From Campus to Capitol: USF’s Future Strategists Students at the Nation’s Capitol

In this episode of At the Boundary, the Global and National Security Institute (GNSI) at the University of South Florida takes you inside the GNSI DC Experience. A program designed to give USF students interested in national security careers a chance to tour capitol hill and meet professional mentors in policy and defense.  

Host Jim Cardoso is joined by USF Future Strategist Program (FSP) students Dontavious Ellis and Santiago Zambrano, along with GNSI events planner Sophia Montero, to discuss how this unique program connects students directly with the U.S. national security ecosystem. They also discuss the trip itinerary and personal goals to check out while they are there. 

Checkpoints include Capitol Hill and the Pentagon along with visiting a few leading think tanks and intelligence professionals. The DC Experience offers unparalleled exposure to real-world decision-making, policy development, and strategic leadership.

Links from the Episode:

• GNSI Announces Student Cohort for DC Experience 

• Tad and Guido’s article

GNSI on X
GNSI on Linkedin
GNSI on YouTube

At the Boundary  from the Global and National Security Institute at the University of South Florida,  features global and national security issues we’ve found to be insightful, intriguing, fascinating, maybe controversial, but overall just worth talking about.

A "boundary" is a place, either literal or figurative, where two forces exist in close proximity to each other. Sometimes that boundary is in a state of harmony. More often than not, that boundary has a bit of chaos baked in. The Global and National Security Institute will live on the boundary of security policy and technology and that's where this podcast will focus.

The mission of GNSI is to provide actionable solutions to 21st-century security challenges for decision-makers at the local, state, national and global levels. We hope you enjoy At the Boundary.

Look for our other publications and products on our website publications page.

Transcript

EP 129 - 4 May (DC Exp Students)

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

GNSI DC experience, national security, student exposure, government agencies, think tanks, research fellowships, nuclear deterrence, global fragility act, USF students, career aspirations, networking opportunities, Capitol Hill tour, Spy Museum, mentorship, conference experiences.

SPEAKERS

Santiago Zambrano, Dontavious Ellis, Sophia Montero, Jim Cardoso

Jim Cardoso  00:12

Jim, hello everyone. Welcome to this week's episode of at the boundary, the podcast from the global national security Institute at the University of South Florida. I'm Jim Cardoso, Senior Director for GNSI, and your host for at the boundary. Today on the podcast, we're going to talk about next week's GNSI DC experience. We're sending six students to Washington DC for a week to gain invaluable exposure to the heart of the nation's national security enterprise. They'll be traversing the DC beltway, visiting key government agencies, national security institutions, and leading think tanks. They'll engage directly with practitioners and experts in national security while making vital connections that will help jumpstart their post USF careers. We'll be joined by a couple of the students making the trip in just a moment, but first couple quick notes, GNSI is Journal of strategic security is continuing its call for papers for an upcoming special issue focused on the evolving landscape of nuclear and conventional deterrence. Submission deadline is September 1. That may not seem like a long time from now, but in the world of research and academic journals, it's right around the corner. We'll have a link for more info in the show notes. GNSI is also in search of students interested in research fellowship roles starting in the fall semester. These will be terrific opportunities for students, both USF and non USF to work in vital areas of research and build their resumes in national security, all while receiving course credit. We're looking for resident and non resident students, both undergrad and graduate, to aid our research efforts in resistance and resilience as it relates to regular warfare, strategic competition and society and the military. Check out the GNSI website for more information and application procedures. Finally, the latest GNSI decision brief was just published and is available on our website. Guest author, Greg Howell, a former senior official with the US Agency for International Development, examines the global fragility Reauthorization Act, which was introduced last year and is currently in Congress and would build upon the 10 year plan of the original global fragility act. We'll drop a link to our website in the show notes, and you can hear more about this issue when Greg appears on at the boundary next week. It's time now, however, to talk with this week's guests. So let's welcome into the studio, dantavius, Ellis and Santiago Zambrano, two of the students who will be going to DC next week, along with our own Sophia Montero gnsiz, events planner, who put together at the itinerary and will be in DC as well to ensure all goes smoothly. All right, we are joined in the studio by Don Ellis Santiago Zambrano and Sophia Montero. Thank you so much for joining us on at the boundary. So first, we're going to start off. Just want to hear a little bit about yourselves, your background, where you're from, what brought you to USF, what you're studying, anything else as well. And also, I want you to include one, just one interesting factoid about that speaks to who you are. You know, could be a hobby, could be an interest, just something noteworthy. So let's see. We'll go back and forth on this. I'll tell you what you're, you're, you're a junior and you're a sophomore, right? Okay, I'll make the junior more mature and older, so I'll make you go first. So Santiago, I want you to talk a little bit about yourself. Well, as you said, I'm Santiago,

Santiago Zambrano  04:00

and Brandon is my junior here, here at USF. Well, I was originally born in Colombia, then moved to the US when I was 14 years old. What got me to USF? Well, my grandmother was a dean in a very, somewhat perceived University in Colombia, and she always had, like, a partnership with the USF so people from USF will always go to this campus University, and she will always tell my mom, hey, I need you to go to USF. You're gonna go to USF. I don't know, as a transfer student, we're gonna we're gonna make things happen. Well, what happened was that I was born, and things had to change a little bit. But I when I was told about that dream, and when she told me about that, and I'm like, Well, I want to take that, and I want to take that to myself. I'm going to go to USF. I want to do this later. I moved to the moved to us. I have family living here, and I decided to meet at my goal. I want to go to USF. My first thing was. Uh, I went to high school, Chamberlain High School, and very close to USF, by the way, like 1015 minutes, and I'm like, Man, I'm right there. I'm 10 to 15 minutes. I gotta make it. And I did my best. So unfortunately, when I was a freshman, I couldn't get in. Went to HCC instead. But I said, I still want to go to go to USF. I want to do my best. And I got here major in political science, because I really like how this field, there's so much impact on people in public policy, in national security, and that's what got me into political science major, and now I recently declared a minor in intelligence studies. That's something that I really consider really cool, and want to know more about it. And, yeah, I'm gonna graduate next year. So very excited for that.

Jim Cardoso  05:50

Okay, what's I need? A hobby, an interest or an interesting factoid about you, although you know being born the kind of your story right there, but I'll give you a chance with anything else you want to bring

Santiago Zambrano  05:59

up. I like soccer and, and

Jim Cardoso  06:01

that's not a surprise. I mean, maybe I'm generalizing. I'm sorry, audience, world, I'm generalized area for Columbia, much like soccer, but no, but that's exciting with with FIFA coming to the US in the near future.

Santiago Zambrano  06:11

Yeah. Well, the thing about soccer is that that, well, I like being competitive with myself and, and so when I always talking to my team and how they're looking in the league and not in the league. My favorite team is REL, Madrid and and we're talking about Premier League Chelsea. And I always look at soccer the same way I look at my studies and my classes. For example, every test for me is like a soccer match. I gotta win that game. No

Jim Cardoso  06:40

draws, no draws allowed.

Santiago Zambrano  06:41

I gotta win finals. Is like, it's like, really, I made it to, like, the final for the Champions League, for the World Cup. I gotta win this. I want to get that 4.0 GPA, and that's what I view. So that's the interesting thing, nothing. That's the interesting thing. I like soccer, but that's that has made that's translating to my viewpoint. In academics, every single class is like a soccer match, and it's exciting for me to play soccer, so it's exciting for me to learn and learn more about my classes and in ASOS tests.

Jim Cardoso  07:12

Okay, so your, your World Cup finals are coming up in the next few days, so hopefully you're gonna, you're gonna finish this podcast and get back to studying. Don Ellis, over to you. What about you?

Dontavious Ellis  07:20

All right, thank you. Thank you. My name is Don. I'm a sophomore in Electrical Engineering here at USF. I know it's probably a big jump for me to be sitting in the room with you all but I'll start from when I was a kid. I was just telling Santiago outside how I had a car that I was turbocharging in high school, but I ended up blowing up the motor. Ended up blowing the motor, but that was my first taste of engineering, and I found electrical to be the most intriguing out of them all. And I had a little bit of cybersecurity experience growing up with video games, just understanding, you know, where things are vulnerable. But what really drew me here, you know, to the FSP program, is I feel like there's a big gap between a lot of engineers. When it comes to the technical layer and understanding, you know, who's making the decisions on a lot of the things we build here. So you know that that's really what drew me here. But, um,

Jim Cardoso  08:16

okay,

Dontavious Ellis  08:16

what's

Jim Cardoso  08:16

an interesting factoid about you? I mean, besides blowing up a

Dontavious Ellis  08:20

car, which is good by itself. I figured that would pass off as my I'm

Speaker 1  08:24

gonna,

Jim Cardoso  08:25

I'm gonna press a little bit. I

Dontavious Ellis  08:27

would say, what

Jim Cardoso  08:28

makes Don Ellis? Don Ellis,

Dontavious Ellis  08:30

that's a good question. Don't

Jim Cardoso  08:31

get too metaphysical on us, though,

Santiago Zambrano  08:33

either. So

Dontavious Ellis  08:34

I would say, I love fencing. I love fence. It's a really on, like a, not really a big sport, but I came to college in my freshman year, and I started fencing. I never knew the sport like that existed, but I started fencing, and it was just something so new that I absolutely love and still do to this day. So that's a fun fact.

Jim Cardoso  08:56

Okay, also competitive Santiago talked about, but also that's more of that one on one competition. So, so with finals, you see that Professor as your direct opponent? No, you can't say that. You're right, but I can say it, so it's okay. I'll say it for you. So no problem. Now, look, that's interesting. I mean, so, I mean, you say, Well, I like fencing. I was not expecting that. So that was, that's it. That's a great, that's a great aside. So, Sophia, not a student. Yeah, you're gonna get to playing this too. So I'd say more. You know, you're not a student, but you know what brought you to USF? What brought you to GNSI? And again, a little I already know some factoids about you, but I'll let you, I'll let you talk about it.

Sophia Montero  09:33

I am the conference and events planner here at GNSI. I definitely did not expect to end up in the world of national security, but here I am, and it's been a very interesting journey. It kind of makes a little bit of sense, because I spent eight years before starting college expecting to be an FBI agent and plan to study criminology. So that was what I started off. In college as a Criminology major, but quickly realized that it just wasn't for me, because I'm a people person, but in the happy sort of party going get together, social gathering type of way. So I decided to start studying Event Management at the University of Florida, and also took up a second degree in marketing, because the two go hand in hand, and that led me here. So I do the events and conferences for GNSI. I've had the opportunity to plan maybe like 20 events now in total,

Jim Cardoso  10:39

yeah, some big and some small Yeah, but yeah, and I can say that, you know, we're doing this. This is an audio only podcast, but I'll try to see if I can paint a picture with my words here. Sophia has been fantastic. Sophia prefers to be behind the scenes doing stuff, because she is, she is busy squeezing a stress football right now as she is talking to us, but you're hanging in there. We're having a conversation. It's all good. Definitely

Sophia Montero  11:06

more event management than marketing.

Jim Cardoso  11:08

Yes, yes, but that's okay. Well, that's what we hired you to do, and you're doing a fantastic

Speaker 1  11:13

job.

Jim Cardoso  11:14

Back to the students, so what? What attracted you? And I'm gonna let Don you're gonna get to go first this time. What attracted you to the future strategist program? You know, broadly

Dontavious Ellis  11:24

so I actually had, I would say, a semester ago. I did not know that GNSI as a whole existed. I have to give a huge shout out to Dean Batson, Assistant Dean Batson at the College of Engineering, because he figured, you know, I'm someone who's very big on the defense industry. I really want to learn more about it. He actually sent the DC experience to me via email and said, Hey, I think this is a really good fit for you. Should apply.

Jim Cardoso  11:49

That's great.

Dontavious Ellis  11:49

And then I look more into it. I was like, Wow, I can't believe I never knew this existed. So everything really expanded from there. As I've gotten more in depth into FSP program. I've really learned a lot. I've developed an insane amount that I feel a lot of engineers really kind of step over being able to translate from just hearing numbers and circuits all day to people talking about decisions and information that really impacts our world as a whole. You know that that's something that really drew me, drew me to the FSP program.

Jim Cardoso  12:26

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, and I'm glad you know that's that's really great to hear you heard from your assistant dean. So that may mean the words getting out across University at these opportunities exist also, you know, it's, it's important, we want all types to come to this program. So a lot of, a lot of people would not, would not align an electrical engineering major with national security, but national security, national security needs the Poli Sci experts. National security needs the techies, the electrical engineers. And it'll need people who are in finance and business. So, and I think we have all those in FSP, we're up to 122 students now. So it's really great to hear that. I'm glad to have people like you, and also your dean for recognizing that as well. That's a shout out to this university that they're, they're in tune with their students and and giving them some opportunities, because that's what we want to do. So that's that's fantastic. Santiago, over to you. What? What brought you to FSP and the DC experience as well?

Santiago Zambrano  13:20

Well for FSP to start with, my first semester USF was last semester as a transfer student. So I was like, What should I do at USF? This is so big. This is a humongous campus, so many clubs, so many student organizations, where should I join? So one day, I found myself walking at the bull market, and I saw this future strategies program Table. I'm like, What's this? And like, Hey, what's this? Oh, this is, this is a club. And they started saying everything about FSP, and I want, I'm like, I was, I was prepared to leave and just continue my way. And then I came back and I asked, Hey, I'm a policy major. Do I qualify for this? I'm like, of course, it is open to all major all majors. And I'm like, Oh, wow. Then sign me in. And I immediately went to the boost connect and immediately registered for that. What happened later is I forgot about it, and one day I was working and I started receiving messages in teams, Microsoft Teams. Now, like, who's message in Microsoft Teams spamming me, yeah, yeah. I didn't request to join in teams group chat. But then I realized, oh, wait, I did sign up for this. You did when I went to the end the bully then search for FSV. I'm like, Wow. This is, this is interesting. This is everything I was looking for. I was looking for a political science organization that wasn't really political science, because I was interested in more fields about it, not only theory side. I'm a Model UN guy. I did Model UN when I was in community college. I was looking for something else, something something. More national security, public policy type of thing, and without me, like trying to look for it, it came to me and I'm like, Wow, this. I really want to be involved in FSP. I really want to go to this opportunity, to this conferences and everything. So that started last semester. What happened was that I was still adapting to USF, and it wasn't until this semester that I started becoming more involved in FSB. So what got me into the DC experience that that's the other question, and I'm a polysign major, DC is a dream.

Jim Cardoso  15:38

Yeah, it's the place you got to go eventually. Yeah, we're very proud of the fact we're outside the DC bubble, but it's you do need to understand and see the DC upfront as well.

Santiago Zambrano  15:47

Yes, and when I saw that, I'm like, I told my mom, Mom, that's my dream. But at the same time, I'm like, I know that this is gonna be something many students are gonna apply for, but I will do my best. I will do my best. I will draft the best personal statement I've ever drafted in my whole, you know, college life, and, you know, polish my resume, and and, and really DC, national security, public policy, those are the things I that got me into poli sci and seeing that was, was that in our kid, I always dream about DC coming to flourish. So that's what got me to the DC experience.

Jim Cardoso  16:29

Excellent. Well, yeah, I hope it lives up to your expectations. I'm glad to hear about the bull market. I'm glad because we're putting the FSB is going out of the bull market. I'm glad it's a it's having some positive impact, and pulled some students in. Sofia, so you've been working through the agenda on this, this DC experience, the first time we've ever done it in GNSI. USF has run a program like this before, but we're sort of restarting it. Talk us through some of the, you know, not all the events, but generally. Just take a couple minutes talk about some of the things that students are going to do while

Speaker 1  16:58

they're up

Sophia Montero  16:58

there. Well, we have several exciting activities planned for the students. There are a few different organizations that the students will engage with. They'll be having lunch with the Center for a New American Security they'll also get the chance to meet with Palace advisors up there to learn more about the consulting role. We'll be having a State Department briefing with Hiram Rios Hernandez, who is a USF alumni. We'll be doing some of the typical, more touristy things, but must do's when you are in DC, like visiting the Pentagon, a tour on Capitol Hill and visiting the National Mall. We'll also be hitting the Spy Museum for a meeting with Lieutenant General Bob Ashley and Major General Charlie Cleveland, followed by a tour of the museum. So it will be really interesting. There'll be a variety of different experiences. The students will get access to top leaders within the national security field, deeper insight into the decision making processes of top leaders and organizations, an overview of these organizations that are dedicated to making an impact on national security through advocacy, research and defense and lots of networking opportunities as they interact with all these different people. So it's going to be a great experience for the students. We have a very busy schedule.

Jim Cardoso  18:26

Well, I like the way too that you've put together. You have a combination of we're seeing some government entities. We're seeing some think tanks. We're seeing both the national security side, the Intel side, the diplomatic side, Department of States, featured prominently. So we want the students to see all those things, so that way, obviously, you know, the students can, can learn from this experience. But also, you know, some of them may have an idea of what this, oh, this is what I want to do in national security. And maybe that's what you want to do. Or maybe you may learn something new and go, Huh, that thing is actually kind of interesting too. So it'll help to refine where you want to go as well. So kind of a, that's a, kind of a segue. So let's see you get to go first this time, Santiago. So what do you say you heard that? And, I mean, maybe you've been tracking some of it. What's the one thing on there? Just you only get to pick one. What's the one thing on the you look forward to most while you're in DC,

Santiago Zambrano  19:22

only one thing,

Jim Cardoso  19:23

only one. Yeah, you got to pick one. Yeah. I look, I know they're all up there, but you gotta What is one thing on there? There's like, ah, that looks really cool. I look forward to

Santiago Zambrano  19:31

it. Oh, that, that? That definitely a complicated question. But I've never been to Capitol Hill, never been to a pentagon. I would choose both. But I'm looking forward, looking forward to that touring in Capitol Hill. Yeah, definitely, as it's my dream to be there. So being there for the first time is definitely, definitely, as I said, that inner kid that that Expo. Sure that will definitely remind refine career path.

Jim Cardoso  20:04

Yeah?

Santiago Zambrano  20:04

So definitely Capitol Hill.

Jim Cardoso  20:05

Well, hopefully we'll be able to get you some, you know, meet some people on the Hill as well. That's what we're looking to do. So we've got, we're still refining some parts of the agenda in that regard, but it's, it's moving forward. Don How about you?

Dontavious Ellis  20:16

Yeah, I was hoping Santiago didn't steal my answer. I'm really looking forward to that Spy Museum, because I didn't mention this earlier. As a kid, I'd watch a lot of, you know, investigative shows, and there were some cartoons on there. There's this little cartoon with, like, there's the there's a white hat and there's the black hat. There's these little spy guys, spy versus spy, or something, or something like that, yeah. And, um, you know, that's one of the things that really sparked my cyber security side of things. So I'm really looking forward to feeling like a kid again, or, yeah, no, understanding where what really sparked it all from the start. Yeah,

Jim Cardoso  20:52

and you're gonna get a tour of kind of the Intel sort of apparatus up there too, from one of our non resident fellows, not only pretty attic. So that I'm so glad that he's a part of that. Sophia, how about you? You're not a student, I've made that clear, but you're a young professional, and you know, you're still gaining professional, you know, development from everything you do, you're going to, you're going on this DC trip as well. You're going to see all these things, anything you are looking forward to most above anything or looking to gain from

Sophia Montero  21:23

it. I'd say I'm most excited for this dinner that we're having our first night in DC, that will be with some USF alumni who are working in DC. I think it'll be a great opportunity for all of us to connect with some folks who have been at USF and have been in our shoes, and to hear about their experiences to how they got to DC. I mean, I personally don't see myself out in DC, but just hearing about people's journeys and where they might have been before that, what they did before, how they got there, that's all inspiring to me, because I'm two years post grad, so still fairly early on in my professional career, and it's just interesting to see how far people can get, what all they do, how many different twists and turns life can take you on. So I'm just excited to make some connections with people who have a shared background, and hear about their experiences and just make some real connections in DC.

Jim Cardoso  22:24

Yeah, well, I, you know it's like, I know it's probably hard for you to believe, but I do remember being in college and making that transition. I know it's in the Jurassic but it really did happen. And I, I still remember I was in the Air Force, so I was at the Air Force Academy, and I want to go to pilot training, and I just couldn't imagine doing that. I couldn't imagine there was a world where I would actually be a professional pilot. And that's what ended up happening. And for a lot of my career, especially early on. I mean, literally, I was pinching myself. I can't believe I'm doing this for a living. So I think that's neat. What you said in that a lot of these people were going to me were probably in a similar situation. They're at USF. They're going, Ah, there's really want to do. I love the work in DC. I love the work doing this, but I don't know that seems so hard. How do I get there? What's the pathway? And they're there right now and again. What we're excited about FSP is that we're providing you additional pathways to find, to find your way there, to to meet people, to build your network, so that hopefully you're the ones, you're the alumni in a few years that we're doing this trip with, and you're the ones that are going to speak with the students. So we're very excited about that. Back to the students, so don start with you this time. So what? What aspects of the National Security Education and some of the experiential opportunities that we try to provide an FSP, which, what, which of those have been

Dontavious Ellis  23:48

valuable to you? I would say, I'm sorry, was it? DC, no,

Jim Cardoso  23:52

no, it's more about FSP in general, some of our experiential opportunities, some of the stuff we've been trying to do, or just being a part of FSP, what's really, sort of, what have you really taken some value from? What's impacted you?

Dontavious Ellis  24:03

I would say the conferences. I'm listening to a lot of these panels as a electrical engineering student, and beforehand, I absolutely had no clue what half these people were talking about. But as I attended these conferences, and actually, you know, took the time to listen to some of the questions people had as well. I really felt myself seamlessly integrating into the Institute here at GNSI, from just listening to numbers and circuits all of my past previous college years. But to answer your question, is definitely the conferences I love, the ISC conference I didn't get to see the the competition, but next

Jim Cardoso  24:44

year, yeah, next year you need to play next year. Yeah, it is. It was. We were very excited about that. A lot of lessons learned, but it's definitely something we're going

Dontavious Ellis  24:52

to continue. Yeah, and I'll pass it on. All right, what

Jim Cardoso  24:54

about you? Same question, so what your your national security, education, the opportunities you've had at the. SP, what's what stood out to you?

Santiago Zambrano  25:02

I can say many things about FSP, Ryan, first of all,

Jim Cardoso  25:06

can't hog the microphone, though. Okay, so you can't say too many. Gonna have to

Santiago Zambrano  25:09

narrow it down. Narrow down.

Jim Cardoso  25:11

Okay.

Santiago Zambrano  25:11

First of all, I agree with what Don big conference is amazing. I got the opportunity to be student speaker for one of the conferences, the nuclear and nuclear and nuclear conference,

Speaker 1  25:22

the

Santiago Zambrano  25:23

best experience I've ever had in my undergraduate years. And this is something that for me to have that opportunity with FSP, that was, for me, that was unbelievable. I'm like, Mom, I'm gonna speak in a conference at the oval theater. Like, wow. Well, that's first second of all the opportunity to have a mentor. The FSB mentors that we have, my mentor, he's at DC law enforcement manager at meta. I'm like, wow, and I told him I was speaking to him last week, and I told him, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go to DC, and having that opportunity to even connect with him at DC. That's something that, in all his input towards my academic journey has been very valuable to me. And lastly, the coffee chats that we have every month, I attended one with Ambassador Phil Phil cosnet. He went here, like, a couple of

Speaker 1  26:22

months

Santiago Zambrano  26:22

before and and that was amazing. Really, every single opportunity that FSP offers has been that has offered to me that refining path in my career. So that's why, really, I'm really grateful with FSB for all that they're doing. Yeah,

Jim Cardoso  26:38

are you gonna meet your your mentor while you're up in DC, you're gonna be able to meet up with with him in person.

Santiago Zambrano  26:43

That's a plan. That's a plan. He will be, he'll be traveling during that week, but he said that that if he's at DC during maybe Wednesday, Thursday,

Jim Cardoso  26:52

yeah, Thursday, we're providing some time, especially Thursday afternoon, you should have some time to be able to do that. That would, I would highly recommend that. I mean, it's a great opportunity to do that, and I'm glad that's that's having an impact on you, because we really wanted to make sure that you know the students had that one on one opportunity with their mentors. So back to you, Santiago, what so you're closer to graduation? So you're 2027 grad, you're 2028 grads. Here another year to think about it. So you're you're a little closer. What are your post graduation career aspirations? I mean, not just national security, even more broadly, what you know, where do you see yourself after you graduate from USF?

Santiago Zambrano  27:30

Can I be honest?

Jim Cardoso  27:31

Yeah, I hope so. Hopefully, been honest the whole time. Don't even lie to me. So far, I'm

Santiago Zambrano  27:35

still thinking about it. And I was, I was I was talking to my mentor last Friday or last Yeah, last Friday, how about it? I'm like, I don't know what to do. And he's

Jim Cardoso  27:47

fair answer, believe me, yeah, trust me, you're fine, yeah.

Santiago Zambrano  27:50

And he told me, Well, when I was in your shoes, I have no clue. I'm like, wait, actually, so I'm not the only one thinking. Like he was like, no. The same thing happened to me when I was a junior, when I was a senior, and I'm like, wow, because I'm just closing my finishing my senior, my junior year, and I'm like, I don't know what to do. I really I want to look for a master's. I want to look for a master's and something, something at the intersection of public policy, diplomacy and even, and even public administration, still deciding, still refining my path. That's why I'm really looking for for this DC experience, because I know that this DC experience will bring that exposure that brings clarity in career paths. So after USF, I'm still deciding whether or not to continue with the masters or receive while the opportunity there are, there are in the future, but definitely a master's

Jim Cardoso  28:55

okay. Look, if there's any juniors at USF listening to this podcast right now, they're going, Oh, I thought I was the only one that didn't know what I wanted to do. Believe me, most of your peers are still going that. They're like, Oh, man, I'm graduating in a year. I got to figure this out. Most people your agent, you are, you are not alone in that. I'm glad your mentor said that as well. But you know, you've got recent graduates of USF who are part of FSP, they've gone on and gotten their masters. I think Lily is going to, oh, no wait, I can't remember, shoot. I can't remember, Lily's going, but she got a paid, you know, master's degree. She's gone. So there's opportunities that you can learn from if that's what you want to do, you know. And I think, you know, it can be here. It can then maybe something you transfer to the, what, where was it?

Sophia Montero  29:45

Johns

Jim Cardoso  29:46

Hopkins, okay, I was right. Okay, good. They want to get have a little get mad at me, but, you know, so that's something, what you would probably want to do is try to stay linked up with her, you know, because she sort of charted that pathway. And. That's it's an extremely competitive program she got into, and being part of FSB helped her with that. So something to think about. Don over to you, what do you see yourself? You got a few more years to think about it. So you're allowed to be clueless as well, but try hard

Dontavious Ellis  30:13

in the room here. So I mean, I just went in an internship at orbital Corporation up in Zephyrhills. It's a small defense facility, but I'm on a pretty clear path to be at the intersection of defense and cyber physical systems. But when I mentioned I'm a try hard, I'm on my second attempt at starting up a company, so I'm founding harms, which is the applied research and military systems. Well, will be the applied research and military systems here at USF, it's going to be a defense organization focused on developing projects that help the military, help our men and men and women in the military. But how that's tying into DC is I need to understand who's setting the requirements. You know, how programs are getting sourced, and how engineering engineers and policy makers actually interface when something goes wrong. I'm going to need all of those skills as I'm building up an organization. So to answer your question, long term, I definitely do see myself being prominent in defense and cyber security. Kind of middling, mediating there,

Jim Cardoso  31:17

but maybe more entrepreneurial. Yeah, absolutely yeah, okay. Thought about maybe, I don't know. We'll see maybe getting kind of the business side of it. You know, USF has, USF has a PSA for everybody, outstanding business college here, mumma College of Business. So, yeah, so maybe that's kind of, so you have the national security, you'll have the techie, you'll have the business, you'll be there. You'll be the triple threat. Oh yeah, you'll be ready to take on the world. Well, I think that, you know, look what you what you are going to see next week, or not next week, but in a few weeks is really going to be helpful towards that. I think, you know, you're not going to see everything. You're just going to get a very wave top view of a lot of stuff. But if you have you been to DC before, you said you hadn't either Santa Santiago. So look, you're gonna, yeah, you're gonna, I mean, you're gonna have your eyes open. It's gonna be, it's gonna be really great, and you're gonna just see and learn some things that that'll be very valuable to you going forward. So as we start getting towards the end of podcast, I got a little we're gonna do a lightning round. Okay, so this is just, you know, some questions, just to kind of get you thinking about who you are, just letting people out there know who you are as well. So also, again, I'll start each has its privileges. So you get to go first Santiago. Favorite food,

Santiago Zambrano  32:31

Italian food,

Jim Cardoso  32:32

okay? Favorite food, Don

Dontavious Ellis  32:34

man, honey barbecue chicken.

Jim Cardoso  32:35

Ooh, that's good. Sophia, you're in the rooms. Favorite food,

Sophia Montero  32:40

I'm with Santiago on this, but specifically truffle cream, pasta.

Jim Cardoso  32:45

Well, you lived in Italy for a while, so, yeah, you have an up on all of us. Okay, I'll start different person. So Don favorite beach or preferred getaway, or could be favorite beach, favorite get away.

Dontavious Ellis  32:55

I want

Jim Cardoso  32:56

to tell

Dontavious Ellis  32:56

Boulder Colorado.

Jim Cardoso  32:58

Okay, yep, I've been there. Very nice. It's beautiful, yeah, Clearwater

Santiago Zambrano  33:02

Beach.

Jim Cardoso  33:02

Clearwater Beach is fantastic, no doubt.

Santiago Zambrano  33:05

Italy,

Jim Cardoso  33:06

yeah, of course. Where in Italy? That's a big country, okay, you got to name a spot now,

Sophia Montero  33:10

a multi coast, for sure.

Jim Cardoso  33:12

Okay, fair enough. Fair enough. I don't know I was in, I was in Florence, in wine country. Was very nice. I really enjoyed myself few years ago. All right, so biggest surprise in being a college student, come from high school to college, what was kind of a big surprise at that that transition

Santiago Zambrano  33:31

time management is key.

Jim Cardoso  33:33

Time management, yeah, I've heard that before. Excellent answer. How about

Dontavious Ellis  33:36

you? I need to actually talk to people. I wanted to be an introvert, but I didn't electrical engineer. Yes,

Jim Cardoso  33:42

yes. And outgoing engineer means you can look at the other person's shoes when you talk to him. Yeah? That means you're an extrovert for an engineer, yeah, I was, yeah. My younger son is also engineer, and I would call been an introvert, but yeah, sometimes he would prefer not to have to talk to people, and then he's okay with that. Seemed to be doing okay, though. How about you? What was, I would say, biggest surprise, not being a college student, but in you came to GNSI. What sort of surprised you in being part of our organization? If anything, it's got to be something.

Sophia Montero  34:11

Yeah, spring semester was definitely busy, but I've been in jobs where we had multiple events every weekend, so I think it's been interesting planning conferences, where they only happen a few times a year,

Jim Cardoso  34:23

yeah, but when they happen there, it's all in for sure. A

Sophia Montero  34:26

lot more going on. Okay, just me. Fair

Jim Cardoso  34:29

enough. Fair enough. Don start with you this time. On a typical weekend, I'd mostly find you

Dontavious Ellis  34:36

Ooh. I want to, I want to say working on projects, but I'm going to be realistic here, relaxing watching a movie, cuddle in my bed.

Jim Cardoso  34:45

That's okay. College student, 101, how about you? Santiago,

Santiago Zambrano  34:48

typical weekend will be playing with my friends, either soccer, basketball, or being relaxed with my family and church.

Jim Cardoso  34:57

Okay, good. Sophia,

Sophia Montero  34:59

how? Very social, so probably with friends. Yeah?

Jim Cardoso  35:04

Okay, friends are good. I like that. No, yeah. See, none of you, none of you own houses. That's right. So if you owned a home, then you'd be doing your Yeah? Ty, Ty. The producer shaking his head, because he's a new homeowner. He knows you're at home. Taking care of that dang house is what you're doing. Finals, coming soon. Santiago, which one are you the most stressed about

Santiago Zambrano  35:26

contemporary, contemporary political theory? I have a night in that class, so I better have a good final.

Jim Cardoso  35:32

Oh, you want the competitiveness coming out? Yeah, you know, it'd be the on the bottom end of that, of that, that you don't you don't want to draw, you don't lose. You want to win that I

Santiago Zambrano  35:41

gotta win that game. Okay? I gotta win the match,

Jim Cardoso  35:43

so I know what you doing this weekend. Then,

Santiago Zambrano  35:45

oh yeah,

Jim Cardoso  35:46

for that. Don over to you. How about the what? Which one you stressed about?

Dontavious Ellis  35:50

I'd have to say python programming. I mean, I'm used to work with numbers all day, but we have to program, unfortunately. So Python,

Jim Cardoso  35:57

that is part of electrical engineering. Last I heard, yeah, so All right, when? When does that one happen?

Dontavious Ellis  36:02

Oh, that one's gonna be next week, on Thursday.

Jim Cardoso  36:04

On Thursday. All right. So, okay, so, Sophia, which? Okay, so different. Slightly different. Which, which event or job duty has you currently most stressed? Now, if I'd ask you this question two weeks ago to been very different question. But how about right

Sophia Montero  36:17

now, what's

Jim Cardoso  36:18

on your mind?

Sophia Montero  36:18

I'd say this DC trip, just finalizing all the details. But while I was in Italy, part of what I did was taking student groups to different parts of the continent of the European continent for the podcast in Italy,

Jim Cardoso  36:38

fair enough.

Sophia Montero  36:41

So I'm excited to be able to do that again here at USF with GNSI, and take this group of students to DC. So you're not

Jim Cardoso  36:48

stressed about it, actually, you're looking forward to

Sophia Montero  36:50

it. I am looking forward to it.

Jim Cardoso  36:52

Okay, so we need to find something to stress you out again.

Sophia Montero  36:54

Please don't

Jim Cardoso  36:55

we had her stressed a few weeks ago, but I would tell you for the audience, you would never know she keeps a smile on her face now that, what's it? You say she's about to go lay out on Fowler Avenue, that's that's when she says that. Then, you know, she's stressed out, that sort of thing. So, so I would say, look for everybody here. Thank you so much for joining us. It's really interesting to you know, we talked to a lot of great people in this podcast, but the next year and going forward, in GNSI, we're definitely going to focus on that student engagement and that student success. We want to make sure that you have those opportunities. Now, you got to help yourselves as well. All right, I'm lecturing the students now, in case you're wondering, you got to help yourselves as well. But I think that we're providing the opportunities, and I love the way that that you guys are grabbing hold of them and taking advantage of them as well. So for Don, for Santiago, for Sophia, thank you so much for joining us

Dontavious Ellis  37:54

today.

Santiago Zambrano  37:55

Thank

Dontavious Ellis  37:55

you. Thank you. Thanks,

Sophia Montero  37:56

Jim.

Jim Cardoso  38:01

Special thanks to our guests today, dontavis, Ellis and Santiago Zambrano USF students, who will be taking part in the GNSI DC experience next week, and to our own Sofia Montero, who helped take this great idea and turn it into reality, as mentioned at the top of the episode next week on the podcast, the author of our latest decision brief will join us. Greg Howell is a former Senior Foreign Services Officer with USA ID, and will be in our studio discuss his decision brief, which focuses on the global fragility Act passed in 2019 and its sequel, The Global fragility Reauthorization Act, which was introduced last year and is currently in front of Congress, waiting to move forward. If you don't want to miss that episode or any other episode, be sure to like and subscribe to at the boundary on your favorite podcast platform. We thank you for sharing some time with us today. You can find GNSI on YouTube, LinkedIn and x be sure to follow like and subscribe. Tell

Jim Cardoso  39:00

your

Jim Cardoso  39:00

friends and colleagues as well, and be sure to sign up for a monthly newsletter. You can find all this on our website, usf.edu/gnsi, that's going to wrap up this episode of at the boundary. Each new episode will feature global and national security issues we found to be insightful, intriguing, maybe controversial, but overall, just worth talking about. I'm Jim Cardoso, and we'll see you at the boundary.