Dr. Habib Joseph Dagher, P.E., Announced as NEFF 2024 Annual Meeting Speaker

May. 06, 2024

Dr. Dagher is a world-leading advocate for developing sustainable infrastructure and energy systems which simultaneously optimize structures, materials, manufacturing, construction, and maintenance.

Dr. Habib Joseph Dagher, P.E. | Credit: University of Maine

New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF) is pleased to announce Dr. Habib Joseph Dagher, P.E., will speak at NEFF’s 2024 Annual Meeting Celebration on Thursday, June 6 at NEFF headquarters, located at Prouty Woods Community Forest in Litteton, MA. This year, the event commemorates NEFF’s 80th anniversary, and will start with a catered lunch followed by an awards ceremony and speaking program featuring NEFF leadership and Dr. Dagher.

Every summer at the Annual Meeting, the NEFF community—our supporters, volunteers, partner organizations, Littleton neighbors, and staff and Board members—gather to celebrate recent accomplishments, look to the year ahead, and listen to an interesting presentation. Dr. Dagher will provide a fascinating window into NEFF’s work with sustainable and climate-smart wood products, as he is a world-leading advocate for developing sustainable infrastructure and energy systems which simultaneously optimize structures, materials, manufacturing, construction, and maintenance.

Dr. Dagher is the founding Executive Director of the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center (ASCC). Under his leadership, the Center has grown from four to 400+ personnel and is now housed in a 100,000-square foot laboratory, the largest university-based research center in Maine. The ASCC is home to the largest polymer 3D printer in the world. The Composites Center has earned three Guinness World Records, including for the largest 3D printed boat in the world in 2019. In 2022, the world’s first 100 percent bio-based 3D printed home was produced in the lab.

Dr. Dagher holds more than 80 patents, has over 100 publications, and has received numerous awards, including: The 2015 White House Transportation Champion of Change, The Carnegie Foundation Maine Professor of the Year, The Distinguished Maine Professor Award, The American Society of Civil Engineers Charles Pankow Innovation Award, the Maine Better Transportation Association Transportation Champion, WindPower Engineering and Development Innovator 2017, Engineering News Record Top 25 Newsmakers, Maine International Trade Center Innovator of the Year, the Maine Development Foundation Champion for Economic Development and named the 2023 Innovator of the Year by MaineBiz.