by Dean Matthew R. Werner ’95, PG’97

After a two-year hiatus resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, Webb’s Summer Engineering Academy (SEA) restarted for the summer 2022. This year’s single two-week session hosted a full complement of twenty-four high school age participants and immersed them in engineering through lectures, design-build projects, competitions, and more. Professor Golden took the lead on this year’s program which included a variety of new design-build-test exercises and a field trip to visit FDNY fireboats at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge. As is tradition, the program ended with participant teams competing in the Long Island Sound with boats that they designed and built as family members watched and cheered them on. The overall program was a great success despite the hot and humid weather conditions and a few sunk boats.

Registration for the SEA 2023 will begin after the new year. Information and registration materials will be posted on webb.edu. The limited number of spots are sure to fill up fast, so spread the word to any potential participants.

Aboard the Desperado by Abner Mills ’24

My Experience on Desperado for the Newport to Bermuda Race was very different from Zach’s on Groupe 5. We sailed with 12 people with a set of 3 watch groups and a Navigator that was separate from the watch system.

On a distance race like N2B, it’s very common that you will spend time in every role at one point or another. I am usually a bowman, and I very much did take part in the majority of the sail changes but I also spent a lot of time trimming sails and driving the boat. The first day of the race was miserable weather, it was very lumpy seas and loads of rain which tested my stomach for sure. The following day leading up to the gulf stream had high winds and decent waves for surfing. We were seeing boat speeds in the high teens very often and I believe our max boat speed was 23kts. We had to gybe out before the gulf stream to avoid the adverse current but after a few hours, we were heading to Bermuda again.

On the morning of our last day, the breeze started to die down and the rest of our race was a bit slower. We finally got in after an elapsed time of 73 hours 51 minutes and 22 seconds. Zach may have a better telling of the conditions than I, he is better at remembering those details, also they were in relatively close proximity for a good majority of the race.
We ended up coming 2nd in the Gibbs Hill Professional Division and 1st in Class 18 for this Race, quite the showing for a student-filled boat.

Sailing Background

• Offshore Team Co-Captain along with Zach Doerr.
• I first learned to sail by taking the small boat sailing merit badge at boy scout summer camp.
• In order to continue sailing and learn more, I found a group called the Cayuga Lake Cruising Fleet. I would have to travel an hour and a half one way to be able to sail every weekend. I sailed a Tanzer 25 usually in a mixed fleet of around 5 to 8 other boats. My boat did okay usually.
• Since starting at Webb I have logged over 3500nm.
• Most of my Webb sailing has been on Figaro 2’s with my 2nd semester of sophomore year including much more sailing on Desperado for races such as Vineyard (Fall semester), AYC Spring Race Series, EDLU, Block Island Race, Newport – Bermuda Race.
• Over the summer between freshman and sophomore year, I stayed on campus with a few others and raced in the Block Island Race Week, Around Long Island Race, and many other races on the Long Island Sound.

Aboard the Figaro 2 by Zachary Doerr ’24

I sailed on a modified Figaro 2 in the Double Handed Division with my coach Vlad Shablinsky. The start for us was amazing conditions. We had a small upwind portion while leaving Newport before it became a tight jib reach in around 18-20 knots of wind from the southwest.

Within two or three hours, however, the wind shut off. At this point, we had fairly large leftover swells making the boat quite miserable to be on. These conditions lasted the rest of the first day. We did a lot of sail changes in the light and fluky conditions as a cold front passed over us.

After the front passed in the middle of the first night, the wind began to fill in beautifully from the northwest at 20 knots. We put up our running spinnaker, which we carried for the rest of the race. The waves built and there was a lot of good surfing opportunities. The top boat speeds going down waves was typically 16-20 knots, with a top speed for the race of 21 knots. Throughout the second day, it increased in strength as we approached the Gulf Stream. At the Gulf Stream, we gybed into a southeast moving eddy and stayed with it for most of the second night. We had some serious squalls with winds into the low 30 knot range. We carried our big spinnaker the entire time, and Vlad and I both worked hard that night to keep the boat upright.

As morning approached, the wind steadied at around 25 knots, and after exiting the Gulf Stream we gybed onto starboard tack again, and decided to sail low, keeping east of the Rhumb line. As the third day went on, the wind began to shift right and eventually to slowly die during the third night. We were lifted nicely to Bermuda and had to throw in just a few gybes within sight of the island. We finished on our fourth day at sea in about 10-12 knots of wind with an elapsed time of 77 hours, 41 minutes, and 22 seconds. We ended up correcting five hours ahead of our nearest competitor in the double handed division and nearly eleven hours ahead of the next boat in our class, taking first place in both class and division.

Sailing Background

• Offshore Team Co-Captain along with Abner Mills
• From Butler, PA
• Learned to sail first on my dad’s Capri 22, he sold that and bought a Cal 24 which I continued to learn on. I then started sailing sunfish and eventually Hobie 16s as well. I also had some experience with J80s and Flying Scots before Webb. Most sailing was done on a small lake in PA with a little bit of Great Lakes sailing and Chesapeake Bay sailing as well.
• I have done several regattas on the Figaro 2s, and have done Around Long Island Race 2021, Vineyard Race 2021, Block Island Race 2022, Newport Bermuda Race 2022, and Bermuda Short Handed Return 2022 on Groupe 5.
• Like AJ, I also stayed on campus last summer.

by Juliette Lehman ’22

Webb Institute was a first time competitor in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Marine Energy Collegiate Competition (MECC), which is hosted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The MECC requires participating teams to complete a technical design, business plan, and financial analysis of a particular marine energy solution. Teams are also required to participate in various forms of community outreach to increase understanding and interest of marine energy.

The Webb MECC team also completed the optional Build and Test portion of the competition. The team was comprised of seven students: Juliette Lehman ’22, Sasha Kritsuk ’22, Luke Kiely ’22, Minh Tran ’22, Adriana Torres-Rodriguez ’23, Si Cong Chen ’23, and Rebecca Ashmore ’25, and was advised
by Professors Michael Martin and Richard Royce.
The team submitted their report, “An Oscillating Water Column Wave Energy Converter for Small-Scale Disaster Relief” along with a poster and presentation of the research. This research was then presented to a panel of industry professionals.

The Build and Test portion of the project was taken from Juliette Lehman ’22 and Sasha Kritsuk’s ’22 thesis, The Design, Construction, and Testing of an Oscillating Water Column Wave Energy Converter. Financial analyses were performed based on Luke Kiely’s ’22 thesis, A Feasibility Study of the Installation and Operation of a Floating Offshore Windfarm in the United States. The focus of the technical design was to create a simple, cost-effective oscillating water column that could generate enough power to operate an ambulatory health-care facility and desalination plant. The business plan targeted areas that are particularly susceptible to frequent natural disasters.

For its community engagement, the Webb team worked hard to create educational materials and kits for young students, host and attend community events, and interact with industry professionals. Professor Bradley Golden connected the team with the Girl Scouts of America, who visited Webb to learn about wave energy and build their own model oscillating water column! The team also attended the Brooklyn Boatworks Launch Day, where students also built and interacted with their own wave energy converters. Adriana Torres-Rodriguez ’23 and Si Cong Chen ’23 attended Water Power Week to gain an understanding of the elements important to creating a business model for wave energy converters.
The team was excited to receive awards for both Best Outreach and Community Engagement and First Place Overall. While the team was thrilled to perform so well in its first year of competing, there was also much to learn from this first year. This competition not only provided resources and funding for research but was also a wonderful opportunity for Webb Institute to form an inter-class team of students. This year’s team is excited to hear that another Webb team has been approved for next year’s competition and we wish them the best of luck!

More information about the team can be found on webbmecc.wordpress.com!

Designers: Jack Kirk, Kira Shaw, Cole Matthes, Deck Uttmark

Vessel Type: Seismic Survey Vessel

Vessel Mission: The primary objective of the Porpoise is to investigate the formation of rocks, oceanographic trenches, and other subsea geology that could affect the lives of humans and the marine environment through seismic survey.

Technical Specifications:
LOA: 84.7m
LWL: 80.7m
Beam: 18m
Design Draft: 6.5m
Depth: 18.3m
Design Speed: 12kts
Survey Speed: 4.5kts
Capacity: 40 people
Endurance: 60 days, 8,000 nm
Service life: 30 years
80MT Bollard Pull

View Presentation

Visit our Junior Class Small Vessel Design Project page to view all of this year’s projects.

About Junior Class Small Vessel Design Project (SD1):

As a part of Professor Bradley D.M. Golden’s ’99 Ship Design 1 (SD1) class, the juniors spent the first two-and-a-half months of the spring semester preparing their first complete concept designs.

Using the knowledge they’ve gained in their nearly three years studying at Webb and the experiences from their winter work periods to date, this was the students’ first opportunity to apply the naval architecture and marine engineering principles they’ve studied including stability, ship’s structures, main machinery systems, auxiliary systems, resistance and propulsion, and electrical engineering.

Working in small groups of three and four, the students selected one of the vessel types and took their first couple of spins around the design spiral to prepare vessel concept designs. To help make the project as realistic as possible, members of industry familiar with each of the vessel types helped prepare the statements of design requirements that each of the designs had to meet. To challenge the students even further, one or two “curveballs” were thrown into each design statement to make the students think long and hard about how they would achieve their objectives.

At the end of the spring semester, the students presented their final designs to their fellow students, faculty, and members of industry who served as part of an evaluation team. After three years at Webb, the Junior class can now say with confidence that they’re familiar with the design process and are well on their way to joining the fields of naval architecture and marine engineering.

Webb Institute has been selected as a 2023 Best College in the U.S. by College Raptor, a leading college planning platform that helps families discover college matches driven by AI algorithms to find the best colleges at the best price.

Webb Institute was ranked:

#20 in Top 25 Best Small Colleges
#23 in Top 25 Best Mid-East Colleges

This selection recognizes Webb Institute as a leading institution in the country based on a combination of factors including the school’s graduation rates, campus diversity, endowment per student, and other key metrics as reported via the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) for the most recently available enrollment year.

“Since 2015, we’ve carefully assembled our lists each year to highlight the best schools in different categories to help families get started in the discovery process,” said Bill Staib, College Raptor’s CEO. “Webb has shown dedication to academic excellence. We are proud to highlight them.”

College Raptor’s full methodology is outlined here.

About College Raptor, Inc.

College Raptor® is the most evolved, accurate, and comprehensive college search site with tools to empower students, parents, counselors, and colleges with college planning. College Raptor is the only college search platform that enables students and families to discover quality, affordable college options based on personalized estimates of financial aid, scholarships, academic match, and acceptance odds at every 4-year college in the country. More than 25 million students and families have used College Raptor to find cost-effective, academically appropriate college options that prepare them for future careers. For more information, visit CollegeRaptor.com.

Designers: Jonathan Allen, Eric Heilshorn, Spencer Margosian, Kasey Kennedy

Vessel Type: Expedition Cruise Ship

Vessel Mission:
The Steve Irwin is a vessel capable of bringing you to the edges of civilization to experience adventures the untouched world has to offer. From snorkeling in the Galapagos to polar plunges in the Arctic, guests simultaneously experience luxury and explore the unknown while accompanied by revered experts in the fields of photography and exploration.

Characteristics and Features:

Passenger (double berths) [150 total]
• 9 Premium Cabins
• 10 Plus Cabins
• 52 Standard Cabins

Crew Accommodations [110 total]
• 24 Single Berths (including Chief Engineer and Master cabins)
• 18 additional single berths capable of conversion to passenger cabins
• 34 Double Berths

Length (Overall): 120 m
Beam (Overall): 20 m
Draft: 5 m
Displacements
• Lightship: 6,200 MT
• Arrival: 8,884 MT
• Departure: 10,714 MT
Design Speed: 15 kts
Cruising Speed: 13 kts•Length (Overall): 120 m

View Presentation

Visit our Junior Class Small Vessel Design Project page to view all of this year’s projects.

About Junior Class Small Vessel Design Project (SD1):

As a part of Professor Bradley D.M. Golden’s ’99 Ship Design 1 (SD1) class, the juniors spent the first two-and-a-half months of the spring semester preparing their first complete concept designs.

Using the knowledge they’ve gained in their nearly three years studying at Webb and the experiences from their winter work periods to date, this was the students’ first opportunity to apply the naval architecture and marine engineering principles they’ve studied including stability, ship’s structures, main machinery systems, auxiliary systems, resistance and propulsion, and electrical engineering.

Working in small groups of three and four, the students selected one of the vessel types and took their first couple of spins around the design spiral to prepare vessel concept designs. To help make the project as realistic as possible, members of industry familiar with each of the vessel types helped prepare the statements of design requirements that each of the designs had to meet. To challenge the students even further, one or two “curveballs” were thrown into each design statement to make the students think long and hard about how they would achieve their objectives.

At the end of the spring semester, the students presented their final designs to their fellow students, faculty, and members of industry who served as part of an evaluation team. After three years at Webb, the Junior class can now say with confidence that they’re familiar with the design process and are well on their way to joining the fields of naval architecture and marine engineering.

Designers: Kyle Murphy, Gabriel Allen, Alex Resio, Jacob Dillistin

Vessel Type: Minesweeping Countermeasure Mothership

Vessel Mission:
Provide a new method for handling mine countermeasure operations with the use of mine countermeasure units-remote/autonomous (MCU-RAS). The use of MCU-RAS in mine countermeasures allows the coverage of larger minefield areas as compared to traditional minesweepers while minimizing the risk to personnel and naval assets.

Characteristics and Features:

• Overall Length: 108.75 m
• Beam: 14.5 m
• Depth: 9 m
• Max Speed: 32 kts
• Cruising Speed: 16 kts
• Installed Power: 43.4 MW
• Range: 4000 nm
• Compliment: 76 persons
• Endurance: 30 days
• Service Life: 40 years
• Full Load Displacement: 3540 tonne
• Platform for deployment, recovery, and maintenance for a fleet of 30 MCU-RAS
• Launches all MCU-RAS in less than 3 hours, recovers in less than 12 hours
• Flight deck for helicopter support

View Presentation

Visit our Junior Class Small Vessel Design Project page to view all of this year’s projects.

About Junior Class Small Vessel Design Project (SD1):

As a part of Professor Bradley D.M. Golden’s ’99 Ship Design 1 (SD1) class, the juniors spent the first two-and-a-half months of the spring semester preparing their first complete concept designs.

Using the knowledge they’ve gained in their nearly three years studying at Webb and the experiences from their winter work periods to date, this was the students’ first opportunity to apply the naval architecture and marine engineering principles they’ve studied including stability, ship’s structures, main machinery systems, auxiliary systems, resistance and propulsion, and electrical engineering.

Working in small groups of three and four, the students selected one of the vessel types and took their first couple of spins around the design spiral to prepare vessel concept designs. To help make the project as realistic as possible, members of industry familiar with each of the vessel types helped prepare the statements of design requirements that each of the designs had to meet. To challenge the students even further, one or two “curveballs” were thrown into each design statement to make the students think long and hard about how they would achieve their objectives.

At the end of the spring semester, the students presented their final designs to their fellow students, faculty, and members of industry who served as part of an evaluation team. After three years at Webb, the Junior class can now say with confidence that they’re familiar with the design process and are well on their way to joining the fields of naval architecture and marine engineering.

Preservation Long Island works with communities throughout the region to protect and celebrate historic places, encouraging excellence in stewardship and advocacy. Their biennial Preservation Awards recognize individuals, organizations, and projects that demonstrate extraordinary achievement in fields related to historic preservation on Long Island.

“This year’s awardees demonstrate not only excellence in historically sensitive design and rehabilitation, they also represent successful historic preservation efforts in a wide range of 2 areas that include public education and access, community-driven leadership, and a commitment to leveraging the municipal process to achieve local preservation objectives,” said Alexandra Wolfe, Preservation Long Island Executive Director.

Project Excellence

• Webb Institute and Bentel & Bentel Architects for historically sensitive design of the Couch Academic Center, a new facility for teaching, learning, and collaboration in Glen Cove.

• Paul and Catherine Herkovic, historic homeowners, for outstanding stewardship and rehabilitation of the Stanley H. Lowndes House in Northport.

Organizational Excellence

• Southampton African American Museum (SAAM) for excellence in education and advocacy for the preservation of Black heritage sites in Southampton Village.

• Ma’s House & BIPOC Art Studio for creative community-driven leadership in preserving Ma’s House as a shared art space, studio, and library at the Shinnecock Indian Reservation.

• Van Wyck-Lefferts Tide Mill Sanctuary & Huntington Historical Society for their innovative approach to public access and stewardship at the Van WyckLefferts Tide Mill.

• Village of East Hills for leadership in new approaches to local preservation and for achieving a meaningful mitigation of adverse impacts on John Mackay III’s Happy House via environmental review.

“In recognition of exceptional achievement in the historically sensitive design of the Couch Academic Center, a new facility for teaching, learning, and collaboration in Glen Cove. The brick façade and green roof blend seamlessly with historic Stevenson Taylor Hall and other campus structures overlooking the Long Island Sound. The Couch Academic Center features new collaborative learning spaces, studios, lecture halls, computer/makers labs, faculty offices, and a student lounge. Construction began on July 23rd, 2018. The project took approximately 14 months to complete with classes transitioning to the new academic center during the 2020 spring semester.”

Preservation Long Island 2022 Award Article

Each of the six awardees will be recognized in award presentations and related programming taking place from June and through September. “We are excited to be able to return to showcasing our awardees at in-person events throughout Long Island,” said Sarah Kautz, Preservation Director at Preservation Long Island.

Webb Institute and Bentel & Bentel Architects received their award at Preservation Long Island’s Annual Benefit Party on Friday, June 24th.

About Preservation Long Island
Preservation Long Island is a not-for-profit organization that works with Long Islanders to raise awareness, appreciation, and support for the protection of our shared past through advocacy, education, and the stewardship of historic sites and collections.

Preservation Long Island’s preservation advocacy services support the work of our local partners in communities across the region. We offer consultation and strategic guidance for Long Islanders seeking help with local preservation projects, including historic resource surveys, local landmark designation, National Register listing, and restoration or adaptive reuse of historic buildings. Our Local Landmark Law Look-Up Tool provides Long Islanders with an easy way to explore landmark laws in our region.
http://preservationlongisland.org

Preservation Long Island also maintains and interprets historic sites and collections that embody various aspects of Long Island’s history including:
Joseph Lloyd Manor, Lloyd Harbor
Custom House, Sag Harbor
Sherwood-Jayne Farm, Setauket
Old Methodist Church and Exhibition Gallery, Cold Spring Harbor

Designers: Victoria Kim, Alexander Lytle, Lorenzo Pensabene, Natalie Webb

Vessel Type: Oceanographic Research Vessel

Vessel Mission:
The research vessel is intended to meet the demand for small and efficiently crewed research vessels that are suitable for coastal and near-shore research projects. Its purpose is to provide a platform to support a wide range of general marine and ocean sciences that is cost efficient and environmentally friendly.

Features:
• Hybrid battery/deisel electric.
• A-frame crane and J-frame crane for in water instruments and remotely operated equipment.
• Capability to carry, deploy, and maintain:
• One 15-foot high-speed RHIB.
• Six medium-sized AUVs.
• Four small ASVs.
• Over 400 square feet of lab space.
• Accomodates 12 scientists and 5 crew.
• Uncontaminated seawater system.
• Flying bride observation station with two big eye binocular mounts.
• Two oceanographic winches.
• Axe bow
• Dual 660 kW azimuthing L-drives

View Presentation

Visit our Junior Class Small Vessel Design Project page to view all of this year’s projects.

About Junior Class Small Vessel Design Project (SD1):

As a part of Professor Bradley D.M. Golden’s ’99 Ship Design 1 (SD1) class, the juniors spent the first two-and-a-half months of the spring semester preparing their first complete concept designs.

Using the knowledge they’ve gained in their nearly three years studying at Webb and the experiences from their winter work periods to date, this was the students’ first opportunity to apply the naval architecture and marine engineering principles they’ve studied including stability, ship’s structures, main machinery systems, auxiliary systems, resistance and propulsion, and electrical engineering.

Working in small groups of three and four, the students selected one of the vessel types and took their first couple of spins around the design spiral to prepare vessel concept designs. To help make the project as realistic as possible, members of industry familiar with each of the vessel types helped prepare the statements of design requirements that each of the designs had to meet. To challenge the students even further, one or two “curveballs” were thrown into each design statement to make the students think long and hard about how they would achieve their objectives.

At the end of the spring semester, the students presented their final designs to their fellow students, faculty, and members of industry who served as part of an evaluation team. After three years at Webb, the Junior class can now say with confidence that they’re familiar with the design process and are well on their way to joining the fields of naval architecture and marine engineering.