Army West Point placed 144 student-athletes from 13 teams on the 2017-18 Patriot League Winter/Spring Academic Honor Roll for strong performances in the classroom.
Women's track and field led the way with 22 honorees apiece, followed closely by men's track and field with 21 and men's lacrosse and women's swimming and diving with 20, respectively.
To be eligible for the Academic Honor Roll, a student-athlete must earn a 3.20 grade-point average in the spring semester and participate in one of the Patriot League's winter or spring championship sports.
In total for the year, the conference placed a league-record 2,984 student-athletes on the 2017-18 Academic Honor Roll, assisted by an all-time high 1,982 members on the Patriot League Winter-Spring Academic Honor Roll. The Black Knights for the year had 45 cadet-athletes named to this honor during the fall and 144 cadet-athletes acknowledged during the winter/spring for a total of 189. Read More
LTC Alan Brown led four cadets to south-central Alaska on a 15-day creative writing Academic Individual Advanced Development (AIAD) spanning 1,100 miles. The group included: Taylor Graham '20; Hope Hack '20; Mia Padon '21; and Brenden Shutt '21. Stops in Denali National Park, Anchorage, Seward, Chugach National Forest, Kenai Fjords National Park, Homer, and Kechemak Bay State Park revealed Alaska's surreal geographic diversity, the close-knit Alaskan community and its intimately interwoven connection to nature. Excursions included multiple hikes, a flight through the Alaska Range (and subsequent glacier landing) after soaring around the vast range in a DeHavilland Otter the group landed on a glacier, keeping up with a sub theme of the trip: feeling really small in Alaska's grandeur, a full-day kayak trip in Resurrection Bay and water taxi ride across the bay to Kechemak State Park (to name a few). Cadets stayed in a variety of accommodations including two "dry" cabins without running water and limited amenities, something very common in the Last Frontier. Cadets received daily writing prompts (both poetry and prose) and engaged critically with the work of writers such as Robert Service, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, William Carlos Williams, Jon Krakauer and others.
Assistant Professors Jan Kallberg and Patrick Bell were featured in War Room, the United States Army War College online journal. Their article, The Death of the Cyber Generalist, argues that the United States risks losing its competitive edge in cyber due to outdated personnel manning practices. Instead, the authors advocate for the “regimental model, which empowers unit leaders to choose the best team for the mission. Read the 
Cadets on the “Culture, Narrative, and Civil-Military Operations” Academic Individual Advanced Development (AIAD) had a unique opportunity to participate in NATO Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC) training while engaging the rich history, architecture, and culture of Italy's Venito region. As observers at the CIMIC Field Workers Course, Cadets participated in CIMIC planning and Civil Engagement exercises at the tactical and staff levels, working in small groups alongside Officers (O2-O5) from Italy, Portugal, Spain, France, Greece, Slovakia, and Jordan. Cadets were awarded certificate credit for the CIMIC Awareness Course in consideration of their exceptional efforts. The Officers, Warrant Officers, and staff at NATO MN CIMIC Group (South) also provided Cadets the opportunity for cultural immersion in Italian unit, family, and community life.
Sixty-Five Soldiers from Charger Company, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) participated in Survival Gate 3, one of the four survival swim tests as part of the PE320-322 Survival Swimming curriculum. Cadets at West Point primarily take PE320-322 during their second year. The Department of Physical Education at USMA led 65 Soldiers from Charger Company, part of Task Force Falcon, through several periods of instruction on inflating their uniform to use as a life vest, swimming techniques and proper entry into the water while in uniform. This survival swimming test included stepping off the 6.5-meter tower, staying subsurface and swimming through a series of submerged hoops, a 50-meter swim and a uniform inflation. Upon completion, Soldiers eagerly grasped the opportunity to step off the 10-meter tower. The Charger Company commander, Captain Charles Christensen '12, described the training as valuable and applicable to the real world. 
The team from the "Shakespeare's Plays" Academic Individual Advanced Development (AIAD) explored Shakespeare's Globe, other historic London sites, the Royal Military Academy, and the Windsor Castle. On this trip, Cadets completed an immersive study of a play that they read, watched, and researched.
Army West Point earned 89 honors from 10 teams on the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) for the Academic and President's Honor Rolls for strong performances in the classroom during the Spring 2018 semester. The Black Knights were represented by 35 President's Honor Roll members, boasting a 3.6 grade-point average or better for the term. Another 54 Cadets garnered Academic Honor Roll accolades, achieving a GPA of 3.20-3.59.
The Department of Physics & Nuclear Engineering had approximately 106 candidates go through the Summer Leadership Experience (SLE) program so far this summer. While in the department, they levitated a magnet over a small sample of superconducting material cooled with liquid nitrogen, fired a vacuum gun, fired projectiles at Navy targets, and used different radiation detectors to identify an unknown radioactive isotope and measure the effectiveness of shielding materials. In addition, they learned how the accelerator works and about research opportunities for cadets at the academy.
Cadets concluded the final week of their for-credit Winant Scholarship Academic Individual Advanced Development (AIAD) with a tour around London. Their visit coincided with the 78th anniversary of the Dunkirk evacuation (codenamed Operation Dynamo), offering cadets an opportunity to interact with several Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots and tour the underground tunnels which served as the planning site for the historic evacuation. Cadets also spent a rainy day in Grosvenor Square, visiting the site of the U.S. Embassy during WWII and Ambassador Winant's home.
LTC (P) Chris Oxendine and LTC William Wright from the Geospatial Information Science (GIS) program (Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering) met with the leadership of the Global Crisis Management and Command Centers Division of JPMorgan Chase. During the visit, they discussed opportunities for Cadet Academic Individual Advanced Development (AIAD) opportunities, Cadet and Faculty research, and how USMA could contribute to integrating Geospatial technologies and techniques into their problem-solving processes.
This is the Department of English and Philosophy's (DEP) third consecutive year taking a group of cadets to Oxford to study and present papers at the intersection of just war theory, ethics, and emerging technology. The twelve-day traveling Academic Individual Advanced Development (AIAD) began with the Cadets presenting their papers at Pembroke College, Oxford University to cyber, artificial intelligence (AI), legal, and just war experts working at Oxford University and other universities around the UK, USMA, and Boston College.
Psst, parents... got a future tubist on your hands? Come on down to Trophy Point and let the kids get up close and personal with the instruments of the band—and even try their favorites!
MAJ Adam Alexander completed a research trip to Brussels, Belgium where he visited the major institutions of the European Union and spoke with various officials and academics on the future of European defense integration. His time in Brussels provided first-hand information that contributed significantly to a paper he is writing on the subject. He also visited the new "House of European History," a controversial project of the European Parliament that is part of a larger attempt to manufacture a common European identity. This visit was also the genesis of a new paper he is writing on nationalism, national narratives, and European identity.
Dr. Ken Allen presented his work on "Early Introduction of Computational Methods in Undergraduate Nuclear Engineering" at the American Nuclear Society (ANS) Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA. While at the conference, he also participated as a member of the ANS Accreditation, Policies and Procedures National Committee and the Nuclear Engineering Department Heads Organization meetings.
CPT(P) Duncan Walker recently concluded a three-week long Academic Individual Advanced Development (AIAD) to Ethiopia. During their travels, cadets learned about the local customs and cultures of the region and participated in development projects, such as providing solar powered irrigation in a rural village.
United States Army Garrison West Point held its change of command ceremony at Eisenhower Hall July 12. Colonel Harry C. Marson V replaced Colonel Andrew S. Hanson '94 as the garrison commander during the ceremony. Vincent E. Grewatz, executive service, director of Installation Management Command-Training, presided over the ceremony.
The journal Bioinspiration & Biomime tics published a study authored by LTC Jamie Bluman (and team) demonstrating the potential for insect-inspired robots to fly in the ultra-low-density atmosphere on Mars, characterized by low Reynolds number aerodynamics. Insects are uniquely suited to create lift in such environments. The paper explores how the proper combination of enlarging the wings, slowing the flapping frequency, and adjusting other kinematic parameters can reduce the power required and make flying robots a feasible option for the exploration of Mars in the future. LTC Bluman's paper, "Achieving bioinspired flapping wing hovering flight solutions on Mars via wing scaling," was published in the latest edition of the journal Bioinspiration & Biomimetics. This work is an extension of LTC Bluman's research on using insect mimicry to inform the design of flapping wing micro air vehicles, which could fly in the ultra-low density atmosphere on Mars. 
Firstie fullback Darnell Woolfolk was named to the Maxwell Award Watch List, which is awarded to the College Football Player of the Year.
