U.S. Marines from across the service gathered at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), August 11-14, to kick off the first artificial intelligence (AI) fellowship jointly hosted by the U.S. Marine Corps and NPS.

The pilot fellowship, tentatively titled the USMC-NPS AI Fellowship, is an initiative of the 2024 USMC AI Strategy which aims to accelerate advanced AI research and build AI talent within the Marine Corps. NPS will provide fellows with tailored education on artificial intelligence, mentorship from faculty and industry experts, hands-on research experience, and the opportunity to develop an AI prototype inspired by a real-world challenge facing the fellow’s command.

“This fellowship leverages eager Marines knowledgeable about the fleet’s modern and relevant issues, faculty experts, state-of-the-art facilities at Naval Postgraduate School, and the incomputable potential of artificial intelligence and machine learning,” said Dr. Christopher Paul, U.S. Marine Corps Chair for Information at NPS and lead organizer of the program.

Over the next five months, AI fellows will split their time between NPS and their home commands before concluding the pilot program in January 2026. While this initial pilot focuses on developing the AI talent within the Marine Corps, the fellowship hopes to include service members from other branches in future iterations.

“Our goal is to optimize AI’s application across the force,” Paul said. “To do that, we need to grow the AI-proficient and literate population in the military, which this fellowship aims to do.”

Information on future fellowship opportunities will be released via an administrative message. For inquiries on the pilot fellowship, contact Dr. Christopher Paul at christopher.e.paul@nps.edu or Marine Corps Capt. Christopher Clark, artificial intelligence lead for the Deputy Commandant for Information, Service Data Office, at christopher.d.clark.mil@usmc.mil.