Events in Computer Science
2023 Capstone Award

During the 3 May USNA Capstone Day events, Naval Special Warfare Development Group (NSWDG) leadership surprised four midshipmen researchers from the computer science department by awarding them Navy Achievement Medals (NAMs) for their significant research contributions to Naval Special Warfare (NSW) priority projects. The capstone research teams' sophisticated handling of large data sets, and application of unique machine learning algorithms to these data sets, allowed enhancements to be installed on multiple real-world high classification systems which have directly increased NSW operational capabilities. One estimate suggests that this research collaboration saved the NSW enterprise over $10 million dollars in contracting fees. The midshipmen each expressed great satisfaction in knowing that their 1/C capstone projects directly contributed to fleet readiness.
41st Annual Michelson Lecture
The Computer Science Department will host this year's annual Michelson Memorial Lecture on Tuesday, March 22, 2022. This year's lecturer is Dr. Jeannette Wing of Columbia University. The title of her lecture is "Trustworthy AI". You can find more information about the lecture and Dr. Wing on the Michelson Lecture page.
Meet the 2021 Trident Scholars From the CS Department
MIDN 1/C Harrison Foley

MIDN 1/C Foley, a Computer Science major, was advised by Associate Professor Gavin Taylor of the Computer Science Department. His project was titled "Deceiving Neural Networks in Common Applications."
MIDN 1/C Elizabeth Gergal

Meet the 2020 Trident Scholars From the CS Department
MIDN 1/C Tim Forman

MIDN 1/C Forman, a Computer Science major, was advised by Associate Professor Daniel S. Roche of the Computer Science Department and Associate Professor Adam J. Aviv, George Washington University. His project was titled "Improving the security of Android Unlock Patterns Using New Interactions of the Standard Pattern Lock Interface." Learn more about MIDN Forman's project here.
MIDN 1/C Jamie Lee

MIDN 1/C Lee, a Computer Science major, was advised by Associate Professor Daniel S. Roche of the Computer Science Department, Assistant Professor Travis Mayberry of the Cyber Science Department and Associate Professor Adam J. Aviv, George Washington University. Her project was titled "Oblivious K-Nearest Neighbors for Secure Map Applications." Learn more about MIDN Lee's project here.
Two USNA teams win awards at the Data Challenge hosted by University of MD

In February 2020, led by Associate Professor Gavin Taylor of Computer Science, 43 midshipmen participated in the Big Data Challenge hosted by the University of Maryland. This year's challenge focused on data exploration for a sustainable planet. The teams were given a week to "evaluate, formulate a question about the dataset, and conduct dataset integration, analysis, and results preparation." Two of the teams from USNA won awards. The award for "Best USNA Project" went to MIDN 1/C Ryan Eilers, MIDN 1/C Jason Henry, MIDN 1/C Chesley Krug, MIDN 1/C Deon Odom for their analysis of regional traffic in the D.C. metro area. The award for "Best Team Presentation" went to MIDN 1/C Alex Wayne and 4/C Jen Sun for their analysis of the effectiveness of HUD housing programs.
Promotion to Full Professor

In February 2020, Associate Professor Adina Crainiceanu was selected for promotion to Full Professor. Learn more about Dr. Crainiceanu and her research interests here.
New GPU Hardware

In January 2019, in an effort led by Associate Professor Nate Chambers of Computer Science, the Center for High Performance Computing brought online a new state-of-the-art GPU machine that provides more computational power in a single unit than any other machine on the Yard. This advanced computer is available to faculty and midshipmen studying neural networks and performing other GPU-enabled research.
Natural Language Processing (NLP) Research
In May 2019, Prof. Chambers' research group on Natural Language Processing, including collaborators from UMBC, UT Austin, and Stony Brook, learned that it won a $4 million award from DARPA to pursue advanced research in the area of "Knowledge-directed Artificial Intelligence Reasoning over Schemas," which builds on novel methods pioneered by Dr. Chambers.
University of Maryland Big Data Challenge
In February 2019, led by Associate Professor Gavin Taylor of Computer Science, 21 midshipmen from a variety of majors participated in the University of Maryland Big Data Challenge, a hackathon focused on Data Science and Machine Learning.
NSA Cyber Exercise
In April 2019, 36 midshipmen traveled to The US Air Force Academy to participate in the annual NSA Cyber Exercise, which included all service academies plus teams from several ROTC schools as well as US Cyber Command. The USNA team took second overall, including first place in Cyber Policy and Secure Software development, as well as second place in Forensics and Big Data Analysis and third place in the Live Fire exercise. The USNA team " JohnPwnJones" (above) competed in all modules and was led by 1/c Douglas Alpuche (Computer Science), 1/c Sam Teplov (Cyber Science), 1/c Brandon Sipes (Computer Science), 1/c Kristina Bodeman (Computer Science), and 2/c Caroline Sears (Computer Science).
