Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va -- Headquarters Air Combat Command (ACC) concluded its inaugural summer internship program sponsored by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (OUSD) Research and Engineering (R&E) VICEROY ENVOY initiative, on Aug. 7, 2025. In this program, students are matched to DoD positions that align with their technical skillsets, immersing them in DoD and service-specific culture through supporting projects that advance the mission.
"Air Combat Command's participation in the VICEROY internship program is a strategic investment with a dual return," explained Dr. John Matyjas, ACC's Chief Scientist. "We see immediate gains in data-driven decision-making and operational efficiency thanks to intern contribution. Equally important is the program's long-term impact, developing skilled STEM professionals who understand and can address Air Force operational needs."
This 10-week internship brought together ACC staff and students from the College of William & Mary, Marshall University and West Virginia University to build and develop critical cyber-spectrum skills, strengthening their competencies in cybersecurity, electromagnetic spectrum operations and data science.
“The VICEROY ENVOY internship is producing the caliber of cyber and spectrum talent we need – skilled, combat-capable, and forward-leaning,” said Chester J. Maciag, VICEROY national Director and Director of Cyber-Spectrum Academic Engagement for OUSD (R&E). “At Air Combat Command, these interns demonstrated not only technical fluency in AI, large language models (LLM’s), and advanced business intelligence tools but also the ability to understand mission context, actively reduce decision-making timelines, and deliver operational value.”
Detection and tracking of small Unmanned Aerial Systems is an ongoing problem and one of the ENVOY students, Kathryn Hamilton, a College of William & Mary master’s student in computer science, took that challenge on.
“My primary project involved decomposing the military/civilian airspace awareness problem to develop solutions for the USAF and the government,” said Hamilton. “This research focused on the defense of critical infrastructure and military installations against small Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and drones. I identified key requirements for effective defense, including enhanced airspace monitoring capabilities, appropriate defensive equipment, and clear escalation procedures to ensure a coordinated response to incursions."
In another ACC interest area, readily available online weather application programming interfaces (APIs) needed for realistic drone testing simulations, are often imprecise and lack the necessary real-time, geo-specific detail, potentially compromising testing effectiveness and operational readiness.
To solve this, Brian Ding, a computer science student at the College of William & Mary, developed automated data pipelines that convert and store real-time weather and drone data, integrating it with USAF testing tools. This program deploys a weather sensing system continuously logging geo-specific environmental inputs, overcoming the inaccuracies of online APIs and providing the reliable data needed for accurate drone simulations which ultimately supported a major ACC operational research event.
“Through his efforts, he not only coordinated with vendors but also developed innovative methodologies to dissect their APIs and flight data, which was crucial for our exploratory data analysis,” according to Ben Dunlap, mentor and ACC A29O Branch Chief. “This culminated in the successful collection of over 500 GB of valuable red and blue data sets, along with corresponding weather data.”
The partnership between ACC and VICEROY ENVOY ensures the advancement of the command mission, reinforces the importance of real-world experience and it develops the next generation of civilians fighting alongside airmen.
“The efforts of our interns and their DoD mentors exemplify the impact of VICEROY ENVOY by producing qualified talent imbued with a warrior ethos, strengthening DoD capabilities today, and shaping our cyber workforce for tomorrow,” said Maciag.
For more information on how to become a VICEROY internship host site, visit https://www.viceroyscholars.org/host-sites/ or contact VICEROY, at VICEROY@griffissinstitute.org. If you are a student eager to pursue an internship position at ACC, visit https://www.viceroyscholars.org/.