Wayne Schepens is the vice president of W2 Communications, a nationwide company specializing in campaigns for cyber-security enterprises. Wayne Schepens earned his MS in civil engineering from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) and his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the State University of New York Maritime College.
The State University of New York Maritime College sits on the site of Fort Schuyler on a spit of land jutting into the Long Island Sound from Throgg’s Neck. The college was founded in 1874 as the New York Nautical School and is the nation’s oldest maritime college.
The college offers a master’s degree in international transportation management, a bachelor of engineering in five different disciplines, and several bachelor of science programs, as well as an associate degree in marine technology and small vessel operations. Many of the individual degree programs incorporate a U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Mariner’s license (deck or engine), a valuable credential upon which a maritime career can be built. All students pursuing such a license must belong to the Regiment of Cadets, a student-led military organization similar to those at the service academies; students not pursuing a license may attend either as civilians or cadets.
While membership in the Regiment prepares cadets for entry into the U.S. Merchant Marine by teaching military discipline, bearing, and traditions, the bulk of the maritime training, upon which the licensing exams are based, is delivered during three annual summer semesters at sea. Each summer, cadets pursuing a U.S. Coast Guard license sail for a two-month term aboard the Empire State VI, a 565-foot, state-of-the-art training vessel, which usually visits three to five foreign ports each summer, as well as one domestic port.
