Training from Undergraduate through Navy Engagement (TUNE)
Abstract
This project will connect the Navy’s ongoing need for a larger and more diverse science and engineering workforce with the State of California’s strategic plan to encourage young people to begin their postsecondary careers at community colleges and then transfer to four-year institutions. The University of California, Riverside (UCR) – one of America’s few accredited research-intensive Hispanic Serving Institutions (OPEID-00131600) – has active programs in partnership with nearby community colleges that enable students to transfer and complete a bachelor’s degree in science or engineering in four years. This project will expand on those efforts to enlarge and sustain the pipeline with a series of services to students that begin in the first year of college and continue beyond their transfer to UCR. These will include academic advising, tutoring, engagement with professional engineering organizations, events and lectures, and undergraduate research opportunities at UCR. Students will build expertise and enthusiasm in many areas of engineering that are important to the Navy by participating in UCR research projects (many of which are supported by the Office of Naval Research or other Navy organizations) and in-classroom exercises that allow for independent discovery and innovation. A major strength of this project is its foundation on well-established approaches and relationships, based on the literature and on our experiences over several years. It builds on projects that have been successful, but that have operated only intermittently, rising and falling with the availability of grants from various sources. Now, with California’s new emphasis on the postsecondary transfer pipeline, we will be able to solidify our relationships with community colleges in the region under support from this ONR program and sustain these programs for long-term benefits. The outcome will be a steady flow of students from Southern California community colleges (all of which are also accredited Hispanic Serving Institutions) to UCR, where they will complete bachelor’s degrees and research/design projects based in part on current research projects sponsored by the Office of Naval Research and the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Corona Division. These students will be prepared to move on to graduate school, careers as engineers with the Navy, or careers with technology companies that produce technology innovations that contribute to U.S. military superiority.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Sep 19, 2018
- Source ID
- N000141812771
Entities
People
- Marko Princevac
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of California Regents