USU's Center for Anticipatory Intelligence Celebrates New Strider Fellows Program

LOGAN — Utah State University’s Center for Anticipatory Intelligence recently celebrated the launch of a landmark partnership with Strider Technologies, a Utah-based data security company founded by USU alumni Eric and Greg Levesque.

A recent event to honor the Levesque brothers underscored the power of industry-academic collaboration and the tangible benefits such partnerships bring to students preparing for careers in intelligence and security.

Taking place in the Carolyn Tanner Irish Pavilion on Feb. 7, CAI’s celebration brought together students and faculty from multiple disciplines to recognize the Levesque brothers’ contributions and present them with the award for the Intermountain Intelligence, Industry, and Security Consortium (I3SC) Outstanding Industry Partner of the year.

Through a $300,000 scholarship investment — with $150,000 allocated to each of the I3SC institutions, Utah State University and Utah Valley University — the Strider Fellows program aims to strengthen workforce development in intelligence and security by providing students with scholarships, work-based learning opportunities, and career pathways.

“CAI is incredibly thankful for the contributions that Greg and Eric Levesque from Strider Technologies have made to the Intermountain Intelligence, Industry, and Security Consortium and the Center for Anticipatory Intelligence at USU,” said Jeannie Johnson, CAI’s founding director. “They have reinvested in us, in our small community, in a very big way.”

The ceremony featured discussions highlighting the evolving role of privatized intelligence and the necessity for interdisciplinary expertise in the field. Greg and Eric Levesque spoke about the journey to launch their startup in 2019 and the global security challenges Strider Technologies — which was recently valued at $55 million — is now working to address.

For students, the event reinforced the real-world impact of their studies. Caleb Dissel, who is studying data analytics and anticipatory intelligence, expressed enthusiasm for the partnership.

“It was exciting to see that there is a professional space where our passion for intelligence work could be deployed to the private sector,” said Dissel, who looks forward to internship opportunities associated with CAI’s involvement in the Strider program.

Similarly, Cayden Opperman, a USU student already interning at Strider, emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary learning.

“Make sure you are taking advantage of interdisciplinary opportunities in CAI,” he said. “If you are someone more technical, make sure you are also learning the social sciences. If you are learning social sciences, make sure you are also learning all the technical skills you can. These lines are not so rigid in the real world, and you will benefit from understanding many disciplines. This is what CAI offers its students.”

True to Opperman’s advice for current students, both Levesque brothers majored in prelaw economics at USU, with Eric minoring in Russian and Greg in Chinese.

“It was inspiring how Greg and Eric faced a daunting problem and now have a team of over 100 people helping them solve it,” said student Ben Hickenlooper, a data analytics major minoring in German and anticipatory intelligence. “I left the event feeling excited about my involvement with CAI aligning my passions with my career.”

With Utah-based Strider Technologies now operating around the globe in Washington, London, Tokyo and Santiago, Chile, the company remains committed to fostering innovation and intelligence expertise within its home state — a primary focus of the Strider Fellows program.

“We have one of the most amazing startup ecosystems imaginable,” Greg Levesque said. “And I want to see you guys take risks, take big swings, and go solve some of [today’s] issues.”

Through this partnership, CAI and Strider Technologies are shaping the next generation of intelligence professionals, ensuring that students are prepared for the multifaceted challenges of the modern security landscape.

“Your futures are actually getting changed right now,” Eric Levesque said. “I mean, with what’s happening in technology, geopolitics, public policy, there’s so much societal change that will impact what you will get to do in the future and what you choose to do. I think it’s exciting.”

USU’s Center for Anticipatory Intelligence minor and graduate programs are open to students in any major. For more information about undergraduate and graduate opportunities in CAI, please visit https://www.usu.edu/cai/ or contact CAI Program Coordinator and Academic Advisor Tyler Doering at tyler.doering@usu.edu.