This year Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, partnered with students from the University of the District of Columbia for their project titled “Empowering the Navy's Energy Future: Nurturing Tomorrow's Lithium-Ion Battery Innovators through Collaborative Projects and Experiential Learning.”
The project focuses on advancing lithium-ion battery (LIB) technology to address the Navy's energy storage challenges. It aims to provide hands-on experience for students by engaging them in research and development of innovative solutions for safer, more efficient LIB systems. Key objectives include designing advanced thermal management for LIB cells, integrating machine learning for safety assessments, and exploring cutting-edge manufacturing techniques like nano-manufacturing and metal additive manufacturing.
Additionally, the project will compare numerical simulation tools such as ANSYS and COMSOL to optimize LIB applications. The initiative involves collaboration between students, researchers, and experts at Carderock, with the goal of preparing the next generation of innovators to lead the Navy’s energy future.
“This project advances the Navy’s mission to develop safe, efficient, and resilient energy storage systems,” said Jianjun Xu, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of the District of Columbia. “By integrating innovations in battery materials, thermal management, data-driven simulation, and advanced manufacturing, the UDC team delivers insights directly applicable to naval platforms.”
Collaboration with researchers at Carderock’s Expeditionary and Developmental Power and Energy Branch further enhances the Navy’s technical capabilities while preparing a new generation of engineers skilled in next-generation battery technologies. Ultimately, the project strengthens operational readiness and supports the Navy’s long-term energy objectives by de-risking, optimizing, and securing current systems, while informing the design of future clean, resilient, and reliable energy solutions.
“By combining classroom learning with real-world collaboration alongside Navy scientists and engineers, students gain hands-on experience in areas such as advanced modeling, thermal management, and additive manufacturing,” said Xu.
“This experiential, mission-driven approach builds technical expertise while preparing a skilled workforce ready to support NAVSEA and advance the Navy’s energy and technology innovation goals.”
The Naval Engineering Education Consortium (NEEC) program offers university students and faculty project-based research experiences directly aligned with the U.S. Navy’s technology needs to cultivate the future naval engineering workforce. The three primary objectives of the program 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 develop/continue exceptional working relationships with Naval engineering colleges, universities, professors and academics.
“We have found that the best way to encourage and recruit the best and brightest emerging from our colleges and universities is to have the students get to know and work with the best talent in our Warfare Centers,” said John Barkyoumb, Director of Engagement for STEM and Outreach at Carderock. “I find these students are eager to tackle hard and important problems in support of our nation, they just need the means and support to work on these problems, ideally in close collaboration with the Warfare Centers. NEEC provides this environment with the benefit of the students getting to know our dedicated staff at the Warfare Centers. This way the students can see themselves in those roles when they get out of school. The Navy benefits by accelerating the development of experts in highly needed disciplines such as Ship Design and Naval Architecture, Advanced Materials, and Artificial Intelligence to name a few. Our folks also benefit from the fresh ideas and new knowledge that effectively multiplies our technical reach.
The NEEC grants provides a mechanism for University Professors and students to collaborate with experienced Warfare Center scientists and engineers with a focus on growing the next generation of Naval Engineers and scientists and innovative research solutions to compelling challenges.”