Vanderbilt University launches Institute of National Security to counter threats and cultivate leaders

Vanderbilt University announced today the launch of its Institute of National Security, led by Paul M. Nakasone, former director of the National Security Agency, former commander of U.S. Cyber Command and retired four-star general.

Founding director Paul M. Nakasone

The institute emerged from Vanderbilt's rich history of collaboration with the defense community, aerospace industry and cyber domain, building upon the success of its annual Summit on Modern Conflict and Emerging Threats. This high-profile event, which attracts top military officials and leaders in the U.S. intelligence community, has catalyzed cooperation across the national security landscape. By bridging academia and practice, the institute aims to address complex security challenges through innovative research and strategic partnerships.

The Institute of National Security was created to help the government and military combat evolving threats and develop the next generation of national security leaders. "Meeting today's national security challenges will require a new spirit of radical collaboration," Chancellor Daniel Diermeier said. "We need military officers that understand cyberspace and engineers that understand national security. We need interdisciplinary approaches that bring together diverse lenses of law, computer science and engineering. That's precisely what we do at Vanderbilt."

Initial funding was provided by Discovery Vanderbilt. "Including this institute in the Discovery Vanderbilt portfolio strengthens our ability to address one of the world's most pressing issues-national security," said C. Cybele Raver, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. "By leveraging our resources and expertise, we can contribute to cutting-edge solutions that enhance security and resilience on a global scale."

Executive director Professor Douglas Adams

The institute will be housed in Vanderbilt's renowned School of Engineering, but it will emphasize involvement from faculty, staff and students across all schools and colleges, including engineering, medicine, education, business, law, humanities and, soon, connected computing. Douglas Adams, the Daniel F. Flowers Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, will serve as the first executive director.

The institute is the first in the national security industry to bring together so many disciplines to solve national security challenges. Founding director Nakasone and his team will align these efforts for a common purpose: a safe and secure United States.

Protecting America through educating, innovating, convening and advising the national security community

Today's national security threats embody a greater degree of scope, scale, sophistication and speed than ever before. Traditionally, national security was focused on protecting a nation's sovereignty and borders from foreign adversaries through military might and strategic alliances, but the landscape has changed dramatically in the past five years. The rise of China, growing authoritarianism and borderless threats like terrorism, cybersecurity, global pandemics, climate change and fentanyl poisoning require immediate attention and focus.

These challenges are too vast and complex for government alone; Vanderbilt, with its focus on cross-disciplinary collaboration, is uniquely adept at catalyzing collaboration for solving large-scale societal challenges at speed.

Educate national security leaders with immersive learning

Professor Holly Tucker, right, with Immersion Vanderbilt students (Harrison McClary/Vanderbilt)

The Vanderbilt University Institute of National Security prioritizes cross-disciplinary education, with instruction by national security experts and faculty from across Vanderbilt, to prepare a new generation of leaders equipped with both technical skills and leadership abilities. The institute will expand educational opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and professional students with coursework, degrees, internships, research, professional certifications and student immersion programs.

The launch of the institute is timely to address one of our nation's most pressing national security challenges: a talent crisis. In a message published by the White House, Seeyew Mo, the assistant national cyber director for cyber workforce, training and education, wrote: "In our increasingly digital world, demand for cyber talent is only going to grow. We are at a crucial point where we all must work together-across the federal government, private sector, academia and nonprofits, and other stakeholders."

The need for national security experts already is growing exponentially, and 60 percent of the current national security workforce are Baby Boomers that will retire in the next decade. Only 7 percent are younger than 30.

Vanderbilt is answering the call. "Our institute will harness this generational synergy to not only address current challenges, but also create the future of collaborative national security leaders that approach problems with a multidisciplinary approach," Nakasone said. "National security offers students a career with a broader sense of purpose and a chance to be part of something much larger than themselves."

Innovate with partners for user-inspired solutions with real-time speed

A collaborative, multidisciplinary approach is in Vanderbilt's DNA. "The problems that the institute seeks to solve are massive in scale, but Vanderbilt has deep expertise in critical areas for national security, including energy, food, water, human health, engineering, climate and, importantly, artificial intelligence," said Krishnendu Roy, Bruce and Bridgitt Evans Dean of the School of Engineering and University Distinguished Professor at Vanderbilt University. "Collaboration is how we can solve very complex problems much faster. The multidisciplinary approach ensures that our solutions have lasting value for national security."

In the past five years alone, Vanderbilt faculty have successfully completed several prominent national security projects with the U.S. military:

• Vanderbilt engineers and soldiers collaborated to create the Advanced Dynamic Spectrum Reconnaissance device, which detects and analyzes the electromagnetic emissions from an adversary's devices as well as their own. The joint efforts of faculty members Adam Jay Harrison and Peter Volgyesi and their labs yielded a solution to detect and neutralize signal interference that is now operational globally and fortifies communication channels in the field.
• A multidisciplinary team led by Associate Professor Karl Zelik created an exoskeleton that augments soldiers' strength and endurance for lifting heavier loads, like artillery. This groundbreaking technology was commercially developed by HeroWear and deployed at Fort Campbell and other Army installations.
• Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Tonia Rex from the School of Medicine worked with Adams to develop a solution that dampens repetitive percussion and low-level blasts in aircraft to protect military personnel from short- and long-term brain impairment. The vibration-reducing technology that they invented has already undergone testing in Black Hawk helicopters.

"We have established a new model for research and development that is user-inspired and embeds the researcher with stakeholders in the field like active-duty military service members," Adams said. "This approach has quickly provided transformative solutions for military service members and also advances national security interests."

Convene national security thought leaders to share pressing challenges

Since 2021, Vanderbilt has hosted the Summit on Modern Conflict and Emerging Threats. According to attendees, Vanderbilt did something that government could not do on its own-create an opportunity for national security experts to gather and discuss the complex challenges that cut across disciplines so they could find solutions together.

The summit had an immediate impact on collaboration. In just a few years it has become the premier event for building alliances among national security leaders, including directors of the FBI, NSA, CIA, EPA, DOD, DARPA, military and representatives of the White House. The Institute of National Security will create more opportunities to convene partners in government, business and academia at summits, conferences and lectures around the world.

"The exchange of ideas that began with the summit will fuel the institute's collaborative problem-solving," Diermeier said. "Together, we will accelerate innovation and be better prepared for the rapidly evolving threats against the United States and its allies."

Advise leaders and deploy experts to speed response to evolving threats

Many years of working with the U.S. military and intelligence agencies has given Vanderbilt faculty, staff and students the expertise to deliver the tools and insights that the national security community needs to adapt quickly to evolving threats. Agility is crucial, and the institute will place a strong emphasis on AI, cybersecurity and intelligence for accelerating strategic decision-making.

"With a culture of collaborating across disciplines to solve tough challenges, an ethos rooted in service and a long history of partnering with the defense and aerospace sector, Vanderbilt University and our institute are uniquely positioned to have a significant impact on protecting the United States and our military service people, while we prepare the right type of leader for a new era of national security," Nakasone said.

Nakasone also holds a Distinguished Research Professorship of Engineering Science and Management within the Vanderbilt School of Engineering and is a special advisor on national security to the chancellor.

Students, faculty, government agencies, academic institutions and companies interested in working with the Institute of National Security can explore its website. Exact dates for the spring 2025 Summit on Modern Conflict and Emerging Threats will be announced soon. Stay abreast of the latest news by following the institute on LinkedIn.

Watch the premiere Institute of National Security launch video, here:

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