News

NSPC 2025 Summer Interns Present Final Research to National Security Professionals

July 25, 2025

 

After eight weeks spent researching the national security implications of emerging technologies and strategic competition with China, students concluded the National Security Policy Center’s (NSPC) 2025 summer internship last week by presenting their findings to a room full of experts across academia, industry, and government.  

The NSPC summer internship provides undergraduate and graduate-level student researchers the opportunity to work on pressing national security challenges confronting the U.S. today. This rigorous program draws students from across the University of Virginia, giving them hands-on experience in policy research, writing, and presentation. While building these skillsets, NSPC interns also gain a deeper understanding of the policy process, engage with a diverse set of guest speakers, and connect with the Center’s robust network of national security experts.  

This summer, NSPC interns supported research for the newly established National Security Data and Policy Institute (NSDPI) at UVA. Founded in August 2024, the Institute leverages UVA’s robust expertise in public policy, data science, research computing, and artificial intelligence to process vast data, forecast threats, and guide decision makers.  

During the first half of the summer, the NSPC’s intern cohort worked collaboratively to explore the evolution of power generation, transmission, and energy storage in the U.S. and China over the past fifty years. They produced backgrounder memos, comprehensive literature reviews, and annotated bibliographies that were presented to NSDPI staff. These materials will be valuable resources for the Institute’s researchers and are available to view and download on the NSPC website. 

In the second half of the summer, each intern worked on an individual policy white paper exploring a subject of interest to the NSDPI. Their topics were extraordinarily diverse, including the implications of helium-3 mining on the moon, maritime strategy in the South China Sea, and the role of AI in disinformation and cognitive warfare. On July 18th, these student researchers each presented their work to a packed audience of academic, industry, and government national security professionals. The breadth of their research highlighted the complex national security landscape ahead and the challenges facing the United States in the era of strategic competition with other great powers; probing issues that are top of mind at all levels of government, their white papers will be a significant aid to future NSDPI research efforts. 

With its summer internship coming to a close, the NSPC is congratulating its 2025 cohort for producing an incredible body of work that will directly support future lines of effort. Their contributions have made an impact on the NSPC, the NSDPI, and the broader national security community.