A generous donation of revolutionary technology by the Robinson family and Alion Canada.
UBC’s NAME program thanks Dr. Wendy Robinson, Dr. Joe McDermott and the Robinson family for their generous donation towards the advancement of the field of practical hydrodynamics. Since they donated the Rapid Empirical Innovation (REI) platform to the NAME program in 2017, the vessel has been put to great use and has proved to be a valuable asset for teaching ship model testing. Contrary to conventional towing tanks, the REI is a versatile, fast and cost effective tool for gathering experimental data on ship resistance and motions.
On October 22, 2018, Dr. Robinson and Dr. McDermott visited Vancouver Marina in Richmond to see the REI – Marine Research Platform in action. Two Visiting International Research Students, Ensigns Ann-Victiore Bost and Jean Muller, led a tour for the donors and showcased a live experiment using the UBC Trawler series in the Fraser River. Ensigns Bost and Muller are graduating Officers from the Naval Academy in France, École Navale, whose graduation project is to benchmark and bring the accuracy of the REI Platform to its previous working condition.
The NAME program was delighted to share with Dr. Robinson and Dr. McDermott how their donation is being utilized, and the positive impact it is having on NAME education!
Background
The REI was invented by American entrepreneur and diplomat Charles “Chuck” Robinson. Chuck also founded M-SHIPCO, an innovative company behind the revolutionary Siletto ship hull design, which the REI was invented to test. Chuck passed away in 2014, and his family generously donated the REI to UBC’s NAME program in his memory.
In 2017, Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering firm Alion Canada generously donated start-up funding that enabled UBC NAME to prepare the REI for use as an educational and research tool.
About the Donors
About the REI