FirePoint Brings First Hacking for Defense Program to Kansas FirePoint Leverages Army, DoD & Academic Partnerships to Give Students Hands-on Experience in Solving Real-World National Security Challenges News provided by Share this article Share this article WICHITA, Kan., Jan. 26, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- This semester, students at Wichita State University have become the first in Kansas to put their innovation skills to work in solving real-world national defense challenges as part of the Hacking for Defense (H4D) program, thanks to the FirePoint Innovations Center and WSU's Masters of Innovation Design program. H4D, a program of the National Security Innovation Network (NSIN), is a semester-long course offered only at select, top-tier universities across the country that provides students the opportunity to work directly with Department of Defense (DoD) agencies in an applied learning environment. "Problem sponsors" from the DoD and intelligence community present technology challenges to student teams who then rapidly develop, iterate and test solutions using an agile, tech-startup-style approach, ultimately aiming to deliver a viable product to the problem sponsor.