Mikhail Alferyev (1901–1983) — organized and headed the Department of Propulsors and Auxiliary Machinery at the Volga State Academy of Water Transport.
The year 1930 holds a special place in the history of Nizhny Novgorod higher education. It was then that several institutions of higher learning appeared in the capital of the Volga Region, among them the Nizhny Novgorod Institute of River Transport Engineers (now the Volga State Academy of Water Transport).
In 1934, Mikhail Yakovlevich Alferyev, an associate professor at the Leningrad Shipbuilding Institute, arrived in Nizhny Novgorod. He became the founder of the Department of Propulsors and Auxiliary Machinery. Later, when a shipbuilding faculty was established, the department was reorganized into the Department of Ship Theory, which Alferyev headed for nearly fifty years. His rich life experience helped him build the department from the ground up. Alferyev had served in the Civil War. After being wounded and shell-shocked, he worked as a ship-repair mechanic in the dry-dock workshops in Rostov. In the autumn of 1922, the Raykomvod (Water Transport District Committee) sent the young worker to Leningrad to study in the shipbuilding faculty of the Polytechnic Institute. In the spring of 1927, Alferyev began working at the Sudoproekt design bureau. His report on the topic "The Relationship Between the Values of Actual and Apparent Slip of a Paddle Wheel" laid the foundation for the theory of the paddle wheel with pivoting blades. This theory opened up possibilities for finding new types of paddle propulsors and determining the best methods of blade motion. After his move to Nizhny Novgorod, Alferyev's work became more wide-ranging. He delivered lectures, supervised diploma projects, and mentored postgraduate students — drawing once again on the experience he had gained during the Civil War. In 1937 he was awarded the academic degree of Candidate of Technical Sciences and the title of Professor in the Department of Propulsors and Auxiliary Machinery. Two years later he successfully defended his dissertation on the topic "Theory of the Operation of a Paddle Wheel with Pivoting Blades" and received his doctorate. When the Great Patriotic War broke out, Alferyev applied to join the army as a volunteer, but was refused — even in those years of dire hardship, the country's leaders understood the importance of training highly qualified specialists. A true educator, Mikhail Yakovlevich worked alongside his students in building a line of defence near the selo of Varezh on the Oka. He organized military training for institute staff and served on the air-defence team. Alferyev was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honour and the medals "For the Defence of Moscow" and "For Valiant Labour in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945." In 1948, by decree of the USSR Council of Ministers, he was granted the title of Engineer-General-Director of River Fleet, Third Rank. Professor Alferyev understood that the quality of specialist training and the level of scientific research depended on the material and technical base. As early as 1939 he proposed building an experimental towing tank for the Department of Ship Theory, but the war delayed the realization of his plans. The tank was eventually built by department staff in 1951. The new experimental facility made it possible to expand research into hull form design, the development of new methods for determining water resistance to the movement of river vessels, and the assessment of their pitching and rolling in waves. From 1955 onwards, particular attention was devoted to establishing the design characteristics of transport catamarans. Mikhail Yakovlevich can rightly be considered the founder of this field in the country. Alferyev set out his accumulated knowledge in numerous textbooks and monographs. His textbooks continue to serve as study aids for students to this day. Among his pupils are more than twenty candidates and doctors of science. In memory of this outstanding scholar, researcher, and educator, the name "Professor Alferyev" is inscribed on the hull of one of the cargo catamarans.