Friday the 13th

Dear Prof. Nowacki,

Happy Birthday! Carola and I wish you health, happiness and all the best for the next decade!

Like many of my fellow students I started my studies of naval architecture with the desire to become a designer of boats and yachts. Little did I know that there were other passions waiting to be found by me in Berlin: my wife Carola, hydrodynamics, computers, and teaching.

After many years of studying and working on my thesis research at TU Berlin, I defended my dissertation on Friday March 13, 1998 (25 years coming up!). Luckily I am not superstitious and my dissertation committee consisting of Professor Clauss, Professor Nowacki, and Professor Nitsche (chair) was kind to me. The after-party was a blast (photo). Along the way I had the pleasure of taking many of Professor Nowacki’s classes (Ship Theory I+II, Computer Aided Ship Design I+II, and Ship Dynamics) which had a lasting impact on my academic career. Not only did they help me to complete my thesis on shape optimization of offshore structures but also laid the foundation for what I am teaching now.

With Professor Nowacki’s support I received an invitation to the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, made possible by a long-standing faculty exchange program with TU Berlin which Professor Nowacki helped establish. The year at the University of Michigan was a great experience for me and my entire family. It consolidated my desire to stay in the academic enterprise and it formed the foundation for my appointment as associate professor with the School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at the University of New Orleans in 2004. And here I still am, right in the heart of the United States’ ship building and offshore industries.

Professors touch lives. I hope my influence is as positive for the career paths of my students as Professor Nowacki’s was on mine.

Thank you Professor Nowacki!

Best wishes,

Lothar Birk