Fluids Lab Modernization Project
Upgrading an essential teaching lab for student success and workforce development
UMass Dartmouth’s College of Engineering strives to provide an excellent education that prepares graduates for successful careers by regularly evaluating laboratories and investing in upgrades that keep the curriculum aligned with advances in the field and industry needs.
Dean Rob Griffin’s top priority is to upgrade and modernize the equipment in our Fluids Lab. The lab serves an average of 75-80 students annually who take required fluid mechanics courses in both civil engineering and mechanical engineering majors. With fluid mechanics being one of the critical areas covered in licensure exams, this lab is essential to a student’s career preparation.
The Fluids Lab Modernization Project will replace outdated equipment with modern equivalents that employ precise digital measurements and introduce the latest software platforms for digital analysis. These upgrades will allow faculty to add new experiments to the curriculum that will expose students to cutting-edge tools and emerging technologies that they will encounter in the workplace.
Help give aspiring engineers access to a cutting-edge laboratory
Your support of the Fluids Lab Modernization project can help ensure that our students have the same excellent training and opportunities that have enabled previous generations of alumni to succeed across the range of engineering careers.
Cash gifts made to the Fluids Lab Modernization Project by September 1, 2026, will be matched dollar for dollar up to $75,000, courtesy of a generous matching gift from Mitch Winkler ’80 and his wife, Teresa. This powerful incentive will help make the new Fluids Lab a reality for students beginning in the fall semester.
To make a gift, click below or contact a member of our giving team at giving@umassd.edu to discuss how you can contribute to modernizing the fluids lab.
A modernized Fluids Lab for fall 2026
The $300,000 Fluids Lab Modernization project will not only upgrade, but expand the equipment with modern instrumentation for precise, digitally acquired measurements and the latest software platforms to further enable data analysis and visualization far beyond our present capabilities.
The lab upgrades are essential for enhancing student learning through modern instructional approaches while preparing them for professional engineering licensure and exposing them to advanced instruments used in industry and graduate research. Through collaborative, team-based laboratory work, students will build skills in experimental design, data acquisition and analysis, and technical communication while developing an interdisciplinary foundation that will enable them to explore complex societal challenges such as renewable energy and climate change.
The equipment and software will be installed for the start of the fall 2026 semester.
The Fluids Lab will feature:
- Six hydraulic benches, each equipped with a pipe friction apparatus, a jet impact apparatus, a Venturi apparatus, a center of pressure, and equipment to allow for experiments requiring discharge through a notch, flow through an orifice, and a center of pressure
- Tabletop water flume with integrated force sensor and low-cost particle tracking velocimetry (PIV) system
- New complementary software platforms to support best practices in data analysis and visualization