Recently, cadets in Book History visited Thornwillow Press in Newburgh, New York where they observed the traditional art of hand-crafting books from concept to binding. Cadets printed a Thornwillow broadside and conferred with the publisher, Luke Pontifell, about collaborating on a compendium of WWI poetry and prose to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of that conflict. A couple of cadets will have the exciting opportunity to participate in a fellowship with the Thornwillow Institute this summer.

It was announced Friday that Army West Point Men's Basketball firstie Luke Morrison was named to the 2017-18 Senior CLASS Award Second Team. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. 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: classroom, community, character and competition. Morrison started in every contest during his senior season and averaged 8.6 points per game. The team captain chipped in 3.7 rebounds per outing, which was good enough for third best on the team. The forward was second on the team in 3-pointers with 65, while finishing second in 3-point field goal percentage as well with a mark of .414. He closed out his four-year career with the Black and Gold eighth all-time in Academy lore with 172 career 3-pointers. Morrison also capped his career finishing tied with Derrick Canada '90 for ninth in program history with a .380 3-point field goal percentage. 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. Read More

Ambassador Doug Lute, the former U.S. Permanent representative to the North Atlantic Council, and General Petr Pavel, the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, discussed numerous topics pertaining to the alliance’s future. The event took place in the Haig room with over one-hundred cadets. The two discussed the history of the NATO alliance, the security challenges presented by Russia and transnational terrorism, and internal political divisions within NATO.

Major Nerea Cal and Dr. Jason Warner escorted eighteen cadets from International Conflict and Settlement and International Organizations to the United Nations Headquarters in New York City to attend the 2018 Global Engagement Summit. After a tour of the UN, cadets met with Colonel Jon Neumann, the current Chief of Staff of the Military Staff Committee at the U.S. Mission to the UN. In the afternoon, cadets attended two engaging panel discussions. The first examined the role of the private sector in the effort to achieve the UN's Sustainable Development Goals and the second addressed issue of migration and refugee crises around the globe.

MIT Lincoln Laboratory (MIT-LL) welcomed twenty-three cadets to visit their facility for a one-day Defense Technology Seminar. The trip section is a yearly event for electrical engineering and physics majors and is supported by gift funds from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) Department. The goal of the visit was to expose the cadets to the roles and capabilities of a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) and to learn about their technical research related to the national security interests of the nation. The cadets were welcomed by Dr. Eric D. Evans, the Director of MIT-LL, and then given secret-level briefings about the lab's ongoing research efforts. Afterwards, the trip concluded with a tour of their facilities, including those dedicated to 3D laser sensing, micro-unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) development, microelectronics fabrication, and persistent surveillance.

Former, present, and future Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) faculty are currently deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operations Resolute Support and Freedom Sentinel. MAJ Marisol Torres (CS Program alum) is serving in the Expeditionary Cyber Support Element – Afghanistan which of part of U.S. Cyber Command. MAJ Andrew Reed (CS Program alum) serves in the U.S. Forces – Afghanistan J6 Future Operations section. LTC Christopher Korpela (Director, Robotics Research Center) is serving as the Project Manager for the Resolute Support HQs transition. EECS faculty go on to support the operational force all over the globe and utilize the skills acquired in their advanced degrees, teaching, and research to benefit the warfighter.

LTC(P) Gregory led a section of six cadets to Beijing, China to attend roundtable talks about China's great power discourse. Cadets enjoyed the opportunity to interface with China's official narrative as to how it sees itself as a rising power and its philosophical basis as to how it will assert and use its influence. Cadet participation, research, and feedback will directly enhance their capstone projects.

It wasn't easy but the Army West Point baseball team took the rubber match here Sunday, 7-4, to win the season series over Bucknell. The two teams headed into the game having both won a road doubleheader, setting up Sunday's series finale. Army started the scoring early with a run in the first and second inning. Jon Rosoff singled through the right side to score Jacob Hurtubise, who had led-off the game with a double to left field. Then one inning later, Anfernee Crompton drilled a single to right field to bring home Matt Hudgins, who jump started a small two-out rally with a walk. The Bison tied things up at 2-2 with two runs on two hits in the third inning. But Army broke that deadlock after Josh White converted on a sacrifice fly in the fourth. Anthony Giachin started the frame reaching on a fielding error. The visitors then earned the first out of the inning but Hudgins singled to right center to place runners on the corners. That set up White's sacrifice, which was his first of the year. Read More

Cadet John Herrmann presented work from his summer 2017 research at the Symposium on the Application of Geophysics to Engineering and Environmental Problems (SAGEEP) in Nashville, Tennessee. His work involved using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) to investigate the subsurface at the Revolutionary-War-Era Battle of a Brooklyn site in New York. As part of a larger project titled Revolutionary Recovery, aimed at locating buried archeological features and possibly a mass grave, John discovered the foundation of a large building. He used photogrammetry and historical research to determine that the building is likely a tavern that existed during the Revolutionary War. Cadet Herrmann is a GIS major, and completed the project with guidance from LTC Ben Wallen and LTC Mindy Kimball.

Cadets in Amman, Jordan had the opportunity to celebrate Founders Day with USMA Alumni working in the U.S. Military, State Department and Non-Governmental Organizations in Jordan. The array of graduates in Jordan reinforced to cadets the various professional possibilities of their Arabic language and Middle East regional expertise. Also present at the dinner were two Jordanian officers of the Royal Armed Forces who graduated from the United States Military Academy. Having the opportunity to share their stories of daily West Point life, the cadets enjoyed the bond that unites all alumni around the world.

The USMA Cyber Policy Team placed third overall of thirty-eight teams at the Atlantic Council's Cyber 9/12 Student Challenge hosted by American University in Washington, D.C. By finishing third, the Black Knights, beat Navy and Air Force, placed #1 among undergraduate schools, beat three National Defense University teams, beat three National Intelligence University teams, and beat all civilian graduate schools including Brown, Columbia, and Georgetown. Cadets Sungpyo Choe '18, Nolan Hedglin '18, Amanda Roper '19, and Woo Chul Kim '20 propelled the Black Knights to be the competitions only finalist not from a Senior Service College team staffed by Colonels and Lieutenant Colonels. MAJ Patrick Bell and CPT Austin Minter of the Army Cyber Institute (ACI) coach USMA's Cyber Policy Team. The competition puts teams in the role of cyber experts on the National Security Council Staff proposing policy options to address and coordinate responses to contemporary and emerging cybersecurity challenges. The ACI Sponsors the team to help develop future officers into leaders that can overcome these issues. Top cybersecurity leaders from academia, government, and industry judged and spoke at the competition, including Rob Joyce (Special Assistant to the President for Cybersecurity), Dimitri Alperovitch (CrowdStrike co-founder), and Deborah Lee James (former Secretary of the Air Force).

Photo: L to R: Cadets Sungpyo Choe '18, Amanda Roper '19, Woo Chul Kim '20, and Nolan Hedglin '18

Eighteen cadets and lieutenants of the German Army, Navy, and Air Force visited West Point to learn about its history and cadet life. LTC Michael Breuer's German Military Speaking and Reading class set out to receive and show their German colleagues at West Point. The German cadets and lieutenants learned about the unique history and mission of West Point while USMA cadets practiced their speaking skills. Several German visitors spent their foreign exchange semester at West Point and the class had several reunions, while others made friendships for their future semester abroad experiences.

MAJ Micah Klein was honored as the Ronald McDonald House of the Greater Hudson Valley (RMH-GHV) Volunteer of the Year at the House's annual Red Shoe Awards. MAJ Klein, Operations Officer for the Center for the Advancement of Leader Development and Organizational Learning (CALDOL), served as a volunteer at the House for nearly four years. In that time, he provided over 500 hours of volunteer service in support of families with children undergoing critical care at the Maria Fareri Children's Hospital in Valhalla, NY. In addition to receiving a Red Shoe Award, MAJ Klein was honored by a New York Senate proclamation from Senator Terrence P. Murphy of the 40th NY Senate District. MAJ Klein's volunteer service supports CALDOL's ongoing efforts to recruit, train, and inspire a team of volunteers from across the Army in support of the Junior Officer Forums.

Dr. Michael Matthews participated in a panel held in Herndon, Virginia, sponsored by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command's (USAMRMC) Principal Assistant for Research and Technology (PART) on the future of Army medicine. The panel's discussions focused on social and cultural factors that will affect Army medicine in the next 5 to 20 years. The Engineering Psychology program recently invited Dr. Talbot, the Principal Medical Expert at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies and associate research professor at Keck School of Medicine of USC, to talk with cadets about the ways games can be successfully - and unsuccessfully - implemented as tools for learning and training. These successful and unsuccessful designs helped the cadets and faculty understand where game technology had come from, how it had improved over the years, where it has been leveraged to great success, and where some promises of technology might be overstated or unnecessary. This talk yielded a great discussion about the ways in which games might be used as research and training tools moving forward, providing unique experiences across many domains.

Plebe pitcher Courtney Springman was tabbed the Army West Point Athletic Association Athlete of the Week on Tuesday afternoon. Springman made three starts and four appearances in the circle for the Black Knights this past week, compiling a 2-2 record with a 2.07 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 23.2 innings pitched. Opponents were held to a .160 average at the plate. To get the week started, she tossed a complete game against Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) foe Syracuse, striking out nine and giving up just one run on four hits. Her effort helped the Black Knights capture the program's first ever win over an ACC opponent. Over the weekend she was pinned against the Patriot League's top offensive team in Boston U. Springman held the Terriers scoreless with one hit over the first seven frames, but ultimately took the loss in extra innings. In the following game she appeared in relief and tossed 2.2 shutout innings to secure her seventh collegiate win. The Norco, Calif., native made one final start against the Terriers and allowed three runs on five hits over a six-inning stretch. Springman currently leads the Patriot League in ERA (1.88) and strikeouts (98), while sitting second in opponent's batting average (.223). Read More

Cadet Matthew Rohleder, a Spanish-Arabic Double Language Major, led a spring break trip from Morocco to Spain. The well-researched itinerary took cadets to Barcelona and Gaudi's Cathedral of the Sagrada Familia. They moved on to Seville, taking in flamenco dancing and the bullfighting arena, then to Valencia, absorbing the sights and sounds of the Festival of Las Fallas, and, finally to enrichment opportunities in the vibrant art communities of Madrid. Cadet Rohleder, utilizing his Spanish language skills and regional knowledge, guided his classmates through the varying and historically unique regions in Spain. During their trip, the cadets took advantage of personal and familial contacts to gain access to a Spain unseen by most tourists. At each stop they isolated a characteristic of Spanish culture (food, music, art, religion, and Islamic influence) to focus their time and resources. They returned to Morocco with a better understanding of the connections between Spain and Morocco.

West Point members of Eta Kappa Nu represented the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at John G. Borden Middle School's Career Fair in Wallkill, NY. Cadets Benjamin Baumgartner and Madison Stark dutifully represented EECS to the middle school students and Wallkill business community. Throughout the day's activities, the cadets encouraged study of STEM subjects though hands-on demonstrations of Packbot applications and discussion of the EECS curriculum.

Three Cadet Writing Fellows presented scholarly papers at the annual conference of the Mid-Atlantic Writing Centers Association (MAWCA). Their panel, "The Stories We Must Share: The Role of Narrative in Revision, Compositional Rhythms, and Civic Conversations in the Writing Center," was chaired by Dr. Jason Hoppe and emerged, in part, from his recent scholarly post on the Axis Blog of Praxis: A Writing Center Journal. In their panel, cadets examined the conference theme of activism in relation to the civic and ethical imperatives military service imposes on some tutors (CDT Danny Nguyen '18; American Politics) as well as the practical implications of narrative craft for teaching revision (CDT Helen Schroeder '20; English) and of analogy for supporting rhythmic composition (CDT Maya Kuang '19; Life Science). In all, MAWCA gathered over two hundred scholar-practitioners from Writing Centers across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic; cadets attended many sessions in addition to their own, as well as to visit the Rowan Writing Center. They also met with Dr. Vivek Freitas, a Graduate Writing Fellow at the Mounger Writing Center, who presented his own work, "Spaces of Possibility: Counterarguments and Emerging College Scholars," on another panel. CDT Maya Kuang's paper was presented in absentia by Dr. Jason Hoppe.

Dr. Lee Harrell and Dr. Paula Fekete the Department of Physics and Nuclear Engineering (PaNE) participated in the 2018 APS March Meeting, the largest physics conference organized yearly in the USA. This year's meeting was held in Los Angeles, and brought together more than 11,000 physicists, scientists, and students from all over the world to share groundbreaking research from industry, universities, and major labs. Dr. Fekete presented her research on Impurity Screening by Graphene Monolayers under Uniaxial Strain and Dr. Harrell his research on A Unified Lagrangian Treatment of Charge and Cantilever Dynamics in Electric Force Microscopy. A favorite session to attend at the APS meeting, other than presentations in our own areas of expertise, is the Nobel Session entitled "Frontiers in Physics" which features most distinguished invited speakers, to include winners of the latest Physics Nobel Prize. One of the three Nobel laureates attended the session and gave a lecture on the progress made in detecting gravitational waves since Albert Einstein predicted those 100 years ago.

Cadets taking Advanced Constitutional Law visited the US Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., to observe an oral argument in a case involving a constitutional challenge to partisan gerrymandering (to establish a political advantage for a political party by manipulating district boundaries). The argument was lively with the Justices asking the lawyers questions about whether the First Amendment expressive and associational rights of the former district's voters have been shortened by the legislative action. During the argument, the cadets were seated next to the plaintiff who filed the lawsuit and got his perspective on the case. After the argument, the cadets met with Justice Elena Kagan to discuss judicial decision-making, public perceptions about partisanship at the Court, how she approaches legal writing, her confirmation process upon being nominated and her journey from the environment of Manhattan's Upper West Side to going on various hunting trips with the late Justice Antonin Scalia.