December 14, 2021

Cadet & faculty arts journal ignites creativity in a year of upheaval

By Rachelle Stoll, Strategic Communications  Photo by Justin Pacheco   The global pandemic shifted life dramatically for all of us. As lock downs and wide-spread quarantines began in 2020, building blocks of our daily lives came abruptly to a halt. Children stayed home, away from the familiarity and routine of their classrooms, playgrounds, and after-school activities. Workers—or those of us whose jobs allowed us to—shifted to working from home, dismantling American work culture, relegating communication with bosses and co-workers to screens and e-mails.   The Cadet Wing here at the Air Force Academy, along with faculty and staff, dealt with its own specific set of circumstances at the onset of the pandemic. The Academy, an institution whose training and effectiveness...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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May 20, 2022

171 cadet-candidates graduate from Academy’s prep school

Col. Melissa Youderian, commander of the U.S. Air Force Academy Preparatory School, congratulates Cadet Candidate Bryce Matthew Leapart during the prep school's graduation ceremony, May 16, 2022 in Arnold Hall. (Photo by Justin Pacheco) By Tech. Sgt. Zach Vaughn U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. --  Scores of cadet-candidates celebrated their graduation from the U.S. Air Force Academy Preparatory School on May 16, 2022. All told, 171 cadet-candidates graduated after completing an uncompromising ten-month program to develop their academic, military and athletic skills, said Col. Melissa Youderian, U.S. Air Force Academy Preparatory School commander. “It wasn’t easy, but...

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May 25, 2022

The Breakdown: Stats on the Air Force Academy’s class of ‘22

(Class of 2022. Photo/Trevor Cokley) By Ray Bowden, U.S. Air Force Academy Strategic Communications U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – Nearly 1,000 Air Force and Space Force officers graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in a ceremony at Falcon Stadium May 25. In all, 863 class of ’22 cadets were commissioned into the Air Force and 94 were commissioned into the Space Force as second lieutenants. Sixteen international cadets graduated with their U.S. classmates. The Breakdown This information is based on data from the Academy’s operations and analysis office released May 23. -- 1,434 men and women received appointments...

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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...

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August 26, 2022

Air University ups Academy’s resilience training

Permanent party personnel attend Master Resilience Training in the CyberWorx conference area at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado 24 Aug. 2022. Course graduates, deemed master resilience trainers, learned classroom management and facilitation skills to teach resiliency to the Class of 2026 starting this fall. (U.S. Air Force Photo/Staff Sgt. Seth Stang) By U.S. Air Force Academy Strategic Communications U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. –  Fifteen Academy permanent party members learned how to facilitate an eight-lesson Air Force Resilience Skills Curriculum (AFRSC) during Master Resilience Training (MRT), Aug. 22 to 26. Air University provides monthly MRT at Maxwell Air Force Base,...

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October 5, 2022

NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty’s visit to Academy is a ‘chair raising’ experience for cadets

Story by Ray Bowden, all photos by Trevor Cokley U.S. Air Force Academy Strategic Communications U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – Cadets waved chairs and lifted tables during their five-minute standing ovation for NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty and the Petty GMS team at the U.S. Air Force Academy Sept. 30. Mitchell Hall erupted with applause and the clanging of furniture when Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Richard Clark introduced the NASCAR legend during his visit to the school. Petty joined a group of cadets at their table for lunch after his introduction to the cadet wing. “To be able...

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October 4, 2022

RED HORSE squadron constructs new dining facility in Jack’s Valley

Civil engineers from the 819th RED HORSE Squadron at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana construct a new 4,000 square-foot dining facility in the FERL compound in Jack's Valley expected to open for cadets next year. The team broke ground on the facility in April. (Photo courtesy of Capt. Tim Sobieski) U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- Civil engineers from Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana expect the new 4,000 square-foot dining facility they’re building for cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo., to open next summer. According to Capt. Tim Sobieski, RED HORSE project engineer, construction on the facility in Jack’s...

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