Tyler Faris
SUCCESS STORIES > HACKING FOR DEFENSE
Tyler Faris
Carnegie Mellon University, Fall 2023
Team F24, Streamlining Aircraft Refueling for Faster Turnaround Times
About Tyler
Tyler is an active-duty naval aviator and is completing his Master of Science in Public Policy & Management Program at Carnegie Mellon University.
Tyler’s team tackled Wheeler Army Airfield’s problem of how to better track and optimize fuel usage in order to reduce aircraft turnaround time. This problem resonated deeply with Tyler, who experienced the challenge of needing to wait for refueling firsthand during his time as an aviator. Based on feedback from beneficiaries during the course, the team discovered that the most pressing issue was actually a communication issue between fuelers and pilots rather than a fuel availability issue. To address this, the team built a program through Google that allows helicopter pilots to easily request refueling from 92F, and for 92F to easily track incoming requests. The sponsoring organization plans to implement a two-week trial of the MVP.
Interview
Q: What attracted you to the class?
T: In my aviation career, I observed a little bit of lack of innovation and acceptance to change. And so when I saw a class that was focused on working with Department of Defense partners to bring about new ideas, new projects, and change for the better, I thought this could be a really great set of skills to take back to my fellow service members.
I’ve observed that our civilian counterparts are generally more forward-leaning than the military. I think there are pros and cons to that mindset. For example, pilots practice something over and over as pilots which enables us to get really good at it, and there is a risk that people get really kind of complacent in what they know, and they struggle when huge changes, like changes in aircraft, are necessary. And I think they're a little bit resistant to trying new technologies sometimes, even though that's sort of the way of the future. It's a paradox, and I believed this class would be a great way to kind of explore that paradox in an academic setting without actually having to “force learn” it as we do many things when we're actually in the fleet.
Q: What value do you feel you got from taking this course?
T: I feel that the fresh, innovative methodologies, especially the Lean-based H4D process that we learned in this class will be really beneficial to active members who are currently serving, and I intend to bring them back to my units.
It took me a couple of weeks to learn the Army’s verbology and acronyms, which is a whole other language. But since I'm already used to the military's extensive use of acronyms and whatnot, I was less intimidated by asking what “such and such" means than the civilian team members who were struggling with what they should and shouldn’t know. And I just told them, ‘Hey, just ask.’ Even if you think you should know it, just ask them what it means, because the earlier we can break down those barriers, the sooner we can get to work on this. What shines through as a core fundamental of the class is to just ask the questions to the users frequently, early, and often. This mindset helped us get to what the problem sponsor wanted, quickly. I think that's one of my takeaways from this iterative process of the lean methodologies.
Interested in learning more about the H4 Alumni Network?
Claire Casalnova
SUCCESS STORIES > HACKING FOR DEFENSE
Claire Casalnova
Rochester Institute of Technology, H4D Spring 2021
Team CRATER, Catastrophic Resurgence Aiding Tomorrow’s Emergency Rescues
About Claire
Claire graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology in Fall 2021 with a dual BA/MS degree in Computer Science and Computing Security. She currently works as a Cybersecurity IT Specialist for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a part of the Department of Homeland Security. As part of the threat-hunting team, Claire works on incident response and threat hunting for a number of different customers. When not active on threat-hunting, she works on research development to improve their processes.
Claire’s Team CRATER originally tackled the National Geospatial Intelligency Agency’s problem of how to improve satellite imagery analysis to make it less manual and time-consuming. During the course, her team took this initial problem statement and narrowed it down to satellite analysis specifically for natural disaster prediction and prevention.
Claire joined the Common Mission Project at the Hacking for Defense Congressional Briefing on Thursday, April 20, 2023. There, she spoke to members of Congress about her H4D experience:
“The program experience for me was an exciting new way to approach learning and innovating all while providing value and ideas to government organizations and it had tremendously impacted my federal career in a positive way.”
Interview
Q: What value do you feel you got from taking this course?
A: "One of the things I benefit from the most in my day-to-day life now is the soft skills I developed while taking the H4D course. My presentation skills, and ability to create creative and engaging presentations, have made me much more effective when talking to clients. Making presentations week in and week out, presenting to peers, and getting feedback during the duration of the course was very valuable, and my ability to talk to people through interviews really helped me develop informed questions to get the answers I need.”
Q: How did the H4D program impact your thoughts about working in government?
A: "I was actually already working for the government when I took the course, as I was interning with the team I’m working on now, so the H4D program had no direct impact on my motivations to work in the government. However, taking the course allowed me to speak and converse with a number of individuals in government through the beneficiary discovery process. Through this, my team and I learned about government language, how to effectively work as a government employee, and more about how the government operates."
Interested in learning more about the H4 Alumni Network?
Alexandria Dwinell
SUCCESS STORIES > HACKING FOR DEFENSE
Alexandria Dwinell
Indiana University, H4D Fall 2022
Team Total Recall, Solving boredom and improving CBRN training
About Alexandria
Alexandria is currently a senior at Indiana University Bloomington pursuing a degree in International Studies with a concentration in Diplomacy, Security, and Governance in Europe and the US with a minor in Psychology and Italian Language Studies.
As part of the Hacking for Defense program at her university, Alexandria and her team, “Total Recall,” were tasked with improving chemical, biological, radioactive, and nuclear training (CBRN) at Ramstein Air Force Base. The team developed the idea of escape room-like training scenarios to pursue a better learning environment and higher retention rate of material. After observing that the existing training consisted of a 4-hour presentation and little to no hands-on instruction, Alexandria’s team recognized the need for a more interactive training module.
Currently, Team Total Recall is working to create a start-up with the help of their university, and has conducted basic test runs with the Air Force base, a training facility in New York, and the Indiana National Guard.
Alexandria is currently looking for internship and work-study opportunities in government agencies related to her passions.
Interview
Q: What career are you planning to pursue?
A: "I’ve actually been debating that question a lot. Policy is something I’ve been interested in, but currently I’m more interested in working on the human factor – human changes that need to be made in the policy realm. I learned a lot from my H4D experience that I can apply to my career aspirations, especially in regards to developing creative, viable ideas and solutions rather than just looking at existing policies. Specifically, I’m very passionate about helping combat human trafficking, and creating solutions for policy makers and law enforcement agencies in this realm.”
Q: What was the most memorable part of your H4 experience?
A: "Working with my teammates to create this product! We met every week to workshop and figure out what the main issue was rather than being satisfied with the initial problem statement. Conducting beneficiary discovery interviews with experts in the field was also a highlight, as I gained valuable networking skills. Our teaching team was very excited for our group’s progress and continues to be very supportive."
Interested in learning more about the H4 Alumni Network?
Alec Rothenberg
SUCCESS STORIES > HACKING FOR DEFENSE
Alec Rothenberg
University of Florida, H4D Fall 2022
Team Bird’s Eye Security, Improving threat assessment capabilities for rapid response
About Alec
Alec is currently a junior at the University of Florida pursuing a degree in Computer Science. As part of the Fall 2022 Hacking for Defense cohort, Alec’s team was given this initial problem statement: “Security forces personnel need an integrated holistic feed from security technology to improve threat assessment and more rapidly respond to threats.”
His team, “Bird’s Eye Security,” came up with a solution consisting of a Graphical User Interface on the front-end and a Structured Query Language (SQL) database on the back-end with the ability to generate a Nuisance and False Alarm Report (NAR-FAR) automatically. The Space Force expressed interest in implementing Team Bird’s Eye Security’s solution.
Alec is an Engineering Ambassador at the University of Florida and recently accepted an offer to join Lutron Electronics as a Software Engineering Intern for Summer 2023. He has a passion for Artificial Intelligence and hopes to pursue an engineering career in this growing field.
Interview
Q: What value do you feel you got from taking this course?
A: "I got a lot of value from the course, especially in terms of the unique team-environment it created. The H4D program fostered a high-pressure team environment where we had to deliver our ideas and products to actual sponsors instead of hypotheticals in a classroom setting. This led to me developing the necessary skills to communicate not just with other students, but people and professionals waiting on deliverables. Being able to work in a multidisciplinary team was also a valuable experience, as the H4D course brings students from different academic backgrounds together. Being exposed to the entrepreneurial side of national security was also very valuable.”
Q: How did the H4D program impact your thoughts about working in government?
A: "At the University of Florida, a large number of engineering students enter careers in private defense contracting. The beneficiary interviews we conducted during the H4D course exposed me to the public sector and it was really interesting to see how each field differs. The field I want to progress into is Artificial Intelligence (AI), and our government sponsors mentioned trying to obtain AI to model decisions to help them operate on base."
Interested in learning more about the H4 Alumni Network?
Kaliah Nainoa
SUCCESS STORIES > HACKING FOR DEFENSE
Kaliah Nainoa
University of Hawaii Manoa, H4D Spring 2022
Team Safeguard, Protect, and Defend (SPD), Improving active shooter training at shipyards
About Kaliah
Kaliah is an H4D alum and Civil Engineer major at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. She worked on a H4D project to improve safety for shipyard workers during active shooter situations. After 50 interviews, the team discovered that the true problem was not better locks, but to improve the existing online active shooter training. After the course, Kaliah completed an internship at Booz Allen Hamilton.
Interview
Q: How has your experience taking H4D influenced your career aspirations?
A: "Taking H4D without a doubt changed the trajectory of my college career and galvanized my appreciation for government service and mission driven professions. Thanks to this course and the amazing support and mentorship it provides, I will be continuing my growth with Booz Allen Hamilton for the Summer Games 2022.”
Q: How did the H4D course help you grow professionally?
A: "I was able to learn and apply real life skills that I will be able to utilize moving forward in my career. Some important skills that I learned that hold a lot of value to me are: learning to work with a team, outreach skills, project managing, and utilizing the lean methodology."
Interested in learning more about the H4 Alumni Network?
Perry Aggagram
SUCCESS STORIES > HACKING FOR DEFENSE
Perry Aggagram
Stanford University, H4D Spring 2019
Team Intellisense, Identifying vessels that were smuggling drugs through the California coastline
About Perry
Perry graduated from Stanford with Bachelors and Masters degrees in Electrical Engineering. He will be attending an Engineer Basic Officers Leadership Course after completing basic training and Officer Candidate School coursework in the United States Army.
Interview
Q: How did your H4D experience impact you and your career?
A: "I was really impressed by the commitment to the public good that people in the military showed and that inspired me after graduation to join the US Army. I am sure that going forward public service will not just be part of something that I did right now, but something that I will carry throughout my career.”
Q: What was your experience with the military before H4D?
A: "Beforehand, throughout my Stanford career, I would have never imagined that I would have joined the military. It was something very foreign to me. But Hacking for Defense reinforced to me how important it is that we all play our part in the public good of this country."
Interested in learning more about the H4 Alumni Network?
Frances Schroeder
SUCCESS STORIES > HACKING FOR DEFENSE
Frances Schroeder
Stanford University, H4D Spring 2021
Team Mongoose, Malicious cyber actors on disposable infrastructure
About Frances
Frances is an H4D alumni and a current senior at Stanford University. Along with her fellow teammates, she worked on a H4D project to combat malicious cyber actors on disposable infrastructure targeting government networks. By developing a technique to more quickly identify domains and IP addresses, Team Mongoose was able to help proactively track attackers.
Since H4D, Frances interned at the Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative and served as a Virtual Student Federal Service intern sponsored by the State Department, where she supported both technical and policy efforts regarding cyber security and transparency. As a senior, she is looking to the future and thinking about possible career paths at the intersection of technology and national security.
Interview
Q: How did you decide that you wanted a career in government?
A: “H4D was very influential in developing my career interests. I came to Stanford as a pre-med student, but when I took my first chemistry class, I realized that it wasn’t for me. From a young age, my family taught me the importance of public service, but I didn’t know where my place would be in public service. After my first CS class at Stanford, I started to really enjoy my technical courses, and I eventually found my way to the Symbolic Systems department, which provides the perfect balance of technical computer science courses and other disciplines such as psychology and linguistics. With a desire to serve the greater good, Hacking 4 Defense solidified my interest in the intersection of technology and national security, with a focus on cyber security and its importance to our government.”
Q: What value do you feel you got from taking this course?
A: “Through the completion of over 100 interviews in H4D, I was able to meet so many incredible individuals in our problem area, from government to private industry to academia. For some subject matter experts, we were able to have multiple interviews throughout the project and develop relationships with them. Through these connections, I was able to learn more about various fields and consider post-grad opportunities. I am grateful that I have kept in touch with members of the teaching team, my problem sponsors, and various interviewees, as we built a relationship around my H4D problem, and now I continue to receive career advice and encouragement.”
Q: As an undergraduate student, how was your experience working with graduate students?
A: “As the only undergraduate on a team of graduate students, at first I was slightly intimidated. However, the teaching team requires teams who apply to be diverse across the schools, and it became clear that undergraduates are an asset to the teams because we have new perspectives and investigate what often gets skimmed over by graduate students who may already have exposure to the problem or be intimidated by asking questions they think are too simple or basic. When I was attempting to tackle our problem, I was a fresh face in the world that I was diving into. I had no preconceived notions. There was so much to learn, but investing enough time and effort, we gained a lot of insight from each member of our team.”