With a legacy stretching back over 140 years, U-M is home to one of the nation’s first and few remaining departments dedicated to naval architecture and marine engineering (NAME). Michigan engineers have helped design nearly every U.S. Navy ship of the past 20 years, as well as some of the world’s largest cruise ships. They create and regularly update computer simulation software that allows the Navy to test the performance of new vessels and their components.

Our naval architects are also collaborating with engineers from the nation’s top nuclear engineering department  to research and develop advanced nuclear reactors for commercial cargo vessels and other maritime applications. Additional collaborations with the nation’s No. 2 industrial engineering department seek to strengthen the U.S. marine supply chain and increase shipbuilding capabilities.

Our foundation of expertise uniquely equips U-M to support the goals outlined in the bipartisan SHIPS for America Act. The bill seeks to restore the nation’s commercial maritime fleet through new shipbuilding targets, innovation and workforce renewal.

As federal and state efforts converge to rebuild U.S. shipbuilding capabilities, the University of Michigan is a critical partner. Faculty are leading the development of the first-ever maritime strategy for the state of Michigan, leveraging strengths across ship and construction, decarbonization, autonomy, digitalization and policy. New and expanding collaborations with international shipbuilding leaders like Fincantieri and Hyundai Heavy Industries, as well as international leaders in maritime research position U-M—and the Great Lakes region—as a hub for innovation, workforce development, and resilient maritime infrastructure.

The University of Michigan’s leadership in naval architecture began with an 1879 act of Congress and has endured across generations as other U.S. institutions removed or downsized their naval architecture programs. Our Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering department has played a role in nearly every U.S. Navy vessel class of the last two decades, and helped shape global commercial innovations like the cost-saving bulbous bow—still used to reduce drag and fuel use on modern cargo ships.

Our active and former faculty have advised decarbonization strategies with European companies and naval shipbuilding strategy for the U.S. and Australia. They have also brought the Japanese hull block construction method to U.S. shipyards in the ’90s to modernize their production processes. More recently, they have pioneered mechanics-based, modular construction methods that address some of the challenges for building today’s lightweight naval ships. They are working with industry to commercialize advanced nuclear reactor designs on land, and they hope to use their expertise for new reactors at sea.

In the 1980s, Michigan’s Marine Hydrodynamics Lab became one of the first to apply advanced modeling to ship design. The laboratory is home to one of the nation’s largest tow tanks, where experiments with real-world models have informed and advanced computer simulations of ships and their components long before “digital twin” became common vocabulary among engineers. U-M engineers helped launch the digital age of naval engineering, and the department has produced more PhDs in the field than any other academic program in the U.S.

Michigan alumni have risen to the top of the Navy’s architecture ranks, and the university has remained a national convener of marine research. Today, they continue to help shape Michigan and the nation’s maritime strategy, as well as refresh ship production courses with Industry 4.0 smart manufacturing methods for shipyards to avoid expensive repairs and delays. New collaborations with South Korean ship manufacturers will help train a workforce familiar with the latest shipbuilding technology and methods, and new partnerships with leading Canadian and Finnish research institutions will help improve the design and construction of ships that can navigate polar seas. 

From WWII’s wartime shipbuilding boom to today’s calls for resilience, increased production, and autonomy, U-M has remained at the forefront of maritime innovation.

We work together with international leaders in shipbuilding and maritime research.