NOVA Program Taps AWS to Train Marines in Data Intelligence

  • By Sara Friedman
  • 07/17/19

Northern Virginia Community College is working with the U.S. Marine Corps and Amazon Web Services to develop a set of courses focused on data intelligence. The new courses will cover cloud computing, data analytics, machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) topics.

To complete the program, Marines take 31 credits at NOVA as well as a course offered by the Marine Corps focused on military-specific components. Participants can then go on to obtain an associate applied science degree in information systems technology at NOVA.

The courses were developed with help from the Amazon Web Services Educate program. Coursework in ML and AI will utilize AWS Educate's Machine Learning Pathway, which includes access to Amazon SageMaker, a tool for building, training and deploying ML models. NOVA's course of study will also prepare Marines to obtain a certificate to become an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner.

"We have worked side-by-side with the [Marine Corps] while utilizing the AWS console and having access to AWS Educate resources, to design AI and ML coursework to meet the needs of both the USMC and our industry community. Even more exciting is that we see this as a first step to what could be many additional cutting-edge programs of study to support our U.S. Armed Forces," said Chad Knights, NOVA's provost for information and engineering technology.

The new set of courses at NOVA is expected to launch this fall. The Marine Corps is also exploring opportunities to expand the NOVA partnership to other IT and cyber occupational fields.

This new offering is the latest collaboration between NOVA and AWS. In June, NOVA and AWS announced a new program that will allow students to earn an associate degree in cloud computing at NOVA and transfer to George Mason University to complete a bachelor's degree.

About the Author

Sara Friedman is a reporter/producer for Campus Technology, THE Journal and STEAM Universe covering education policy and a wide range of other public-sector IT topics.

Friedman is a graduate of Ithaca College, where she studied journalism, politics and international communications.

Friedman can be contacted at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @SaraEFriedman.

Click here for previous articles by Friedman.


Featured

  • abstract illustration of a glowing AI-themed bar graph on a dark digital background with circuit patterns

    Stanford 2025 AI Index Reveals Surge in Adoption, Investment, and Global Impact as Trust and Regulation Lag Behind

    Stanford University's Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) has released its AI Index Report 2025, measuring AI's diverse impacts over the past year.

  • modern college building with circuit and brain motifs

    Anthropic Launches Claude for Education

    Anthropic has announced a version of its Claude AI assistant tailored for higher education institutions. Claude for Education "gives academic institutions secure, reliable AI access for their entire community," the company said, to enable colleges and universities to develop and implement AI-enabled approaches across teaching, learning, and administration.

  • lightbulb

    Call for Speakers Now Open for Tech Tactics in Education: Overcoming Roadblocks to Innovation

    The annual virtual conference from the producers of Campus Technology and THE Journal will return on September 25, 2025, with a focus on emerging trends in cybersecurity, data privacy, AI implementation, IT leadership, building resilience, and more.

  • From Fire TV to Signage Stick: University of Utah's Digital Signage Evolution

    Jake Sorensen, who oversees sponsorship and advertising and Student Media in Auxiliary Business Development at the University of Utah, has navigated the digital signage landscape for nearly 15 years. He was managing hundreds of devices on campus that were incompatible with digital signage requirements and needed a solution that was reliable and lowered labor costs. The Amazon Signage Stick, specifically engineered for digital signage applications, gave him the stability and design functionality the University of Utah needed, along with the assurance of long-term support.