CPT William Cooperider

CPT Will Cooperider is an instructor in the Department of Physics and Nuclear Engineering (PaNE) at the United States Military Academy (USMA). He graduated from USMA in 2016 with a bachelor's degree in physics.

He commissioned as an infantry officer and served as a rifle platoon leader, mortar platoon leader, and Headquarters Company executive officer with 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team in Vicenza, Italy, from 2017-20. He later served as the Brigade Air officer and Arctic Airborne Heavy Weapons Company commander with 2nd Brigade, 11th Arctic Airborne Division in Anchorage, Alaska, from 2020-23.

Following command, Cooperider earned a master's degree in aerospace engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, concentrating in hypersonic nonlinear optimal control. Upon graduation, he served as a flight test engineer for Hermeus Corporation, supporting subsystem testing and integration, flight dynamics, and flight test execution at Edwards Air Force Base, California, for the Quarterhorse Mk 1 Hypersonic Demonstrator Aircraft.

Cooperider’s military qualifications include Ranger Parachutist (5S), Senior Rated Jumpmaster (5W), Pathfinder (5Q), Strategic Studies Graduate (6Z), Arctic Skills Specialist (J1), Infantry Mortar Leader (3Z), SERE-C (High Risk), and Expert Infantryman. He is a member of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Society of Flight Test Engineers, and The Explorer’s Club.

He is married to Kat Altman. Cooperider is a skydiver, scuba diver, mountaineer, backcountry skier, and proud cat dad.