Senator King Joins National Laboratory Officials & UMaine to Announce Innovative Partnership to Grow Maine’s Economy

January 27, 2017 Recent News, Structural Thermoplastics & Smart Materials

One week after the Economic Development Assessment Team released its report on how to strengthen Maine’s forest economy, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) joined officials from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center (UMaine) to start implementing its recommendations, beginning with the announcement of a partnership between ORNL and UMaine to advance innovative forest bio-based manufacturing and grow the state’s forest products sector.

Senator King, who originally requested the formation of the EDAT in March 2016 with Senator Susan Collins, received a private briefing from officials with the Department of Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office, ORNL, and UMaine about the partnership, and then toured the Alfond Advanced Manufacturing Lab for Structural Thermoplastics.

At the conclusion of the tour, Senator King and UMaine President Susan Hunter participated in a signing ceremony to cement the new partnership aimed at developing forest-based biomaterials for use with advanced additive manufacturing, composite materials development and manufacturing, as well as bio-refineries, bioenergy, and biofuels.

To view the full press conference, click here.

ORNL Senator King Jan 2017
Left to right: Dr. Mark Johnson (Director of Advanced Manufacturing Office, EERE, U.S. Department of Energy), Dr. Craig A Blue (Director, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Programs, Oak Ridge National Labs), UMaine President Susan Hunter, U.S. Senator Angus King, Dr. Habib Dagher, and Steve Abbott (U.S. Senator Susan Collins’ Chief of Staff)