Naval Postgraduate School

06/05/2026

From the analysis of digital parts data to printing system components in austere environments, the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is working to advance the limits of expeditionary manufacturing at the world's largest international maritime exercise next month.

During the latest Joint Interagency Field Experimentation (JIFX) event at Camp Roberts, researchers with NPS’ Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing Research and Education (CAMRE) worked alongside industry partners to evaluate point-of-need additive manufacturing workflows, all in preparation for a series of rigorous experimentation efforts at the upcoming Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise in July.

A Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA) with FLEETWERX enables collaboration with industry, enhancing NPS research and education in additive manufacturing. The NPS team took advantage of the austere field environment at JIFX to assess how printability reports, cost estimates and digital parts inventories can identify components suitable for production in the field. By successfully 3D-printing drone parts on site, CAMRE is advancing the limits of fielded manufacturing systems, pushing production closer to operational users — at the upcoming RIMPAC 2026, and well beyond.

JIFX provides a unique venue for hands-on evaluation of emerging technologies by a wide range of naval and defense agencies, as well as industry and academic partners. Testing these systems, processes and technologies in a field environment accelerates the innovation process, ensuring the joint force maintains the agility required for operational readiness.

• Learn more about JIFX: https://nps.edu/web/fx
• More about Research and Innovation at NPS: https://nps.edu/web/research
• About CAMRE at NPS: https://nps.edu/web/camre

U.S. Navy | U.S. Marine Corps | RIMPAC

06/03/2026

Built through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), the years-long NPS-RTX relationship demonstrates how defense-focused graduate education and research with industry collaboration can accelerate innovation for warfighter and warfighting development.

"By combining highly skilled engineering teams with operational expertise and advanced technologies, this collaboration brings powerful insight to some of the nation’s most complex defense challenges," said Hsin-Fu “Sinker” Wu, RTX co-principal investigator of the RTX-NPS CRADA and lead for collaboration efforts. “Working together, we are creating an environment where innovative concepts can be rigorously developed and translated into operationally relevant capabilities.”

Initial research explored a range of needs including unmanned systems, contested maritime environments, undersea C2 concepts including classified projects. Today, the collaboration increasingly looks at future warfare areas including hypersonics, advanced metamaterials, directed-energy defense, and operational analysis. Many students involved are also in the NPS Meyer Scholar Program, which prepares officers to lead the development and employment of advanced naval warfare technologies.

“RTX routinely provides the Meyer Scholars with classified seminars on both well-established and emerging capabilities being employed by the fleet,” said John Hammerer, NPS Warfare Chair, Integrated Air and Missile Defense. “Meyer Scholars learn about systems such as the SPY-6 air and missile defense radar and the family of Standard Missiles used for air and missile defense and anti-surface missions to a degree not possible in other professional training programs. Scholars have also fulfilled thesis research and field trip requirements by collaborating with RTX engineers and visiting RTX production and research facilities.”

- Read the full story: https://nps.edu/-/from-classroom-to-combat-advantage-nps-and-rtx-partner-to-advance-education-research-and-mission-impact
- More about Meyer Scholars at NPS: https://nps.edu/web/meyer-scholars

U.S. Navy | U.S. Marine Corps | The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations | Office of Naval Research

06/02/2026

Great collaboration with Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center:

05/29/2026

Thank you for 25 years of honorable service! U.S. Navy Cmdr. Carl Liptak recently celebrated his retirement and the culmination of his impactful career as a naval aviator and more recently as the Naval Postgraduate School’s Deputy Dean of Students.

During a May 15 ceremony, NPS President retired Vice Adm. Ann Rondeau presented Liptak with the Meritorious Service Medal. From April 2024 to June 2026, his dedication to operational readiness and academic success directly supported more than 3,000 military, civilian, and international students. Liptak successfully orchestrated multiple graduations, incoming/outgoing classes, command-wide events, and significant administrative efforts to improve student services and the certifications of the school’s Twin Otter research aircraft.

Reflecting on his career and time at NPS, Liptak offered parting advice to the students he guided: “In the age of AI inference, those who have the disciplined curiosity to formulate great questions will be valuable. The world is full of doom and hype, so build a set of internal principles to evaluate the world and yourself against. Be uncompromising in assessment of performance, but compassionate with yourself and your teammates.”

Congratulations to Cmdr. Liptak and his family on a distinguished Navy career and we wish them "fair winds and following seas."

- Learn more about the NPS Dean of Students office: https://nps.edu/web/students

U.S. Navy | U.S. Marine Corps | Naval Aviation Enterprise

05/28/2026

The Dudley Knox Library at NPS plays a critical role in the school’s mission, tailored to defense education with unique security collections, classified materials, and a comprehensive research repository. The Library of Congress recently announced the winners of its national awards for federal librarianship, and the NPS Library team received the inaugural Project of the Year Award.

The award recognizes the success of the Institutional Repository Revitalization Project. By modernizing the Calhoun database—which archives more than 70,000 theses, dissertations and defense-focused research reports—the library team has enhanced the discovery and usability of critical information for researchers and students.

The modernization effort utilized automated content acquisition tools and workflow redesigns, reducing ticket resolution time by more than 66% and expanding the library’s ability to preserve digital scholarly materials.

"This project is not just a technical enhancement; it is an important investment in the future of NPS," said NPS Librarian Edward Corrado. "It stands as an innovative model within the federal library community, setting a benchmark for creativity, adaptability and mission-driven excellence."

Congratulations to the Digital Strategies and Technology team on this national achievement. The team is scheduled to be recognized at an awards ceremony at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., this July.

- Read the full story: https://nps.edu/-/library-of-congress-recognizes-nps-library-for-project-of-the-year
- More about the NPS Dudley Knox Library: https://library.nps.edu/about-us

U.S. Navy | U.S. Marine Corps | Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao | The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations | The Library of Congress United States Naval Academy U.S. Naval War College | Office of Naval Research

05/26/2026

Bravo Zulu! Earlier this month, the Monterey Bay Chapter of the Surface Navy Association (SNA) proudly presented the Stephen Decatur Jr. Award to Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (NJROTC) Cadet Senior Chief Pratik Manandhar and Cadet Petty Officer 1st Class Anthony Marino at Monterey High School.

The Monterey Bay Chapter of SNA is led entirely by Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) students, and serves as the Wardroom for Surface Warfare Officers and Sailors assigned to NPS and in the Monterey area. They are committed to building strong ties with the local community, including other local commands, schools, and area organizations.

The Stephen Decatur, Jr. Award recognizes cadets who demonstrate exceptional leadership, academic excellence, and a strong commitment to the values of the Surface Warfare community. Congratulations to the awardees and the entire Monterey High School NJROTC unit on this outstanding achievement! The unit is led by their instructor and retired U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Robert Kerchner.

Pictured are the three U.S. Navy lieutenants from NPS: Yev Mizin, Kailah O’Brien, Steven Cleaves and awardees. Well done!

U.S. Navy | U.S. Marine Corps | Monterey Bay Surface Navy Association | Surface Warriors

05/25/2026

05/21/2026

Alumni in Action: U.S. Navy Lt. Jonathan Shepherd, an NPS ’21 graduate in Operations Research, was recognized by Commander, Naval Surface Force Atlantic (CNSL) for his innovative solution to speed prioritization of shipboard maintenance, called LOOKOUT AI, and is set to revolutionize how the surface fleet approaches this previously manual task. Shepherd’s invention was created in under six weeks using enterprise available tools at no extra cost to or contracts from the U.S. Government.

"LOOKOUT AI is designed to improve our shipboard maintenance process by making high-priority jobs within the Current Ship's Maintenance Projects (CSMP) immediately visible and easier to manage,” said Shepherd. “Commanders have so many responsibilities, so this tool allows them to easily see which jobs need more attention at any given time.”

Shepherd is currently embedded with CNSL for an intermediate stop before continuing to his next billet at the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations’ Assessments Division (OPNAV N81) in Washington, D.C.

"For other Junior Officers and Sailors who have an idea to support the fleet, think outside the box and don’t stop at obstacles that present themselves,” Shepherd added. “Your contributions and efforts are so valuable to the Navy.”

While at NPS, Shepherd honed his skills in problem solving and applied research and stood out here amongst his peers, earning both the Military Operations Research Society (MORS) Tisdale Award and the Surface Navy Association Award for Excellence.

“I did my thesis research on the SPY-6 radar, the newest and most sophisticated Integrated Air and Missile Defense sensor in the fleet,” said Shepherd. “My research helps accurately and precisely quantify what factors affect new radar performance with the objective of enabling commanders and commanding officers the ability to accurately employ this new fleet capability against sophisticated threats to the Navy.”

As an NPS Meyer Scholar, a program devoted to solving the real-world challenges of air and missile defense, Shepherd says there is nothing like NPS when it comes to conducting the research he pioneered.

"At NPS, we have something that very few universities have, classified research capabilities," said Shepherd. “All the experts that I got to work with and learn from all while in a secret space has been an experience like no other. This is a place that is unique and there’s no other place that I could’ve conducted this research.”

- Read the full story: https://www.dvidshub.net/news/564643/navy-lieutenant-recognized-innovative-ai-maintenance-tool-lookout-ai
- More about Operations Research at NPS: https://nps.edu/web/or
- Learn about Meyer Scholars: https://nps.edu/web/meyer-scholars

U.S. Navy | U.S. Marine Corps | Commander Naval Surface Force Atlantic | The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations | Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao | Surface Warriors

05/20/2026

“Accelerating Warfighting Capabilities” was the theme of this year’s Acquisition Research Symposium at NPS, which drew a record number of registrants and was broadcast virtually to nearly 1,800 participants around the world.

The symposium featured keynote remarks from senior acquisition leaders in the Pentagon, including the Honorable Michael P. Duffey, Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment, and Jason L. Potter, performing the duties of Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisition).

Potter used his keynote address to highlight the U.S. Navy’s establishment of key portfolio acquisition executives, as well as the new Rapid Capability Office, as part of a broader acquisition reform effort aimed at shortening development timelines and increasing accountability. “We’re moving Navy acquisition from a compliance-based bureaucracy to an outcome-focused warfighting enterprise,” Potter said.

In the day two keynote, Duffey outlined the department’s transformational efforts to improve acquisition, emphasizing the need to accelerate delivery of capability through a more agile approach that accepts greater program risk to reduce operational risk. “We must transition from a culture that rewards process over outcomes to one that is singularly focused on speed and ex*****on,” said Duffey.

“This symposium continues to provide an important venue for research that informs acquisition decision-making across the department,” said retired U.S. Army Col. Robert F. Mortlock, Ph.D. and professor of the practice at NPS for Defense Acquisition and Program Management. “The work presented here helps connect analysis, operational needs and acquisition outcomes in ways that support the warfighter.”

- Read the full story: https://nps.edu/-/annual-nps-symposium-explores-defense-acquisition-innovation
- Checkout this highlights video from the 2026 ARP Symposium:
- See all the ARP Symposium research papers:
- More about the NPS Department of Acquisition, Finance, and Manpower department: https://nps.edu/web/dafm

U.S. Navy | U.S. Marine Corps | Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao | The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations | Office of Naval Research |

05/19/2026

“Few individuals have had a greater impact on strengthening the connection between the fleet and advanced education, applied research, and mission-driven innovation at NPS than Jeff Kline,” said NPS president retired U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Ann Rondeau.

A former surface warfare officer, commanding officer, and senior naval analyst, longtime NPS professor of the practice and retired U.S. Navy Capt. Jeff Kline recently celebrated his second retirement — from a distinguished career in academia — bringing his combined service, on active duty and in teaching at NPS, to more than 47 years!

From NPS’ highly-respected Warfare Innovation Continuum to his leadership of the Systems Engineering Analysis program and thousands of students in between, Kline’s impact on the campus, and the naval profession, is immeasurable. Lyla Englehorn, concepts branch lead in NPS’ Office of Warfare Studies, has worked closely with Kline through the WIC’s ex*****on.

“Collaboration was key to the Warfare Innovation Continuum framework, as envisioned, designed and executed by Kline,” said Englehorn. “The vast variety of inputs from faculty and students resulted in a more robust analysis of a key operational challenge than one scholar or group could produce alone.”

“Through decades of service as a naval officer, scholar, mentor and innovator, he helped shape generations of warrior-scholars while ensuring NPS remained firmly connected to the real challenges facing the naval services,” Rondeau said. “His leadership of the Warfare Innovation Continuum and his commitment to students and rigorous analysis to operational problems leave a lasting legacy not only at NPS, but across the Navy and Marine Corps.”

• Check out the full story to learn more about Kline’s extraordinary impact on NPS and the naval services: https://nps.edu/-/longtime-nps-faculty-member-jeff-kline-retires-leaving-impactful-legacy-on-nps-u.s.-navy
• More about the Warfare Innovation Continuum: https://nps.edu/web/office-of-warfare-studies/warfare-innovation-workshops

U.S. Navy | U.S. Marine Corps | Surface Warriors