b'Dr. Habib Dagher and the potential of US offshore wind powerDR. HABIB DAGHER AND THE POTENTIAL OFUS OFFSHORE WIND POWERBy Matt Miller, AJOTPerhaps no American is better positioned to discuss the state of offshore wind technology than Habib Dagher. A structural and civil engineer with a PhD from University of Wisconsin, Dagher heads the University of Maines Advanced Structures and Composite Center, the site of landmark research and testing on wind turbine blades and floating wind systems. Dagher co-founded the center in 1996. He holds more than 80 patents, most on technologies related to various aspects of floating wind power, including methods of construction, hull designs and buoys. One signature achievement: The VolturnUS, which the Center designed and built. It was the first grid-connected offshore wind turbine in the US and a pioneer in offshore floating wind, employing revolutionary designs that utilized floating concrete hull technology. That one-eighth scale model prototype launched in 2014. The Center is now developing a full-scale, floating offshore wind turbine, scheduled to be constructed next year and launched in 2024.While the centers first wind-related work was on composite materials wind blades, the institution 14 years ago became the first research center in the US to begin investigating floating wind technology. That was, in part, a necessary outgrowth of Maines geology. Unlike most states elsewhere along the Atlantic Coast, Maines continental shelf is quite deep and ill-suited for fixed-bottom wind turbines. To harness the ample wind off the Maine coast, floating wind turbines will be a necessity.The center now boasts of multiple laboratories that total 100,000 square feet and include a unique facility that can simultaneously test both wind and wave stresses on turbines. Habib Dagher,Dr. Dagher spoke to American Journal of Transportation twice University ofMaines over Zoom from his office in Orono, Maine. The conversations were Advanced Structures andedited for space.Composite Center18'