Cadets and Robotic Surgery: 
Mr. Peter Carnegie ’95, CEO of Minimally Invasive Solutions, LLC, kindly sponsored six cadets to be trained on a Da Vinci robotic surgery system while repairing heart valves on a human cadaver at the Nicholson Center at Florida Hospital in Celebration, FL. The six Cows, Cadets Kristen Barta, Luke Brunea, Stephen Chong, Lisa Junta, John Marinelli, and Jeremy McMurray, are majoring in Life Science or Physics, are all enrolled in the premedical program, and all aspire to become Army physicians. Mr. Carnegie’s classmate, Dr. Nakizito Kazigo, MD and USMA ’95, helped guide the cadets through the anatomy and surgery lessons using the robotic system.
Introduction to Philosophy Guest lecture by SSG John Diem and Mr. Justin Watt: Over 100 cadets PY201 (Philosophy), sat down to have an intimate discussion with SSG John Diem and Mr. Justin Watt about their war experiences during one of the most violent periods of the Iraq War. During the talk, Diem and Watt explored the moral challenges of war. In particular, Mr. Watt explained to cadets the reasons why he reported the rape and murder of an Iraqi family by U.S. soldiers in Mahmudiyah, Iraq in 2006. Watt and Diem, members of the same platoon, spoke candidly with the cadets about the murders and the moral reasons for reporting the crimes. This incident and the subsequent investigations were described in Jim Frederick’s 2010 bestseller "Black Hearts".
NSF Graduate Research Fellowships: Cadet Damon Paulo (EECS/MATH) and Cadet Geoffrey Moores (EECS/PHYSICS) were awarded the prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Additionally, Cadet Joseph Hannigan (EECS) was given an honorable mention.
Cadet Hernandez - Chicago Police Department: Cadet Guillermo “Willie” Hernandez was recognized for his outstanding efforts by the Chicago Police Superintendent, Garry McCarthy. Hernandez worked with the Chicago Police to train them on the GANG (“GANG Analyzes Networks and Geography”) software. The police are currently using this software to perform advanced social network analysis on the activities of criminal street gangs.