UM engineering grad plans Maine career

ORONO – Adam William Turner is taking Stephen King’s advice.

He’s staying in Maine, at least for the immediate future.

Turner, 22, of West Boylston, Mass., was one of 1,993 students who received degrees on Saturday from the University of Maine. He was awarded a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering.

King, a 1970 graduate of the state’s flagship university, gave the commencement address twice after rain forced the ceremony to be held inside the Harold Alfond Arena in afternoon and morning sessions, rather than the single, outdoor event in the stadium.

The best-selling author, who lives part of the year in Bangor, urged graduates such as Turner to build their careers in Maine.

Turner is hoping to do just that.

Accepted into graduate schools at Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley, Turner is staying at UMaine to work on his master’s degree. His dream is to return to the university and teach.

“When I came here, I fell in love with the faculty,” Turner said on Friday as he was packing to move out of his dorm into an Old Town apartment. “I have a bond here that I’ve spent four years building. It was just too tough to leave, so I decided to stay.”

Turner plans to study structural engineering and work on the $6.2 million research project, announced last week, to develop and construct buildings and bridges with wood and synthetic composites for the U.S. Army.

The military is looking for prefabricated, light-weight portable buildings and reinforced tents that would protect troops from rocket attacks and shrapnel and be easy to transport and assemble.

He also is waiting to hear from the Boston Red Sox about a design he and other civil engineering students submitted last month.

Turner and other seniors created a three-dimensional model and a computer presentation as part of their proposal for the renovation of the Laundry Building. Located beyond the right field stands adjacent to Fenway Park in Boston, the structure, now used as a parking garage, restroom and storage space, is in need of renovation.

By his own admission, Turner is an organizer. He planned a dinner for 70 people at a Bangor restaurant on Friday night and arranged for a bus to transport his fellow graduates and their families to and from the university.

“He’s always been a very driven child,” Turner’s mother, Sue Chambers, said Friday. “He goes out and gets what he wants.”

Chambers, 47, grew up in Portland and graduated from Deering High School. Turner’s father, Larry Turner, 58, of Gardner, Mass., is an electrical engineer.

Adam Turner was born in Portland but spent much of his childhood in Santa Barbara, Calif., before the family moved back East. Chambers and her husband, Dan Chambers, 48, live in West Boylston, Mass., near Worchester.

Turner’s parents, step-parents and siblings attended the afternoon graduation ceremony when the College of Engineering degrees were awarded.

Like his commencement speaker, Turner believes in giving back to the university community. While in graduate school, he plans to continue working with a mentoring program for freshmen who want to major in engineering.

Four years ago, the program helped Turner improve his study skills and gave him a chance to prove he could be a serious student despite his less than stellar high school grades.

“I want to stay in Maine,” he said. “Eventually I want to be a professor and, ultimately, do research here.”