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PORT HUENEME, Calif.— Representatives from Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Headquarters, Naval Surface Warfare Center Port Hueneme Division (NSWC PHD), and NSWC Corona Division toured three Southern California universities to promote Naval Engineering Education Consortium (NEEC) educational partnerships, canvassing students and professors for collaborative research opportunities, April 17-20.
The universities toured were San Diego State University (SDSU), University of California, Riverside (UCR), and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The tours allowed the Warfare Center representatives to gain a better understanding of what research capabilities the universities have and the work currently being done in their labs. Comprehensive technical reviews of current projects were also conducted.
“A key component of our National Defense Strategy is encouraging and supporting academic research in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields and exposing as many STEM students as possible to our Navy's role in our country and the world as a whole,” said Corona Deputy Technical Director Rich Caccese. “The meetings that we had this week with SDSU, UCR, and UCLA students, faculty, and administrators are key to building the relationships that will sustain and expand these critical efforts.”
NEEC projects target the Navy’s most relevant technology needs. NEEC allows students to acquire academic research results and products to resolve real naval technology challenges while working with university faculty and Warfare Center mentors who are typically engineers, research scientists and acquisition professionals.
“University projects funded by NEEC afford Warfare Center scientists and engineers an opportunity to be influential at top academic institutions across the country,” said NEEC Program Director Kirk Jenne. “Universities and the Navy have a long history of working together successfully, and we can always do better when it comes to national security. Professors are passionate about their projects and enthusiastically engage us with new ideas and future plans. The talented students participating in NEEC are vital to our technical workforce pipeline. We also take time for tours of their facilities and discuss research capabilities, which is crucial to the scientific & technical intelligence needed for future investment decisions.”
The NEEC program also offers employment opportunities to recent graduates with engineering research and development experience at one of the ten NAVSEA Warfare Centers across the country. Hiring managers, human resources officers and recruiters conducted information sessions during the tours to discuss work opportunities such as summer internships and entry-level positions with the Navy as well as the type of research that NSWC PHD and Corona Division is involved in. On-the-spot job offers for student positions and entry-level employee positions were also made during the tours.
Most NEEC projects are funded for up to three years, which aligns with a time frame for students to participate in project-based research prior to graduation. One example of a current successful NEEC endeavor between NSWC Corona Division and UCLA is a 3-D printing project using metrology. “This research can have applications across the Enterprise as we continue our development using 3-D printing as an option,” said Doug Sugg, NSWC Corona Division NEEC director. “We toured the two labs that are collaborating on the project and had a very good discussion with UCLA Professor Ken Yang, vice chair for industrial relations, on how the Navy and UCLA can better work together on research and developing students for a Navy hiring pipeline.”
"The visit from NEEC representatives and Navy technical specialists was a great opportunity for two-way information exchange,” said UCLA Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Rob Candler. “They were able to learn about our recent advances from our NEEC research project as well as the research capabilities across the UCLA campus. We were able to learn more about the mission of NEEC and the technical areas of interest across several divisions."
University professors have come to anticipate the collaborative research efforts with the Warfare Centers and the added benefits of partnering on national security and naval-focused research to the benefit of their educational programs. "SDSU is excited to partner with the U.S. Navy by engaging our faculty and students in Naval Surface Warfare Center projects,” said SDSU Management Information Systems Department Chair and Professor Bruce Reinig. “Through these efforts the Navy is helping to guide our research and curriculum. The NEEC program prepares our students to take positions within the Naval Surface Warfare Centers to solve real-world, high-impact problems. We are proud to be affiliated with and help serve the U.S. Navy."
“The Navy participants gained a much better appreciation and understanding of the ongoing research at each university as well,” said NEEC Director Mark Jue. “There are opportunities for the Navy to help the universities by providing ideas and topics for senior design projects and capstones. The universities are also doing research in areas that the Navy can leverage.”
The primary objectives of NEEC are to acquire academic research results and products to resolve Naval technology challenges; hire college graduates with Naval engineering research and development experience into the NAVSEA workforce; and to develop and continue exceptional working relationships with Naval engineering colleges, universities, professors & academics.
"Attending the NEEC event at the universities was a unique opportunity to learn about the research conducted by students and discuss with the faculty on how the Warfare Centers could better partner with academia to solve some of the challenges we are facing in supporting the fleet,” said NSWC PHD Equipment Engineering Division Manager Richard Watanabe. “Some of the research the NEEC students are doing in the areas of cybersecurity and big data analytics is very relevant to the work we do at the Warfare Centers, so collaborating with these students through the NEEC program will definitely pay significant dividends in maintaining our fleet's readiness.”
The NAVSEA Enterprise consists of ten Warfare Centers located across the United States that offer unique opportunities for STEM students pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree to collaborate on research through opportunities such as NEEC and EPAs to meet the Navy’s most relevant technology needs of the future. EPAs allow Warfare Center scientists and engineers to work with an educational institution to enhance STEM education and can also provide equipment loans, course development, guest lectures, demonstrations and workshops.
NSWC Corona is the Navy's only independent analysis and assessment center. NSWC PHD provides the fleet with integration, test and evaluation, life-cycle logistics, and in-service engineering for today’s and tomorrow’s warfare systems.
For more information on NEEC opportunities visit https://www.grants.gov and type NEEC into the keyword search box at the top of the page, click on the opportunity number for NEEC and search for topics of interest by each agency. Technical papers can be submitted online.
| Date Taken: | 05.02.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 05.02.2018 18:07 |
| Story ID: | 275485 |
| Location: | CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 222 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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