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Protect the Frontlines of Global Health Security and Biodefense

Program: Research for Intelligence & Security Challenges (RISC) Initiative

Host Organization: Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security (ARLIS), University of Maryland, College Park

Duration: 10 Weeks | Paid Internship (40 hrs/week)

Format: Mostly Virtual + Mandatory In-Person Final Week (College Park, MD | Travel Supported)

Eligibility: U.S. Citizens enrolled for Fall 2025 (Undergraduate & Graduate)

Defend Against Emerging Biological Threats and Health Security Risks

Biological threats—whether naturally occurring pandemics, accidental releases, or engineered bio-weapons—pose some of the greatest challenges to national security. Safeguarding public health and biosecurity requires integrating biological sciences, engineering, and population-level intelligence.

The RISC Initiative bridges biological sciences, biomedical engineering, and public health with national defense. Hosted by ARLIS—a University-Affiliated Research Center (UARC)—RISC pairs top students in biodefense, bioengineering, and health security with university research faculty and domain experts from the Department of War (DoW) and Intelligence Community (IC).

Over 10 weeks, your interdisciplinary team will address critical health intelligence problems, model biological threat vectors, evaluate health technology protections, and brief your findings directly to senior government leaders.

Why Join RISC?

  • Security Clearance Sponsorship: Eligible participants can be sponsored for a U.S. Government security clearance—a major gateway into specialized roles across health intelligence, biodefense agencies, and national labs.
  • Direct DOW/IC Career Pipeline: Present your biological models, diagnostic concepts, or health policy frameworks directly to defense sponsors seeking top health security talent.
  • Academic-Year Project Funding: High-impact biodefense and health security projects frequently receive extended funding to continue research through the academic year via ARLIS.
  • Flexible Virtual Workspace: Collaborate with interdisciplinary peers nationwide in a virtual research environment, with all travel expenses covered for the final capstone week in College Park, MD.
  • Competitive Compensation: Fully paid 10-week summer research position.

Technical Focus Areas & Disciplines

You will apply biological, engineering, and epidemiological frameworks to real-world mission areas such as biosecurity, insider threat mitigation, and critical technology protection.

We are actively recruiting students with expertise in:

  • Biodefense & Biosecurity: Biological threat assessment, dual-use research oversight, bio-surveillance, counterproliferation of biological capabilities, and biosafety protocols.
  • Biomedical Engineering: Bio-sensor technology, medical device security, human performance monitoring, diagnostic hardware resilience, bio-compatible systems, and human-machine integration.
  • Public Health & Epidemiology: Disease outbreak modeling, health risk assessment, global health intelligence, medical supply chain vulnerability, and health-related misinformation/disinformation analysis.
  • Bioinformatics & Health Data Analytics: Processing large-scale genomic datasets, biological pattern recognition, pathogen tracking, and modeling population-level health trends.

Program Structure & Commitment

  • Duration & Workload: 10 weeks, 40 hours/week. Due to the intensive nature of these innovation sprints, secondary employment or summer coursework is strongly discouraged.
  • Virtual Innovation Sprints (Weeks 1–9): Conduct hands-on biosecurity and health research, participate in specialized interdisciplinary seminars, and collaborate daily in a virtual team setting (select projects may offer on-site options).
  • In-Person Capstone Week (Week 10): Travel to College Park, MD, to deliver final briefings, showcase models or prototypes to DoD/IC leadership, and network with defense health experts.

Eligibility Criteria

  • Citizenship: U.S. Citizenship is strictly required.
  • Academic Standing: Currently enrolled undergraduate or graduate students at an accredited U.S. college or university as of Fall 2025. Rising juniors, rising seniors, and early-stage graduate students are strongly encouraged to apply.
  • Degree Tracks: Biodefense, Biomedical Engineering, Public Health (MPH/BSPH), Epidemiology, Bioinformatics, Microbiology, Biotechnology, Health Policy, Global Health Security, or related fields.

Ready to Pioneer the Future of Health Security?

Apply your expertise in biology, engineering, and public health where it matters most for global and national protection.