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Email: porzechowski@csum.edu
Piotr Orzechowski was born in Warsaw, Poland. Eleven years later, he moved with his family to the United States and has lived in Las Vegas, Chesapeake Bay, Santa Monica, and finally settling in Napa, California. His passion for naval architecture came much later in his life. When Piotr graduated from High School, his interests took him into the field of Genetics and Molecular Biology. While working at a research lab at CSUN, he became increasingly fascinated with perfecting biological assays. Over time, he noticed that wet biological lab techniques yielded data with a high range of error. He abruptly halted his undergraduate research in Glucocorticoid-induced apoptosis in acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells and began exploring how to make Real-Time Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction data acquisition more reliable.
Piotr was successful in his endeavor but long hours in the laboratory forced him to take up a recreational sport. He decided to enroll in an introductory sailing class at Castaic Lake (a freshwater reservoir lake in Los Angeles). On his first sailboat run, after sailing only 5 meters away from the beach in a 14-foot monohull, he capsized. After connecting with water, with his sailboat slowly turtling, Piotr instantaneously fell in love with the sport of sailing. Within six months, Piotr surpassed all sailing students on all sailboats available at Castaic and eventually was hired as a sailing instructor at the Castaic Lake facility. In addition, Piotr started competitive sailing in Marina Del Ray and Long Beach and soon after was participating in regattas every weekend. He rose quickly through the ranks to become a tactician.
However, that was not enough. In 2007, Piotr bought a salvaged 1981 Hobie 16 catamaran for $200. He spent two years restoring the trailer and the boat to near-perfection. Rebuilding the catamaran without any prior ship repair training and rearranging its rigging to gain speed advantages was a daunting undertaking. When he finished in 2009, he knew what he wanted to do. In order to gain a thorough insight into the mechanics of systems specifically tailored for the marine environment, Piotr enrolled at California Maritime Academy and began to study Mechanical Engineering, specializing in Marine Systems and Mechanical Design.
In 2010, after completing his mandatory engineering training cruise aboard the Academy’s 500-foot Training ShipGolden Bear, Piotr interned with Genentech, Inc. in Vacaville, CA (a biotechnology company specializing in manufacturing protein/enzyme-based pharmaceuticals). His previous background in molecular biology combined with his new engineering experiences with air handlers, pumps, pneumatic-controlled valves, and electric motors gave him a unique advantage in learning the most cost-effective ways of arranging/installing/designing manufacturing plant systems. Piotr continues to work at Genentech but at the same time is actively engaged in expanding his SNAME Student Section at the Academy.
Piotr founded the Cal Maritime SNAME Student Section in May of 2010 in order to provide the Academy’s engineering cadets access to naval architecture professionals and firms. He continually works on arranging fieldtrips to marine engineering companies and maritime policy seminars.
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