Cadet Internships 

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Purpose of the Program

The Systems Engineering Department sends cadets around the country and globe each summer to work with industry, Department of Defense, government, and academia. This program broadens our cadet’s perspectives and provides an opportunity to apply what they have learned in the classroom in the real world while making a valuable contribution to their internship organization.

Cadet Internships

Cadets intern for 3-4 weeks from May to August each summer. Interns are rising juniors or seniors majoring in one of our three Department majors: Systems Engineering, Engineering Management, or Operations Research. Cadet interns work on an appropriately scoped project under the supervision of an assigned organization mentor. They are expected to produce an appropriate deliverable and outbrief the senior leadership of the organization.

Sponsor Benefits

• Expose future Army officers to industry, DOD agencies, and research agencies that support the warfighter.
• Gain fresh perspectives and ideas from highly educated students that are versed in the latest in Systems Engineering methodologies, tools, and techniques.
• Ability to put manpower on a problem set that has been placed on the back burner because of day-to-day operations.
• Serve as a conduit into the USMA research network with the possibility for further research work on a year-long cadet senior project.

Cadet Benefits

• Cadets are able to observe how the Systems Engineering methodologies, tools, and techniques they have been taught are applied in world-class organizations...bringing classroom concepts to life.
• Cadets are exposed to industry, DOD agencies, and research agencies that support the warfighter.
• Cadets are challenged and developed academically.

People 

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LTC Paul Kucik ORCEN Director LTC Kucik is an Aviation officer with a PhD in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University. He has taught systems engineering and economics courses. His research interests include decision analysis and risk analysis.​	LTC Marc Wood DSE Analyst LTC Wood is an Aviation officer with a Masters in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Texas A&M University. He has taught combat modeling and stochastic modeling courses. His research interests include business systems and simulation.​
MAJ Shannon Whiteman DSE Analyst MAJ Whiteman is a Quartermaster officer with a Masters in Systems Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School. She has taught systems acquisition management and systems modeling courses. Her research interests include health systems analysis and costing models.​	MAJ Kristina Richardson DSE Analyst MAJ Richardson is an Aviation Officer with a Masters in Engineering and Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has taught several Systems and Engineering Management courses. Her research interests include business systems, risk analysis, and technology strategy.​
Mr. Gene Lesinski ORCEN XO Mr. Lesinski is a retired Infantry officer with a Masters in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia. He has taught numerous core Math and Systems courses. His research interests include assessment and simulation-based decision aids.​	Mr. Gene Lesinski ORCEN XO Mr. Lesinski is a retired Infantry officer with a Masters in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia. He has taught numerous core Math and Systems courses. His research interests include assessment and simulation-based decision aids.​

Past Analysts

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• ORCEN Personnel - 2011

• ORCEN Personnel - 2010

• ORCEN Personnel - 2009

Technical Reports

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• ARFORGEN BOG:Dwell Simulation

• Base Camp Design Simulation Training

• A Closed-Form Approximation of Revisit Rate for Low-Altitude Spacecraft

• Officer Accessions Flow Model

• Analysis of Unit and Individual BOG:Dwell in Steady-State ARFORGEN

• Swarming UAS II

• WholeSoldier Performance: A Value-Focused Model of Soldier Quality

Publications

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Journal Papers

Dees, R., Dabkowski, M., and Parnell, G., “Decision-Focused Transformation of Additive Value Models to Improve Communication”, Decision Analysis, published online before print March 1, 2010.

Kucik, Paul and William Skimmyhorn. “Shaping the International Environment through Diplomacy, Information, and Military Posture.” Chapter 11 in American National Security, 6th Ed., The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009.

Kwinn, M. J., and Steve Gauthier. “MORS Workshop: Warrior Analysts - How Can We Be Better Combat Multipliers?,” Phalanx, June 2007.

O’Hara, Thomas E., Kays, James L., and Farr, John V., “The Installation Status Report,” Journal of Infrastructure Systems, American Society of Civil Engineers, Volume 3, No. 2, pp 87-92, June, 1997.

Kucik, Paul and Elisabeth Paté-Cornell. “Counterinsurgency: A risk-based analysis of different strategies.” Submitted for publication in Military Operations Research, May 2011.

Conference Papers

Dabkowski, Matthew, Samuel Huddleston, Paul Kucik, and David Lyle. “Shaping Senior Leader Officer Talent: How Personnel Management Decisions and Attrition Impact the Flow of Army Officer Talent Throughout the Officer Career Model.” Accepted for publication in Proceedings of the 2010 Winter Simulation Conference, December 2010

Dees, R., Parnell, G. and Dabkowski, M, “Decision-Focused Thinking: Providing Clarity Beyond Value-Focused Thinking,” 77th Military Operations Research Symposium, Fort Leavenworth, KS, June 18, 2009

Dees, R., Dabkowski, M., and Parnell, G., MacCalman, A., “Decision-Focused Transformation: Early Success and Software,” Institute for Operations Research and Management Science (INFORMS) National Conference, San Diego, CA, October, 2009

Kucik, P., Vetter, R., “Utilities Privatization” 78th Military Operations Research Symposium, Quantico, VA, June 2010

Kucik, P., “Assessments in Counterinsurgency Operations”, Institute for Operations Research and Management Science (INFORMS) National Conference, San Diego, CA, October, 2009

Kucik, P. “A Systems Analysis of the A.Q. Khan Network”, Risk Management and Cyber-Informatics (RMCI), Orlando, FL, July, 2010

Teague, Edward B., Warner, Thomas R., Brown, Donald E., "Evaluating Infrastructure Resource Allocation in Support of Regional Stability" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyDMgRO90i8, 4th Annual International Conference on Next Generation Infrastructures, Old Dominion University, Virginia Beach, Virginia, November 16-18, 2011

Farr, John V., Sawser, Brian, and McDonald, Kenneth W., “Strategic Resource Identification and Prioritization Methodology for Nation Reconstruction,” 32th Annual American Society of Engineering Management Conference, Texas Tech University Lubbock, Texas, October 19-22, 2011

Sawser, Brian and Kucik, Paul “Integrating Adaptive Simulation into US Army Classrooms,” I/ITSEC Conference 2011.

Hughes, David, “Survey of Value-Focused Thinking: Applications, Research Developments, and Areas for Future Research.” Military Operations Research Society Symposium, June 2011.

Hughes, David, “Survey of Value-Focused Thinking: Applications, Research Developments, and Areas for Future Research.” Decision Analysis Affinity Group Conference, April 2011

Hughes, David, “ARFORGEN BOG: Dwell Simulation.” Western Economic Association Conference, July 2011.

Hughes, David, “Simulation of Personnel in ARFORGEN to Predict Effects of Structure, Policy, and Demand Changes.” Winter Simulation Conference, December 2011.

Kucik, P., Lesinski, G., McCarthy, D., “Conducting Assessments in an Irregular Warfare Environment” 79th Military Operations Research Symposium, Monterey, CA, June 2011.

Kucik, P., Dabkowski, M., “Shaping Senior Leader Officer Talent: How Personnel Management Decisions and Attrition Impact the Flow of Army Officer Talent Throughout the Officer Career Model” Department of Energy Critical Skills Workshop, Washington D.C., May 2011.

Kucik, P. “Project Portfolio Management when Projects Come in Over Time” INFORMS Annual Conference, Austin, TX, November 2010.

Kucik, P. “A Warfighter’s Guide to Counter-IED Analysis” Army Conference on Applied Statistics, Carey, NC, October 2010.

Kucik, P. “Strategic Assessment of Counterinsurgency Operations” US/Canada Operations Research Symposium, Kingston, ON, September 2010.

Kucik, P. “A Systems Analysis of the A.Q. Khan Network”, Risk Management and Cyber-Informatics (RMCI), Orlando, FL, July, 2010.

Lesinski, G., Pinter,J., “ARFORGEN Officer Flow Model,” 79th Military Operations Research Society Symposium, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, 22 June 2011.

Lesinski, G., Pinter,J., “Officer Accessions Flow Model,” FA49 Reserve Symposium, Washington, DC, 17 August 2011.

McDonald, Kenneth, J. Farr, B. Sawser, “Resource Prioritization Methodology to Support Strategic Investments in Afghanistan,” 79th Military Operations Research Society Symposium, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, 22 June 2011.

Chapters and Books

Kucik, Paul, Ch 7, Game Theoretic Risk Analysis of Security Threats, Springer Science and Business Media, 2009.

Enos, James R. and Kristina Richardson, “SM484: System Dynamics Simulation Course Reader,” McGraw Hill Companies, 2011.

Kucik, Paul, “Automobile Insurance.” The Armed Forces Guide to Personal Financial Planning, 7th Ed.

Kucik, Paul and Driscoll, Patrick, Chapter 3: "Systems Life Cycle", Decision Making in Systems Engineering and Management, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2ed, 2010.

XM25 Effectiveness Analysis

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Purpose

Using constructive simulation to examine the effectiveness of the XM-25 Counter Defilade Weapon System to assist with basis-of-issue analysis.

Objectives

• Incorporate classified data set within IWARS and run previously developed scenarios
• Develop Defense of a Strong Point and MOUT Attack Scenarios to conduct additional analysis of the effectiveness of the XM-25

Technical Approach

• Systems engineering approach
• Stakeholder Analysis
• Technical exchanges
• Constructive simulation to analyze XM-25 effectiveness

Deliverables

• XM-25 working in Infantry Warrior Simulator with counter defilade algorithm
• XM-25 versus current soldier carried counter defilade technology results
• Technical report

SOF Incentives Analysis

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Client: US Army Special Operations Command (USASOC)

Purpose

To analyze the intended goals of the system of special pays and incentives, in order to develop and analyze feasible alternatives, designed to meet both accession, retention, and skill proficiency goals of the organization's current and projected manning, resourcing, and mission requirements.

Objectives

• Investigate the “true pressure” on the force to analyze if the current special pays and entitlements are correct and/or sufficient for USASOC organizations.
• Using past accession, retention, and personnel resourcing data to determine if there is a correlation between the special pays offered and the number of soldiers accessing and being retained within USASOC organizations.

Technical Approach

• Systems engineering approach
• System Decision Process (SDP)
• Stakeholder analysis
• Historical data analysis
• Value models
• Analysis of incentives

Deliverable

• Performance metrics
• Quantification of benefits
• Staffing recommendation
• Technical report and briefings

ACSIM Requirements Determination

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Client: ACSIM

Purpose

To document, evaluate and where necessary recommend revised or new procedures for determining accurate requirements for the Base Operations Support Requirements Model (BRM) for future Program Objective Memorandum developments.

Objectives

• Formally define the problem
• Determine the needs that BRM must address
• Analyze entire BRM process (top down and bottom up)

Technical Approach

• Systems Engineering approach
• Stakeholder Analysis
• Historical process analysis
• Cost Benefit Analysis
• Monthly technical exchanges

Deliverables

• Assessment of current BRM top down and bottom up processes for selected services
• Pool of candidate solutions that address both top down and bottom up services
• Monthly status briefings
• Technical report

Geospatial Planning Aids

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Client: Army Geospatial Center

Purpose

Assist with the development of the Common Ground Architecture which melds advanced actionable geospatial products into the battle command process. Elements of Common Ground will be considered for incorporation into Programs of Record next year (CPOF, GCCS, DCGS, etc)

Objectives

• Develop user client interface of Common Ground with Northrop Grumman and George Mason Unv.
• Focus on major ideas within Common Ground
  • Engineered Knowledge – Enhance communication across service and echelon
  • Tactical Spatial Objects – Geospatial object extracted from terrain that describes military aspects of terrain, founded in doctrine
  • Digital Orders Process – Passing of digital objects during the orders process

Technical Approach

Phase I: Software Development

• Advise core structure of utilities
• Assist with work priorities
• User proxy for testing functionality

Phase II: Operational Utility Assessment

• Facilitate BTRA Evaluation (~Nov)
• Pilot Test at West Point (~May)
• Designing, Planning, Executing complete training package for all exercise participants

Deliverables

• Program of Instruction (OUA1) complete
• Program of Instruction (OUA2)
• Technical report (Aug ‘12

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Client: Quadrennial Defense Review Office

• Reduce cost
• Identify and manage risk
• Provide an attractive retirement plan for Service Members
• Enable retention of a first class all-volunteer force

• Apply the Systems Decision Process (SDP)
• Holistic problem definition
• Stakeholder Analysis & Value modeling
• Develop value focused alternatives
• Cost Analysis

• Functional and Value Models
• Retirement Alternatives
• Final Briefing/Technical Report

Current Research

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• ACSIM Requirements Determination

• Geospatial Planning Aids

• Retirement System Analysis

• SOF Incentives Analysis

• XM25 Effectiveness Analysis

Welcome to the Operations Research Center of Excellence

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The Operations Research Center of Excellence (ORCEN) provides full-time analytical capability to the United States Military Academy, the United States Army, and the Department of Defense.

 

Under the Direction of LTC Paul Kucik, The ORCEN provides projects to Academy faculty and cadets giving them the opportunity to investigate a wide range of interdisciplinary, systemic issues and to apply many of the operations research, systems engineering and engineering management concepts studied in the classroom. These projects demonstrate, for both cadets and faculty, the relevance and importance of operations research and systems engineering in today's high-technology Army.

 

Organized under the Office of the Dean as an Academy Center of Excellence, the ORCEN was originally sponsored by the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Financial Management & Comptroller) through a Memorandum of Agreement between the Department of Systems Engineering (DSE) and the Department of Mathematics (DMath). Its establishment was born of the need for developing research opportunities to enrich DSE and DMath education. Fully staffed since Academic Year 1990-1991, the Operations Research Center has made significant contributions to cadet education, faculty development, and the Army at large.

About ORCEN

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The Operations Research Center (ORCEN) was established in 1988 in order to leverage West Point’s analytical capabilities in support of the Army. A small cadre of full time analysts from the Systems Engineering Department and one analyst from the Department of Mathematical Sciences take on projects for various Army analytical agencies. This work not only supports the Army, but also provides a rich set of problems for faculty development and for potential transition to cadets in the education program.

Significant support for the ORCEN comes from Program Executive Office (PEO) – Soldier. With this support, the ORCEN has helped them with challenges such as developing simulation capabilities, analyzing design aspects of the Land Warrior command and control system, budget planning, and distribution of Rapid Fielding Initiative equipment for deploying soldiers. In addition to this work, the ORCEN performs reimbursable research in support of other Army and Department of Defense organization. It has developed competencies for a wide variety of analytical challenges, to include the following areas:

• Cost estimation studies
• Simulation studies
• Analysis of the Army personnel system
• Human factors experiments and analysis
• Simulation development and integration
• IT system requirements and prototyping
• Conditions based maintenance
• Unmanned aircraft systems analysis
• IED defeat studies

In order to support these advanced research projects, the Department of Systems Engineering’s lab complex provides capabilities for group collaboration, combat simulation, virtual immersion, information visualization, and secure classified computing.

The importance of systems in the military and the private sector is rapidly expanding. The study of systems has far reaching impact on joint readiness among the U.S. armed services. By leveraging the intellectual capital of our faculty members and cadets, the ORCEN established itself early on and continues to remain at the forefront of systems research in the Army.

Interested in Being a Sponsor? 

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Funding

Unlike typical interns, cadets cannot be paid a salary during their internship because they are technically federal employees, receiving a federal salary. Instead, we ask sponsoring agencies to cover the costs of travel, per diem, and lodging which can range between $4,500 to $6,500 for a three week experience. Industry partners provide funding via a tax-deductible donation to the installation non-profit (AOG).

Sponsor Feedback

“It is great to work with the future leaders of our Army-to show them products in the pipeline and have them work in an area that theymay recognize in the future as a product they helped deliver.”

“Outstanding students - Outstanding work.”

“Not only did the internship program allow cadets to learn about acquisition and the processes we manage, but also allows new ideas, thought and creative ideas for us.”

“The cadet internship program was a great opportunity for a group of cadets to take an objective look at a large and complex Army problem.”

“Our cadet intern was able to closely examine our production line and identify that we were generating 750 lbs of waste every 15 minutes - highlighting the potential for huge cost savings!”

Timeline

• Sep-Nov: Interested Organizations Sign-up
• Dec-Jan: Opportunities Advertized to Cadets
• Feb: Cadets matched to Opportunities
• End Feb: Cadet names and Funding Guidance
• sent to Organizations
• 1 Apr: Funding Deadline
• May-Aug: Internships

Contact Systems Engineering Internship Coordinator Gene Lesinski Tel: (845) 938-5897 Tel: (845) 729-3677 eugene.lesinski@usma.edu Sign-up Site: http://tinyurl.com/2012-AIAD-Interest