MIDDLETOWN, R.I. — Connor Murphy manipulated the controls of the submersible robot tethered in a red 12-by-12-foot tank outside Building 80 of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center on a recent morning.
Members of his team watched the the eight-engine robot closely, talking about its performance and how it might be tweaked to improve its performance in real-world conditions.
What made the exercise different is that Murphy and his peers aren’t high-level engineers and scientists with the military research facility in Middletown. They are high school students from Middletown and Portsmouth.
The exercise is part of an outreach program overseen by NUWC and retired NUWC personnel. The goal is to spark youngsters’ interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, maybe even getting them interested in a potential career in the field.
“The thing about this is it helps the students learn if they have an interest,” said Bill Ferreira, president of the Undersea Science and Engineering Foundation, a Portsmouth-based nonprofit working with NUWC to run the program. “You ask a student if they’re interested in engineering and science and they might not be too sure, but after going through an experience like this, they have an idea about how the mathematics, physics, science and engineering applies.”
“One of the big things is we’re not only integrating physics and science and mathematics, but there’s also a budget component we integrated for the first time this year to show that while you might have a task, you don’t have an endless supply of money to accomplish it,” added Russell Racette, secretary of USEF. “At the end of the process, the students also have to make a presentation in front of their peers about their work. It’s a really unique and rewarding experience.”
Statistics indicate there is a serious lack of engineers in the United States. According to the numbers, during the worst of the Great Recession in September 2009, the unemployment rate for engineers was about about 6.5 percent compared to close to 10 percent for all other occupations. Now, the unemployment rate in the field is less than 2 percent.
There continues to be a demand for quality American-born engineers and programs like the “Undersea Technology Apprentice Program” help stimulate interest in the field, according to those running the program. NUWC also runs a program for students at Newport’s Thompson Middle School and New Bedford High School in Massachusetts.
Students at Middletown and Portsmouth high schools received word about the UTAP program last spring through daily morning announcements. It was up to the students to apply through their principals for one of the 20 slots in the program.
UTAP officials said there were more than 40 applicants in 2013, the second year for the program. Students work weekdays through August and receive $10 an hour as part of the paid internship. The experience is also a resume booster.
After receiving a basic lesson about robotics, students are given a series of tasks to accomplish with minimal guidance or direction, leaving it up to them to figure how best to accomplish their goals.
As they complete each mission, assignments get more difficult. It culminates in a final test, during which each of the five teams must pluck a weight from the bottom of a 25-foot-deep pool inside NUWC headquarters using the robot they’ve designed.
Further complicating the task, the bottom of the pool will be littered with a number of weights, all with the same shape and color but a different number etched on the side. Students must negotiate this crowded field to find their target by monitoring images sent by a camera mounted on the robot to a five-inch by five-inch black and white television monitor on the surface.
Josh Allder, 15, a member of Murphy’s robot squad and a Portsmouth High School junior, said he’s enjoyed the experience and would recommend it to anybody.
“It’s been a lot of fun and I’ve learned a lot here,” said Allder, who also was a lifeguard in Little Compton this summer. “There are so many different obstacles and challenges and it really makes you think.”
“It showed me everything that’s possible,” teammate Matthew Waleyko, 16, a Middletown High School junior, added. “My dad has been trying to get me into engineering because he does computer science and this experience has opened my eyes.”
At the next table, members of the Fantastic Four squad said the monthlong program got them thinking about the future, and how they fit into it.
“There are a lot of things I’m interested in and I’m not sure what I want to do when I get older,” said Amanda Damon, 16, a junior at Portsmouth High. “I’m trying different things to get a better idea about what I want to do and what I won’t want to do.”
Members of USEF and NUWC said that’s exactly the point of the exercise: to open the door of possibilities for students. It is up to them to walk through.
“There are approximately 5,000 scientists and engineers focused on underwater science right here on Aquidneck Island and in this immediate area,” Racette said. “There’s no place in the United States with the same amount of talent in one place and it’s something we should work to further solidify and continue.”
“Our philosophy is to let the students know more about what engineers do and that there are opportunities for good paying jobs here so they don’t need to leave the state to live and work,” Ferreira added. “Whether they decide to go that route or not, at least this program gets them thinking.”
NUWC officials agreed, saying the demand for qualified engineers and scientists is constant.
“Around 15 years ago, the Navy really started seeing the handwriting on the wall and launched programs like this to get our young people interested in physics, sciences, mathematics and engineering,” said John DiCecco, a research engineer with NUWC who also serves as an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Rhode Island. “A lot of students are interested in what it’s all about and there’s such a need for United States citizens in the (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields because we can’t hire engineers from India or China or Iran for obvious reasons.”