The U.S. Navy has awarded UMass Dartmouth a $4.3 million grant to fund projects through the school’s Marine and UnderSea Technology research program, the university announced.

According to a UMass Dartmouth press release, the grant will fund nine projects that focus on supporting the blue economy and offshore wind sectors through remote underwater sensing, battery performance for autonomous vehicles, oxidation mitigation for naval vessels, predictive modeling algorithms, and the use of autonomous vehicles to survey coastal environments.

Project teams feature UMass Dartmouth researchers from academic disciplines and researchers from the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport, industry partners Teledyne Benthos and Black & Veatch, and higher education institutions like UMass Amherst, the University of California, and the University of Virginia.

"Our collaborations with the Office of Naval Research and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport allow us to produce advanced technologies to harness the power of our waters and create an international hub for advanced marine technology," said  Chancellor Mark Fuller. "We want to educate students from the SouthCoast and the Commonwealth for Blue Economy jobs and produce graduates who will contribute to the industry's success, and with this grant, that is what we will continue to do."

The latest award follows a $4.6 million grant from the Office of Naval Research awarded in February 2020 and a $4.2M grant in October 2020 to address the U.S. Navy's short-term concerns of a skilled technical workforce and long-term goals of advanced technology development.

"We're in a period where investments into our workforce are critical," said U.S. Rep. Bill Keating, who presented the grant. "UMass Dartmouth's Marine and UnderSea Technology program will create a new generation of a highly trained workforce, addressing the needs of the U.S. Navy as well as the emerging blue economy in our district. This is also the third time UMass Dartmouth has been awarded this coveted funding and I congratulate the Chancellor and his team on that. I will continue to work with UMass Dartmouth to push for additional grant funding to expand this important program for years to come."