Col. Steven Knepper, professor and Bruce C. Gottwald Jr. ’81 Chair for Academic Excellence in the Department of English, Rhetoric, and Humanistic Studies at Virginia Military Institute, recently won first place in three endowed categories of the Poetry Society of Virginia’s (PSV) annual contest.

Col. Andrew Luna, director of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness (OIE) at Virginia Military Institute, holds the distinct honor of being the only person to receive the Southern Association of Institutional Research’s (SAIR) Best Paper Award five times since its inception in 1980.

Col. Glenn Sullivan, associate professor, and Maj. Michael LaRocca, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, are concerned with those statistics, and have received a $150,000 grant from the Virginia Department of Veterans Services to conduct research on veteran suicide prevention.

Col. James C. Squire, the Jamison-Payne professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Military Institute, has been named one of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) and Dominion Energy’s 2025 Outstanding Faculty.

Col. Dimplekumar Chalishajar, professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics recently celebrated his 121st peer reviewed research publication, surpassing his achievement of 100, just twelve months ago.

Mattie Quesenberry Smith, Ph.D., instructor in the Department of English, Rhetoric, and Humanistic Studies at Virginia Military Institute, was recently appointed the commonwealth’s new poet laureate by Governor Glenn Youngkin.

When the Nobel Prize winners were announced recently in Stockholm, Sweden, a cheer went up nearly 7,000 miles away from faculty members at Virginia Military Institute as the world recognized the importance of technology embraced by professors and cadets in classes on post.

A new research study comparing the exercise habits between four populations: VMI cadets, VMI alumni, W&L students, and W&L alumni, both in the short- and long-term, is being conducted by Maj. Katherine Baur, assistant professor in the Department of Human Performance and Wellness at VMI.

Maj. Megan Roosevelt, assistant professor in the Department of International Studies and Political Science at Virginia Military Institute, will discuss what drives anti-immigrant attitudes in the United States and Europe on the public radio program, “With Good Reason,” Oct. 19-26.

Maj. Molly Kent, assistant professor in the Department of Biology, will discuss the level of stress in rats based on their home and lifestyle, and what these lessons have taught her about human stress, on the public radio program, “With Good Reason,” Sept. 7-14.