Webb Institute Featured in The Princeton Review’s “Best 387 Colleges” Guide for 2022
Webb Institute is one of the nation’s best institutions for undergraduates according to The Princeton Review. The education services company profiles and recommends Webb Institute in the 2022 edition of its annual college guide, The Best 387 Colleges (Penguin Random House, August 31, 2021, $24.99).
Only about 14% of America’s 2,700 four-year colleges are profiled in the book, which is one of The Princeton Review’s most popular publications. The company chooses the colleges for the book based on data it annually collects from administrators at hundreds of colleges about their institutions’ academic offerings. The Princeton Review also considers data it gathers from its surveys of college students at the colleges who rate and report on various aspects of their campus and community experiences.
“We salute Webb Institute for its outstanding academics and we are genuinely pleased to recommend it to prospective applicants searching for their ‘best-fit’ college,” said Rob Franek, The Princeton Review’s Editor-in-Chief and lead author of The Best 387 Colleges.
In the profile on Webb, The Princeton Review editors praise the student body for “all one hundred students at Webb Institute are driven by two loves: engineering and ships.” Quotes from Webb students the company surveyed for the book include these comments: “invested professors seek to support students both academically and personally”, warm relations with alumni results in donations and job opportunities for Webb”, and “At Webb, you are one percent of the school, which means everyone goes through so much together and it follows that everyone is very independent and trustworthy.”
The Princeton Review does not rank the colleges in the book from 1 to 387. For this, the 30th-anniversary edition of the book, the company curated “Great Lists” of colleges in 26 categories. The lists name the colleges that have had a distinctive history of appearances on the ranking lists in past editions of the book over the years. Some of the “Great List” categories are: “Great Financial Aid,” “Great Career Services” and “Great-Run Colleges.” Each list names 16-29 colleges in alphabetical (not ranked) order.
Webb is on the following “Great Lists” in “The Best 387 Colleges”: Best Northeastern, Best Value Colleges, Great Professor Accessibility, and Students Study the Most.
In a “Survey Says” sidebar in the book’s profile on Webb, The Princeton Review lists topics that Webb students were in most agreement about in their answers to The Princeton Review’s survey questions. The list includes: “students are happy,” “classroom facilities are great,” and internships are widely available.”
The Princeton Review’s school profiles and 26 “Great Lists” inThe Best 387 Colleges are posted at www.princetonreview.com/best385 where they can be searched for free with site registration.
The Best 387 Colleges is one of 150 Princeton Review books in a line published by Penguin Random House. It has been featured on NBC “TODAY” more than a dozen times and referenced by reporters in publications from Inside Higher Education to The Wall Street Journal.
The Princeton Review (www.PrincetonReview.com) is an education services company known for its tutoring, test-prep courses, books, and other student resources. Headquartered in New York, NY, it is not affiliated with Princeton University.
About The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review®, is a leading tutoring, test prep, and college admission services company. Every year, it helps millions of college- and graduate school-bound students achieve their education and career goals through online and in-person courses delivered by a network of more than 4,000 teachers and tutors, online resources, and its more than 150 print and digital books published by Penguin Random House. The company’s Tutor.com brand is one of the largest online tutoring services in the U.S. It comprises a community of thousands of tutors who have delivered nearly 21 million one-to-one tutoring sessions. The Princeton Review is headquartered in New York, NY. The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University. For more information, visit PrincetonReview.com and the company’s Media Center. Follow the company on Twitter (@ThePrincetonRev) and Instagram (@theprincetonreview).
How Many Webbies Does it Take…
by T.J. Brackin ’16
The past year has brought more surprises than any of us could imagine. For many of us, work transitioned to something done from the comfort of our living rooms, rather than in our offices. But for some of us, call us the lucky few if you’d like, our work can’t always be done from home.
This is particularly true when that work includes visiting a ship. In February of this year, a team from Bruce S. Rosenblatt & Associates, LLC (BSR) performed a Deadweight Survey and Inclining Experiment of the hospital ship USNS Mercy. The Mercy is one of two hospital ships owned by the U.S. Government. Many of you probably saw news stories about the Mercy’s trip to Los Angeles to serve as a hospital during the early days of the pandemic. Considering the audience of this article, I suspect that many of you know what I mean when I say “Deadweight Survey and Inclining,” but I’ll give a brief overview just to be safe. The term “deadweight survey” describes the process of inspecting every space aboard a ship, and cataloging the contents – the weight and location of each item – of that space. This, as you might imagine, is rather time-consuming. Then there’s the inclining, which involves moving a series of very heavy weights back and forth across the ship to measure the ship’s stability. Combined, we call these two events a Stability Test.
For any ship, a stability test requires a lot of effort. But for a ship the size of the Mercy, “a lot” doesn’t even begin to cover it. The Mercy can carry more than 2,200 people at full capacity, and at 894 feet, is one of the largest ships the U.S. government owns. So, as you might imagine, BSR needed a little help to pull off such a massive undertaking. Fortunately for us, the timing of the stability test coincided with the Winter Work Term at Webb. Of course, BSR and Webb are certainly not strangers. At the moment, BSR has eight recent graduates on its staff: Andy Thompson ’15, T.J. Brackin ’16, Blake Loncharich ’18, L.J. Bock ’20, Mary McGuinness ’20, Rocky Regan ’20, Harrison Tack ’20, and Mike DeNapoli ’20. For the Mercy task, BSR’s staff was bolstered by three current Webb Students: Cross Weeks ’21, who will be joining the company post-graduation; Gabe Allen ’23; and Eric Heilshorn ’23, bringing us to a grand total of 11. Together, this unprecedented concentration of Webb talent tackled the Mercy Stability Test.
At this point, I’m hoping I’ve convinced you just how much effort went into this endeavor, but just in case you don’t believe me, I have some numbers to help make my case (in true engineer fashion). The first number is time spent. All in, the BSR team spent a combined 176 working days aboard the Mercy, which works out to more than two weeks per person. In that time, the team surveyed 842 different spaces aboard the ship. We documented everything from toilet paper to CPR dummies to spare electric motors. If it was aboard the ship we surveyed it, and in some cases, we even surveyed things that weren’t on the ship. When all was said and done, the BSR Team had surveyed 2,020,480 lbs. of weight aboard the Mercy. For comparison, that’s approximately the weight of five Boeing 747 airliners. Suffice to say that all of us were pretty exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel each evening!
Then there’s the inclining. We had to coordinate with the ship and shipyard to have huge steel weights brought aboard, have tugs available to maneuver the ship away from the pier, cranes to move the weights during the test, and a small boat in the water alongside to take draft readings. Data collection stations had to be set up. And we had to have mother nature give us a calm weather day. Somehow, after months of planning, the test was successfully completed.
But, in true Webb fashion, we made sure we weren’t too tired to have one or two socially-distanced social gatherings while we were there as well. Despite having a team that spanned almost a 10-year range in graduating classes, there’s something about the Webb family that binds us and made the experience feel like we’d all known each other for years. I’m sure I speak for the entire team when I say that it was an experience we won’t soon forget!
This article is also available on Webb News.
The Brocket Arms Pub Gets a Facelift
by Gailmarie Sujecki (Hon.)
How the Pub Came to Be
Through the academic year of 1971-72, Charlie Finegan (then Plant Superintendent) and his crew were busy building a new student pub in the basement of Stevenson Taylor Hall. With the completion of the new J. J. Henry Auditorium in the spring of 1971, the lecture hall located in the area that had formerly been a bowling alley was no longer necessary. As soon as it had become apparent that this area would be available, Admiral Brockett, responding to requests he had received from several students, had plans drawn up for the installation of an English-style student pub in the space.
Originally the pub was planned as a Parents’ Fund project. A watercolor rendering was prepared and displayed during Parents’ Day and Alumni Homecoming. It was at the Alumni Homecoming that Mr. Leslie Durant ’39 saw the rendering. He and his wife suggested that they would like to help with making the pub a reality. Not having heard anything, Admiral Brockett called Mr. Durant who in turn told him, “We’ve got them started at the joinery in England, send them some dimensions.” Brockett was delighted, however, when Leslie Durant looked at the plans and offered on the spot to pay the full cost, which meant that construction would start immediately. Mr. Durant agreed to the donation with one condition – that the name would remain the same: The Brocket Arms Pub. Admiral Brockett, a man with a sense of humor agreed.
Les Durant modeled our Pub after the Brocket Arms Pub in the UK. The British firm supplied all the lumber already cut to size and ready to assemble. The entire pre-fab pub arrived in the fall of 1971, all in a single forty-foot box weighing several tons. The box was unloaded and work began. By the end of the spring 1972 semester, the pub was nearly finished, though it was not ready for operation until the following fall.
Mr. Durant had furniture sent from Peru, and the old Webb pool table was rebuilt. When it was decided that the furniture was not appropriate for the English pub setting, Mr. Durant sent a check for new furniture. The old furniture found its way into the upper classrooms. Also sent were various befitting antique decorations. But something was still missing in the eyes of the students. Ah yes, a sound system! Mr. Durant once again came through with a substantial donation earmarked for The Brocket Arms Pub sound system.
Modern Day Improvements
During the winter of 2021, Kirk Lehman P’22 spearheaded a renovation of the pub, recognizing how special this space is for the Webb family, especially for current students. In addition to his generous cash gift, Mr. Lehman gifted new oak flooring, moldings, and his time and energy spent staining the moldings, arranging for the purchase and installation of a new pool table. To help underwrite the cost of the renovations, Webb trustees, alumni, and past parents joined Mr. Lehman by making generous contributions to complete the project. We want to give special thanks to Richard Celotto ’73, Nolan Conway ’15, Hampton Dixon ’11, Katherine Dixon P’11, Jay Edgar ’87, John Hootman ’01, Andrew Ko ’16, Jon LaBerge ’76, John Malone ’71, Mark Martecchini ’79, Keith Michel ’73, Gene Miller ’96, and Wombi Rose ’09 for their generosity!
Reference Material: The Centennial History of Webb Institute; Fall 1973 Binnacle, and Professor Emeritus, Rick Neilson ’70.
Article as seen in Webb News 2021.
Adrian Onas: Inspiring the New Generation of Webbies to Participate in the SNAME T&R Program
Dr. Adrian S. Onas is a Naval Architect with over 25 years of ship design, operation, and research experience in the maritime industry and academia. His experience includes a 15-year career with DNV, followed by an ongoing academic appointment as Professor of Naval Architecture and Director of the Circulating Water Channel at Webb Institute since 2011. Dr. Onas’ interests include extreme events in nonlinear systems, biomimetics, theoretical and computational hydromechanics, and innovative ship design. Dr. Onas holds a Ph.D. in Ocean Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology. He is a member of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME), the Royal Institution of Naval Architects (RINA), and the International Hydrofoil Society (IHS).
Professor Onas is the new Chair of the SNAME T&R Hydrodynamics Committee, within which he also leads the Seakeeping Characteristics Panel (H-07). He is now a member of the SNAME Council and SNAME T&R Steering Committee. Prof. Onas is also a member of the SNAME T&R Marine Forensics Committee. While he is excited about these new opportunities to contribute to SNAME in a meaningful way, he also feels that Webb students and alumni need to learn more about the SNAME T&R Program and potentially join one of its panels sometimes after graduation. He thinks it is a most rewarding experience to contribute by improving the technical knowledge base to assist the naval architecture and marine engineering community in designing safer ships, while reducing the impact on our environment.
SNAME has had a long tradition of spearheading programs that helped refine our understanding of how marine vehicles and offshore structures respond to their operating environment through quality research in several key disciplines. The importance of encouraging and sponsoring research is clearly outlined in SNAME’s mission. Such research activities have been carried out through SNAME’s Technical and Research (T&R) Program.
According to SNAME’s website, “The Society encourages and sponsors maritime research into areas of the ocean sciences by means of the Technical and Research (T&R) Program, with particular emphasis on marine vehicles and offshore structures. The T&R Program consists of ten T&R Committees, each dedicated to a general area of research. T&R Panels serve as subcommittees of each T&R Committee, to provide more focused research into defined areas.”
SNAME T&R program, with its ten committees, comprises a total of 72 panels, including one ad-hoc panel and two sub-committees. Here is a list of SNAME T&R committees and current chairs:
- Hydrodynamics (H); Chair: Adrian S. Onas, Webb Institute
- Hull Structure (HS); Chair: Roger I. Basu, Roger Basu & Associates Inc.
- Ship’s Machinery (M); Chair: Richard D. Delpizzo, American Bureau of Shipping (ABS)
- Operations, Safety and Economics (OSE): Chair: Peter K. Wallace, SeaOne Holdings, LLC.
- Offshore (OC); Chair: Alberto C. Morandi, Gusto MSC
- Environmental Engineering (EC); Chair: Eleanor K. Nick Kirtley, Green Marine
- Ship Design (SD); Chair: Robert G. Keane, Jr., Ship Design, USA, Inc.
- Marine Forensics (MF); Chair: William H. Garzke, Jr., CACI
- Small Craft (SC); Chair: Christopher D. Barry, USCG SFLC
- Ship Production – NSRP (SP); Chair: Donald M. Hamadyk, Newport News Shipbuilding
The organization chart of the SNAME T&R Program is shown in Figure 1 below.
The T&R Program provides an opportunity to SNAME members who are interested in sharing their expertise to advance research and help publish their results in the form of bulletins and technical reports. Due to recent improvements of the SNAME portal, virtually all published T&R bulletins or technical report can now be accessed for a nominal fee. The big challenge, of course, is to attract passionate SNAME members with the right expertise that can find the time to volunteer in the T&R Program. This is required by the high standard historically set by SNAME in the bulletins and reports published by the T&R committees. Such bulletins are used extensively by the industry, academia and often considered when regulatory requirements are updated. However, in the case of the Hydrodynamics Committee, although 44 bulletins were published between 1947-1993, the most recent is Bulletin 1-44, “Design Workbook on Ship Maneuverability”, (1993, 260 pages).
The SNAME T&R Hydrodynamics Committee is presenting much needed new material now and is in the process of drafting two new bulletins: (1) CFD-Informed Maneuvering Model for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) by D. Njaka, S. Brizzolara and D. Stilwell, editor A. Onas (CFD Marine Panel, H-11); (2) Hydrodynamic Loading of Marine Vehicles by A. Onas et al; (Seakeeping Characteristics Panel, H-07). The hydrodynamics committee is planning to add new panels soon, including Biomimetics and Extreme Events.
The Hydrodynamics Committee held its kick-off webinar on May 7, 2021, titled “Seakeeping in Modern Ship Design”. It was presented by Prof. Onas and Mr. Bastien Abeil (MARIN). The webinar included a brief review of the theory of seakeeping, and a summary of the problems encountered in modern commercial ship design and operation. The supporting case study presented the findings of a series of model tests performed at MARIN in bathymetric and metocean conditions representative of those encountered by the Ultra-Large Containership MSC Zoe. Her accident occurred off the coast of the Netherlands in early 2019 and caused the loss of an estimated 345 containers, producing heavy of an IMO designated Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA), Fig. 2.
It was found that although ships are designed to avoid low transverse stability, excessively high stability can also lead to hazardous situations (MSC Zoe’s beam is 59m). Large transverse metacentric heights can cause the ship to experience roll resonance in beam seas. Combined ship motions can then induce accelerations on deck and container stacks that exceed design values, which otherwise would be considered well within safety margins by classification societies. In addition, such resonance events are producing contact with the seabed in shallow waters, as it was clearly demonstrated experimentally in the seakeeping basin at MARIN (see Fig. 3).
The dynamic stability failure mode called parametric rolling, was mainly found to affect container ships with more conventional (reduced) stability and varying waterplane areas in incident waves. Feeders seem to be increasingly affected by this dynamic stability failure mode, with the smallest of the three scale models shown in Fig. 3. Parametric roll can also yield accelerations on container stacks that are far beyond the design limits of lashing equipment.
In this webinar, a brief overview of the work currently under progress was given in which the motion response of smaller ship sizes (Feeder and Panamax classes) in the North Sea is put under scrutiny. SNAME members can watch the video of the webinar “Seakeeping in Modern Ship Design” by logging on the SNAME webinar library at https://www.sname.org/webinar-library-load-video/1955).
As described on their website, Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN) “is a globally recognized top institute for hydrodynamic and nautical research.”
This article is also available on Webb News.
Alumni Spotlight: David H. Collins ’73, Pastor, Sea Cliff Gospel Chapel
by Gailmarie Sujecki (Hon.)
This unassuming and kindly gentleman has had an impact on the spirituality of students, past and current, and, I am sure, will continue to do so well into the future. David Collins ’73 and his wife, Meryl, have opened their home to students for years, as a chance to get off campus and decompress in a relaxing environment.
Growing up in Massachusetts, he enjoyed engineering, old wooden ships, and technology. It was a guidance counselor who introduced him to Webb Institute of Naval Architecture. He did apply to other schools, but Webb won his heart, so off to Glen Cove he headed. The rigors of a Webb education are demanding, but assembling other students for a game of volleyball at 1:00 am was not unheard of. There was one night that he needed another outlet. As a senior, Dave was aware of a student prayer time in the faculty dining room. Through them, he found God’s help in dealing with the stress of senior year. It was then and there that he started his spiritual journey. At the Webb Centennial, classmate Rich Celotto said, as he welcomed Dave, “You’re still a naval architect, just a spiritual naval architect helping people craft lives to weather the storms of life.”
Upon his graduation he went to work for George G. Sharp, Inc. in New York City for two years and then decided he wanted a better understanding of the Bible, so he took a leave of absence to pursue a degree in Religious Education for a year. He returned to George G. Sharp but was working with young people at church, prompting his return to seminary where he ended up with Master of Divinity at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
Pastor Collins returned to the Sea Cliff Gospel Chapel to do his internship, where he had been attending while at Webb. At this time, at a young adult gathering, he met his wife, Meryl, in the living room of the house they now live in – that was in June of 1977; by Christmas, they were engaged and then married in August of 1978. Dave was called to Pastor the Sea Cliff Gospel Chapel in 1978, where he has been ever since.
The crossover between engineering and the ministry runs deep in his family. His father was a mechanical engineer (Navy pilot) and then joined the ministry; one son is a civil engineer; another son is in the ministry in Pittsburgh; and his foster son, who they took in as a high school student, is a successful car salesman.
It was in the early 1980s that Pastor Collins began providing spiritual guidance to Webb students. And he has done so as students have requested help. His Church Service is available on Facebook service, and daily devotionals are posted there. Anchor Club has lately been reaching out to the Webb community with pizza and dialogue.
Matt Graham ’14 is so glad to hear the Anchor Club is still thriving! Matt named the group after Hebrews 6:19, and it definitely helped keep him stay partially sane. “Dave gave some great tips on how to lead bible studies and helped him learn how to form/ask good discussion questions. Dave attended almost all of them and often brought some great snacks. Dave also met with several students one-on-one, which really helped him. He really appreciated all the time Dave invested in us. Thanks, Dave!”
He has been meeting virtually twice a week with students for bible study/prayer time. During freshman orientation he invites the class to explore their spirituality, challenging them to fill out the other side of their lives. He has been with the Chapel for 43 years. In addition, he has presented the benediction and invocation at Commencement and blessed many a meal at on-campus events. He is always willing and able to help in any way possible, including cheering on the Webbies at athletic events, as well as individual counseling as requested.
He feels students must develop more than just engineering knowledge. We need to care for our whole being, mind, body, and spirit. Webb stretches our minds. We need to also take care of our bodies, which sports, and other activities help. Then there is our spirit, which is easy to neglect in the stress of the Webb educational environment, connecting with a local house of worship, and Anchor Club can help us fill out that side of our being.
Spirituality: the quality of being concerned with the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things.
David Rhoton ’87: “Pastor Collins is remembered as a friendly, supportive kind of a guy you could talk to about anything and receive a balanced, well-reflected response from, and if I were to go back in time and give myself some advice, it would include being more proactive about meeting with him and talking through some of my inner struggles and concerns much more openly.”
Jackson Juska ’21: “Pastor Collins has also gone above and beyond in expanding the views and values of the students in Anchor Club. His true wish to draw people together, even people of other faiths or spiritual backgrounds, is evident in his invitations to dinners and barbecues at his house or by encouraging and supporting the Webbies in serving the less fortunate of Glen Cove. It is safe to say, Pastor Collins has helped many students thrive through the rigors of Webb.”
Hank Rouland ’21 feels that Dave Collins’ impact has been profound, an invaluable and enduring source of encouragement for students seeking to take their faith seriously. Dave Collins’ unassuming and unfaltering faithfulness, care, and hospitality have modeled Christ’s character to generations of Webb students.
Dan Desio ’21: “Pastor Collins is a kind and loving person who provides wonderful insight to anyone that asks.”