Charting new courses: Larrie Ferreiro's naval expertise sets sail at George Mason

Nathan Kahl — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 14:07:16 +0000

Charting new courses: Larrie Ferreiro's naval expertise sets sail at George Mason Nathan Kahl Mon, 09/30/2024 - 10:07

Other works by Larrie Ferreiro

Ships and Science: The Birth of Naval Architecture in the Scientific Revolution, 1600-1800, published in 2006
Measure of the Earth: The Enlightenment Expedition That Reshaped Our World, published in 2011
Bridging the Seas: The Rise of Naval Architecture in the Industrial Age, 1800-2000, published in 2020
Churchill's American Arsenal: The Partnership Behind the Innovations that Won World War Two, published in 2022

Like many George Mason adjunct faculty, Larrie Ferreiro had a successful career before entering academe. He worked in both France and England, where he earned his PhD in History of Engineering, Science, and Technology Studies from Imperial College London and became a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

He appreciates that he can apply his background to teaching. “What I enjoy about Mason is what I’ll call ‘opening the aperture.’ That’s part of the culture and ethos here,” he said. “As an adjunct, I was able to propose—and have accepted—the idea of a minor called STEM in Society. I developed curricula around this idea that you can look at science, engineering, and technology through a social and historical lens, and vice-versa.”

Ferreiro has authored several books, one of which, Brothers at Arms: American Independence and the Men of France and Spain Who Saved It, published in 2016, was a Pulitzer Prize Finalist in History and was named Journal of the American Revolution Book of the Year.

Ferreiro's book was the culmination of several years of naval history research. Image provided

Ferreiro noticed his kids’ textbooks had no information about the American colonies’ collaboration with France, and Spain during the American Revolution. “I had looked at the knowledge sharing between France and Spain, and they were trying to create a combined navy to defeat the British and the Americans were relying on that.” He found very little written about this aid and said, “That was when I realized I had a book.”

His combined knowledge of warship engineering and Industrial Revolution-era navies is nearly unmatched. Ferreiro is a naval architect and designed warships for more than 30 years, after being hand-picked to train overseas as a British naval constructor. He also spent time working in France in the early 90’s. “The Cold War ended in 1991 and the U.S. Navy was going to downsize,” he said. “My question was, ‘What does a future U.S. Navy look like that’s smaller?’ The French Navy was the only navy with every single capability the U.S. Navy had but at a smaller scale.” While working there, he found himself researching various aspects of ship design from the late 1700s.

For the book, he recalled, “I dragged my family up and down the East Coast, going to battlefields from Vermont to New York to Savannah. I had already researched the European archives and Brothers in Arms was a culmination of all of that. I took a different view of how the Americans asked for help from these two nations. The Americans wrote a document that was intended as a call to arms. We call it the Declaration of Independence, but it was specifically to tell the kings of France and Spain: If you come in on our side you will fight alongside a sovereign ally.”

When he learned he was named a Pulitzer finalist, he said, “The first words out of my wife’s mouth when I told her were, ‘I told you so.’ This is one of the many times I’ve heard this and as usual, she was right.”

Topics

Adjunct Faculty

Naval research

Workshop offers opportunity to learn about jobs and research for the Navy

284b32ef-f5e4-49b3-b958-e02a665d1125 (Nanci Hellmich) — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 15:25:18 +0000

Workshop offers opportunity to learn about jobs and research for the Navy 284b32ef-f5e4-… Tue, 02/18/2020 - 10:25

Leigh McCue, an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, says Mason students are invited to attend a workshop that gives students insights into jobs with the Navy, as well as research opportunities.

George Mason faculty and students who are interested in naval research and civilian careers with the Navy are invited to attend a workshop on March 6 at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division in Bethesda, Maryland.

The Department of Mechanical Engineering is organizing the Workshop to Enhance Opportunities for Naval Workforce Development, as part of a related Office of Naval Research grant. Registration is free.

Students will be able to engage in dialogue with Carderock department heads, local university deans and department chairs, and rising stars in the Navy and academia as they share their thoughts on how to build the naval workforce of the future, says Leigh McCue, an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

The day’s events include a keynote lecture, panel discussions, and a poster session in which faculty and students will showcase their Navy-relevant research.

The ONR grant supports efforts for students to become part of the Navy career talent pipeline and provides an opportunity for faculty to engage in cutting-edge research that supports the mission of the Navy and Marine Corps, says Mechanical Engineering Department Chair Oscar Barton, Jr, the grant’s principal investigator.

More information and the agenda are online.

If you are interested in showcasing your classroom or research projects in the poster session, please reach out to McCue.