Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

University of Maine Opens New Engineering, Design Center

  • By Matt Jones
  • 09/01/22

The University of Maine in Orono, Maine, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new E. James and Eileen P. Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center (Ferland EEDC) on Wednesday, Aug. 24. The new facility will play home to the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the Biomedical Engineering Program and teaching labs for the Mechanical Engineering Technology Program. A university press release reports that the new building will let the university expand its engineering enrollment by 600 additional students per year.

The facility measures in at 115,000 square feet, and construction began in May 2020. A virtual groundbreaking ceremony took place in April 2020 and a virtual topping-off ceremony in February 2021. The university partnered with WBRC Architects Engineers and Ellenzweig for the project’s architecture and design and with Consigli Construction for construction.

It features amenities like the Student Project Design Suite, which includes 44 workbenches to be assigned to students, as well as areas for electronics, vehicles, biomedical engineering, 3D printing, wood, metals and composites, according to the press release. It also houses the Campus Welcome and STEM Outreach Center.

“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. “This facility is a tribute to the forward thinking and leadership of three Legislatures and two Governors on behalf of the people of Maine and stakeholders who know the value of a UMaine education and hands-on research learning and the difference it makes in the success of its students, alumni and the state.”

The total cost of the project was about $78 million, $50 million of which came from an investment by the state of Maine.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Girl Sitting at Library Desk, Using Laptop

    How Campus Design Shapes the Finals Week Experience

    Academic performance is not just about preparation. It is closely tied to how students manage stress, maintain their energy, and shift between work and recovery modes. Much of that is influenced, directly or indirectly, by design.

  • KWK Architects Announces Full Transition to Lawrence Group Branding

    KWK Architects recently announced that it will complete its transition to the Lawrence Group brand effective July 1, according to a news release. The merger marks the end of a three-year strategic integration process that began in March 2023 to unite the firms.

  • AAADM Announces Building Safety Month Initiatives

    The American Association of Automatic Door Manufacturers (AAADM) recently announced its support of Building Safety Month as declared by the International Code Council (ICC), according to a news release.

  • Planning with Clarity: Using AI to Make Better Campus Decisions, Not Just Better Designs

    Higher education leaders are being asked to make increasingly high-stakes decisions about campus facilities amid greater uncertainty than ever before. Social and economic pressures, shifting enrollment, and evolving learning models compete with growing deferred maintenance needs to strain even the most robust infrastructure budgets.