The Alfond Foundation’s $3.9 million grant boosts new UMaine ocean engineering lab
PHOTo / University of Maine
The University of Maine's ocean engineering lab in Orono received a key gift from the Alfond Foundation, which said it was “investing in people and infrastructure.”
The University of Maine's new ocean engineering and advanced manufacturing laboratory in Orono carries the name of the late philanthropist Harold Alfond in recognition of the $3.9 million grant the Harold Alfond Foundation made towards the $13.8 million cost of building, equipping and launching the research facility.
The grant, which was announced at the Nov. 23 dedication ceremony, matches $9.98 million already raised through four grant competitions involving the U.S. Economic Development Administration, National Science Foundation, National Institute of Standards and Technology and Maine Technology Institute, as well as a Maine voter-approved bond.
The Alfond Foundation's naming gift of $3.9 million will be used to complete the equipping of the facility, hire engineers for the start-up in 2015–16 and fund graduate and undergraduate students over three years to help ramp up the facility.
“We are investing in people and infrastructure that will support ocean engineering, and advanced manufacturing education and research and grow Maine jobs,” said Gregory Powell, chairman of the Harold Alfond Foundation.
The new Harold Alfond W2 Ocean Engineering Laboratory and Advanced Manufacturing Laboratory are located at the Advanced Structures and Composites Center on the Orono campus.
Its ocean engineering component will prototype coastal and offshore structures, including ships, aquaculture facilities, oil and gas structures and ocean energy devices under extreme wave, wind and current environments. The advanced manufacturing laboratory will utilize digital, additive and robotics manufacturing to reduce cycle time and cost for structural thermoplastics, which are recyclable materials that could transform composite materials used in cars, ships, boats and aerospace applications.
“These will be the only labs of their kind in Maine, with world-class capabilities to educate students and conduct cutting-edge research and development,” said professor Habib Dagher, executive director of the UMaine Composites Center. “The R&D will support the growth of the ocean economies and shipbuilding sectors in Maine and the nation, as well as the growth of digital and additive manufacturing of thermoplastic composite materials.”
In June, the Advanced Structures and Composites Center received $497,965 from the National Institutes of Standards and Technology to develop a national road map for advanced manufacturing of structural thermoplastics composites materials.
Several speakers at the Nov. 23 dedication ceremony, including U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King and UMaine President Susan Hunter, touted the new laboratories' capabilities for enabling UMaine students to conduct real-world research in partnership with a wide range of Maine businesses and industries.
Founded in 1950, the Harold Alfond Foundation closed the 2014 calendar year with assets of just under $800 million, up from approximately $727 million a year earlier. It paid out nearly $33 million in grants in 2014, up from $27 million a year earlier. Geographically, 92% of the foundation's funding was directed to Maine institutions.
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