Progress

Cadets conduct studies in the altitude chamber, which simulates the effect of the low oxygen found at high altitudes. The purchase of the chamber was made possible through a Jackson-Hope Grant.—VMI Photo by Kelly Nye.

Jackson-Hope: A Chance to Excel

By Mary Price, Associate Editor

Established over 20 years ago to encourage and sustain educational excellence and innovation, the Jackson-Hope Fund is a prominent example of visionary generosity directed toward the Institute.

As the 1990s ended and the 21st century was about to dawn, the VMI Alumni Agencies began planning a major capital campaign. Reveille: A Call to Excel would go on to raise $207 million, and, as part of that campaign, a group of alumni led by George C. Phillips Jr. ’60 and Lt. Gen. Josiah Bunting III ’63, then-superintendent, pondered how best to strengthen the Institute’s already rigorous academic program. Picking up on a trend in higher education that donors often like to help steward their funds, the Jackson-Hope Fund came into existence.

Part donor advised fund and part venture capital fund, the Jackson-Hope Fund has attracted gifts of more than $50 million since its inception and has supported a host of initiatives, all oriented toward cadet success and faculty development. The Jackson-Hope Board of Overseers, composed primarily of alumni, oversees the distribution of grants from the fund each year.

Thanks to the Jackson-Hope Fund, cadet support services such as Mathematics Education Resource Center and the VMI Center for Undergraduate Research first came into being, along with key programming at the Center for Leadership and Ethics, which advances the understanding, practice, and integration of leadership and character development at the Institute.

For cadets, the Jackson-Hope Fund is a vital source of support for independent research projects and off-post travel, both to present at conferences and to conduct research in places such as the National Archives, presidential libraries, and more.

“VCUR relies heavily on Jackson-Hope as well as other donations to private support,” noted Col. Scott Frein, Ph.D., director of VCUR.

For approximately two decades, that funding has supplied a stipend for select cadets who’ve chosen to stay in Lexington during the summer months and participate in the Summer Undergraduate Research Institute. SURI, which drew approximately 30 cadets in summer 2021, enables cadets to conduct research under the guidance of a faculty mentor. Information gleaned during summer research often becomes the start of a cadet’s Institute Honors thesis.

The five- to 10-week summer sessions are times of challenge, learning, and growth, many times helping cadets to realize that they are far more capable than they’d thought.

“I never thought I’d be able to write like that,” commented Cadet Noah Cady ’23, a psychology major who worked with Maj. Jillian Stuart, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology, last summer to explore how Twitter messages influence individuals’ decisions about receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. As a culmination of his project, Cady wrote a 50-page paper—the longest he’d written in his life.

Before that, Cady had never had an independent research experience. As a high schooler, he’d concentrated on football more than academics, and he’d never thought of himself as particularly academically inclined.

SURI changed that. Cady pushed past challenges, such as learning APA style for a paper, and he wrestled with IBM SPSS Statistics, which is software used for statistical analysis of data. He turned in drafts of his papers, got them back covered with red ink, and turned them back in for another round of editing.

“Research is really building a product,” he noted. “You have to do things

very detailed and do them correctly to come up with a paper at the end.”

Now, Cady is pondering his career options, with an eye toward public health, and considering graduate school.

“It was a huge eye-opener to see that this is what I’d be doing in grad school,” Cady stated.

The ability to stay on post was a blessing, as well, as Cady roomed in barracks and used the psychology department’s computer lab. “Being in an academic environment is nice for doing academic work,” he said.

Over the past few years, SURI projects have spanned the gamut from studying why women get involved in terrorist cells to determining what factors help migrants to Europe integrate well into their new homes. In the science labs, cadets have undertaken projects relating to sustainable fuels under the guidance of Lt. Col. Dan Harrison ’05, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry, and studied the effects of early environmental exposures on rat brains with mentorship from Maj. Molly Kent, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology.

Sometimes, a SURI cadet uses their Jackson-Hope funding to venture far afield—much farther afield than anyone might imagine. In summer 2019, Cameron McNeil ’20 traveled to Zimbabwe, formerly known as Rhodesia, to interview veterans of that nation’s civil war in preparation for writing his Institute Honors thesis, “A Zimbabwean Society Forged by War.”

The next spring, McNeil was the recipient of the Wilbur S. Hinman Jr. ’26 Research Award in the arts and humanities, which recognizes superior research performance by cadets. In his nomination of McNeil, Col. Mark F. Wilkinson, Ph.D., then-head of the history department, noted that McNeil was “operating at the graduate student level, not the undergraduate,” having already given multiple presentations at conferences aimed at professional historians and scholars of African studies.

A sub-program of SURI, the Applied and Industrial Mathematics program, also runs in the summer under the guidance of Col. John A. David, Ph.D., professor of applied mathematics. Cadets in the AIM program use their mathematical and data analysis skills to help solve a real-world problem for an area business or nonprofit agency, and their work culminates with both an oral presentation and a written report to leaders of that organization.

Of course, independent research is not confined to the summer months, nor is funding.

Each April, many cadets present their research at the Undergraduate Research Symposium. At the URS, cadets present posters showing research highlights while interested faculty members and fellow cadets walk by and ask questions. This year, there were approximately 75 cadet presenters from a wide variety of academic disciplines.

And one VMI invention with Jackson-Hope funding is on the cusp of being commercialized. The tick rover, which was developed by Col. Jim Squire, Ph.D., professor of electrical engineering, and Col. Jay Sullivan, Ph.D., professor of mechanical engineering, is now in the process of being brought to market. The device, which was invented to slow the spread of Lyme disease and other parasitic illnesses, is a robot that combs through grass, picks up ticks, and kills them. Over the past 15 years, dozens of cadets have contributed to the tick rover’s success, taking part in everything from conceptual planning to field testing to fine-tuning the device’s ability to stay within set boundaries.

This past fall, another Jackson-Hope-funded project got underway in the lab of Maj. Dan Baur, Ph.D., assistant professor of physical education. Baur, who teaches courses for the exercise science minor, used a JacksonHope grant to purchase an altitude chamber, which simulates the effect of the low oxygen found at high altitudes. He’s now using it in his military physiology course to study the effects of carrying heavy loads, as soldiers often do, at high altitudes.

Getting nearly $100,000 of funding for the equipment to carry out such an initiative is “nearly unheard of” at a school as small as VMI, Baur noted. “If you need equipment in a given year, we can almost certainly get it. ... We’re providing cadets with something that’s unique, maybe, in the country.”

Cadet Andrew Broecker ’22, a biology major and exercise science minor, took Baur’s exercise physiology course in the fall and has been working with Baur in the lab this spring. What’s more, he’s experienced the altitude chamber firsthand.

“It’s pretty brutal,” he commented, “but it’s definitely interesting to see how the altitude affects your body and how you adapt to it.”

Broecker is commissioning into the Army, but he hopes to pursue his interests in physiology by attending graduate school down the road, and he’s currently working on an Institute Honors thesis measuring internal versus external motivation to stay on a pullup bar.

Earlier in his cadetship, Broecker did a SURI project with Col. Anne Alerding, Ph.D., professor of biology, learning about what factors influence the growth of soybeans. In less than four years, he’s done things he couldn’t have imagined when he was graduating from high school in his native Indiana.

“Coming to VMI, I honestly didn’t know much about the academic side of things, especially with the biology and exercise science department, but it’s definitely been a blessing. It’s definitely opened my eyes and it’s been awesome to really fulfill and reach my potential because of all the tools that I’ve been given.”

On a broader scale, cadets from a wide variety of academic disciplines regularly travel to conferences such as the Southern Conference Undergraduate Research Forum to present their research to a wider audience and learn from peers. In fall 2021, 11 cadets and two faculty members made the trip to Spartanburg, South Carolina, to present at SURF.

Jackson-Hope funding is also a boon to the Institute’s faculty members. Jackson-Hope New Direction and Research Grants allow faculty to purchase equipment, redesign curricula, and keep up with cutting-edge research within their disciplines. Today, the fund provides more than 75% of the funds that the Institute commits to faculty development.

Thanks to the fund’s support, VMI faculty have developed e-textbooks for cadet use, studied the potential use of lasers for broadband signaling, and established a structures testing laboratory in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, among many other endeavors.

In addition to this, the Jackson-Hope Fund supports five chaired faculty positions, one in each of the Institute’s five divisions: Humanities, social sciences, life sciences, natural sciences, and engineering. The funds that would otherwise be spent on those faculty members’ salaries are reallocated across the entire faculty, providing a salary boost that would otherwise not be possible. Thanks to Jackson-Hope funding and other private support, approximately 16% of each faculty member’s salary now comes from private funds.

“For the VMI academic program, the Jackson-Hope Fund is truly transformational,” said Brig. Gen. Robert “Bob” Moreschi, Ph.D., deputy superintendent for academics and dean of the faculty. “From chaired faculty positions to faculty and cadet development, in 20-plus years, the Fund has provided more than $20 million in total academic support. Without the vision and generosity of alumni and friends, academics at VMI would simply not be able to maintain its level of excellence, year in and year out.”

Irvine: “It’s Our Obligation to Give Back”

By Christian Heilman, Digital Content Manager, and Mary Price, Associate Editor

Even though he’s not an alumnus himself, Carson Irvine sings VMI’s praises whenever he’s given a chance. After all, it’s easy to do when his alumnus son has racked up an eye-popping list of achievements less than a decade after graduation.

“VMI is an institution of higher education that will always give back to your son or daughter should they need help,” said Irvine. “They always have, and they always will. So, if [VMI] keeps giving to him ... it’s our obligation to give back. ... And if the parents can afford to do it even if they have to stretch a little bit, it’s a place you should give back because we’ve certainly gotten a lot from VMI.”

Irvine, a Roanoke, Virginia, businessman, has supported VMI ever since his son, Clark Irvine ’13, matriculated in 2009.

Neither Irvine nor his wife, Virginia, had any connection to the Institute or to the military, but as graduation from Hidden Valley High School neared for Clark, his father suggested that he take a look at VMI.

Irvine recalls telling his son, “You want to put VMI on your list just to check it off ... you might see something there that you like.”

The younger Irvine looked—and liked what he saw. “Clark had some spirit in him that said, ‘This is the school for me,’” his father recounted.

That initial look turned into an application, which quickly turned into an acceptance. “He had his application in on a Thursday and was accepted on a Saturday,” Irvine said. “I think he saw VMI as an opportunity to do something unique and different than what other schools might offer. And once he got there, he never looked back.”

Irvine said his son had three main goals while attending VMI: Achieving

academic excellence, serving as a citizen-soldier, and playing football as a cadet-athlete. The younger Irvine achieved all three. He ended his time at the Institute as a distinguished graduate with Institute Honors, double majoring in international studies and modern languages and cultures (Spanish), receiving the George C. Marshall award as a 1st Class cadet, and playing football for the Keydets as a long snapper after coming to the team as a walk-on. Even away from post, Clark was busy: During his cadetship, he completed internships with the office of U.S. Senator Mark Warner, the U.S. Supreme Court, and the Heritage Foundation—all possible because of the connections forged at VMI, Irvine ’13 according to his father. At graduation, Clark commissioned into the U.S. Army and served for six years with the 82nd Airborne Division, completing his service with a Ranger tab and the rank of captain. He’s also volunteered with nonprofits in Bolivia and Ecuador, and closer to home with Boys Home of Virginia in Covington, Virginia. “He’s had a roadmap, and he’s been on that roadmap ever since [VMI graduation],” said Irvine. After completing his Army career, Clark returned to school and received a master’s degree from Oxford University in Russian and European Studies. He’s currently getting a Master of Business Administration degree from the highly prestigious Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, while concurrently attending the Kennedy School of Public Policy at Harvard University for a master’s degree in public administration. The ability to attend those schools is no small feat—and one Clark’s father attributes to the fundamentals learned at VMI. “VMI had prepared him very well, in terms of time management and work ethic,” he said. “Getting up every morning, being the first one up and the last one to bed, and keeping yourself in shape both mentally and physically [was important]. “His resume is set up in a way that he’ll be successful for him and his family for the rest of his life. And for the rest of his life, he will be able to make that connection to VMI.” Irvine and his wife have been ardent supporters of VMI during and after their son’s time at the Institute. As he explained, “We have the opportunity to give money to other schools of higher education, and frankly, we choose not to.” Irvine is also giving his time by serving on the Keydet Club Board of Governors. While VMI started as a checkmark on a list, giving to the Institute is far more than that to Irvine. It is an emotional connection that is paying dividends in his son’s life. “And my mother always told me, she said, ‘Judge your success by the success of your children.’ So if that’s the case, with my son, I’m pretty successful,” Irvine said with a laugh. Carson Irvine, a Roanoke, Virginia, businessman, has supported VMI Success, it turns out, begets success: At the end of January 2022, Clark ever since his son, Clark Irvine ’13, matriculated in 2009. accepted a position with McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm.

Green ’18: “Find a Way to Pay it Forward”

By Scott Belliveau ’83, Communications Officer

Lt. Col. Linda Green

in nature. However, “her pride and joy was being able to trace our family’s genealogical history back to the Civil War and beyond and use what she uncovered to publish a book, ‘First, For the Duration: The Story of the Eighth (8th) Alabama Infantry.’”

Linda died in late 2020 and left Andrew an inheritance: The royalties from her books. Not long after learning what she had left him, Green decided to direct those royalties exclusively to VMI. When asked what drove this decision, he replied, “Since my matriculation, my aunt regularly donated to VMI. After learning about her consistent support—with her only connection to VMI really being me—I felt it would be proper to continue some sort of donation to VMI in her honor.”

Green decided to direct whatever money is generated by the royalties to scholarship support of the Corps of Cadets. “Pretty much every alumnus I’ve met has said the same thing: ‘Find

a way to pay it forward.’ As a cadet, I was able to benefit from some scholarships—which means the generosity of alumni and friends. ... If it helps some cadets in any way at all, I know my aunt would be proud.”

“Her main advice to me was to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, learn to deal with situations when they don’t go your way ... and just do the right thing—plain and simple.”

For many alumni, there is a person in their life who extolls the many virtues of a VMI education and encourages them to at least consider applying to the Institute. They can be friends, neighbors, or relatives, and often they are not among the Institute’s alumni.

When Andrew Green ’18 was considering colleges, he had one relative who urged him to consider a military education: His aunt, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Linda L. Green. But Linda wanted Green, her only nephew, to attend the U.S. Military Academy. “She was a career Army logistics officer, and she actually taught U.S. history there for several years,” he said. “For as long as I can remember, her goal was for me to attend West Point.”

Green, however, had other plans when it came to college. “After touring several colleges and after spending overnight in barracks at an open house,” he recalled, “I knew I wanted to attend VMI. I was attracted by the history, tradition, academics, and truly unordinary lifestyle of the Corps.”

His aunt’s reaction to his decision? “As soon as I received my acceptance letter from VMI, she was just as thrilled and over the moon.”

She also offered some guidance. “Her main advice to me was to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, learn to deal with situations when they don’t go your way, keep your head on a swivel, and just do the right thing—plain and simple.”

Judging from Green’s recounting of the lessons he learned as a cadet, he heeded his aunt’s advice. “Probably more than anything, I learned how to deal with adversity on all levels—physically, academically, emotionally—especially during the Rat Line. I also learned the meaning of true loyalty and brotherhood; my best friends to this day are still from VMI. And then lastly, to never be content with where you’re at and to keep pushing yourself for new challenges.”

Green certainly is no stranger to taking on new challenges. After working for Bloomberg LP’s data analytics department for three years, he recently became an associate for JPMorgan

Chase & Co. Asset Management in New York City. In that role, he helps manage day-to-day cash flows, portfolio rebalancing, performance reporting, and other tasks for more than $150 billion in assets under management for the company’s U.S. equities division.

In May 2018, Green’s aunt, then age 70, drove from her home in Alabama to Lexington for his graduation. “Over the course of my four years at VMI, she worked tirelessly to be able to fit into a brand-new set of dress blues to wear on post and during the ceremony.” She was successful in her effort, and wearing the uniform provided her with a wonderful experience. “I distinctly remember her sheer amazement at the respect she was shown by everyone on post, notably by the cadets, saluting as they would walk by her.”

After her Army career, Linda devoted much of her time to writing. Besides textbooks about logistics, she produced books that were the product of her genealogical research. “Her way of documenting and archiving her research was through writing books,” said Green. Many of them were historical references or genealogical