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Assessing surf zone conditions has never been an exact science for the Department of the Navy. That’s about to change thanks to a recent request to TechSolutions, which has resulted in new surf observation (SUROB) technology to make operational forecasts more precise. For the past six months, a team of scientists and engineers from the Naval Research Lab (NRL) and the U.S. Army’s Engineering Research and Development Center (ERDC) have been developing the technological tools needed to create a more precise surf observation report. In order to gain greater insight into how the surf observation tool may improve warfighter operations, NavalX recently organized a workshop that brought together the science and engineering developers with the Sailors and Marines who would use it. TechSolutions received the request less than a year ago for a technology-driven solution for surf observation from Maj. Zachary Taylor, a technology officer with the Marines’ Warfighting Lab. Within weeks, TechSolutions began working with the development team at NRL and ERDC to come up with a prototype.

Student engineering teams from Princeton, Washington College and the University of Alabama have won first place in their respective events at the “Promoting Electric Propulsion” (PEP) boat races, sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the American Society of Naval Engineers (ASNE). In just six years, this electric boat-building competition has grown from a single university to 34, with more than 200 students who took part in the five-mile races on Broad Bay in Virginia Beach. Dr. Steve Russell, program officer, Sea Warfare and Weapons department, said he launched the PEP competition with a colleague from ASNE, Dr. Leigh McCue, and Tim Cullis, Naval Sea Warfare Center Carderock, after seeing a public race by local hobbyists in the Chesapeake Bay.

The Office of Naval Research (ONR), Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division (NSWC Crane) and the NavalX Midwest Tech Bridge recently sponsored a three-stage competition called the Artificial Intelligence for Small Unit Maneuvers (AISUM) Prize Challenge.

Special Program Announcement for Office of Naval Research Research Opportunity: “Hierarchical Command and Control of Unmanned Systems (H- C2 UxS)”

The Science of Autonomy program is part of the Office of Naval Research's Naval Air Warcraft and Weapons Department.

This section includes information for recipients about managing assistance awards.

Retired U.S. Navy Capt. Don Walsh, best known for his daring dive to the deepest spot on Earth, nearly 36,000 feet below the ocean’s surface, has died at age 92. Walsh was a co-pilot of the Trieste bathyscaphe, a deep submergence vehicle acquired by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) in 1958. Two years later, on January 23, 1960, Walsh and Swiss engineer Jacques Piccard, son of the inventor of the bathyscaphe, became the first humans to descend into the Challenger Deep, located in the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana Trench. “ONR sponsored the Trieste, but it was then-Lt. Don Walsh who made the very daring decision to make the first descent into the deepest spot of the earth’s ocean. Walsh was a Navy officer, a submariner, an adventurer, and an oceanographer. To his family, we extend our deepest condolences and gratitude for allowing him to explore, and share his extraordinary experiences and knowledge with us,” said Chief of Naval Research Rear Adm. Kurt Rothenhaus.

Today, the White House Office of Science, Technology, and Policy (OSTP) released the “National Strategy for Aquatic Environmental DNA.” The Environmental DNA (eDNA) Task Team had 10 federal agencies participating in drafting the strategy and included significant scoping and engagement of the private sector, academia and non-profit organizations.

The Office of Naval Research recently sponsored the Defend the Republic STEM competition at George Mason University in Virginia. The contest featured lighter-than-air vehicles, also called blimps.

The Office of Naval Research Global TechSolutions program recently demonstrated the latest advancement in surf observation (SUROB) technology at the Technical Concept Experiment 24.2 held at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California.