Courtesy / University of Maine
UMaine’s new engineering center includes a 10,000-square-foot multidisciplinary student project design suite.
August 24, 2022
UMaine opens new $78M engineering center to address student demand, employer needs
Courtesy / University of Maine
The $78 million E. James and Eileen P. Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center is the largest project of its kind at UMaine.
After a virtual groundbreaking held during the heart of the pandemic, the University of Maine this week held a grand opening of its E. James and Eileen P. Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center.
The $78 million, 105,000-square-foot center represents a new chapter in engineering education to better meet the needs of students and employers, including the innovation to advance research and economic development.
“This state-of-the-art center at our R1 university will allow us to produce more engineering and computing and information science professionals that Maine needs to grow its economy and be competitive in the world,” said UMaine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy.
More than 500 people attended the Wednesday ceremony.
The project is the largest of its kind in UMaine history, made possible with the support of more than 500 donors and a $50 million investment from the state.
The center houses the department of mechanical engineering and the biomedical engineering program, and includes teaching laboratories for the mechanical engineering technology program.
A student project design suite includes 44 workbenches and shops for biomedical engineering, electronics, 3D printing, vehicles, metals, wood and composites.
The building also houses a campus welcome and STEM outreach center, which will be the starting point for campus tours, and five collaborative classrooms that will serve the entire campus.
The facility will have the capacity to increase engineering enrollment by a third — 600 additional students per year.
About 1 in 6 UMaine students are in the engineering program. For fall 2021, engineering enrollment was 1,888 undergraduates and 190 graduate students, for a total of 2,078.
Key funding
Approval of $50 million in public investment over 10 years by the Maine Legislature and then-Gov. Paul LePage in 2017 helped to catalyze the campaign. Since then, a record $25 million in private support was raised from more than 500 alumni, friends, foundations and corporate donors for the project, a priority of UMaine’s $200 million Vision for Tomorrow comprehensive campaign, led by the University of Maine Foundation.
In May, the state Legislature and Gov. Janet Mills appropriated additional debt service to help modernize other engineering and related facilities at UMaine and across the University of Maine System. The goal is to double the output of engineers and computing and information science professionals to meet the demands of Maine employers.
WBRC Architects Engineers in Bangor and Ellenzweig of Boston designed the center. Construction was led by Consigli Construction of Milford, Mass., and Portland.
UMaine College of Engineering Dean Dana Humphrey said the center is an investment in the future of engineering education that could impact Maine and beyond.
“Coupled with the transformational investment in the Maine College of Engineering, Computing and Information Science by the Harold Alfond Foundation, we are positioned to provide the critical industries, communities, and employers with the skilled workers and innovation needed to meet demand and move Maine forward,” he said.
The building’s $10 million naming gift, the largest capital gift in UMaine history, came from Skowhegan natives E. James “Jim” Ferland ’64 and Eileen P. Ferland.
Five additional major naming gifts to the project came from the Abbagadassett Foundation; Gustavus and Louise Pfeiffer Research Foundation; Harold Alfond Foundation; Packaging Corporation of America; and Pratt & Whitney.
Jim Ferland received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at UMaine in 1964 and began his career as an engineer with the Hartford Electric Light Co., a subsidiary of Northeast Utilities in Connecticut. His last positions before retiring were chairman, president and CEO of Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE:PEG).
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