The Center for Security, Innovation, and New Technology (CSINT) is seeking applications for the 2023-24 CSINT Fellows Program. This is a competitive, unpaid experience that offers the opportunity to help drive the activities of our research Center while gaining professional, research, publishing, and networking experience.

The Fellows Program offers an open, supportive, and collaborative setting where Fellows can participate in events and research workshops, write briefs and articles for publication on the CSINT website, and help to identify and interact with notables in the field by supporting events, conducting interviews, and doing research.

CSINT is an interdisciplinary research hub at American University that addresses both traditional and non-traditional security questions, placing particular emphasis on the risks and opportunities of emerging technologies. The types of questions we grapple with include: Can we govern digital technologies in ways that are both free and in the public interest? How important is the global competition to develop quantum computing? What will happen when 3-D printing enables individuals to make virtually anything, anywhere? How and when should we use synthetic biological tools to edit the human genome? What types of changes will the fast-growing use of robotics bring for tomorrow’s workers? Are offensive cyber-weapons stabilizing or destabilizing for international security? What are the practical impacts of wide-ranging artificial intelligence and machine learning methods? What kinds of ethical dilemmas are involved in allowing machines to make decisions in warfare? Is full artificial intelligence a good idea? Our goal is to help frame answers to these and other forward-looking questions, assessing their implications for the future of security.

We also examine more traditional security questions such as the future of nuclear weapons, today’s shifting global alliances and great power competitions, ongoing challenges in countering terrorism, and the changing character of war now and into the future. To learn more about our research, please check out our website. CSINT Fellows should have a deep sense of curiosity, a willingness to take initiative, a high level of energy, excellent writing skills, careful attention to detail, and an optimistic approach to tackling new challenges. They will be leaders who also work well in small teams. Through the work of the Center, CSINT Fellows will have the chance to interact with prominent speakers, immerse themselves in critical policy questions, publish on the CSINT website, and extend their professional networks. 

Research Fellows will have the opportunity to work on a range of projects and tasks:

• Support Center research on security and emerging technologies such as Cybersecurity, Extremism, Social Media, and the Future of Democracy, Digitally-mediated Misinformation, Disinformation, and Malinformation, the Future of Nuclear Weapons, Global Alliances and Great Power Competitions, Terrorism/Counterterrorism, Autonomy and Artificial Intelligence, the Ethics of New Technologies, Synthetic Biology, Changing Technologies and the Future of Work, Drones (UAVs, RPVs) and other Robotics, and the History of Technology.
• Work independently and with the cohort to publish briefs, articles, videos, and/or blog posts on the Center's website.  
• Assist in behind-the-scenes administrative duties, such as aiding in website development and updates, social media postings, event management, and newsletter development and distribution.
• Help orchestrate, coordinate, and execute online and in-person events and workshops, as well as post-event write-ups and other tasks.
• Engage in workshops and events held by CSINT.
• Additional responsibilities may include mentorship, article submission review, small group leadership, plus conception, organization, and leadership of events/field trips involving fellow students and faculty.

 

General CSINT Fellow Requirements:

• Fellows will participate for 10 hours a week, on average. 
• Fellows will be required to attend Center team planning meetings, scheduled during term for once or twice a month, at times of mutual convenience. 
• Fellows will have the opportunity to connect with their cohort and program manager during the summer 2023 term; this is not required, but encouraged

 

Eligibility

• Applicants must be enrolled as undergraduate, masters, or doctoral students at American University. Consideration will also be given to recent graduates (within the past three years).
• Applicants must have a GPA of at least 3.3.

 

How to Apply

Please submit the following as attachments in an email from an AU email address, with the subject line “CSINT Fellows Competition,” to Program Coordinator Jess Regan at regan@american.edu: 

• A one-page statement explaining your interest in the Fellows Program, what you hope to achieve if you are selected and why.  
• A C.V.
• An unofficial transcript, with GPA
• A writing sample, preferably on a topic related to security and/or new technologies.
• Deadline for applying is 9 AM on Mon, 1 May 2023.

Emails (to regan@american.edu) must bear a date stamp at or before that time.