Cadets travel to different areas which may include: Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Washington State, California, and the Marshall Islands to collect field data in support of an NGA funded research project focused on geographic profiling, survey, and data analysis for mobility applications. Cadets on this AIAD will work with various USMA faculty members on real-world geospatial issues.

The Department of Defense provides funding for Humanitarian Assistance (HA) Foreign Disaster Relief (FDR), and Humanitarian Mine Action (HMA) through the Overseas Humanitarian, Disaster, and Civic Aid (OHDACA) appropriation. Within USAFRICOM, these projects are supervised by the Humanitarian Assistance branch in the J56. HA projects completed within the last five years must be evaluated on a biennial basis to ensure they are accomplishing their desired goals and reflect positively on the US military. 

This inspection process is known as Country Program Monitoring (CPM). Cadets will perform several assessments in South Africa in support of USAFRICOM's CPM initiatives, while experiencing the cultures and landscapes of Sub-Saharan Africa.

This multi-faceted, interdisciplinary opportunity will first involve the examination of severe weather preparedness exercises between military installations and local communities at multiple military installations in an effort to identify best practices. Further, this experience will involve both the prediction and observation of severe weather, two important topics underemphasized at USMA. The AIAD will serve as a tremendous development opportunity for both Cadets and faculty alike, and interviews conducted at various installations may be used to update a project submitted to the Air Force Weather Operations Directorate which identified a list of best practices for severe weather preparedness at DoD installations most at risk for severe weather impacts.

USMA faculty and cadets will travel to the remote village of Point Hope, AK and Point Lay, AK to investigate coastal erosion and permafrost degradation. Point Hope is the oldest continuously inhabited site on the North American continent with Iñupiat occupying the region for at least 2,500 years. The USMA team will be onsite in Point Hope for approx. 1-week conducing drone flights, terrain surveys, and interacting with the local indigenous community. A primary goal of this project is to provide guidance documents and tutorials to assist the Point Hope community with future citizen science initiatives focused on monitoring of their changing coastline.

Learn Geology in the Field! Conducted in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, this for-credit AIAD substitutes in curriculum for Physical Geology (EV388A). Primary emphasis is on learning to identify minerals and rocks to then apply this knowledge to analyze and understand significant geologic processes. Topics include plate tectonics, geologic mapping, field methods, and mining and petroleum engineering. Cadets will be evaluated based on a field mapping project, WPRs, peer-led field discussions (similar to Staff Ride briefings), a final exam, and a graded field notebook.