Ship design is focus of MIT celebration

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.— Over 200 MIT faculty, students, alumni, officers in the US Navy, and members of industry will discuss the future of ship design and current research in that area at a two-day symposium celebrating the 100th anniversary of MIT's program in Naval Construction and Engineering.

The Ship Design and Shipbuilding Technology Symposium, to be held Thursday and Friday April 19-20, will include a panel on maintaining technological supremacy in ship design and the educational and research opportunities to that end. Panelists are the Chief of Naval Research, the Program Executive Officer for Aircraft Carriers, the Program Manager for the USS Virginia (the Navy's new attack submarine), a Vice President of General Dynamics/Electric Boat Co., the head of MIT's Department of Ocean Engineering, and the director of MIT Security Studies.

Other symposium events include a talk by Professor William McBride of the US Naval Academy on "Technological Change and United States Navy," and ten presentations on specific areas of research. The latter will be given by teams of MIT faculty and Naval officers on topics ranging from propulsion systems for submarines to the design of ship hulls.

Dinner speakers Thursday evening are President Charles M. Vest of MIT and Admiral Frank (Skip) Bowman, director of Naval Nuclear Propulsion.

MIT's graduate program in Naval Construction and Engineering is intended for active duty officers in the US Navy, US Coast Guard, and foreign Navies who specialize in the design, construction, and repair of naval ships.

The two MIT professors in the program are active-duty Naval officers. Currently there are 19 US Navy officer students in the program. Other students are from the US Coast Guard (two), the Hellenic Navy (four), and the Chilean Navy (two). Officer students are admitted, and Navy faculty members are appointed, through normal MIT procedures. The program is a model of voluntary collaboration for the mutual benefit of MIT and the Navy.