The USMA Cyber Policy Team achieved excellence, by placing first at the Atlantic Council's Cyber 9/12 regional policy competition at Columbia University. Competing against 21 other teams, mostly from graduate schools, the USMA team was the only undergraduate team to make it to the finals, beating three other teams (two from Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs and one from Tuft's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. The cadets formed an interdisciplinary team, from multiple academic disciplines, that drew upon their knowledge of international affairs, cybersecurity, national security, and international law to demonstrate their mastery of policy concepts in the cyber domain. (http://sipadcg.org/cyber-912-awards/)
The team was made up of Cadets: Dancer - International Relations, ’17; Fairfield - Human Geography, ’18; Maixner - Computer Science, ’17; and Wissman - Systems Engineering, ’17. They were led by CPT Rhoades, CY (D/SOC and ACI) as their coach and MAJ Schultz, CY (ACI) as their assistant coach. The cadets spent countless hours ahead of time preparing for this competition and during the competition they worked through the night after the first day of the competition to prepare for their semi-final round brief that received many accolades from the judges and their competition. The other teams remarked that they were impressed with the West Pointers and their ability to handle pressure, as well as their knowledge of cyber policy. They received similar accolades from the judges in the final round. Their first place finish guaranteed them a slot in the Atlantic Council's Cyber 9/12 national competition this coming spring. Additionally, LTC Handler (D/SOC) served as one of the four final round judges and MAJ Lonergan (ACI) and Dr. Borghard (D/SOC) served as preliminary round judges. Other faculty from D/SOC, D/EECS, and ACI helped observe cadet practice briefs and provided feedback leading up to the competition, demonstrating the interdisciplinary and collaborative needs of cyber.
Cadets taking the Advanced Constitutional Law seminar visited the US Supreme Court and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. After observing an oral argument before the full Court concerning the jurisdiction of the federal courts under the Constitution’s Article III, the cadets met with Justice Ginsburg. She talked about significant court decisions involving the Equal Protection Clause and answered questions posed by the cadets about her experiences on the Court. The cadets also toured the Capitol building. The trip section was led by the Department of Law’s Constitutional Law Chair, Tony DiSarro, and LTC Michael Kramer.
The civil engineering club participated in Engineer Day at Cornwall Central High School. The cadets and faculty joined with local professional engineers to teach all of the high school math classes for a day. In addition to class material, the engineers and cadets discussed why they chose to pursue engineering. With 10 professional engineers, three faculty, and seven cadets, they covered 44 classes that day, making contact with over 1000 high school students ranging from freshman to seniors.
West Point’s Women’s Team Handball traveled to Auburn, Alabama to train with the USA Women’s Handball Team. After a full day of traveling on Friday, the weekend began with an 80-minute scrimmage with West Point’s Black and Gold teams against Team USA. The next day, Team USA hosted a tailgate and the West Point Teams attended an Auburn football game on military appreciation day. The teams had fun cheering the War Eagles to victory against Vanderbilt and enjoyed a special half time show dedicated to the armed services. West Point’s Black and Gold Team also attended a psychophysiology class on how to reach optimal performance levels in games. It was a much needed class for the stressed out cadets. They practiced various breathing and visualization techniques and learned the importance of hydration. On the final day of the trip, Team USA’s coach led the West Point teams through a series of drills to improve shooting, footwork, passing, and ball placement. The weekend ended with West Point’s Black and Gold teams playing two close games against Team USA. It was a successful weekend and the three teams bonded over good sportsmanship.
American Society of Engineering Management (ASEM) International Annual Conference in Charlotte, NC. Several cadets and members of the faculty from the Department of Systems Engineering (DSE) recently attended the annual ASEM conference where they presented several papers, competed in a case study competition, and received a number of distinguished awards. Four DSE cadets competed against four other schools in the Student Case Study Competition, and with only six hours and no outside resources or communication, the team used their knowledge of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management techniques to develop a solution to a real world problem. The team performed exceptionally well and narrowly missed first place. The Department of Systems Engineering also received three awards: the 2016 ASEM Founders Award for the Best Undergraduate Program in Engineering Management presented to LTC Richards, the Merritt A. Williamson Best International Conference Paper Award presented to LTC Enos (current PhD student returning to the Department) and CPT Smith ’11, as well Dr. Farr receiving the 2016 ASEM Meritorious Service Award - Outstanding Non-Board Member. Also in attendance and supporting the Cadets and Department were BG(R) Kays and his wife Jeane (first Department Head for the Department of Systems Engineering (1989-1998)), LTC Evangelista, LTC Schreiner, and CPT Salem.
Thomas Noah speaks to cadets and faculty on Winning Hearts and Minds (WHAM) during the Philosophy Forum last month. Noah argued that traditional "Winning Hearts and Minds" strategies rely upon a problematic psychology of emotion versus reason, and, therefore, almost exclusively focus on economic and security incentives to motivate cooperation; instead, a more realistic psychology of motivation suggests that, in order to secure corporation, WHAM strategies should also target socially conditional preferences.
Seven cadets traveled to the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. While there, the cadets were able to view works from several significant contemporary artists including New York's own Carmen Herrera.
Junior libero Megan Bryn of the Army West Point volleyball team has been named Patriot League Academic All-League, announced by the organization on Thursday. Voting was conducted by the League's nine volleyball sports information contacts who could not cast ballots for their own student-athletes. Bryn is an International Relations major at the academy with a minor in Terrorism Studies and boasts a 3.746 grade-point average. Last year, she was named the Colonel George K. Osborn III Award winner at the U.S. Military Academy as the top International Relations student. The Ashburn, VA, native dons the Superintendent's Award for ranking in the top five percent of her class across all three pillars; academics, military and physical. Bryn is a two-time Center for Enhanced Performance Scholar-Athlete of the Month and has been named to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll for all eligible semesters. 
Dr. Richard Wolfel and CDT Matthew Benjamin traveled to Aberdeen Proving Grounds to participate in the 24th ARL/USMA Technical Symposium. CDT Benjamin presented a paper, entitled "System of Systems: Dense Urban Environments. The paper showed the results of CDT Benjamin's AIAD to ARL's Complex Ground Systems Branch/Human Research and Engineering Directorate. His paper looked at the evolution of Dense Urban Doctrine in the Army, the identification of key urban systems and the initial development of a Common Operating Picture on Dense Urban Areas for Civil Affairs in particular, but with an eye towards informing evolving Army doctrine on Dense Urban Operations.
Cadets in LF475 participated in a Service-Learning experience on at the Monroe-Woodbury Middle School. Thirteen Cadets and Dr. Praud spent the day with Madame Long and Madame Hutter's 7th and 8th grade French classes. For the 7th graders, the Cadets prepared a presentation on French-speaking countries. At the end of the presentation, the Cadets engaged with the 7th graders with a game of Jeopardy, rewarding the students with euros or Swiss francs for remembering new facts about these francophone countries. In the 8th grade classes, the students practiced their French conversation skills with the Cadets and honed their vocabulary skills through an engaging and competitive game of Pictionary.
PNE hosted a Nuclear Science Merit Badge Workshop for local Boy Scouts of America. During the seven hours of activities the Scouts were able to complete all of the requirements to earn the merit badge. The event was made possible through the volunteer efforts of CDTs Beecher (G2, NEN0, ’17), Bouvier (E1, PHY0H, ‘18), Sundberg (I4, NEN0, ’17), Kroc (C2, NEN0, ’17), and PANE Faculty CPT Kaminski, Dr. Moretti, and LTC Schools.
The civil engineering club hosted a luncheon with former director of the Army Staff and Corps of Engineer Chief of Civil Works, LTG(R) Bill Grisoli. The speaker provided a unique perspective of senior leadership and how decisions are made at the highest levels. LTG(R) Grisoli explained how leaders must navigate complex environments with competing requirements and multiple constraints, and, ultimately, assess risk and select a course of action. Approximately 45 cadets and faculty attended this event.
The Army West Point men's basketball team dropped another close decision here Sunday afternoon in the final contest of the Maui Jim Maui Invitational regional games. The Black Knights outscored Central Arkansas in the second period but it wasn't enough to overcome a seven-point halftime deficit, eventually falling 81-76. Three reached double digits for Army with Luke Morrison's career-high 19 points leading the way. The junior matched his career best effort from behind the arc, hitting 5-of-8 from downtown. He also recorded three assists, which was a career high as well. 
The Black Knight Drill Team supported four separate events. Four cadets on the team took center court at the Barclay center to perform a special exhibition performance for the halftime show of the Brooklyn Nets vs. Charlotte hornets game. Simultaneously, the team supported the Women’s Army Rugby team against Air Force with a 10-cadet exhibition routine during halftime. The next morning, the team performed their signature Platoon Exhibition routine on the plain prior to the cadet review. This was the same routine that won them first place at the National Drill Competition last year. They then took the field with bayonets fixed for the halftime show of the Army vs. Air Force game with a modified version of their signature performance. The team’s ability to simultaneously support multiple events while maintaining high levels of excellence in basic and exhibition drill is a huge testament to the team’s leadership has reorganized and developed this young team.
The Army West Point men's swimming and diving team claimed first place on Sunday at the Terrier Invite hosted by Boston University. "We had a tremendous team effort. Our goal was to win the meet and we were able to do that. I think it sets us up in a good position to battle Navy in 13 days, and for the rest of the season. We had a lot of people step up today and it was a great win from top to bottom." Said head coach Mickey Wender. Tom Ottman set a pool record in his first place finish in the 1650 freestyle with a time of 15:22.66. Ottman bested the next closest finisher by over 17 seconds en route to the victory. The Black Knights saw six swimmers finish in the top eight of the 200 breaststroke, including Joe Daniels, Ty Dang and Larry Quintana, who finished first, second and third with respective times of 2:01.51, 2:01.90 and 2:04.08. Johnny Ellery took home the top spot in the 200 butterfly with a mark of 1:48.70, while Peter Mikheyev finished just behind him in 1:48.81. 
Sixteen cadets along with LTC Kimball and CPT Chang traveled to New York City to attend the Roundabout Theatre Company's production of Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard. Cadets remarked during and after the performance on how Russian History helped them better understand the underlying metaphors of Chekov’s tale about a family of Russian nobles faced with losing their land to the forces of modernity. Many of the themes emphasized in the Department’s Russian history courses, including gender dynamics, socio-economic forces, and literature as a vehicle for historical understanding, featured prominently in the production.
The Army West Point wrestling team closed out its trip to the Golden State by placing eight of 10 wrestlers at the Roadrunner Open, hosted by CSU Bakersfield, at Clovis High School on Sunday. Army competed to a combined record of 35-13 with 17 bonus point victories (two falls, five technical falls and 10 major decisions). Eight of the 10 Cadets opened the tournament with a bonus point victory. All 10 wrestlers advanced to the quarterfinals, while seven made it to the semifinals. Senior co-captain Russ Parsons won his fourth tournament title at 157 lbs. Parsons has placed in 13 of the 15 tournaments he has competed at in his collegiate career, with the exceptions being his two NCAA appearances. Parsons documented his 25th-career bonus point victory, including his 10th major decision today. Fellow senior co-captain Logan Everett nearly had his second victory of the season over a top-five opponent, falling 2-1 in the 141-pound finals to second-ranked Joey McKenna of Stanford. Junior 149-pounder Matt Kelly earned his 25th-career victory with a 3-2 decision over Purdue's Jeremy Golding in the third-place bout. 
LTC Sculley, MAJ Herman, CPT Hope and CPT Kiser led cadets on the Saratoga Staff Ride. Cadets visited Fort Ticonderoga, Mount Defiance, and the battlefields of Saratoga to study the first major American victory in the Revolutionary War. The staff ride was also able to see the battlefield from the air thanks to the National Guard, who provided UH-60s for the ride back to West Point.
