Pratt & Whitney provides UMaine engineering center with $1M

Aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney is giving the University of Maine’s new engineering center $1 million to help bring new technology to students.

UMaine says the Connecticut company is providing the gift to the E. James and Eileen P. Ferland Engineering Education and Design Center. The university says Pratt & Whitney plans to name the center’s machine tool suite and provide updated space for mechanical engineering technology students. The groundbreaking on the engineering center is expected for spring 2020, and the university says it should be completed by 2022.

UMaine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy says Pratt & Whitney’s gift “supports our goals of fostering learner success and bringing research into the classroom.”