NEWPORT – Seventy-five high school students from 27 schools are visiting the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport for three weeks from July 16 to Aug. 3 learning engineering skills as interns in the Undersea Technology Apprentice Program held at the facility each year, NUWC Division Newport said in a press release.
As part of the program, interns will be asked to build an underwater vehicle that can read instructions underwater and complete a task using those directions.
“They’re getting electrical, mechanical, physics, computer science – a whole bunch of different types of engineering exposure in a short period and more of a real-world working environment,” said Candida Desjardins, director of educational outreach at NUWC Division Newport. “They have a budget, they have a tight deadline and they have to think outside the box.”
Instructors mimic potential unforeseen obstacles as part of the project, Desjardins said, such as shaking the water tank and putting dirt in it.
“Our new favorite twist is we actually put a bubble curtain inside the tank, which gives students a little bit of current that they have to deal with, and it’s a lot harder to read through the bubbles,” said Desjardins.
After the current session finishes Aug. 3, a third summer UTAP session will run Aug. 6-24.
Susan Shalhoub is a PBN contributing writer.
