2021 Trident Scholars
MIDN 1/C DANIEL J. BUTCHKO (24th Company)
Major: Robotics and Control Engineering Honors
Advisor: Professor Kiriakos Kiriakidis – Weapons, Robotics, and Control Engineering
Advisor: Assistant Professor Brien Croteau – Cyber Science
Title: Cyber-Physical System Security of Surface Ships using Intelligent Constraints
MIDN 1/C LENNING A. DAVIS (12th Company)
Major: Robotics and Control Engineering Honors
Advisor: Associate Professor Michael D. M. Kutzer – Weapons, Robotics, and Control Engineering
Advisor: Assistant Professor John Donnal – Weapons, Robotics, and Control Engineering
Title: Tracking Additive Manufacturing using Machine Vision
MIDN 1/C ALEC J. ENGL (4th Company)
Major: Aerospace Engineering
Advisor: Associate Professor Tae Lim – Aerospace Engineering
Advisor: Associate Professor Randy Broussard – Weapons, Robotics, and Control Engineering
Advisor: Associate Professor Gavin Taylor – Computer Science
External Collaborator: Dr. David Gaylor, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Title: Photorealistic Image Generation for Satellite Pose Estimation Using Generative Adversarial Networks
Ψ MIDN 1/C HARRISON D. FOLEY (29th Company)
Major: Computer Science
Advisor: Associate Professor Gavin Taylor – Computer Science
External Collaborator: Associate Professor Tom Goldstein, University of Maryland
Title: Deceiving Neural Networks in Common Applications
MIDN 1/C PHILIP C. GATBONTON (28th Company)
Major: Computer Engineering
Advisor: Associate Professor Owens Walker – Electrical and Computer Engineering
Advisor: Assistant Professor Dane Brown – Cyber Science
Title: A Framework to Evaluate Embedded Security Implementations on the Basis of Common Implementation Mistakes and Vulnerabilities
MIDN 1/C ELIZABETH K. GERGAL (13th Company)
Major: Computer Engineering
Advisor: Professor Frederick Crabbe – Computer Science
Title: Drone Swarming Tactics using Reinforcement Learning and Policy Optimization
MIDN 1/C MATTHEW C. GILLCRIST (17th Company)
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Professor Ralph Volino – Mechanical Engineering
Title: Freestream Deceleration Effects on Film Cooling Over a Flat Plate
* MIDN 1/C JOHN M. JOHNSON (29th Company)
Major: Mathematics Honors
Advisor: Professor Max Wakefield – Mathematics
Title: Analyzing Error Correcting Code Structures via Matroid Invariants
* The Naval Academy suffered the devastating loss of MIDN 1/C Johnson in December 2020. At the time of his death, John was half-way through his Trident project and making tremendous progress. His work will be continued by his research advisor.
MIDN 1/C ELANA P. KOZAK (15th Company)
Major: Mathematics Honors
Advisor: Assistant Professor Scott Hottovy – Mathematics
External Collaborator: Dr. Ira Schwartz, Naval Research Laboratory
Title: Analyzing Behaviors of Artificial Intelligence Methods for a Search Game
MIDN 1/C SARAH M. NGUYEN (28th Company)
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Associate Professor Ronald Warzoha – Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Professor Andrew Smith – Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Associate Professor Joshua Radice – Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Assistant Professor Brian Donovan – Physics
Title: Parametric Analysis and Optimization of an Elastocaloric Refrigeration Cycle
MIDN 1/C ZACHARY D. NYGAARD (11th Company)
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: LCDR Ethan Lust, USN – Mechanical Engineering
Title: Near-Body Velocity and Turbulence Measurements in the Lee of an Inclined 6:1 Prolate Spheroid
MIDN 1/C NATALIE A. SCHIEUER (7th Company)
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Associate Professor Joshua Radice – Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Associate Professor John Burkhardt – Mechanical Engineering
External Collaborator: Dr. Sarah Bedair, Army Research Laboratory
Title: Wireless Electromechanical Power Transfer Using Piezoelectric Materials
MIDN 1/C PHILIP B. SMITH (6th Company)
Major: Applied Mathematics Honors
Advisor: CAPT Kevin Mullaney, USN – Leadership, Ethics, and Law
Advisor: Professor William Traves – Mathematics
Title: Predicting Naval Academy Performance using Holistic Personality Analysis in Multidimensional Space
MIDN 1/C LILLIAN N. USADI (2nd Company)
Major: Electrical Engineering
Advisor: Professor Samara Firebaugh – Electrical and Computer Engineering
Advisor: Associate Professor Hatem ElBidweihy – Electrical and Computer Engineering
Advisor: LT Steven Yee, USN – Electrical and Computer Engineering
Advisor: Professor Murray Korman – Physics
Title: Acoustic Manipulation of Microrobots Using Chladni Plates and Multimode Membrane Resonators
MIDN 1/C JOSEPH B. WIEDEMANN (7th Company)
Major: Physics
Advisor: Associate Professor Seth Rittenhouse – Physics
Advisor: Assistant Professor Peter Brereton – Physics
External Collaborator: Dr. Joel Grim, Naval Research Laboratory
External Collaborator: Dr. Samuel Carter, Naval Research Laboratory
Title: Superradiance of Few Driven Two-Level Quantum Dot Emitters in the Bad Cavity Limit
MIDN 1/C LOGAN R. WILLIAMS (6th Company)
Major: Quantitative Economics
Advisor: Professor Kurtis Swope – Economics
Advisor: LT R.J. Armador, USN – English
Title: Characterizing the Economic Abundance of Water through a Theoretical and Empirical Framework
