Last week University of Notre Dame faculty members traveled to the Office of Naval Research in Washington, D.C. to present cutting-edge research at the annual Navy Forum.
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is an executive branch within the Department of Defense and provides technical advice to the Chief of Naval Operations and the Secretary of the Navy. As part of the Navy Forum on October 31st, ONR personnel, including Rear Admiral Matthew L. Klunder, heard from and engaged with a number of Notre Dame faculty members with areas of expertise relevant to the United States military.
Laurel Riek, Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, started off the morning with a presentation on socially interactive robots. She is working to design autonomous robot behaviors that enable safe and effective collaboration with humans, which is essential when using robots in safety-critical environments, such as in military settings.
Patrick Fay, Professor of Electrical Engineering, spoke next on quilt packaging, an emerging technology for high performance integration and packaging of microchips. This technology has significant benefits for size, weight, power, and cost reductions as compared to competing integration approaches.
Thomas Corke, Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, discussed the applications of plasma actuators for increased aerodynamic performance of future military vehicles.
After a short break, where Notre Dame faculty and ONR personnel were able to share ideas and discuss possible collaborations, Ashley Thrall, John Cardinal O’Hara, C.S.C. Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, demonstrated the opportunities for novel origami structures, especially for sea-based aviation.
The event was capped off by Eric Jumper, Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, who discussed his high energy laser research from the aero-optics group at Notre Dame.
For the past four years, Notre Dame and Navy have come together off the football field to share research opportunities and priorities and to build relationships between Navy personnel and top University faculty in core areas of shared research interest. The University of Notre Dame was honored to attend the Navy Forum in Washington, D.C. this year and looks forward to further opportunities to build upon their already strong relationship with the Navy research community.