Special Achievements - Computer Science
NPS Computer Science Department Faculty and Student Recognition
Cynthia Irvine appointed as the SCO Chair at NPS
Aug 2023
Distinguished Prof Cynthia Irvine has recently been appointed as the SCO (Strategic Capabilities Office) Chair at NPS. The SCO, an organization with the Office of the Secretary of Defense, serves as a senior advisor to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense with respect to strategic capabilities development. NPS will assist SCO in developing and evaluating near-term emerging technologies for investment toward prototyping and experimentation. Prof Irvine's appointment follows an MOA that NPS and SCO signed earlier this year.
Peter Denning elected to Academia Europaea as a foreign member
Aug 2023
Distinguished Prof Peter Denning was elected in 2023 to Academia Europaea as a foreign member. This international academy is dedicated to the advancement and propagation of excellence in scholarship in the humanities, law, the economic, social, and political sciences, mathematics, medicine, and all branches of natural and technological sciences anywhere in the world for the public benefit and for the advancement of the education of the public of all ages. The aim of the Academy is to promote European research, advise governments and international organizations in scientific matters, and further interdisciplinary and international research.
Britta Hale contributed to the design of a new IETF standard - Messaging Layer Security (MLS) protocol
Aug 2023
Prof Britta Hale has contributed to the design of the Messaging Layer Security (MLS) protocol, a new international standard at the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). MLS – now also known by its standard identifier RFC 9420 – offers not only end-to-end encryption but also cutting edge security guarantees such as Forward Secrecy and Post-Compromise Security. Moreover, unlike its predecessors, MLS is specifically designed for scalability and is the first standardized multi-device (group) protocol offering end-to-end encryption. NPS students have tested MLS on a variety of unmanned systems and are currently assessing use cases across several operational domains.
Dr. Bret Michael
1 Jan, 2023
Dr. Bret Michael became an IEEE Fellow, with the accompanying citation: for contributions to the protection of critical infrastructure. The IEEE Fellow is one of the most prestigious honors of the IEEE, and is bestowed upon a very limited number of Senior Members who have contributed importantly to the advancement or application of engineering, science and technology bringing significant value to our society. The number of IEEE Fellows elevated in a year is no more than one-tenth of one percent of the total IEEE voting membership.
Dr. Bret Michael
Oct 2021
Prof Bret Michael has been selected to receive the IEEE Reliability Society Lifetime Achievement Award. He will receive the award in January at the Annual Symposium on Reliability and Maintainability. Further information on the award is available at Awards - IEEE Reliability Society
Larry (Clay) Greunke (MOVES) and Chris Angelopoulos (ITACS)
19 Oct, 2021
Patent Award for Quantitative quality assurance for mixed reality. US Patent was granted to Larry (Clay) Greunke (MOVES) and Chris Angelopoulos (ITACS). Patent info can be found here: https://patents.justia.com/patent/11138805
Dr. Peter Denning
Oct 2021
Peter Denning has been named a Sigma Xi Fellow. Sigma Xi is the professional society for scientific research. Dr. Denning wrote the Science of Computing column for Sigma Xi 1984-1993 to present computing concepts in ways that other scientists could appreciate and value. Dr. Denning has continued to write articles for them on subjects such as AI learning machines, reversible computation, and about great principles of computing.
Dr. Britta Hale
02 June, 2021
Dr. Hale was awarded the 2021 NPS Foundation/U.S. Naval Institute Annual Essay Context Award for her work entitled "Escaping the Innovation Bunker."
A jointly sponsored award between the NPS Foundation and U.S. Naval Institute to encourage writing for publication and critical thinking that best advances the military profession. Congratulations and well done!
HacktheMachine Heavy Metal Design Inspiration Award
02 June, 2021
For exemplary performance in the demonstration of advanced metallic 3D printing capabilities during the 2021 HacktheMachine competition. The team’s contributions serve to accelerate the Navy’s efforts to incorporate on-demand metallic printing technologies aboard naval ships and shipyards to meet increasingly demanding procurement and maintenance timelines. Naval Postgraduate School Team members included:
- Christopher Clay, MAE Dept.
- David Dausen, MAE Dept.
- Dr. Britta Hale, CS Dept.
- LT William Kimberl, MAE student
- Dr. Claudia Luhrs, MAE Dept.
- Brandon Naylor, Energy Academic Group
- Dr. Amela Sadagic, CS Dept. / MOVES Institute
- Dr. Walter Smith (team lead), MAE Dept.
- Alexis Thoeny, MAE Dept.
The team's achievements are described in greater detail in the article linked here.
Maj Alexander White, USMC
02 June, 2021
Recipient of the Commander George L. Phillips Modeling, Virtual Environments, and Simulation Award - A Department level award, presented annually to acknowledge outstanding student academic excellence in the area of computer science. Intended to support the school’s mission of promoting educational excellence.
Thesis Title: "Interoperability of Networked Simulation Systems for Distributed Fire Support Coordination Training"
Thesis Advisors:
LT Thomas Carter
02 June, 2021
Recipient of the Fleet Cyber Command Award for Academic Achievement in Cyber Operations - A Cyber Academic Group Award, presented for outstanding academic performance, thesis quality & leadership.
Thesis Title: “Privacy Risk Assessment of a DON Digital Contract Tracing System Using the NIST Privacy Framework”
Thesis Advisor:
Dr. Amela Sadagic
19 April, 2021
Dr. Sadagic was awarded the 2021 Richard W. Hamming Annual Faculty Award for Interdisciplinary Achievement for work in the domains of virtual reality, augmented reality, human factors, multiuser collaborative environments, human performance evaluation, and additive manufacturing.
Awarded by the NPS Provost based upon recommendation of a committee of faculty. Congratulations and well done!
Dr. Peter Denning
02 Feb, 2021
Peter Denning is the recipient of the 2021 IEEE Computer Society Women of ENIAC Computer Pioneer Award for seminal contributions to virtual memory, the Internet infrastructure, and computing education.
This award is given for significant contributions to early concepts and developments in the electronic computer field, which have clearly advanced the state-of-the-art in computing for contributions which took place fifteen or more years earlier.
LT Andrew Pfau
3 Dec, 2020
Recipient of the Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper Computer Science Award - A Department level award, presented quarterly for excellence in Computer Science & outstanding academic performance, thesis quality & leadership.
Thesis Title: “Multi-Label Classification of Underwater Soundscapes Using Deep Convolutional Neural Networks”
Thesis Advisor:
Second Reader:
Mr. Peter Pommer
3 Dec, 2020
Recipient of the NPS Outstanding Academic Achievement Award for DoD Student - A university level award, presented quarterly to a graduating Department of Defense civilian student who has maintained an outstanding record at the Naval Postgraduate School as well as excelling in academic achievement, thesis research, professionalism, motivation, and community involvement.
Thesis Title: “Create and Implement a Distributed Ledger to Ensure Data Survivability Across an Autonomous System”
Thesis Advisors:
Dr. Peter Denning
22 Sept, 2020
Peter Denning (and former CS faculty member Ted Lewis) received a Best Paper award for "Uncertainty", which was published in Communications of ACM, Dec 2019. The selection was made by the editors of Best Writings on Mathematics 2020 (Princeton University Press) and the paper will be republished in that book.
A publicly available copy of "Uncertainty" is available here, which does not require an NPS IP address to access.
Capt Michael Troncoso, USMC
3 Sept, 2020
Recipient of the Gary Kildall Award for Computing Innovation - A Department level award, presented annually to acknowledge outstanding student academic excellence in the area of computer science. Intended to support the school’s mission of promoting educational excellence.
Thesis Title: “A Cryptographic Analysis of Bluetooth’s Human-Machine Authenticated Key Exchanges”
Thesis Advisors:
Capt Bandon Hee, USMC
3 Sept, 2020
Recipient of the Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper Computer Science Award - A Department level award, presented quarterly for excellence in Computer Science & outstanding academic performance, thesis quality & leadership.
Thesis Title: “Understanding the Adverse Effect of Accelerating Reinforcement Learning with Human Trainers”
Thesis Advisors:
Mr. Jeffrey Dougherty
3 Sept, 2020
Recipient of the NPS Outstanding Academic Achievement Award for DoD Student - A university level award, presented quarterly to a graduating Department of Defense civilian student who has maintained an outstanding record at the Naval Postgraduate School as well as excelling in academic achievement, thesis research, professionalism, motivation, and community involvement.
Thesis Title: “Evasion of Honeypot Detection Mechanisms Through Improved Interactivity of ICS-Based Systems”
Thesis Advisors:
Dr. Vinnie Monaco
16 July, 2020
Recipient of the Best Paper Award at the 2020 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2020) for his paper “Bug or Feature? Covert Impairments to Human Computer Interaction”.
His paper details how malicious changes to peripheral input events can alter human computer interaction. CHI award winners were determined through a selective process, and at most 1% of submissions can receive a Best Paper Award. Congratulations and well done!
Dr. Amela Sadagic
14 July, 2020
Appointment to the Editorial Board for "Frontiers in Virtual Reality, Section: Virtual Reality in Industry" and "PRESENCE: Virtual and Augmented Reality" journals.
These prestigious journals within the discipline of Modeling and Simulation serve as an important forum to advance the field. Dr. Sadagic's appointment to these Editorial Boards is a reflection of both her standing amongst her peers and leadership within the domain. Congratulations and well done!
Dr. Bret Michael
7 July, 2020
Appointment as an Associate Editor-in-Chief of Computer Magazine, the flagship publication of the IEEE Computer Society.
He will continue to serve as the editor of the Cybertrust column of the magazine. Bret also serves as an Associate Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Security & Privacy Magazine. Congratulations and well done!