Naval Hydrodynamics at UIowa

For the benefit of those who might inquire in the future, and those that monitor the forum, I'd like to mention the naval hydrodynamics program at the University of Iowa.

When I searched for graduate programs relevant to Naval Arch in the US, I found Michigan, New Orleans, Berkeley, Stevens, Virginia Tech, and MIT (barely). Of those, I knew UMich, UNO, and Stevens to have functional and active towing tanks. Disclaimer: Others exist, but whether because of poor publicizing or non-competitive programs (by my judgement), they didn't make the list.

One that never made it on to my radar was the University of Iowa, and I think that's unfortunate. Iowa has a very active research program in naval hydrodynamics, central to which is a 100-meter towing tank and an 800 sq-meter maneuvering and wave-basin. Both are part of Iowa's larger (and highly regarded) IIHR hydroscience and engineering center. Naval hydrodynamics began at Iowa with the work of Prof. Lou Landweber, who established himself at David Taylor Model Basin), and has continued to be a well-recognized institution in the circles of academic naval research. However, the program remains largely invisible to students of naval architecture.

Naval architecture isn't a major. All related activity is part of the Mechanical Engineering department. However, there's a cadre of faculty (including myself) that are moving to build a curriculum around ship hydrodynamics and naval arch. I'd like very much to inject some of my Webb/Michigan background into this developing curriculum.

I'll spare you further details, but my goal in posting here is simple: the next time a prospective student comes to this forum in search of school recommendations (especially those looking for graduate degree programs), I want them to find out that Iowa is a viable option.

I welcome students and other curious minds to look into our program further. I'll leave some links below, and I am happy to answer any questions.

- Prof. Casey Harwood (Faculty Page) (Personal Site)

IIHR - Hydroscience and Engineering

Towing tank and Wave Basin Info

Ship Hydrodynamics Research (Lead by my colleague, Prof. Fred Stern)

Video covering the history and research of IIHR (including ship hydro)