MIT Reports to the President 1999–2000
The mission of the Department of Ocean Engineering is to educate and prepare students to assume leadership positions in industry, government and educational institutions, and to influence future directions of ocean engineering education and practice; to develop and disseminate the knowledge and technology to foster and enable the wise and effective use, development, and preservation of the ocean, its natural resources and environment.
Academic Year 1999—00 continued to be an exciting year for the Department of Ocean Engineering. The Ocean Engineering Teaching Laboratory once again hosted the "Discover Ocean Engineering" Program, a four-day event specifically designed to introduce incoming freshmen to student life at the Institute. This event was extremely successful in the fact that it was enjoyed not only by the students but at the same time very well received by parents and the MIT Administration. Professor Henrik Schmidt continues to serve as Chief Scientist for a major joint research program conducted in the Mediterranean Sea titled "Generic Ocean Array Technology Sonar" (GOATS). It involves the use of multi-static active acoustics to detect and classify buried objects in the seabed. GOATS is a potential system for measurement of 3-D multi-static acoustic fields that can provide platforms for multi-static sonar concepts. A significant follow-on experiment is scheduled for September—October, 2000. This set of experiments focuses on shallow water technology and is sponsored by NATO. The design and development of the Robo Tuna by Professor Michael Triantafyllou and his colleagues continues to be a major activity in the department. The research in this area enables researchers to gather data about how a robotic fish should be controlled in order to swim efficiently, and to deepen the understanding of the hydrodynamics of swimming fish. Robo Tuna also continues to be a major source of Undergraduate Research Projects attracting students from various departments to the Testing Tank.
The philosophy of undergraduate education in Ocean Engineering is:
The specific required and elective subjects offered to support this philosophy continue to be extensively reviewed by the faculty at various retreats and faculty meetings. Senior management in the industries that hire our graduates continue to be visited to evaluate the curriculum. These industries include the traditional shipbuilding and oil companies as well as other marine-related companies. The curriculum is sound, requiring only minimal adjustment to reflect evolving technology and future industry needs.
In the Fall of 1999, seven sophomores entered the department bringing the total undergraduate enrollment to 17. There are only a few universities that offer educational programs in Ocean Engineering (and Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering). Even fewer offer doctoral programs. Maintaining a sufficient level to technically lead design initiatives into the next century is of some concern to the industry and more significantly to the Navy. It is the strong view of industry and government technical leaders that the ship designers for the future should be educated by leading researchers and educators in the field.
The department faculty continues to review this situation. There is a strong, unanimous consensus that despite the low enrollment, the undergraduate curriculum should be continued. It provides an intellectually stimulating connection to the undergraduate student body and an opportunity to teach at the undergraduate level. The faculty continues to be freshmen advisors and to offer freshman seminars.
While we intend to continue our efforts to attract students to the field, the faculty continued to pursue opportunities to contribute beyond the department. Relationships with Chemical Engineering have been established to share responsibility for teaching numerical analysis and software engineering. Numerical Analysis 13.002J (10.002J), is offered jointly with Chemical Engineering and taught by OE faculty and Introduction to Computer Methods, 10.001 is taught by Chemical Engineering faculty. The first year of this undertaking went very well and we intend to continue this collaboration. At present we are experimenting with a structural design subject, Computational Techniques for Structural Design, 13.019. A central feature of the subject is structural design using comprehensive computer tools to permit real life designs. We plan to collaborate with Civil Engineering and we are investigating what it will take to also interest Mechanical Engineering. We intend to aggressively seek other similar sharing relationships.
The MIT Museum and the Hart Nautical Collections combined to create a display in the Building 5 Hart Nautical Gallery to create awareness of the challenging and exciting activities in the oceans. The display, formally commissioned in conjunction with the department’s visiting committee meeting in March, 1999, continues to display a number of department activities. The department’s Undergraduate Teaching Laboratory, showing recent undergraduate design projects, remains featured.
For the second year, a new innovative program for incoming freshman, Discover Ocean Engineering: A special Introduction to MIT, was offered to the Class of 2003. This program was set up in 1998 as a four-day program for incoming freshmen and designed to provide a first glimpse of what engineering is all about. It also allows the students to sample some of the opportunities that the field of ocean engineering has to offer and gives them a jump on becoming involved in campus life and building close relationships between the students, our faculty and staff. The agenda included hands-on experience building a small remotely operated vehicle (ROV), testing it in the water, and providing a chance to perform some actual research experiments with an ROV in Boston Harbor. There are approximately 30 incoming freshmen of the Class of 2004 who will attend the summer experience of Discover Ocean Engineering this year. This program remains one of the most subscribed to each summer.
Graduate education remains strong in the department and our graduates are highly sought by industry. The graduate enrollment for 1999—2000 was 107. Within our department the graduate programs offer a spectrum of research and educational opportunities that provide the specialization needed to become leaders in and shapers of the marine field in our global society. The education is highly specialized and requires a deep understanding of the technology involved.
Our graduate subjects complement the research performed in the department very well. The graduate programs are focused on three major areas: Naval Construction and Engineering; Engineering Science applied to problems in the ocean; and Ocean Systems, with emphasis on business and management.
A significant element of the department’s education program is the Naval Construction and Engineering Program. This long-standing program is nearing the 100th anniversary of initiation and is designed for students interested in a career as a professional naval engineer. Ships are one of the most complicated technical systems produced and continue to push the state of the art. In addition to concentrating on hydrodynamics, acoustics, structures, and design, the curriculum provides an appreciation for total ship engineering in a manner not covered by specialists in mechanical, electrical, structural, or nuclear engineering.
The next major element of our graduate education is the segment that specializes in engineering science applied to problems in the ocean. Our curriculum focuses on four areas: acoustics, hydrodynamics, structures and structural dynamics, and design and marine robotics.
The acoustics program prepares the next generation of oceanographic engineers. It is a major element of the joint program with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. It covers all aspects: theoretical, numerical and experimental with particular strengths in acoustical oceanography and signal processing.
Our hydrodynamics group has a rich tradition and history, having made and continuing to make some of the most significant contributions in the field. We offer a rich program in theory and computational hydrodynamics preparing our graduates for positions of leadership spearheading major innovations in the offshore industry.
The structures and structural acoustics curriculum exposes our students to all the fundamentals needed to prepare them for a successful career in marine structural mechanics. Our areas of excellence include plasticity, crashworthiness, structural response of complex structures, forming of doubly curved plates, and cable dynamics.
Our last area of engineering science is design and marine robotics. The graduate curriculum in this area is dominated by the basic subjects for our naval construction program but a number of basic and advanced subjects in offshore design, control theory, computational geometry and underwater navigation are also offered.
The program in Ocean Systems Management is intended for students with solid engineering backgrounds who are interested in the business and government management aspects of ocean engineering systems and activities, including ocean transportation, marine resource development, environmental management, public policy and ocean use, ocean mining, ports, and fisheries. Students who pursue this curriculum have a solid background in engineering and are looking to broaden their ability to include knowledge of economics, business practices and management. Some of our alumni are among the better known ship owners and this area offers significant potential for growth.
The department’s faculty and staff continued in their pursuit of a variety of outstanding research programs. Many of these are currently receiving worldwide attention both inside and outside the field of ocean engineering.
Professors Arthur Baggeroer and Henrik Schmidt have completed a joint effort project for NSF and the New England Aquarium called "Sounds in the Sea" which developed an exhibit highlighting the role of sound in the ocean portraying natural sounds such as whales, fish and volcanoes as well as man-made sounds. This exhibit opened at the New England Aquarium in April and runs through November 2000 before traveling to other aquaria. From the feedback received, it has been an extremely popular exhibit with some of the equipment wearing out through over use. In addition, they continue with their research in broadband active and passive matched field processing in shallow water, an area in which both Professors Schmidt and Baggeroer are acknowledged as two of the pioneers.
Professor John Leonard’s primary research focus is the development of new robust algorithms for concurrent mapping and localization (CML) in large-scale environments. The goal of CML is to enable an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to build a map of an unknown environment while simultaneously using that map for navigation. This year he made a major advance over the state-of-the-art in CML, with the development of decoupled stochastic mapping (DSM), a new, computationally efficient approach to the map scaling problem.
Professor Nicholas Makris continues both his experimental and theoretical work in remotely sensing the marine environment with underwater sound. This includes determination of oceanographic properties of the water column, geophysical characteristics of the sea floor, and the localization, imaging and classification of submerged objects.
Professor Henry Marcus continues with his work on Automatic Identification Technology (AIT) which is sponsored by the New Industry Research Organization (NIRO) of Japan and focuses on improving the movement of marine containers in international commerce. Any function where manual identification, record keeping and paper processing can be replaced by AIT is a potential area of cost savings. Building on the knowledge gained from the NIRO project in identification technologies, Professor Marcus continues working with the Navy’s CVNX (new aircraft carrier program) to try to improve materials and personnel management aboard a new aircraft carrier using radio frequency identification (RFID) tags.
Professor Koichi Masubuchi, although officially retired, remains active in activities related to NIRO. Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI), the designated lead company for NIRO, is interested in having MIT work with NIRO and Professor Masubuchi is involved in the operation of a project begun in 1997 at the MIT Sea Grant College Program. This project was continued by a new grant from NIRO in July 1998 and again in 1999. In addition, a two-year project entitled "Advancement of Manufacturing Technologies Through Applications of Laser Measurement and Fabrication Techniques" was initiated in July 1998, under the supervision of Professors Masubuchi, Nicholas Patrikalakis, and Dr. Takashi Maekawa.
Professor Jerome Milgram continued with his research on "Computational Reconstruction of Optical Fields from Holograms" where the emphasis is on computational modeling, code development and numerical testing. The first two technical utilizations will be for three-dimensional particle image velocimetry for complete measurement of flow fields, and for studying the interaction of marine microorganisms, largely plankton, with their fluid environment.
Increased collaboration among the OE faculty is taking place in the Marine Robotics Laboratory. During the past year the lab was made available for another class of activities related to underwater acoustics. In addition, the space is shared with students of Professors Dick Yue and John Leonard. Professor Milgram has begun setting up apparatus for making holograms, particularly the kind of holograms needed for Holographic Three-Dimensional Particle Image Velocimetry.
Professor Nicholas Patrikalakis is currently involved in coastal safety and coastal zone management issues besides contributing to the solution of outstanding design and manufacturing problems and educating future leaders in the area of non-linear computational geometry and CAD/CAM. In his project, "Model for Ship Transit Risk," his goal has been to develop a statistical model for evaluating the relative risk of ship transit through the nation’s ports and waterways. In his "Poseidon: A Coastal Zone Management System in the WWW", he deals with the creation of a distributed information system for coastal zone management using internet technologies.
Professor Henrik Schmidt’s research in multi-static active acoustics has replaced the Arctic acoustics as the main ONR core funded research. He is developing new numerical models of the 3-D scattering by objects, such as mines and hazardous waste containers, on and below the seabed in shallow water, and the associated scattering and reverberation from the seabed itself. Funding for this project covers the fundamental physics and modeling effort, and the analysis of the Generic Ocean Array Technology Sonar (GOATS) experiments. GOATS is a potential system for measurement of 3-D multi-static acoustic fields that can provide platforms for multi-static sonar concepts. A proposal by Professor Schmidt for a five-year official Joint Research Program (JRP) with SACLANT Undersea Research Centre in Italy towards the development of the GOATS concept for mine countermeasures, has been accepted, and the first joint experiment scheduled for September—October, 2000. This set of experiments focuses on shallow water technology and is sponsored by NATO.
Professors Baggeroer and Makris continued in the positions of SECNAV/CNO Chair and Scholar, respectively, a four year program which began in October 1998.
Along with Professor Baggeroer, Professor Schmidt is involved in the use of acoustics to monitor the long-term development of the ocean temperature to possibly reveal a trend towards global warming. This work is done in collaboration with researchers at Scripps and other institutions, and focuses on the Pacific Ocean.
Professor Schmidt is additionally involved in the development of new multi-disciplinary, multi-scale coastal observation and prediction systems known as Littoral Ocean Observations and Prediction Systems (LOOPS). As one of the PI’s in the Harvard-led LOOPS NOPP (National Oceanographic Partnership Program), Professor Schmidt has been responsible for the acoustic sensing component. Along with Alan Robinson (Harvard) and Professor Patrikalakis (Co-PI), he has played a major role in laying out the overall concept and architecture for an entirely new generation of forecasting capability, with the Poseidon distributed computational framework providing the infrastructure for sensors, platforms and modeling resources.
Professor Michael Triantafyllou continued with his work on the development of biomimetic fish-like robots under the sponsorship of ONR and DARPA, in cooperation with Draper Laboratory, IS Robotics and Electric Boat. He also remains involved with vortex induced vibrations of marine structures (cables and risers) sponsored by ONR and a consortium of oil companies.
Professor Triantafyllou continued with the second phase in the development of a rapidly maneuvering flexible-hull vehicle. This is the continuation of a previous phase which was undertaken with IS Robotics. The "RoboMuskie", presently under construction is being developed as an industrial-strength, fast-maneuvering vehicle. A new
effort entitled "Biomimetic Flapping Foil for Propulsion and Maneuvering", will address theoretically and experimentally basic research issues involved in the fluid mechanics, sensing and control, and actuation of a three-dimensional unsteadily flapping foil employing vorticity control to enhance the underwater agility of rigid-hull marine vehicles. The results of the study will form a basis for the near term development of technology to augment and enhance the capability of existing vehicles. It is envisioned that the flapping foil will be a self-contained thruster device, which can be used to provide the necessary control forces to submersibles and surface ships in rapid maneuvering.
Professor Tomasz Wierzbicki’s "Ultralight" project which involves strength, ductility, and fracture of welds with defects remained the focal point of his research this past year. The arrival of the 200 kN stroke MTS testing machine which was installed in the Impact and Crashworthiness Laboratory last September, is used daily for a number of projects carried out with regard to the Ultralight project. His Tanker Safety project was completed with the final year being devoted to the development of the collision module of the computer program DAMAGE.
Professor Dick Yue continued on a number of long-term research efforts as well as in several new areas of coastal wave dynamics and three-dimensional wave coherence, both of which are relevant to coastal operations. His main research interests lie in the areas of theoretical and computational marine hydrodynamics and applied mechanics.
In the summer of 1999, Professor Henry Marcus was again part of the MIT/Marsoft team teaching a new seminar in Risk Management in Shipping Investment. This seminar was very successful and will be taught again during the summer of 2000. Professor Marcus also developed a new freshman seminar, The Wonders of Ocean Transportation. Two of his established subjects, Management of Marine Systems and International Shipping are undergoing minor modifications with new case studies being written to improve the teaching materials.
Development of the new subject 13.024 , Numerical Marine Hydrodynamics, by Professor Milgram was mainly done in the summer of 1999. This resulted in a set of extensive class notes covering the material presented in the classroom in the Fall of 1999.
Professor Nicholas Patrikalakis, with the assistance of Dr. Takashi Maekawa, has completed his revision and update of the notes for 13.472J, Computational Geometry, a joint program in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Aeronautics and Astronautics. These notes in a new, more comprehensive printed version, form the basis of the new textbook, which has been completed and will be used in the classroom for the first time next spring. This book will impact the educational initiatives of numerous academics around the world as well as eight MIT professors whose research is related to CAD and computer graphics.
Professor Dick Yue is a participant in a proposal entitled "A School-Wide Modular Program for Fluid Dynamics," submitted by C. C. Mei, and selected by the Project I-Campus, a collaborative initiative of MIT and Microsoft Research to conduct research and create new technologies that will set the pace for university education in the next five to ten years. The department is providing support to the project by funding a full teaching assistant for one term.
Together with Professor Wierzbicki and Dr. Burke, Professor Patrikalakis initiated extensive discussions concerning revision of our entire graduate and undergraduate mechanics, structures, materials and fabrication curriculum (including considerable exchanges with Courses 1, 2, 3, and 16 faculty), a process which is still underway in concert with the Undergraduate Committee deliberations.
Our faculty retreat held in December 1999 included an evaluation of our degree requirement, a summary of the objectives of each subject and of opportunities for changes and improvements in our subjects. Several ideas for improvement were proposed.
The doctoral review committee, chaired by Professor Paul Sclavounos, proposed revisions to our Part I Doctoral Exam format which will become effective in FY2001.
A new, 6-unit undergraduate subject, 13.002J, Introduction to Numerical Analysis for Engineers, was taught jointly with Chemical Engineering, as a follow-up to 10.001. This new subject, offered this past spring, is unique at the Institute in terms of providing introduction to numerical analysis and was well received by students.
The acoustics group initiated a reorganization of our curriculum taught jointly with Woods Hole staff. There will be a major restructuring resulting in two key subjects. The first one will merge the material of 13.851 and part of 13.861 into one comprehensive new introductory subject. This will be followed by a new subject in the area of computational and seismo-acoustics which incorporates the remainder of 13.861 and will be offered in the Spring.
Professor Triantafyllou prepared a new term project for 13.49 to simulate the engine-propeller-hull system during maneuvering on ATHENA. In addition, he prepared a laboratory to simulate maneuvering on model scale vehicles. The Testing Tank facility has undergone renovation and expansion which will aid tremendously in both education and research. Three major labs for 13.42 are done here every spring while 13.021 has one major lab every fall. In addition, 13.017 and 13.018 both use the Tank for testing.
Professor Vandiver began a three-year term as the Dean for Undergraduate Research on July 1, 1999. This includes continuing as the Director of UROP and the Director of the Edgerton Center and working closely with the Dean for Students and Undergraduate Education to advance initiatives in undergraduate education.
Redesign of the 13.412 curriculum, integrating computational design into the lecture content, was completed and implemented in the Fall 1999. This included coordination of classroom and computer lab lecture with simultaneous hands-on training to education the students on design impact. The lecture lessons were applied directly to the tools so the student could see the design change to reinforce learning. The integration of computer tools for the 13.412 and 13.405 continues, with the incorporation of a product data model and CAD tool expected for 2000.
The 13A Ship Computational Design Lab was expanded to 10 workstations in 1999. It is planned to expand the lab to 16 workstations, each with room for lecture materials and drawing laying outs during the upcoming fiscal year. The lectures will be performed at the workstations using networked connections and digital projection in the lab. This will be used to teach the students the updated curriculum, as well as provide an integrated design review location for 13.412, 13.413, and 13.414 student projects.
Professors Arthur B. Baggeroer and Nicholas C. Makris continued their second year in the positions of SECNAV/CNO Chair and Scholar, respectively. Each award includes four years of support for one Research Chair and associated Scholar.
Dr. David Burke, Senior Lecturer, taught 13.122, "Ship Structural Analysis and Design." Along with Professor Chryssostomidis, he has been evaluating the Navy’s need for future basic research in the field of Naval Architecture.
Professor Chryssostomos Chryssostomidis continued his involvement in the department’s design lab activities. His sabbatical for Spring Term 2000 provided the opportunity to develop some long-range ideas such as how to best harness information technology in the development and dissemination of scientific information, create new opportunities and partnerships in Naval Architecture education and research, and determine the role of the Department in the modernization of our industry and many others. It is expected that developing these ideas will help the department continue renewing itself.
Professors Justin E. Kerwin and Koichi Masubuchi, although retired, continued with 49% appointments and remain active in teaching, student supervision, and research.
Professor Justin Kerwin was one of three MIT faculty members and 11 alumni elected to the National Academy of Engineering, one of the highest professional distinctions accorded an engineer.
Professors John Leonard and Nicholas Makris were promoted to Associate Professor without Tenure effective July 1, 2000.
Professor Nicholas Makris was awarded the 2000 Doherty Professorship in Ocean Utilization from the MIT Sea Grant College Program. He and Professor Kerry Emanuel of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, were chosen as one of four Edgerly Science Partnership Fund Awards with their project "Tropical Cyclone Mitigation."
Professor Henrik Schmidt served as Acting Department Head during Spring Term 2000.
Professor Michael Triantafyllou appeared on a segment of PBS’s "Scientific American Frontiers" hosted by Alan Alda in a program called "Natural Born Robots" talking about the development of a robotic pike at the MIT Testing Tank.
Professor Dick Yue was named Associate Dean of the School of Engineering.
Benjamin Connell, Yile Li, Craig Martin, and Joshua Wilson were recipients of the MIT Presidential Graduate Fellowships for FY2000.
Katherine Croff received the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) Undergraduate fellowship award for FY2000.
Katherine Croff, and Whitney Conforth were the winners of the SNAME Undergraduate Honor Prize for Student Paper, NE Section Meeting of SNAME, in January 2000.
Purnima Ratilal received the Best Student Paper Award in Underwater Acoustics at the 139th Meeting of the ASA in June, 2000.
Chel Stromgren received the American Bureau of Shipping Scholarship for FY2000.
Alexandra Techet won the Link Foundation Ocean Engineering and Instrumentation Fellowship for the 1999—2000 academic year, which provides financial support towards stipend, publication costs, and research related expenses.
A team of MIT students, (including one from Ocean Engineering) and alumni won the 2nd annual International Underwater Autonomous Vehicle competition held in Panama City, Florida last summer. This marked the second straight year that MIT’s submarine, the ORCA-1, finished first among entries from schools such as the University of Florida, Johns Hopkins University, and the Naval Academy of Annapolis, MD.
The following individuals were awarded the Martin A. Abkowitz International
Fellowship: Dr. Franz Hover for his participation and presentation in June,
2000 of two papers, one at the IUTAMS Symposium on Bluff Body Wakes and Vortex-Induced
Vibrations in Marseille, France and one at the 7th International
Conference on Flow-Induced Vibrations in Lucerne, Switzerland; graduate student,
Alexandra Techet also received a fellowship which she will use to attend the
Fluid Dynamics Meeting of the American Physical Society in Washington, D.C.
The winner of the 2000 Wallace Prize, which is awarded to an outstanding undergraduate in the Department of Ocean Engineering, was Ian McCreery. Ian was selected from a list of extremely qualified candidates and will be provided a full academic year of tuition and stipend.
In October 1999, Professor David A. Mindell presented the fifth annual lecture on "Technology, Archaeology, and the Deep Sea: Current Research and Future Directions." Professor Mindell is the Frances and David Dibner Assistant Professor in the History of Technology in the program in Science, Technology, and Society, at MIT.
On May 23—24, 2000, the annual Ship Design and Shipbuilding Technology Symposium, part of a series of symposia and workshops established in 1986, was hosted by the Department of Ocean Engineering at the MIT Faculty Club. This symposium is held to establish and maintain positive communication with industry, Navy Laboratories and Navy programs on research and education issues relevant to the Naval Construction and Engineering curriculum. The 13A graduate Students presented their theses, and six design projects. One of these focused on developing the 21st century strategic sealift ship (FS-21) to satisfy the Army’s strategic sealift needs. Another study examined conversion of FFG7 class ships to serve as dedicated mine countermeasures (MCM) ships to operate with deployed naval forces. This ship conversion is called the Near-Term Organic Mine Countermeasures Ship (NMCM). The luncheon speaker, Dr. Owen Cote of the MIT Security Studies Program, spoke about Military Innovation. The banquet speaker was RADM Roland Knapp who spoke on PEO Aircraft Carriers. Over 100 people from academia, industry and the government attended this annual event.
A model of the 1903 America’s Cup winner, Reliance, now occupies a place of honor in the Hart Nautical Gallery. An event to celebrate the model’s arrival was held on October 29, 1999. Reliance, designed by Nathaniel G. Herreshoff (1869), was 144 feet long on deck and carried an immense 16,200 square feet of sails, more sail area than any single-masted vessel ever built. The four-and-a-half-foot model, built by Richard "Frenchy" DeVynck, portrays a racing yacht about two months before launching. Funds for the project were donated by Jack and Mary Dema who in turn credit the project to Kurt Hasselbalch, curator of the Hart Nautical Collections.
Our 20th annual reunion was held at the Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel in Baltimore, MD on September 30, 1999. Professor Chryssostomos Chryssostomidis served as the host at the reception, which was extremely well attended by alumni, faculty, and guests.
A major revision of the departmental research brochure is underway highlighting the department’s educational and research progress. In addition, the department has started preparation for the ABET review which is due in the Fall of 2001.
Planning continues for the Centennial celebration of the commencement of the XIII-A program at MIT. In 1901 the Navy assigned a small, highly-selected group of officers to MIT for an intensive program in Naval Construction and Engineering. This began a long history of the department providing the core engineering capability for the technical leadership of the US Navy that continues today. A major event will mark this anniversary.
More information about this Department can be found on the World Wide Web at http://oe.mit.edu/.
Chryssostomos Chryssostomidis
MIT Reports to the President 1999–2000