ENGINEERING FACULTY HONORED BY NAVY FLEET TECHNICAL SUPPORT CENTER

Faculty members from the College of Engineering and Technology's Department of Engineering Technology were honored recently for providing assistance to the U.S. Navy's Fleet Technical Support Center Atlantic (FTSCLANT) on a special repair project. Oktay Baysal, interim dean of the college, accepted a plaque on behalf of the faculty at a Jan. 15 ceremony held in the Gornto TELETECHNET Center.

Civil engineering technology professors Dick Keplar and Wes Lewis, along with Tony Dean from mechanical engineering technology, investigated a proposed plan to remove a three-foot gear from a shaft installed on a submarine, including how to apply heat evenly to achieve the required expansion.

Keplar, Dean and Lewis were able to provide insight and analysis of the gear's expansion, and using their expertise, FTSCLANT successfully removed the shaft from its gear assembly - onboard the U.S.S. San Juan - while avoiding a hull cut for the first time. Avoiding this cut saved the Navy hundreds of thousands of dollars and a significant amount of time on the installation project.

Engineering Technology's involvement in the project was spearheaded and coordinated by Dept. Chair Paul J. Kauffmann. EG&G Inc. also collaborated on the project.

"This install proved to be a tremendous success due to the innovation, planning, and conduct of our teaming efforts with EG&G and Old Dominion University," said Christ Christensen, FTSCLANT Plans & Operations Manager.