James Miller, professor of ocean engineering at the University of Rhode Island, was a guest panelist for the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport’s Advanced Naval Technology Exercise (ANTX) on Aug. 28.

The professor spoke about the role of academia, specifically the ocean engineering program at URI, plays in preserving knowledge of technology across generations.

“Since the end of the Cold War, fields like ocean acoustics and sonar have scraped along on bare minimum funding because the nation didn’t need them,” said Miller. “But now, 30 years later, all of sudden the Navy, its labs, and its defense contractors need that knowledge. Rhode Island has been the center of the undersea warfare ecosystem and is well positioned to quickly spring back to life.”

ANTX is a two-day event where scientists and engineers evaluate their technological innovations at the research and development level before their technology has to become militarized and interface at the operational level of the Navy. The theme of this year’s event was “Prepare for Battle: Undersea Security.”

Joining Miller on the panel was Omer Poroy, director of strategic exploration at General Dynamics Mission Systems; Daryl Slocum, director of product management for L3Harris OceanServer; Jeff Smith, director of unmanned underwater vehicle systems for BAE Systems, Inc.; and Michael Incze, NUWC oceanographer.