Dean s Weekly Significant Activities Report. 23 July Picture of the Week

Transcription

1 Page1 Dean s Weekly Significant Activities Report 23 July 2014 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. Portions of the Dean s Weekly Significant Activities Report are further staffed in a report to the Superintendent. POC for the report is MS Lesley Beckstrom at Picture of the Week Before attending at traditional Coffee Ceremony, Cadets Ian Myers and Saverio Macrina challenged by children in Hawassa, Ethiopia to a game of football (soccer).

2 Page2 Office of the Vice Dean From the 9th to 13th of July, a group of USMA faculty traveled to California State University, Fullerton to attend the 2014 Institute on Integrative Learning and the Departments, sponsored by the Association of American Colleges and Universities. The team members of the Dean s Regionally Aligned Studies Group included COL John Nelson and Dr. Jessica Stock from DEP, Dr. Jon Malinowski from D/GenE, Dr. Joshua Enslen from DFL, and MAJ Robert Chamberlin from D/SOC. The group s focus at the Institute was to develop potential courses of action for the addition of a regional studies sequence in USMA s core curriculum. The themes of the institute included the importance of integrative learning in twentieth century liberal education, relevant pedagogies, assessment techniques, and building faculty and institutional capacity. In addition to West Point, the Institute welcomed faculty from twenty-eight other colleges and universities. The team s work supports the recently revised Academic Program Goals, which requires graduates to integrate knowledge and skills from a variety of disciplines. l USMA s Regionally-Aligned Study Group at California State University, Fullerton Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering 1. Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Consultants Network of Northern New Jersey (CNNNJ) monthly meeting: Faculty member John Rogers was invited to speak to the consultants group in Whippany, New Jersey on 12 June. He briefed Simulation- Based Design of Devices to Augment Human Movement to an audience of 20 consultants, students, and other guests. Professor Rogers talk was based on work on a hip actuator capstone project and work he has done with Stanford University s OpenSim software. The meeting announcement can be found at POC is Prof. John Rogers, john.rogers@usma.edu.

3 Page3 Professor Rogers briefs his work on augmentation of human movement. 2. International Gas Turbine Institute Annual Technical Conference. Cadet Zachary Lee, Class of 2015, and LTC Michael Benson, Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, attended the annual technical conference for the International Gas Turbine Institute held in Dusseldorf, GE, during the period June Cadet Lee presented a technical paper entitled, Upgrading the Undergraduate Gas Turbine Laboratory on behalf of his research team comprising 2LT Shane Lowe (Cl 13), COL Bret Van Poppel (D/CME), Tyler Sowell, (Cl 15), and Dr. Aaron St. Leger (EECS). The research work reviewed several key enhancements to the existing laboratory, which utilizes the starter engine for the UH-60 Blackhawk series of aircraft, also known as an auxiliary power unit. Further, the team developed a lag augmentation that incorporates a virtual laboratory component, where cadets can simulate engine operational data across a wide envelope of ambient conditions and performance requirements. Further development of the virtual lab will continue through the fall, and will likely become part of MC312 (Thermal Fluid Systems 2) during the next academic year.

4 Page4 CDT Zack Lee presents the Virtual Gas Turbine Laboratory paper to 50 industry and academic researchers in Dusseldorf, Germany. 3. Visiting Faculty Member. Professor Edward Smith, from Pennsylvania State University, joined the D/CME team for his one year sabbatical to teach aeronautical engineering classes and advise capstone projects. Professor Smith is the director of the Vertical Lift Research Center of Excellence, with extensive research experience spanning 22 years in helicopter related areas. He joins the department to participate in the Instructor Summer Workshop through an Intergovernmental Personnel Agreement (IPA) which was facilitated through the Civilian Personnel Advisory Center (CPAC) through the outstanding efforts of Ms. Carol McQuinn, demonstrating USMA s increased ability to find flexible solutions to personnel challenges. His presence covers a period when D/CME has one ME faculty on sabbatical, Professor Dave Hampton. Professor Ed Smith, D/CME - PSU

5 Page5 4. 2LT Bernard Witschen Wins 2 nd Place in ASME Arthur L. Williston Competition: The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) notified 2LT Bernard Witschen, Class of 2014 Mechanical Engineering major, that he has won 2 nd place in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) 2014 Arthur L. Williston Award Contest. The Williston Award is presented annually by ASME to the student engineer or recent graduate who authors the best acceptable paper in the area of civic service. This year s topic area was, Discuss the role that mechanical engineering plays in public safety through the design of products and systems that are inherently safe. Include considerations of how visual, tactile and mechanical aspects of designs can make the product safer and also how mechanical engineers continuously learn from past failures to make future designs even safer. Bernard s paper entitled, Mechanical Engineering's Involvement in Aviation Public Safety, was his honors paper for the Mechanical Engineering with Honors major. As second prize winner, Bernard receives an honorarium of $500 and a certificate. POC: Daisie.Boettner@usma.edu. Bernard Witschen, Class of 2014 Mechanical Engineering Major Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science EECS Leadership Attends ABET Institutional Representative Meeting in DC On 9-11 July 2014, COL Eugene K. Ressler and COL Barry L. Shoop attended the ABET Institutional Representative Meeting in Arlington, VA in preparation for the September ABET Accreditation Visit. COL Ressler and COL Shoop attended several orientation presentations covering both the Computing Accreditation Commission (CAC) and the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) and met the ABET Team Chairs who will lead the team visit September The EAC Team Chair is Mr. Richard D. Lilly from Harris Corporation and the EAC Co-Team Chair is Dr. Kenneth S. Ball, Dean of Engineering at George Mason University. The CAC Team Chair is Dr. Stephen Y. Itoga from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

6 Page6 Assessment Paper accepted to SIGITE Conference LTC Geoff Stoker, Dr. Jean Blair, and COL Edward Sobiesk had the paper Meaningful Assessment accepted to the 2014 Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education (SIGITE) Conference. The selection rate for the conference was 38%. Abstract: Assessment of student learning outcomes is a key process used in education to both evaluate students level of achievement and to identify opportunities for continuous improvement. The most prevalent technique for analyzing data collected from direct assessment methods is to distill the data to a single measure of central tendency, typically the arithmetic mean. Despite well known awareness and understanding of the limitations of the arithmetic mean, it is still commonly used because it is easy to calculate from the readily available data and is familiar to most educators. This paper argues that use of arithmetic mean alone is a poor assessment practice, and an alternate evaluation technique is presented in detail. To illustrate our conceptual arguments, a case study involving the assessment of an intermediate, college-level information technology course is presented. For the evaluation of an outcome in this course, assessment of student performance for the embedded indicators of that outcome are shown using both the commonly used arithmetic mean and what we believe to be a better, more meaningful assessment technique that places individual student performance data points into categories using an Individual Indicator Metric and then evaluates the group s overall performance based on the distribution of these student performances across the categories using a Group Indicator Metric. The paper s concluding section briefly addresses integrating indirect (subjective) evidence, combining all data source evaluations to evaluate an outcome, identifying and acting on opportunities for improvement, and reassessing changes. The central theme of the paper is that the veracity of assessment can be significantly improved with minimal extra effort. COL Sobiesk Attended the ABET Commission Meeting COL Edward Sobiesk, who is a member of the ABET Computing Accreditation Commission (CAC) Executive Committee and chairs the CAC s Criteria Committee, recently participated in a week of accreditation activities in Arlington, VA. Besides being involved in determination of final accreditation decisions for about one hundred institutions, COL Sobiesk hosted a three-hour CAC Criteria Committee meeting in which the committee continued its multi-year effort to update the CAC Criteria to better reflect the current ACM/IEEE Computer Science, Information Technology, and Information Systems undergraduate curriculum guidelines. COL Sobiesk also received a Certificate of Appreciation from the Computing Sciences Accreditation Board (CSAB) for his efforts earlier this spring to organize and execute ABET Information Technology Program Evaluator (PEV) training for ten new ABET IT PEVs.

7 Page7 Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership Completed Events Follow BS&L on Facebook: Sciences-Leadership/ Faculty members conduct research at Fort Carson, CO. Dr. Kathleen Campbell and Dr. Donald Campbell collected data via surveys and focus groups with over 200 Army Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) and officers at Fort Carson, CO in late June and early July. Their research involves the perceptions of these groups as to the values an ideal military officer should have. Data will also be collected from NCOs and officers in the US Air Force and the US Navy. The Campbells were assisted in their research by MAJ Aram Donigian, a Public Affairs Officer (PAO) at Fort Carson. MAJ Donigian formerly served as an Assistant Professor in the Management Program in BS&L. COL Mike Tarsa and LTC Pat Dardis also helped recruit volunteers for the study.

8 Page8 Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering Center for the Study of Civil Military Affairs (CSCMO) AIAD to Honduras. CDT Solomon Wechsler (GENE), CDT Jackson Panice (DMI), MAJ Schwan (GENE) and the senior leadership and cadets of Honduras military academy display their Army and cultural pride. Cadets and faculty visiting Joint Task Force Bravo at Soto Cano Air Base in Honduras made a visit to the Honduran Military Academy in the capital city of Tegucigalpa. Colonel Moreno, the Superintendent equivalent, was honored by the visit and called it important and historical. The group enjoyed a tour, lunch with the Honduran cadets, and the opportunity to compare and contrast programs and experiences. POC is MAJ Gavin Schwan at gavin.schwan@usma.edu. Faculty Selected for United Nations Commission for Climatology. Dr. Adam Kalkstein has been selected by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to serve on an expert team as part of its Commission for Climatology (CCl). The goal of the CCl, which is run by the United Nations, is To provide world leadership in promoting expertise and international cooperation in climatology. Dr. Kalkstein was first nominated for this position by Thomas Peterson, the Principal Scientist at the National Climatic Data Center, and was formally selected during the most recent CCl

9 Page9 meeting in Heidelberg, Germany. Dr. Kalkstein will serve for four years as the only American on the Climate Risk and Sector-Specific Climate Indices Team, along with leading scientists from Morocco, Japan, Peru, Australia, and the Netherlands. POC is Dr. Adam Kalkstein at Having a Blast at New Instructor Training. Mr. Tim Pillsworth gives new instructors and faculty a tour the New Cadet Barracks. The group was able to witness a small blast, seen above. The department of Geography and Environmental Engineering began its third week of New Instructor Training with a bang. New instructors and faculty got to tour the New Cadet Barracks construction site and witness a blast throwing massive blasting mats into the air. The combat engineers in the group wanted to watch from a closer vantage point. Future Dirt P s were scouting out new locations to conduct the world famous Geomorphology Terrain Walk as the construction uncovered new joints, faults, and geological wonders. During the past week, new instructors conducted SHARP training with the department head, COL Thompson. COL Thompson also hosted the new instructors and families at his house for a BBQ. Instructors delivered their first and second practice lessons and did a stellar job. MAJ Lauren Koban, from the EV program, commented that after taking EV203: Physical Geography as a cadet in 2001, she really aced the infamous Wind over the mountain exercise this second time around (13 years later). The point of contact is MAJ Rich Knox at richard.knox@usma.edu.

10 Page10 Before attending at traditional Coffee Ceremony, Cadets Ian Myers and Saverio Macrina challenged by children in Hawassa, Ethiopia to a game of football (soccer). Environmental Vulnerability Research in Ethiopia. From July 5 th through July 18 th, Cadet Ian Myers, Cadet Saverio Macrina, Dr. Amy Krakowka, and LTC Chris Oxendine traveled to Ethiopia to conduct research for the Africa Environmental Stability Project. The team conducted over a dozen interviews across the country with Non-Government Organizations, universities, National and Regional Government Agencies, and individuals. The interviews focused on understanding environmental vulnerability in Ethiopia, through historical and contemporary contexts. In addition, we discussed the relative importance of factors contributing to environmental vulnerability. This research was funded by a Department of Defense Minerva Research Grant. The POC is LTC Chris Oxendine at christopher.oxendine@usma.edu. African Environmental Security Project Research Trip. From June MAJ Elizabeth Weaver, Cadet Kelly Redmond ( 16) and Cadet Maria Fabi ( 17) traveled to Kigali, Rwanda to conduct research on environmental vulnerability in Rwanda. The researchers conducted multiple interviews with experts from government ministries and academic departments and the result will be a map that accurately depicts household-level vulnerability in Rwanda. This is part of an ongoing research project looking at stability in Eastern Africa. During this AIAD cadets also participated in a cultural immersion experience and were able to tour the country and observe the different flora and fauna. POC is Major Dylan Malcomb at Dylan.malcomb@usma.edu.

11 Page11 Cadets Kelly Redmond and Maria Fabi meeting with Professors from the Department of Environmental Studies at Inilak University in Kigali, Rwanda. Major Elizabeth Weaver and Cadets Kelly Redmond and Maria Fabi with faculty from the Center for Geographic Information Studies and Department of Geography at their facility in Butare, Rwanda.

12 Page12 Professional Development. COL Wiley Thompson attended the Urban Humanitarian Emergencies Course hosted by the Humanitarian Academy at Harvard. This intensive three day course is intended to train humanitarian professionals on the current issues and practices involved in the unique and complex urban environment. Focus topics included: Urban specific assessment, response and recovery; humanitarian coordination and communication; cash and markets systems; shelter; urban health; urbanspecific violence during a crisis; and crisis mapping and assessment. Over the course of the three days, participants also conducted an urban crisis planning and response simulation. This was supported by the Center for the Study of Civil-Military Operations. POC is W. Thompson, wiley.thompson@usma.edu

13 Page13 CDT Alex Werden ('17) used his research to brief students at North Carolina's Tar Heel Boys' State on various opportunities for civil service in the government (military and civilian), and the private sector (like Spirit of America). Cadet Research With Army Civil Affairs. CDTs Michelle Miller ('15), Alex Werden ('17), and Collin McCloy ('17), completed their AIAD embedded with the 95th Civil Affairs Brigade (Airborne), USASOC, at Fort Bragg, North Carolina during June and early July. With funding from the Center for the Study of Civil Military Operations (CSCMO), these cadets were selected and sent to the 95th Brigade under the guidance of MAJ Dan Horst (D/History) to seek out academic projects that met informational needs for their host battalions and were also in conjunction with the cadets' academic interests. Michelle compiled a report on the utility of female Civil Affairs operators in the Middle East for the 96th Civil Affairs Battalion (Central Command). Alex was attached to the 92nd Civil Affairs Battalion (European Command) and worked on a report to examine the costs and benefits of Civil Affairs units cooperating with non-governmental organizations in general, and a new organization (Spirit of America) in particular. Collin completed a report for the 91stCivil Affairs Battalion (Africa Command) that highlighted the impact of AIDS/HIV in areas where Boko Haram is threatening stability in Nigeria. POC is MAJ Dan Horst at daniel.horst@usma.edu.

14 Page14 LTG Robert Calsen speaks on a panel at the Ending Wars to Build Peace workshop in Washington D.C. CSCMO and USIP Host Conflict Termination Workshop in= D.C. The Center for the Study of Civil- Military Operations co-sponsored a conflict termination workshop entitled Ending Wars to Build Peace with the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) and the Rand Arroyo Center on July 14, 2014 in Washington, DC. Designing a conflict termination strategy is an essential but often overlooked component of warfighting. Improperly planned or incorrectly implemented, a failure to effectively terminate a conflict will leave open the original issues that brought on the war and likely create the conditions for future conflict. THe striking venue of USIP Headquarters was the host to over 200 guests from the faculty, cadets and friends of USMA and the CMO community of practice. The event featured an opening by the Council on Foreign Relations Dr. Gideon Rose on How Wars End. The main event was an informative panel on the experiences of Iraq and Afghanistan with Ambassador James Jeffrey, LTG (P) Mark Milley, LTG Robert Caslen and former USAID Assistant Administrator Dr. Jim Kunder. The event was closed with an overview on the lessons of Iraq from Rand s Dr. Rick Brennan. There was also an afternoon workshop with over 40 participants who are helping to design a follow on event at West Point on 25 September POC for this is Mr. John Melkon, john.melkon@usma.edu.

15 Page15 Department of Physics and Nuclear Engineering Completed Events West Point Center for STEM Education, CSE, with STEM Workshop AIAD Cadets Conduct Outreach with The Tiger Woods Foundation: July 2014: Cadets Peter Desimone, Spencer Collazos, Lauren Scales, Christal Theriot and Gabriela Barrera Gutierrez working with the West Point Center for STEM Education Director for CSE, Ms. Cathy Bale, and traveled Los Angeles, California to conduct a week long STEM Workshop with a 75 high school students. The STEM Outreach was held at the Tiger Woods Learning Center. During the week-long event, Cadets mentored the students as they designed virtual bridges used the West Point Bridge Designer, interpreted construction plans to build standard bridges with K NEX sets, learned about cantilever bridges, and ethics. The cadets also have the opportunity to discuss cadet life, their West Point experience and the importance of STEM education with the students. The points of contacts are the Director of Outreach for CSE, Ms. Cathy Bale (catherine.bale@usma.edu )

16 Page16 West Point s House of PaNE: title of an article written by Dr. Brian Moretti, Associate Professor, PNE, was recently published in the AOG Magazine s special edition Engineering at West Point. Summer-2014/index.html#1 Outreach: on 16 July, in support of the Cornwall Public Library s science themed summer reading program, Dr. David Kashinski, Assistant Professor, PNE lead a demonstration night titled Fantastic Physics for students in grades K through 5. This is the second such engagement this summer. Topics and demonstrations included Bernoulli s principle as applied to flight, magnetic field lines, electric field lines, electric potential difference, lightning (from the point of view of plasma), and states of matter. The evening concluded by creating ice cream by freezing the mixture with Liquid Nitrogen (LN2) in a standard Kitchenaid mixer, picture below.

17 Page17 Ongoing Events Bartlett Hall Science Building: The transition and move of Department of Physics and Nuclear Engineering and the Photonics Research Center from the west wing into the new portion of Bartlett Hall is underway. There is still significant work required in the new side of Bartlett Hall. Working with the Corps of Engineers and Walsh Construction, we have developed a move plan to relocate the lab equipment as the new spaces become available. We intend to execute our New Instructor Training in the new side of the building. STAP, STEM and SLE were completed in the old side. We re expecting to move our radioactive materials from the old section of Bartlett Hall to the new subcritical facility this week. During the week of 28 July, Mr. Kurt Klapfhamer from the National Electrostatics Corporation will arrive to help reassemble the accelerator in its temporary home in room B011 in the North Wing of Bartlett Hall.

18 Page18 IAD(A)s: The Department of Physics and Nuclear Engineering prepared 48 cadets (including nine plebes) to go on AIADs to 14 locations (one international) this summer. CST: During summer 2014 (19 May 26 July), five officers from The Department of Physics and Nuclear Engineering are supporting cadet summer training events. New Instructor Training: On 25 June, the Department s New Instructor Training began. PNE welcomed five military rotating faculty members and two returning faculty members with Ph.D. s. Army Space Cadre Basic Course (ASCBC): During July, The Army Cyber Institute (ACI) and the Space and Missile Defense Command Research and Analysis Center (SMDC-RAC) are co-hosting the two-week Army Space Cadre Basic Course (ASCBC) Mobile Training Team here at USMA in Thayer Hall Room 369, hours each day. Military and civilian staff, faculty, and cadet AIAD enrollment is scheduled, and the purpose is to provide academic instruction and situational exercise training involving the integration of space and cyberspace operations. POCs are LTC Sam Amber (SMDC-RAC) at x3903 and Ms. Clare Blackmon (ACI) at x3392. Future Events American Association of Physics Teachers: During July, COL Kraig Sheetz and MAJ Eric Marshall will travel to Minneapolis, MN to attend the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) National Meeting. MAJ Marshall will be presenting the results of his study on the Effects of Computer Simulations on Learning in Undergraduate Physics. This experience will be beneficial for his professional development, ability to develop junior faculty as a course director, and to gain positive public exposure for USMA D/PNE.