A Folsom, California, native is graduating from the Naval Postgraduate School with a master's degree in computer science after researching how artificial intelligence can help the Navy identify weaknesses in its computer networks before an adversary does.
Navy Lt. Kristina Bodeman worked with her thesis partner Swedish Army Lt. Col. Sven Bengt Mattias Gaalnander to develop SPELL, short for Spec-to-Shell, a system that works through user-inputted objectives to successfully gain access to a test computer.
"Adversaries are getting faster at conducting cyber operations against our systems, so we need a way to continuously test our own networks to find and fix vulnerabilities before they do," Bodeman said.
Many powerful AI tools rely on cloud services. SPELL was designed to explore whether smaller AI models could instead run locally, allowing sensitive information to remain on the system and giving ships or deployed units an option when reliable connectivity is unavailable.
To test SPELL, Bodeman and Gaalnander used a public cybersecurity benchmark that required the system to gain access to a test computer, obtain higher-level access and find a designated file. Using a powerful AI model, SPELL found the file in 37 of 40 runs, confirming completion of the required steps. The team also showed that SPELL could guide a much smaller model through a lengthy, multi-step cyber task, supporting the potential for AI-assisted cybersecurity tools that do not depend on larger, cloud-hosted models.
The research earned Bodeman the Gary Kildall Award for Computing Innovation and, along with Gaalnander, the Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper Computer Science Award.
Bodeman arrived at NPS with a background in computer science and cybersecurity. She studied machine learning and cyber operations while working with faculty to apply that education to a real military problem.
After graduation, Bodeman will report to Navy Cryptologic Warfare Development Group, where she will work in acquisition and help inform decisions about future Navy technologies.
"This education isn't just a degree. It is a chance to take what I have learned and carry it with me to the fleet, where it can make our people and our networks safer," Bodeman said.
Located in Monterey, California, NPS is a naval command and graduate university that provides defense-focused education and research, preparing students to return to the fleet and force with knowledge they can apply to military challenges.