Dagher to Present Offshore Wind Vision to MSSM High School Students

Contact: Roberta Laverty, (207) 581-2121 or Sharon Daigle-Gerrish, gerrishs@mssm.org or (207) 325-3322 ext 1005

ORONO – Students from The Maine School of Science and Mathematics in Limestone will visit the University of Maine’s AEWC Advanced Structures & Composites Center and other research facilities on campus on Friday, April 16.

University of Maine Professor Habib Dagher, the founding Director of UMaine’s AEWC Advanced Structures & Composites Center, will cap off the day spent with students with a presentation about deepwater offshore wind technology.

Dagher’s presentation, “Transforming Maine’s Economy: Floating Offshore Wind,” also is open to interested members of the public and will be held from 2-3:15 p.m. Friday, April 16, in room 101 of UMaine’s Neville Hall.

After hearing Dagher speak at both the Power Up Maine Conference and the 2010 STEM Summit, Luke Shorty, MSSM mathematics instructor, was inspired to collaborate with the UMaine Composites Center and bring the school’s 128 students to visit the campus.

“This field trip to Orono continues our long-term relationship with the College of Engineering at UMaine and the University of Maine System, and enriches the education and lives of our students. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) initiatives are happening throughout our state and it is important that MSSM students get to experience them firsthand,” says Shorty. “Professor Dagher’s presentation is a follow-up to our recently held themed weekend where students designed and engineered floating wind turbines that they tested in our indoor swimming pool.”

With more than $30 million in competitive funding received over the past year, AEWC is expanding its facilities and personnel to set the course for energy independence for Maine through deepwater offshore wind power generation. In this talk, Dagher will present his vision for positioning Maine as a key player in the green energy revolution by building the research capacity, the expertise and the political will to support the construction of floating wind farms 20-50 miles off the state’s coast.

In the afternoon, students also will be attending a presentation on Climate Change and visiting other labs within the College of Engineering.