NSWC Corona signs education partnership agreement with UC Irvine

NSWC Corona signs education partnership agreement with UC Irvine

By Angelina Comstock, Naval Surface Warfare Center Corona Division

University of California, Irvine and Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Corona Division joined together Sept. 10 to enter an education partnership agreement (EPA).

The ceremony formally established a partnership between NSWC Corona and UC Irvine which will introduce students to Navy-related fields and opportunities before entering the workforce.

By providing early exposure to Navy STEM careers, the partnership helps strengthen the pipeline of scientists, engineers, and other professionals pursuing careers in service to the Navy - ensuring the Navy's future workforce is prepared to address tomorrow's challenges. For UC Irvine, the EPA opens new opportunities for students and faculty to collaborate with the Navy, including access to NSWC Corona's laboratories and specialized equipment, hands-on internships, and expanded research and grant opportunities.

"While this partnership might be new on paper, the relationship between our two organizations certainly is not," said Capt. Joseph Burgon, commanding officer of NSWC Corona. "Behind this Education Partnership Agreement is years of grassroots collaboration between our innovators at NSWC Corona and the students, professors, and alumni of UC Irvine. Both sides recognized the immense, untapped potential of what we could achieve together - for our Navy and nation."

Currently, 52 UC Irvine alumni are employed by NSWC Corona. Since 2019, NSWC Corona has hosted 10 interns from UC Irvine, three of whom have gone on to convert to full-time positions.

"This EPA will provide our students with access to facilities beyond academia and provide our students with a framework for exploring," said Marios Papaefthymiou, dean of the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences at UC Irvine.

UC Irvine's specialized research in artificial intelligence, machine learning, virtual reality, and augmented reality directly complements NSWC Corona's strategic needs. Partnering with academia in these critical areas enhances the Navy's efforts to develop and deploy tomorrow's warfighting capabilities.

"It's extremely important for NSWC Corona to leverage not just private industry, but also academic partners," said Kaytie Carrasco from the Office of Research and Technology Applications at NSWC Corona. Carrasco also shared how the EPA enables the warfare center to engage not only the skillsets of the students, but also the expertise of the professors.

The ceremony brought together students, faculty, and personnel from the warfare center.

NSWC Corona Division has provided analysis and assessment for the Navy since 1964. With expertise in gauging the Navy's warfighting capability, NSWC Corona is a leader in data, analytics, visualizations, digital environments, engineering, and leveraging technology to bridge and integrate the Navy's data silos - enabling informed decision-making by the warfighter. With more than 4,000 scientists, engineers, Sailors, technicians, and support staff, NSWC Corona is located in Norco, California, with two California detachments in Fallbrook and Seal Beach and personnel in 14 additional locations.