Florida Atlantic University News

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced nearly $10 million for seven projects that will accelerate development and testing of marine energy technologies. These investments advance research on wave-powered technology for use in seawater desalination and support a feasibility study for a potential ocean current test facility. “Marine energy technologies have incredible potential to provide clean electricity as well as clean water,” said Alejandro Moreno, Acting Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

KVH Industries, Inc., announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Brent C. Bruun as President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board. The Board also appointed two seasoned industry executives, David Kagan and David Tolley, as directors of KVH.Bruun first joined KVH in 2008 and has served as KVH’s Interim President and Chief Executive Officer since March 2022. He also served as Chief Operating Officer of KVH beginning in 2016, as well as Interim Chief Financial Officer of the Company.

Florida Atlantic University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science has been awarded a $1.25 million grant by the United States Office of Naval Research (ONR) to undertake research in support of autonomous unmanned marine vehicle platforms for coastal surveillance, coastal surveys, target tracking and protection of at-sea assets. The five-year project will entail developing unmanned surface vehicles that serve as “motherships” for unmanned underwater vehicles and aerial drones…

Stevens Institute of Technology has been selected as the lead institution for a new Center of Excellence for Maritime Research (CMR). The selection, announced by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate will provide Stevens with $2 million per year for 5 years. The Center will also include the following partner institutions: MIT, University of Miami, Rutgers University, University of Puerto Rico and Elizabeth City State University. Stevens also has new partners with which it will collaborate on research projects, including LSU, Florida Atlantic University, and the University of Connecticut.

Stevens Institute of Technology announced it has been selected as the lead institution for a new Center of Excellence for Maritime Research (CMR). The selection, announced by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate will provide Stevens with $2 million per year for five years. The Center will also include the following partner institutions: MIT, University of Miami, Rutgers University, University of Puerto Rico and Elizabeth City State University.

As part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan to create American jobs, cut carbon pollution and develop domestic energy sources, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced today it has taken an important step toward issuing a research lease for a facility to test utility-scale wave energy devices in federal waters off Oregon. The non-competitive lease would be for the offshore area where the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center at Oregon State University (Center) would site the hydrokinetic energy research project.

Marine security, monitoring and tracking systems supplier GOST (Global Ocean Security Technologies) has promoted Parrish Westbrook to National Sales and OEM Account Manager, Samantha Thomas to Sales and Marketing Coordinator and added Product Specialist Tony Miller to the team. Parrish Westbrook joined the GOST team in September 2010, overseeing all sales through dealers, distributors and representatives throughout the United States. After much success Parrish was promoted to National Sales Manager in 2011.

The City of Indianapolis and the Indiana SeaPerch regions were the ideal combination to host the Third National SeaPerch Challenge at the Natatorium on the campus of Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) on May 17 – 19, 2013. On Friday evening, May 17, 83 top robotic teams from middle and high schools, after school and out-of-school programs in 23 states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico convened at the IUPUI Natatorium for a weekend of competition and fun-filled activities.

The theme of the 4th International RoboBoat Competition, sponsored by The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) Foundation and the Office of Naval Research (ONR), was “The Four Elements.” Teams of students designed and built autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs) that faced challenges involving earth, air, fire and water. The competition was held at The Founders Inn and Spa, Virginia Beach, VA, June 8-12, 2011 and included 15 teams representing colleges and universities around the world.

Dr. Michael Bruno, Dean of the Schaefer School of Engineering and Science at Stevens Institute of Technology, has been selected as Chairman of the Marine Board, under the auspices of the Transportation Research Board ( TRB ) and the National Research Council (NRC). The Marine Board identifies and responds to critical issues in the area of water transportation, port engineering and management, marine policy, offshore development and operations, naval architecture, and maritime economics.

Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) celebrated the kick off of the Naval Engineering Education Center (NEEC), launching a three-day conference at the University of Michigan, July 26-28. NEEC is a new partnership between NAVSEA and a consortium of 15 top colleges and universities as well as 2 engineering professional societies focused on developing the Navy's future science, engineering and acquisition workforce. “Sailors depend upon you to give them a ship with a technological edge. The NEEC will provide the best minds and training to give the Sailors the technological edge they rely on," said Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the keynote speaker at the Kick-Off event.

The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) announced that a program dedicated to the training of future naval systems engineers will soon be realized. A $3.2m contract awarded May 6 from the Naval Sea Systems Command, which includes five additional years of optional extensions that could add up to $49.9m, will establish a Naval Engineering Education Center (NEEC) Consortium in partnership with fifteen leading US colleges and universities, SNAME and the American Society of Naval Engineers (ASNE). For over a century SNAME has been the international society for practitioners of the maritime arts and sciences. The Society has long supported educational opportunities to advance the state-of-the-art in naval architecture…

The U.S. Navy's Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) signed a contract agreement May 6 to establish a Naval Engineering Education Center (NEEC). The purpose of the NEEC will be to educate and develop world-class naval systems engineers for the Navy's civilian acquisition, engineering and science workforce. Led by the University of Michigan, the NEEC Consortium will initially be comprised of 15 colleges and universities, along with the American Society of Naval Engineers (ASNE) and the Society of Naval Architects and Engineering (SNAME). Other colleges and universities included in the NEEC Consortium include Virginia Polytechnic Institute…

The Atlantic Center for the Innovative Design and Control of Small Ships (ACCeSS) at Stevens Institute of Technology announced major funding for the next five years worth $4.5m by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) as part of its National Naval Responsibility – Naval Engineering (NNR-NE) program. ACCeSS is a consortium of both University and Industry partners including: the U.S. Naval Academy, Naval Post Graduate School, University College London; Florida Atlantic University; Webb Institute; Lockheed Martin; AMSEC LLC (Northrop-Grumman); VT Shipbuilding and Band-Lavis Associates. Established at Stevens in 2002, the ACCeSS Research Center…

A new voluntary consensus standard for the measurement of underwater noise from ships is now available from the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The new standard will be known as ANSI/ASA S12.64-2009/Part 1, “American National Standard, Quantities and Procedures for Description and Measurement of Underwater Sound from Ships- Part 1: General Requirements”. Noise Control Engineering, Inc. of Billerica, Mass. led the effort to develop the new standard having its Vice President Michael Bahtiarian chair the committee. NCE also provided significant administrative resources to completing the effort. “We started this effort to fill a need for NCE clients designing and building quiet research vessels,” noted Chair Bahtiarian.

College Students from the United States and Canada will bring their robotic boats to Virginia Beach to compete for up to $20,000 in prize money. The event, the second International Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) Competition, is being sponsored by the U.S. Office of Naval Research and the Washington, DC-based Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) Foundation. The competition will occur June 18-21 at the Founder’s Inn and Spa in Virginia Beach. The small lake on the resort’s property will be turned into the site of a simulated shipwreck of a ferry boat with passengers awaiting rescue. The student-built boats will be challenged to navigate a treacherous series of dangerous reefs and dock with the sinking ferry to rescue the passengers.

The Waitt Institute for Discovery and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have joined forces to launch the Catalyst Program, making available for the first time a versatile and highly portable deep-sea tool kit and operations team, which can be rapidly deployed anywhere in the world. This unprecedented collaboration features the Waitt Institute's two newly built Hydroid REMUS 6000 Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), which can explore depths of up to 6000 meters, or 3.7 miles, below the ocean's surface. These innovative multi-sensor platforms are equipped with high-tech survey instruments capable of recording critical oceanographic data, photo-imaging deep-sea features, and producing detailed sonar maps of the ocean floor.

A team of students from the University of Central Florida (UCF) Robotics Laboratory took first prize at AUVSI and the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR)’s First International Autonomous Surface Vehicle Competition (ASVC), held Aug. 7-9 in San Diego, Calif. The first competition of its kind brought together students teams from the U.S. and Canada. Six undergraduate student teams competed for three days at the U.S. Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center’s TRANSDEC Facility, where they were challenged to navigate a surface-water course with autonomous vehicles built with off-the-shelf components. The ASVC is a student competition based on unmanned boats operating under rules of the waterway including littoral area navigation, channel following and autonomous docking.

Gary M. Jebsen has been elevated to the Senior Executive Service (SES) and the position of Director for Ship Signatures in the Naval Surface Warfare Center's Carderock Division (NSWCCD). In this role, the Leesburg, Virginia resident serves as both directorate head and leader of the Signatures Group in the Naval Seal Systems Command (NAVSEA). Gary shoulders the responsibility for naval and federal ship design and research, development, test and evaluation, and overall program management in the area of ship signature performance. He is leaving a successful assignment as Submarine Technology Program Manager at the Office of Naval Research (ONR).

Irwin F. Edenzon, vice president and general manager for the Gulf Coast for Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding. Corporation announced two newly created and key positions at its Shipbuilding sector. Matthew J. Mulherin has been appointed sector vice president and general manager of Newport News, and Irwin F. Edenzon has been appointed sector vice president and general manager for the Gulf Coast. They will report to Mike Petters, corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding…

Florida Atlantic University is helping the U.S. military move to the next level, according to a report on www.bocaratonnews.com. The Office of Naval Research (ONR) has provided $2 million to the university to design and build a sea base – a large platform to be used as a jumping-off point for the operations of a Navy unit. FAU’s SeaTech – Institute for Ocean and Systems Engineering in Dania Beach – received a $2 million grant from ONR to investigate, design and build a prototype. The Navy says the “sea base” is a rapidly deployable, multi-mission platform to be used as enabling technology for a sea-based operation. In essence, it would eliminate the need for land to house and launch military apparatus.

Florida Atlantic University(FAU) and Lockheed Martin have entered into an exclusive license agreement to develop and produce a rapidly-deployable and autonomous mooring buoy system for military and scientific uses. after being launched from either aircraft, submarines or ships. communication; and underwater navigation and positioning. Research (ONR) Ocean Engineering Program, managed by Dr. program manager for Ocean Engineering & Marine Systems. filed a joint patent application. with key U.S. the system and to identify other potential applications. and anchors that only work well in specific sea bed conditions. lightweight, compact FAU/Navy-developed module conforms to U.S. self-mooring in depths between 30 and 650 feet. three months, and support different types of mooring lines.

New world speed records were set earlier this month in both men’s and women’s divisions of the International Submarine Races, an engineering design competition that challenges the creativity of underwater inventers and entrepreneurs. One and two-person teams from the U.S., Canada and the Netherlands battled it out against the clock in the week-long biennial event held at one of the world’s largest indoor tanks -- the Naval Surface Warfare Center’s Carderock Division David Taylor Model Basin in Bethesda, Maryland. Omer 5, a sleek two-person submersible from the University of Quebec’s Ecole de Technologie Superieure (ETS) in Montreal, Canada, set a new two-person speed record of 7.061 knots. The Canadians’ women’s team also set a new record of 5.885 knots.