Solving National Security Challenges with Mission-Based Entrepreneurship
“…the most rewarding class I took at Georgetown.” - Nick Edwards, MSFS
Learn Lean Innovation techniques for startup success and solve real problems.
Tackle complex problems critical to the government around national security, energy networks, cyber security, AI and invent new technologies with a team of policy experts, MBAs, law students, and engineers. See a few of our success stories.
Hacking for Defense at Georgetown University is open to all Georgetown graduate students (regardless of school or department) and any graduate students from the DC Consortium of Universities.
Course Title
SEST-701 Hacking for Defense
Course Schedule
Spring Semester 2022
Wednesdays @ 6:30 PM
Georgetown Success Story: Team Magneto
Side Stepping Physics to Identify Electromagnetic Spectrum Jamming Threats
Team Magneto’s Hacking for Defense Experience
Team Magneto’s Mack Von Mehren heard about Hacking for Defense long before logging into his course registration portal at Georgetown University. During his 2017-2018 deployment to Korea with his Marine Battalion he was asked to identify problems he was facing in the field that could be addressed by undergraduate and graduate Hacking for Defense students.
After identifying the problems within his own unit to be solved by university students, when he became a graduate student himself, he was enthusiastic about taking the course himself and to work toward solving problems faced by soldiers in the field.
Mack Von Mehren emphasized the course’s value for both problem sponsors and for students taking the course, which allows them to “Be a ‘do-er’ before (they) have actually graduated.”
Nick Edwards, MSFS graduate stated this course “was the most rewarding class I took at Georgetown.” The entire team stated the course was an incredibly challenging and rewarding experience. They look forward to pursuing their solution beyond the course.
Messages from our key leaders in National Defense
See more videos from our key leaders in national defense, including Former Secretary of Defense William Perry, Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Former Director of the CIA David Petraeus, Former Commander of United States Forces Korea Vincent Brooks, and more!
More Success Stories from the H4D Ecosystem
H4D 2019 Team: Learn to Win
Team Learn to Win began as part of the 2019 H4D cohort, with the aim of improving pilot training in the USAF. Leveraging a commercial product previously built by two team members, the team quickly generated interest among military aviators and successfully demoed the capability for several air squadrons. Immediately after the class, Learn to Win secured non-dilutive funding from the National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) and H4X Labs, and later the following summer, a USAF Direct to Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant.
H4D 2017 Team: Librarian
Team Librarian began as a part of the 2017 H4D cohort. During the course, the team identified their first customer which provided $70,000 in funding to develop their solution just three months later. After the class, Librarian formed a company in September 2017 and built their business with help from their Hacking For Defense mentors and instructors. Librarian has been featured as one of the top student startups at SXSW and built an enterprise chatbot.
H4D 2016 Team: Capella Space
Capella Space began as a part of the 2016 H4D cohort and quickly raised funding following the class. The company is “building the world’s largest commercial radar satellite constellation to gather the information you need to make informed decisions” by “building constellations of SAR satellites.” They raised initial capital shortly after the class and have now raised over $33.9M in funding. See their class video in the 2016 archive.