Photo By Peter Clute | Garrett Bassen, a returning intern at Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Keyport,...... read more read more
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Garrett Bassen, a returning intern at Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Keyport, has quickly established himself as a highly motivated, promising future engineer.
Bassen, currently a sophomore at Western Washington University majoring in electrical and computer engineering, first came to NUWC Division, Keyport last summer through the Naval Research Enterprise Internship Program. This summer, he returned under the Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation Scholarship program to continue his hands-on engineering work in the command’s Small and Medium Unmanned Vehicles Branch.
Bassen chose to work at NUWC Division, Keyport because of its reputation for advanced research and development.
“I realized Keyport was focused on developing new technologies,” he said. “It is very exciting to be here, apply what I’ve learned in school and actually work on real-world projects that benefit the Navy.”
The SMART Scholarship program equips the next generation of scientists and engineers for successful careers in government service by providing full tuition, internships and guaranteed civilian employment with the Department of War upon graduation. Thanks to the program, Bassen already has a three-year commitment to return to NUWC Division, Keyport as a full-time employee after finishing his degree.
During his time so far at the command, he has benefited from the mentorship of Computer Engineer Daniel Gentile, who was himself a NUWC Division, Keyport intern nearly a decade ago. The two initially paired up last summer when Bassen first arrived as a new intern eager to learn circuit board design, and they now tackle complex R&D work together as "birds of a feather,” to quote Michael Bonus, acting head of their branch.
“Daniel is able to really help guide Garrett and provide great advice,” said Bonus. “They just have similar personalities and skill sets, and they love working on the same type of R&D to really push things forward for the Navy.”
Gentile echoed this sentiment: “I see a lot of myself as an intern in him. One benefit of having been an intern myself is that I can tailor Garrett’s responsibilities and assignments based on my own experience, emphasizing the aspects of the internship that I found most valuable and enjoyable.”
Bassen's work last summer involved redesigning and testing a circuit board for a specialized undersea data collection device. This summer, he is developing firmware for that same board, as well as software for remotely operated vehicles. He welcomes the opportunity to stretch his skills.
"Everything here I'm seeing is novel and unexplored," he said. "It's exciting. I'm able to use real-world input and process it in a way that's beneficial to the Navy."
Bassen’s colleagues praised his performance.
“Garrett is very persistent,” said Gentile. “Whenever there's a really hard problem he's trying to tackle, he's not one to throw up his hands; he'll sit there, chew on it and figure it out.”
Bonus added, “He definitely has a lot of technical skill in terms of both electrical engineering and computer engineering. I would say he’s a lot closer to someone who would be working full-time as opposed to [a student].”
Bassen has advice for future interns looking to follow a similar path to success at NUWC Division, Keyport: “Get the confidence to do things on your own. The culture here is very independent, but you're never alone. Any time you need help, you can talk to basically anyone and they're more than willing to help.”
Bassen plans to spend the remainder of his internship further expanding his programming skills and gaining hands-on experience out on the testing ranges to ensure he is as prepared as possible to step into his full-time position after he graduates.
To learn more about Bassen's journey and work at NUWC Division, Keyport, watch his video interview here: https://youtu.be/gimEZLLQiFY.
| Date Taken: | 08.18.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 08.18.2026 15:59 |
| Story ID: | 572691 |
| Location: | KEYPORT, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 35 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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