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Shipbuilding Technology and Education (1996)

Chapter: E Schools of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering

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Suggested Citation:"E Schools of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering." National Research Council. 1996. Shipbuilding Technology and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5064.
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Appendix E— Schools of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering

The following schools offer degrees in naval architecture, marine engineering, or ocean engineering. All undergraduate curricula are accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), unless otherwise indicated. There is no similar formal accreditation process for graduate programs.

The University of California at Berkeley Department of Naval Architecture and Offshore Engineering was established in 1958 as a graduate program. The establishment of the graduate program at that time was assisted by the Office of Naval Research (ONR). In 1981, an undergraduate degree program in naval architecture was established, but the department suspended this degree offering in 1995. Undergraduate students in the Department of Mechanical Engineering can enroll in a naval architecture option in the future. There are 12 students enrolled in the program under this revised arrangement.

The graduate program of naval architecture and offshore engineering at Berkeley offers degrees at the master's (M.S.), professional degree (M.Eng.) and doctoral (Ph.D. and D.Eng) levels. Approximately 10 graduate degrees are awarded annually, including two or three doctorates. The current enrollment is about 30 students, all of whom are full time students. As is the case in graduate engineering programs at most major universities, about one-quarter of the students are of international origin.

The faculty at Berkeley has the equivalent of three full-time professors. All are active researchers and consultants. Research activities, although few compared to other, larger faculties, span a variety of unique areas: nonlinear ship and offshore hydrodynamics, large flexible structure, wave-load prediction, cable

Suggested Citation:"E Schools of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering." National Research Council. 1996. Shipbuilding Technology and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5064.
×

dynamics, reliability-based design methods, and ship maintenance and repair engineering. Research funding has been provided by the ONR, National Science Foundation (NSF), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Sea Grant and Multi-Sponsor Industry consortia. This department was selected as one of the four national institutes for maritime technology enhancement by the Maritime Administration. Despite a small faculty and student body, the department is regarded as being of high quality.

The California Maritime Academy was established in 1929 and has the mission of educating managers, engineers, and officers for marine-oriented industries. About 100 students a year enroll in the program, which leads to a degree of B.S. in marine engineering technology.

The Florida Atlantic University began in 1964. The Department of Ocean Engineering has an enrollment of nearly 200 students of whom perhaps one-quarter are part-time. An average of 20 undergraduate degrees have been awarded in the last several years. Some of the part-time students are participants in a cooperative plan that requires alternating periods of full-time work with periods of full-time study. Some classes are offered in the evening. About 15 master's degrees are awarded each year, and an occasional doctoral degree is also awarded. There are 20 faculty members in the department.

The Florida Institute of Technology was established in 1958 in conjunction with the U.S. space program. The Department of Ocean Engineering is one of seven departments within the College of Engineering. The department has about 100 undergraduate students and awards about 15 bachelor's degrees and three or four master's degrees. Occasionally the department awards a doctoral degree. Graduates gain familiarity with the design of ocean engineering systems along with physical oceanography and the fundamental engineering science courses. Research facilities include equipment for structural and pressure testing and a small wave tank. Research interests of the 10 faculty members include corrosion and materials, naval architecture and shipbuilding, and fluid dynamics.

The Great Lakes Maritime Academy is part of Northwestern Michigan College, a two-year school. About 10 students per year enroll in the program, which leads to an associate degree in marine engineering.

The Massachusetts Maritime Academy was established in 1891 as the Massachusetts Nautical Training School. Enrollment is about 650, of whom 40 to 60 students enroll every year in the program that leads to the degree of Bachelor of Science in Marine Engineering.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) first taught courses in marine engineering in 1886 and in naval architecture in 1888. In 1971, to reflect a change from a ship-systems orientation to involvement in a wider range of ocean systems, MIT changed the name of the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine

Suggested Citation:"E Schools of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering." National Research Council. 1996. Shipbuilding Technology and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5064.
×

Engineering to the Department of Ocean Engineering. There are currently about 15 undergraduate students enrolled in the department. The undergraduate ocean engineering degree program is based on the concept that engineering education at that level should focus on the design of complex systems, integrating the propulsion, structural, or control, and many other concerns within the system configuration and on determining these elements with full understanding of the operational environment.

The graduate program at MIT is augmented by about 30 U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard officers who are enrolled in the Naval Construction and Engineering Course (XIII-A). The department offers graduate studies in the fields of ocean engineering and naval architecture and marine engineering and awards master of science degrees in both. In addition, the department offers a Marine Environmental Systems program that leads to the degree of Master of Engineering in Ocean Engineering. Also available are the professional degrees of Ocean Engineer and Naval Engineer and doctoral degree programs (Sc.D. or Ph.D.). The naval construction and engineering program for Naval officers, Course XIII-A, leads to the Naval Engineer professional degree or the Master of Science degree, or both, when those seeking the Master of Science degree complete additional course work and a thesis acceptable for both. The ocean systems management program for students with solid engineering backgrounds who are interested in the business and management aspects of ocean engineering systems and activities leads to both Master of Science and doctoral (Ph.D.) degrees in ocean systems management. There is also a joint MIT-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution program, part of a larger joint applied ocean science and engineering program that involves the application of physics and the engineering sciences to the study of oceanic processes and the design of instruments, systems, and structures required to observe, measure, and work in the oceans. A total of about 40 graduate degrees have been awarded in each of the last several years. The Department of Ocean Engineering at MIT currently has a faculty of 22 professors with specialties in the fields of public policy and law, hydrodynamics, dynamics, acoustics (including Arctic acoustics), ship and ocean systems, power systems, computer-aided design, ocean management, structural mechanics, and materials and fabrication techniques.

The research program at MIT is similarly diverse and extensive. ONR sponsors research in almost every subject area of interest to the faculty members and a dozen full-time research engineers. The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), NSF and several consortia from industry are the other principal sponsors of research at MIT. NOAA's National Sea Grant College Program also sponsors research at MIT. Hydrodynamics is the predominant category of various research efforts, many of which are fundamental research involving vorticity control, vortex dynamics, free-surface turbulence, and similar areas, but ship resistance and means for propulsion, ship motions and wave-induced loading, as well as the loading and the response of offshore structures, are also studied. Other

Suggested Citation:"E Schools of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering." National Research Council. 1996. Shipbuilding Technology and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5064.
×

significant areas of research include welding systems, scheduling problems in optimizing container shipping revenues, tanker safety, computational geometry, underwater acoustics, and structural dynamics.

The University of Michigan Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering originated in 1881, when a U.S. naval officer was sent to the campus at Ann Arbor to teach courses in steam engineering and iron shipbuilding. This department grew rapidly and for many years granted more than half of the bachelor's degrees for naval architects and marine engineers in the United States. The current undergraduate enrollment is about 80 students. Approximately 25 degrees of Bachelor of Science in Engineering are awarded each year.

Graduate enrollment at Michigan is approximately 70. Of these, more than one-quarter are foreign nationals. In 1994, the eight graduate program areas of specialization in marine hydrodynamics, marine structures, marine engineering, marine environmental engineering, offshore engineering, marine systems management, ship production, and computer-aided marine design were combined to encompass the primary thrust areas of marine hydrodynamics, marine environmental engineering, and concurrent marine design. The degree of Master of Engineering is offered in the multidisciplinary field of manufacturing. This degree program, which will use the curriculum for concurrent marine design, is intended to prepare students for careers in the practice of engineering in industry. Other degrees offered are a joint degree of Master of Business Administration and Master of Science in Engineering, the degree of Master of Science in Engineering, and the degrees of Professional Engineer and Doctor of Philosophy.

Michigan's faculty consists of 14 members. Some of these individuals had some industrial experience prior to joining the faculty, including positions at shipyards or with the U.S. Navy. Areas of specialization include aspects of naval architecture and marine engineering, including both ship and offshore structures; resistance, motions, hydrodynamics; ship and offshore system design or computer-aided design in general; operations and management; production planning; and power plants and propulsors. Other areas of specialization are in branches of ocean engineering that deal with waves, sediment transport, and other topics relating to the physical conditions and processes of the oceans (coastal or nearshore engineering), and offshore engineering.

The Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering has had sponsored-research funding equivalent to $150,000 to $200,000 per faculty member for the last several years. This may consist of more than two dozen actual contracts. Some professors have three or four contracts at any given time for which they are the principal or co-principal investigators, with some being carried on over a two or three year period. This level of effort has been sufficient to support about as many doctoral students as the faculty can adequately supervise (two or three doctoral students per faculty member) and many of the master's degree students as well. The larger contracts, which extend over several years and

Suggested Citation:"E Schools of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering." National Research Council. 1996. Shipbuilding Technology and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5064.
×

address subject matter and new problems commensurate with the sophistication and more theoretical treatment necessary for completing a doctoral thesis, are most desirable. Sponsors of research include the ONR University Research Initiative, ARPA, NOAA's Sea Grant College Program, and consortia with commercial corporations and organizations and government agencies.

The University of New Orleans (UNO) established the School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering (NA&ME), the second largest state university of the Louisiana State university system, in 1981. The lack of naval architects and marine engineers in the Gulf Coast region resulted in a petition by the marine industry for a school of naval architecture and a ship offshore laboratory that had a 125 foot-long towing tank. In 1984, the university awarded the first NA&ME degree. The nine-story engineering building, which houses a 125-foot by 15-foot by 7.5-foot towing tank and a large structures laboratory, was completed in 1987.

The 1994 enrollment was around 85 to 87 full-time undergraduate students and five or six part-time undergraduate students, and 10 to 15 graduate students. During the semester, a number of full time UNO NA&ME students work at part-time jobs in New Orleans naval architecture design firms as well as in the local shipyards. This is possible by scheduling most of the UNO NA&ME courses in the late afternoon or evening.

The UNO NA&ME faculty consists of four professors. All are active in research that is funded by ONR, NSF, Sea Grant and the Gulf Coast Region Maritime Technology Center, and industry projects. This research covers the areas of ship offshore structure design, hydrodynamics, seakeeping, marine engineering, and maritime operations.

The State University of New York Maritime College was established in 1874 to educate and train qualified people to become licensed officers in the American Merchant Marine. The school awards the degrees of Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Engineering and has programs in marine engineering and in naval architecture. There is a graduate program leading to a Master of Science degree, but it is in transportation management. There are over 100 students currently in the two programs. More than 30 students receive the Bachelor of Engineering degree annually; most of these also earn their Third Assistant Engineer license. The school has no formal research program.

Texas A&M University at College Station offers a separate ABET-accredited undergraduate program in ocean engineering administered within the Department of Civil Engineering. There are about 100 students in the ocean engineering program. Seven Bachelor of Science degrees and about the same number of Master of Science and Master of Engineering degrees have been awarded in each of the last several years.

Texas A&M University at Galveston is a special purpose institution of higher education for undergraduate education in marine and maritime studies in science,

Suggested Citation:"E Schools of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering." National Research Council. 1996. Shipbuilding Technology and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5064.
×

engineering, and business for research in public service related to the general field of marine resources. There are programs in marine engineering, in which about 30 students enroll each year, and a program in naval architecture and marine engineering, in which about 20 students enroll annually.

The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University program in ocean engineering is part of the Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering and has an undergraduate enrollment of about 50 students (not including first-year students) and about 10 graduate students. The educational thrust is the preparation of students for the capstone preliminary ship or offshore platform design course, which is taken during the final year.

Four members of the faculty of the Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering teach ocean engineering. The research level at the university is generally of the same quality as at the other institutions discussed here; however, research is not nearly as extensive in the marine field because of the smaller number of investigators. Research is concentrated on ship structures and computer applications, and submarine hydrodynamics.

The Webb Institute of Naval Architecture, now known as Webb Institute, began teaching naval architecture in the Bronx, New York. The school was established under an endowment from William H. Webb, a successful shipbuilder, and that endowment, along with other gifts, enables the school to offer full-tuition scholarships to all students. The school moved to an estate at Glen Cove, Long Island, in 1947. Although the name of the school was recently changed to Webb Institute, the educational program is still directed toward undergraduate naval architecture and marine engineering.

Webb Institute admits 24 students every year, and the total enrollment is about 80 undergraduate students. The curriculum includes an eight-week winter work term, during which students engage in practical work at shipyards, aboard ship in the engine room, in design offices, or in course-related industries. There is currently no graduate program. Webb students must be U.S. citizens.

Webb has a faculty of about 10 professors and several research professors. Research is conducted through the Center for Maritime Studies in the fields of theoretical hydrodynamics, finite-element structural analysis, model tests, ship data collection, industrial engineering, management science, economic analysis, marine engineering, probability theory, and systems analysis.

Suggested Citation:"E Schools of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering." National Research Council. 1996. Shipbuilding Technology and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5064.
×
Page 143
Suggested Citation:"E Schools of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering." National Research Council. 1996. Shipbuilding Technology and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5064.
×
Page 144
Suggested Citation:"E Schools of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering." National Research Council. 1996. Shipbuilding Technology and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5064.
×
Page 145
Suggested Citation:"E Schools of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering." National Research Council. 1996. Shipbuilding Technology and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5064.
×
Page 146
Suggested Citation:"E Schools of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering." National Research Council. 1996. Shipbuilding Technology and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5064.
×
Page 147
Suggested Citation:"E Schools of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering." National Research Council. 1996. Shipbuilding Technology and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5064.
×
Page 148
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The U.S. shipbuilding industry now confronts grave challenges in providing essential support of national objectives. With recent emphasis on renewal of the U.S. naval fleet, followed by the defense builddown, U.S. shipbuilders have fallen far behind in commercial ship construction, and face powerful new competition from abroad. This book examines ways to reestablish the U.S. industry, to provide a technology base and R&D infrastructure sustaining both commercial and military goals.

Comparing U.S. and foreign shipbuilders in four technological areas, the authors find that U.S. builders lag most severely in business process technologies, and in technologies of new products and materials. New advances in system technologies, such as simulation, are also needed, as are continuing developments in shipyard production technologies. The report identifies roles that various government agencies, academia, and, especially, industry itself must play for the U.S. shipbuilding industry to attempt a turnaround.

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