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Congratulations to our 2023 Spring Quarter Graduates! 

 

Watch the Spring Quarter Graduation Ceremony live on June 16, 2023

SPG2023 Intro Program


Download the Spring Quarter Graduation program featuring more about students the school and their achievements – great keepsake!

>>Download the Program
 

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Graduation Videos

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2023 Spring Graduate Spotlight - Maj. Domonique Hittner, U.S. Army

#USArmy #USNavy #USMC

Maj. Domonique Hittner, a U.S. Army acquisitions officer, will receive her Ph.D. in Modeling, Virtual Environments and Simulations (MOVES) from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) this Friday. In addition to the demands of a Ph.D. program, Hittner served as chair of the NPS President’s Board for Student Affairs (PBSA). She was recognized for her efforts with the Rear Adm. Merrill W. Ruck Leadership Award in September 2022.

Hittner's research focused on asynchronous collaboration and developed a patent-pending prototype user interface for collaboration across different places and times to enable diverse communities of practice to contribute ideas specifically for defense acquisition.

“My research is a theoretical framework that can be implemented not only for DOD communities of practice who are domain-agnostic and technology-agnostic, but also for other industries outside the defense industrial base,” she said, referring to enabling business with non-traditional emerging technology companies.

She will be joined by her husband, U.S. Army Maj. Nick Hittner, who also earned his Ph.D. from MOVES. His doctoral research centered on multi-layered trust in automated systems – an area prioritized in the most recent National Defense Science and Technology Strategy. Both Hittners will be moving to the Washington, D.C. area for their next assignment.

“Three years after moving here – of course, during the pandemic – and raising our three kids, it’s just been very rewarding, getting to know all of our peers, the faculty and international partners and just being a part of this NPS community,” she said.

The Hittners are two of 349 NPS warrior-scholars who will mark the completion of their studies during the Spring Quarter Graduation ceremony, which begins Friday, June 16 at 10 a.m. Pacific (1 p.m. Eastern).

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2023 Spring Graduate Spotlight - Lt. Aubrey Jaicks, U.S. Navy

136 views Jun 13, 2023 #USMC #PTSD #graduation

Meet Lt. Aubrey Jaicks, a Naval Intelligence officer, who will graduate from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) this Friday with a master’s degree in Defense Analysis. Jaicks also earned the Highest Academic Achievement Award sponsored by the Monterey Navy League.

“My research focused what we can learn from different cultures and perspectives on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to help our people recover,” Jaicks said, “but also how we can make sure we’re keeping our people strong both mentally and physically.”

Jaicks’ research, the first of its kind, examined the body of existing work regarding trauma response in non-Western societies to explore the connections between PTSD and culture. Her work shed new light on alternative approaches to recognizing, diagnosing and informing potential treatments.

Before joining the Navy, Jaicks completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Rochester in New York, as a double-major in cognitive sciences and psychology.

“I’ve always had an interest in how people think, and that applies well to what I do as an Intel officer for the Navy,” said Jaicks, whose next assignment will be with the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) in Washington, D.C.

Jaicks is one of more than 350 NPS warrior-scholars who will mark the completion of their studies this Friday, June 16, during the 2023 Spring Quarter Graduation ceremony at 10 a.m. Pacific (1 p.m. Eastern).

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2023 Spring Graduate Spotlight - Lt. Col. Pedro Ortiz, U.S. Marine Corps

Jun 15, 2023 #USMC #USNavy #computerscience

U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Pedro Ortiz focused his Ph.D. dissertation at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) on helping to enable rapid, effective decision-making for commanders in an era of ever-increasing sensor data and uncertainty. Ortiz, who will receive his NPS doctorate in Computer Science on Friday, June 16, joins an elite group of graduates from the Marine Corps’ competitive Ph.D. Program (PHDP).

“I am very interested in applying artificial intelligence and machine learning to solve warfighter problems,” Ortiz said. “Ideally, I would like to be able to investigate a warfighting problem, posit some solutions, and lead the efforts to apply those solutions at operational units.”

Through the application of probabilistic models to massive satellite remote sensing data sets, Ortiz examined uncertainty quantification (UQ) methods that are pivotal in reducing the impact of uncertainty during optimization and decision-making processes.

Ortiz graduates with the distinction of being the first Hispanic Marine to earn his Ph.D. through the Corps’ prestigious PHDP-Technical (PHDP-T) program. In his next assignment, Ortiz will report to the DOD Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO).

“One of the main contributions I made was demystifying how to use this additional information for many scientific fields, essentially anywhere deep learning is being used today or might be used in the future,” Ortiz said.

Ortiz is one of 349 NPS warrior-scholars who will mark the completion of their studies during the Spring Quarter Graduation ceremony, which begins Friday, June 16,2023 at 10 a.m. Pacific (1 p.m. Eastern).

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2023 Spring Quarter Graduation - June 16, 2023 (full)

The Naval Postgraduate School celebrates its latest class of new alumni during the Spring Quarter Commencement ceremony, June 16, 2023.

Keynote speaker Gary Wipfler, who served as vice president and treasurer for Apple Inc. from 1997 to 2021, lauded the achievements of the quarter’s 349 graduates, among them six recipients of doctoral degrees and 25 international students representing 16 countries.

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2023 Spring Graduate Spotlight - Maj. Rukhsana Zenab, Pakistan Army

Pakistan Army Maj. Rukhsana Zenab will make history on Friday, June 16, as the first female officer from the Pakistan Armed Forces to graduate from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS). As a procurement officer for the world’s sixth largest military force, Zenab understands the challenges of finance, and she focused her NPS master’s degree studies in Defense Financial Management on developing an analysis framework to assess the financial stability of prospective defense contractors in Pakistan.

“I have seen that we face a lot of issues for the supply of defense stores, and I want to make a difference,” said Zenab. “So I worked to figure out how we can reduce the possibility of awarding contracts to the contractors who do not have the financial capability to perform [the work].”

Zenab was able to study at NPS as part of the U.S. government’s Strategy on Women, Peace and Security. Under this strategy, NPS and other U.S. military educational institutions support the participation of women in the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program, in proportion to their representation in host-country military sectors.

For her part, Zenab is appreciative of the support she has received from NPS, especially through the International Graduate Programs Office (IGPO), and characterized her experience at NPS as “spectacular, both from personal and professional perspectives.”

“Here, I was very well taken care of here and that is why I consider NPS as my second home now,” she said.

Zenab and 23 other international students from 16 allied and partner nations are among the 349 NPS warrior-scholars who will mark the completion of their studies during the Spring Quarter Graduation ceremony, which begins Friday, June 16, 2023 at 10 a.m. Pacific (1 p.m. Eastern).

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Graduation Story

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NPS Spring Quarter Graduates Embrace Change, Celebrate Teamwork

By MC2 Lenny Weston

With teamwork and the inevitability of change as central themes of the day, the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) recognized its 2023 Spring Quarter graduates on June 16 during a ceremony at King Hall Auditorium.

Keynote speaker Gary Wipfler, who served as vice president and treasurer for Apple Inc. from 1997 to 2021, lauded the achievements of the quarter’s 349 graduates, among them six recipients of doctoral degrees and 25 international students representing 16 countries.  Read more...

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2023 Spring Quarter Class

SPG2023 Class List

A total of 349 U.S. and international military officers, and DOD civilians, completed their studies this quarter. The Winter Quarter class includes 152 U.S. Navy graduates; 76 U.S. Marine Corps graduates; 37 U.S. Army graduates; 3 U.S. Coast Guard graduates; 12 U.S. Air Force graduates; 4 U.S. Naval Reserves; 39 DOD civilian graduates, and 25 international graduates representing 16 countries.

SPG2023 Ceremony
Spring 2023 Ceremony

Ceremony

SPG2023 Candids
Spring 2023 Candids

Candids

SPG2023 International Dinner
Spring 2023 International Dinner

International Dinner

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Spring 2023 DDM Group photo

DDM Group Photos

SPG2023 Awards
Spring 2023 Awards

Awards

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Spring 2023 PhD photos

PhD Photos

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Spring 2023 NWC

Naval War College

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2023 Spring Graduation Awards

SPG2023 Awards List

 

Congratulations to our Spring Quarter 2023 Awards Winners!

 

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Spring 2023 Highlights on Social Media

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Graduation Archive Link

 


For past graduations, please visit Graduation Archives online.