About
Who we are
70+ students at NC State who want to work on national security problems.
The National Defense Society at NC State is a student chapter built for people who want to work on national security problems — not just read about them. We were founded in 2026 and have grown to 70+ members across the College of Engineering and well beyond it.
Week to week, that means bringing in people who actually do the work, building things with our own hands, and getting members in front of the companies and labs that hire them. We run speaker events with engineers and operators from industry, stand up small project teams, take trips to facilities and conferences, and keep a social calendar that makes the rest of it worth showing up for.
You do not need a clearance, a technical background, or a defense-adjacent résumé to join. Our roster runs from aerospace and nuclear engineers to political science, finance, and philosophy majors. If the work interests you, that is the entire prerequisite.
Week to week
What members actually do
01
Speaker events
02
Build projects
03
Trips
04
Socials
Majors represented
Engineers, and everyone else
Engineering makes up most of the roster, but membership is open to every college at NC State.
Engineering and computing
Everything else
Class year breakdown
We skew young
Approximate, based on the current roster. A sponsor reaching these students reaches them well before they start interviewing.
Leadership
Officers
Tristan Schellenberg
Treasurer and Partnerships Chair
The rest of the board is being added
We are collecting roles, majors, and class years for the full officer team and will publish them here shortly.
Faculty Advisor
Dr. James Braun — Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, NC State
Industry Advisor
John Richards — Manufacturing Engineer, Anduril Industries
Industry Advisor
Chadwick Jetti — Associate Mechanisms Engineer, AST SpaceMobile