National Institute for Undersea Vehicle Technology

WHO WE ARE

The National Institute for Undersea Vehicle Technologies is a university- industry partnership that collaborates with the Navy to advance the capabilities of the next generation US undersea fleet by training innovative workforce and by accelerating the research, development, and transition of key enabling technologies.

YOUR MISSION

NIUVT is focused on institutionalizing the numerous research, technology transfer and workforce development activities in undersea vehicle technology that UConn, URI and Electric Boat have been pursuing for years, by:

  1. Conducting basic and applied RESEARCH on undersea vehicle technologies of strategic importance to the Navy through collaborative partnerships between the universities and industry.
  2. Accelerating and facilitating TECHNOLOGY TRANSITION by ensuring relevant research can be more easily pulled into the shipbuilding industries.
  3. Supporting the WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT of a technically competent and innovative next generation workforce through Navy-focused undergraduate STEM education and opportunities for engineers to obtain advanced degrees related to their work.

NIUVT LEADERSHIP

Richard Christenson, Ph.D., Co-Director, Professor

Civil & Environmental Engineering Department

University of Connecticut

Telephone: 860-486-2270

E-mail: richard.christenson@uconn.edu

Jim Miller, Ph.D., Co-Director, Professor

Ocean Engineering  and Oceanography Department

University of Rhode Island

Phone: 401-874-6540

E-mail: miller@uri.edu

For more information, please visit the National Institute for Undersea Vehicle Technology or contact Rachel Woglemuth, Associate Director of Operations.

Research Areas

  • Acoustics, Sensors & Signal Processing
  • Advanced Materials and Structures
  • Advanced Manufacturing Processes
  • Cybersecurity
  • Human Factors* Marine Hydrodynamics
  • Propulsion Enabling Technologies
  • Structural Integrity, Vibration, and Control
  • Systems Engineering/Modeling* Unmanned Underwater Vehicles
  • Underwater Energy Systems
  • Underwater Shock
OUR REGION: Southern New England is home to a high concentration of strategic naval assets, including naval installations, General Dynamics-Electric Boat, 600 supply chain companies, naval laboratories, and naval colleges.
OUR TRACK RECORD: The NIUVT partners have longstanding research relationships with the Navy totaling $annually and established collaborative relationships with Electric Boat (EB) and the regional supply chain.
OUR RESEARCH ENTERPRISE: Together, UConn and URI have 70 outstanding research faculty that can support naval technologies in areas from underwater shock to human factors.
OUR TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER RESOURCES: Resources such as the UConn Tech Park, the Connecticut Manufacturing Simulation Center, Dynamic Photomechanics Laboratory, and the Next  Generation Sensing Technology Laboratory offer an established infrastructure to transition NIUVT research to the naval supply chain, OEMs, and naval vehicles and platforms.
OUR WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT INFRASTRUCTURE:  URI and UConn are the major suppliers of engineering graduates to the naval industry in the Southern New England region. We offer education and training programs at undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels to meet  the region’s need for highly skilled  next generation workforce.