NEWPORT – The Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport hosted 66 high school students in the U.S. Naval War College’s Starship Poseidon Science, Engineering, Technology and Mathematics (STEM) Camp and their escorts for a tour of the facilities for one week in July, according to an NUWC news release.
Sponsored by the Office of Naval Research and the Naval War College in Newport – with host services provided by Officer Training Command – the one-week program introduced high school students to STEM from a U.S. Navy perspective.
“It’s a win for the Navy, it’s a win for the nation and we want to close the gap on STEM workforce availability,” said William F. Bundy, Naval War College professor, director of the college’s Gravely Naval Warfare Research Group and camp lead.
A pilot in 2012, the program was not offered in 2013 or 2014 but has been available to high school students in southern New England every year since 2015, reports NUWC.
As part of the program, students heard from Rebecca Chhim, head of the information technology division, Andrew Hulton, of the ranges, engineering and analysis department, and Poonam Aggarwal, from the sensor and sonar systems department, who each spoke about their background and what they do.
The group also rotated through stations at the Narragansett Bay Test Facility, including the dive locker and a 120-foot torpedo recovery vessel, according to the news release. Students also heard from Mike Ansay, head of the Autonomous Underwater Vehicles branch, who discussed the purpose and function of the AUVs.
Susan Shalhoub is a PBN contributing writer.
