Our Partners

Cyberattacks targeting the different functionalities of mission-critical power systems (MCPS), especially when coupled with vulnerable Internet of Things (IoT) networks, have brought new cybersecurity challenges. These cybersecurity challenges require a workforce with diverse skill sets and interdisciplinary backgrounds to operate and safeguard such systems. This project will develop the CyberPower Training Program for engineering undergraduate and graduate students. It encompasses an advanced real-time hardware-in-the-loop testbed, an online training environment that allows remote interaction with the testbed, and three courses tailored to address unique challenges in the cybersecurity of MCPS. The CyberPower Training Program enhances the learning experience and access through an innovative remote platform that integrates theoretical foundations with hands-on experimentation. The program will have a significant focus on outreach activities and recruitment to engage students from underrepresented communities, not only to enroll in the program but also to be part of its development and evaluation throughout the project. The CyberPower Training Program will be critical to creating impactful educational experiences and pathways for students in STEM disciplines critical to the Naval mission.

Naval robots increasingly operate collaboratively with human operators, combining human flexible thinking and ethical responsibility with the physical, sensory, and computational capabilities of robots. Future operators must become comfortable with such Human-Robot Teaming (HRT) arrangements, while designers and engineers must maximize their benefits. Our project engages youth from groups historically underrepresented in Naval science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in the design of Naval STEM Human-Robot Teaming Games that promote learning and shape perceptions about robotics, Naval STEM, and HRT. These games position players and programmable “cobot” allies as teammates in well-understood digital game settings. The psychological affordances of games allow players to take on these HRT roles quickly, bypassing existing motivational barriers. Three cohorts of United States Navy Sea Cadets Corps (USNSCC) cadets from different underrepresented groups will co-design and test novel Naval STEM HRT games. Key Naval STEM stakeholders such as Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD) contextualize and inspire HRT game designs by introducing cadets to real-world Naval HRT applications. Finished games engage the public in learning about HRT, Naval STEM careers, and coding. Cadet co-designers gain engineering design, systems thinking, and critical media literacy skills. We test for increased engagement in subpopulations demographically similar to co-designers. Project findings, relationships, and platform development enable additional future impact and activities.

Networking with professionals, gaining hands-on skills, increasing opportunities for advancement, defining career goals, gaining self-confidence and developing a sense of STEM identity are all documented benefits of high school STEM internships. Over twenty-five Navy Laboratories across the United States offer high school internships in the Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program (SEAP), giving students hands-on, mentored research experiences. However, many underserved high school students are unaware of these opportunities or struggle with the application process. This project aims to provide opportunities for students in targeted underserved and underrepresented school districts to develop skills in the internship application process, learn about scholarships and other internship/apprenticeship programs, gain a broader awareness of Department of Navy (DON) careers and engage in a Navy-relevant STEM project. These will be accomplished through two focused programs: A one-week Naval STEM Internship Bootcamp for underserved high school students in Prince Georges County, Maryland, and the District of Columbia, and a four-day Naval STEM Career-Connections Workshop for a School Support Team (SST) comprised of School Guidance/Career Counselors and STEM educators from targeted schools. Each SST will tour the host laboratories and meet STEM professionals, learning about their inspiration for choosing a STEM career and the experiences that influenced the development of their positive STEM identity.

The Bootcamps will be held at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Carderock, Maryland and the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC. In addition, they will include a field trip to the United States Naval Academy.

A key element of the U.S. military to maintain superiority is the engineering support to conduct information warfare. Cybersecurity, networking, and communications are essential domains to attain effective information warfare. One of the main workforce challenges is the difficulty of recruiting professionals for these domains. The University of South Carolina (USC), along with South Carolina State University (SCSU) and the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), will address the Information Technology (IT) talent gap through both education and internships. The project will 1) advance formal and informal cyber communities by developing hands-on training and research experiences for STEM majors, veterans, Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) students, IT communities of practice, and National Guard personnel; 2) develop a multi-state internship program that will enable students to participate in a 400-hour internship while receiving professional mentoring; 3) expand the Academic Cloud to support large-scale learning and research nationwide. Finally, the project will develop new virtual lab libraries and deploy them in the Academic Cloud, a platform for hands-on education and research. Libraries will cover state-of-the-art technologies such as programmable data planes (PDPs) and material aligned with the Department of Defense’s 8570 baseline certificates.

Building a Workforce for Wave-Physics program educates students in wave-physics engineering and creates a workforce pipeline supporting critical naval applications including communication, radar, acoustic, and optical systems. Potential engineering students frequently have little prior exposure to wave-physics while non-traditional engineering students, often found in creative fields, may reject the discipline as uncreative or too difficult. Consequently, the Virginia Tech (VT) National Security Institute (Hume Center) and the VT Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology are creating a curriculum that reaches a diverse group of students using the familiar and captivating medium of music. Attracting and engaging traditional and non-traditional engineering students requires building bridges with activities that demonstrate the creativity and challenges involved. A music-based program promotes these ideas with relevant instruction and hands-on experimentation that is ideal for expanding interest in STEM and wave-physics engineering. Building from an intuitive framework, this approach allows students to explore the properties of waves (e.g. wavelength, speed), their interaction with the environment (e.g. reflection, diffraction) and their manipulation (signal processing). The program’s product will be a flexible curriculum coupled with an inexpensive hardware kit that can be widely distributed throughout the nation at a level suitable for secondary schools, college freshmen and for other post-graduates such as sailors. The program will include input from local secondary school teachers along with numerous Navy laboratories and will sustain its activity and advance the DOD’s interests by participating in a related university/industry/government consortium.

The Developing an Inclusive and Diverse Naval Oceanographic Workforce (DID-NOW) program is a comprehensive summer undergraduate internship program that will provide (1) project-based research experience, (2) mentoring and support outside the research activity, (3) community building and support opportunities through peer-to-peer relationships, and (4) tools and strategies to navigate the pathways to a Navy-relevant career. This broad-based strategy will go beyond the research experience itself by providing supplemental perspectives and resources to participants. Recruitment will target racial and ethnic minority students and military-connected students through community and Navy partnerships. Weekly meetings will include guest speakers in Navy-related jobs, tours of laboratories and facilities, and career counselors familiar with DON STEM pathways. The program will include community-building activities to enable the intern cohort to strengthen peer-to-peer relationships. All interns will be given the opportunity to participate in a one-day training cruise on the research vessel R/V Rachel Carson. The heart of the internship will be the pursuit of an independent research project under the guidance of a member of the research staff. Interns will present the results of their research at a lab-wide colloquium that will be advertised and open to the University of Washington community, Navy and outside partners, and local maritime industry.

Exploring Naval Underwater STEM (Exploring NUSTEM) leverages existing collaborations of two universities from different coasts of the United States—the University of Bridgeport (UB) and the University of Southern California (USC)—, high schools, informal science centers, community programs, and Naval partners. The project provides research opportunities for high school (grades 9-12), undergraduate, and graduate students to plan, develop and implement underwater exploration projects related to submarine and unmanned underwater vehicles in the project’s Key Knowledge Areas (KKA) of Navy relevance: 1) submarine and unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV) operation and engineering, 2) human-technology interface, and 3) underwater communications. The project provides students with iterative learning opportunities to integrate fundamentals in KKA. In addition, the project offers a mobile mission control center incorporated into a STEM on Wheels mobile laboratory, and manned and unmanned vehicle operation and control, including the unique capabilities of UB’s one-person, 8-foot, 2,300-pound submarine named “Explorer.” Through informal science experiences designed to reinforce learning in KKA, secondary and post-secondary students will be able to participate year-round through classroom activities and capstone projects, workshops, summer academies, and after-school programs.

Electronic Warfare (EW) is becoming a leading field of engagement for the US military and an understanding of its technical basis and considerations are needed throughout the Navy. INTERACT is an innovative, experiential STEM program designed to provide US students, Naval personnel, and military-connected individuals with the technical background and skills needed for future conflicts where control and understanding of the electromagnetic spectrum and systems is essential. INTERACT has three overarching goals. Establish a national network of universities and labs that are engaged in educating students in electronic sensing, communication, and warfare for DOD and Navy careers. Create and disseminate an innovative experiential learning curriculum and lab-at-home (or in the field) to allow hands-on, experimentally supported electronic sensing and warfare education anywhere in an in-person, virtual or hybrid form. Finally, to increase the breadth and diversity of the US talent pipeline in EW-related fields through collaborations, interactions, and internships with Navy and DOD research labs.

Enhancing resilience to meet the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) requirements and Department of Navy (DON) directives for 7-day mission autonomy in the event of utility outages requires advancements to master planning, human resource capacity, processes and technology. Training the next generation of Navy STEM professionals to improve resilience against known and unknown threats will need a holistic approach that engages students in Navy problem areas, enables direct interaction with Navy personnel, implements hands-on activities and case studies, and encourages creative, interdisciplinary thinking. STRIDE addresses this need by expanding existing STEM training efforts to establish a pipeline of well-prepared STEM students entering uniformed and civilian Navy job roles supporting resilience and mission-critical operations. Capacity development of regional communities in the Southwest will be achieved through the engagement of 1000 secondary and post-secondary students per year through mixed-reality and augmented reality immersion, hands-on project-based learning, real-world case studies, and competitions and challenges. Participants will interact with uniformed and civilian Navy personnel and be introduced to Navy and DoD careers directly related to resilience.

San Diego’s Fleet Science Center (FSC) has seen the proliferation of STEM programming over the last 20 years, not just in schools but in after-school and out-of-school time settings such as libraries, museums, recreation centers, military installations, corporations, and an array of organizations. The growth is promising; however, these efforts are in most cases disconnected from one another and are operating without measurable, targeted community goals. Wraparound Services for STEM Learning (WSSL) in National City, a neighborhood located very close to Naval Base San Diego, is a partnership between National School District, Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center, A Reason to Survive, Ocean Connectors, National City Public Library, Naval Base San Diego, FSC, and local parents and caregivers. It will integrate partner curriculum with teaching methods and curriculum from Naval Base San Diego consistent with State and District curriculum standards and ensure STEM learning and activities build on each other and leverage partnerships. Informed by learnings from collaborations in National City, WSSL will increase student, parent/caregiver, teacher, and community engagement in STEM learning connected to Department of Navy (DON) related subject areas through in-school education workshops, after-school STEM learning, parent workshops, family STEM activities, and STEM Professional Development for teachers.

Cybersecurity is a critical STEM field for military and civilian operations. In the U.S., the cybersecurity workforce lacks diversity, with only 14% female and 9% African American representation. The proposed effort will utilize a multi-disciplinary approach and team to develop, implement and evaluate an exploratory pilot project: an introductory cybersecurity training course for upper-level high school and college students with impactful STEM educational experiences. The course will integrate instructional strategies shown efficacious for cybersecurity education and effective in targeting underrepresented minorities. The outcome of this effort will be educational approaches and a pilot-program curriculum for an introductory-level cybersecurity course, empirically validated to increase learning outcomes, learner engagement, self-efficacy, interest, and intent to pursue a career in cybersecurity for underrepresented minorities.

The STEM Experiential Approach to Critical Ocean and Atmosphere Science Topics (SEACOAST) Program will be developed through a partnership between the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) and Western Flyer Foundation. SEACOAST, which targets secondary and post-secondary students, uses the modernized Western Flyer—a historic vessel, as an at-sea platform based in Monterey, CA; and will implement experiential learning programs aligned with naval priorities in maritime research, provide professional development for teachers and informal science educators, and promote community engagement with naval scientists and active duty personnel. SEACOAST operations on the Western Flyer will involve both short-duration (1-day at-sea) programs designed to explore a specific ocean science topic, as well as project-based activities involving several at-sea days with participants developing original hypotheses and approaches. The Western Flyer will be equipped with research-grade instrumentation, and both types of learning experiences will facilitate engaging with this technology as part of understanding the scientific process. NPS-led instruction and mentorship will facilitate in-person contact with students and highlight naval career pathways to a diverse community.

The preparedness of young Americans for STEM military careers is of concern. Like much of the technology industry, the Department of Defense is struggling to increase technological capabilities due to the lack of general STEM literacy and 21st Century skills, such as leadership and decision-making skills, amongst its workforce. The project will promote familiarity with military and civilian technical career opportunities that align with naval workforce needs by creating career alignment with current VEX STEM Labs. A guiding principle behind the project is that one-time events such as camps or after-school programs are insufficient in creating long-term impact on student interest. The project aims to create a STEM ecosystem that develops, fosters, and sustains student interest in STEM and STEM careers. The Robotics Education and Competition (REC) Foundation utilizes the VEX Robotics platform. Past evaluations of VEX programming have shown that exposure to STEM subject areas before college drastically increases the number of students entering STEM fields. Both students and teachers will be evaluated to measure gains in STEM confidence and interest.

The Growing STEMS Partnership (GSP) goal is to recruit, educate, inspire, and train a diverse student population and assist their transition from academia into naval employment through project-relevant, experience-centered activities. The GSP formalizes ongoing collaborations between academic researchers and educators, and naval lab scientists; and focuses on engineering training with an emphasis on energetic materials education. The learning model includes student project-based education, research-centered student training, and student induction in the naval workforce through Department of the Navy (DON) internships. The program addresses a problem for engineering students that lack meaningful integration of math and science content into engineering design because real-world problems motivating the engineering design are often missing from the hard sciences. Within the GSP, the purpose motivating joint research elicits student interest, engagement, and a deeper understanding of STEM content. The GSP will build an educational pipeline into the DON Enterprise by establishing the real-world context, motivating the learning environment while also expanding student opportunities for training, mentoring, and transitioning into DON employment.

The project provides concrete pathways to workforce opportunities for demographically diverse United States citizens interested in careers as engineering technicians—particularly for uniformed and civilian positions in and around Naval Base Ventura County. The project will use newly developed certificate programs in Electronics Engineering Technology and Mechatronics Engineering Technology to start students on a directed, three-semester path that will include opportunities for paid internships with the three warfare commands housed at Naval Base Ventura County and companies throughout the region. This path will lead qualified students to work at the base or base-related employers or to transfer to California State University, Channel Islands to complete a four-year degree. The project will also provide students with the 21st-century job skills necessary for workplace success. The proposed project extends into the local high school community to expand familiarity with STEM careers, including naval programs and careers. Naval Base Ventura County will benefit from a supply of qualified individuals who have deep ties to the region and will be able to perform component and systems level maintenance on defense systems, surveillance and reconnaissance sensors, and other electronic subsystems.

The program aims to leverage the values, motivations, and goals of diverse Generation Z students in Alabama to engage their interest in pursuing STEM careers relevant to the Navy. A science curriculum that emphasizes the importance of STEM in students’ communities and how a STEM career in the Navy can address critical societal challenges will be developed. Collaboration with high-school STEM teachers during development will ensure that educational activities are appropriate to their needs and constraints and increase the likelihood of adoption by other educators. The project team will favor low-cost hands-on and virtual activities to enhance adoption further and enable use in remote and non-traditional settings. These activities will highlight the role of STEM in solving naval challenges and the positive impacts of DON STEM careers on American and global society. In addition to classroom curricula, developed activities will be presented by active and retired DON personnel at area festivals and community events, further enhancing knowledge and interest in naval STEM pathways among students and their families.

This program aims to increase the pipeline of high-quality STEM graduates who enter the Navy’s Southern California workforce equipped with relevant naval knowledge and skills. The program focuses on providing underserved and underrepresented student populations (e.g., Hispanic minorities, women, military-connected students) at California State University Los Angeles access to STEM education opportunities and a pathway to naval STEM careers. The Navy benefits by improving the quality, quantity and diversification of its future workforce, in order to sustain its technological superiority across its missions. Repeated exposure to and engagement in organized naval-relevant activities throughout a student’s undergraduate education (freshmen through senior year) will inspire them to pursue STEM careers with the Navy upon graduation. Activities include a hands-on summer program for high school female students, a program to support California State University Los Angeles’ military-connected students, enhancements to California State University Los Angeles’ Autonomous Underwater Vehicle student organization, and a new curriculum in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science.

The primary objective of Shaping Experiential Research for Veteran Education (SERVE) is to provide opportunities for our military veterans to gain research experience and to eventually earn graduate degrees in STEM fields to fill the Navy’s pipeline. Many veterans continue to have a desire to serve and protect the nation, while the Navy needs leaders with research experience. Likewise, research outcomes are improved by having veteran students bring “user experience” to Navy research projects. In this effort, the University of Tennessee, in partnership with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, will (1) recruit veterans into undergraduate and graduate programs, (2) provide research training aligned with Navy research and development priorities, and (3) aid in workforce placement. The grant will provide undergraduate research experiences, graduate projects and student exchanges between the University of Tennessee, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the Navy. Enabling this effort are strong collaborations with the University of Tennessee’s Veteran Resource Center, Navy partners, national labs and defense contractors. Finally, a mentoring network will be developed that will promulgate through the entire program to increase graduation rates, improve research experiences and outcomes, and develop better leaders.

In partnership with the Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC)-Atlantic, Horry-Georgetown Technical College (HGTC) will establish a Security Operations Center (SOC) and Cybersecurity Forensics Lab for student hands-on development and mastery of the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) required for positions in defense and industry. This enhanced lab environment will be augmented by new and expanded certificate and degree programs in Cybersecurity and Forensics. Curriculum will be harmonized with the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) framework to prepare graduates to successfully evaluate risk tolerance and the complexities of cyber-attacks, work within teams, and set organizational priorities for risk management.

The overall goal of this program is to train the next generation STEM workforce to maintain U.S. Navy’s technological superiority across all its missions. This will be accomplished by identifying STEM needs in the context of computation-based science and technology careers in the U.S. Navy, and developing an exploratory self-sustaining computation-centric certificate program at two universities, University of Cincinnati and Old Dominion University. Specifically, we will address the ever-increasing demand of computational science enabled workforce in autonomous systems, artificial intelligence, and fluid & combustion sciences. A variety of Naval applications will be used as case-studies such that future Navy recruits will be exposed to, and become proficient in understanding and solving Navy-specific technical challenges using computational approaches.

STEM Education Network for SensOr Research (SENSOR) is an innovative and new program at the University of Michigan that engages science and engineering undergraduates in a variety of research, educational, mentoring, and career exploration experiences focused on sensors and algorithm development. The SENSOR program includes (1) a summer engineering laboratory project for underrepresented Engineering students, (2) a 10-week summer research experience program working with sensors in a variety of contexts, including autonomous vehicles, robotics and space engineering and exploration, and (3) professional development opportunities including those around Navy-related STEM careers. In addition, SENSOR will develop a larger cohesive STEM education and training program engaging 11 universities as part of the NASA Michigan Space Grant Consortium to connect the broader regional sensor community.