News and Events - Hydraulics Lab Named for Kleinschmidt Associates
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Kleinschmidt Associates staff members
include, from left to right, Mike Schimpff,
and UMaine graduates Holly MacKenzie, Adam
Haskell, Gary Liimatainen, Leslie Corrow,
Kevin Cooley and Peter Bastien |
University of Maine
civil engineering students can continue to rely on the
Hydraulics Lab to provide a high quality learning experience,
thanks to a generous endowment from Kleinschmidt Associates (Kleinschmidt),
an energy and water resource consulting firm based in
Pittsfield.
The
Kleinschmidt Hydraulics Laboratory Fund will ensure the Boardman
Hall lab remains up-to-date and able to enhance students’
projects by encouraging excellence in the study of hydraulic
engineering.
In
honor of the company’s generous gift, the facility has been
named the Kleinschmidt Hydraulics Laboratory. A dedication
ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, March 27, at 309
Boardman Hall.
The gift comes as part of
Campaign Maine, UMaine’s six-year, $150 million capital campaign
– the most ambitious in the University’s history.
The Hydraulics Lab helps
provide the experience necessary for budding civil/hydraulic
engineers to advance their knowledge in such areas as water
distribution systems, waste water treatment and analysis, and
design of water control structures for water supply, recreation,
and hydroelectric power generation.
College of Engineering Dean Dana Humphrey says the endowment is
“absolutely vital to purchase and upgrade
equipment, fund student projects, improve the hydraulics
curriculum and make sure students are receiving the highest
quality educational experience the University can offer.”
The
Hydraulics Lab complements the theory students obtain in their
lectures, says Professor Eric Landis, chair of the Civil and
Environmental Engineering Department.
The lab “gives
meaning to the mathematical models
students learn in class and enables them to develop better
engineering knowledge and skills. Students look at hydrostatic
forces on submerged objects, and pressure gradients in piping
networks. Using the large flume they can measure the flow of
water as it goes through open channels, pipes, and other
structures such as dams and fish diversions.”
“A modern, well-equipped lab will be a
good recruitment tool for UMaine’s engineering program,” says
Dr. Jack Palmer, president of Kleinschmidt Associates. Dr.
Palmer predicts that during the next decade, “there will be a
real shortage of strong technical personnel. The need to
encourage students to look at engineering as a career is more
critical than it has ever been.”
Established in 1966 as a local engineering business,
Kleinschmidt has grown into a corporation with eight office
locations throughout the United States. The firm has been
involved in designing hydroelectric facilities,
dams and fish passage projects since its beginning. Kleinschmidt
also performs environmental studies and design services for
other renewable energy projects such as wind and tidal projects,
and prepares licensing and permitting documents needed by state
and federal agencies.
Over the years, the company has
forged a strong relationship with the University by hiring
graduates with degrees in civil, structural, electrical, and
mechanical engineering, as well as in history,
English, biology, and environmental backgrounds.
Currently nearly one quarter of Kleinschmidt’s 120 employees are
UMaine alumni.
“UMaine
has been a valued source of technical talent for us over the
years,” says Dr. Palmer.
Peter Bastien, Senior Civil Engineer
and Manager of Hydro Engineering at Kleinschmidt, a UMaine
graduate who joined Kleinschmidt in 2001, says his company
continually looks for ways to connect with the University. “The
gift to the Hydraulics Lab is one more important link. I feel as
though I’ve come full circle,” he says. “It’s rewarding to work
for a company that’s giving something back to the University you
attended.”
Students are not the only ones who
provide Kleinschmidt with a UMaine connection. The company often
uses faculty members as sub-consultants on specific projects.
Last year, assisted by the UMaine Department of
Mechanical Engineering, Kleinschmidt worked with Ocean Farm
Technologies, a Searsmont-based aquaculture company, to design
the patent pending fish rearing system
called the AquaPod. The project received recognition by
winning an American Council
of Engineering Companies Honor Award in the organization’s
national engineering achievement program.
Currently, Kleinschmidt is talking with
Dr. Shaleen Jain, assistant professor of civil and environmental
engineering, about how his research on climate change might
influence the company’s work in other water resources markets.
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