NPS established a formal partnership with the Coast Guard that addressed new requirements for advanced education, applied and classified research, and other collaborations.
- Why it matters: This partnership supports the Tri-Service Maritime Strategy, signed by the Secretary of the Navy and the service chiefs of the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard.
In March, a team of NPS faculty, along with NPS President retired Vice Adm. Ann Rondeau and Provost Dr. Scott Gartner, traveled to the San Francisco Bay Area to meet with the Coast Guard Pacific Area (PACAREA) Commander, Vice Adm. Andrew Tiongson, and other key leaders from PACAREA, Coast Guard District 11, and Sector San Francisco.
- The team provided progress updates and discussed opportunities to strengthen the partnership.
The NWSI Impact: “Working with the Coast Guard is an absolute pleasure,” said retired U.S. Marine Corps Col. Randy Pugh, Director of the Naval Warfare Studies Institute (NWSI) at NPS. “They are an elite group of professionals with an exciting and impactful mission that they execute tirelessly day in and day out in CONUS, and they are increasingly the nation’s force of choice to combat illegal maritime gray zone operations OCONUS.
- “I think the combination of Semper Fortis, Semper Fidelis, and Semper Paratus make us an unbeatable team!”
The group’s agenda included presentations by NPS on initiatives and current endeavors, along with briefs from the Coast Guard on missions, capabilities and limitations, challenges, and emergent threats.
- The exchange revealed the opportunity for shared solutions to shared challenges including those identified by the Coast Guard Research & Development Center, the Maritime Intelligence Fusion Center Pacific, the Sector San Francisco Watch Center and Vessel Traffic Service watch.
As part of the Seapower Conversation series on lessons learned from the Russo-Ukraine war, Randy Pugh examined some of the new ways innovative electronic warfare operators are “warfighting in the ether” and implications for the U.S. and partner forces.
The Naval Research Program is pleased to announce that IREF submissions for FY25 research topics are now open! There are 200+ research topics in the NRP Topic Portal for you to look through.
NRP provides an opportunity for NPS faculty and students to work on current and relevant topics for the DoN/DoD that align with research expertise, academic interests, and curriculum requirements.
- Many of these topics can be scoped for a thesis or capstone project.
Participation in an NRP project can enable follow-on research sponsorship by topic advocates and supports the development of relationships between DoN Topic Advocate organizations and NPS Principal Investigators. Learn more.
ICYMI: SECNAV Releases Naval Science and Technology Strategy
This month, Secretary of the Navy Carlos del Toro released the Naval Science and Technology Strategy. It provides our sailing directions to deliver enduring technical advantage for the Sailors, Marines, Joint Warfighters, as well as partner nations we have the privilege of serving. The Strategy is our collective global call to service for scientists, engineers, inventors and innovators from academia, industry, government and more to work with the Navy on solving naval challenges.
The Strategy is in support of the Secretary's three enduring priorities:
Strengthening Maritime Dominance
The DoN will review and revise its current approaches and explore alternative transition paths for developing capabilities, especially in critical maritime areas. This will involve continuing S&T collaborations with allies and partners to leverage their investments, identify commercial technologies ready for naval use, and incorporate established entrepreneurial practices and capital investment methods.
Building a Culture of Warfighting Excellence
Warriors’ familiarity and skill in using their weapons and tools is part of their warfighting excellence, and learning from their experience in warfighting leads to better weapons. Naval S&T involves constant learning and improvement and contributes to overall warfighting culture.
Enhancing Strategic Partnerships
Like science itself, partnerships cannot be surged. Through scientific diplomacy, partners must nurture their relationship over time with committed collaboration from everyone to build trust and confidence.
NPS, Defense Innovation Unit Sign MOU to Enhance Learning, Experimentation, Prototyping for Maritime Advantage
Naval Postgraduate School Public Affairs
Retired Vice Adm. Ann Rondeau, president of the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), and Doug Beck, director of the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), are joined by senior Navy officials and NPS students after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two institutions during the Sea-Air-Space conference in National Harbor, Md. The MOU will build upon past successes and existing academic and research relationships between DIU and NPS. (Photo by Lt. Cmdr. Ed Early)
The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) and the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) are joining forces in a cooperative endeavor to accelerate adoption of commercial dual-use technology solutions, while enhancing the advanced education of defense leaders necessary to employ them.
DIU Director Doug Beck and retired U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Ann Rondeau, President of NPS, announced a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on April 9 at the Sea-Air-Space Conference in National Harbor, Md. The MOU will build upon past successes and existing relationships between DIU and NPS to expand complementary efforts and future opportunities targeting education, research, and innovation through student fellowships at DIU, personnel exchanges, collaborative experimentation, and projects with the Naval Innovation Center (NIC) at NPS. Read more.
NPS President Explores Links Between Additive Manufacturing, Warfighting Readiness With Panelists at Sea-Air-Space
Lt. Cmdr. Ed Early, Naval Postgraduate School
The potential for additive manufacturing (AM) to serve as a logistics and readiness multiplier was discussed by an expert panel of U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and industry representatives on April 10 during the final day of the Sea-Air-Space Conference in National Harbor, Md. Retired Vice Adm. Ann Rondeau, president of the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), served as moderator for the panel, titled “Additive Manufacturing: Creating a Warfighting Advantage through Materiel Readiness.”
Rondeau noted that the thought of using AM in an operational or contested logistics environment isn’t new to NPS students or faculty. In 2019, the NPS Warfare Innovation Continuum did an entire year of study on logistics in contested environments, and the idea of innovating and manufacturing at sea and AM came up frequently. Read more.
NPS, CAMRE Dedicate New Advanced Manufacturing Center
Lt. Cmdr. Ed Early, Naval Postgraduate School
The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) has established itself as a driving force in additive manufacturing (AM) research and education for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and Department of Defense, especially for applications in operational environments. Now the institution is taking another major step forward in the realm of AM, establishing a new laboratory to pursue further breakthroughs in 3D printing and related technologies for defense applications.
Representatives from Commander, Naval Surface Forces (CNSF) and Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) joined senior NPS leaders and faculty on April 2 for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to dedicate the NPS Advanced Manufacturing Center, located at the school’s annex adjacent to Monterey Regional Airport. Read more.
Innovation Accelerates Through NPS’ Ongoing Joint Interagency Field Experimentation Program
Dan Linehan, Naval Postgraduate School
Every three months, like a high-tech pilgrimage, dozens of industry technologists journey from across the nation to a backcountry gathering at Camp Roberts, a U.S. Army National Guard base in southern Monterey County, California. They come for the Naval Postgraduate School’s (NPS) Joint Interagency Field Experimentation (JIFX) program to brainstorm, conduct experiments, and showcase their latest innovations in front of NPS student, faculty, and staff observers, as well as U.S. Navy and Department of Defense (DOD) representatives.
Over the years, development activities at JIFX have helped yield a string of success stories, such as the Shield AI (formerly Martin UAV) V-BAT, a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) that’s named after the flying mammal. At JIFX in 2016, the tail-sitter drone with a fixed wing and pusher propeller achieved its unassisted vertical takeoff and landing benchmark. Read more.
Watch a video showcasing experiments at February’s JIFX:
Upcoming Events
Seapower Conversation: Navigating the Tide: Rising Seas as a Threat to Readiness
2 May 2024 | 1000-1200 PT
Join colleagues to discuss the on-the-ground and on-the-water challenges of sea level rise for military operations and installations. An interdisciplinary panel of expert practitioners will share information and perspectives on global sea level rise, how it impacts Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island and Naval Station Norfolk, and how we can use data and modeling to navigate in today’s and tomorrow’s rising seas.
Panelists include:
- John Englander, Rising Seas Institute
- Tracey Spencer, Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island
- Steve Jones, Naval Station Norfolk
- Rachael Dempsey, NOAA’s National Ocean Service
Moderated by Stuart Gold, Rising Seas Institute
Learn more about panelists and review resources on sea level rise.
Co-hosted by the Climate & Security Network and Naval Warfare Studies Institute
Register now!
21st Annual Acquisition Research Symposium
8-9 May 2024
Monterey, CA | in-person and remote
The Acquisition Research Symposium is a research-focused forum that connects scholars, practitioners, and policymakers. Attendees come from around the world; about half are Naval Postgraduate School faculty and graduate students engaged in acquisition-related research. Senior acquisition officials from the Departments of Defense and the U.S. Navy serve as keynote speakers and panel chairs, presenting their critiques and comments on research papers and priorities.
This year our symposium takes up the theme of “Resourcing Innovation.” We have a robust collection of panels that consider challenges and successes in providing the right resources – to include not just funding, but also people, training, acquisition authorities, time, supply chains, etc. – that can generate, transition, and deliver new warfighting capabilities and strategies.
Co-hosted by the Naval Warfare Studies Institute and Acquisition Research Program at Naval Postgraduate School.
Learn more.
JIFX 24-3
13-17 May 2024
Camp Roberts, CA
Focus area: C5ISR & Countermeasures
Naval AI Summit
14-16 May 2024
Brute Krulak Center for Innovation and Future Warfare, Quantico, VA | in-person and remote
Who: Defense AI leadership (DoD, DoN, USN, USMC, other Services, Joint Force), Navy AI Task Force leads, other AI practitioners across the Naval Establishment, industry partners, and Allies and partners.
What: Information sharing and collaboration event
Why: Artificial Intelligence promises better ways to understand the Services' man, train and equip-associated opportunities and challenges and to accelerate, adopt, and integrate AI-related concepts and capabilities in ways that make us a more capable, efficient, and effective force in peacetime and a more lethal force in wartime. Doing so will require we collectively seize this opportunity.
Note: Tuesday and Wednesday are only open to Government personnel, but Thursday will be open to industry and academic partners.
In conjunction with the Summit, a day-long "AI for Knuckleddraggers" course will be held Monday, 13 May. Please sign up for that separately. It will only be conducted in-person. Attendance at the course is not required for the Summit nor is Summit attendance required if you only want to take the course.
AI for Knuckledraggers
13 May 2024
Brute Krulak Center for Innovation and Future Warfare, Quantico, VA | in-person only
This is a 1-day (7 hour) overview of Artificial Intelligence for non-technical people who do not have a deep understanding of AI. It addresses current concerns and issues about AI, separating myth from fact and providing a framework for how to think about AI as a technology including how it can be harnessed by people and organizations. The course does not teach coding or AI engineering skills but instead touches on a wide range of topics:
- How to think about machine intelligence
- Its history and growth over the years
- The analytical foundations that can produce intelligence
- Different types of AI and how they work (e.g. Gen AI)
- AI use cases
- Deploying AI at scale across and enterprise
- Ethical considerations and Responsible AI
- AI in the DOD
Maritime Risk Symposium
11-13 June 2024
Naval Postgraduate School
The Maritime Risk Symposium is an annual three-day conference in which government and maritime industry leaders, port representatives, researchers, and solution providers convene to examine current and emerging threats to maritime security. Check out details here.
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