DARTMOUTH – The U.S. Navy has awarded a $4.6 million grant to the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth to fund research projects with the Newport-based Naval Undersea Warfare Center and higher education institutions, the university announced Monday.
The funding – the largest research grant UMass Dartmouth has ever received – will be administered by UMass Dartmouth’s Marine and UnderSea Technology research program, according to a news release. The program was formed to address concerns of the Navy regarding a “lack of cutting-edge research” and a “scarcity” of a trained workforce, the release states.
Among the areas MUST identified in which expertise from faculty would help are research and training in undersea technologies “addressing acoustics, signal processing, sensing, communications and autonomous underwater vehicles.”
In a statement, UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Robert E. Johnson said the funding will strengthen the university’s relationship with the Navy and “bolster” workforce development in marine science and technology industries “that are the backbone of the Blue Economy in southern New England.”
