Dr. Nathaniel Helminiak, Ph.D.

Dr. Nathaniel Helminiak is an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at associate director of the Center for Applied Engineering at the United States Military Academy.

He is a Wisconsin-born Marquette University engineer from a science and engineering family. During his acquisition of a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, Dr. Helminiak worked in a variety of undergraduate research positions, with a culminating three-story treehouse design and build project.

His master's degree work included the construction of a pneumatic accelerator, shooting materials of approximately 1 kilogram up to velocities of approximately 1 kilometer per second. Later work within his doctoral degree utilized this same scientific instrument to characterize the equation of state and strength properties of porous quartz.

At West Point, work progresses on investigating high-strain-rate phenomena at the West Point Ballistics Laboratory with a brand-new pneumatic accelerator. Topics of study include interior, exterior and terminal ballistics. Ongoing studies explore improving modern Army systems with the DEVCOM Armaments Center and assisting in the AMBITION (Additive Manufacturing and Ballistics Innovation for Technological Impact, Optimization and Novelty) project with DEVCOM ARL.

In his free time, Dr. Helminiak enjoys coding, collecting Hawaiian shirts, and spending time with family.