NUWC Division Newport celebrates new inventors and published authors during awards ceremony

NEWPORT, R.I. — Innovative thinking is the vehicle that drives technology. Whether it’s an inventor designing a gadget or a principal investigator putting pen to paper to capture research, today’s ideas can evolve into critical capabilities for tomorrow’s U.S. Navy submarine fleet.

The Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport celebrated such ingenuity when more than 80 scientists and engineers were honored as patent recipients or authors of peer-reviewed journal articles during a ceremony held on Sept. 16.

“This is the best of us, and the work you do doesn’t go unrecognized. We’re not a predominantly research organization, but you guys do so much with so little,” Division Newport Deputy Technical Director Steve O’Grady said. “The papers that you write and the patents that you file, you’re pushing yourself and you’re pushing the brand of NUWC.”

In total, there were 15 inventions that were granted patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office between March and November in 2025, and 50 papers published between December 2024 and December 2025. O’Grady highlighted the array of disciplines across the body of work, which ranged from examining Sailors’ trust in artificial intelligence to developing a customized dermatome skin graft transplantation system.

Division Newport Commanding Officer Capt. Kevin Behm lauded members of the audience while acknowledging he had never met a patented inventor before arriving at the warfare center.

“All of our technology, all of the advancements are driven by you,” Behm said. “They’re driven by your cutting-edge work, the vision you have, the ideas you’re pushing for. That’s what enables the technology in the end. You should be exceptionally proud of yourselves.”

Jeffry Severson, patent attorney in Division Newport’s Office of Counsel, thanked the many people who had a hand in organizing the ceremony, as well Thomas Gieseke, who serves as chair of the command’s Invention Evaluation Board. Severson also noted the work of retired patent attorneys Jim Kasischke and Michael Stanley, both of whom were seated in the audience. He then presented plaques and certificates to the inventors.

“Thank you for sharing your inventions that further NUWC’s mission and our commitment to excellence,” Severson said.

Dr. Liz Magliula, the director of research at Division Newport, presented plaques and certificates to the authors of various publications.

“I know you’ve all worked really hard and developed these journal articles filled with ideas that are going to make a positive impact on the fleet,” she said. “You all have your own specialization, and you know your research will one day provide the warfighter with an advantage. The journey that started with your initial idea is a long one, but we’re all here to honor what you’ve achieved.”

The following patent recipients were honored during the ceremony:

“Jig for assembly of segments into a ring geometry,” Patent No. 12,256,193 — William Visser, Ian Doyle and David Ponte
“Customized Dermatome for Skin Grift Transplantation,” Patent No. 12,263,078 — Dr. Aren Hellum
“Wall Rolling UAV with Ring Cage,” Patent No. 12,263,969 — Matthew Little
“Single Lap Shear Test Sample Mold,” Patent No. 12,287,313 — Dr. Thomas Ramotowski andAnthony Poirier
“Connector Nut,” Patent No. 12,322,895 — David Pineault
“Linearized Real-Time Network Intrusion Detection System,” Patent No. 12,348,544 — Dr. Makia Powell, Dr. Benjamin Drozdenko andDr. Steven Roodbeen
“Near IR Emulator for Complex Electromagnetic Structures,” Patent No. 12,372,616 — Dr. Tariq Manzur
“Fluid Sampler,” Patent No. 12,403,462 — Dr. Thomas Gieseke
“Rollable, Large Vertical Aperture Acoustic Planar Towed Array,” Patent No. 12,405,360 — Dr. Lauren Freeman and William Visser
“System and Method for the Calibration of a Hydrophone Line Array in a Water-Filled Tank,” Patent No. 12,422,587 —Ronald Smalley, Daniel Nashold, Mark Grden, Ryan Amaral, Brian Duarte, William Slater, Michael Bergeron, Jason Bernier, Amarilis Blankenship, Joseph Carreiro and Ernest Briggs
“Magnetic Positioning for Vehicle Groups,” Patent No. 12,429,336 — Bryon Nelson and Matthew Sylvia
“Bracket to Mount a Motion Sensor to Binoculars,” Patent No. 12,461,356 — David Ellis
“Inflatable Deck Panel with Embedded Fasteners,” Patent No. 12,304,596 — Bryon Nelson and retired employee Paul Cavallaro
“Soft-to-Hard Good Connections with Dynamic Energy Dissipation Having Offset Connections,” Patent No. 12, 270, 450 — Michael Smith and retired employee Paul Cavallaro
“Nonlinear Bulk Modulus Material,” Patent No. 12,269,131 — Dr. Thomas Gieseke

Patents can be found by searching each number at: https://ppubs.uspto.gov/basic/.

The following authors of peer-reviewed journal articles were honored during the ceremony:

“Applicability of van der Waals Density Functionals in the Calculation of Materials Properties Applied to Ferroelectrics” — Yenny Cardona-Quintero and Richard Perez-Moyet
“Projectile Impact Behavior of Drop-stitch Inflatables” — Dillon Fontaine
“Multi-year Migrations of Four Coastal Shark Species in the Southeastern USA: Trends in Timing and Temperature” — Joseph Iafrate
“Navigating Nature’s Terrain: Jumping Performance Robust to Substrate Moisture and Roughness by Blackspotted Rockskippers (Entomacrodus striatus)” — Dr. Kaelyn Gamel
“The Risk to the Undersea Engineering Ecosystem of Systems: Understanding Implosion in Confined Environments” — Craig Tilton
“Effect of Nanoclay Additives on the Salt Water Absorption and Material Characteristics of Nylon Additive Manufactured Polymers” — Dr. Irene Chenwi, Julianna Martinez, Dillon Fontaine, Catherine DuBois and James LeBlanc
“Systemic Trust in Artificial Intelligence” — Dr. Jason Ralph and Stephanie Tallon
“A Comparison of Diving Behavior of Goose-Beaked and Dense-Beaked Whales from Tagging Studies in Multiple Ocean Basins” — former employee Stephanie Watwood
“Physical Bounds on Underwater Sound Absorption by Coatings” — Dr. Lisa Dangora and Dr. Elizabeth Magliula
“Increasing the Reliability and Versatility of Jellyfish Biohybrid Vehicles via Species Selection and Rhopalia Removal” — Dr. Kelsi Rutledge
“Big data, Sound Science, Lasting Impact: A Framework for Passive Acoustic Monitoring” — Peter Dugan
“Monolithically Integrated Pixel Architecture with Colloidal Quantum Dots and Thin Film Transistors for SWIR Imaging” — Alan Davis

NUWC Newport is the oldest warfare center in the country, tracing its heritage to the Naval Torpedo Station established on Goat Island in Newport Harbor in 1869.Commanded by Capt. Kevin Behm, NUWC Newport maintains major detachments in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Andros Island in the Bahamas, as well as test facilities at Seneca Lake and Fisher's Island, New York, Leesburg, Florida, and Dodge Pond, Connecticut.

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