Bangor Metro magazine publishes feature on Manion

Bangor Metro magazine published a feature article on Will Manion, a professor of construction engineering technology at the University of Maine. According to the article, the Old Town resident’s passion for the industry keeps him working in the field when he’s not in the classroom. “Both civil and construction engineering are very people-oriented professions. We’re the folks that design, build, maintain and do the management of all the roads, bridges, buildings, schools and just about everything we live and work in,” Manion said. For almost two decades, Manion has been teaching students about the industry. He started his career in civil engineering before switching to construction technology, where he’s been making changes in the curriculum to keep students up to date with today’s industry needs, the article states. “The construction industry is a little different now, and I’m trying to change things up a bit so we appeal more to the millennial generation,” he said. “The BIM course, which stands for Building Information Modeling, is new. It’s essentially building a building on a computer in 3-D before we actually construct it. And I kind of reinvented the whole senior capstone sequence where the students will do little service projects for different community organizations essentially helping them out, investigating and maybe doing a little design work for them.” Manion’s students have donated their time and building skills to Leonard’s Mills in Bradley and Habitat for Humanity of Greater Bangor, the article states.