Advanced Structures & Composites Center

The University of Maines AEWC Advanced Structures and Composites Center and private company Advanced Infrastructure Technologies (AIT) are talking with a Russian company about using UMaines Bridge-in-a-Backpack technology for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. The Bridge-in-a-Backpack, an innovative inflatable composite-concrete arch bridge, was developed at the Advanced Structures and Composites Center to reduce construction […]

PITTSFIELD, Me. — The Neal Bridge is barely a bump in the road for motorists roaring down Route 100 south of this central Maine town. It’s a modest bit of the nation’s infrastructure — two lanes wide and 34 feet long, enough to span a small stream. The bridge is newer than most, as suggested […]

This August, Randy Gardner’s construction crew blocked off a road in Anson, Maine, and set up what looked lie a children’s bouncy castle. Neighborhood gawkers grew even more curious when a concrete truck arrived on the scene. Despite the inflatable carbon-fiber tubes’ toylike appearance, Gardner explained to passersby, they provide the backbone to a new […]

GAITHERSBURG, Md. – The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) today awarded more than $123 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grants to support the construction of new scientific research facilities at 11 universities and one non-profit research organization. With ultimate research targets ranging from off-shore wind power and coral […]

AUGUSTA – Governor John E. Baldacci delivered his annual State of the State Address this evening before a Joint Session of the 124th Maine Legislature. In his speech, the Governor said that in these challenging times, Maine people rise to the occasion, and that working together, Maine will have a more secure future. Learn more, […]

ORONO — “Composites Manufacturing” magazine has recognized Habib Dagher, director of the University of Maine’s AEWC Advanced Structures and Composites Center as one of the industry’s leaders. Dagher is one of 16 people out of a pool of 50 nominees who were selected to receive the B.E.S.T. Award, which stands for bright, energetic, skilled trailblazers. […]

ORONO, Maine — U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood stopped short of making any commitments Monday afternoon before he left the University of Maine’s Advanced Engineered Wood Composite Center. But he also left with a pile of bound information booklets about the center and its many projects, including the “bridge-in-a-backpack,” after he had a tour […]

ORONO – Researchers at the University of Maine’s AEWC Advanced Structures and Composites Center recently were issued a patent for technology that could change the way we build homes and other structures, while cutting the economic losses caused by natural disasters. The invention is an improvement to Oriented Strand Board (OSB) that’s used in the […]