After lifetime in academia, Spaulding setting a new course

NEXT STEP: Malcolm Spaulding is stepping down 46 years after arriving at URI. / COURTESY URI
NEXT STEP: Malcolm Spaulding is stepping down 46 years after arriving at URI. / COURTESY URI

In the 46 years since University of Rhode Island ocean-engineering professor Malcolm Spaulding first set foot on campus as an undergraduate, he’s spun what was supposed to be a stepping stone to an engineering career into a near lifetime of academic achievements, including building the university’s undergraduate ocean-engineering program.
Set to retire in June after 39 years as a faculty member, Spaulding first developed a love for engineering helping with his grandfather’s eclectic business interests, then earned three degrees in seven years.
He put himself through college as a member of the ROTC and was discharged as a captain after serving as an officer with the Army Corps of Engineers.
He began his teaching career at URI filling in during a professor’s leave. Since then, he’s served as a mentor to countless students.
He’s focused research efforts on oil spills and offshore, renewable energy development, lending his skills to the Department of Energy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

PBN: You’ve said you never saw yourself in academia. What steered you there?
Spaulding: There was encouragement in education. As an undergraduate, MIT faculty members suggested I spend time in graduate school. [There] the focus was on getting the degree and anything that interfered was a noninterest. I ended up working as a student in a group on a problem of combustion from aircraft engines and a major professor [needed help with] an experiment. I [helped], got it all done – and I had an accident.
I vowed there and then I was going to get out of this laboratory, experimental world and so I then was encouraged to apply back at URI for a Ph.D. program. I was fortunate enough to get a fellowship for two years, so that’s what I did.

PBN: Looking back, could you have had a different career? Spaulding: No. It was sort of natural, one of those things where decisions get made along the way. I tell my students the pool-ball theory of that, you stay on the course you’re on and go until something hits you.

PBN: Is building up URI’s undergraduate engineering program your greatest professional achievement?
Spaulding: I got hired by the chair of the department as a sabbatical-leave replacement and I dedicated most of my career there. The major thrust was the program. When I took over as chair, we had approval to go forward with the program but that was all. I would say that’s an important legacy that I have. The other is that I ended up having an active research program that sort of played out in my area of interest, marine engineering, which is kind of unusual, and a strong entrepreneurial drive. I founded several companies. Some I have voluntarily closed [and] some folded. The exciting part of the business side is that I’m doing the stuff on the research side, and it’s all very interesting, and I got all that, but I [had] that sort of drive that ended up with all these businesses.

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PBN: How would you like to see the department grow after you leave?
Spaulding: We are in a stage of refurbishment. The faculty members who are baby boomers are moving through and we are in the process of [welcoming] the next generation. We have [approximately] eight faculty members and we’re going to lose four in two years. I am hopeful that we will be able to continue to attract quality faculty members and the department will emerge stronger. The evidence is good so far. We’re preparing for an accreditation visit due in the fall and we’re refocusing on new initiatives, getting more faculty in ocean-based, renewable energy and ocean-instrumentation robotics.

PBN: Why is now the right time to retire?
Spaulding: I’m 65 – old enough to know and young enough to learn. The joke I make is that it’s a health and safety issue. I was teaching an undergraduate course and this kid was obviously antsy and I essentially hushed him up. He raised his hand, one hour in, and said, ‘How come you aren’t done yet.’ I said I intended to go the entire hour and 15 minutes. He said other faculty members don’t. I said to the department chair, ‘I’m going to kill that kid.’ So it’s a safety issue for him. It’s a health issue because I don’t need to continue to put up with this. The idea behind my retirement is that 40 years of teaching is a lot. I want to be able to spend more time focusing on research and outreach projects.

PBN: So, you will be involved with URI still in research?
Spaulding: Right now, I’m working with some colleagues here and trying to go after an advanced demonstration project and we are trying to put together a collaborative team.

PBN: And your other professional plans?
Spaulding: Applied Science Associates [the company he founded in 1979 and sold last year] was awarded the contract to do an impact assessment of the damages the Deep Water Horizon (BP) spill did to natural resources. It’s not a trivial problem, and ASA has developed tools to be able to make those estimates. We got a call the day after [the spill]. We’re up to our ears in it.

PBN: What advice do you have for someone wanting to follow your footsteps?
Spaulding: The opportunity to participate in all of these different areas is really extraordinary. The career path for an academic is ideally suited for those who want to explore a lot of different things because there’s freedom to focus on research, or teaching or a combination. •INTERVIEW
Malcolm Spaulding
Position: Professor of ocean engineering, University of Rhode Island
Background: Spaulding completed his doctorate work at the University of Rhode Island and, after spending nine months at Old Dominion University, he headed back to URI. He has held faculty positions as assistant professor, associate professor, professor and chair. Since 2007, he has served as director of URI’s Center of Excellence in Undersea Technology, and since 2008 as president of Northeast Regional Association for Coast Ocean Observing Systems. In 1979, he co-founded Applied Science Associates, an international leader in oil-spills research.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from URI, 1969; master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1970; Ph.D. in applied mechanics from URI, 1972
First Job: Helping his grandfather make oak boards that fashioned textile-industry cloths
Residence: South Kingstown
Age: 65

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