A team of Rutgers undergraduate students recently earned a third-place finish in the national collegiate Moonshot Labs Analyst Jam with the National Geospatial Agency's (MAJIC) competition. This year’s challenge centered on AI & Geospatial Data Science: Modeling Conflict Risk and Physical Man-Made Obstructions which provided students the opportunity to collaborate with subject matter experts to analyze real-world national security challenges and present innovative solutions.
The multidisciplinary team, Siya Brahmbhatt, Nitya Kumar, Savannah Gill, Jared Yili & Noah Orejuela were among 13 teams representing 15 universities. To align with the challenge, the team created an algorithm to predict border conflicts between Thailand and Cambodia. Although their majors vary across the School of Arts and Sciences, the group shares a common bond through their minor in Critical Intelligence Studies within the Department of Political Science.
Faculty advisor Professor Andrey Tomashevskiy was equally impressed.
“It was great watching the team work together to come up with a solution to the hackathon challenge. They had to solve a difficult problem in a short time frame, and it was impressive to see how their project came together in their weekly progress reports.”
As a result of their high-ranking performance, the team was awarded a trophy, certificate, and tickets to the 2026 GEOINT symposium May 3-6 in Denver, CO. They also can submit their work for publication in the NGA's Tearline Project and the National Intelligence University (NIU) academic journal.
Rutgers Center for Critical Intelligence Studies, a one-time federally designated Intelligence Community Center for Academic Excellence (IC CAE), empowers students to participate in the MAJIC hackathon and other exclusive opportunities. Housed within the Department of Political Science, the Center provides a direct pipeline for students pursuing careers in the national security and intelligence sectors.