Dr. Habib Dagher to give talk on large-scale 3D printing, mass timber and floating offshore wind

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On Wednesday, July 8 at 7 p.m., Dr. Habib Dagher, founding Executive Director of the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures & Composites Center (ASCC), will speak at a virtual program co-sponsored by the Jesup Memorial Library and A Climate to Thrive (ACTT). Dr. Dagher will discuss the latest developments around the largest 3D printer in the world, mass timber, and floating offshore wind turbines, technologies seen as key opportunities to advance Maine’s economic and clean energy goals.
 
Under Dr. Dagher’s leadership, UMaine’s ASCC has installed the largest polymer 3D printer in the world to help print with wood-derived cellulosic materials and is researching methods to use mass timber as the primary load-bearing structure in tall buildings. As an alternative to steel and concrete, which generate a great amount of CO2 emissions in production, mass timber sequesters carbon for long periods and is viewed as a market with great potential for Maine’s forest products industry. Mass timber will be a central feature in the design of the Jesup’s planned addition.
 
The ASCC’s development of floating offshore wind turbines for the Gulf of Maine will also be discussed. The Gulf has some of the strongest offshore wind in the world, and the state of Maine has established a goal to be carbon neutral by 2045. One of Dr. Dagher’s signature projects, New England Aqua Ventus I, may become the first commercial-scale floating offshore wind turbine in the United States.
 
“The mission of A Climate to Thrive is to make MDI energy independent by 2030 while strengthening the local economy and building community,” said ACTT Executive Director Lawson Wulsin. “Dr. Dagher's research addresses the urgency of increasing renewable energy generation while decreasing the energy required to manufacture building materials. Harnessing just 3% of the Gulf of Maine offshore wind resource is enough to heat every home in Maine and convert every car to electric, saving more than $3 billion per year currently spent on fossil fuels.”
 
In addition to directing the ASCC, Dr. Dagher is the Bath Iron Works Professor of Structural Engineering at the University of Maine. He holds more than 60 U.S. and international patents, and has received numerous awards including the 2019 Transportation Champion by the Maine Better Transportation Association, 2015 White House Transportation Champion of Change, the Carnegie Foundation Maine Professor of the Year, the Distinguished Maine Professor Award, and the American Society of Civil Engineers Charles Pankow Innovation Award.
 
Registration for this event is required. To register fill out the form at https://jesuplibrary.org/event/dagher/ or email kchagnon@jesuplibrary.org. For more information about this virtual contact kchagnon@jesuplibrary.org.