SUNY Maritime College
Recent Submissions
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Maritime Heritage: Using Alma & Analytics to Support Special CollectionsThe Stephen B. Luce Library at SUNY Maritime College houses and maintains the Maritime Heritage special collection. This presentation will discuss several ways in which Alma and Analytics are currently being used to facilitate special collections projects and fill in gaps where historical data about the collection have been lost. Examples include developing a collection development policy and beginning a long-term weeding project.
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So You've Inherited a Grant... Now What?Inheriting a predecessor’s project can be intimidating, especially when there’s a time limit. Taliesin will talk about their experience taking over an existing grant as an archivist both new to their position and as a new graduate. Join them as they discuss the planning, execution, and documentation of the rehousing of over 200 oversized documents through a National Endowment for the Humanities Grant.
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Do You Support Us? A Non-Profit's Experience In Designing a Candidate QuestionnaireDuring the 2021 municipal election cycle, organizers at Urban Librarians Unite published the responses of over 100 political candidates running for office in New York City. The twelve question survey focused on public and school libraries in New York City, and shed light on candidates’ attitudes towards public funds, infrastructure, and the role of city government in public services.The questionnaire was sent out to 319 candidates running for City Council and 84 candidates running for Mayor, Comptroller, Public Advocate, and Borough President, using data from the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism’s City Election Initiative, as well as additional data collected by the organization about candidates running for city-wide office in 2021. In this presentation, participants will learn about the process the organizers used to plan and execute the political questionnaire. This will cover the policy research behind the questionnaire, the application of the open data, and the results of the project. After attending this session, participants should be able to evaluate if a similar project is appropriate for their organization and be able to set-up a similar project. As the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism does not appear to be continuing to update their City Elections Initiative, the organizers are also look for community feedback for similar data available for future elections.
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Epic Heroism in A Tale of Two CitiesThis essay posits that Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities serves as a modern epic, highlighting enduring themes of heroism, sacrifice, and redemption. Using Louise Cowan’s expanded definition of the epic, the analysis frames Sydney Carton’s journey as that of an archetypal hero whose transformation reflects a profound mythic resonance. Beyond a historical novel, A Tale of Two Cities offers an epic quest narrative, where Carton’s evolving compassion and self-sacrifice suggest a path toward spiritual renewal. The essay examines how allegorical figures such as Lucie and the nameless seamstress amplify Carton’s final act of selflessness, demonstrating the redemptive power of empathy. Set against the turmoil of the French Revolution, Dickens’ work calls readers to recognize resilience through kindness and to engage with the heroic potential of ordinary individuals.
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Anchors Away, Alma: Using Alma to Run a Ship’s LibrarySUNY Maritime is preparing the next generation of American professional mariners. The Stephen B. Luce Library manages both the on-campus library and the Ship’s Library on the college’s training ship. The old ship’s lack of technological infrastructure required the library to run a redundant, secondary open-source ILS. The delivery of the new TS Empire State 7 in September 2023 allowed for the expansion of Alma as the Ship’s Library’s primary ILS. This was a year-long project requiring new library configurations, migration of old bibliographic records to new workflows for the Ship’s Librarian, and on-the-fly troubleshooting after cybersecurity complications with the U.S. Federal Government. This presentation will focus on the implementation of Alma as the Ship’s Library ILS, an assessment of the production environment after a full Summer Sea Term, and planned revisions. Participants supporting Alma in traditional and non-traditional library settings are highly encouraged to attend.
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Ahoy, Matey! A Ship's Library As Experiential Learning SupportSUNY Maritime College is a 150-year-old institution, dedicated to preparing students entering STEM fields including marine transportation, engineering, and marine environmental science. Sixty percent of these students are also earning their Merchant Marine Credential, requiring them to spend three summer semesters on board the college’s training ship. The training ship is a floating school which includes housing, classrooms, a gym, a cafeteria, and yes, even a library, staffed by a librarian. TSES VII is the college’s first new training ship in thirty years, and is the country’s first ever purpose-built training ship, the first of five being built for the five state-run maritime academies. Sailing under a maiden voyage in January 2024, this new facility has afforded librarians from the Stephen B. Luce Library the opportunity to redefine how the library fits into this ultimate experiential learning environment. In this presentation, the Discovery and Electronic Resources Librarian and the User Services and Student Engagement Librarian will discuss how they prepped a brand new library space and program, and discuss lessons learned sailing on board with students during the January 2024 Winter Sea Term.
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Refreshing The Library Scavenger Hunt With Free Tech ToolsStudent feedback demonstrated to Maritime College library faculty that familiarity and comfort with the library’s space and services severely deteriorated during the pandemic. Students lacked familiarity with group and individual study spaces in the library, types of materials available, and library support services. Library anxiety and antiquated stereotypes of what a library is proved to be barriers to students from fully taking advantage of what the library offers. For the current academic year, the librarians reinvented the pre-pandemic library scavenger hunt in the library orientation session attended by all LEAD 101 courses, a required freshman seminar class for first semester students. This image-based scavenger hunt utilized free tools from Padlet and Canva to make the scavenger hunt a fun group-based activity. It also simplified the workflow and labor on the librarians, which was critical in an understaffed environment. In this session, participants will see the components of the scavenger hunt as well as hear about challenges and successes.
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Rogone, Anthony. Subsea Cables and Their Seminal Importance to Communications.Subsea cables have been used across the oceans since 1866, providing essential and reliable communications. Their development has fostered major advancements in international communications. Since the introduction of the first telephone cable (TAT 1) in 1956, cable usage has grown exponentially. Following the development of the first fiberoptic cable (TAT 8) that was laid in 1988, under-sea cables now transmit ninety-five percent of all telephone and internet traffic. Enhanced subsea cable performance has met the demand of a worldwide communication system that has grown exponentially, especially since the internet’s growth. Reliable subsea cable’s performance ensures the reliable cost-effective communication that underlies corporate finance and international trade.
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Determining the Practical Boundaries of Feasibility When Upscaling Uncrewed Surface Vessels for Military and Civilian ApplicationsWhile many of the technologies required to completely remove human presence from surface vessels have existed for decades, some are still in development and at least a few that will prove crucial to successful implementation have not yet been invented. This thesis examines the current state of the various required shipboard automation technologies to the extent such information is available to the public and attempts to identify the missing or lagging pieces in order to establish the current boundaries of economic feasibility for scaling up from the already-proven small unmanned surface vessels to larger military and commercial applications. By scouring press releases, industry articles, and professional studies as well as interviewing individuals involved in autonomous technologies from across the maritime and power generation industries, this research captures a snapshot of the advances, issues, and restrictions currently inherent in uncrewed surface vessel implementation and presents them in a singular, cohesive document suitable for thoroughly familiarizing industry decision-makers. The research finds that while smaller uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) are prolific and well-established, scaling up in size and its requisite increase in overall complexity becomes more economically challenging when design requirements pass specific thresholds in any of a handful of categories. The line between economically feasible and economically challenging runs through the factors of: building anew or converting an existing vessel; the amount of heat rejection (cooling capacity) required; whether power and energy requirements exceed currently available battery capacity; the number of motor-operated valves required in the design; the allowable elapsed time to provide human intervention in the event of a major malfunction; and the tolerance for total loss of the USV. While larger and more complex USVs are possible and certainly on the horizon, they may not be economically feasible for a given application due to the current limitations of specific equipment. This thesis examines those factors in turn.
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Digital Repositories at Smaller SUNY's: Juggling Outreach and Other ResponsibilitiesWhen librarians discuss scholarly communications, the focus is often on supporting faculty at research-driven universities. But what does scholarly communication look like at smaller colleges? In this session, the three presenters, representing SUNY Cortland, Alfred University and SUNY Maritime, will share challenges and insights from working with institutional repositories, when it’s not the main focus of their jobs. Topics will include balancing workloads, functioning within unique institutional circumstances, outreach to faculty, managing expectations and collaboration with colleagues.
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Offshore Wind Development Research: Extended Report and AppendicesOffshore wind (OSW) development is a new undertaking in the US. This project is a response to New Jersey’s 2011 Energy Master Plan that envisions procuring 22.5% of the state’s power originating from renewable sources by 2021. The Offshore Wind Economic Development Act called for at least 1,100 MW of Offshore Wind generations to be subsidized by an Offshore Wind Renewable Energy Certificate program. The overreaching goal of this research is to provide information and recommendations for the maritime aspects, both vessel and port interface’. The study, using the European experience, identifies vessel types, vessel installation methods, needs and operating characteristics through all phases of OSW development. It also identifies regulatory or legislative requirements and/or other road blocks to the use of particular vessels. The study seeks competitive advantages and disadvantages of vessel acquisition, lease, construction or other alternatives. The study proposes solutions and recommendations that best position the State of New Jersey to be the national leader in OSW development, including potential interstate or cooperative endeavors. Financial aspects and considerations of vessel acquisition are presented. The research also proposes a port/OSW industry interface strategy for short-, mid-, and long-term industry development. In general, the study identifies the maritime port life-cycle requirements for installation, construction, operation and maintenance based on geographic factors, and the potential for multi-use development at New Jersey’s East Coast ports. Finally, the study highlights the economic impact of OSW development on the state population and the energy-generating industry. The study recommends the development of a clear OSW policy with a commitment of budgets and in partnerships with industry and other stakeholders.
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Gender Equality is a Maritime Issue: Examining Structural and Social Barriers to Closing the Gender Gap in the Maritime Industry.The past 30 years have seen an increase of women working in the maritime industry. However, the number of women in the global seafaring workforce remains low: only 2%. This paper seeks to evaluate the cultural, social, and institutional barriers to gender equality in the maritime industry, specifically those barriers which cause women to leave the maritime profession, examining the career limitations, harassment, and professional devaluation faced by women in the maritime industry. This paper bridges the gap in literature related to women in maritime by presenting the personal perceptions and experiences of what it is like to be a gender minority (female) in the maritime industry through personal interviews with 24 women in the maritime industry. These interviews offer in-depth insights to women’s personal experiences to understand what it is like to be a woman in a male dominated industry. This research finds that the barriers to equality in maritime are both structural and social. There are barriers to women entering the maritime workforce in gender bias in the education system, social acceptance of women in seafaring roles, and maritime hiring practices. Barriers to retention of women in maritime are discrimination, harassment, physical facilities on ships, and the roles of women in society and their families. Taking steps to remove the structural barriers women face in choosing and maintaining a seafaring career would have cascading impacts on attracting women to maritime and retaining them through their careers, which in turn would have cascading impacts on the cultural barriers.
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Decarbonization Of ShippingThe main goal of this Thesis is to analyze the modern and critical issue of shipping decarbonization providing an analytic approach on crucial questions which affect the global shipping nowadays. According to recent studies, the maritime industry is accountable for more than 85% of the world’s trade. At the same time, it consumes 2% of the world’s energy demand, adding 3% to the overall Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Based on these numbers, it can be said that the industry is one of the most energy advanced and efficient industries, but in parallel particularly harmful for the environment. It has been legislated by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) that, until 2050 the air emissions of the industry must have been reduced by 50% compared to 2008. Since early 2020, the so-called Sulphur cap has been activated, which dictates that sulphur-based emissions should be reduced to 0.5%. In order to achieve the IMO goals various pathways have been developed, of which the most common are speed reduction (slow steaming), scrubbers’ installation and Low Sulphur Fuel Oils (LSFO). Nevertheless, the long-term studies agree that in order to achieve the IMO goals, the industry should move towards new alternative fuels, emitting lower or zero harmful gases. Based on these facts, this Thesis will try to provide a critical overview of the current state of the maritime field and its contribution to the world’s trade and economy, emphasizing on the global shipping. IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee applied the MEPC regulations 75, 76 and 77 on June 2021, building on Energy Efficient Existing Ship Index for existing ships and Energy Efficient Design Index for new buildings (came into force since 2013). In addition, IMO has also adopter the Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) which basically requires specific goals on vessels for reducing their carbon operational emissions (came into force on January 1st 2023). All these measures are indicated in MARPOL Annex VI – Ship Decarbonization as per IMO regulations.
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Federal Oversight of the America's Marine Highway Program in Response to the Mandates of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007The America’s Marine Highway Program is an initiative that seeks to ease traffic congestion in landside transportation corridors by moving freight from those highways and railroads to waterborne vessels that travel on nearby rivers and coasts. The program markets itself as an ambitious, national-scale initiative that seeks to drive economic growth and improve quality of life. Its genesis, however, is a three-page section of a 310-page Congressional act that provided for no funding and little oversight. Given this juxtaposition of good intentions and bureaucratic constraints, this paper will examine the historical context for commercial use of the nation’s inland waterway system, analyze the objectives and mechanics of the program in its current state, explore the government’s legal basis for engaging in such activities, and make specific recommendations for the program going forward.
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Ships as Sites of Memory: Collecting Maritime HistoryA poster presentation from Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC) October 7, 2021.
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The justification for federal assistance in emerging United States surface freight transportation modes: the case for America's Marine HighwaysThe United States Department of Transportation (DOT) and Maritime Administration (MARAD) developed America’s Marine Highway Program to minimize congested surface transportation conditions. A decade after its implementation, America’s Marine Highway Program continues to be an emerging freight transportation alternative. Historically, emerging United States surface freight transportation modes, i.e., the first transcontinental railroad and the Interstate Highway System, received legislation that appropriated significant levels of federal assistance during their nascent stage due to their high social rate of return; a high social rate of return was determined to range from 20 to 30 percent. This study argues that the justification for federal assistance in emerging United States surface freight transportation modes is based on their respective social rate of return. This study defends that the positive externalities associated with America’s Marine Highway Program, i.e., the social rate of return, justifies a similar level of initial federal startup support based on its benefits to United States national security.
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Maritime Cyber Risk Management Process: Case for American Liquefied Gas CarrierThe entwinement of shipboard traditional and cyber assets and the unique and potentially severe hazards of a liquefied gas carrier necessitate the need of the robust implementation of a shipboard cyber risk management process. Academic research on maritime cyber risk management lack an empirical research on a shipboard system in operation and a broader coverage of regulatory and commercial insights in formulating such process. This thesis aims to propose a shipboard cyber risk management process with broader technological, regulatory, and commercial perspectives in the maritime transportation of liquefied gas cargo. Case study methodology is applied to describe the formulation and implementation of a shipboard cyber risk management process. Interpretive data collection is conducted to identify and review key stakeholders on the cyber risk management of American liquefied gas carriers and their relevant resources. A baseline of references is proposed to formulate a shipboard cyber risk management process. For this purpose, the cyberspace and vulnerabilities of the maritime industry is reviewed to identify considerations originating from a cyber environment, the maritime industry, and a vessel. Case study was conducted by reviewing documents and observing a cargo handling system commissioned on a liquefied petroleum gas carrier in operation. Asset-based risk assessment is conducted to determine quantitative risk impact value of and cyber threats to critical equipment. The study demonstrates how the integration of traditional and cyber assets in a cargo handling system introduce cyber threats and aggravate physical threats. Results demonstrates how existing company and shipboard practices can be enhanced to improve shipboard cyber resilience.
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Residual Fuel Oil Market: Risks and Opportunities for the Maritime SectorThe Transportation Sector, and by extension, public and private oceangoing shipping, is on track to become effectively the only remaining consumer of residual fuel oil (RFO) over the next several years in the United States. This work examines this changing demand and analyzes implications for the shipping industry and refiners. It develops an RFO demand prediction model using multiple regression. It also makes recommendations for increasing efficiency in the marine bunkering supply chain - improving corporate efficiency is one approach to managing cost and risk in this changing marketplace.
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COVID-19 and the Fate of the Cruise Industry: A Holistic Answer to Regaining the Public's TrustThe cruise industry is facing a challenge that has never been seen before. The COVID-19 Pandemic has crippled a market that has been steadily growing for decades and, before this, showed no end in sight. As cruise lines halt operations, hemorrhage money, and call for loans just to stay in business, there also must be a complete shift in how these companies operate and vessels run in order to ensure viability. The general public has understood the risks of cruising since its inception, but this new era of uncommon hazards is changing their view to second guess safety and practicability of a vacation at sea. Patterns have begun to emerge where ship size, itinerary, common areas, and space ratios have all played an integral role in the spread of this pandemic onboard ships. Indications from the public have shown that they have little knowledge of how ships work and focus more on assumptions and grouping companies as a collective when assessing how safe the cruise market is. Since cruise companies tend to be merged together in the public's mind due to lack of understanding, the market as a whole needs to implement new strategies that are clearly visible to the public now and hidden from public view later on in order to create and maintain consumer confidence. The companies need to form a holistic approach to combat this spread and regain control of their industry. Presented in this thesis is evidence of a changing cruise industry landscape and strategies to better safeguard the market from the likelihood of this happening in the future. Additional research after implementation of the industry's new operating structures would be beneficial to improve on these findings.
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Teaching with Primary Sources: Reports from the Front LinesAs the pedagogical benefits of working with primary sources have become more well-known, archivists are increasingly serving as educators and interpreters of their collections. However, archivists often have little experience as educators, and must learn new skills to provide effective instruction. This presentation provides a mix of both theoretical discussion and practical lessons based on the author's experience at SUNY Maritime College.