National Security Institute reaches new high in funding awards
The institute surpassed $42 million in fiscal year 2024-25 funding for research and student support.
The Virginia Tech National Security Institute received a record amount of funding awards in fiscal year 2024-25, expanding opportunities for research and student support.
From July 2024 to June 2025, the institute saw $42 million in awards, including $6 million directed to academic departments in support of faculty collaboration.
Since 2009, the institute has drawn a total $258 million of extramural funding, 55 percent of which came via industry collaborations and the remainder directly from the federal government.
“While this is a record year for investment in the institute, it capped a decade of steady increases,” said Executive Director Eric Paterson. “This trend of steady growth highlights the continued investment in national security research and workforce development efforts by government and industry partners and is a show of confidence in the work and expertise of our faculty and staff.”
A portion of those awards came from the continued support of longstanding projects, such as the institute’s collaboration on Northrop Grumman’s Securing Compartmented Information with Smart Radio Systems program.
Launched in 2020, the program has been awarded just over $5.6 million since September 2021. It aims to develop smart radio techniques to automatically detect and characterize radio frequency anomalies that could signal attempts to compromise secure data. Currently in its third and final phase, it is ultimately focused on the prevention of rogue signals from bad actors.
In addition, funding awards for new projects have contributed significantly.
This spring, the National Security Institute and the Virginia Tech Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership received a $5 million award from the U.S. Department of Defense to lead the new Counter UAS Research and Testing Center. The effort will create an unparalleled ecosystem of research on uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), commonly called drones.
Since 2011, $38 million of the institute's funding has been used to support undergraduate and graduate students through fellowships, scholarships, and wage positions from the Ted and Karyn Hume Center for National Security and Technology. This includes $8 million in FY25. The Hume Center is housed within the institute and serves as the hub for national security-focused experiential learning and workforce development at the university.
Funding for student programs has grown rapidly in recent years, largely from industry and government workforce development programs such as the Defense Civilian Training Corps, the RTX Fellowship Program, and the Department of Defense Cyber Service Academy. The academy is a scholarship for service program from which 16 graduates have gone on to work within the Department of Defense since 2021.
Current academy member Julia Shapiro said the program has enabled her to focus on the quantum computing research she’s doing with the Hume Center.
“If I didn’t have this scholarship, I would probably have to be a teaching assistant in order to pay for my degree, which would take time away from my research,” said Shapiro, a graduate student studying mathematics. “For me, research is my main priority, so starting research from day one and not having to take a detour from that has been extremely helpful for my academic success.”
Students can learn more about ways to get involved at the Hume Center through internships, workforce development programs, and research opportunities at the upcoming Hume Center Undergraduate Research Open House on Aug. 28.
