U.S. Special Operations Command’s Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (U.S. SOCOM AT&L), alongside the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory, launched the 2026 SOCOM Ignite Program at MIT’s campus in late September, embarking on a yearlong journey for more than 100 cadets and faculty from over 20 colleges, universities and service academies.

The SOCOM Ignite Program is an innovation-focused initiative aimed at addressing current and future challenges facing the warfighter, but it also serves as an opportunity to both further the education and ingenuity of future military leaders. The selected teams will have the opportunity to establish relationships with military and technical mentors, culminating in a presentation of their work at Special Operations Forces Week 2026 in Tampa, Florida.

This year, U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. JoAnn Naumann, senior enlisted leader for U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, provided the keynote address, encouraging cadets to think ‘outside the box’ as they look to tackle issues specific to special operations.

“I challenge you this weekend – surprise me,” said Naumann. “Don’t try to impress us. Surprise us, come up with ideas that we never would have thought of, even if it’s not the perfect idea, there may be some kernel in that surprise that is the perfect idea.”

Beginning in 2020 with an initial group of eight ROTC cadets, the SOCOM Ignite program now hosts more than 100 cadets from universities and service academies across the country. This year, SOCOM Ignite received 48 unique challenges, each submitted from various SOF units. This year was the first year the program received challenges from every component of U.S. SOCOM.

“Having this be truly joint is one of the key areas that marks this as a big accomplishment,” said Raoul Ouedraogo, program lead for SOCOM Ignite. “It’s that ability to be able to have all of those different service components work together.”

Bringing together a wide variety of knowledge and experience from across the field remains a core focus of the program, which Joshna Iyengar, an associate technical staff member at Lincoln Labs and team mentor for SOCOM Ignite, confirmed.

“We’re trying to combine as many different parties as possible, bringing together people from U.S. SOCOM to these cadets, to more technical expertise including Lincoln Laboratory,” said Iyengar. “Seeing their ability to work, seeing their passion for learning these things and working on these projects, is amazing.”

Nilufer Mistry Sheasby, an Army ROTC Cadet at Harvard University who attended SOCOM Ignite last year, was able to reflect on the scope and vision of the program.

“I think the challenges have gotten better,” said Mistry Sheasby. “They’re building off of the work that has been done in previous years, and like I’ve seen in some projects, continue and change in different iterations.”

This year included several new participating ROTC units. Rich Franco, a team mentor and advisor from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute, Indiana, and a newcomer to SOCOM Ignite, spoke about the opportunities created here for the different ROTC programs and service academies.

“To be able to interact with all of the other universities like West Point, the Naval Academy, on actual projects, and then to bring them back to Rose-Hulman in order to work over the entire year with those teams, is just an amazing opportunity to collaborate with the top institutions,” said Franco.

Franco, who served as a U.S. Army Special Forces officer prior to joining Rose-Hulman, expanded on the enriching factors of the program for the cadets through his experiences as a SOF veteran.

“They need to have an open mind and know that they can work across teams to essentially solve any challenge,” said Franco. “Then they will rely on their individual specialties to come up with and formulate that plan that is organic … to give these cadets a purview into that so early in their careers, before they become commissioned officers in our Army, is just such an essential skill.”

By: Staff Sgt. Lawrence Wong