Under the strong leadership of Technical Director Angela D. Lewis, PhD, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane) has grown an expanding intellectual property (IP) portfolio with significant commercial potential, while parallel growth of NSWC’s T2 program further reflects her influence. Lewis has helped foster relationships with hundreds of organizations across industry, academia, non-profits, and state and local government. She has also hosted meetings on T2 philosophy and best practices with colleagues from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center, the U.S. Coast Guard’s Research and Development Center, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Keyport Division, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. 

Lewis raised the status of innovation ecosystem engagement to one of the lab’s five foundational principles, highlighting its importance to NSWC Crane’s overall success. One of her passions is workforce development. During her leadership, the innovation ecosystem spawned NSWC Crane’s learning management system to help its teams learn more about the importance of the innovation ecosystem and the need for T2 partners. Lewis has also championed the creation of Crane Division University, which offers programming for adult learners. 

Internally, Lewis is a champion for all things T2 at NSWC Crane. She encourages employees to participate in professional associations linked to the lab’s technology developments and pursuit of commercialization — both to enhance their own knowledge and to expand the lab’s connections within those networks. She also encourages staff to engage with the FLC and Office of Under Secretary of Defense Programs, resulting in several employee achievements, including multiple FLC Award recipients, over the past three years. 

Lewis was a key driving force behind the formation of the Indiana Research Consortium — combining the resources of the University of Notre Dame, Purdue University, and Indiana University. The universities signed a Memorandum of Agreement to engage with NSWC Crane through the consortium and collaborate on research initiatives through a multiparty Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) focused on microelectronics, hypersonic vehicles, energetic materials, cyber physical systems, and workforce development. Lewis also secured commitments from consortium institutions to support warfighters by engaging with NSWC Crane. Thanks to Lewis’ efforts, Indiana University will invest $111 million to advance its leadership in microelectronics and nanotechnology. Purdue University will establish a permanent presence near NSWC Crane for collaboration on research related to national security with an initial investment of $2 million, and eventually growing to $40 million. 

Since Lewis transitioned to the role of Technical Director, 339 active technology transfer agreements have been signed, a 41% increase during her tenure. In fiscal year 2024, 112 agreements were signed, a year-over-year increase of 47%. One of her most lasting achievements has been establishing and guiding Silent Swarm, a series of annual experimentation events sponsored by the Department of Defense Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and the Integrated Sensing and Cyber office. Silent Swarm began in 2022 and focuses on maturing and advancing technologies that are employed on small unmanned systems across multiple domains. From a return-on-investment perspective, feedback from both government and industry has been positive. NSWC Crane has reached extraordinary achievements in T2 because of Lewis’ guidance and leadership.