NORFOLK, Va. (WVEC) — A much-needed helping hand is being extended to the nation's four, publicly-owned Naval shipyards.
The shipyards, including Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, are in such bad shape that they are not fully meeting the Navy's operational needs, according to a 2017 U.S. Government Accountability Office report.
Just this week, a new report from the GAO found that "Navy shipyards have been unable to keep up with maintenance demands for attack submarines."
But now, help may be on the way from Old Dominion University.
"It's absolutely a brilliant opportunity, I'm really excited about it," said ODU's Batten College of Engineering and Technology Assistant Professor Dr. Andy Collins.
The Engineering faculty, along with ODU's Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center, are developing courses in the areas of predictive analytics, data analytics, data modeling and data management to help naval shipyards be more efficient.
"We're actually going to be developing six courses over the next five years," said Collins. "They're courses designed specifically for the shipyards and their requirements. So, they can take that data, look for patterns, look for efficiencies, improvements they can make within the shipyards."
The great thing is, it isn't just some academic exercise, but a legitimate contribution to national defense.
"But the idea to come across real-world problems and really something that we can contribute is just fantastic," said Collins.
Also fantastic, the dollar amount of the grant from the Pentagon's Naval Sea Systems Command for this research project is $2,056,385.
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