COL Christa Chewar, Ph.D.

Colonel Christa Chewar is the Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Professor. She was commissioned into the U.S. Army Signal Corps after graduating from West Point 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. She commanded a basic training company at Fort Jackson, SC and then went on to attend Virginia Tech from 2001-2004, where she earned a Master of Science in Computer Science (2003) and Ph.D. (2005) before returning to West Point to teach in the Computer Science Program. 

Following her first teaching assignment, she served as the Data Chief for a DoD-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 West Point 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, COL Chewar was selected as a Professor, USMA and began service as the Deputy Head of EECS until assuming duties as Department Head in 2025.  She also serves as the Head Officer Representative for Women's Track and Field/Cross Country.   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.