Lights! Camera! BEAT NAVY!

A Core IT Program faculty production...

Starring Cpt. Chris Miller!  Producer, Director, Editor, CGI effects Cpt. Chris Miller. Co-starring Heather Miller and Lt. Col. Rob Bartholet. Costumes and Key Grip Maj. Katie Blue.

 
The 12th man is EECS!

Great Service At The Bar

Cdt. Ashley Olds, Class of 2009 Computer Science major, and Mr. Chris Kelly, Chief Privacy Officer for Facebook, were among the distinguished panelists at a three hour New York City Bar Association presentation on the topic of "Social Networking: Balancing the Risks to Copyrights, Privacy, and Security," which took place recently in Manhattan. The panel was moderated by intellectual property in cyberspace expert Roland Trope, an adjunct professor at the USMA Department of Law and a long time friend and resource for EECS.

Ashley's comments provided the unique insight of a brilliant student of technology and also someone who has grown up while modern Web 2 applications like social networking were also coming of age. All present paid rapt attention.  Every cadet thinks about ethics and honor on a daily basis. This background enabled Ashley to make additional unique contributions.

Generous donations from the great private benefactors of EECS underwrote Ashley's travel, another example of the incredible impact that these people have on cadet education.

Cdt. Olds, can we have your autograph?

Disruptive Times At MIT

Cadets working on an independent study of disruptive and super-innovative commercial technologies traveled to MIT recently with their professor Col. Barry Shoop to talk first hand with some people who are changing the world on a day-to-day basis.

Cdts. Richard Miles (EE '09), Sarah Noreen (EE '09), Mike Platek (CS '09), and Roy Ragsdale (CS '09) made the trip.  Their itinerary reads like a "who's who" of high tech creativity. Meetings included Timothy M. Swager, Head of the Department of Chemistry at MIT and John D. MacArthur Professor of Chemistry, John D. Joannopoulos, Director of the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnology, Francis Wright Davis Professor of Physics at MIT, Professor Edwin L. Thomas, Head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Morris Cohen Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT, and Professor David Barrett, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering and former Vice President of Engineering at iRobot, also Director of the Walt Disney Imagineering Corporation. On 5 November, the team met with the Vice-President of Engineering at Foster-Miller, the company that builds the Talon robot being used in current combat operations.  Later they met with Dr. Zachary Lemnios, the Chief Technology Officer at MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

In each engagement, the cadets gained an insider's view of what it's like to participate in fundamental scientific and engineering advances.  It's hard to imagine better preparation for the Army's high tech future.

It was a Joint operation!  The Office of Naval Research kindly provided funding for this excellent adventure, and we're thankful. Still, we must say...

BEAT NAVY!

National Leader

Col. Barry L. Shoop, EECS Deputy Head, has received the 2008 Optical Society of America Leadership Award New Focus/Bookham Prize for leadership and vision in furthering optics education and humanitarian purposes, including contributions to founding the National Military Academy of Afghanistan and the global fight against terrorism, expressed in his work while assigned to the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization. He is shown here with OSA Vice President James Wyant, dean of the College of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona. The OSA Leadership Award/New Focus Prize was established in 1997 to strengthen the link between the optics community and the public. The award recognizes an individual or group of optics professionals whose actions or policy outside the technology arena has made a significant contribution to society; this contribution may be social, economic, political or humanitarian. Past recipients include Past MIT President Charles M. Vest, NASA Astronaut Ellen Ochoa, and former Duncan T. Moore former Associate Director for Technology in The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).

Congratulations Colonel Shoop!

Hacking 101

"Know your enemy" was the wisdom of grand master of military strategy Sun Tzu." Interested cadets had a great chance to follow this 2,600-year-old advice by trying out techniques used by bad guys to attack Internet computers. The hands-on event was sponsored by cadet and faculty leaders of the EECS award-winning Student Chapter of Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group on Security, Audit, and Control (SIGSAC).

The long name - though a mouthful - fits perfectly because It was a huge success, with well over 50 cadets filling the Cyberdefense lab with chatter about protocols, ports, exploits and countermeasures. It doesn't get any better!

SIGSAC leader Cdt. Nate Larsen and his colleague in (simulated) cybercrime Cdt. Alan Lewis worked hard to give the event its high impact feel.  Virtual machine technology created this cool "sandbox" for hacking without any true danger to network resources.

Food provided by generous EECS donors allowed the busy cadet attendees to learn and eat dinner at the same time. Thanks to them! We couldn't do this alone...

EECS rules the Network!

Hey Third Class Cadets!
GOT MAJOR?

There is no more exciting or relevant way to prepare yourself for Army leadership than by studying in the EECS majors: Information Technology, Electrical Engineering, or Computer Science. Our Army has always operated on the principle that technology can provide a decisive edge for winning, enhance soldier effectiveness, and keep soldiers safe. The next 30 years will see incredible changes in this regard:

• Amazing new information gathering, communication, and processing capabilities to root out entrenched enemies and inform Command decisions.
• Holodeck-like simulations for training.
• Robots doing dirty work that used to be for soldiers.
• Maybe even true machine intelligence. What happens when machines think faster or better than we do?
• Further globalization.  Hardly anything will be designed or made in a single country.  What does this mean for defense?
• Accelerating Moore's law effects...technology relentlessly getting faster, cheaper, more capable at a surprising rate.
• Disruptive technologies - ideas that change everything.
• Both good and bad effects on people and societies.  Engineers will be leaders of change.

Be one of those rare future leaders who knows how to take on these challenges.  Come learn how high tech systems really work.  Design, build and test your own software, devices, and systems.

...AND HAVE FUN DOING IT.  Experience the joy of creating something that has never existed before.

...ALL WITH THE HELP OF THE FINEST TECHNOLOGY FACULTY IN THE WORLD.  We're committed to your success.

We want to see you at the Open House. Questions?  See our page for prospective majors!

Go EECS!

Get (Virtually) Real!

What do actor Will Smith and Michael Weigand, rising sophomore cadet shown here, have in commmon? They have both worked at the Institute for Creative Technologies in Marina del Rey, California and been filmed in LightStage 5, a technology designed to produce very high quality virtual reality (VR) experiences by allowing near-perfect subject lighting to be computer generated.

Computer games provide a tiny flavor of VR's capability. Full VR systems are being used to create Army training and education that are safe and cheap, yet still super-effective.

Mike spent several weeks in Marina Del Rey as part of a summer assignment.  For a cadet with only IT105 Introduction to Information Technology and Computing as background, Mike did remarkable work - developing a software pipeline for processing the enormous amount of data produced by the LightStage device ... 35 gigabytes for only 8 seconds of video!  It's likely Mike's work at ICT will connect with his planned studies as a Computer Science major.

What was Will Smith doing at LightStage 5? Working on his recent movie Hancock, where LightStage data feeds many of the special effects.

Go EECS, and see the (virtual) world!

Thai Tech Teaching

EE&CS faculty members Lt. Col. Matt Chapman and Lt. Col. Mike Brownfield traveled with six cadets to Thailand during June with a goal of learning about life in that country and serving people. That included teaching kids about basic electricity, home finance, and first aid, among other topics. The cadets prepared lessons and accumulated materials before departing. They couldn't quite prepare, however, for the vast differences between Thai village culture and the U.S. For one thing, they found that elephants get great gas mileage!

See the [ Pointer View article ].

Engineers for humanity!

Afghans Can

Maj. Matt Dunlop is the 5th EE&CS faculty member to deploy to Kabul as a mentor for faculty and staff of the shiny new National Military Academy of Afghanistan, or NMAA for short. Shown here at right is Matt with Computer Science department head Col. Rahman and USMA EE&CS head Col. Gene Ressler, who was back for a short visit. Ressler first deployed to NMAA during 2005, just in time to see the first class of New Cadets arrive. Those groundbreakers will be commissioned this January, marking a historic beginning for the Afghan National Army - the first members of a well-educated Officer Corps for the new republic.

Just as the USMA provided much-needed engineering expertise to a young United States, the NMAA is intended to provide graduates who can take on the huge task of building the national infrastructure as well as the Afghan National Army. Information technology, of course, has an essential part to play. It's no accident that Col. Hamdulah, the NMAA's Dean, has each cadet receiving two core courses in computer science.  In fact, the cadets are also focused on technology.  One-third will graduate as computer science majors.  Ressler remembers that the Dean saw IT's benefits very clearly from the start. Since the Taliban burned many of the books in the country during their reign, Col. Hamdulah knew that the Internet would have to serve as the Academy's initial library and textbook supply!  VSAT dishes for satellite connectivity arrived along with beds and blankets for the initial class of cadets.

Matt Dunlop is working with Afghan counterparts for three summer months to flesh out the last semester courses for senior year, which begin in September.

NMAA and USMA:  Together in technology education!

2008 Graduation Celebration and Awards

It was a great day for the Class of 2008 EE&CS majors, family and friends.  About 300 celebrated excellence achieved during four years of hard work to earn diplomas in electrical engineering, computer science, information technology, or electronic and information technology systems.  Numerous awards for special accomplishments were received.  Faculty and staff of the Department were on hand to wish Godspeed to cadets who have become colleagues and friends during their studies. 

Great things are expected when the Class of 2008 arrives in the field Army!  The department will be waiting for a select group to return as faculty.  It was a very good year.

A picture album is [here].

Congratulations EE, CS, IT, EITS grads of 2008!!

Scintillating Projects

Team E-Wi won 2nd place. Their systematic and innovative design for a cell phone relay system provides a model that can be expanded to the cadet barracks so that a long-planned transition to mobile phone infrastructure for the Corps of Cadets can move forward. Pictured from left to right are E-Wi team members, all electrical engineers, Cadets Jack Cooperman, William Barber and Joseph Randall.

Team PointBot took 3rd place with their work on an unmanned, remotely controlled vehicle capable of leading a military convoy, with the intent of serving as a decoy for enemy forces or explosive hazards along the route. Shown here are computer scientist Cadets Kristof Ladny and Kyle Markle and electrical engineer Cadets Michael Assenmacher, Daniel Ndah, and Philip Raquepau.

Though the final version was highly successful, the team's video of an early malfunction provided comic relief for the keen competition.  As the Kowasaki "mule" testbed vehicle ran into a small roadside ditch, Phil Raquepau, manning an ineffective safety stop switch,  followed the great naval tradition of abandoning ship.

Is there a (design) pattern here?

WebBot Rules Rochester
and HAL's Reprise

Safety - for both robots and people around them - turned out to be the hard part of the problem.  Everyone knows Internet connections can suffer delays and cut-outs.  The trick for the WebBot team was to 'proof their system from bots falling down stairs, running into walls, or bumping into people during such an Internet glitch.  And they succeeded ... obviously.

Team HAL-Xen, Cadets Mike Kranch '08 and Roy Ragsdale '09, devised a clever way to monitor any activity of a client computer with absolutely no detectable trace of the eavesdropper.

In addition to revealing a rather scary information security "back door" that assurance professionals will need to watch, the technique has obvious applications for system configuration analysis and management.  The team took home a $500 prize for Most Marketable.

Faculty advisors Maj. Chris Korpela, Maj. Ben Ring, and Lt. Col. Ron Dodge guided the cadets to their exceptional accomplishments.

Travel to the contest was afforded by through donations by gracious supporters who enable the "margin of excellence" in cadet education at EECS.

A Winning Year For EE&CS!!

West Point Wins Cyber Defense Exercise

It's official! The EE&CS Cyber Defense Team has bested Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marine in the 7th Annual Cyber Defense Exercise.

The exercise pits cadets at each Academy against a professional NSA Red Team of expert hackers who attack cadet-prepared networks at each academy through private network "tunnels" in the Internet. 

At the USMA, the team is selected from cadets engaged in EE&CS courses and the Information Security club ACM SIGSAC.

Final debriefing by the Red Team remains to be accomplished. More later...

The cadets' organization for defense in depth proved key.  Cadet in charge Adrian Tilston, shown left, led the planning and preparation that were the foundations of victory.

Faculty from all teaching programs contributed time and skills as mentors and advisors, coordinated by officer-in-charge  Lt. Col. Joe Adams.  "The cadets did all the work.  We answered their questions," says Joe.

To seed next year's team, a larger-than-usual fraction of underclassmen participated this year.  Look out Red Team:  They'll be back!

Go Team EE&CS!!

Cadets Sweep MIT In Engineering Design

The goal of the soldier design competition is to generate new products and systems to help soldiers - on and off the battlefield. Focused on non-weapons requirements like personal cooling systems and battery rechargers, technology that emerges from the competition often has dual-use potential for firefighters, police, and even athletes.

Top honors this year went to Team Energized - EE&CS Cadets Isis Achanzar, Victor Kareh, and Daniel Konopa. The team designed a power supply for the PRC-117F radio that replaces two disposable batteries with one rechargeable battery. If implemented in the field, the supply would reduce battery costs for the radios by approximately 87%, saving a typical army battalion approximately 2.1 million dollars per year.

Second place went to Team American Gladiator from the Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering. Team American Gladiato, Cadets Kimberly Jung, Christopher Lee, Brandon Mosher, and Terrence Nolan, designed a retractable seat that automatically retracts the gunner from a HMMWV turret when a roll-over is imminent or when initiated by a soldier in the vehicle. Their device retracts the gunner out of harm's way within 0.5 seconds.

A third place award went to interdisciplinary EE&CS / Chemistry and Life Sciences  Team Thermasters - Cadets Bryan Bird and Jesse Teahon from EE&CS and Cadets Jen Vanacek, Katie Fenton, and Eric Creighton from CLS.  They designed an infrared emitter to identify friendly forces when looking through thermal imagers.

The Most Innovative and seventh place prizes went to EE&CS Team Skype Snype consisting of Cadets Pete Renals and John Chamberlin. They designed a system to block Skype peer-to-peer connections on a network, a particularly thorny information assurance problem with direct Army security implications.

Travel and other expenses of the cadet teams were defrayed through the contributions of generous donors.  We are exceptionally grateful to these great friends of EE&CS for the opportunities their generosity provides.

We're soooo proud! Go EE&CS!!

Diversity Leadership Leadership

No, that's not a typo! Col. Bryan Goda is shown left of Kellen Winslow, NFL Pro Football Hall of Famer, luncheon speaker for the 2008 West Point Diversity Leadership Conference. To the right is Lt.Col. Nicholas Anthony, who leads the Army human resources branch serving Aviation officers throughout the world.
 
Bryan led this exceptional 3-day discussion at West Point of luminaries from around the world dedicated to a theme of identifying the roots of diversity-related challenges in organizations. Over 150 attended.
 
In addition to Mr. Winslow, just a few events of note:

• Dr. Dalton Conley, Professor and Head of Sociology, NYU, Xerox Diversity Leadership Lecture Series Speaker, "White Like Me"
• Mr. Al Tindall, Wall Street Attorney, "Diversity On Wall Street."
• Mr. Ken Blackwell, former Cincinatti mayor, former Ohio Sec of Treasury and State, “Making Diversity Profitable.”

Brig.Gen. retired Andre Sayles, former Department Head and conference leader also attended.  

EE&CS honors diversity in all forms.

Advisory Board Isn't Bored!

At the 7th annual meeting of the EE&CS Advisory Board, this distinguished group of Army, industry, and academic friends of EE&CS considered the trajectory of current needs of the Army and what they ought to mean for cadet education.  Some results:  Critical thinking - the ability to make order from complexity and chaos - is more important than ever.  And the thrust of Information Assurance education can be naturally broadened to a bigger  setting - "counter-exploitation."  Our enemies will try to use all  our technological dependencies against us, not just information systems.  Our graduates must be able to outsmart them.

By way of update on the department, members visited with senior cadets engaged in their culminating design-build-integrate-test experience, finishing up learning in their majors' programs.

The advisory board's visits are supported in part by generous donations of great friends of the Department.  We're grateful for their contributions every day.