Photo By Gary Ell | Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division hosts its annual Science,...... read more read more
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Summer interns at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division presented their research projects during a competitive poster session on July 28, 2022.
Every summer, NSWCPD hosts students from the Naval Research Enterprise Internship Program (NREIP); Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) internship program; and Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program (SEAP), all sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR). In addition, the command now also hosts the Naval Education Workplace Training (NEWT) program, sponsored by NSWCPD. This year's poster session featured projects by 31 participants across the four programs.
Interns participate in a 10-week hands-on experience to learn about naval research and technology while receiving first-class mentoring by top scientists and engineers.
"It provides a unique and not-so-common opportunity for the NSWCPD workforce to learn more about the Division. Due to its size, we don't have many opportunities to learn what is happening across our organization. This is one of those few opportunities to learn more," NSWCPD Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Outreach Program Manager Tristan Wolfe said.
"It is a great opportunity for you, and it is a great opportunity for this country. Especially for our Navy, we want to hire people who bring this technology, innovation, and a new way of thinking to the world. And that is what we need to do to move forward," NSWCPD Commanding Officer Capt. Dana Simon said during the awards ceremony that took place after the poster session.
Simon further expressed his appreciation for the new generations, ideas, and eagerness to deliver these ideas to the Navy.
This year's first-place winners for SEAP focused on a Salinity Monitoring Systems Upgrade. Caryn Chandler, a senior at the Philadelphia High School for Girls, and Adriana Drones, a freshman at Drexel University studying mechanical engineering, highlighted their journey during the 10-week program.
"This summer Adriana and I not only got the opportunity to design a layout, but also to upgrade a Salinity Monitoring system. The salinity monitoring system measures the salt content in the ship's water system, for example, the boiler and steam systems on the ship," Chandler said.
Although Drones already had experience in robotics she acknowledged that "this is another level working in a professional setting. Also, being hands-on was another benefit to the process. Designing, building, and seeing the product come to life is a different experience."
Students worked closely with their mentors to curate a project that centered on technical issues within the fleet.
Chandler and Drones shared the impact their mentors had on the ease of the transition to an unfamiliar field.
"Our mentors made it easy for us to transition. They helped us and ushered us into this, but still allowed (us to work) this project to our own, giving us the creative freedom to feel included," Chandler said.
"They are not only amazing at advising us, but also trusting us with a major project," Drones said.
Other projects, such as those worked on by the second place winners, highlighted the CVN 68 Class Electronic Catapult Steam Charge Control System (ECSCCS) Test Stand, created by Christian Ricks and Adittya Siyam, graduates from George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science.
"The purpose of the Test Stand is to have the hardware on hand so you don't have to go out to a ship to test new software and hardware updates,” Siyam said, adding that it is used for rare situation troubleshooting. “For example, if an aircraft is having issues with the system, we can simulate that issue on the Test Stand and try and figure out what is going on and help them.”
Despite the event being hosted in-person for the first time in two years, some presenters participated virtually, such as the third place winners from NREIP, Alec Lanter and Charlee Pappler, who dedicated their research to the design of a Waste Heat Recovery System.
"The pre-heaters on the LPD 17 run during the cold weather, using a large amount of electric power. Our goal was to reduce or eliminate the electrical power requirement by taking the waste heat from the central fresh waterlines that cool the ship’s four main propulsion diesel engines. We repurpose a waste heat recovery system, with one heat recovery unit per main propulsion diesel engine to capture the waste heat and use with hot water heating coils for the pre-heaters," Pappler said.
As for the 10 weeks dedicated by those 31 interns, their ideas will have a long-term impact on NSWCPD.
"In many cases, the technical work that the students are doing impacts our ships, our Sailors, and our engineers and scientists. In other cases, it may lay the groundwork for a larger multi-year project,” Wolfe said. “I was a mentor before, and some of the work my former interns did is still in use within the organization and has impacted several programs and platforms. It is not just ‘busy work’ they are doing. This is real science, mathematics, and engineering with real applications that impact the direction of the United States Department of the Navy.”
At the end of the ceremony, Simon shared the memories the projects brought back to him, such as the third place winner Nymaat Bracey, a SEAP intern, whose project focused on Assistive Tech for Gardening.
"The poster that focuses on the granny gardening is something I can relate to," Simon said, mentioning that though he does not garden, he does get green thumbs when pulling up the weeds from his yard.
"Sometimes (when) we get older, it does get harder to do things. I think that the things we do with technology, we will need devices like this to make it easier for us,” Simon said.
NSWCPD employs approximately 2,800 civilian engineers, scientists, technicians, and support personnel. The NSWCPD team does the research and development, test and evaluation, acquisition support, and in-service and logistics engineering for the non-nuclear machinery, ship machinery systems, and related equipment and material for Navy surface ships and submarines. NSWCPD is also the lead organization providing cybersecurity for all ship systems.
| Date Taken: | 08.18.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 08.18.2022 11:45 |
| Story ID: | 427510 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 526 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, NSWCPD’s Poster Session Showcases Summer Intern Research Projects, by Akenda Steward, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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