Graduating Senior Matthew Ireland Awarded J. Morris Weinberg Student Innovation Award

Graduating senior in Mechanical Engineering, Matthew Ireland was awarded the J. Morris Weinberg Student Innovation Award. The purpose of this award is to encourage the efforts and achievements of outstanding science student undergraduates who undertake novel and entrepreneurial initiatives in a multidisciplinary environment. Ireland was nominated for the award by Dr. Habib Dagher, Dr. Masoud Rais-Rohani, and James Anderson.

Ireland has led the implementation of ideas to modify 3D printers to provide revolutionary ways to print and post process 3D printed parts in a continuous, efficient manner. He has been supporting James Anderson, a senior program manager at the Center, to demonstrate the feasibility of these ideas through disassembly, redesign, reassembly and adjustment of G-code for the machine. This work has demonstrated the feasibility of the concepts being considered and supported the provisional patent application for this work. He has shown drive, initiative and ability to encounter and solve problems independently. He is also a founding member of the 3D Printing Club in Mechanical Engineering. He is currently the club president. Under his leadership, the club has provided 3D printing services to many students, both inside and outside of MEE. He is planning to start his master’s degree with Dr. Rais-Rohani in the fall.

The JMorris Weinberg Student Innovation Award was established at the University of Maine Foundation in 2005 for the benefit of The University of Maine, Orono, Maine.  The purpose of this award is to encourage the efforts and achievements of outstanding science student undergraduates who undertake novel and entrepreneurial initiatives in a multidisciplinary environment.
JMorris Weinberg graduated from The University of Maine in 1960 with a degree in Engineering Physics and a life-long affection for Maine.  He went on to earn a Ph.D. in Optics and Molecular Spectroscopy at The Ohio State University. Throughout his life, Dr. Weinberg demonstrated an insatiable desire to learn and to share his knowledge by mentoring those on their own creative path.  He had an uncanny knack for combining diverse disciplines bringing about scientific and business breakthroughs.  At the moment of his untimely death in 2002, he was actively pursuing several fields of study.
In 1978, Dr. Weinberg founded Fibronics Ltd. in Haifa, Israel, a pioneer company in research, development and manufacturing of fiberoptic communications products for high-bandwidth information transfer and distribution in on-premises networks. He later established Fibronics International in the U.S. and divisions in several European countries. Fibronics scientists and engineers invented the world’s first fiberoptic modem advancing telecommunications technology.
This quasi endowment to the University of Maine Foundation is dedicated to his spirit and to every student who strives to make a difference through creative and integrative pursuits.