The USMA Speech and Parliamentary Debate team travelled to The College of New Jersey in Ewing, NJ to compete in an American Parliamentary Debate Association (APDA) tournament. The team conducted five rounds of APDA debate, with each debate lasting one hour. USMA entered four teams (three novice, one varsity) into the tournament. Opponents included familiar schools like Harvard, Princeton, Rutgers and William and Mary. The Speech team performed well during the tournament, employing some new strategies that had been developed during practices. During the team's off hours, cadets had the opportunity to explore the TCNJ campus and examine some outdoor sculptures, as well as catch up with friends from civilian universities that team members have gotten to know at previous tournaments. The team's next tournament is at Georgetown University January 19-20 2018.

Cadets Nolan Hedglin, Tina Le and Pete Meyer presented their work measuring the hole formation in metals due to a high energy laser. Their project measures the high energy laser beam properties and measures how that laser beam burns through a piece of steel using high speed and infrared cameras. The results will be incorporated into high energy laser weapons development models to help inform how the lasers can be best used to defend against unmanned aerial systems. The work is sponsored by the Joint Directed Energy Transition Office, the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command, and the Army Research Office.

Cadet Marcos Arroyo presented his science policy work that describes how a third world country's Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) policies can help improve the development of the country. Arroyo examined factors such as education systems, technological support services, technology transfer policies through direct foreign investment, and trade. He focused his work on a case-study of Ghana using the Republic of Korea as a historical example. The results of his work will be shared with the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Center for the Advancement of Leader Development and Organizational Learning (CALDOL) hosted a Central Intelligence Agency team who specializes in using tabletop games for teaching and learning. The team hosted multiple seminars for staff and faculty, discussing the long history of gaming in learning and why games are so effective for helping students master complex topics and processes. Seminar participants played teaching games and received constructive feedback on their own game ideas. The team also conducted a brainstorming session with several cadets in the Defense and Strategic Studies capstone and recorded a podcast with the Modern Warfare Institute.

Army West Point golf saw Dean Sakata compete at the Patriot All-America Invitational over the weekend at The Wigwam Arizona. The event took place Thursday through Sunday at the beautiful course and Sakata represented the Black Knights as their lone competitor. Each golfer playing in The Patriot All-America honors a fallen or severely injured soldier by carrying a golf bag bearing the name of that soldier. Before the tournament, participants receive a card with the soldier's story, so they can be familiar with who that person was, what they represented and how they were killed or wounded in action. Sakata played on behalf of his fallen classmate Cadet Mitchell A. Winey, who passed away on June 2, 2016 in the line of duty. Over the three days, Sakata shot a 70-76-80--226 (+16) for 76th place, while competing against some of the top collegiate golfers in the nation. The firstie posted with his best score of the weekend on the opening day when he finished even at 70. Read More

CDTs Caleb Shifrin and Michaela Farris presented their work on a Space Based Range. The aim of their research project was to access current and proposed low and medium altitude commercial satellite systems as a potential low-cost alternative to the traditional 'String of Pearls' that consist of numerous aircraft and boats for long range flight testing. Using the FCC database for the commercial satellite systems and a minimum set of requirements, they narrowed the list to four potential commercial satellite systems for further study. Their work was sponsored by Space and Missile Defense Command, and was conducted through the SMDC-RAC at West Point.

Cadets Raymond Cole-Machuca, Scott Nieboer, and Colin Sullivan presented their work on Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) for Nuclear Forensics Applications. The LIBS system will be used to evaluate the potential application of LIBS for in-situ debris analysis for post-detonation nuclear forensics. The Army's 20th CBRNE Command with other government agencies collect debris from a nuclear explosion then ship to various national laboratories for time intensive radiochemical analysis. The long-term goal of this project is to determine if LIBS can analyze the debris at the collection site and provide needed data more rapidly to the nuclear forensics process. The major components of the LIBS system (Nd:YAG laser and high resolution spectrometer) were recently refurbished and the system needed to be reassembled and tested. The cadets reassembled the system, learned how to use difficult control software, collect spectra for various elements, and match the experimental data to the know spectral lines of cobalt, copper and iron. Next semester the students will compare the LIBS spectra from Trinitite (debris from first US nuclear weapon test) and a surrogate material produced by the University of Tennessee to replicate Trinitite. The work is sponsored by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency through the Nuclear Science and Engineering Research Center (NSERC) and the Army Research Laboratory through the Photonics Research Center (PRC).

Behind standout performances by Aliyah Murray and Madison Hovren, the Army West Point women's basketball team picked up its first Patriot League victory after defeating Loyola, 69-62, on Tuesday night at Reitz Arena. Murray led the Black Knights (8-5, 1-1 Patriot League) on the offensive end for the second consecutive outing, putting in 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting. She added four assists and four steals against the Greyhounds (2-11, 0-2 Patriot League). Hovren contributed heavily with her 10th double-double of her junior campaign, recording 18 points and 13 rebounds, while Janae McNeal chipped in with 10 points and eight boards. Hovren became just the 25th Cadet in program history to reach 900 career points. She now ranks 23rd all-time in scoring with 906 points. Read More

The semi-annual Civil and Mechanical Engineering (CME) Run to Remember to honor fallen graduates from the civil and mechanical engineering programs recently took place. Twenty-eight faculty, staff, cadets, and family members ran or walked to the West Point cemetery where the group read the names of the seventeen fallen heroes and visited the gravesites of the four fallen graduates buried in the West Point cemetery (1LT David Bernstein, CPT Matthew August, CPT Ralph Harting III, and 1LT Nick Dewhirst).

The Army West Point men's basketball team earned its first Patriot League win here Tuesday night after an 86-75 victory over Loyola. The contest marked Army's first game at Christl Arena in 42 days and shifted the Black Knights to 3-0 when playing on their home court. It was a back-and-forth affair for much of the contest with eight ties and nine lead changes. With it a 69-65 Army advantage with just under five-and-a-half minutes left to play, the Cadets used a 10-3 run to ultimately put the game out of reach at 79-68. The Black Knights were then able to hold on down the stretch for the double-digit win. Leading the way for the Black Knights were Alex King and Matt Wilson, who posted 18 and 15 points, respectively. Also reaching twin figures was Tucker Blackwell (13 points) and Luke Morrison (10 points). King finished his night 6-of-10 from the floor, 1-of-1 from behind-the-arc and 5-of-8 at the free throw line for the seven-double-digit scoring night of his career. Read More

Army West Point men's basketball saw forward Luke Morrison named a candidate for the 2017-18 Senior CLASS Award on Thursday. Morrison is one of thirty NCAA men's basketball student-athletes who excel both on and off the court. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. Academically, Morrison excels across all pillars at the United States Military Academy and is recognized by not only his teammates, but the academy's leadership, for his accomplishments. He is very involved in his political science major and meets with others in his degree to mentor them throughout the semester. He dons a German Proficiency Badge (GPB), which signifies a person is qualified in several different physical challenges to include swimming, running, handling an M9 handgun and long-distance rucking. Read More

Cadet Jacob O’Neill presented his work characterizing and validating the differential temperature sensors (DTS) used to calculate the turbulence structure of the air near the surface of the Earth at various locations around West Point. O’Neill characterized the performance of five DTS systems placed around West Point to include the roof of Bartlett Hall, near the Hudson River, on Redoubt 4, and two systems at Range 11. The turbulence structures calculated using the data from the DTS is incorporated in models that predict how the atmosphere distorts high energy laser beams. The work is sponsored by the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command and the Joint Directed Energy Transition Office.

The Army West Point men's basketball team dropped an 83-66 decision to the reigning Patriot League Champions Bucknell here Friday night. Yearling guard Tommy Funk led the Black Knights with a career-high 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the floor. He chipped in a career-best five makes from behind-the-arc to finish 5-of-7 from long range. Click here for the video recap: https://youtu.be/rZYC5j6bX9w. The Warrington, Pa., native closed out his night a perfect 2-of-2 from the charity stripe. The only other cadet-athlete to reach twin figures in the contest was rookie Tucker Blackwell who posted 12 points. Jordan Fox handed out a game-high seven assists, and shifted into ninth place all-time in program history with 285 helpers. The cow passed Marcus Nelson's career total of 280. On the boards, Matt Wilson pulled down a team-best seven rebounds, while Fox followed closely with six of his own.

The second monthly USMA High Performance Computing (HPC) Brown Bag recently took place. Monthly at noon or soon thereafter, faculty, staff, and cadets interested in high performance computing have a forum to highlight their work, exchange ideas, build collaboration, and learn more about HPC. Our featured HPC Brown Bag Speaker was Dr. Suzanne Matthews of EECS, whose talk title and abstract appear below. Departments represented at the second HPC Brown Bag were: Civil and Mechanical Engineering (CME), Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), Library Science, and Physics and Nuclear Engineering (PaNE). All faculty, staff, and cadets with an interest in HPC are strongly encouraged to attend.

Firstie offensive tackle Brett Toth has accepted an invite to play in the Reese's Senior Bowl on Jan. 27. Toth was one of eight new additions to the roster for the game, which is played in Mobile, Ala., and features some of the most talented seniors that just completed their final season of college football. The game is set for 1:30 p.m. CT kickoff on the NFL Network. The Charleston, S.C., native is the first player from the United States Military Academy to participate in the Senior Bowl in the 67-year history of the event. Toth has been a three-year starter for the Black Knights and contributed to 18 wins in the last two seasons and finished his career with 24 victories in an Army uniform. He helped Army lead the nation in rushing with 262.3 yards per game and a new Academy record for rushing yards in a season with 4,710 in 2017. Army also broke its 2016 rushing touchdown record with 50 this season and combined with the 2016 team, the Black Knights have scored 96 rushing touchdowns. Read More

Dr. Alex Mitropoulos from the Departments of Mathematical Sciences and Chemistry and Life Science attended the 2017 Chemical and Biological Defense Science & Technology (CBD S&T) conference in Long Beach, CA. The CBD S&T Conference was sponsored by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). CLS Faculty have received funding from DTRA to engineer a handheld cell-based bio-sensing platform to detect aerosolized chemicals. 2LT Dillon Macky ’17, CDT Jason Hug ’18, CDT Louie Klemm ’19, CDT Channah Mills ’20, CDT Liz Huuki ’20, and CDT Matt McDonough ’20 were authors on the poster, “Engineered olfactory receptors for chemical detection.”

Cadet Garrett Simon presented his work on Measurement-Device-Independent Quantum Key Distribution (MDI-QKD), a two-photon protocol that was devised to eliminate eavesdropping attacks by an eavesdropper (Eve) that interrogate or control the detector in conventional quantum key distribution protocols. In MDI-QKD, the measurements are carried out by a potentially untrusted third party and all the results are announced openly. Knowledge or control of the measurement results gives Eve no information about the secret key. Even in the absence of non-ideal optical components and detectors, error-free implementation of the MDI-QKD protocol requires the crypto-communicating parties to independently prepare and transmit single photons that are physically indistinguishable, with the possible exception of their polarization states.

Turnovers nearly plague Army West Point men's basketball but the Black Knights squeeze by to defeat American here Monday night, 58-54. Army registered a season-high 25 turnovers, in which the Eagles recorded 22 points. The home team compiled 15 steals, a season-high mark for them. It was a low-scoring affair but an exciting one toward the end as American held a 54-53 lead with 5:33 remaining. Neither team could score over the next three-and-a-half minutes until a put-back layup from rookie Babacar Thiombane handed the visitors a 55-54 edge with 2:02 left to play. Matt Wilson was the lone Black Knight to tally double-digit scoring as he finished with a game-high 16 points. The yearling finished 7-of-12 from the floor and 2-of-6 from the free throw line. He closed out his night with six rebounds. Blackwell chipped in nine points and was an impressive 5-of 6 from the charity stripe, a career-best for him. Funk added seven points and handed out a team-best four assists. Thiombane had himself a strong defensive game, leading the Cadets on the boards with a career and game-high eight rebounds. Read More

The cadet team spent the first 10 lessons of the capstone working to re-design, build, and harden an inherited, insecure network. As the teams worked to design and clean up the breach, they eventually determined that the security breach in their sector may have been an inside job, noticing a hidden document (plans.txt attached) in the root directory of their system. This document describes a course of action from ex-employee Dr. Martin Brenner, domain administrator, to establish some sort of "gateway" into their IT infrastructure for data extraction. The scenario is a play on Netflix's "Stranger Things" that leads the cadets to both prepare for another attack and to search for backdoors on their systems. The teams must then prepare their systems for Dr. Brenner's return by monitoring their network using Wireshark and/or other tools. They need to establish some sort of logging to identify, track, and, hopefully, prevent Dr. Brenner's return should he follow through with his plans. At a minimum, they are required to establish network traffic monitoring (Wireshark or TCPDUMP) on their web and DNS servers as well as Linux users. They are also required to set up web traffic monitoring and basic system logging. In addition, they are recommended to enable DNS and MySQL logging and to establish real-time event notifications for bonus points.

Inorganic Chemistry recently partook in two enrichment activities that provided an opportunity for the class to see different applications and viewpoints of topics discussed in the course. They hosted Dr. Kristen Frederick-Frost, Curator for the Division of Medicine and Science at the National Museum of American History. She spoke with the class about some of the challenges and responsibilities associated with an item in the Museum’s collection containing a small amount of lewisite, an organometallic compound. They also visited the U.S. Mint at West Point. Chief Assayer Jeanette Grogan guided the class through a tour of both the production area of the Mint as well as the laboratory. She discussed some of the instrumentation and techniques used onsite for trace analysis to assess the quality of metals. Cadet Jacob Fitzgerald '17 assisted with the tour and described work he completed in the laboratory during an Academic Individual Advanced Development (AIAD) at the MINT.