A Conversation with Jason M. Dahl from the University of Rhode Island
UTIC Intersections–Conversations with Ocean and Undersea Tech Leaders: Conversations with influential leaders in the undersea technology community, soliciting their industry input, guidance and mentorship.
A professor and an internationally recognized expert in marine engineering, Jason Dahl received his BS from the Webb Institute and his PhD in Ocean Engineering from the MIT. Jason’s often quoted research focuses on a range of undersea and ocean engineering topics, from wave prediction for offshore wind turbines to morphable underwater vehicles to the use of AI in fluid dynamics simulations. His research has been supported by many organizations including the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the Department of Energy. Jason is currently the Department Chair of Ocean Engineering at the University of Rhode Island.
We asked Jason for his thoughts on some important undersea technology questions:
From the perspective as an academic leader, what current ocean and undersea tech innovations could be game changers in the academic, commercial or government markets?
Energy and onboard computational power: Autonomy has come a long way in undersea systems over the past 20 years, but the ability to extend mission life and navigate in the undersea environment remain as some of the critical challenges experienced by autonomous underwater systems. Harvesting energy from the surrounding environment, developing new energy storage technologies, developing novel ways for conserving energy, and taking advantage of onboard computational power for autonomous decision making has the ability to leverage advancements in navigational methods that may have been too computationally cumbersome in the past. Advancements in computational power have the potential to enable autonomous systems to implement more complex models of their physical selves, enabling more complex decision making and intimate knowledge of a system’s surrounding environment.
What do you see as interesting and innovative approaches in the market today that improve ocean and undersea workforce skills?
Experiential and project-oriented learning are some of the most effective approaches for engaging students and training effective engineers to work in the ocean and undersea environment. While a fundamental understanding of physics and math has always been a cornerstone of engineering education, the natural advancement of science and engineering leads to students being asked to understand how to do more and more in a fixed 4-year Bachelor’s degree timeframe without ever taking anything away. We’re always standing on the shoulders of giants, but we’re afraid that if we remove one of the giants, we’ll topple over. In project-based learning, rather than focusing on telling a student what specific science and engineering topics they need to know right now, the focus is on training students how to problem solve, how to identify what information they don’t have, and to develop strategies to find that information. As such, students learning problem solving skills and lifelong learning techniques, rather than trying to learn every new advancement in engineering principles, are better equipped to adapt when they are encountered with not knowing how to solve a particular problem, allowing them to develop a strategy to solve it. This is a valuable skillset in engineers, particularly in the ocean workforce, where new challenges regularly emerge.
What is at the heart of successful public/private partnerships in ocean and undersea technology innovation?
Successful public/private partnerships in ocean and undersea technology innovation benefit the broader public by leveraging niche ocean-related expertise, facilities, and resources to solve problems with broad societal impact. Oceans cover about 70% of the Earth’s surface, are a major source of the world’s food, they drive the weather, and they are the avenue for the vast majority of world trade through shipping. Public/private partnerships in ocean technology innovation address wide-serving societal needs by addressing technological problems that impact many.
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