Midshipman Andrew Tresansky is a senior at U.S. Naval Academy
Midshipman 1st Class (senior) Andrew Tresansky, of Robbinsville, was recently selected to participate in the Naval Academy Trident Scholars Program.
Tresansky, a 2009 graduate of Notre Dame High School and a mechanical engineering major at the Naval Academy, will investigate heat transfer and damage mechanics in laser irradiated materials.
Tresansky will be supervised by Associate Professor Peter Joyce and Assistant Professor Joshua Radice from the Naval Academy Mechanical Engineering Department; and will also collaborate with Dr. Robert Cozzens at the Naval Research Lab and Dr. Christopher Lloyd at the Naval Surface Warfare Center.
The Trident Scholars Program was instituted in 1963 to provide an opportunity for a limited number of exceptional students to engage in independent study during their senior year.
Under this program, midshipmen in the top 10 percent of their class at the end of their first semester junior year are invited to submit proposed research projects. Following an assessment of each scholar’s project accomplishments the Trident Scholar Committee will recommend a single scholar to receive the Naval Intelligence Harry E. Ward Trident Scholar prize.
”The Trident Scholar Program provides a unique educational opportunity for talented midshipmen who want to expand their knowledge beyond the classroom, immerse themselves in a research topic, and contribute in a significant way to their chosen fields of study,” said Professor Maria Schroeder, head of USNA’s Trident Scholar Program.
Founded in 1845, the U.S. Naval Academy today is a prestigious four-year service academy that prepares midshipmen morally, mentally and physically to be professional officers in the naval service. More than 4,400 men and women representing every state in the U.S. and several foreign countries make up the student body, known as the Brigade of Midshipmen.
Midshipmen learn from military and civilian instructors and participate in intercollegiate varsity sports and extracurricular activities. They also study subjects like small arms, drill, seamanship and navigation, tactics, naval engineering and weapons, leadership, ethics and military law. Upon graduation, midshipmen earn a Bachelor of Science degree in a choice of 23 different subject majors and go on to serve at least five years of service as commissioned officers in the U.S. Navy or U.S. Marine Corps.

