The purpose of this memorandum is to solicit interested Army and Navy organizations to participate in a unique, mission-focused, cyber-spectrum experiential student internship program for first-year VICEROY undergraduate students. Known as MAVEN, the program is sponsored by OUSD(R&E) and executed by the Air Force Research Lab Information Directorate (AFRL/RI). MAVEN rapidly reached full enrollment capacity for summer 2023, highlighting the desire for such a program in DoD and offering the prospect of expansion to interested Army and Navy organizations in summer 2024. Background information about the program, benefits, and available financial resources are provided below and within the accompanying attachments. Organizations are requested to respond to this memo with their interest by 12 May 2023 with a point of contact and information about your organization’s existing summer internship program features and constraints. Applicants will be contacted by 31 May 2023 for follow-up discussion and final determination of eligibility.

Background: Section 1640 of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for FY2019 authorizes the Secretary of Defense to carry out a “Program to Establish Cyber Institutes at Institutions of High Learning for purposes of accelerating and focusing the development of foundational expertise in critical cyber operational skills for future military and civilian leaders.” In response, OUSD(R&E) established the Virtual Institutes for Cyber and Electromagnetic Spectrum Research and Employ (VICEROY) program in collaboration with AFRL and the Griffiss Institute (GI). VICEROY targets Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) and DoD-minded civilian students pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Cyber Security, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, and Information Technology. The program aims to excite VICEROY students about solving unique DoD research and operational problems, while learning about the exceptional benefits of a DoD career. VICEROY provides students with advanced cyber course work, certificates, workshops, and high-stakes/high-impact experiential learning opportunities. VICEROY currently operates six virtual institutes comprised of 22 institutions and plans to double those number in FY23.

VICEROY MAVEN places these first-year undergraduate students into an eight-week summer experiential internship at a DoD R&D organization. There, MAVEN focuses on cultivating leadership, writing, and speaking skills while educating and training interns in cyber and electromagnetic spectrum operations fundamentals. MAVEN bridges a critical first-year student knowledge gap by jump-starting their introduction to cyber-spectrum concepts and technologies, as well as unique DoD challenges and culture. Interns study the cyber threats, potential vulnerabilities, and risk mitigations of DoD mission systems including Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) and satellites. MAVEN interns also work with AFRL mentors on cyber-focused research projects. The MAVEN internship culminates in a live mission-focused capstone that exercises learned technical and leadership skills and a formal graduation ceremony.

VICEROY MAVEN also breaks down many student barriers by providing them travel reimbursement, housing, transportation, badging, and security clearance processing.

In successive summers, VICEROY assists MAVEN graduates by placing them in 10-12 week internships with DoD cyber operational and research organizations across the country and across the Services. VICEROY currently has agreements with a multitude of organizations, to include Army Ground Vehicle Systems Center at Detroit Arsenal MI, Keesler Air Force Base (AFB), Eglin AFB, Joint Base San Antonio, Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Keyport Naval Base WA, and Air Force Research Lab in Rome NY.

Army and Navy participation in VICEROY MAVEN would not only expand VICEROY summer experiential internship capacity, but would also enable tailoring the student experience and current MAVEN curriculum to better reflect unique Army and Navy missions, capabilities, and culture. Additionally, it would provide the opportunity for the Army and Navy to identify and nurture key talent and steer returning students to optimal Service-based assignments. Army and Navy MAVEN host sites would be eligible to receive reimbursable funds in FY23 (up to $500K per Service) to cover necessary participant salaries and travel. Funds are also available in FY24 (up to $1M per Service) to cover program startup costs such as equipment, travel, salaries, and direct cite support.

Questions regarding the RFI should be submitted online at using this link: https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/6d735129415848ddb5c75e88ff882f6d

Answers will be posted within 48 hours to our VICEROY page by visiting https://www.griffissinstitute.org/what-we-do/viceroy

Thank you.