Midshipman Bios
I am from Middletown CT. I attended Boston University briefly before coming to the Naval Academy. I will enter the surface warfare community after graduation. My main area of interest in this project is using engineering techniques to verify the accounts of Bushnell’s Turtle.
I grew up in Pella, IA. At the age of 13, my family moved to Arizona. It was there that I first heard of the Naval Academy and the excellent engineering program it offers. I did not get into USNA on my first try, so I became an Aerospace Engineering major at the University of Arizona. It was there that I reapplied, and set my site on becoming an Ocean Engineer at the Naval Academy. Once getting accepted, I met my now advisor Professor Nuckols during my Plebe year and was even more excited about getting into Ocean Engineering. It was not until the spring of my junior year until I got the chance to work with Professor Nuckols. I received an internship to the Naval Coastal Systems Station in Panama City, FL to work on a project of his for around four weeks this summer. After having a great time in Panama City, I returned to the Academy motivated to work on a rebreather for my independent research. A month after I started on the rebreather, Professor Nuckols received a call from the Discovery Channel because they needed some engineers to design the Turtle for their special. I needed a project for my Underwater Work Systems class, so I told him I would be happy to take part on the project. A week later this project exploded, in which my independent research was changed to the Turtle. It was also determined that Doug and my capstone would also be on the Turtle. This project has been incredibly rewarding. Besides the week we spent in Boston helping build the Turtle and interviewing for Discovering and the week we will spend representing the Turtle at the Underwater Intervention Conference, the knowledge gained from working with Rhino 3D to make the models, the fundamentals of engineering calculations that have been made on thermodynamics, heat transfer, work, etc. are invaluable. This has been the best academic experience and I am looking forward to seeing the special on the amazing contraption known as the Turtle.