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Dr. Kimberly Young-McLear is currently an Assistant Professor (Permanent Commissioned Teaching Staff) at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. She has served at a variety of Coast Guard units since 2003. She holds engineering and technical degrees from Florida A and M, Purdue, and The George Washington University (Ph.D in Systems Engineering). She has taught a breadth of courses including Operations and Project Management, Senior Capstone Design, Introduction to Computing, Crisis Mapping & Cybernetics, and Cybersecurity Risk Management. She has been instrumental in enhancing the inclusion of cybersecurity training and education program at the Academy for cadets and faculty. She has also been active in leveraging partnerships with the Department of Homeland Security, and Coast Guard C4IT, acquisitions, engineering, enterprise management, and research and development communities. LCDR Young-McLear has been instrumental in advancing the Coast Guard through STEM. She was selected as the 2017 Capt. Niels P. Thomsen Innovation Award for Cultural Change for her research in leveraging social media for large-scale disaster response during Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Her efforts contributed to the creation of new solutions for the 2018 hurricane season, including Hurricanes Florence and Michael. LCDR Young-McLear was a key thought leader for the development of the Coast Guard Academy’s first cyber undergraduate major. Furthermore as Vice Chair, she leads a multidisciplinary faculty Cyber Council to advance cyber curriculum and research at the Academy. Her research niche is focused on protecting critical infrastructure from cyber threats in the Maritime Domain. LCDR Young-McLear is also the program developer for NET21, a middle school outreach program, designed to systematically close STEM gaps amongst underrepresented students and teachers of color in the field of cybersecurity.

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Dr. Zelmanowitz is Dean of Engineering at the United States Coast Guard Academy and Professor of Civil Engineering. As an institutional change agent, she has catalyzed the formation of a USCGA diversity initiative inspired by the ASEE Engineering Deans Diversity Initiative and has brought faculty and stakeholders together to employ best practices to meet the the Coast Guard's urgent need for more engineers prepared for 21st century technical challenges. Her teaching, research, and capstone projects span a wide array of environmental issues including storm sewer and sanitary sewer redesign, shipboard wastewater treatment, constructed wetlands, and on-site wastewater treatment systems.

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Prior to joining the Coast Guard, Dr. James served with AmeriCorps*National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) as a Team Leader, he then graduated from USCG Boot Camp class Y-149 in 1996. CDR James attended New Mexico State University under the Coast Guard’s College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative (CSPI) program and worked as a Project Engineer at the Command and Control Engineering Center (C2CEN) and from there was selected for the Academy Instructor Masters program. Dr. James earned a Master’s of Science Degree from Columbia University, and began teaching at the academy in 2004. CDR James completed a his Doctorate in Plasma Physics at Columbia’s Plasma Physics Lab through Steven’s Institute of Technology in December 2008. Since then he has been the PI of the Coast Guard Academy Plasma Lab (CGAPL), Department Equity Officer, Science Lecture Coordinator, Internship Coordinator, Co-founder/Director for CGA’s Science Partnership for Innovation in Learning (Project SPIL), Genesis & Spectrum Council (CGA’s Black and Gay Student Unions) and the Science Department Diversity & Inclusion Officer. CDR James recently served as the Head of the Physics Section at the Coast Guard Academy, is a co-founder of the New London Freedom School, a Science Technology and Mathematics Magnet School Board Member, and Member of the Nuclear Energy Advisory Council for the state of CT, BEYA awardee, and is currently an AFIT Visiting Faculty Fellow in the Engineering Physics Department.

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LT Dani Brunswick is currently an Instructor at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. Their previous units include the Coast Guard Cutter VENTUROUS in St. Petersburg, FL and the Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Information Technology Department at Base Portsmouth, VA. They hold a Masters of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from Oregon State University where they focused on the application of control theory to ocean wave energy converters. In addition to currently teaching courses in the Electrical Engineering and Cyber Systems section at CGA, they also help assistant coach the Women’s Rugby team, co-advise the CGA LGBTQIA+ Spectrum Council, and is one of four action team leaders for the Engineering Dean’s Diversity Initiative, focusing on the health of climate. These action teams stem from a grassroots effort within the CGA’s School of Engineering to create a scalable approach to transform any work environment to meet the needs of a 21st century CG. Additionally, within the community of New London, CT, they volunteer for Step Up New London, whose mission is to support the power of Black and Brown parents fighting for justice and equity in the local education system.

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Thomas DeNucci is an Associate Professor of Ship Design at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT. He holds a D.Eng in Ship Design from the Technical Univeristy of Delft, Delft, the Netherlands.

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