Technology School News

Students from the IYRS Boatbuilding & Restoration Program will launch their careers, along with the boats they restored this past year as they graduate June 1, 2013. International sports figure and North Sails President Ken Read will help mark the start of students’ career paths as featured graduation speaker at this marine trades and technology school in Rhode Island. Read is a fitting person to clue IYRS graduates into the opportunities that lie ahead for those with craftsmanship skills and a passion for working with their hands around boats.

Xantrex Technology has become a sponsoring partner of the IYRS, a marine trade and technology school offering full-time accredited programs in boat building and restoration, marine systems and composite technology. With campus locations in Newport and Bristol, R.I., IYRS students training for a marine-industry career will now enjoy a hands-on opportunity to work with the latest onboard AC power technology, thanks to the new Xantrex partnership and donations including two complete Freedom SW inverter/charger systems. Clark Poston, IYRS Vice President of Industry Development, said, “Our IYRS programs are experiential learning based and delivered in state-of-the-art labs with the latest equipment and technology.

Roger Williams University & IYRS partner on program to offer IYRS graduates credits toward degree programs. As part of a strategy to offer students a direct pathway from experiential training programs focused on craftsmanship and technical skills to a comprehensive college education that results in an associate or bachelor’s degree, Roger Williams University and marine trades and technology school IYRS have joined forces on a partnership that will allow IYRS graduates to apply elective credits toward degree programs offered at the University’s School of Continuing Studies.

IYRS, a Rhode Island marine trades & technology school, to partner with Maine businesses to run 'Open House' prorgrams on careers & training opportunities in the composites industry. “Composites construction has a wide range of application in today’s industry—and many individuals may not realize that there are a wealth of career opportunities for those with the right level of interest, aptitude and skill,” said Clark Poston of IYRS. IYRS will partner with Maine businesses Front Street Shipyard and the Kenway Corporation to offer the open house programs on the composite materials method of building pioneered by boat builders that has a high strength-to-weight ratio. Composites construction is used today by many industries—including marine, transportation, wind energy, aerospace and others.

When guests arrived at IYRS Annual Summer Gala--the annual fundraiser for this Rhode Island marine trades and technology school--they came ready for a great party. But the crowd of gala-goers also gathered at this waterfront school for a reason that runs far deeper than a good time through this maritime community: to celebrate the craftsmanship of IYRS students and graduates and ensure continued opportunity for the generation to follow. The exhibits and film told the story of a school that has evolved since the first students walked through the doors in 1997.

Wärtsilä opened a Wärtsilä Land & Sea Academy (WLSA) training center at its existing technology school in Khopoli, India. This is the fourth WLSA regional centre of Wärtsilä for global coverage of training and competence management services to ship owners and power plant owners. The other three are in Turku, Finland which opened in January 2006; in Subic Bay, the Philippines, and in Fort Lauderdale, USA. These training centres form the spine in the global network of other locations at which WLSA also provides training services. The WLSA scope of service extends from the basic off-the-shelf, standard product courses to a full range of courses for power plants, ship power and propulsion equipment in connection with competency qualifications.