Research

• Research Features
• Undergraduate Research
• UMaine Research Links
• Research Enterprises
• Faculty Expertise

• Chemical and Biological Engineering Research
• Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• Electrical and Computer Engineering Research
• Engineering Physics Research
• Mechanical Engineering Research
• Spatial Information Science and Engineering Research
  

• Materials Characterization and Processing
  • Biomass conversion (van Heiningen)
  • Inorganic membranes (DeSisto)
  • Nano-particles (DeSisto, Mason)
  • Paper coating (Bousfield, Pendse)
  • Polymer processing (Co)
  • Pulp and paper (Genco, Pendse, van Heiningen)
  

  diffraction grating femtosecond amplifer

• Molecular Biophysics
  • Bio-molecular kinetics and dynamics (Mason)
  • Microscopy and spectroscopy (Mason, Millard, Neivandt)
  • Physiological genomics (Millard)

• Pulp and Paper Manufacturing
  • Oxygen delignification (Genco)
  • Pulp bleaching (Genco, van Heiningen)
  • Pulping and recovery (van Heiningen)
  • Refining and drainage (Genco, Pendse)

• Sensor Development
  • Acoustic sensors (Pendse)
  • Biosensors (Donahue, Mason, Millard)
  • Chemical sensors (Mason, Wheeler)

• Spectroscopic Techniques
  • Fluorescence-based spectroscopy and imaging (Mason, Millard)
    

    zirconia fibers

  • Near-infrared spectroscopy (Donahue)
  • Single molecule imaging spectroscopy (Mason)
  • Surface spectroscopy/microscopy (Neivandt)
  • Ultrasonic spectroscopy (Pendse)

• Surfaces and Interfaces
  • Adsorption (DeSisto, Ruthven)
  • Catalysis (Wheeler)
  • Orientation and conformation of interfacial species (Neivandt)

• Transport and Separation Processes
  • Fluid mechanics (Bousfield, Co)
  • Fluid-particle systems and colloids (Pendse)
  • Micropore diffusion (Ruthven)
  • Molecular diffusion (Mason)
  • Rheology (Bousfield, Co)

Many Faculty Members are currently, and have been involved in diverse research projects.  Here are a few of these past projects.

Research Projects

• Soil Nailed Walls
• Rumble Strips
• Constructed Wetlands
• Microtomography
• Dana Humphrey is recognized world wide for his work with tire shreds.
• Applications of Tire Chips Publications

The ECE Department, faculty offices, and teaching and research laboratories are located in Barrows Hall and in the adjoining Engineering & Science Research Building (ESRB). The ESRB also houses the Laboratory for Surface Science and Technology (LASST), a interdisciplinary research unit exploring advanced materials spanning the spectrum from basic science to applied technology. The ESRB opened its doors July 2004 and contains state-of-the-art research facilities, including a microfabrication cleanroom. The ECE Department provides opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to become members of the following Research Groups:

Computer Engineering
Cluster Supercomputering – Networks – Industrial Automation

Faculty: Segee, Abedi, Eason

Archsys: Computer Architecture and Systems LabFaculty: Zhu

Microelectronics
VLSI Circuit Design – Micro & Nano Fabrication Technology – Device Design & Testing

Faculty: Kotecki, Smith, Hummels, Pereira da Cunha, Emanetoglu

Microwave Acoustics: Propagation and Devices
Piezoelectric Materials – Sensors (gas,fluid,biological) – Bulk & Surface Acoustic Wave Design

Faculty: Vetelino, Pereira da Cunha, Emanetoglu

Microfabricated Sensors, Instruments, and Systems
Chemical sensors – Physical sensors – Biosensors – Microfluidics – Microphotonics – Microsystems (MEMS)

Faculty: Smith, Collins, Vetelino, Pereira da Cunha, Emanetoglu

Intelligent Systems
Neural Networks – Fuzzy Logic – Computer Vision

Faculty: Musavi, Segee, Eason

Communications
Coding and Information Theory – Wireless – High Speed Signal Processing

Faculty: Hummels, Abedi, Kotecki

WiSe-Net: Wireless Sensor Network Lab

Faculty: Abedi

Bennett Hall, which houses the offices, classrooms, and machine shop of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, also houses laboratories and other research facilities for physics, astronomy and physics education. Additional laboratories and equipment for graduate research are available throughout the campus. Many of the faculty and students interact with other departments on research problems of mutual interest. Look at the diverse research interests and projects in which our faculty and students are engaged!

Research Groups:

Biophysics Research Group - HAb2 Fibroblast Cell

• Astronomy
• Biophysics
• Liquid Crystals
• Low Temperature Physics
• Nuclear Instrumentation
• Physics Education Research Laboratory
• Surface Sciences

Cooperative Research:

Some of our graduate students pursue theses involving cooperative research ventures with faculty members in other departments. Some recent multidisciplinary research endeavors have involved the following departments:

• The Quaternary Institute and the Department of Geology
  • Large scale ice sheet flow and mathematical modeling
  • Opportunities for field work in Antarctica
• Department of Electrical Engineering
  • research on solar cell materials, surface acoustic waves, and lattice dynamics

Projects in areas of biophysics, physical oceanography, and physical chemistry are also available through cooperative arrangement with faculty members of the Departments of Biochemistry, Chemistry, Zoology, Civil Engineering, and the School of Marine Sciences.

Illustrative Research Areas

Graduate students and faculty are engaged in far ranging yet complementary research programs. Many of the projects involve multi-investigator and cross-disciplinary efforts. For specific project descriptions, consult the NCGIA site. The following are illustrative of general areas within which specific topics are being pursued.

·         Spatio-Temporal Models

A growing amount of data and information have important spatial and temporal dimensions. We need methods to manage, query, and access both dimensions.
Research areas:

• • Databases for moving objects
  • Location based services
  • Event based models

·         Sensor Based Systems

Multiple sensing devices need to be integrated with computing platforms and wireless communications capabilities. We need advanced methods for doing so.
Research areas:

• • Data processing, summarization and analysis in the network
  • Algorithms for autonomous adaptation and self-configuration of the network
  • User interaction – query languages for sensor networks

·         User Interfaces and Interactions

As devices get smaller and we need to use them in different environments. New interaction paradigms are needed under the differing conditions.
Research areas:

• • Sketch interaction
  • Egocentric pointing device
  • Space-time visualization environments

·         Information Extraction

Surveillance and monitoring systems generate huge volumes of information. From such data streams we want to identify objects and/or behaviors.
Research areas:

• • Automated feature extraction from satellite and aerial imagery
  • Detection and tracking of moving objects from imagery
  • Event detection and activity monitoring from time series and space-time series sensing

·         Information Integration

Growing heterogeneous collections of information (maps, images, text, video, time series) need to be integrated and searched for patterns
Research areas:

• • Semantic similarity models
  • Event data models
  • Metadata models
  • Uncertainty models

·         Information Policy: Access, Security, Privacy, Intellectual Property Rights

As technologies and their interaction with society become more complex, neither technological nor legal solutions uninformed by the other are sufficient.
Research areas:

• • Ethics driven information systems design
  • Models for internalizing externalities in systems design and development
  • Societal needs driven metadata, data provenance and recommender systems.