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.
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
Expanding Research on 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
Advancing in Faculty Ranks
We are delighted to announce that the following three faculty have received tenure and/or promotion in mechanical engineering:
Dr. Alex Friess: Promoted to Professor
Dr. Babak Hejrati: Promoted to Associate Professor with tenure
Dr. Yingchao Yang: Promoted to Associate Professor with tenure
Achieving a Milestone – Four NSF CAREER Awards
Mechanical Engineering is proud to announce that four MEE early-career faculty are among the outstanding group of peers selected nationwide to receive NSF CAREER awards in 2021 and 2022. Dr. Qian Xue plans to devote her award toward a better understanding and modeling of Hydrodynamic Sensing Mechanism of Seal Whisker, Dr. Babak Hejrati will advance biomedical research and education by exploring Interlimb Neural Coupling to Enhance Gait Rehabilitation, and Dr. Yingchao Yang will explore the mechanisms behind the exceptional toughness associated with Asymmetrical Fracture of Two-dimensional High Entropy Nanomaterials. They join Dr. Sheila Edalatpour (2021 recipient) who is establishing a theoretical framework for modeling Quantum Size Effects on Thermal Radiation.
“The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is a Foundation-wide activity that offers the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization. ” [NSF]
Boosting Offshore Wind Workforce Development
The Maine Governor’s Energy Office has awarded Dr. Amrit Verma and his collaborators over a quarter million dollars in support of OffshoreWind4Maine initiative that seeks to develop new undergraduate and graduate courses, an undergraduate concentration in Offshore Wind Energy for the students in mechanical engineering, and new micro-credentials tied to the various aspects of wind energy, including offshore wind model testing, and lab instrumentation. 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
Growing Interest in Certificate Program
We are pleased to see the increasing interest in both the undergraduate and graduate Certificates in Composite Materials and Structures program aimed to expand the educational opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate students as well as non-degree seeking professionals. The program requires completion of 12 credits (4 courses) from the list of available courses. Learn More: Undergraduate Certificate, Graduate Certificate