Dean s Weekly Significant Activities Report

Transcription

1 jk Dean s Weekly Significant Activities Report 7 June 2017 The Dean s Weekly Significant Activities Report is an internal report on all activities conducted within the Departments, Centers & Staff. The Report is provided to the Dean for situation awareness, throughout the organization for shared situation awareness, and to select external organizations for outreach and communication. Picture of the Week From May, 2017, the National Center of Excellence for the Medical Consequences of Spinal Cord Injury (MCSCI) at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in the Bronx, New York hosted Cadet John Montgomery for an academic individual advanced development (AIAD) internship. 1

2 Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering 1. Veterans Affairs Medical Center Internship. From May, 2017, the National Center of Excellence for the Medical Consequences of Spinal Cord Injury (MCSCI) at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in the Bronx, New York hosted Cadet John Montgomery for an academic individual advanced development (AIAD) internship. The purpose of this AIAD was to gain research design and testing experience, while also investigating potential capstone projects for the upcoming year. Cadet Montgomery was able to work closely with Dr. Anne Spungen, Associate Director of the MCSCI laboratory, spinal cord injury researchers and patients to better understand the effect of spinal cord injury and paralysis. This experience will provide invaluable insight for future work focused on project based learning and helping injured veterans. Point of contact is Dr. Greg Freisinger at Cadet John Montgomery testing out the ReWalk exoskeleton which is currently being studied for assisting veterans with spinal cord injury at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in the Bronx, NY. 2

3 Cadet John Montgomery (center) being fit with a ReWalk exoskeleton by Veterans Affairs researchers Eberardo Burgos (left) and Michael Elliott (right) in the Bronx, New York. This exoskeleton is being used by patients who have lower extremity paralysis to help improve mobility and alleviate some of the secondary medical consequences of spinal cord injury. 2. Bannerman Bridge Ribbon Cutting Ten civil engineering majors who designed and built a 38-foot long wooden pedestrian bridge on Bannerman Island as their capstone design project, along with several family members, attended the official ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday, 25 May, Neil Caplan, the executive director of the Bannerman Castle Trust, Inc., coordinated the event. In addition to the Cadets and their families, members of the Bannerman Castle Trust, community leaders from Beacon, Cornwall, and Fishkill, and leaders from the New York State Park Service were also present for the ceremony. The design/build team worked closely with the Bannerman Castle Trust throughout the past year to make the bridge a reality. The Cadets, now 2 nd Lieutenants in the US Army, on the team (pictured from left to right below) were Megan Rogers, Kelsey Pittman, Jacob Minyard, Mikaila Wiitanen, Anne Reidinger, Zach Cohen, Andrew Walther, Tyler Anderson, Robin Brown, and Aedan Gould. The project advisors were COL Brad Wambeke and Dr. Led Klosky, both from the Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering. POC is COL Brad Wambeke at brad.wambeke@usma.edu. 3

4 Local Leaders, members of the Bannerman Castle Trust, and the Civil Engineering Design/Build Team at the open ceremony of the Bannerman Bridge on Thursday, 25 May USASOC Counter UAS Capabilities Evaluation. On 31 May, 2017, LTC Brian Novoselich, Director of the Center for Innovation and Engineering attended a USASOC counter- UAS capabilities evaluation at Fort Benning, GA. This event brought together military and civilian professionals currently engaged in the development and testing of capabilities to support the counter UAS fight. Attendance at this event will inform multiple counter UAS Cadet projects happening in AY18 through a better understanding of the current state of the art. Multiple points of collaboration between USMA faculty, USASOC, and ARDEC for future counter UAS capabilities development were discussed. Of note, 2LT Colt Wheeler (2016, DSS) added value to the event by piloting multiple target drones at the invitation of the event organizer MAJ Matt McKee, LT Wheeler s former CTLT sponsor. POC is LTC Brian Novoselich at brian.novoselich@usma.edu. 2LT Colt Wheeler pilots a target drone for a Soldier from the 75 th Ranger Regiment to track using the Rheinmetall Vingmate system. MAJ Brent Odom (USASOC G8) invited LTC Novoselich to the capabilities evaluation while discussing current cadet counter UAS projects at this year s USMA projects day. 4

5 4. Faculty Member Receives Erskine Award. On 17 May 2017, COL Fred Meyer, Professor and Head, Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering traveled to Park City, Utah to receive the Frank G. Erskine Award at the Expanded Clay, Shale and Slate Institute (ESCSI) semi-annual meeting. Meyer received the award in recognition of his almost two decades of contributions in the field of lightweight concrete. POC is COL Fred Meyer at COL Fred Meyer receiving the Expanded Clay, Shale and Slate Institute Erskine Award from Mr. Jeff Speck 5

6 Department of Chemistry and Life Science General Chemistry II (CH102) Poster Session Cadets in CH102 presented their lab project posters during Lesson 40 (11-12 May). This semester cadets learned to measure alkalinity, hardness, ph, iron levels, and total dissolved solids, and then they summarized their work in their posters and presentations. Thank you to LTG Caslen, BG Holland, BG Jebb, and all the cadets, staff, and faculty who made time to hear cadets presentations. Cadets, staff, and faculty at the CH102 poster session during Lesson 40. Department of Physics and Nuclear Engineering Completed Events Girl Scout Visit: On 15 May 2017, a small group of Girl Scouts visited the Department of Physics and Nuclear Engineering. During their visit, the tweens watched a space show in the portable planetarium, got a tour of the night sky guided by the planetarium s software, Nightshade, and visited the Observatory. The great advantage of having an on-post planetarium is that the chances for clear skies and good visibility are always 100%! Additionally, planetarium visitors can be easily transported to anywhere on Earth to view the night sky, even the poles and equator. The planetarium show presented information about the past, present and future of the Sun, including its transformation into a red giant, and then its ultimate end as it collapses into a white dwarf five billion years from now. The Girl Scouts will 6

7 return in the near future to attend an observation session with our 16-inch telescope. The host of the event was Dr. Paula Fekete. Dr. Fekete shows a telescope to local Girl Scouts Department Academic Awards Ceremonies: On 25 May, the Department of Physics and Nuclear Engineering held an academic award ceremony recognizing both majors and nonmajors for their accomplishments in West Point s physics and nuclear engineering tracks, as well as Cadets earning the Army Space Enabler skill identifier (3Y). Cadet Adam Reynolds was the Class of 2017 recipient of the prestigious LTG Leslie R. Groves Memorial Award for having the highest average achieved in nuclear engineering. MAJ(R) Dick Groves presents Cadet Adam Reynolds with the 2017 LTG Leslie R. Groves Award 7

8 Graduating Nuclear Engineering majors with Department Head, COL Ed Naessens, and retiring Program Director, Dr. Brian Moretti Graduating Physics majors with Department Head, COL Ed Naessens, and Program Director, Dr. Mitch Pfenning 8

9 Graduating Interdisciplinary Science majors with Department Head, COL Ed Naessens, and Program Director, LTC Stacy Godshall Current Events SLE: The Department is conducting the Summer Leaders Experience and hosting 36 candidates each day, 5-7 June and June. While in the Department of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, the candidates levitate a magnet over a small sample of superconducting material cooled with liquid nitrogen, calculate what angle to fire a projectile launcher to hit a target and then test their calculation, and use different radiation detectors to identify an unknown radioactive isotope and measure the effectiveness of shielding materials. In addition, they learn how lasers work and how nuclear power is essential for meeting the world s growing energy needs. AIADs: The D/PNE is sending 32 Cadets on AIADs this summer. 9