As part of efforts to increase the knowledge base and stay on top of cutting-edge research being done in academia that may have applications to naval issues, the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Warfare Centers collaborate extensively with universities across the country through a number of programs.
The latest example is an agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Industrial Liaison Program (ILP). Four Warfare Center Divisions – Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Carderock, Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Keyport, NUWC Newport and NSWC Panama City – are now able to take advantage of resources offered through the ILP, including research surveys and industry briefings, conferences and webinars, and opportunities to meet faculty on site or virtually. The agreement allows up to six Divisions to join.
The MIT ILP, which was established in 1948, is the oldest and largest program of its kind, with more than 200 organizations participating. Each member organization is matched with a program director who helps them navigate through all that MIT has to offer and connect them with faculty and resources pertinent to their areas of interest to help them address current challenges and anticipate future needs.
“We have a lot of great programs here to engage with universities,” said Dr. Elizabeth Magliula from the Chief Technology Office at NUWC Newport Division. “The MIT ILP is another way to find out what’s new in academia, and what’s on the horizon. It facilitates connections with others that are concerned with emerging research in areas that complement our ongoing Navy R&D (research and development) efforts and expertise.”
For example, after introductory sessions were held virtually in October and November, a group of researchers from NUWC Newport Division visited MIT in person in late November to learn about research activities at MIT’s Media Labs and Lincoln Labs, which is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center, and to make connections with MIT researchers that could augment the command’s research and development efforts in the area of Human Systems Integration.
Representatives from the Warfare Centers also attended the MIT ILP annual Research and Development conference in November, which had a theme of “Resilience Through Innovation.” Dr. John Barkyoumb from the Chief Technology Office at NSWC Carderock Division recommended recordings from that conference as a good way to start to become familiar with the program and what it has to offer.
In addition to recordings and transcripts from previous conferences, seminars and presentations, resources available to MIT ILP members include research surveys and briefs authored by MIT professors in such diverse areas as cybersecurity, energy and the environment, innovation and entrepreneurship, and quantum sciences, Barkyoumb said.
“The MIT ILP and associated conferences and seminars provide an excellent forum for technical and professional interchange that provide a great benefit to the Warfare Centers,” said Dr. Keith Aliberti, head of the Science and Technology Department at NSWC Panama City Division.
“MIT is home to some of the world’s leading experts in advanced technologies that are directly applicable to NSWC Panama City Division’s key mission areas,” added Dr. Kerry Commander, Chief Technology Officer at NSWC Panama City Division. “For many years, the Navy lab in Panama City, Florida, has collaborated with MIT professors on an individual basis. Now, the MIT ILP provides a much wider access to experts we would not otherwise have the opportunity to engage and professionally network with.”
Direct engagement with MIT faculty, research groups and MIT startups can be arranged by working through the Warfare Centers’ MIT ILP program director. Each program director possesses a thorough knowledge of the interests and abilities of MIT’s more than 1,000 faculty members, 1,700 researchers and 1,900 startups, actively works to curate opportunities relevant to each members’ interests, and serves as a single point-of-contact and “eyes and ears” to bring forward emerging, not always obvious, opportunities to work and learn together.
“Carderock is always looking for a wide-ranging, but focused, academic ecosystem and the MIT ILP program fits right into that model,” Barkyoumb said. “ILP complements individual researcher interactions that may already exist or are contemplated. Through ILP we have access to what we may not yet know that we want. It is this being exposed and stimulated by the MIT interaction that we value.”
Membership also provides access to and discounts on MIT’s Professional Education programs, which included Advanced Study Programs and Certificate Programs as well as Short Programs on topics such as Advanced Manufacturing, Data Analytics, Crisis Management, Digital Transformation and Energy and Sustainability.
“Emerging technologies today coalesce into entirely new applications and ways of doing things that we never imagined in the past,” said Keith Archbold, Director of Technology Investments and Partnerships for the Warfare Centers, based at NUWC Keyport Division. “For example, the merging of quantum, cyber, blockchain, cloud infrastructure, and microelectronics to create Web 3.0 and the Metaverse/Omniverse, which flows right into advanced augmented/virtual reality capabilities connecting humans to a whole new world and way of looking at and doing things.
“One of the greatest synergies that exist for NSWC/NUWC researchers and engineers is the ability to ‘harvest’ new applications and ways of solving old problems and revitalize stale approaches,” he said.
Another outgrowth of the membership is an MIT ILP Speaker Series, which will be held virtually using Microsoft Teams, so anybody at any of the four Divisions can attend, according to Sally Sutherland, director of the Naval Engineering Education Consortium and university outreach coordinator for Warfare Centers Headquarters.
The series will help MIT understand the Navy’s needs and give the Warfare Centers an idea of the expertise and capabilities available at MIT, Sutherland said.
“It will help the labs be engaged and become more cutting-edge,” she said.