2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Academic Parallels from a Military Merit List

Presented at Military and Veterans Division (MVD) Technical Session 1

To explore the extent that military training can provide pedagogical insight, this research seeks to discover relationships between classroom (on-campus formative assessment) and “real world” performance (summer training summative assessment) for Army Cadets. This analysis examines data from three years of one program’s Army Reserve Officer Training Corps participants. We establish what factors on-campus correlate to Cadet Summer Training success.
The goal of this research is to spur a discussion about different assessments that could reflect real-world performance. Another goal of this research is to establish reasonable criteria for on-campus evaluation that most accurately predicts future Cadet Summer Training (CST) success. Discussions about resourcing and improvement of the on-campus assessment processes are also included. Of the available on-campus measurements, a Cadet’s leadership grade is hypothesized to provide the closest correlate to their level of success at CST, both in their final ranking, but also in their leadership evaluations.
Methodology included linear regression and logistical regression to identify relationships between on-campus evaluations and CST rankings. Different variables were analyzed against each other in multiple iterations and combinations to establish the results. Logistical regression was used to evaluate the impact of academic majors.
The results show that the most highly correlated variable was the Physical Fitness score of each Cadet. The article discusses different possible reasons for this relationship. Results also show moderate to weak relationships between academic performance and any event at Cadet Summer Training. These findings suggest that evaluations outside of a classroom environment could be more effective at predicting future real-world success.

Authors

Major Jason M Newell Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University [biography]

Major Newell is a Operations Research System Analyst for the United States Army (Functional Area 49). He previously served for 10 years as a Field Artillery Officer in multiple positions and served as cadre for the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Daytona Beach, FL) ROTC Program. He is currently stationed at Fort Leavenworth, KS as an analyst for the The Research and Analysis Center.
Bryan Watson http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2222-6716 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University [biography]

Bryan Watson, PE earned his Ph.D. at the Georgia Institute of Technology and his B.S. in Systems Engineering at the United States Naval Academy in 2009. After graduating, Bryan joined the nuclear Navy, serving as a submarine officer onboard the U.S.S Louisville and at the Naval Prototype Training Unit from 2009-2017. Significant milestones include earning the Master Training Specialist Certification (the military’s highest instructor accreditation), Nuclear Professional Engineer Certification, two Naval Achievement Medals, the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal, and a Naval Commendation Medal for his work troubleshooting and repairing the Moored Training Ship 635’s reactor and electrical distribution faults. Following his transition from active duty, Bryan earned his PhD as a member of both the Computation and Advancement of Sustainable Systems Lab, where he developed a new method for distributed system demand estimation, and at the Sustainable Design and Manufacturing lab, where his work focused on increasing System of System resilience. Bryan’s work has been published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology, Journal of Mechanical Design, and IEEE’s Systems Journal.

At Embry-Riddle, Bryan’s current work is focused on investigating the use of biologically inspired design to increase the resilience of modern system. The goal of their work is more reliable services to users, increased user safety, and increased sustainability for connected manufacturing, energy, and infrastructure systems.

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