URI_Research_Magazine_Momentum_Winter_2015_Melissa-McCarthy

Navatek software

The Navatek team is designing software to better model ocean waves and their effect on ships. Navatek plans to release the software as open source, meaning that researchers around the world may utilize its modeling capabilities. To develop the science behind the models, Navatek researchers are working closely with Ocean Engineering Professors Stephan Grilli and Jason Dahl. In 2013, the professors and company collaborated to win research funding from the Office of Naval Research to refine the software. “This work is stimulating—it is much more rewarding and useful than just publishing research papers,” Grilli says. “Just as important, we directly benefit from the industry’s experience in identifying and prioritizing the key and important problems to work on. And finally, our students have immediate job opportunities.” Navatek executives say they expect to rely on URI graduates, especially from engineering, as the company expands. “The URI alumni and interns are hard workers; they are self-motivated and they’ve learned to work in teams,” Chief Scientist David Kring says. For the eight URI alumni—who comprise almost half the staff at the Rhode Island office—working together is nothing new. Seven of them graduated from the ocean engineering program, most of them together. When they collaborate

Stephan Grilli , professor of ocean engineering

with URI, they often work directly with their former professors. Navatek engineer Amanda Persichetti, who earned a master’s in ocean engineering and served as a teaching assistant, says her professors have become colleagues and her former students are now peers. Together, they’ve built a cross between a startup company and a graduate research lab.

The University of Rhode Island { momentum: Research & Innovation }

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