Stefano Brizzolara, a research scientist in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and director of the newly established Innovative Ship Design Lab (i-Ship), led three Naval Construction and Engineering students — Vasileios Georgiadis SM '14, Kyle Miller SM '14, and Leon Faison SM '14 — in earning second place (honorable mention) in the 2013-2014 Mandles Prize for Hydrofoil Excellence competition.
The competition recognizes students who achieve excellent results in a design or research thesis on hydrofoil vessels. The students' new vessel design is based on Brizzolara's recent innovative SC-SP hydrofoil design, which was originally used to develop a new ultra-high-speed (120 knots) jet-propelled autonomous surface vehicle for the Office of Naval Research.