- OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush hired college interns to design Titan submersible electrical systems, the New Yorker report says.
- Titan submersible later imploded, killing Rush and four others; report says Rush ignored safety warnings and charged $250,000 per dive.
- Washington State University students and interns assisted with crucial electrical systems and claimed their design worked, per a former intern.
- OceanGate’s former director of marine operations and chief pilot warned about Titan safety, calling the vessel a 'lemon' in 2018.
- Tony Nissen discussed company difficulties; Mark Walsh became electrical lead and managed a team including two WSU interns while WSU denied an alliance.
Stockton Rush, the founder and CEO of OceanGate, hired college interns to design the electrical systems for the ill-fated Titan submersible, according to an exclusive report by the New Yorker.
OceanGate CEO used college interns to design the electrical systems for the ill-fated Titan submersible
Tragically, the submersible resulted in the loss of Stockton Rush’s life and four others. The report claims that Rush disregarded safety warnings and charged affluent tourists $250,000 for dives to the Titanic shipwreck. Rush enlisted students from Washington State University (WSU) to assist with the crucial systems, as detailed in the article.
“The whole electrical system — that was our design, we implemented it, and it works,” a former intern told the college paper in February 2018.
“We are on the precipice of making history and all of our systems are going down to the Titanic. It is an awesome feeling!” he added.
The New Yorker also disclosed that OceanGate’s former director of marine operations and chief pilot expressed concerns about the safety of the Titan in 2018, referring to it as a “lemon.”
The report further mentioned that Mark Walsh, a former student who was once the treasurer of WSU’s Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers club, shared that OceanGate’s director of engineering, Tony Nissen, discussed some of the company’s difficulties during that time, according to the college’s publication.
Student volunteers and interns collaborated on electrical solutions for OceanGate’s Titan sub
The former student told the paper that he and fellow students volunteered to offer their own solutions.
“Tony said, ‘OK, you’re hired,’” said Walsh, a 2017 graduate in electrical engineering. He later joined OceanGate full-time as the company’s electrical engineering lead.
“If electrons flow through it, I’m in charge of it,” he told the WSU paper with a laugh. Walsh added that he was managing a team of five, including Nissen and two WSU interns.
“I like that we have a close relationship with WSU Everett because the interns have been so great,” Walsh said. “They’ve been taught right at WSU Everett, so this summer we’re going to be hiring more.”
WSU told local news outlet the Everett Herald on June 2022t that “it does not have an alliance with OceanGate.
“We are aware that some of our graduates have worked at OceanGate. To our knowledge, one graduate currently works there. We are not privy to what OceanGate projects WSU Everett alumni have been involved in or what their roles may have been outside of publicly available information,” WSU added.
