Write your own check
When students in his university’s engineering school are ready to look for full-time work, Singer says many of them line up at career fairs eagerly awaiting their turn to meet well-known technology companies. But one group of students notably absent are naval architecture students.
“There will be lines of students waiting for Tesla or Facebook, and everyone is waiting in their little suits,” Singer recalls. “Our students are in so much demand that they don’t (go). “Companies come to us.”
In lean times, Singer says naval architecture students at the University of Michigan graduate with two or three job offers. That number could be five to ten job openings when companies hire aggressively.
Depending on their experience, graduates can earn starting salaries between $75,000 and $85,000 if hired by military defense contractors, and that range increases for those who have a master’s degree or doctorate. Singer estimates they could start between $75,000 and $100,000 in the oil and gas industry, where salaries vary more because of the size of the hiring companies and the price of oil.
The lieutenant commander. Dan Brahan, department head of the naval architecture and engineering program at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, says students who follow the military route won’t make as much money immediately after graduation as their peers who work in the private sector. But by her estimate, graduates choose to stay in the Coast Guard for about 10 years on average (five years longer than their required post-graduate commitment) and then tend to remain in the private sector of the industry.
“Many times they work for other government entities or may even get a job as a Coast Guard civilian,” Brahan says. “We’re finding that a lot of times, even if they don’t stay in the Coast Guard, which is what we hope with our investment, it’s an indirect investment, because we still have someone in the industry.”
Trying to break free from “niche” status
All of this begs the question: Why does a field of study that professors consider challenging, stimulating, and highly profitable attract so few students?
Globally, it is not a specialized field, Singer says, adding that it is a popular career path in countries such as the Netherlands, Norway and Denmark.
He notes that a quick Internet search for naval architecture and engineering programs produces a list of 100 schools in China. A similar search is stopped in the United States about a dozen programs.
The issue dates back to the 1980s, Singer says, when President Ronald Reagan term Government subsidies for the construction of ships that flew under the American flag. Universities also follow trends when it comes to supporting programs that capture students’ interests, he adds, meaning that naval architecture fell out of fashion over time and the number of professors dwindled.
“We forget that something that’s old isn’t outdated,” Singer says. “Therefore, it is a niche industry, which should not be given the dominance that we have as a navy, the opportunities that we have from high technology, offshore, green (energy) and also from an oil perspective. But unfortunately it is a niche, because it is a limited number of universities.”
Brahan also notes that unlike other engineering fields, naval architecture graduates will find jobs centered along the coasts.
Brahan says he, Garcia and their colleagues at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy currently have a group of 23 seniors in the naval architecture and engineering program. From 2013 to 2020, he says, the school averaged about 19 graduates per year. The class of 2025 is the largest they have ever had, Brahan adds, with 35 students.
The lack of visibility of the profession is one of the reasons why few students study it, says García.
“You need enough people around you to know that,” Garcia says. “Because how do most of us learn about engineering if our parents weren’t engineers?”
Maybe because you have experience in navigation. Both Garcia and Singer noted that many people entering the field grew up sailing or in boat-owning families.
“They love to sail and also compete, and while they are here they want to design their own boat,” explains García about many of his students. “I would say at least a quarter of our students just want to be able to design their own small boat so they can sail on the ocean, which is a big motivation.”
Brahan says his department staff is doing everything they can to dismantle the idea that naval architecture is the most difficult program at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, although he sees how students can get that impression given the amount of time naval architecture students spend studying. books. Rather, he wants students to know that it is a field where professors are supportive and where graduates can find stable, challenging work.
That’s because naval architecture, which Garcia calls the engineering world’s “best kept secret,” affects industries ranging from global shipping to environmental preservation.
“When a ship runs aground, we need an engineer to go out and figure out how we’re going to get it out safely without causing further damage to the marine environment,” Brahan says. “It includes applications in space. We have SpaceX landing rocket boosters on an autonomous barge, so no one is there. “We need smart engineers to design it, but also to regulate it and ensure it is safe in a variety of fields.”
