Stevens alumnus, Robert G. Keane, receives highest award from Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers

HOBOKEN, N.J. - Recently, a graduate alumnus of Stevens Institute of Technology, Mr. Robert G. Keane, Jr., received the highest award of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME). Keane was awarded The Admiral David W. Taylor Medal for 2003, "for notable achievement in naval architecture and/or marine engineering," at the Society's Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

A former Executive Director of the Surface Ship Design and Systems Engineering Group at the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), Washington D.C., Keane is also a former member of the Federal Government's Senior Executive Service (SES).

As the Navy's Central Technical Authority for Total Ship Systems Engineering (TSSE), Keane was responsible for providing technical direction and management for integrating Combat Systems, Electronic Systems, Integrated Topside Designs, and Ship Systems for all surface ship designs. His previous position was that of Associate Director for Total Ship Systems from 1996 to 2000 at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division (NSWCCD). From 1985 to 1996, he was the Navy's Chief Ship Design Engineer at NAVSEA; and from 1984 to 1985, he was the Director of Ship Survivability at NAVSEA. Keane was selected into the SES in 1981, when he was appointed as the Navy's Chief of Naval Architecture at NAVSEA.

"Stevens and the faculty at the Davidson Lab have had such a profound influence on my career and my life," said Keane, "that in a vital sense I share this honor with those who educated and trained me to succeed in my chosen field."

"Robert G. Keane, Jr., has profoundly affected not only the way naval ships are designed but also those who design them," the Taylor Medal citation reads in part. "He is, without question, one of the world's leading experts on the design of naval ships and is an exceptionally fitting recipient for the Taylor Medal."

Keane, the son of Mrs. Ethel R. Keane and the late Robert G. Keane, Sr. of Parkville, Md., was born in Baltimore, a "stone's throw" from the shipyard where his father worked for 43 years. He graduated from the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and received his B.E.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University in 1962. He received his Master of Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology in 1967, specializing in ship hydrodynamics at the Davidson Laboratory. He was awarded a scholarship from SNAME and a fellowship from the University of Michigan and subsequently received a M.S.E. degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering in 1970.

Keane began his career in the marine industry in 1964, designing dredges for the Ellicott Machine Corp. in Baltimore. He began U.S. Government service in 1967 when he joined the Surface Ship Dynamics Division of the David Taylor Model Basin, Bethesda, Maryland. In 1968, he transferred to the Naval Ship Engineering Center (NAVSEC) and held various positions including the first Head of the Hull Equipment Branch and Head, Hull Form Design and Fluid Dynamics Division. In 1977, he was selected as the first Director of the Hull Form, Stability and Hydrodynamics Performance Division.

During his career, Keane has made many important contributions to Navy ship design and acquisition programs. These include the development of a seakeeping performance assessment methodology used to convince CNO to develop and install a highly reliable, active fin roll stabilization system in all FFG 7 Class ships; the development of the DDG-51 "Seakeeping" hull form design; the continuous improvement of the naval ship design process, leading the incorporation of three-dimensional computer-aided design and product modeling and simulation, design for total ship survivability, design for ship producibility, and design for total ownership cost; and the career development of hundreds of ship design and systems engineers.

For his development of the seakeeping performance assessment methodology which continues to be a standard in naval ship design and his many innovations in naval ship development, Keane received four of NAVSEA's highest awards from the Association of Scientists and Engineers (ASE). He was awarded two Navy Superior Civilian Service Awards for his leadership of the U.S. Navy's renaissance in ship survivability following the Royal Navy's Falklands war experience, and his contributions to the successful introduction into the fleet of the novel Small Waterplane Area, Twin Hull (SWATH) T-AGOS 19 ship class. He was also awarded the Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award for leading a major NAVSEA personnel initiative. In 1996, the Secretary of the Navy awarded him the Navy's highest award, the Distinguished Civilian Service Award, for his visionary leadership and outstanding management as the Navy's senior civilian responsible for Ship Design R&D Programs leading to the acquisition of approximately 200 naval ships.

Mr. Keane was the first civilian elected as chair of NATO's Ship Design Group. He is a Life Fellow of SNAME and a life member of ASNE and ASE. Active in all, he has also been elected to a number of senior leadership positions and has published numerous papers on naval ship design. He received the Michigan-Rosenblatt Alumni Award for 2001. He has also been an adjunct professor for naval architecture and ship design at Virginia Tech. He recently retired from NAVSEA after more than thirty-five years of experience in ship design and acquisition. He is presently the Principal Advisor for TSSE at the Advanced Marine Center of Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) in Washington, D.C. and has his own consulting business, Ship Design USA, Inc., in Keedysville, Md. He is married to the former Judith Anne Imwold of Parkville, Md. They have three sons and three grandchildren.

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.

Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.  

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