Student Impact
At FINS, our students do more than study national security.
They are both active and current stewards, as well as future contributors to its mission.
Explore the research, achievements, and leadership that are already shaping what comes next.
FINS Team Wins 1st Place @ UF AI Days’ “Gator Hack” for Human-Centered AI Research Tool
We are thrilled to announce that a team of FINS students has clinched first place at the University of Florida’s 2025 AI Days hackathon—Gator Hack. Their project titled “Plato’s Cave – A Human-Centered Agentic System for Validating Research Papers” wowed judges with its innovative approach to augmenting scientific integrity using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and human-in-the-loop design. The Gator Hack competition (hosted as part of UF’s AI Days) challenged participants to build transformative AI systems addressing real-world issues. Our FINS team crafted a system that combines agentic components, interactive human oversight, and explainable-AI to assist in the validation of research papers—a timely and crucial domain given the growing importance of trustworthy scholarship.
SMART Scholar Enrique Medici Visits AFTAC
At FINS, we’re always thrilled to celebrate the accomplishments of one of our own! Guided by his advisor and FINS faculty member Dr. Kyle Cameron Hartig, graduate student Enrique Medici, recently participated in the prestigious U.S. Air Force SMART Scholar Program and attended an immersive visit to the Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC) at Patrick Space Force Base this June. SMART -which stands for Science, Math, and Research for Transformation- is one of the Department of Defense’s largest education-to-workforce initiatives, offering full-tuition STEM scholarships, hands-on research experiences, personalized mentorship, and guaranteed civilian employment with the DoD upon graduation.
Olivia Dizon-Paradis Receives Honorable Mention for the Madelyn Lockhart Fellowship Award
On February 20th, FINS Research Graduate Assistant and PhD Candidate, Olivia Dizon-Paradis, was awarded an honorable mention for the Madelyn Lockhart Fellowship by the Association for Academic Women (AAW). This award was established in honor of Dr. Madelyn Lockhart, who served as Dean of the Graduate School and Dean of International Studies and Programs at the University of Florida from 1985 to 1993—and now honors outstanding PhD candidates who have made remarkable contributions towards their fields of research.