Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Defense, an innovative new course, encourages dynamic student teams to develop solutions to critical United States Department of Defense and Intelligence Community problems that have been submitted by various sponsoring organizations.

The course, which combines engineering and entrepreneurship for critical defense applications, is open to both graduates and undergraduate students: ENGR 3195-034 for undergraduates and ENGR 5300-010 for graduates, referred to nationally as Hacking for Defense® (H4D).

The course uses a project-based approach to get students out of the classroom and into the community, engaging with defense industry professionals.

Organizers compare it to the College of Engineering’s undergraduate senior design capstone project “in miniature.”

“Students are not required to stick to any specific discipline,” says UConn-URI Navy STEM Coalition Graduate Fellow in Naval Security Alexander Grey. “Our goal is to make connections inside and outside of engineering in all fields.”

Grey says the course has a heavy focus on soft skills, round-table collaboration, and limitless imaginations.

By bringing together engineering, venture capital, and policymaking, students can solve real-world dilemmas faced by the military and defense contractors across the national security space.

In the course’s inauguration in the 2022-2023 academic year, students participated in a project for the Naval Information Warfare System Command (NIWC) – Atlantic. The project focused on satellite communications and their intel gathering limitations.

The Navy was looking for improvements because of limited receivable bandwidth and loss of signal or weak signal.

Engineering students Drew Cietek, Zachary Young, Matthew Li, John Santangelo, and Usama Sheikh needed to develop a modern solution that has more potential for growth, with flexibility, improved safety, and no size constraints.

The team created an innovative communications solution they called Husky Watch. It combines the phased rays, like those used in Starlink, with the advanced capabilities of drone technology.

“Having a mix of undergraduate and graduate students was really important,” says Cietek, a materials science and engineering Ph.D. candidate. “The undergraduate students really rose to the challenge and brought the project to a new level.”

H4D is one of several courses in the College of Engineering dedicated to innovation and entrepreneurship.

“Normally, I consider courses to fall into two categories: lectures or laboratories,” Cietek says. “But this course was something new: I would say it had a networking base. I have spent some time in industry, and this is the closest experience I’ve had to what a real industry problem would be like in the real world.”

According to H4D organizers, 850 problems have been addressed by more than 3,000 students nationwide. Those students have gone on to form 54 startups.

Organizers say the program allows program sponsors at the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community to increase the speed at which their organization solves specific, mission-critical problems.

The national H4D organization also offers an alumni network, something Cietek says has been very beneficial to him.

Grey encourages students to register for the fall 2024 course.

No prerequisites are required, however, undergraduate students would find the course most beneficial if they were at a junior or senior level.

For students interested in registering for the course, or for businesses and organizations interested in sponsoring a project, contact UConn-URI Navy STEM Coalition Graduate Fellow in Naval Security Alexander Grey at grey@uconn.edu.   For information about NIUVT, contact NIUVT Global Programs Director Lisa Donegan at lisa.donegan@uconn.edu. 

The H4D program is powered by BMNT, Inc. and the Common Mission Project.