Dr. Matthew Griffiths

Tuesday, March 11^th at 3:00 p.m. in the Marvin K. Peterson Library 

Dr. Matthew Griffiths

"Oil Rig Safety: Developing Design Guidance"

Synopsis:

Oil rigs are large very expensive structures that operate with hazardous materials in extreme environments. Ensuring their safety is a national governmental concern. Operating them profitably is the business of some of the world's largest international corporations. And developing relevant technical knowledge is the concern of researchers at some of the world's best universities and private engineering consultancy firms. Bringing it all together is an example of ‘systems engineering'. In this talk, Dr Griffiths describes the ways in which scientific research is incorporated into oil rig design through the development of engineering design code.

This talk should be of interest to engineers, scientists, and those interested in business organization and the humanities.

Biographical Information:

Dr Griffiths has a PhD in Physics based on his studies of extreme breaking waves and has worked as a project officer at the UK Atomic Energy Authority where he interfaced between government agencies, oil companies, engineers, and scientists. He currently teaches Physics at the University of New Haven.