CRANE, Ind. – Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division and Ivy Tech Community College were awarded the State and Local Economic Development Award from the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) for their partnership on a STEM summer camp. For the past two years, NSWC Crane and The Gayle & Bill Cook Center for Entrepreneurship at Ivy Tech Community College Bloomington have collaborated on the camp, which targeted young people with entrepreneurial dreams from grade 7 to 10.
“It's not enough to plan just a few years down the road for the future - we need to plan 25 years in advance,” said Tina Closser, head of NSWC Crane’s STEM Program. “We're sowing the seeds for the next generation of Crane workers. We hope that by giving students an opportunity to experience STEM in a non-school setting, we create a spark that ignites a lifelong love of STEM and learning – wherever they end up.”
Crane coaches discussed real patents and worked with Ivy Tech to help students think of new technologies, build them, market them and present them to a panel - all in one week. The Adjustable Ergonomic Firearm Grip, the Cable Reel, and the System and Method for Charging a Weapon patents were chosen because students could easily prototype them with the tools provided. NSWC Crane 3D printers, Computer Animated Drawings (CAD), and circuitry tools were all used to teach students new ways to create their products.
“The Gayle & Bill Cook Center for Entrepreneurship is proud to work with the Crane STEM outreach team to add the pitch competition element into the summer camp again this year,” said Mr. Steve Bryant, Executive Director of Gayle & Bill Cook Center for Entrepreneurship at Ivy Tech. “The kids learn a variety of soft skills while developing the invention ideas based on IP from our Crane inventors.”
Ivy Tech Community College prepares Indiana residents to learn, live, and work in a diverse and globally competitive environment by delivering professional, technical, transfer, and lifelong education. The Gayle & Bill Cook Center for Entrepreneurship develops simple and practical tools and resources to help students, our clients and our community.
NSWC Crane’s Technology Transfer (T2) program, which won the George F. Linsteadt Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer earlier this year, and its STEM program are nationally recognized for their partnerships across the greater Indiana region. The FLC Awards will be presented in a nationwide ceremony September 19th in Florida.
“The combining of the three regional programs is very unique,” said Brooke Pyne, NSWC Crane ORTA and T2/SBIR Manager. “The dynamic collision of Crane developed IP coupled with Ivy Tech's Entrepreneurship Process facilitated with STEM driven high school students, showcases the regional opportunities to THE future workforce. This type of investment in our region and youth will continue to grow the Technology Transfer interactions within the innovation ecosystem that is now a regional economic staple.”
NSWC Crane is a naval laboratory and a field activity of Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) with mission areas in Expeditionary Warfare, Strategic Missions and Electronic Warfare. NSWC Crane is responsible for multi-domain, multi- spectral, full life cycle support of technologies and systems enhancing capability to today’s warfighter.