entire life has revolved around something wet, something fluidic,"
says Alex Techet, assistant professor in MIT's Department of Ocean
Engineering. "I started out as an aerospace/mechanical engineer but
didn't really want to build planes because I had this love for the
ocean," she says, explaining a fondness for boating, swimming, water
polo, and scuba diving. "And then I found out about ocean engineering."
Techetís research focuses
on experimental hydrodynamics, which she describes by ticking off
questions: "How can we use our understanding of physics and fluids
and how waves and currents impact structures in the ocean to build
safer and better offshore platforms? How can we sense flow, fluid
velocity, stress and turbulences in the ocean? How can we sense
it around vehicles and use the knowledge of what we're sensing to
control that vehicle and make it swim faster?"
Techet is addressing
the latter question by teaming up with biologists to study how fish
achieve their splendid propulsion. In studying biologically-inspired
propulsion, Techet hopes to incorporate similar mechanisms in marine
vehicles. She explains that flexible bodies allow fish to swim with
great efficiency, and that fish also rely on sensors to perceive
pressure. In research funded by MIT Sea Grant, Techet is exploring
ways of embedding such sensors in ships, autonomous underwater vehicles,
The sensors will first
be tested in MITís recirculating water tunnel. "The idea," says
Techet, "is that if we can figure out how itís going to work in
the lab, it will be a lot easier for us to implement it in the vehicle."
This past spring she
served as an advisor to the MIT team competing in the New England
regional ROV competition (see p.3 story). Her teaching load this
year includes an undergraduate class in hydrodynamics and a graduate
course in design principles for ocean vehicles. "These are students
who really love the ocean and want to build things to explore the
ocean environment. Thatís really what drives them."
Which makes them sound
a good bit like their professor. She says that on days when her
surfer students arenít in lab or class, "itís probably because the
waves are rolling on the Cape." She says this not with reprimand,
but enthusiasm, as if acknowledging the extracurricular activities
that contribute to the soul of an ocean engineer. As if she wouldnít
mind hanging ten with them.
Andrea Cohen, MIT Sea Grant