Virtual Intelligent Ships Symposium Features Panels and Presentations

Photo By Richard Locklear | Attendees share their insights and personal experiences during a panel discussion on developing employees in a virtual environment that took place during the American Society of Naval Engineers’ (ASNE) Intelligent Ships Symposium (ISS) April 29. (U.S. Navy Photo by Richard Locklear/Released)  

UNITED STATES

04.27.2021

Story by Richard Locklear 

Naval Surface Warfare Center Philadelphia Division

Engineers from the Naval Surface Warfare Center Philadelphia Division participated in the biennial American Society of Naval Engineers (ASNE) Intelligent Ships Symposium (ISS), April 27-29, 2021. The event was designed to provide a collaborative environment among attendees from military, government, industry, and academia to share knowledge, discuss issues, and brainstorm solutions to problems common throughout the naval engineering community. In the past, the symposium was held at local universities in Philadelphia such as University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, or Villanova University. This year, COVID-19 virus health protocols necessitated a virtual conference in 2021.

According to ISS Symposium Chair and NWSCPD employee Pat McGroarty, intelligent ships is a term used to describe current and future ships that use advanced technologies to progress the U.S. Navy’s warfighting advantage. The ISS symposium featured panel discussions, question and answer sessions, as well as presentations of engineering technical papers on various topics related to this ongoing effort to improve and enhance the U.S. Navy’s fleet.

Panels focused on a variety of subjects such as developing employees in a virtual environment, the In-Service Engineering Agent (ISEA) of the Future and Unmanned Machinery.

Technical papers covered a wide area of topics including cybersecurity, modeling and simulation, power systems, condition-based maintenance and systems engineering, among many others.

During the symposium’s opening remarks, Dr. Ken Fischer, NSWCPD’s Chief of Cybersecurity, addressed the many national security challenges the United States faces, including adversaries who can or soon will be able to match it in terms of manpower, industrial capacity and financial resources.

“Facing these threats will require a new transition based on information. The ability to obtain it, process it, share it, and act on it in meaningful ways will have compounding effects in the operational environment,” said Fischer.

“How we bring that information to bear will affect the management and navigation of the fleet; the coordination of activities between land, sea, and air; our ability to defend and respond; the management of energy and logistics; the safety of our armed forces; and ultimately the security of the United States and her allies,” he added.

According to NSWCPD participant and symposium planner Elyse Merkel, the ASNE ISS was beneficial to participants because it provided a unique opportunity for networking and collaboration between engineers from the government, academic and private sectors.

“As the pandemic shut down meeting in person, opportunities to be exposed to new ideas and for collaboration have been really limited. Shifting this conference to a virtual environment and platform offered key collaborating options that allowed for unique ways to transfer and share knowledge between government, academia and industry,” said Merkel. “NSWCPD employees were involved in every aspect of this conference as paper presenters sharing their research, attendees learning about advanced technologies, and also as panel members leading discussions on mission critical topics.”

While planning and standing up a virtual conference is not without its challenges, NSWCPD employees who participated in the planning, including McGroarty, Merkel, Dr. Felicia Powell and LeTeisha Neufville-Wright, worked closely together largely without the benefit of meeting face to face to overcome the logistical and technological challenges presented by a virtual conference. All told, the symposium was attended by 345 people.

The event also included a virtual Science Technology Engineering Math (STEM) Day, featuring a career development panel, virtual trivia game, and robotics demonstrations, for Philadelphia-area high schools.

NSWCPD employs approximately 2,700 civilian engineers, scientists, technicians, and support personnel. The NSWCPD team does the research and development, test and evaluation, acquisition support, and in-service and logistics engineering for the non-nuclear machinery, ship machinery systems, and related equipment and material for Navy surface ships and submarines. NSWCPD is also the lead organization providing cybersecurity for ship systems.

• Date Taken: 04.27.2021
• Date Posted: 05.10.2021 12:46
• Story ID: 396011
• Location: US