On the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where ocean industries drive the local economy, an engineer is turning 3D printing into a tool for marine innovation. Glenn Anglada has launched a startup to tackle one of the sector’s toughest challenges: corrosion. He is also the first graduate of a new ocean engineering program designed to help local talent turn coastal challenges into business opportunities, a path that directly supports the region’s growing Blue Economy.
In an interview with 3DPrint.com, Anglada recalled that when he first began studying engineering at the University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss), he never imagined he’d one day be running his own company, blending 3D printing with ocean technology. But thanks to a unique program that combines engineering and business, that’s exactly what he’s doing. And he’s the first to do it.
Anglada, now a full-time naval architect at Ingalls Shipbuilding by day and founder of Anglada 3D by night, recently became the first graduate of the university’s Ocean Engineering Entrepreneurship Pathway (OEEP). This five-year program is designed to help students build businesses that support Mississippi’s Blue Economy, which includes industries that operate in, on, or near the ocean, like marine robotics, underwater sensing, and coastal infrastructure.
“This program gave me the tools to turn something I was passionate about, 3D printing, into a business that makes sense for where I live and work,” Anglada told me. “It’s not just about launching a company, it’s about solving real problems we see on the coast every day. The ocean is harsh. Corrosion is everywhere. I wanted to build something that helps local industries deal with that.”
The University of Southern Mississippi.
A First-of-Its-Kind Program
The OEEP is the only known program in the U.S. that combines a Bachelor of Science in Ocean Engineering with a Master of Business Administration (MBA). A similar “Blue MBA” is offered at the University of Rhode Island, but it focuses on ocean science rather than engineering.
In just five years, students complete both degrees while developing a real business based on their senior engineering project.
“The structure is really unique,” Anglada explained. “We do the four-year engineering degree, and then in the fifth year, the MBA. Last year was entirely focused on turning a senior project into a real company. You’re not writing a fake business plan, you’re actually building the foundation of your own business.”
That’s precisely what Anglada did. His project focused on using Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) to create watertight, pressure-resistant parts for underwater applications. Basically, he wanted to figure out how to 3D print components that could survive the ocean.
Solving a Real Underwater Challenge
“FDM printing is popular and accessible, but it has a reputation for poor waterproofing. I saw this as a challenge worth solving. Because of how FDM prints layer by layer, you end up with tiny air gaps. That’s not a problem until you try to put the part underwater.”
He focused on eliminating those gaps by experimenting with print settings, custom G-code, and material choices like polycarbonate and PETG, plastics known for keeping moisture out. Then he tested his parts in water and under vacuum conditions, designing a custom pressure vessel for verification.
“I reached a point where I could 3D print an end cap, pressurize it, and it wouldn’t leak for over 24 hours. That gave me the confidence to say ‘this is something real,’” he stated. “A lot of companies only vacuum test for 10 to 20 minutes. I could go more than 24 hours without any air loss. That told me I had a product that could actually work in the field, no epoxy, no post-processing, just straight off the printer.”
A Business for Custom Underwater Parts
That “something real” became Anglada 3D, a company based in Gulfport, Mississippi, focused on producing custom 3D printed parts for researchers, startups, and others working in marine environments.
“The idea is to serve people who need one-off, affordable parts,” he said. “A lot of researchers can’t go to a machine shop and pay for a custom housing just to test one sensor. That’s where I come in.”
The startup offers fast-turnaround, watertight prints that don’t require epoxy or post-processing.
“You just take the part off the printer, install it, and go. That ease of use is part of what makes this service especially appealing to universities and coastal R&D labs.”
Anglada has already collaborated with a professor from Southern Miss who needed sensor housings, and he’s actively seeking more clients as he scales up.
Blue Economy Roots and Local Impact
While his technology could apply anywhere, Anglada is deeply rooted in the Mississippi Gulf Coast, a region working hard to grow its Blue Economy. The area is positioning itself as a national hub for ocean science, engineering, and technology, and Anglada’s startup is part of that push.
After the Deepwater Horizon oil spill devastated the Gulf Coast in 2010, Congress passed the RESTORE Act to fund long-term recovery and growth in the region. That funding helped launch the OEEP program, which gives students the chance to turn their senior engineering projects into real businesses that support Mississippi’s ocean economy. The university stated that the goal is to develop homegrown solutions, reduce coastal brain drain, and equip students with both technical and entrepreneurial tools to grow Mississippi’s ocean sector.
“Being based on the Gulf Coast makes sense. The state and the university are working together to bring in more companies that deal with ocean tech, and this program helped me contribute to that,” Anglada indicated. In fact, a California-based company called Ocean Aero was recently “lured to Gulfport, thanks in part to this local ecosystem,” he says. “It’s exciting to see real momentum. Now that the core technology is working and the business is officially launched, my focus is on building up a client base and refining the service. We’re in the growing stages, of course, but the goal is to keep scaling.”
Glenn Anglada at Southern Miss. Image courtesy of the University of Southern Mississippi.
More Than Just a Degree
Anglada believes the OEEP program helped him bridge a gap that many engineers struggle with, which is turning technical skill into business reality.
“You can learn some business online, sure. But you don’t know what you don’t know. The MBA part of this program taught me things I didn’t even realize I was missing, like financial modeling, customer discovery, and operations. I couldn’t have Googled my way through that,” he said. “I was also able to tailor class assignments directly to the startup. So, instead of writing a paper about a made-up company, I wrote my real business plan. Every assignment became part of the foundation of Anglada 3D.”
Manufacturing solutions for prototyping to final production. Image courtesy of Anglada 3D.
Although Anglada hopes to grow beyond the Gulf Coast as more clients find him, today, he’s focused on helping the people around the area, like researchers, engineers, and anyone working in or around the water who needs affordable, reliable parts.
And the path hasn’t been easy: after all, as the first graduate, he dealt with plenty of program “growing pains.” But Anglada is excited to see others following in his footsteps. Two more students have already joined the OEEP, and that truly matters because the marine economy is a growing force in the U.S., contributing nearly $476 billion to the national GDP in 2022 and supporting 2.4 million jobs. At the same time, demand for marine engineers and naval architects is rising faster than average, with job openings expected to increase between 6% and 8% over the next decade. It’s a field that’s becoming more important than ever, and innovators along the Gulf Coast, like Anglada, are navigating uncharted territory to push ocean tech forward.