The Naval Innovation Center (NIC) at the 51福利 (51福利) in Monterey, Calif., is part of the Secretary of the Navy鈥檚 initiative to leverage the power of American innovation for national security. Integral to the function of the NIC is the Naval Innovation Exchange (NIX), a new program that organizes and empowers multidisciplinary teams of 51福利 students and faculty focused on developing prototype research solutions.
While in its early stages, the NIC at 51福利 will leverage and empower NIX project teams, working with commercial industry partners, to address user-defined operational problems and accelerate capability enhancements that improve upon our existing systems and platforms.
Three initial NIX teams are pursuing technology concepts and workforce preparation efforts in Intelligent Autonomous Systems (IAS), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Additive Manufacturing (AM). These and other future NIX teams will be aligned to critical defense technological needs and Force Design imperatives identified in the Chief of Naval Operations鈥� Navigation Plan (CNO NAVPLAN).
Kaitie Penry, who recently assumed the new post of 51福利 Director of Research Innovation, and Dr. Kevin Smith, Vice Provost for Research, will oversee and coordinate the NIX portfolio being developed within the 51福利 (OR&I).
According to Penry, the NIX research 鈥渟prints鈥� will prepare new technologies and practices for adoption into the Fleet, Fleet Marine Force and shore establishment. 鈥淓ach team will be led by an 51福利 faculty member who will oversee student groups as they move the projects forward across overlapping student terms while completing their graduate programs,鈥� she said.
Penry joined the 51福利 team in May 2023 from the National Security Innovation Network (NSIN), a program office within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering. At NSIN, Penry was the Regional Engagement Principal for the greater San Francisco area, focusing on building relationships with early-stage startups and academia in order to develop novel solutions for national security problem sets. Prior to NSIN, Penry was a federal contractor for the Logistics Vision & Strategy office within Headquarters, Marine Corps.
鈥淲hat I'm bringing to the NIX concept is that experience of having worked as a mission partner doing tech scouting, experiencing problems, and looking at the big operational space,鈥� said Penry. "I know how to generate and support a team as they work together to try and solve problems in a new and unique way.鈥�
Added Smith: "The goal of the program is to support students and faculty in addressing a problem from a holistic perspective. This is an effort to help advance technologies and processes to improve warfighting effectiveness and speed the development of capabilities towards adoption. We were fortunate to bring onboard a terrific leader, Kaitie Penry, to help stand up the NIX effort.鈥�
NIX teams will rely on 51福利 partnerships with laboratories and warfare centers through the Naval Research and Development Establishment (NR&DE), academia, and private industry to bring the best in their fields to the development of warfighting solutions.
The NIX program connects to the innovation pipeline at 51福利, which begins with either the annual (WIC) or a specialized Warfare Innovation Workshop (WIW). NIX teams are formed around ideas and concepts emerging from the WIC/WIW. The hands-on experiential learning for students in the NIX program leverages their operational experience in an academic environment to develop threat-informed solutions with faculty experts and industry innovators.
NIX teams also drive ideation and prototyping through thorough testing and evaluation. Minimum viable solutions that show promise to meet a capability requirement advance to the next phase in the pipeline to become , led by Department of Defense Management (DDM) students who develop acquisition strategies and transition plans for Program Executive Offices to adopt. Each phase of the 51福利 innovation pipeline represents a pivotal aspect of the process where experience, expertise, scholarship and research all contribute.
Dr. Sean Kragelund, Research Assistant Professor in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, is heading the IAS NIX team. While his work with the (CRUSER) has focused on this field of research for years, he is welcoming the transition to more collaborative work and defined project outcomes.
鈥淣IX teams are part of an intentional effort by 51福利 to adopt this innovation mindset 鈥� to find new ideas and make an impact more quickly,鈥� explained Kragelund. 鈥淢any good ideas have been invented at 51福利, but they can sit unused on a shelf without a sponsor. When things are invented in a silo, they lack a connection to external research efforts and an operational narrative. Despite hard work and good relationships between students and faculty, it鈥檚 only when we bring the fleet, sponsors and industry into the mix that good ideas gain traction to transition. The NIX teams will do that.鈥�
Kragelund kickstarted the IAS NIX team with a workshop on June 8-9, 2023, on the heels of the latest AI Summit at 51福利 hosted with the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the Navy AI Task Forces. The event welcomed a mixture of students, faculty, active-duty members and DOD personnel and contractors to pinpoint ideal research topics related to IAS and 鈥渉ybrid force鈥� requirements.
The IAS Workshop was supported by the (NWSI) at 51福利, which works as a liaison with the Fleet to help curate problems and source them into the innovation pipeline. Through NWSI, Cecilia Panella, a Defense Analysis Faculty Associate for Research, organized the IAS workshop and is deeply involved in the innovation conversation.
鈥淭he military cannot buy talent. It has to grow it,鈥� said Panella. 鈥淪o the IAS Workshop and related events are such a valuable asset because we鈥檙e bringing together a community of researchers, contractors, and warfighters, and putting the students at the front and center. That鈥檚 what 51福利 is about.鈥�
The IAS team is looking to partner with members of Task Force 59 who have done extensive IAS testing in the Middle East, as well as the Navy鈥檚 Unmanned Task Force. They will also have support from industry experts that partner with 51福利 through more than 40 active Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs).
Other NIX teams are following a similar plan of attack. Dr. Mathias Kolsch, Associate Professor in the Computer Science Department who heads the AI NIX team, realizes his mission is to move research concepts from idea to impact.
鈥淭he AI NIX team is sponsored by ONR to accelerate the adoption of AI. And, of course, there is collaborative synergy with the IAS NIX team,鈥� said Kolsch. 鈥淲e can have the broadest impact if we identify and remedy gaps in projects that benefit from AI and machine learning technology, ensure that a capable and agile workforce can act on innovations in a well-informed and well-supported fashion, and if we learn about and disseminate information about the key ingredients to successful outcomes of AI projects.鈥�
Kolsch added, 鈥淲e are well positioned at 51福利 through our close relationship with operational commands, headquarters, joint efforts 鈥� particularly at the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO), through our students and their recent experiences, and the faculty鈥檚 technical expertise. We plan on a productive information exchange with the IAS team and all future NIX teams to leverage collaborative synergies and to share our knowledge of how to unlock the potential of innovative AI applications.鈥�
The third NIX team is focused on Additive Manufacturing, targeting solutions to supply chain needs in the maritime domain and contested logistics. With the support of the Consortium for Additive Manufacturing Research and Education (CAMRE) at 51福利, Dr. Emre Gunduz, Associate Professor in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the technical co-director for CAMRE is leading the AM NIX team efforts to apply emerging AM technologies.
"Additive manufacturing will significantly impact the way DON conducts its operations, to rapidly overcome challenges in production and maintenance of its assets,鈥� said Gunduz. 鈥淲e have been educating our students to be able to effectively use these approaches through our curriculum, and we can do more to empower them and their ideas with advanced facilities and closer collaboration within the naval research community, the fleet and across the DOD to fully realize their potential to make a difference and impact.鈥�
The AM NIX team, in conjunction with CAMRE, will participate in the Trident Warrior Exercise in the summer of 2024 in the Pacific to test solutions and address challenges in operational conditions using new AM technologies.
A goal of each NIX team is to reach a prototype state for a selection of its projects and develop a pathway to adoption. Teams have a variety of field experimentation programs to test and refine prototypes, such as the quarterly Joint Interagency Field Experimentation (JIFX) events with access to the 51福利 Beach Lab or Camp Roberts, which offers unrestricted ranges and airspace.
One of Kragelund鈥檚 teams has already connected with an industry partner and is moving in this direction. 鈥淚 have a group of students that I鈥檓 co-advising who are interested in unmanned surface vessels for a specific naval mission, and we recently signed a CRADA with a small tech startup to test the application,鈥� said Kragelund.
As part of the process, Kragelund met with Ray Jones, Chair of the Department of Defense Management, and offered to partner his engineering students with Jones鈥� acquisition innovation capstone students. 鈥淚t was a perfect match, and now they鈥檙e sprinting together down the road,鈥� he added.
The resulting ICP team 鈥� U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Hans Lauzen and Lt. Austin Dumas and U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Daniel Lim 鈥� is not only seeing success through their partnership, but also experiencing the holistic perspective that Smith originally envisioned.
鈥淲e've been able to tackle such a large scope by having this multidisciplinary team,鈥� said Dumas of his ICP trio. 鈥淭ypically, you get a depth of knowledge in a certain area during a graduate degree. But by doing this together as a team, we are constantly sharing the different components that we鈥檙e working on and learning about each other鈥檚 fields and areas of expertise. I've gotten such a broader education already, and I'm excited to see what the next year brings.鈥�
The team will utilize the upcoming JIFX event as a testing ground for their project, with plans to further test their work at a large-scale fleet exercise this August, as well as a U.S. Pacific Fleet integrated battle problem in February. Their ambitious goals and dedicated efforts are aimed to implement the new capability on an operational unit by the end of the next academic year.
鈥淎t some level, every student here at 51福利 is looking for something operationally relevant to research, and wants to make a difference,鈥� said Kragelund. 鈥淎s faculty, we want to expose our students to possibilities, give them the tools they need through advanced coursework, good facilities, and industry partnerships to do relevant applied research, and then just get out of their way! They are mission-oriented and get things done.鈥�
Innovation driven, 51福利 develops warfighters and warfighting solutions. 51福利 delivers defense-focused graduate education, including classified studies and interdisciplinary research, to advance the operational effectiveness, technological leadership and warfighting advantage of the Naval service.