Informing today's leadership;
Preparing tomorrow’s.
The NFS Program
The NFS operates on a one-year cycle, beginning and ending with the academic calendar. Student teams and mentors are carefully selected at the end of the Spring semester under the guidance of a local institutional champion and the permanent NFS staff. These teams then undergo the intensive methods and fundamentals module described above. Concurrently, we work to onboard institutional mentors, instilling our values, providing training, and orienting them to our resources and networks. At the end of the summer, we bring mentors and students from across the NFS together for our annual launch retreat, which fosters connections between school teams, solidifies research topics, and sets the tone for the year.
Student research begins in earnest when they return to their academic institutions for the fall semester. The undergraduate teams work closely with their local mentor and institutional champion and regularly interact with experts from the NFS and its board of advisors. After their first semester of work, we invite students to our interim seminar, the second of our three annual events. Students have opportunities to present their progress and workshop their ideas in an intimate setting, allowing our board of advisors and other relevant experts to provide specific, actionable feedback. In parallel, the interim seminar will facilitate hard skills through workshops and reignite relationships seeded at the launch retreat.
The program culminates in a capstone symposium at the end of the Spring semester, with students presenting their now highly polished research to principals in government, academia, and industry in Washington, DC. We work to match projects to interested stakeholders and facilitate meetings between students and experts in relevant fields. Students are inducted into our alumni association and go on to use the skills and relationships they built in our program to make a positive impact in the workforce or the next phase of their education working on issues of technology and international affairs across the US alliance network.
Student Feedback
“Working on this research project has been one of the most growth-inspiring, rewarding, and memorable experiences I’ve had during my college career. Not only did I dive into a topic that was previously completely foreign to me — to climb up from square one and now wield my newfound knowledge with confidence — I also found invaluable mentorship and friendships that will last beyond the project. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in this project, collaborate with peers from a wide range of disciplines, and cultivate life skills that cannot be practiced in the classroom. I cannot recommend this experience enough –– even if you may not be specifically interested in foreign policy or national security, you will learn about topics that are applicable and relevant, whether it be to your academic, professional, or personal life.”
— Zoey Duan, Yale University, AI Team
“The Next Frontier Conference was the first time I truly felt at the cutting edge of IR studies. It offered a convergence of intellectual curiosity and pressing issues, providing nuanced and sharp insights through both presentations and engaging conversations.”
— Brandon Lee, Yale University, Semiconductor Team
“Next Frontier Seminar pushed me to think critically about impact and what it means at the intersection of technology, policy, and finance. I met leaders who will undoubtedly shape the next phase of my career and our world, along with inspiring peers who will become lifelong friends.”
— Iris Fu, Stanford University, AI Team
“The Next Frontier Seminar helped me get the right eyes on my work and has been a valuable part of my personal and professional development. If you're interested in working in national security and at the bleeding edge of tech policy with all the right people, highly recommended. Aside from all that, it's also been downright good fun.”
— Quote from Oxford, Semiconductor Team