Army interns bring AI solutions to CECOM ASIC

By Kevin Deegan

Aberdeen Proving Ground’s Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) Army Software & Innovation Center (ASIC) maintains a strong legacy of recruiting talent from local colleges.

And that's not just HR fluff – look at a CECOM ASIC org chart. Many individuals who direct meetings and lead Army programs are former interns who rose through the same talent pipelines. CECOM ASIC Executive Director and SES Garrett Shoemaker started his government career as an intern.

CECOM ASIC selected six scholars for an intensive, up to twelve-week summer 2026 internship focused on modern software engineering, AI/machine learning, and cloud-native development. Interns were given clear technical objectives and targeted mentorship that advanced real operational needs on some of CECOM ASIC’s critical projects.

The six interns were selected from the Acquisition Talent Base (ATB) program—which trains students in Agile and defense business—and the Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) scholarship pathway—which trains students in STEM for the military.

Modernizing Army software capabilities and operations is a core objective for CECOM ASIC. The six interns presented their contributions to CECOM ASIC leadership on July 23, 2026.

• Cherry Odhiambo, New York Institute of Technology, built an AI FLOW Similarity Platform that can detect duplicate or overlapping projects across the Army to prevent unnecessary spending.
• Sarker Mohammed, Temple University, worked within Army Vantage data analytics to analyze data for matching patterns with Army vendors. He also created an AI Chatbot Agent that can analyze and assist auditors with fraud detection.
• Emma Cho from the University of Maryland focused her efforts on Signal Modeling Framework (SMF), a simulation tool used for Electromagnetic Warfare. She made critical full-stack and front-end changes to the simulation tool to enhance functionality for engineers.
• Shiv Patel, University of Maryland, expanded CECOM ASIC’s Community DevSecOps pipeline to support non-containerized platforms. The pipeline is key for expanding software assurance across the Army.
• Monty Hanford, Virginia Tech, integrated an AI chatbot into CECOM ASIC’s My Army Post App (MAPA). The chatbot enhanced the application’s ease of use for Soldiers accessing installation-specific information.
• Ethan Stein, University of Maryland, developed a dedicated AI Flow agent using Army Software Portal & Electronic Notifications (ASPEN) that responds to user prompts more quickly and efficiently.

The audience was extremely impressed. The interns weren’t just participating in academic research or preparatory exercises; they directly supported the Center’s mission by delivering AI and DevSecOps functionality to existing systems. The contributions are a testament to the strength of the ATB and SMART talent pipelines as well as CECOM ASIC’s pursuit of a highly technical workforce.

“These collaborations are setting the benchmark for future efforts,” said Desireé Chapman, the Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) Program Team Coordinator at CECOM ASIC.

“Our interns are not just supporting today’s mission—they are the future of our workforce.”

CECOM ASIC will continue to advance its push for a technical workforce powered by digital, agile transformation. Next year, the center plans to work closely with the Department of War internship programs to continue bringing on summer interns.