- Bachelor of Science in Marine Transportation from Massachusetts Maritime Academy, 1974
- Master of Management from Cambridge College, 2000
- Master Mariner- Oceans, Unlimited Tonnage, DLC PIC
- 1st Class Pilotage- Prince William Sound, AK
- 1st Class Pilotage-Los Angeles/Long Beach, CA
- Council of American Master Mariners
- Boston Marine Society
- Nautical Institute
- International Maritime Lecturers Association
- Bachelor of Science from St. Xavier's College, India
- Master of Science in Statistics from Indian Statistical Institute, India
- Ph.D in Economics from Princeton University, USA
- Professor Ani Dasgupta teaches Microeconomics, Finance and Quantitative Methods of Management. He also serves as the faculty advisor of the Academy's Business/Investment club. He joined the Academy at the time of the inception of the International Maritime Business department and served as its first chairperson. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Economics Department at Boston University, where since 2004, he has taught graduate statistics and econometrics courses. In the past, he has served as full-time faculty at Penn State University, visiting faculty at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta and adjunct faculty at Tufts University.
- Outside academia, Dr. Dasgupta has worked as the chief economist of a dotcom, and provided consulting services in the areas of economics and operations to companies. His research publications have appeared in prestigious journals such as Management Science, Journal of Economic Theory and International Journal of Game Theory, and he is involved with ongoing research projects in the areas of Game Theory and Labor Economics.
- Beyond professional activities, he plays the guitar and drums, writes fiction and poetry and manages to waste countless hours playing chess on the internet.
Education:
Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Buzzards Bay, MA: MS Facilities Management
Maine Maritime Academy, Castine, MA: BS Marine Engineering Technology
Professional Credentials:
USCG License Chief Engineer, Steam and Gas Unlimited Horsepower
USCG License Third Assistant Engineer, Motor Unlimited Horsepower
LT. Zachary Dias is a Master Mariner, educator, and U.S. Navy Strategic Sealift Officer with nearly two decades of experience in the maritime industry. A graduate of Massachusetts Maritime Academy, LT. Dias spent nearly a decade sailing with the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command, earning his Master of Unlimited Tonnage Upon Oceans and Master of Towing, Oceans Licenses. His professional experience includes extensive service aboard U.S. Navy ocean-going tugs, salvage and rescue vessels, and, Combat Logistics Force ships.
Throughout his maritime career, LT. Dias has developed extensive hands-on expertise in ship handling, docking and undocking, towing, making and breaking tow, multi-point anchorings and moorings, ocean towing, dry dock operations, salvage and recovery, Bridge Resource Management, and navigation. His experience includes numerous ocean-going tows, complex tug operations, real-world salvage missions, and specialized ship-handling evolutions. Notably, he was part of the crew involved in the successful recovery of the EL FARO’s Voyage Data Recorder in 2016.
LT. Dias is a former Military Sealift Command Maritime Instructor, where he taught USCG STCW courses, developed towing curriculum, and instructed Anti-Terrorism Officer courses. He currently serves as a USCG Designated Examiner and Qualified Instructor at MMA, allowing him to combine extensive operational experience with the professional assessment and development of mariners. He also maintains a strong background in Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS) and modern electronic navigation. His professional interests and collaborative work include efforts to enhance ECDIS symbology and improve the interpretation of charted information, helping explore how navigators interact with, understand, and apply complex electronic navigational information in real-world operating environments.
Beyond his operational experience, LT. Dias has developed a strong academic and maritime business background. He holds a Master’s degree in Maritime Business Management, giving him a broader perspective on the commercial, operational, and strategic forces that shape the maritime industry. His particular area of professional curiosity is United States sealift strategy and the relationship between the commercial maritime industry, national security, and the nation’s ability to project maritime power.
That interest continues through his service as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve Strategic Sealift Officer Force, where he operates at the intersection of commercial maritime capability and national defense.
As an educator, LT. Dias believes effective maritime education should go beyond teaching students what to do—it should teach them why. He brings practical maritime experience into the classroom and uses realistic, challenging simulator exercises to place students in situations requiring sound judgment, communication, adaptability, and technical skill. He enjoys experimenting with different scenarios and approaches to learning, encouraging students to be curious, ask questions, and understand the consequences of their decisions.
His teaching philosophy is simple: experience creates understanding, curiosity creates growth, and understanding the “why” creates better mariners.
- Courses Taught:
- EM-5160: Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery
- EM-5200: Capstone Advisor
- Education:
- Senior Executive Fellow, Kennedy School, Harvard University, 2019
- Ed. D. Higher Education Leadership, Northeastern University, 2016
- M.S. Strategic Intelligence, National Intelligence University, 2014
- M.S. Criminal Justice Studies, Florida State University, 2007
- M.S. Administration & Management, St. Michael’s College, 1996
- B.S. Business Administration, University of New Hampshire,1993