COL Christa Chewar, Ph.D.

COL Christa Chewar is a professor and head of the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (EECS) at the United States Military Academy (USMA).

She was commissioned into the U.S. Army Signal Corps after graduating from USMA in 1995. Her first assignment was in the 44th Signal Battalion in Kaposvar, Hungary, and Mannheim, Germany, as a platoon leader, logistics officer, and plans officer. Chewar commanded a basic training company at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and then went on to attend Virginia Tech from 2001-2004, where she earned a master's degree in computer science (2003) and doctorate (2005) before returning to USMA to teach in the Computer Science program. 

Following her first teaching assignment, Chewar served as the data chief for a Department of Defense-level software acquisition program from 2008-2010, completed the Command and General Staff College, and deployed as the Iraq chief of an Army Cyber team in 2010-2011. She then returned to USMA for a second teaching assignment and directed the Computer Science program from 2014-2018 before attending the National Defense University's College of Information and Cyberspace as a Senior Service College Fellow.  

In 2019, Chewar was selected as an associate professor at USMA and served as deputy head of EECS before assuming duties as department head in 2025.  Her teaching includes directing the CS403 Software Testing and Development course as well as teaching in the core program.  Her research interests align with both the Robotics Research Center and Cyber Research Center. She also serves as the head officer representative for women's track and field/cross country.