Strider Technologies Establishes ‘Strider Fellows,’ New Scholarship Program for Utah Students

Strider to provide $300,000 to Utah State University and Utah Valley University students pursuing careers in national security and intelligence

Salt Lake City (December 10th, 2024)  – Strider Technologies, Inc. the leading provider of strategic intelligence, announced the expansion of its partnership with the Intermountain Intelligence, Industry, and Security Consortium (I3SC), including the launch of a new scholarship program, Strider Fellows. Under the program, Strider will provide $300,000 for students at Utah State University (USU) and Utah Valley University (UVU) who are pursuing careers in security and intelligence.

The announcement was made by Strider COO and Co-founder Eric Levesque during the I3SC’s Fall Symposium, which convened industry leaders, faculty, and students to discuss critical advancements in intelligence, security, and workforce development. The scholarship program will provide student support over three years to develop the next generation of leaders in national security and intelligence.

“Empowering the next generation of security and intelligence leaders is vital to meeting the national security challenges of tomorrow,” said Eric Levesque, COO and co-founder of Strider. “We are honored to launch this scholarship program with our university partners at USU and UVU as they educate the future workforce of our security and intelligence community. Greg and I are committed to supporting our national security by helping to develop the next generation of leaders in this critical and rapidly growing industry.”

“We are so excited for our students and the program to bear the Strider name. Strider has a well-earned reputation for being innovative and cutting-edge in the intelligence and technology space, areas that have been our primary focus with I3SC,” said Ryan Vogel, Co-Executive Director of I3SC and Director of UVU’s Center for National Security Studies. “This funding will open doors for our outstanding students in these areas who have been offered prestigious internships, are competing in international competitions, are engaging in experiential and engaged learning opportunities, or are otherwise involved in extraordinary projects and initiatives. We are excited to see the long-range impact Strider’s investment will have on the next generation of security and intelligence professionals coming from Utah.”

“I3SC is a young, vibrant, rapidly expanding enterprise and Strider’s contribution will enable us to take it to the next level. Strider’s financial support of important and groundbreaking innovations in higher ed demonstrates that it is serious about making Utah a hub for leading edge intelligence practices,” said Dr. Jeannie Johnson, Co-Executive Director of I3SC and Director of USU’s Center for Anticipatory Intelligence. “The financial support on offer will enable our I3SC programs at USU and UVU to recruit the nation’s top talent and provide opportunities that were otherwise out of reach for Utah students. Once again, Strider is leading the way!” 

Founded in 2021, the I3SC is a university-industry partnership led by USU’s Center for Anticipatory Intelligence and UVU’s Center for National Security Studies. The I3SC’s mission is to ensure that Utah’s keystone industries, state, and local government are staffed and equipped to anticipate and build resilience against the next generation of national security challenges. To do so, the consortium leads a collaborative, multifaceted academic pipeline program where students at both universities can develop cross-disciplinary skill sets to meet the major security threats facing the rapidly growing Utah tech sector.

As a founding industry partner, Strider delivers input into the I3SC’s curriculum, contributes to speaking series events, student mentorship, course instruction, and provides students the opportunity to gain direct work experience through internships, capstones, and laboratory work in applying industry-leading open source intelligence tools. Additionally, Strider works collaboratively with the I3SC’s other partners, which include: 

• Adobe
• AgilePQ
• Campbell Scientific
• Fortem Technologies
• Mandiant
• MITRE
• Northrop Grumman
• Utah State University Space Dynamics Laboratory

To learn more about the I3SC, visit https://www.usu.edu/cai/engagement/i3sc-consortium. 

About Strider        

Strider is the leading strategic intelligence company empowering organizations to secure and advance their technology and innovation. Leveraging AI technology alongside proprietary methodologies, Strider transforms publicly available data into critical insights. This increased intelligence enables organizations to proactively address and respond to risks associated with state-sponsored intellectual property theft, targeted talent acquisition, and supply chain vulnerabilities. Strider has operations in 10 countries across the globe with offices in Salt Lake City, Washington, DC, Tokyo, and London.

About the Utah State University Center for Anticipatory Intelligence

Utah State University’s Center for Anticipatory Intelligence has led the pioneering effort in the US to establish the academic field of Anticipatory Intelligence: a multidomain approach to anticipating threats and opportunities emerging from the world’s increasingly complex security environment, oriented around the goal of reducing uncertainty and designing resilience across future scenarios. CAI is a nexus of academic excellence designed to prepare students and professionals from a wide range of disciplinary and career backgrounds to anticipate and successfully navigate complex emergent security challenges that are affecting their own fields and industries. 

About the Utah Valley University Center for National Security Studies 

Established in January 2016, the Center for National Security Studies is one of the premier national security programs in the country. The CNSS employs a multi-disciplinary academic approach to examine both the theoretical and practical aspects of national security policy and practice, with areas of focus in intelligence, emerging technology, cybersecurity, and homeland security. The CNSS offers students cutting-edge courses and degree programs, leadership and scholarship opportunities, assistance with jobs and internships, engaged learning, and mentoring.