InterAcademy Chemistry Symposium (IACS)

The 2016 IACS was held on 31 March this year at Annapolis and pitted the work of cadets and midshipmen from West Point, Air Force, Navy, and the Coast Guard Academies against each other. The cadets and mids presented their posters and defending their work to the all-service judging panel. While the students from the younger academies were all Firsties, the West Point cadet contingent included: Aaron Alindogan (2016, Life Science), Brandon Konarik (2017, Life Science), Bridget Matsas (2017, Life Science), Minhee Pak (2017, Life Science), and Haana Yu (2017, Life Science). LTC Luis Alvarez, PhD (1997), COL John Burpo, ScD (1992), LTC Rich Comitz, PhD (1996), Dawn Riegner, PhD, and J. Kenneth Wickiser, PhD (1992) accompanied the cadets to the event and participated in the leadership panel to discuss the different approaches the Academies take in the Chemistry education and research programs. COL Burpo, LTC Alvarez, and Dr. Wickiser also met with a program manager from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) to assess the role of Synthetic Biology and Metabolic Engineering in the curriculum of the Service Academies. Congratulations are in order for Cadets Aaron Alindogan and Brandon Konarik and their research advisor, Dr. Dawn Riegner, who placed as runners up in the poster competition. We enjoyed competing in this annual academic competition and look forward to next year’s event at the Coast Guard Academy.