I Ketut Aria Pria Utama is a professor of ship hydrodynamics at the Department of Naval Architecture, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) Surabaya since 2007. He received his bachelor degree from ITS in 1991. His MSc and PhD were obtained from the Department of Ship Science, the University of Southampton UK, in 1996 and 1999, respectively. He received a Fellowship-the highest membership class-from the Royal Institution of Naval Architects (RINA), world’s oldest and biggest maritime professional association, and his Professional/Chartered Engineer status from the United Kingdom Engineering Council (ECUK) both in 2006.
Professor Utama’s research interests include ship resistance and propulsion, experimental and computational fluid dynamics, marine renewable energy, and maritime education. His most recent work is about environmental fluid flow, especially at the influence of biofouling on marine engineering application. This connected to energy efficiency of ships, hence the reduction of green house gas (GHG) effects. Professor Utama is co-author of a paper entitled Reducing Ship Emissions: A Review of Potential Practical Improvements in the Propulsive Efficiency of Future Ships which published in RINA Transactions 2014 and received Distinction of Medal Award in 2015 from RINA.
Professor Utama is a Fellow of the Indonesian Academy of Sciences (AIPI) from Engineering Commission since 2015. He has been recently re-elected as Fellow Council Member of RINA for the period of 2018-2021. His previous periods were 2006-2012 and 2013-2016. He is the first Indonesian expert/engineer to hold this prestigious position.