HD Hyundai signed an MOU with SNU and UoM to foster talent in the U.S. shipbuilding industry
- Secretary of the Navy requests...MIT-Virginia Tech to consider collaboration

By Lim Byung-ho, Yonhap News Agency

▲(From left) U.S. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro; Jong-Gye Shin, technical advisor of HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering; Steve Brock, special assistant to the secretary of the Navy; and Jonathan Page, professor of engineering practice in naval architecture & marine engineering at the University of Michigan(UoM). 

On July 23, HD Hyundai announced that HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, its intermediate holding company for the shipbuilding sector, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Seoul National University (SNU) and the University of Michigan (UoM), for educational cooperation to foster talent in the U.S.-Korea shipbuilding industry.

The MOU ceremony, held at Macomb Community College in Michigan, U.S., on July 22 (local time), was attended by U.S. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and the technical advisor of HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Jong-Gye Shin. Under the agreement, HD Hyundai and SNU will explore ways to collaborate with the UoM, including joint research, education, and internship programs.The University of Michigan, which was founded in 1817, was ranked third in the U.S. News & World Report's U.S. public university rankings this year and is considered world-class in engineering and business administration, HD Hyundai said.

Following this collaboration, HD Hyundai and SNU are considering expanding the collaboration to other universities in the U.S., including Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Virginia Tech.The agreement follows a visit by Secretary of State Carlos del Toro to HD Hyundai's Ulsan headquarters in February 2024, where he saw firsthand HD Hyundai's shipbuilding capabilities and requested the collaboration.

"Producing the talented shipbuilding engineers our nation needs requires collaboration with world-class faculty as well as innovation in ship design education," said Secretary Carlos del Toro. "We are pleased to offer U.S. engineers the valuable opportunity to learn first-hand at a world-class HD Hyundai shipyard.“ 

Jong-Gye Shin, Technical Advisor of HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, added, "The U.S.-Korea educational cooperation in shipbuilding will not only strengthen the competitiveness of the U.S. shipbuilding industry, but will also have a positive effect on future bilateral business cooperation, such as the maintenance, repair, overhaul (MRO) of U.S. naval ships. We will strive to play a pivotal role in the development of the shipbuilding industry between the two countries based on our technology and experience."

* Source : https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20240723056900003?input=1195m