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Applications have now closed for Spring 2023.
D4D is open to students from any discipline or major. Enrollment is limited; application required. APPLICATION LINK
Overview
Designing for Defense is a semester-long course at leading United States universities that provides United States Department of Defense (DoD) leaders with the opportunity to collaborate with talented student teams to develop innovative solutions to their most pressing national security problems. This course is run in collaboration with many U.S. national security organizations that connect university students with impactful DoD problems.
Designing For Defense
ASEN 5519 - CSCI 5550 - CYBR 5550
Spring 2023 - Class time: Wednesdays 5:45pm-8:15pm
November Info Sessions
Wednesdays at 10:00 a.m.
Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87465372015?from=addon
Thursdays at 2:00 p.m.
Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89295520785?from=addon
*No info session on Thanksgiving Day.
Sundays at 5:00 p.m.
Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83239233647?from=addon
Course Overview
In D4D courses, interdisciplinary student teams are provided with real-world national security problems sourced from DoD and governmental agencies such as NASA. Then, student teams are instructed in, and apply, Lean Startup principles in order to iteratively develop and test potential solutions. By the end of the course, student teams will have conducted at least 100 stakeholder interviews and developed a “minimally viable product,” MVP, that addresses the needs of their DoD problem sponsor.
For students, D4D represents an unparalleled opportunity to work on real-world national security problems in close collaboration with DoD personnel and agencies. For problem sponsors, involvement in D4D is a force multiplier for their toughest problems. By the end of the course, sponsors will be provided with a MVP that aims to address their needs in addition to receiving significant new, creative, outside thinking on their problem topic.