Gordian Knot Center Scholar Program
The 21st century is experiencing seismic changes in how society operates: from new technologies, novel ways of organizing a more diverse talent base, and new mindsets toward problem solving. Fields are being rapidly disrupted, and none more so than national security. Traditional national security organizations are falling behind the relentlessly accelerating pace of change; governments, legacy businesses, and nonprofits need new ideas and they are looking for the best and the brightest to help them. In short, they are looking for you.
The Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation’s (GKC) Defense Innovation Scholars program offers selected students interested in the intersection of technology, innovation, and national security real-world training and projects on cutting-edge national security problems. Selected participants will:
work with mentors from academia, industry, and the government to explore a relevant national security topic;
attend regular training workshops and GKC programming related to topics of national security, innovation, and great power competition; and
present relevant findings from their individual projects to select national security stakeholders across government, industry, and academia.
In support of the above training and mentoring opportunities, students will receive stipends to empower them to dedicate their time to this endeavor. Students will be expected to dedicate a minimum of 10 hours per week to this program. The program will commence week 3 of Winter Quarter and successful participants will be invited to re-up for the Spring Quarter.
GKC is looking for a diverse range of students—across backgrounds, degree programs, majors, and experience levels—joined by a shared passion to solve some of society’s hardest problems. Students may come to the program eager to further explore existing research or be interested in starting a new project. Participants need not be Stanford students as the Center will seek to expand opportunities to partner institutions’ students.
The application can be found here. The deadline is Sunday, January 16, 11:59 PM PT. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.