Naval Postgraduate School

The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is a fully accredited research university operated by the United States Navy. Located in Monterey, California, it grants master's degrees, engineer's degrees and doctoral degrees. The school also offers research fellowship opportunities at the postdoctoral level through the National Research Council research associateship program.

Overview
The NPS student population is mostly active-duty officers from all branches of the U.S. military, although U.S. Government civilians and members of foreign militaries can also matriculate under a variety of programs. Most of the faculty are civilians.

The Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) serves a similar purpose. The United States Army does not have a similar institution, and instead sends its members to either NPS, AFIT or civilian institutions.

NPS and AFIT should not be confused with military staff college or war college. NPS and AFIT concentrate on topics traditionally associated with civilian graduate schools, focusing on their application to the military whereas staff colleges and war colleges concentrate instead on staff functions, civil-military affairs, tactics and strategy.

Under a recent joint agreement between the Air Force and Navy, and codified by the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission, AFIT and the Naval Postgraduate School have realigned their academic programs to reduce duplication, and both schools will be under the oversight of a common panel. As an example, Navy officers are sent to learn aeronautical engineering at AFIT, while Air Force officers learn meteorology at the Naval Postgraduate School. On November 27, 2012, Vice Admiral Daniel Oliver (retired) and provost Dr. Leonard Ferrari were relieved of duty by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus. A Navy press release cited findings from a Naval Inspector General investigation which included Oliver's misuse of standard contracting procedures to circumvent federal hiring and compensation authorities. The investigation also found that both Oliver and Ferrari "inappropriately accepted gifts from an independent private foundation organized to support the school".

Academic structure
NPS offers graduate programs through four graduate schools and twelve departments. The different schools and departments offer various PhD and M.S.-level degrees:


 * Graduate School of Business & Public Policy includes the departments:
 * 1) Acquisition Management
 * 2) Enterprise Management
 * 3) Financial Management
 * 4) Management
 * 5) Manpower and Economics
 * 6) Operations and Logistics Management


 * Graduate School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, includes the units:
 * 1) Applied Mathematics Department
 * 2) Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
 * 3) Mechanical and Astronautical Engineering Department
 * 4) Meteorology Department
 * 5) Oceanography Department
 * 6) Physics Department
 * 7) Systems Engineering Department
 * 8) Space Systems Academic Group
 * 9) Navigation Systems Engineering Institute
 * 10) Under Sea Warfare Systems Academic Committee
 * 11) Remote Sensing Center
 * 12) Spacecraft Robotics Laboratory


 * Graduate School of Operational & Information Sciences  includes the   departments:
 * 1) Computer Sciences
 * 2) Defense Analysis
 * 3) Information Sciences
 * 4) Operations Research


 * School of International Graduate Studies with multiple centers:
 * 1) National Security Affairs Academic Program
 * 2) Defense Resource Management Institute
 * 3) Center on Contemporary Conflict
 * 4) Center for Civil Military Relations
 * 5) Center for Stabilization Reconstruction and Studies
 * 6) Leadership Development and Education for Sustained Peace
 * 7) International Defense and Acquisition Resource Management
 * 8) Center for Homeland Defense and Security
 * 9) International Graduate Program Office
 * 10) Program for Culture & Conflict Studies
 * 11) Center for Homeland Defense & Security

NPS also operates an active distributed learning program, and executive education programs for US warfighters and civilian government employees.

History
On 9 June 1909, Secretary of the Navy George von L. Meyer signed General Order No. 27, establishing a school of marine engineering at Annapolis, Maryland.

On 31 October 1912, Meyer signed Navy General Order No. 233, which renamed the school the Postgraduate Department of the United States Naval Academy. The order established courses of study in ordnance and gunnery, electrical engineering, radio telegraphy, naval construction, and civil engineering and continued the program in marine engineering.

During World War II, Fleet Admiral Ernest King, chief of naval operations and commander-in-chief of both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets, established a commission to review the role of graduate education in the Navy. In 1945, Congress passed legislation to make the school a fully accredited, degree-granting graduate institution. Two years later, Congress adopted legislation authorizing the purchase of an independent campus for the school.

A postwar review team, which had examined 25 sites nationwide, had recommended the old Hotel Del Monte in Monterey as a new home for the Postgraduate School. During WWII, the Navy had leased the facilities, first for a pre-flight training school, then for part of the Electronics Training Program. Negotiations with the Del Monte Properties Company led to the purchase of the hotel and 627 acres (2.5 km²) of surrounding land for $2.13 million.

In December 1951, the Postgraduate School moved to Monterey. Today, the school has over 40 programs of study including highly regarded M.S and PhD programs in electrical and computer engineering (NRC Ranking 68, ), mechanical and astronautical engineering (NRC Ranking 30 ), systems engineering (ABET accredited and USNWR ranked  21st in the U.S. ), space systems and satellite engineering, physics, oceanography (NRC Ranking 22 ), meteorology, applied mathematics, computer science (NRC Ranking 83 ), operations research, business and public policy (AACSB and NASPAA accredited, US News ranking 45 ), international relations, and other disciplines, all with an emphasis on military applications.

The Space Systems Academic Group of the school has graduated thirty-three astronauts, more than any other graduate school in the country. the school is home to the Center for Information Systems Security Studies and Research (CISR) and the Center for Homeland Defense and Security (CHDS). CISR is America's foremost center for defense-related research and education in Information Assurance (IA), Inherently Trustworthy Systems (ITC), and defensive information warfare; and CHDS provides the first homeland security master's degree in the United States.

Notable Graduates

 * Wayne E. Meyer - class of '55 - Regarded as the "Father of Aegis".
 * Edgar Mitchell - class of '61 - Astronaut.
 * Gerald Carr - class of '61 - Astronaut.
 * Ronald Evans - class of '64 - Astronaut.
 * Paul Weitz - class of '64 - Astronaut.
 * Robert Overmyer - class of '64 - Astronaut.
 * Paul Weitz - class of '64 - Astronaut.
 * Eugene Cernan - class of '64 - Astronaut.
 * Jack Lousma - class of '65 - Astronaut.
 * James G. Roche - class of '66 - 20th Secretary of the Air Force.
 * Michael Smith - class of '68 - Astronaut.
 * Robert Springer - class of '71 - Astronaut.
 * Jon McBride - class of '71 - Astronaut.
 * David Leestma - class of '72 - Astronaut.
 * Thomas E. White - class of '74 - United States Secretary of the Army
 * Patricia A. Tracey - class of '74 - First woman to earn third star in the US Navy.
 * Gordon Eubanks - class of '76 - American microcomputer industry pioneer.
 * William H. McRaven - class of '77 - Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command.
 * David Hilmers - class of '78 - Astronaut.
 * Stan Arthur - class of '79 - Vice Chief of Naval Operations.
 * Michael Coats - class of '79 - Astronaut.
 * William S. Wallace - class of '80 - Commanding General, United States Army Training and Doctrine Command.
 * Winston Scott - class of '80 - Astronaut.
 * Keith B. Alexander - class of '83 - Director of the National Security Agency.
 * Harvey E. Johnson, Jr. - class of '83 - Chief Operating Officer of Federal Emergency Management Agency.
 * Michael Lopez-Alegria - class of '84 - Astronaut.
 * Kenneth S. Reightler, Jr. - class of '84 - Astronaut.
 * Mark E. Ferguson III - class of '84 - Vice Chief of Naval Operations.
 * Michael Mullen - class of '85 - 17th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
 * Mike Foreman - class of '86 - Astronaut.
 * Thomas R. Turner II - class of '86 - Commanding general of the United States Army North.
 * Kent Rominger - class of '87 - Astronaut.
 * Jeffrey Williams - class of '87 - Astronaut.
 * Justin McCarthy - class of '88 - U.S. Deputy Chief of Naval Operations.
 * Brent Jett - class of '89 - Astronaut.
 * Carlos Noriega - class of '90 - Astronaut.
 * Robert Curbeam - class of '90 - Astronaut.
 * Cecil D. Haney - class of '90 - Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet.
 * Scott Altman - class of '90 - Astronaut.
 * Dan Bursch - class of '91 - Astronaut.
 * Christopher Ferguson - class of '92 - Astronaut.
 * William McCool - class of '92 - Astronaut.
 * Lisa Nowak - class of '92 - Astronaut.
 * John Scott Redd - class of '93 - Director of the National Counterterrorism Center.
 * Mark Kelly - class of '94 - Astronaut.
 * Stephen Frick - class of '94 - Astronaut.
 * John Herrington - class of '95 - Astronaut.
 * Alan G. Poindexter - class of '95 - Astronaut.
 * Ken Ham - class of '96 - Astronaut.
 * Marcos Pontes - class of '98 - Astronaut.
 * Nancy E. Brown - class of ' -'99 Principal advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
 * Eric T. Olson - class of '00 - Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command.
 * Elizabeth Hight - class of '01 - Vice Director of the Defense Information Systems Agency.
 * Jan Tighe - class of '01 - Deputy Director of Operations for U.S. Cyber Command, first female IW flag officer.
 * Arthur K. Cebrowski - class of ' - Director of the Office of Force Transformation.
 * Lee F. Gunn - class of ' - Naval Inspector General USN.
 * Mark Weatherford - class of ' - first Deputy Under Secretary for Cybersecurity at the DHS.