December 10, 2021

Aeronautics cadets, faculty celebrate high-tech aerospace lab upgrades

Lt. Gen. Richard Clark, U.S. Air Force Academy superintendent, and Cadet 1st Class Justin Yates cut a ribbon to celebrate the installation of two new flight simulators and a shock combustion tube in the school's aerospace laboratory, Dec. 7, 2021.   Story by Ray Bowden, all photos by Justin Pacheco U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. - Cadets researching aeronautics at the Air Force Academy showed off two newly installed $2.2 million simulators and a $1 million combustion shock tube used for hydrocarbon combustion experiments, Dec. 7 Lab director Lt. Col. Judson Babcock said cadets use the Merlin P521 engineering flight simulators...

Continue Reading Aeronautics cadets, faculty celebrate high-tech aerospace lab upgrades

November 19, 2021

Combustion shock tube provides shockingly fun research opportunities for cadets

  By Rachelle Stoll, Strategic Communications, Photo by Joshua Armstrong, Video by AJ Kievenaar Cadet First Class Kendra Middleton has always been fascinated with flight. Some of her earliest memories are of her grandfather, who built and flew his own planes alongside a ragtag gang of “little old men who would fly into each other’s back yards.” Kendra’s mother is also an aerospace engineer with a degree from University of Colorado Boulder. Having been born into a family of aviators, combined with a love for science and math, the Air Force Academy seemed a fitting place for Kendra. The culture...

Continue Reading Combustion shock tube provides shockingly fun research opportunities for cadets

November 15, 2021

Professor prepares warfighters using advanced technology, behavioral science research

By Ashley Murphy, Strategic Communications Military operations live at the intersection of technology and human cognition. How those two things work together in the future is, in part, at the hands of U.S. Air Force Academy cadets. That’s why Lt Col Chad Tossell is passionate about using research to ensure tomorrow’s leaders will be successful by preparing cadets to be warfighters through a wide-range of experiences inside and outside of the classroom. “The research I lead with cadets extends the most advanced technologies including artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and wearable computing. These systems, and others, will be a part of...

Continue Reading Professor prepares warfighters using advanced technology, behavioral science research

November 8, 2021

Space Force detachment opens at Academy with high-altitude celebration

(Photo by Cadet 3rd Class Connor Brezenski) Story by Ray Bowden U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- Guardians at the Air Force Academy hiked to the top of Eagles Peak Nov. 5 to celebrate the activation of a Space Force detachment at the school. The group displayed the Space Force flag at the summit to herald the opening of Space Force Delta 13, Detachment 1 - the first Space Force unit authorized at the school, also displaying the detachment’s flag at the peak. The Academy is the top commissioning source for Space Force officers, and roughly 200 Space Force officers have...

Continue Reading Space Force detachment opens at Academy with high-altitude celebration

November 4, 2021

How a group of Academy grads are providing humanitarian relief after Afghanistan

Major Jessica Gronert, USAFA Class of 2009, in Jerash, Jordan. Photo courtesy Maj Jessica Gronert. By Rachelle Stoll, Strategic Communications The sudden abruptness of the Afghanistan withdrawal left so many American and coalition veterans with what could only be described as an all-encompassing gamut of human emotion. For who bore the sword that delivered the blow? The little boy and little girl, who grew up having seen two towers in a once-boundless American sky, crumble mercilessly to the ground. The young man and woman with pimples on their cheeks and fire in their eyes, saying “send me!”  Going--maybe not with...

Continue Reading How a group of Academy grads are providing humanitarian relief after Afghanistan

October 18, 2021

‘A Republic, if you can keep it’: Assembly panels advance discourse on civilian-military relations, future challenges

Colonel Suzanne Nielsen, a political science professor at West Point, speaks at a panel discussion during the U.S. Air Force Academy's Assembly, Oct. 13, 2021. The topic of the discussion was "The Profession of Arms and the Preservation of Democratic Norms." By Rachelle Stoll, Strategic Communications, photos by Trevor Cokley. The sociopolitical fallout from a global pandemic and the increasing polarization of American culture underpinned the expert panel discussions at the Air Force Academy’s 63rd annual Assembly. The cadet-planned assembly, held 12-14 October, commenced with the theme “The City on the Hill,” bringing to light the contemporary challenges of democracy...

Continue Reading ‘A Republic, if you can keep it’: Assembly panels advance discourse on civilian-military relations, future challenges

October 13, 2021

Academy prep school commander stays ‘Husky Strong’ in battle with cancer

Colonel Melissa Youderian, commander of the U.S. Air Force Academy Preparatory School. (Courtesy photo) Story by Ray Bowden, U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- Melissa Youderian donated her long hair to Locks of Love, a nonprofit for children suffering hair loss, after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. “Though it was a deliberate decision and I thought it would be uplifting to donate my hair before the treatment took it, I had tears running down my face the entire haircut,” she said. “It was one of those ‘this is actually happening’ moments.” Youderian is a...

Continue Reading Academy prep school commander stays ‘Husky Strong’ in battle with cancer

October 8, 2021

Historians encourage cadets to balance justice, mercy at Harmon Memorial lecture

Story by Ray Bowden, photo by Justin Pacheco U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – Popular historians with ties to the Air Force Academy said mercy mitigates the fray of war and civil conflict. The husband and wife team of David and Jeanne Heidler were the featured speakers at the Harmon Memorial Lecture, the school’s most prominent lecture series, in Fairchild Hall, Oct. 5. The Heidlers each have doctorates in U.S history from Auburn University, Alabama, and have wrote 12 books on the early-American republic, the antebellum period and Civil War. “The American Revolution was unlike anything that had occurred anywhere...

Continue Reading Historians encourage cadets to balance justice, mercy at Harmon Memorial lecture

October 5, 2021

Academy honors air power, ace pilot Robin Olds with memorial

United States Air Force Academy graduates, family members and staff tour the just-unveiled Air Warrior Combat memorial at the Academy, Oct. 1, 2021. The $1.4 million memorial features a model of the F4 Phantom aircraft and a statue of ace pilot and former Academy commandant of cadets, Brig. Gen. Robin Olds.  Story by Ray Bowden, all photos by Trevor Cokley U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. - A $1.4 million memorial celebrating the first 100 years of aerial combat was unveiled at the Air Force Academy, Oct. 1. The Air Warrior Combat Memorial near North Gate and Stadium boulevards features a...

Continue Reading Academy honors air power, ace pilot Robin Olds with memorial

September 24, 2021

IFC, security experts highlight cybersecurity during online panel

U.S. Air Force Academy photo By Tech. Sgt. Zack Vaughn, U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. — Senior cyber experts gave their take on the importance of cyber operations during an online forum sponsored by the Institute for Future Conflict at the Air Force Academy, Sept. 23. Retired Lt. Gen. Bradford Shwedo, the IFC’s director, hosted the forum featuring Lt. Gen. Charles Moore, U.S. Cyber Command deputy, and other career DoD cyber security professionals. During the forum, Shwedo discussed the importance of cybersecurity in major Air Force logistical movements. “The world watched us move the...

Continue Reading IFC, security experts highlight cybersecurity during online panel