Mullen Scholar reflects on opportunities, learning experiences provided by inaugural scholarship

In 2024, the Pallas Foundation for National Security Leadership announced the new Mullen Scholarship as part of the Mullen Initiative. Named after Admiral Mike Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the initiative provides scholarships to students studying national security-related degrees.

Arizona State University student Garima Arya Yadav was selected as its first recipient for her dedication to advancing national security through technology. She is part of the Global Security Initiative, working within the Center for Human, Artificial Intelligence, and Robot Teaming (CHART), where research is synthesized across computer science, robotics, law and more to create human-machine systems.

Yadav, who studies computer science with a minor in mathematics, joined ASU’s Bio-behavioral Team Dynamics Measurement System (BioTDMS) project as part of becoming a Pallas Mullen Initiative Scholar. The project, which is part of the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) Objective Prediction of Team Effectiveness via Models of Performance Outcomes (OP TEMPO) program, focuses on integrating multimodal sensing, dynamical systems modeling and machine learning to better understand team coordination and adaptability.

“We capture physiological and behavioral data such as heart activity, breathing patterns, neural activity and speech from teams in high-stakes military scenarios and use it to quantify how teams respond to stress or disruption. Our team at ASU focuses on the nonlinear aspects of performance dynamics,” said Yadav.

She helped design the communication pipeline, including a diarization methodology that helps clean up communication data, allowing the project’s team to separate and analyze team-member speech more effectively. She also worked on making the system interactive by building interfaces and visualizations so instructors can easily navigate through the system.

“Through the Pallas Scholarship, Arya has become a valued member of the project team, directly impacting the project in several ways,” said Jamie Gorman, professor of human systems engineering and director of CHART. “Arya has made the most of her opportunity as a Pallas Scholar, learning what it means to be a contributing scientist on a large, federally funded Department of Defense project.”

Over the past year working on the project, the biggest thing she learned was that trust and mentorship are essential for innovation, especially when it comes to interdisciplinary research.

“When you're part of a high-functioning team that values your ideas, it creates space to take risks, explore new directions and learn deeply from others. I entered this opportunity thinking I’d be a supporting player, but I was given the freedom to lead meaningful aspects of the project. That changed how I think about my own capabilities,” said Yadav.

In August, Yadav was able to present her work at the Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology and Life Sciences Conference and submitted a paper with 16 co-authors to their peer-reviewed journal, Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology, and Life Sciences.

“Submitting the manuscript felt like a milestone. It meant that the work we had poured so much thought and energy into was now part of the broader scientific conversation. Presenting that work at the conference this year and receiving the Best Paper Award was incredibly validating, not just for the paper but for the team effort behind it,” said Yadav.

Reflecting on her work over the past year, Yadav noticed a transformation in the way she saw her coursework and gained confidence in her ability to apply certain academic subjects to high-dimensional, human-centered data.

“Working on BioTDMS made me realize how much I love working at the intersection of disciplines, especially computer science, human biological data and psychology. I found myself diving into human-computer interaction, nonlinear dynamics and behavioral science, areas I hadn’t previously explored,” Yadav said. “I became fascinated by broad questions that our lab explores, centering around how technology can help us quantify subtle cognitive and social processes.”

The Pallas Foundation is dedicated to empowering the next generation of leaders in global and national security through educational opportunities, mentorship and professional development. In addition to scholarships through the Mullen Initiative, recipients are invited to leadership development events coordinated by the Pallas Foundation.

Her advice to the next scholar is that this is their chance to explore, learn and take initiative while not being afraid to put forward any ideas, no matter how early-stage they are. 

“Treat the scholarship as a launchpad, not a checklist. One of the most rewarding parts of my experience was discovering that my voice mattered, even as an undergrad,” she said. “Professor Gorman gave me more trust and autonomy than I expected. He took my ideas seriously and let me take the lead on areas where I felt confident, like designing the interactable user interface for our system or building the communication diarization pipeline we now use. That kind of trust helped me grow into my role and gave me the confidence to take on more complex tasks.”

Yadav plans to continue conducting research and exploring machine learning, neuroscience and human-AI interaction. One day, she wants to lead interdisciplinary teams that bridge gaps between computer science, behavioral science and human-centered design to solve real-world problems and bring together the collaboration she had experienced through CHART and the Mullen Scholarship on a larger scale.

“This interdisciplinary exposure deepened my academic curiosity and shaped the kind of research I want to pursue moving forward — work that not only builds intelligent systems but also helps us better understand human and machine behavior,” Yadav said.