The University of Maine has formed the Matthew R. Simmons Memorial Fund at the school's Advanced Structures and Composites Center. Seeded with $250,000, the fund was established in memory and honor of Matthew R. Simmons, the late founder and chairman of the Ocean Energy Institute.
Proceeds from the fund will be used to host the Matthew R. Simmons International Conference on Deepwater Offshore Wind Technology, part of a biennial conference disseminating research and development in the areas of offshore wind energy and advanced materials.
Simmons, who passed away in 2010, was an oil and gas investment banker who later became a renewable energy advocate. In founding the Ocean Energy Institute, he envisioned a clean, renewable, ocean energy-based future as a necessary and viable alternative to fossil fuels.
