Students Provided Talent, Delivered Results to DoD during 2024 Fellowship
NSIN Fellowship mission partners and students shared the unique opportunities to work together this summer on national security challenges.
Students from across the nation helped solve national security challenges this summer through the 2024 National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) X-Force Fellowship, working within operational military commands to develop prototypes and gather technical and entrepreneurial skills. The NSIN X-Force Fellowship provides undergraduate and graduate students with problem solving skills, data collection opportunities and experience collaborating in team environments, all while fostering a strong interest in both national and international defense.
This summer, 115 students from 58 universities supported Army, Air Force, Navy, Space Force, and Marine Corps partners on 48 national security projects. Of these projects, teams worked on satellites to evade detection of ground or space-based sensors, design and manufacturing of full-scale models of different military vehicles made from corrugated plastic, and implementation of net-zero energy distributed systems to deliver cargo.
“The collaborative efforts and innovative thinking within our team have not only advanced our project but also deepened my appreciation for the interdisciplinary nature of research and development in national defense,” noted X-Force Fellow Burak Agun.
Pursuing a degree in aerospace and applied engineering at Iowa State University, Agun supported Naval Surface Warfare Center - Crane Division (NSWC Crane) investigating the radiation hardness of various devices and materials and determining their suitability for extreme environments like space. His team’s findings led the group of fellows to explore the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to automate their research, which provided a valuable asset for future research.
X-Force provides mission partners both with exceptional talent and opportunities to mentor students interested in the defense industry. One partner, Maneuver Battle Lab (MBL), which provides live testing and experimentation with simulation capabilities to support the warfighter and unit modernization efforts, engaged the technical talents of Zachariah Davis, a dual major in data science and applied statistics at Purdue University.
Davis and another X-Force fellow helped modernize MBL’s data reduction code for more efficient and faster processing. The immediate impact of their work led to MBL Simulation Team Manager Cindy Dunn to propose a new data scientist position at MBL, which Davis was hired for at the end of the fellowship.
“I can’t say enough good things about this program. This is our first year, partnering with NSIN and the fellows have had a major impact on our workforce and on our day-to-day operations,” said Dunn.
Davis and Agun both experienced how X-Force offers a unique glimpse into the day-to-day realities of working in national security, “I definitely would highly recommend the X-Force program to a current student or recent graduate,” Davis explained. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to have, as opposed to previous internships I’ve had. Sometimes, you try to solve a problem without the proper tools, and you come to an unsatisfying solution. With X-Force, seeing that your work has an impact is awesome.”
Watch X-Force Fellows discuss their experiences more in depth on our Youtube channel.
If you are an alumni of the X-Force fellowship, please join us on our NSIN Alumni LinkedIn page.
The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) strengthens national security by accelerating the adoption of commercial technology in the Department of Defense and bolstering our allied and national security innovation bases. DIU partners with organizations across the DoD to rapidly prototype and field dual-use capabilities that solve operational challenges at speed and scale. With offices in Silicon Valley, Boston, Austin, Chicago and Washington, D.C., DIU is the Department’s gateway to leading technology companies across the country.
About National Security Innovation Network
NSIN is a component of the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), a U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) program office. We are set up to collaborate with a wide variety of innovators to include universities, researchers, students, entrepreneurs and start-ups. We create opportunities for collaboration across communities and connect those that might not traditionally work in national security. Together, we help drive national security innovation and develop technologies that directly support the individuals responsible for protecting our country.
For more information or interview requests with Team NSIN, please contact us at [email protected].