The history of the University of Michigan's Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering can be tracked to an 1879 act of Congress, which authorized the U. S. Navy to assign a few officers to engineering colleges around the country. Mortimer E. Cooley was the first professor in the department.

Mortimer E. Cooley

With development of more than one hundred years, the department is now recognized as one of the top departments in this field in the world. The undergraduate program is ranked number one in the United States, while overall undergraduate education at the University of Michigan is ranked third (Gourman Report, 10th Edition, 1997).

For more information on the principal events in the department's history, please click here: