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Virginia Tech News

01 Nov 2023

Colonna's Shipyard's President & CEO Tom Godfrey to Retire. New CEO Named

Tom Godfrey - Credit: Colonna's Shipyard

Colonna's Shipyard said Wednesday that its President & CEO, Tom Godfrey, would retire effective December 31, 2023. Randall Crutchfield has been named to replace Godfrey as the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Crutchfield is currently Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer (COO). Additionally, Jordan Webb, currently Executive Vice President of Shipyard Operations, will become President & General Manager. Both appointments are effective January 1, 2024.“Randall…

02 Oct 2023

Orlowski Named VP Engineering at Austal USA

Austal USA introduced Chris Orlowski as the company’s vice president of engineering. Photo courtesy Austal USA

Austal USA introduced Chris Orlowski as the company’s vice president of engineering, leading a team of more than 350 engineers, naval architects, designers, and other engineering support staff. Orlowski has more than 30 years of program and systems engineering leadership experience within the defense industry. He came to Austal USA from Northrup Grumman’s CIO Office – Mission Systems - where he was the director of engineering and manufacturing systems and infrastructure. He led a team of 250 employees focused on designing…

08 Feb 2023

VIDEO: Patrick Ryan Named CTO at ABS

ABS appointed Patrick Ryan as Chief Technology Officer. Image courtesy ABS

As Patrick Ryan assumes the top tech exec spot at ABS, Maritime Reporter TV interviewed him on the eve of the announcement. While shipowners face multiple technology challenges ahead, Ryan said a top priority is the bridging of technology from the fundamental phase into operational solutions. ABS appointed Patrick Ryan as Chief Technology Officer to support continued development of ABS as a maritime technology leader.Having served as Senior Vice President, Global Engineering and Technology since 2019…

12 Sep 2022

ZF Marine Hires Lewis as Head of NA Commercial-Fast Craft Product Line

George Lewis (Photo: ZF)

ZF Marine announced it has hired George Lewis as its new head of product line commercial-fast craft, North/Central America and the Caribbean, reporting to Wolfgang Schmid, ZF’s Industrial Division Head for North America.“ZF Marine welcomes George aboard and looks forward to the positive impact he will have upon the company’s sales across the Americas and Caribbean,” Schmid said. “With his deep industry knowledge and technical skill as a trained naval architect and proven sales leader…

22 Jul 2022

Donald L Blount: 1935 - 2022

Donald L. Blount, an international esteemed technical expert in the field of high-speed craft hydrodynamics died on July 14, 2022 at the age of 87.Donald was driven all his life to do one job: design high-speed powerboats that could comfortably and efficiently run through rough water. His fascination with hydrodynamics began when he was a Virginia Tech co-op student working at the David Taylor Model Basin, the Navy's premier hydrodynamic research facility.Donald’s research contributions…

23 May 2022

Colonna’s Shipyard Announces Senior Management Changes

(File photo: Colonna’s Shipyard)

Norfolk, Va. ship repair yard Colonna’s Shipyard announced a series of senior management promotions along with a revised organizational structure effective July 2022.Jordan Webb, currently Vice President, Contracts, has been promoted to Vice President of Shipyard Operations. Randall Crutchfield, currently Colonna’s Chief Experience Officer and Executive Director of Steel America and Weld America, has been named Vice President of Industrial Operations and Facilities. Chris Marsh…

11 Apr 2022

Yesterday’s or Tomorrow’s Offshore Energy: Which to Pick?

Copyright Inna/AdobeStock

Looking back, it is easy to wonder if one could have done better by taking the other fork in the road. I grew up in Holland in a maritime family and am pretty sure I would have stuck with maritime there. In 1968, when I was 8 years old, my father left Holland America Line and joined the United States Salvage Association. At the same time, their main customer, the U.S. marine insurance industry, became heavily involved in the development of North Sea offshore oil and gas, and it resulted in an economic boom that made USSA’s Rotterdam office wildly profitable.

25 Jan 2022

Malyszko Named Plant Operations VP at Newport News Shipbuilding

Karey Malyszko (Photo: HII)

America's largest military shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) announced on Tuesday that Karey Malyszko has been promoted to vice president of Plant Operations at its Newport News Shipbuilding division in Newport News, Va. Malyszko succeeds Dru Branche who retired in December.Effective immediately, Malyszko assumes overall responsibility for waterfront support services, facilities, environmental health and safety, and security. She reports to Jennifer Boykin, president…

04 Jan 2022

HII Appoints Mulherin VP of Contracts at Newport News Shipbuilding

Matt Mulherin Jr. has been promoted to vice president of contracts at its Newport News Shipbuilding division. Image courtesy HII

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) announced that Matt Mulherin Jr. has been promoted to vice president of contracts at its Newport News Shipbuilding division. Mulherin succeeds Christie Thomas, who has been appointed corporate vice president, investor relations.Mulherin will have overall responsibility for contracts, pricing, and export/import licensing and compliance for Newport News. He will report to Don Godwin, Newport News vice president of business management and…

01 Jul 2021

Interview: Chris Deegan, President & Chief Executive, Gibbs & Cox

Chris Deegan (Photo: Gibbs & Cox)

In 1985, Chris Deegan was hired out of Penn State as a nuclear submarine cost estimator by the Naval Sea Systems Command and retired nearly 28 years later as the Executive Director of PEO Integrated Warfare Systems, with the last 10 as a member of the Senior Executive Service. He’s been with Gibbs & Cox since 2013, first as the Vice President of Engineering, and as President and Chief Executive since 2016.Please give a “by the numbers” look at Gibbs & Cox today.Since our founding in 1929…

15 Jun 2021

Huntington Ingalls Industries Names Gokhale Technical Solutions VP

Ashutosh Gokhale has been appointed vice president, business management and chief financial officer for its Technical Solutions division. (Photo: HII)

America’s largest military shipbuilding company Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) announced that Ashutosh Gokhale has been appointed vice president, business management and chief financial officer for its Technical Solutions division.Gokhale will replace Billy Jahn upon his retirement on July 9 and will be responsible for all financial management and business management functions in Technical Solutions. Gokhale will be located at HII’s offices in Fairfax, Va., and will report to Andy Green…

16 Dec 2020

Bucher Named CEO at Victaulic

Victaulic appointed Rick Bucher as Chief Executive Officer.

Victaulic appointed Rick Bucher as Chief Executive Officer, succeeding John F. Malloy, effective January 31, 2021. Dr. Bucher was named President of Victaulic in April of 2020, following a June 2019 appointment as Chief Operating Officer. Prior to joining Victaulic in 2009 as Vice President of Engineering, Dr. Bucher worked for 15 years for W.L. Gore, a manufacturer of technologically advanced composite materials. Dr. Bucher received a B.S. and M.S. in engineering from Rice University and a Ph.D. in material science from Virginia Tech.Dr.

28 May 2020

Tech Talk: Algorithm Aims to Assist Ocean Search and Rescue

A new MIT-developed search-and-rescue algorithm identifies hidden “traps” in ocean waters. The method may help quickly identify regions where objects — and missing people — may have converged. Image courtesy of the researchers/http://news.mit.edu/

Search & Rescue algorithm identify hidden “traps” in ocean waters, helping to more quickly identify regions where objects — and missing people — may have converged.The ocean is a messy and turbulent space, where winds and weather kick up waves in all directions. When an object or person goes missing at sea, the complex, constantly changing conditions of the ocean can confound and delay critical search-and-rescue operations.Now researchers at MIT, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH)…

01 May 2020

Victaulic Names Bucher President

Rick Bucher (Photo: Victaulic)

Mechanical pipe-joining systems manufacturer Victaulic announced Rick Bucher has been appointed to the position of President and COO, effective immediately. Bucher will continue reporting to John F. Malloy who has served as Chairman, President & CEO for the past 16 years. Malloy will remain Chairman and CEO.Bucher began his career with Victaulic in 2009 as Vice President, Product Development, and rose to the position of Executive Vice President, Technology & Product Development. In June 2019, he was named COO.

27 Apr 2020

Gibbs & Cox Hires Hobbs as Chief Information Officer

Brian Hobbs (Photo: Gibbs & Cox)

Naval architecture and marine engineering firm Gibbs & Cox announced Brian Hobbs has joined the company as Chief Information Officer. In his new role, Hobbs will provide executive leadership and oversight of the full spectrum of corporate information technology infrastructure, security, end user services, people and processes."With the cyber landscape constantly evolving and threats becoming increasingly more sophisticated, Brian's experience will help us and our clients increase resiliency and securely achieve the next generation of cyber capabilities…

02 Apr 2020

Hepburn and Sons Adds Senior Naval Talent

David Rice (Photo: Hepburn and Sons)

The Hepburn and Sons LLC team welcomed David Rice, CAPT David Bauer, USN (Ret), and Gary Loberg as their newest members. David Rice serves as Senior Consultant, Material Science. David Bauer will serve as the Senior Manager, Material Science. Gary Loberg serves as Senior Manager, Advisory Services.David Rice comes to Hepburn and Sons, LLC after a career spanning 45 years at Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS). During his time at NNS he served as the Manager of Contracted Research & Development and was responsible for Research & Development Programs funded by ONR/ManTech…

11 Jul 2019

Will High-Speed Container Transport Ever Work?

Figure 2 is a first pass sketch of what it may look like (I already see various areas for improvement on this sketch, but for illustrative purposes it will do). Photo credit: Martin & Ottaway, Inc.

Every few years I am handed a high-speed container transport proposal. Generally it consists of some type of high speed vessel design that would be able to move containers at high speed and thereby attract a new market by taking a chunk out of the air cargo market and the premium ocean market. Occasionally we are asked to look at the economics for potential investors, and it always falls short of being economically viable. While it is possible to move containers a little quicker over the ocean with faster vessels…

05 Dec 2018

Future Maritime Design: NETSCo Sponsors Student Design Competition

Team 9 – Black Friday, took First Place. Photo: Netsco.

NETSCo announced the winners of the 2018 Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) Student Design Competition held recently during the 2018 SNAME Maritime Convention in Providence, RI. Many interesting designs were devised with over 150 students participating in the competition. Congratulations to our winning teams: First Place Team 9 – Black Friday; Second Place, Team 8 – PlayBuoy; and, Third Place, Team 5 – Team Boats.The Competition is organized by the SNAME Student Steering Committee (SSC)…

05 May 2017

Boykin Tapped as Next Newport News President

Jennifer Boykin (Photo: HII)

Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Board of Directors has elected Jennifer R. Boykin to serve as executive vice president of HII and president of HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division, effective July 1. She will succeed Matt Mulherin, who announced that he will retire on August 1 after a 36-year career at Newport News Shipbuilding. Boykin, who will report to HII President and CEO Mike Petters effective July 1, currently serves as vice president, engineering and design for Newport News Shipbuilding.

24 Feb 2016

Modeling & Simulation Not Only for Naval Combatants

Figure 1: 6,000 Ton Training and Hospital Vessel Simulated at Sea. (Alion)

Throughout the history of naval warfare a consistent pattern has evolved between the development of anti-ship threats and the development of shipboard protective measures against those threats. Since the 1980’s, the combination of ship-board protective measures has been colloquially referred to as ‘survivability’ and is defined more precisely as the measure of a vessel’s ability to complete its mission after an attack. The measure of survivability considers one or more of the following aspects: susceptibility (the ability to avoid being hit)…

24 Sep 2015

Riding Waves & Tides to a Cleaner Energy Future

The European Way The Meygen tidal stream energy project is currently under construction off the coast of Scotland. By the early 2020s, MeyGen Limited intends to deploy up to 398MW of offshore tidal stream turbines to supply clean and renewable electricity to the UK National Grid. (Credit: Atlantis Resources Ltd.)

When one thinks of offshore renewable energy, one usually thinks of offshore wind. For the first time progress is being made in the U.S. to develop offshore wind resources. The first steel foundation jacket has been placed in the ocean floor to support the Deepwater Wind project off the coast of Block Island, Rhode Island. (See www.dwwind.com/press/#/1). But recently, progress is also being made in the development of tidal and wave energy resources closer to shore, which are known as marine hydrokinetic or MHK resources.

05 Feb 2015

Making Sailors 'SAFFiR'

U.S. Navy Firefighting Robot (image: courtesy U.S. Navy)

Navy Unveils Firefighting Robot Prototype at Naval Tech EXPO. Scientists unveiled a firefighting robot prototype Feb. 4 at the Naval Future Force Science & Technology EXPO, revealing details about its successful demonstrations last fall. The Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot (SAFFiR), sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), walked across uneven floors, used thermal imaging to identify overheated equipment, and used a hose to extinguish a small fire in a series of experiments Nov. 3-5, 2014 aboard the USS Shadwell, a decommissioned Navy vessel.

05 Feb 2015

Navy Unveils Firefighting Robot

Scientists unveiled a firefighting robot prototype Feb. 4 at the Naval Future Force Science & Technology EXPO, revealing details about its successful demonstrations last fall. The Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot (SAFFiR), sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), walked across uneven floors, used thermal imaging to identify overheated equipment, and used a hose to extinguish a small fire in a series of experiments Nov. 3-5, 2014 aboard the USS Shadwell, a decommissioned Navy vessel. Developed by researchers at Virginia Tech, the two-legged, or bipedal, humanoid robot is helping ONR evaluate the applications of unmanned systems in damage control and inspections aboard naval vessels…

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