Hosmer Design Engineering Center Dedicated April 13, 2007

Thanks to Thomas Hosmer '58, University of Maine Mechanical Engineering seniors have a place where they can design and construct real projects.

"If you design something and it can't be readily made, it's useless," says Thomas Hosmer of Concord, Massachusett who earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1958. It was his idea in 2004 to establish a design engineering center in Crosby Hall and he has been supporting the facility ever since through an endowed fund held in the University of Maine Foundation. The fund enables the department to upgrade and maintain the equipment and purchase supplies to enhance students' experience.

In recognition of Hosmer's generous contributions, the Thomas P. Hosmer '58 Design Engineering Center was dedicated during a ceremony on Friday, April 13.

A consulting engineer for Arthur D. Little in Cambridge, Mass., from 1965 to 2000, Hosmer has maintained ties with UMaine over the years, serving on the Mechanical Engineering Department's advisory committee and speaking regularly to students about projects he has designed and about his career.

Hosmer tells students that UMaine prepared him well for the future. "I worked for an internationally famous firm, full of graduates from prestigious schools and I never had any trouble keeping up with them," he likes to point out.

"Maine engineers have always had a reputation for a practical, competent approach," he says. "We've never hesitated to reach out and get our hands dirty. We've never been timid about walking into a machine shop or fabrication shop and talking to the machinist and the welder."

"This is the kind of experience it takes so that can continue."