Navy awards $2 million to UML to expand industrial and manufacturing engineering workforce

09.11.2024

From Edwin L. Aguirre

The U.S. Navy has awarded UMass Lowell a five-year, $2 million grant to develop a pool of highly qualified graduates in industrial engineering and manufacturing engineering to support New England's defense industry, particularly the Navy's submarine construction.

The program's goal is to strengthen workforce development through student scholarships, collaborative professional experiences, industrial capstone projects and networking opportunities, and to increase the number of industrial engineers graduating with an interest in working in the submarine industry – the vast industrial ecosystem required to build these large, technologically advanced vessels.

“It is well known that the United States lacks sufficiently skilled tradespeople such as machinists, welders and assemblers,” says Joseph C. Hartman, the project's lead researcher and the university's provost and vice chancellor for academic and student affairs.

Hartman is an industrial and systems engineer by training and served as dean of the Francis College of Engineering before assuming his current position. He continues to serve as a professor of engineering.

“An equally critical problem is the shortage of industrial and manufacturing engineers,” he says. “An aging workforce also significantly increases the demand for them.”

David Claudio, Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering and one of the main initiators of the project, points out that maintaining a competitive industrial base requires a continuous supply of qualified specialists not only in the defense and shipbuilding sectors, but also in other high-technology industries.

“Industrial engineers play a critical role in the defense industry,” says Claudio. “We streamline processes to make them more efficient. We work with cost, quality, safety and speed. At UMass Lowell, we focus on process automation, which helps in all of these dimensions.”

The university partners with the BlueForge Alliance, a national nonprofit organization that supports the Navy's SIB and has more than 100 companies in its network.

“UMass Lowell currently works with about 10 companies, including Granite State Manufacturing, Samtan Engineering, Rolls Royce Marine, General Dynamics Electric Boat and The Entwistle Company, among others,” says Claudio.

James Kohl, dean of student affairs and experiential learning, also serves as co-PI of the project, with Advancement's Sally Washburn serving as lead collaborator.

A global deterrent

Rising geopolitical tensions in the South China Sea, Eastern Europe and the Middle East have highlighted the importance of the Navy's submarine fleet.

“The US Navy's submarines are one of the world's most important global defense lines,” says Claudio. “Attack submarines play a critical role in our country's defense strategy, especially in deterring potential adversaries.”

He says a robust industrial base ensures the United States can promptly maintain, modernize and deploy modern submarines, maintaining the country's strategic advantage.

Image by General Dynamics

“A strong industrial base ensures that submarines are built, maintained and modernized to the highest standards,” says Claudio. “This increases the fleet’s operational readiness, which is essential to respond to new threats.”

According to a recent report in Defense News, “[The Navy] has 49 attack submarines, although the formal requirement is 66.” Over the past decade, the Navy has addressed this problem by investing in increasing its annual submarine production capacity, particularly in building the nation's next generation of fast attack submarines, including Columbia- and Virginia-class submarines.

This build requires thousands of workers with skills not only in 3D printing, CNC machining, precision welding and non-destructive testing, but also appropriately trained industrial engineers to fully translate design packages into the detailed instructions and processes required to produce complex systems essential to submarine construction.

A catalyst for career opportunities

According to Hartman, UMass Lowell offers a dual-track mechanical engineering (ME) program, where students can choose between a design-focused ME curriculum and a production-focused industrial engineering (IE) program.

“However, the IE option currently attracts only a very small percentage of students,” he says.

Hartman hopes the Navy-funded program will help recruit more students by providing them with tuition scholarships. The program also offers students the opportunity to complete paid internships in defense-related industries.

“The internships take place at the companies' local workplaces. There may also be an opportunity for students to complete an internship at one of the naval shipyards, for example the one near Portsmouth, New Hampshire,” says Claudio.

Image by Edwin L. Aguirre

Students also participate in one-year funded final projects related to the defense sector.

“These opportunities open doors to a vast network of professionals and experts in the defense community,” says Claudio. “This network can serve as a catalyst for mentorship as well as career opportunities to work with the Navy or one of its contractors after graduation.”

“If the program proves successful, it could be adopted in many other state engineering programs,” Hartman adds.

Interested engineering students must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. For more information, contact Claudio at [email protected].