Photo By James Travassos | Jacob O’Donnell (front row, center), the university outreach coordinator within the...... read more read more
NEWPORT, R.I.–In developing the next generation of U.S. Navy scientists and engineers, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport hosted 85 college students across several summer internship programs, providing an introduction to submarine technology through hands-on activity.
“We want to use this as a way to get the students’ foot in the door and learn about the Navy’s ecosystem, have them learn about submarines and how they’re utilized in the Navy,” said Jacob O’Donnell, the university outreach coordinator within the Chief Technology Office. “The 10-week internship experience is a great way to get students introduced to naval systems and involved with Navy mentors. This is a great pipeline to get students hired since they can hit the ground running.”
Each student is paired with a technical mentor and supervisor in the various departments and given certain projects to work on based on their interest. This can include science and technology research or work in the product lines.
The majority of the students here this summer — 41 in total — are enrolled in the STEM Student Employment Program, which includes the STEM 90 and STEM 640 programs. STEM 90 brings in students for 90 days over the summer as full-time employees, while STEM 640 requires students to complete 640 hours of employment before they earn their degree. They can complete this requirement over any break during the school year and are eligible for a full-time job offerupon graduation, said Crystal Tanguay, a recruiting and staffing specialist, who oversees these programs at Division Newport.
Sponsored by the Department of War, the Science, Math and Research Transformation (SMART) Program allows students to work with a mentor throughout the year, then intern at a command during the summer. It is a scholarship-for-service program, with a one-for-one service commitment at Division Newport, which hosted 17 SMART students this summer.
Two new internship programs debuted at Division Newport this summer. Development of the 401 Tech Bridge internship program started in February after it was learned the Naval Research Enterprise Internship Program (NREIP) would not be employed by Division Newport this year. Utilizing Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA) collaborator 401 Tech Bridge, O’Donnell and his team attracted 17 students for this program in its first year.
The brainchild of Division Newport Commanding Officer Capt. Kevin Behm, the U.S. Naval Academy Midshipmen Internship Program invited 10 future Sailors to Division Newport to learn about next-generation technologies. They received daily briefs from top subject matter experts in the technical departments and toured laboratories over a period of four weeks.
“The 10 midshipmen really enjoyed working with their technical mentors, learning about NUWC's areas of expertise and seeing our lab spaces,” O’Donnell said. “They loved seeing how NUWC Division Newport helps the fleet, so when they’re on a boat or a submarine, they know they can call us and we can help them out.”
At the end of every summer, interns are required to fill out a quad chart detailing the project on which they worked and show how it can help the Navy fleet. No matter what the program, O’Donnell said, student feedback tends to be positive.
“They love the people here. They love their mentor and the projects they work on,” O’Donnell said. “One of my favorite things I tell students is that they’ll be working on Navy-relevant projects … You’re going to be someone whose work affects the fleet, today and tomorrow.” NUWC Newport is the oldest warfare center in the country, tracing its heritage to the Naval Torpedo Station established on Goat Island in Newport Harbor in 1869.Commanded by Capt. Kevin Behm, NUWC Newport maintains major detachments in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Andros Island in the Bahamas, as well as test facilities at Seneca Lake and Fisher's Island, New York, Leesburg, Florida, and Dodge Pond, Connecticut.
| Date Taken: | 08.10.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 08.10.2026 13:48 |
| Story ID: | 571978 |
| Location: | NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 18 |
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