Welcoming a new Faculty Member
Dr. Philip King has joined the faculty at UMaine as an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering. Dr. King received his PhD in mechanical engineering at Pennsylvania State University. His research is primarily focused on additive and convergent manufacturing.
Announcing Two Open Faculty Positions
Position 1: Tenure-track Assistant Professor
Area: Fluids with expertise in flow-field modeling and simulation
Required qualifications: A PhD in aerospace eng., mechanical eng., ocean eng. or a closely related field by date of hire; a well-documented record of high-quality research in fluids, specifically in the computer modeling and simulation of flow fields; evidence of a clear potential for obtaining extramural funding and establishing a successful research program; evidence of a clear potential for teaching effectiveness, and capability to develop and teach fluid mechanics, CFD and related courses; excellent communication skills and teamwork ability.
Preferred qualifications: Experience in experimental fluid mechanics is desirable as a compliment to computational modeling expertise; industrial experience in fluid mechanics is desirable; potential for collaboration in one or more areas including aerospace, mechanical, ocean, energy and biomedical engineering.
Submit Applications Here.
Position 2: Tenure-track Assistant Professor
Area: Materials science and engineering
Required qualifications: A PhD in mechanical engineering, materials science and engineering or a closely related field by date of hire; a well-documented record of high-quality research in the general area of materials science and engineering or a related field with computational and/or experimental focus; evidence of a clear potential for obtaining extramural funding and establishing a successful research program; evidence of a clear potential for effective teaching with excellent communication skills and teamwork ability.
Preferred qualifications: Potential for research in one or more areas including, but not limited to, computational and experimental solid mechanics, advanced manufacturing, renewable energy, energy storage, sustainability, as well as aerospace, ocean, and biomedical applications.
Submit Applications Here.
About the Department and University: The Department offers BS, MS and PhD programs in mechanical engineering, with undergraduate concentration in Aerospace, and graduate concentrations in Aerospace, Offshore Wind Energy, Robotics & Mechatronics, and Smart Manufacturing. It also supports minors in many areas including Robotics and Renewable Energy Engineering, as well as a certificate in Composite Materials and Structures, and the I-PhD program with concentration in materials science and engineering. The ME faculty excel in research and scholarly pursuits with over $7M in new research awards in FY23. The Department is housed in the new Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center, a 115,000 sf, $78-million state-of-the-art teaching and laboratory facility on the UMaine campus.
UMaine is located in beautiful Central Maine. Many employees report that a primary reason for choosing to come to UMaine is quality of life. Numerous cultural activities, excellent public schools, safe neighborhoods, high quality medical care, little traffic, and a reasonable cost of living make the greater Bangor area a wonderful place to live.
Celebrating our Students’ Achievements
We are proud to announce that UMaine 2023 Valedictorian is Lara Chern, a graduating senior in mechanical engineering (Read more). She is joined by McKayla Leary as the Outstanding Senior in MEE and Ata Turgut as the Hovey award recipient. Also, Min Wang, a PhD student in mechanical engineering, was recently recognized as the outstanding Graduate Research Assistant in the college, and Zoe Benedict was honored as the 2023 Outstanding Graduate Student in mechanical engineering. Pictured L-R (Lara, McKayla, Ata, Min, and Zoe)
Understanding Behavior of Deforming Rocks
With support from the National Science Foundation, Prof. Senthil Vel is collaborating with colleagues in UMaine School of Earth and Climate Sciences and several international researchers to better understand and quantify the influence of tectonic plate movement on stress and flow laws in rocks. Read more
Extending Research in Wearable Robotics
Through a $432,000 grant from the National Institute on Aging of NIH, Dr. Babak Hejrati and his research team will continue their innovative research on wearable robotics for gait training of older adults. Read more
Expanding Opportunities in Offshore Wind Energy
Dr. Amrit Verma has received a $292,000 award from the Norwegian government to partner with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in developing new collaborative learning and research opportunities between UMaine and NTNU in a rapidly advancing field of offshore wind energy. Dr. Verma’s collaborators include several faculty in Mechanical Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering Technology at UMaine. Read More
Decarbonizing Through Engineering
Through a $400,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, Dr. Justin Lapp and his co-investigators will be conducting research aimed at Solar Decarbonization of Paraffin Dehydrogenation Through Particle Heat Carriers. The light olefin industry accounts for over $300B in annual worldwide sales and requires large amounts of process heat, currently provided by fossil fuel combustion. In this project, a method is investigated to replace those fossil fuels with concentrated solar energy. Solid ceramic particles, coated in catalyst, will be heated by focused sunlight to 900 Celsius or higher, then will be used to heat and catalyze a flow of paraffins for conversion to light olefins. The project team will design, fabricate, and test catalyst pellets. They will build and simulate a prototype proof-of-concept reactor. Read More
Empowering Engineering Students
In recognition of the importance of making college education more accessible to promising low-income students in Maine, NSF has awarded a $750,000 grant to Dr. Alex Friess and his co-investigators in support of a project for Building Bridges for Engineering Students. Read More
Transforming Engineering Education at UMaine
We celebrated the grand opening of the Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center on August 24th. In addition to housing the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ferland EEDC provides a state-of-the-art facility for transforming engineering education at UMaine. Read More
