Lieutenant Jennifer Knapp is an instructor of Leadership and Aviation Human Factors at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Lt. Knapp has been onboard since August 2024 and completed her first semester by instructing Leadership 100 to over 150 Cadets. As a member of the unique group of Joint Service officers stationed at the Academy, she is responsible for assisting potential Navy cross-commissioning candidates and Cadets interested in testing for Naval aviation selection.

Lieutenant Knapp began her Naval career by enlisting in 2010 through the Baccalaureate Degree Completion Program with a Bachelor of Arts with honors in Chemistry and a Minor in Spanish at the University of Akron. She obtained her Private Pilot License through Kent State University in 2011. She was commissioned in 2012 at Newport, R.I. and reported to Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. for flight training. Having graduated top of her class, she was selected as a Naval Flight Officer onboard the E-6B “Mighty Mercury” at VQ-3, Tinker Air Force Base.

Throughout her Naval career, Lieutenant Knapp’s relentless pursuit of improvements, collaboration, and insight has significantly contributed to the success of the Navy and its mission. She executed 408 deployment days, encompassing 1188 mishap-free flight hours in support of CTF-124, USSTRATCOM, and CJCS Nuclear Command and Control missions. She was designated as the squadron’s Aviation Safety Officer and transferred to the School of Aviation Safety as a Crew Resource Management Instructional Model Manager and Aviation Safety Reporting Instructor. She instructed 270 courses encompassing 45 type/model/series platforms in Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force aviation, 4 foreign countries, and several DOD services leading to the qualification of over 2,700 CRMIs, ASOs, and prospective Commanding Officers.

Lieutenant Knapp lateral transferred to the Aerospace Experimental Psychology (AEP) program and transferred to the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) at NAS Patuxent River, Md. Lt. Knapp distinguished herself through outstanding performance and superior achievements while serving as NAWCAD’s Human Systems Engineering Department (HSED) sole aeromedical officer on a $920M NC2 platform acquisition program and the Navy’s first aircrew anthropometric database update in over 60 years, representing over 1500 aviation members across 58 units throughout the U.S. LT Knapp was hand-selected to be the Navy deputy liaison to Coast Guard aviation, where she coordinated USN/USMC/USCG activities on multi-million dollar aviation and shipboard programs responsible for maintaining Tri-Service 'Advantage at Sea.'