Brown University News

Melting ice in the Arctic Ocean could yield new trade routes in international waters, reducing the shipping industry’s carbon footprint and weakening Russia’s control over trade routes through the Arctic, a study found.With climate change rapidly warming the world’s oceans, the future of the Arctic Ocean looks grim. Climate models show that parts of the Arctic that were once covered in ice year-round are warming so quickly that they will be reliably ice-free for months on end in as few as two decades.

Commissioner Daniel B. Maffei has been named Chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission, as appointed by President Joe Biden on March 29, 2021. Maffei is a sitting member of the FMC and replaces Michael A. Khouri in the role of Chairman.A native of New York, Maffei was a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives for two terms. His previous professional experience includes serving in the Department of Commerce during the Obama Administration, and earlier in his career, working as a Capitol Hill aide and as a broadcast reporter.

Austal USA hosted the christening of the future USS Oakland (LCS 24). This is the first of three U.S. Navy ships to be christened at Austal’s state-of-the-art ship manufacturing facility in 2019.Oakland is the 12th of 19 Independence-variant littoral combat ships (LCSs) Austal USA has under contract with the U.S. Navy. The ship’s sponsor, Kate Brandt, a recipient of the Distinguished Public Service Award, the highest award the U.S. Navy can give to a civilian, headlined the group of officials…

The National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) Board of Directors has elected Kevin McEvoy as Chairman and Dave Welch as Vice Chairman for the upcoming 2016-2017 term. McEvoy and Welch assumed their positions at the NOIA Annual Meeting today in Washington, D.C. Since 2011, McEvoy has served as Chief Executive Officer of Oceaneering International, Inc., global provider of engineered services and products, primarily to the offshore oil and gas industry, with a focus on deepwater applications. He also serves on the company’s board of directors, and was the NOIA Vice Chairman for the 2015-2016 term. “I am honored for the opportunity to serve as Chairman of NOIA.

The National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) Board of Directors has elected Cindy B. Taylor as Chair and Kevin McEvoy as Vice Chairman for the upcoming 2015-2016 term. Taylor and McEvoy assumed their positions at the NOIA Annual Meeting today in Washington, DC. Since 2007, Cindy has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Oil States International, Inc., a publicly traded diversified oilfield services company headquartered in Houston. She also serves on the company’s board of directors, and has been NOIA’s Vice Chair for the 2014 -2015 term. “The oil and natural gas industry is tough and resilient. Since I first joined NOIA…

Ocean Hotels Plc. On 25 February 2010, Davie Yards announced it has filed for creditor protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) with the Québec Superior Court, in Canada. On 26 February 2010, Tore Enger resigned from the Board of Directors of Ocean Hotels PLC and following a Board of Directors meeting that was held the same day, Alexandros Tsirikos was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors. The Board is looking into terminating the management agreement between Ocean Hotels and Teco Management, and appointed Anthony Kandylidis as CEO / Managing Director of Ocean Hotels. Director Constantinos Economides also resigned as Director of the Board, to allow for a more efficient Board, and will remain Corporate Secretary of Ocean Hotels.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar appointed Liz Birnbaum, an attorney with two decades of federal government and private sector experience in energy and environmental policy, as Director of the Department’s Minerals Management Service. The appointment does not require Senate confirmation. As Director of the Minerals Management Service, Birnbaum administers programs that ensure the effective management of renewable and traditional energy and mineral resources on the nation’s Outer Continental Shelf, including the environmentally safe exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas, and the collection and distribution of revenues for minerals developed on federal and American Indian lands.

As far back to the early 1900's when the transatlantic crossing ruled the day, the motto of the cruise ship industry was to provide passengers with a vacation that was both relaxing and hospitable. For the most part, the majority of these passengers were of American descent — boarding vessels registered in foreign countries and were serviced by non-American crewmembers. Such is the case now as the major playing cruise companies adhere to these customs. All that changed though, this past March when, American Classic Voyages, headed by CEO, Philip C. Calian, broke ground in the cruise shipping industry with its decision to build and operate two U.S.-flag cruise vessels as part of its newly-established United States Lines. It has often been said that you never forget your roots.

Andrew Edward Gibson died on July 8, 2001, at the age of 79 in Short Hills, New Jersey. His final decade, after a life of notably active achievements, had been primarily devoted to scholarship, at the Naval War College where he taught, and in work with Kings Point Professor Arthur Donovan, in the preparation of a history of United States maritime policy, published in 1999 as The Abandoned Ocean, and of a to-be-published history of containerization. Gibson was born on February 19, 1922 in New York City, and entered the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in 1940. He graduated two years later to be among the first Americans to sail in the North Atlantic convoys. By January 1945 he was in command of his own Liberty ship at age 22.

John V. Wehausen, professor emeritus of engineering science at the University of California, Berkeley, and one of the world's leading researchers in hydrodynamics, has died at the age of 92. Wehausen died of congestive heart failure on Oct. 6 at the Kaiser Oakland Medical Center. "Many of us in the marine academic field consider John Wehausen to be a pioneer in marine hydrodynamics," said Ronald Yeung, a UC Berkeley professor of mechanical engineering who chaired the campus's former Department of Naval Architecture and Offshore Engineering and considered Wehausen a mentor. "His background as an applied mathematician allowed him to set the framework for mathematical analysis of important ocean- and ship-related problems.