LTC William C. Graves, Ph.D.

LTC William (Chris) Graves is an assistant professor and academic counselor in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York.

He graduated from USMA in 2003 with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the infantry and subsequently completed the Infantry Officer Basic Course, Ranger School, Airborne School, and the Infantry Mortar Leader Course.

Upon completion of his initial training, Graves was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. While there, he served as a rifle platoon leader in A Company, 2-506th and later as a light infantry scout platoon leader for the entirety of a combat deployment to Baghdad, Iraq. After returning from his first combat tour, he attended Special Forces Assessment and Selection, the Maneuver Captains Career Course, and the Special Forces Qualification Course, after which he was assigned to the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Campbell. 

During his time at 5th Group, Graves commanded two Special Forces Operational Detachment-Alpha teams and conducted multiple deployments, including a combat tour to Iraq and a combat tour to Afghanistan. At this point, he was selected to return to USMA to serve as an instructor in the former Department of Civil & Mechanical Engineering, now Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. 

En route to his USMA teaching assignment, Graves earned a master's degree in environmental fluid mechanics and hydrology from Stanford University. While assigned to West Point, he taught classes in thermodynamics, hydrology and hydraulic design, and introductory solid mechanics, and he also served as the assistant coach of the USMA target pistol team. After his first tour at West Point, Graves was assigned to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, where he led a research and development program that developed novel technologies for combating terrorism. 

Graves is a graduate of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, where he received his doctorate in structural engineering before returning to West Point, where he currently serves as an academy professor. He continues to teach courses in statics, mechanics of materials, and construction management while conducting ongoing research projects related to residual capacity assessment of damaged infrastructure via remote sensing technologies.