Warren Hedstrom
Associate Professor of Forest Management
Cooperating Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Professor Warren Hedstrom has had a long and distinguished career at the University of Maine.  He joined the Agricultural Engineering Department in 1974 and began teaching and research activities in the areas of soil and water engineering and building design.  Those early years were the “Longley years”--a  time when University budgets were being cut.  When Warren needed a bookcase or piece of furniture for his office, he made it himself.  When lab equipment was needed, he made that too.  Some of his early research on water quality was conducted with a Civil Engineering faculty member because there were lab facilities in Boardman that were lacking in Warren’s department.  His early research also centered on irrigation and drainage of major Maine crops, and as Warren explained his approach, irrigation was the focus during the “dry” years while drainage was studied during the “wet” years.

Warren applied a high level of mathematical rigor to his engineering work.  While developing a mathematical model for a computer program for scheduling irrigation of potatoes in Aroostook County, he and a graduate student began a day writing equations and Fortran code on a classroom blackboard.  By 10 p.m., with all the blackboards filled, Warren was satisfied that the job was completed and he called it a day. 

Growing up on an Aroostook County farm, Warren was familiar with tractors and farm machinery.  He was especially interested in tracked vehicles and bulldozers, which would not get stuck as wheeled tractors occasionally did on the farm.  As an Armor Officer or “tanker” in the U.S. Army, he confirmed his belief.  After building his home, he achieved his desire to own a bulldozer.  It was rather modest in size, but Warren assembled it from the basic parts which had been shipped in seven boxes from the factory in Wisconsin.

When asked to teach a course entitled “Housing and Man”, one in a series of “pop tech” courses in the former Agricultural Engineering Department, he began a study and application of knowledge in the area of energy-efficient buildings including passive solar and super-insulated building design.  He built his own home along these lines, consulted and taught workshops with Charlie Wing at Cornerstones in Brunswick, and advised many of his former students and friends on how to build more energy-efficient homes.  Alternative energy followed logically as another pursuit.  One project that Warren instigated culminated in a facility mounted on a trailer into which was fed organic material, such as household garbage.  It produced methane that was used to produce enough fuel to power an electrical generator.  The trailer was hauled to Long Island, the home of two of the students involved with the project, to demonstrate the process before the funding agency.   The trailer prominently displayed a sign that read, “Waste in, Watts out”.

Building things to meet needs in the Orono and UMaine communities has been an important part of Warren’s career.  Some of his activities include a play house and a geodesic dome frame at the Learning Center at Talmar Wood, the informational kiosk on Mill Street in downtown Orono, and the storage building behind Merrill Hall. The first Honors Center was built at a cost of $25,000 as part of a research project and served as an office and classroom/seminar facility for the Honors Program for 25 years. 

Warren was also very active in his community.  He was the Scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 478 in Orono, as a coach on youth baseball and basketball teams, a chairman of his church, and as a member of the Orono Rural Zoning Committee.  Warren, thank you for your dedicated service to the University of Maine and best wishes in retirement.