Page 36: of Marine Technology Magazine (March 2013)

Discovering Rhode Island Defense Rhode Island may be the ?red? state in terms of the state color,  ower and tree, but it bleeds blue ? Navy blue. That?s because the U.S. Navy is deeply anchored into the fabric of the Ocean State?s history and economy. Its roots stretch all the way back to the birth of an armed naval force in 1775, and to the arrival of the forerunner to today?s naval research center on Goat Island in 1869. The Naval Academy sat out the civil war in Newport, which is now home to a col- lection of Naval training facilities, including the Naval War College. Over the years, Quonset Point has hosted the Na- val Air Station, the Seabees and the Navy?s Antarctic Support Squadron. On the  nancial side of the ledger, the Navy today is not only the third largest employer in the state; it is also the leading economic force for many businesses ? big and small. Particularly big is the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC), a roughly billion-dollars-a-year research center that serves as the nation?s repository for undersea warfare and technology knowledge. It is big, really big, and its tentacles are everywhere. ?If Rhode Island has one drawing card in the business of undersea technology, it?s NUWC and ev- eryone af liated with it. The Rhode Island high-tech in- dustry is NUWC actually, and the industry spinoffs,? says Malcolm Spaulding, co-founder of South Kingston, R.I. based ASA Sciences and Professor Emeritus of Ocean Engineering at the University of Rhode Island. ?Contractors locate in Southeastern Rhode Island because of the proximity to NUWC. And for the jobs - lots and lots of them,? continues Spaulding. ?NUWC is the largest employer of graduates of URI?s marine sciences and engineering pro- grams. If you look at NUWC staff, about a third came from URI,? he adds. ?We probably hire more PhDs ? 170 ? than anyone else in the area; half our people have masters,? says Don Aker, Deputy Technical Director of NUWC, Division Newport. Overall, NUWC employs 2,748 government civilian em- ployees and 31 military members with a total gross payroll of more than $296 million. Of the full-time government civil- ian staff, 74% are scientists or engineers and approximately 36% have graduate degrees. Anywhere from one third to one in every  ve are said to be University of Rhode (URI) Island alumni, many of whom went through NUWC?s intern- ship program, and later have the opportunity to return to URI under a special, multi-discipline master?s program offered to NUWC employees. With everyone cozying up to NUWC, it might come as a surprise to  nd that facility is actively and aggressively seek- ing paying customers to buy its services, licenses and intel- lectual property. Especially when you look at the numbers. NUWC impact in dollars and centsThe Navy?s substantial presence is divided primarily be- tween Naval Station Newport, which houses most of the U.S. Navy?s training facilities, including the Naval War College among its 50 plus tenant commands, and NUWC Newport, the east coast underwater research and development arm of the NavSea. In addition to R&D, NUWC provides testing and evaluation, engineering, autonomous underwater systems,  eet support for submarine warfare systems and many other offensive and defensive weapons systems associated with the undersea realm. NUWC employs more than 4,400 civilian and military personnel worldwide, with budgets of over $1 billion. With that kind of presence comes a lot of economic power, and payout. In 2012, the total funded program of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Newport topped $935 mil- lion. More than half of its total operating budget, $581 mil- lion, went to payroll, construction, facility support and local contracts. The command is the largest federal activity in R.I. in terms of personnel and payroll, with NUWC taking the big-NUWC Courting IndustryBy Patricia KeefeMarch 2013 36 MTRMTR #2 (34-49).indd 36MTR #2 (34-49).indd 363/6/2013 2:51:18 PM3/6/2013 2:51:18 PM