The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific (SSC Pacific) in Point Loma gave Peninsula residents a peek this week into what it does. Officials from the Navy lab, which is dedicated to development of warfare technology for government and private entities, held its annual public forum at the Hervey/Point Loma Public Library on Aug. 31. “Our community is a global community. But what we do globally wouldn’t exist if we didn’t have the support of the community that we have locally,” said SSC Pacific commanding officer Capt. Mark Kohlheim. “The command couldn’t succeed without local community support.” At the 2 1/2-hour session, community members learned about SSC Pacific, what it works on and about educational outreach efforts in the community. A question-and-answer session followed. “We have to have a dialogue with the community,” said SSC Pacific technical director Carmela Keeney. “That’s why we do these sort of events — to share what our priorities are, what kinds of things we’re working on, what’s happening.” SSC Pacific has hosted this event for the past two years and Keeney said this one was better attended than last year’s. “We want to use these as a venue to connect and let the Point Loma residents know that we want to know what their concerns are and make sure they’re aligned,” Keeney said. SSC Pacific has been on the Point for seven decades and has four “campuses” on Point Loma. It currently has 4,157 employees, 234 of which are in the military. SSC Pacific also has a strong relationship with the local military. “Being co-located with the military is key to what we do. We get real relevant warfighter input on what we’re doing via the ship, submarine and aircraft,” Kohlheim said. “We get direct feedback from them.” In 2008, SSC Pacific generated $2.43 billion in revenue. It is a Navy working capital fund, which means SSC Pacific essentially acts like a nonprofit, required to charge for hours worked and account for any expenses it incurs. “That is a very challenging environment to operate in, but the good news is our revenue and the demand for our services continues to grow,” Keeney said. Keeney said SSC Pacific works on more than 800 projects at any given time, supporting naval, joint and national warfighters. She said many of the organization’s current projects have an emphasis on the cyber arena. “Looking at the new technologies that are out there and how do we capitalize on them to provide increased capability to fortify them and then how do we protect that,” Keeney said. Of current projects, Kohlheim said SSC Pacific has had a large return on its investment in nonlinear dynamics, the study of systems in which a small change can create a large systematic change. An example of nonlinear dynamics is a submarine detecting a discreet signal in a busy environment. Kohlheim also mentioned asymmetric warfare, which is conflict between two sides that are unequal in military and economic status. He said terrorist and pirate organizations affect commerce and the overall quality of life. “Those are really hard to track and our technologies are helping us become more aware of our environment, things showing causal factors and things we can see predictively,” Kohlheim said. Another area of activity that Kohlheim brought up is hybrid warfare, which includes terrorism. What Kohlheim called “soft power,” hybrid warfare also involves working with emergency response specialists in the event of a natural disaster. “We have to deploy strike groups out to prepare for major war,” Kohlheim said, “but we also have to prepare for a natural disaster and coordinate with first responders. Other than the national capital region, San Diego is most prepared in cooperation and operability than any other city in the United States.” An area where SSC Pacific works heavily with the private sector is through its Office of Technology Transfer, which is what is done after a patent is created. SSC Pacific director of science, technology and engineering Gary Wang said small business innovative research generates between $36 and $48 million per year. “We want to support innovation, not just here at the lab but being a part of a culture of innovation in San Diego,” Wang said. One of SSC Pacific and SPAWAR’s biggest concerns is the lack of the younger crowd among its ranks. SSC Pacific science and technology project development head Dr. Jim Rohr said the average age at the center is about 40. As a result, SSC Pacific created an educational outreach program last year that included 55 educational events to engage students interested in math and science. They also have had internship programs for high school and college undergraduate and graduate students since 2002. “The long-term challenge is the development of the next generation of scientists and engineers,” Kollheim said. “We need to incentivize people to go into that.” Although SSC Pacific does not offer public tours or open houses, it is trying to reach out to the local public via the Internet. Both SSC Pacific and its Office of Technology Transfer have Facebook and Twitter pages that are updated regularly. Keeney said she hopes efforts such as these will build SSC Pacific’s relationship with the local community. “It would be great if it was mutually supportive so that we understand the priorities of the Peninsula community and can help support those and ensure that we’re doing things in good conscience with the community,” Keeney said. For more information, visit www.spawar.navy.mil/pacific or search “SPAWAR” on Facebook and Twitter.