URI_Research_Magazine_Momentum_Winter_2015_Melissa-McCarthy

Making Waves in Ocean Technology

by Chris Barrett ’08

T

ake an 80-story building, lay it on its side, put it in water, hammer it with waves and then land a helicopter on it. That’s essentially a U.S. Navy ship, and designing one is no simple task. A team of University of Rhode Island (URI) alumni, students and professors are helping

Navatek, an ocean technology firm, design next-generation ships. In 2013, the company hired eight URI alumni and four URI student interns to staff its new East Coast office in Rhode Island. Executives say the ongoing research partnership with the University allows them to explore new fields and deliver valuable research insights to the U.S. Navy and defense and alternative energy sectors. “We’d like to see Rhode Island become more of a hub for research activity,” Lead Scientist Neal Fine says. Navatek opened its East Coast office in South Kingstown, RI, in large part to tap the University’s research expertise and its unique ocean engineering program. One of just eight accredited programs in the nation, the URI ocean engineering program graduates engineers with a broad understanding of ocean science. Add in the engineering faculty and the Graduate School of Oceanography, and Navatek found the perfect partner. Much of the company’s research stems from hydrodynamics, a branch of science that studies fluids in motion, such as ocean waves. While they may look simple, ocean waves are actually extremely complicated. Rogue waves and tsunamis can disrupt otherwise perfect modeling techniques.

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