Virginia Polytechnic Institute News

Bristol, R.I. based naval architecture and marine engineering form Bristol Harbor Group, Inc. (BHGI) announced it has promoted a member of its team, Daniel P. Eling, P.E., to a managerial position.Eling, a senior naval architect with six years of experience at the firm, has been promoted to the role of engineering manager.Eling holds a Bachelor of Science in Ocean Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the State of Rhode Island.

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…

Houston-based dredging contractor Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation said it has appointed David Johanson to the position of SVP, Project Acquisition & Operations, and of Christopher G. Gunsten, P.E. to the position of SVP, Project Services & Fleet Engineering.Johanson and Gunsten will assume their new roles effective August 1, 2022. Their positions will fill the roles currently held by the Company’s Chief Operating Officer, David E. Simonelli, who is retiring on September 16, 2022.

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…

The Shearer Group, Inc. (TSGI) has announced a new addition to its naval architecture, marine engineering and marine surveying practice. Harrison Brann joined TSGI in October of 2015 as a naval architect. In 2011, Harrison graduated with a bachelor’s degree in naval architecture and marine engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He has a wide range of knowledge of marine engineering specialties including ship stability, damage analysis, systems integration, ship survivability, and firefighting systems. Previously, Harrison has worked for the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) in their ship engineering department analyzing stability calculations for engineering firms, shipyards, and vessel owners.

It's a career-defining moment for 36 college and university faculty April 30, as the Department of the Navy announces the recipients of its 2015 Young Investigator Program, one of the oldest and most selective scientific research advancement programs in the country. Collectively, awardees will receive $18.8 million in grants to fund research across a range of naval-relevant science and technology areas. This is a banner year for the program, administered by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), which increased funding by 50 percent over last year. "These recipients demonstrate the type of visionary, multidisciplinary thought that helps the U.S. Navy anticipate and adapt to a dynamic battlespace," said Dr. Larry Schuette, ONR's director of research.

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research (LASR), partner in the Navy's Damage Control for the 21st Century project (DC-21), recently hosted robotics research teams from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) and the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) to demonstrate the most current developments of advanced autonomous systems to assist in discovery, control, and damage control of incipient fires. Fighting fires…

Life Cycle Engineering, Inc. (LCE) has announced that Edward S. Godfrey has joined Life Cycle Engineering as vice president of business development. Godfrey will be responsible for partnering with Department of Defense (DoD) customers and other government organizations to establish engineering and technical solutions that support the warfighter and DoD mission. Godfrey has over 36 years of civilian service leading large, diversified engineering and corporate operations organizations within the Department of the Navy’s Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA).

For some time now, military agencies and specialist organizations around the globe have driven the evolution of high speed watercraft. As a trickle-down effect fast response craft now serve roles once typically serviced by displacement designs including pilot boats, dive boats, crew boats and offshore support. During high speed operations the repeated shocks (RS) and whole body vibrations (WBV) of this harsh environment are transmitted to the passengers, operators and crew aboard, creating avenues of owner liability if not addressed.

Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Carderock engineers released a new software that provides the government, industry and academia a standardized method of analyzing data that is expected to improve high-speed craft design. The Standard G software uses a physics-based approach to analyze data recorded during wave-impact testing on watercraft and was developed in partnership with the Office of Naval Research, the U.S. Naval Academy and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Huntington Ingalls Industries said that Peter Diakun, vice president and chief technology officer of its Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) division, has been appointed to vice president of energy programs. Diakun, a 26-year veteran of the shipyard, will assume responsibility for energy programs while maintaining certain aspects of his current position. Integration Center (VASCIC) operations, including operational concepts and modeling and simulation work. In this new role, Diakun will also become the general manager of Newport News Nuclear, Inc.

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.

Colfax Corporation (NYSE: CFX), a provider of fluid-handling solutions for critical applications, announced that William E. Roller has been promoted to executive vice president of Colfax Americas. He was most recently senior vice president and general manager of Colfax Americas. In his expanded role, he is responsible for the company’s operations in the Americas, as well as its global oil & gas and Colfax Defense Solutions organizations. His duties also include expanding the two-screw pump business and driving global sourcing. Roller joined Colfax in 1999, as general manager of Imo Pump.

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 David Taylor Model Basin was homeport for some curious looking contraptions recently, human powered submarines, which were designed and built by perhaps the next generation of naval architects and marine engineers. John Hussey reports. High-tech met low-tech, and college engineers competed against standout high school students in the seventh running of the International Submarine Races, the biennial human-powered engineering design competition completed at the world's largest indoor tank, the Naval Surface Warfare Center's Carderock Division David Taylor Model Basin, June 23-27, 2003. Drawing upon both brain and brawn, the scuba-clad future engineers and design entrepreneurs produced a range of submarines from the sublime to the surreal, all built to move forward on a 328-ft.

Fast attack submarine USS Memphis (SSN 691) departs Port Everglades, Fla., to provide tours to Virginia Tech students during Fleet Week 2007. Fleet Week celebrates the U.S. Navy through community relation projects and tours of various ships. U.S. Students and two faculty members from Virginia Polytechnic Institute's Ocean Engineering Department visited the nuclear fast-attack submarine USS Memphis (SSN 691) May 4 for an eight-hour embark. The Virginia Tech group got underway aboard Memphis to see firsthand some of the equipment they learned to design in the classroom, and how it works in real life. “It’s one thing to read about layouts and arrangement in textbooks…