Andrew Bernas

Squad Leader: - Led and mentored 8 midshipmen in academics, fitness, and professional development. - Maintained accountability and fostered small-unit leadership. Company Academics Officer: - Oversaw academic support and performance for ~120 midshipmen. - Provided academic counseling and trained squad leaders on support resources. Fireteam Leader: - Led three fireteams, ensuring accountability, training, and professional standards. Company Finance Officer: - Conducted financial literacy training for ~120 midshipmen. - Provided instruction on investing, retirement planning, and military benefits. Youngster Mentor: - Mentored two 4/C midshipmen through their transition to Academy life. - Supported academic, physical, and professional development.

- Researched and developed algorithms for autonomous UAV landing on naval vessels in GPS-denied environments. - Integrated computer vision techniques to enhance UAV localization and navigation under degraded sensing conditions. - Conducted testing and evaluation of vision-based landing pipelines, contributing to the advancement of resilient shipboard UAV operations. - Collaborated with engineers on UAV–ship integration challenges, focusing on robustness, safety, and real-world deployment.

- Security Clearance: Granted TOP SECRET (TS) / Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) clearance - Banner Grabbing Toolkit: Designed and implemented a comprehensive toolkit that efficiently queries model names, firmware versions, and system information from routers based on a list of IP addresses, significantly enhancing the speed and accuracy of network security assessments. - Team Leadership: Directed a cross-functional team of five computer scientists and data scientists in collaboration with the CIA to develop a network mapping visualizer. The tool parsed large datasets from compromised networks and transformed them into intuitive visual models, empowering senior leadership to make data-driven decisions with greater clarity and insight. - Data Parsing Tool: Engineered a highly efficient data parsing tool that structured unformatted raw data from infiltrated networks into organized spreadsheets, streamlining analysis workflows for data scientists and increasing the speed and effectiveness of critical data reviews.

- Mentored and guided over 3,250 middle school students from across the Chesapeake region - Led and facilitated hands-on classroom and field activities covering biotechnology, engineering design, applied math, flight principles, chemistry, mechanics, electricity, circuits, and physics - Fostered critical thinking, perseverance, and confidence in students while introducing them to real-world STEM careers and applications

- Conducted research under Professor Tsachy Weissman on the development of an Olfactory Communication System (OCS) - Collaborated with three multidisciplinary teams comprising 12 researchers across engineering and neuroscience domains - Designed system architecture for scent detection and synthesis, integrating signal processing and chemical emission technologies - Investigated the cognitive and physiological effects of olfactory stimuli on memory retention, stress reduction, infection recovery, and attention regulation

-Instructed over 30 high school students on diverse engineering topics, including soldering, circuit design, microcontrollers, microcomputers, and programming. -Delivered lectures on drone technology, covering principles of operation and various applications in modern society.

GPA: 3.99 / 4.0 Academic Rank: 11th Graduated with Distinction