Front Cover
News
In Brief
Meet Memorial
Research
News and Notes
Out and About
Notable
Classified
Obituaries
Papers and Presentations
Flashback
Student View
Search this issue
The Gazette Homepage
Division of University Relations Homepage
E-Mail Us
(October 5, 2000, Gazette)
Warming up to ice
Photo by Chris Hammond
Dr. Claude Daley
By
Susen Johnson
Like Franklin aboard the Erebus, the effects of ice on
a ship fill the waking thoughts of Dr. Claude Daley. An associate
professor in Memorial’s Faculty of Engineering of Applied
Science, Dr. Daley enjoys few things more than analyzing how
ships act and why they do what they do. His time is spent measuring,
modelling, and considering the effects of wind, waves, ice, and
people on ship designs — both successful and disastrous.
“I came a bit late to a university faculty position compared
with most,” Dr. Daley reports. “My bachelor’s
and master’s degrees were in wind engineering and structural
dynamics, and then I moved into the private sector, and that’s
really where I first worked on and became interested in ocean
engineering.”
A graduate of Princeton, Western, and the Helsinki University
of Technology, Dr. Daley was offered his position with Memorial
engineering in 1994, and promptly moved from Ottawa with his
family of five and cat (Mr. O), buying their house in downtown
St. John’s sight unseen, save for a not-entirely objective
realtor video.
Although his main research is in the area of arctic ship structures
— identifying the particular relationship between ships
and the arctic environment of wind and ice — Dr. Daley also
enjoys his teaching role as a professor of undergraduate courses
on ship structures, ice properties, and engineering design.
“When a class goes well, it’s very energizing,”
he said. “And no matter what I’m doing, I always stop
when a student comes to my office with questions or wanting to
discuss something.”
An active member of the Association of Professional Engineers
of Newfoundland, Dr. Daley has helped to organize the Engineering
Open House as well as the annual cardboard canoe race (to introduce
high school students to the joys of naval architecture). He also
recently joined the board of examiners for professional engineers
in Newfoundland.
However, his most intensive involvement is one that has seen
him meet every six months since 1991 with a very particular group
of international scholars, researchers, and ship specialists
from around the world. This group is collaborating to establish
universal principles and design rules for the construction of
ships sailing the arctic.
As Dr. Daley explains, “There are all kinds of requirements
to meet before going into arctic waters, and international variations
present ship owners and builders with the conflict of ‘what
set of rules do we build by?’ So the idea of this development
is to have one standard set of rules that everyone can understand.”
Recently, Dr. Daley has taken over as director of MUN’s
Ocean Engineering Research Centre and is very enthusiastic about
the position.
“I’m hoping to get more and larger projects going,
and more people involved, because we can handle it — we
have the capability.”
Besides work, Dr. Daley enjoys family life with his wife and
three daughters, and, during the summers, coaches a soccer team.
“We’ve won one out of about 20 games this season,”
Dr. Daley laughs. “But it’s fun.”