Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) celebrated the commissioning of 14 Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) Class of 2025 graduates.  

During a Joint Services Awards Ceremony held on May 8, 2025, Guest of Honor Brig. Gen. Matthew S. Allen, USAF, addressed cadre, cadets, midshipmen, and their families.

“A nation is about to place great responsibility onto your young shoulders,” said Allen, a seasoned Air Force officer and Director of Current Operations at U.S. Air Force Headquarters in Arlington, Va.  

The event honored graduating cadets and midshipmen from the Army, Navy, and Air Force programs, celebrating their leadership and service amid a national resurgence in military interest.

One of the graduating speakers was cadet Samuel Leung, an Air Force ROTC member who earned a degree in information technology and web science.

“When I first came to RPI, I had no intention of joining the military,” Leung told the audience of graduates and relatives. “I knew next to nothing about the military and didn't know that it was an option for me.”

Leung said he was first introduced to ROTC when he asked his roommate, a midshipman, about the uniforms in his closet and what he was doing up so early and coming back so late. “After a disastrous first semester, I decided to try something new,” Leung said. “I wouldn't have imagined myself doing any of this four years ago.” Leung, now 2nd Lt. Samuel Leung, was commissioned on May 9. He now trains as a combat systems officer in Pensacola, Fla.

Midshipman Dominic Smith, an aeronautical engineering graduate and future naval aviator, also addressed the audience, confessing his early doubts on his first trip to college. “I was terrified on the car ride from Massachusetts, unsure if this was right for me,” he said of enrolling in ROTC.

But he immediately bonded with his fellow midshipmen at RPI. “I can think of no greater group I’d rather face the world with together,” he said. “Sure, people might think that RPI is a bunch of strange, weird nerds, and I won't really dispute them on that. I still think that's true. But I do think what we share is pretty special.” Smith, now Ensign Dominic R. Smith, is headed to Naval Flight School in Pensacola, Fla.

On May 9, 2025, 12 RPI graduates were commissioned as officers in the U.S. Navy and Air Force. Capt. James R. Diefenderfer, commander of the Nuclear Power Training Unit in Ballston Spa, N.Y., and former captain of USS The Sullivans (DDG 68), served as the Navy’s commissioning officer and guest of honor.

Two additional graduates were commissioned into the U.S. Army on May 17, 2025, at Siena College, under the command of Lt. Col. Nicolas Ouimet, Mohawk Battalion commander.

U.S. Navy and Marine Corps

Ensign Marilla J. Bongiovanni 
Hometown: Chittenango, N.Y. 
Degree: Electrical Engineering 
Role: Submarine Warfare Officer 
First Duty Station: Nuclear Power School, Charleston, S.C.

Ensign Audrey C. Bors 
Hometown: Glen Gardner, N.J. 
Degree: Industrial Chemistry 
Role: Naval Reactors Engineer 
First Duty Station: Naval Reactors Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

Ensign Drew G. Brady 
Hometown: Sonoma, Calif. 
Degree: Industrial and Management Engineering 
Role: Surface Warfare Officer 
First Duty Station: Unmanned Surface Vessel Squadron 3, San Diego, Calif.

Ensign Paul A. Kingsbury 
Hometown: Denville, N.J. 
Degree: Civil Engineering 
Role: Submarine Warfare Officer 
First Duty Station: Nuclear Power School, Charleston, S.C.

2nd Lt. Molly A. McDonald 
Hometown: Swampscott, Mass. 
Degree: Mechanical Engineering 
Role: Marine Corps Aviator 
First Duty Station: The Basic School, Quantico, Va.

Ensign Dominic R. Smith 
Hometown: Braintree, Mass. 
Degree: Aeronautical Engineering 
Role: Student Naval Aviator 
First Duty Station: Naval Flight School, Pensacola, Fla.

Ensign Karl R. Veigl 
Hometown: Carle Place, N.Y. 
Degree: Biochemistry/Biophysics 
Role: Student Naval Aviator 
First Duty Station: Naval Flight School, Pensacola, Fla.

Ensign Christopher J. Waldrep 
Hometown: Jacksonville, Fla. 
Degree: Aeronautical Engineering 
Role: Student Naval Aviator 
First Duty Station: Naval Flight School, Pensacola, Fla.

U.S. Air Force

2nd Lt. Kevin Hughes 
Hometown: Lakeville, Mass. 
Degree: Aerospace Engineering 
Role: Aviator 
First Duty Station: Air Force Flight School, Vance Air Force Base, Enid, Okla.

2nd Lt. Samuel Leung 
Hometown: Albertson, N.Y. 
Degree: Information Technology and Web Science 
Role: Combat Systems Officer 
First Duty Station: Pensacola, Fla.

2nd Lt. Cara Nalbandian 
Hometown: Hopewell Junction, N.Y. 
Degree: Chemical Engineering 
Role: Intelligence Officer 
First Duty Station: Virginia Tech University for master’s in materials science and engineering, then Goodfellow Air Force Base, San Angelo, Texas

2nd Lt. Eric Huffman 
Hometown: Farmington, N.Y. 
Degree: Aeronautical Engineering 
Role: Civil Engineering Officer, assigned to Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado Springs, Colo., supporting Space Force operations

U.S. Army

2nd Lt. Aeryn Potocnak 
Hometown: Manassas, Va. 
Degree: Nuclear Engineering 
Role: Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Officer 
First Duty Station: Chemical Basic Officer Leader Course, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

2nd Lt. Colin Sook 
Hometown: Manassas, Va. 
Degrees: Industrial Engineering (B.S.), Systems Engineering (M. Eng.) 
Role: Engineer Officer 
First Duty Station: Engineer Officers Course, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

Lt. Col. Jake Miller, Detachment 550 commander and a special tactics officer hosting cadets from 15 regional partner institutions, emphasized the program’s impact.

“The ROTC program speaks to the service that these young men and women have embraced early in life, thinking about what they can do for others,” Miller said. “It’s not about personal success or how much money they can make. It’s about how they can take care of other people and make their environment better. It’s a testament that they found that calling early on, and who knows where it will take them.”

RPI’s ROTC programs, established in 1941, have commissioned thousands of officers across the Army, Navy, and Air Force. This legacy aligns with a national resurgence in military interest, with U.S. military recruitment up 12.5% in fiscal year 2024 and the Army on track to surpass its 61,000-recruit target for 2025, according to the Department of Defense.  

These elective programs blend leadership training with RPI’s technical curriculum, preparing graduates for roles like naval reactors engineer, exemplified by Ensign Audrey C. Bors, who said, “I’m looking forward to supporting our nuclear fleet at the Naval Nuclear Laboratory.”

RPI will dedicate a memorial to graduates killed in action since 1945 during Alumni Weekend in October 2025, in partnership with The Approach & Beyond Committee, a local non-profit. With military recruiting on the rise, RPI’s ROTC Class of 2025 carries forward a century-old tradition, ready to welcome a new cohort.

More information is available at the RPI ROTC website at https://rotc.rpi.edu.