“…each generation of Villanova graduates has released its own ...

Naval Engineers Convene on Campus to
Chart the Course for Intelligent Ships
“This is an era of unprecedented
excitement and challenge for the
naval engineering community....
Seabasing and homeland defense
concepts will require transformational
capabilities to enable naval forces
and the Coast Guard to respond
to new threats and situations here
at home and around the globe....
Unmanned vehicles, the ultimate
intelligent ship, will continue to take
on more roles to keep sailors out of
harm’s way...At the heart of it all,
however, one thing has not changed.
The men and women who operate
and maintain our ships and systems
are the single greatest asset in our
Navy. People make it happen.”
— from the American Society
of Naval Engineers’
promotional materials for the
Intelligent Ships Symposium VI.
BY IRENE BURGO
As part of its 100th anniversary commemoration
this year, the College
of Engineering hosted the American
Society of Naval Engineers (ASNE)
Intelligent Ships Symposium VI on June
1-2. It drew to Villanova University
military experts, scholars and civilian
professionals from across the country who
addressed the varied issues of technologically
sophisticated naval engineering.
“Villanova was selected as host of
this event because of significant synergies
with naval engineering including
their active naval research programs,
ROTC program, and intern programs,”
according to the ASNE.
The symposium took place in the Jake
Nevin Field House and the Connelly
Center. Numerous vendors displayed
the latest state-of-the-art research
technologies used by the Navy.
In the opening ceremony, the
Rev. Edmund J. Dobbin, O.S.A., ’58,
University president, welcomed participants
to Villanova. Navy Capt.
Rick Hepburn (Ret.), president-elect of
ASNE, delivered the opening remarks.
The keynote address, by Navy Rear
Adm. Gerard M. Mauer Jr. ’76 C&F,
focused on how high technology is transforming
today’s Navy fleet into virtually
“intelligent ships.” This new fleet is
expected to have superior task capabilities
and reduced manpower to achieve cost
savings, Mauer said. He is deputy assistant
chief of staff, Joint Experimentation,
Exercises and Assessment, Allied
Command Transformation.
18 Villanova Magazine