pankow Award, one of the engineering profession’s highesthonors, was presented to AEWC Director Habib Dagher at the ASCE Outstand-ing Projects and Leaders Awards Gala in Washington D.C., March 31. ThePankow Award was established by ASCE to celebrate collaboration in innova-tive design, materials or construction-related research and development trans-ferred into practice in a sustainable manner. Bridge-in-a-Backpack™technology uses carbon fiber reinforced polymer composite arch tubes thatserve as superstructure components to efficiently carry bridge design loads. A 70-foot tube can fit in a hockey bag, can be inflated on-site using an aircompressor running off a pickup truck, and can be bent to any shape andinfused with a resin. It becomes stronger than steel in about three hours.
� Carlton Brown, associate professor of surveying engineering technology, wasawarded the 2011 Earle J. Fennell Award by the American Congress on Survey-ing and Mapping (ACSM). The annual national honor is awarded to one facultymember in the U.S. for distinguished teaching and service to the surveying andmapping profession.
In California’s Mojave Desert, five University of Mainestudents participated in the April 16 launch of a rocket
loaded with wireless sensors they developed.The students, working under UMaine Associate Professor
of Electrical and Computer Engineering Ali Abedi, collaboratedon the NASA-funded project with faculty and studentresearchers at California State University at Long Beach andGarvey Spacecraft Corp. (GSC), a California-based R&Dcompany focusing on cost-effective development of advancedspace technologies and launch systems.
The UMaine payload, which was integrated into a rocketknown as the Prospector 18B, included sets of wireless sensorsthat detect acceleration in three dimensions to determine theamount of vibration of the rocket before and during liftoff. Thevibration levels are crucial because even the most minisculeamount of vibration before launch could throw a rocket off itsintended path and reduce engine performance.
The sensors sent back data to a laptop on the groundduring the launch, and also stored data onboard the payloadwhen the sensors went out of range of the laptop. Abedi andhis students will hand over their data to Cal State Long Beach,GSC and NASA so those organizations can continue refiningtheir models.
The electrical and computer engineering seniors on theproject are all from Maine: Zachary Janosik of Windham, AdamMarsano of Saco, John Murray of Raymond, and Joel Castro ofWinslow. Ph.D. student Fred Schwaner of Hebron managed theproject this year. In 2009, he participated in a similar project asa UMaine undergraduate.
UMaine’s role in the project was funded by a $24,950grant from NASA via the Maine Space Grant Consortium.
COLLEGE SPOTLIGHT
A Bridge-in-a-Backpack™project in Auburn, Maine.
This spring in the College of Engineering:
Launching wireless sensors
A composite toe protector designedby UMaine engineers for Falcon
Performance Footwear inAuburn, Maine.
Advancing precisionmanufacturing in Maine
Since 2004, the Advanced Manufactur-ing Center has helped a diverse rangeof businesses throughout the state withmanufacturing dilemmas and chal-lenges — from creating new medicaland scientific tools to improving manu-facturing operations and efficiency.AMC Director John Belding cited exam-ples representative of the challengesthe center’s engineering students, staffand researchers have addressed:
� Helped Falcon Performance Footwear ofAuburn, Maine, develop a compositetoe protector insert for firefighters’boots.
� Modified an automated wrapping andpackaging machine for a small westernMaine chocolate confectioner toprocess in hours what has been takingdays.
� Prototyped parts for a new engine thata company wants to market to replacethe internal combustion engines inpower generation applications.
� Built a prototype pen-sized device topotentially replace tuning forks used byphysicians, in addition to other newmedical and scientific devices for a vari-ety of clients.
� Designed and built an automatedcrimping workstation for a smallcoastal canvas company to improveassembly productivity and productquality. What used to take two hourscan now be done in 20 minutes withless waste and improved ergonomics.
The projects “show how we cansupport economic development andhelp grow these small companies inMaine,” Belding says.
The AMC advantageK rish Thiagarajan has been appointed as the Alston D. and Ada Lee Correll Presidential Chair in Energy, and professor of
mechanical engineering. His expertise in the hydrodynamics of floating structures is essential to UMaine’s research inoffshore wind and tidal energy.
Thiagarajan received a master’s degree in ocean engineering from Memorial University in Newfoundland, Canada, in1989 and three graduate degrees from the University of Michigan: master’s degrees in naval architecture and marine engi-neering, and in mechanical engineering in 1992, and a Ph.D. in naval architecture and marine engineering in 1993. He hasheld many positions in academia and industry, and comes to UMaine from the University of Western Australia.
The Presidential Chair was funded by a generous gift from Alston D. “Pete” and Ada Lee Correll. They resided inOld Town, Maine, in the mid-1960s, where Mrs. Correll taught elementary school and Mr. Correll completed doublemaster’s degrees in chemical engineering and pulp and paper technology from the University of Maine. Pete Correllwent on to become one of the most respected and accomplished paper executives in the country, only recentlyretiring as chair and CEO of Georgia Pacific. He now heads Atlanta Equity, a venture capital firm in Georgia.
Krish Thiagarajan
New researcher to support offshore wind, tidal initiatives
The rocket was equipped withthree payloads of UMaine’swireless sensor technology.
BE A CATALYSTFOR INNOVATION WITH YOUR GIFT TO
UMAINEENGINEERING
• Support the College of Engineering or your department through The Fund(engineering.umaine.edu and then click “Give Now”).
• Create an endowed fund in the University of Maine Foundation.
• Leave a legacy through your estate plans.
College of Engineering5796 AMC, Room 200Orono, Maine 04496-5796
For more information, contact Pat Cummings, Director of Development for the College of Engineering (800-671-7085 or 207-581-1155; [email protected]).
University of Maine College of Engineeringengineering.umaine.edu
5796 AMC, Room 200 • Orono, ME 04469-5796 • Phone: 207-581-2216 • Fax: 207-581-2220
A member of the University of Maine System
Mechanical engineering technology junior Joe Travaglini, left, and Professor of Mechanical Engineering Vince Caccese
