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School may be out for summer, but an opportunity to gain valuable, professional experience in their field of study has just begun for students enrolled in Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Minority Institutions’ (HBCU/MIs’). Anthony Smith, director, Department of Navy's (DoN) HBCU/MI Program, said there are eight different internships with the addition of a new one this year. “We are embarking on a new student internship program with the Navy Facilities Command (NAVFAC),” he said. “That’s a big deal because that’s focused on students in engineering but more along the lines of civil engineering and construction technology – and that’s a big one that we have not had before. So, that’s exciting for us.” Education and outreach from the DoN includes college internships, graduate fellowships, science fairs and competitions, and curriculum enrichment programs for students of all ages. The HBCU/MI program aims to increase participation from under-represented educational institutions for research, development, test and evaluation programs.

Fidelity Assessment of Forecasts (FACEOFF)

Systems Learning Applied to the Tactical Environment (SLATE) ONR Technical Candidate

Marine Meteorology and Space University Research Initiatives (URI)

New Investigator, HBCU/MSI, Early Career and Student Opportunities

Study of Air-Sea Fluxes and Atmospheric River Intensity (SAFARI)

Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Department of the Navy (DoN) Historically Black Colleges and Universities/Minority Institutions (HBCU/MI) Program

In July 2023, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) partnered with the 144th Airlift Squadron of the Alaska Air National Guard to deploy five different types of weather buoys across more than 1,000 nautical miles of the Arctic Ocean. Such deployments are critical for maintaining the Arctic Observing Network (AON), which provides observations for weather and ice forecasting and related research. “Understanding ocean and weather conditions in the Arctic region is crucial to ensuring safe, effective naval operations in this challenging part of the world,” said Chief of Naval Research Rear Adm. Kurt Rothenhaus. “Exercises like this buoy drop are a testament to the value of strong international scientific partnerships and collaboration, in order to share knowledge, resources and insights.” The buoy air deployment supported the International Arctic Buoy Programme (IABP), a collaborative program comprising more than 32 different research and operational institutions from 10 different countries and four international agencies — including the International Cooperative Engagement Program for Polar Research (ICE-PPR), European Meteorological Network, World Climate Research Programme and World Meteorological Organization.

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) sponsored a project at Virginia Tech University nearly 20 years ago that is now growing in influence across the world for measuring aerospace and aeronautical acoustics. Since noise reverberates against solid surfaces, such as the walls of a wind tunnel where acoustical testing takes place, collecting accurate sound data had been nearly impossible at the time. Researchers were also struggling to discern the sound of the wind tunnel’s air flow from the noise of the object traveling through it. After learning about some experiments on Kevlar as a wind screen, William Devenport, an engineering professor and director of Virginia Tech’s Stability Wind Tunnel, said he and a colleague wrote a proposal to then-ONR program officer Ron Joslin to try adding Kevlar to their wind tunnel walls. Devenport submitted the original grant proposal (N00014–04–1–04933) through the FY 2004 Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) for alterations to Virginia Tech’s existing Stability Wind Tunnel that would allow it to measure flow-induced noise of relevance to Navy applications.

A dynamic era in naval oceanography recently ended as the iconic Floating Instrument Platform — popularly known as FLIP — was officially retired from service. Built in 1962 with funding from the Office of Naval Research (ONR), FLIP helped generations of scientists and oceanographers better understand the mysteries of the sea, including internal waves, air-sea interaction and long-range sound propagation. Sadly, age and exorbitant life-extension costs resulted in the platform being disestablished. On Aug. 3, a solemn gathering of well-wishers watched as FLIP was towed, at sunset, to a dismantling and recycling facility. Last month, a formal good-bye ceremony was hosted by the Marine Physical Laboratory at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Though retired, FLIP will live on at Scripps. One of its booms (crane-like arms for suspending instruments) will be installed on the Scripps research pier in La Jolla and used to deploy instruments. Also, artifacts from the platform will be displayed in a permanent exhibit at Scripps’ Birch Aquarium.