JSA Mass Atrocity Prevention Symposium

Two teams from Applied Systems Design attended and presented their work at the annual Joint Service Academy (JSA) Mass Atrocity Prevention Symposium at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The cadets worked as teams throughout the semester long capstone project to apply systems engineering techniques they learned. Cadets Nette Monaus, Jacob Reynolds. Matthew Kelley and Kianna Duncan applied systems thinking to analyze mass atrocities upstream and midstream of occurrence and develop courses of action for each. Ultimately, their project sought to provide decision makers a tangible way to weight the tradeoffs associated with timing of interventions. Cadets Emily Gray, Tyler Cox, Trevor Weech and Aaron Katzman tackled the complex problem of identifying potential early warning signs in economic indicators of an impending atrocity. Their research found statistical significance in a handful of variables that provide a foundation for future work into a robust early warning system that will identify at risk regions with ample time for the international community to choose to act. The presentations were attended by cadets and midshipmen as well as experts in the field of mass atrocity prevention.