# Naval STEM

**R-2A activity** of project 1402 — Naval STEM, Outreach, & Partnerships  
**Program element:** 0601153N — Defense Research Sciences  
**Component:** U.S. Navy · **Budget Activity:** 1  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0601153N/1402/a0  
**Parent:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0601153N/1402

## Summary

This activity requests $39.0M in FY2027, 62% of project 1402, up 20% on FY2026. The R-2A exhibit describes it across FY2026–FY2027, including what the FY2027 money is planned to buy.

## What the FY2027 request buys

**FY2027 planned work.** Science, Technology, Education and Mathematics (STEM) - Continue existing successful efforts, like the Navy and Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) Flight Academy, while examining approaches to further scale up these efforts to achieve greater impact across the DON. - Continue the development of highly scalable efforts, like Naval Horizons, to expand STEM education and outreach through the development of new virtual and in-person curricula and experiential learning activities. - Continue activities targeting national and regional efforts to augment awareness of naval opportunities and increase workforce opportunity for the naval science and technology community. - Continue to cultivate a world-class STEM workforce relevant to the needs of Department of Navy's current and future workforce through a competitive grants process open to academia, industry, and non-profits. - Continue efforts to expand STEM education through train-the-trainer efforts, like the workshops and residential programs offered by US Naval Academy. - Continue STEM efforts to address Naval skilled technical workforce needs (e.g., skilled workforce to support Navy shipyards). - Continue efforts to geographically expand STEM outreach outside of fleet concentration areas. Ocean, Atmosphere, and Space STEM Initiatives: - Continue STEM activities to augment awareness of naval opportunities and increase workforce opportunities for prospective scientists and engineers in the fields of ocean, atmosphere, and space sciences. - Continue hands-on autonomous undersea vehicle competitions to introduce and train prospective scientists and engineers to undersea vehicle design, construction, and operation. - Continue research efforts in support of the Ocean Acoustics National Naval Responsibility to support the development of the U.S. ocean acoustics workforce pipeline. - Continue research efforts in support of the Tactical Oceanography National Naval Responsibility to support the development of the U.S. ocean acoustics workforce pipeline. Sea Warfare and Weapons STEM Initiatives: - Continue activities targeting efforts to increase awareness and participation in Navy research and workforce opportunities for prospective scientists and engineers in fields related to Naval sea warfare and weapons. - Continue STEM efforts to address Naval skilled technical workforce needs to support Navy sea warfare and weapons systems. - Continue to fund efforts focused on raising awareness of the Sea Warfare and Weapons Focus Areas through competitions for students, as well as funding student veterans at various universities to work on projects at Navy laboratories. Warfighter Performance STEM Initiatives: - Continue STEM programs to encourage, train, and/or educate individuals to pursue Naval careers in high-priority warfighter performance domains (e.g., biotechnology, bioengineering and robotics, human factors and systems integration, decision superiority, artificial intelligence, and modelling and simulation). Naval Air Warfare and Weapons STEM Initiatives: - Continue STEM efforts to develop workforce in naval careers in electronic warfare, sensors and surveillance, cybersecurity, network and communications, data science and optimization.

**FY2026 to FY2027 change.** The funding increase from FY 2026 to FY 2027 reflects increased investments in STEM research and initiatives to expand education and outreach, increase awareness of Naval workforce opportunities, and increase efforts to address Naval skilled technical workforce needs in the areas of C5ISRT; Ocean, Atmosphere, and Space; Sea Warfare and Weapons; Warfighter Performance; and Naval Air Warfare and Weapons.

## Before the request year

**FY2026 plans — current year.** Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) - Continue existing successful efforts, like the Navy and Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) Flight Academy, while examining approaches to further scale up these efforts to achieve greater impact across the DON. - Continue the development of highly scalable efforts, like Naval Horizons, to expand STEM education and outreach through the development of new virtual and in-person curricula and experiential learning activities. - Continue activities targeting national and regional efforts to augment awareness of naval opportunities and increase workforce opportunity for the naval science and technology community. - Continue to cultivate a world-class STEM workforce relevant to the needs of Department of Navy's current and future workforce through a competitive grants process open to academia, industry, and non-profits. - Continue efforts to expand STEM education through train-the-trainer efforts, like the workshops and residential programs offered by US Naval Academy. - Continue STEM efforts to address Naval skilled technical workforce needs (e.g., skilled workforce to support Navy shipyards). - Initiate efforts to geographically expand STEM outreach outside of fleet concentration areas. Ocean, Atmosphere, and Space STEM Initiatives: - Continue STEM activities to augment awareness of naval opportunities and increase workforce opportunities for prospective scientists and engineers in the fields of ocean, atmosphere, and space sciences. - Continue hands-on autonomous undersea vehicle competitions to introduce and train prospective scientists and engineers to undersea vehicle design, construction, and operation. - Continue research efforts in support of the Ocean Acoustics National Naval Responsibility to support the development of the U.S. ocean acoustics workforce pipeline. - Continue research efforts in support of the Tactical Oceanography National Naval Responsibility to support the development of the U.S. ocean acoustics workforce pipeline. Sea Warfare and Weapons STEM Initiatives: - Continue activities targeting efforts to increase awareness and participation in Navy research and workforce opportunities for prospective scientists and engineers in fields related to Naval sea warfare and weapons. - Continue STEM efforts to address Naval skilled technical workforce needs to support Navy sea warfare and weapons systems. - Continue to fund efforts focused on raising awareness of the Sea Warfare and Weapons Focus Areas through competitions for students, as well as funding student veterans at various universities to work on projects at Navy laboratories. Warfighter Performance STEM Initiatives: - Terminated in FY 2025: Complete SEAL to Seal workshops, youth diving programs, and drone building competitions to promote community outreach, captivating K-12 students and encouraging them to pursue future naval careers in warfighter performance (e.g. marine mammal health, undersea medicine, unmanned systems, and artificial intelligence). - Terminated in FY 2025: Complete the analysis of early interventional approaches to expand and optimize STEM education and outreach implementation in classrooms, with a focus on reaching students in a variety of human and biological STEM fields. - Complete STEM efforts to address Naval skilled technical workforce pipeline needs through increased opportunities for school students in areas such as cybersecurity, bio-metric devices and data science centered skill-building programs, university level aviation human factors academic minors, and online diving video docuseries. - Initiate STEM programs to encourage, train, and/or educate individuals to pursue Naval careers in high-priority warfighter performance domains (e.g., biotechnology, bioengineering and robotics, human factors and systems integration, decision superiority, artificial intelligence, and modelling and simulation). Naval Air Warfare and Weapons STEM Initiatives: - Initiate STEM efforts to develop a workforce in naval careers in electronic warfare, sensors and surveillance, cybersecurity, network and communications, data science and optimization.

## Funding

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 17.0 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 32.6 |
| FY2027 | Request | 39.0 |

> Prior, current and budget year only — an R-2A activity carries no five-year plan. It sums exactly into its project in the request year and not necessarily in any other.

## Other activities in project 1402

- [Young Investigator Program (YIP)](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0601153N/1402/a3) — FY2027 11.5
- Historically Black Colleges and Universities / Minority Institutions (HBCU/MI) — FY2027 9.2
- Naval Research Enterprise Internship Program and The Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program (NREIP/SEAP) — FY2027 2.8

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Navy RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibit R-2A, PE 0601153N project 1402 (PB PB2027). Narrative is the government's own text.
- **No marks, no contractors at this grain** — congressional marks land on the program element and R-3 performers on the project.
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_activity`.

*HitchAI is an independent intelligence service, not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Defense. Budget figures are requests/estimates, not obligations.*