Published 11/01/2025
The Commonwealth Cyber Initiative Central Virginia Node (CVN) is proud to continue the CVN 2025 Intern Impact Series, a spotlight on the students whose summer internships are shaping the future of cybersecurity across Virginia. Each article highlights CVN-sponsored interns, the organizations they worked with, and the impact they made in advancing technology, innovation, and security in the Commonwealth.
This summer, CVN partnered with AMC Technology, a Richmond-based leader in contact center integration, and the Mandate Democracy Foundation, a nonprofit using technology to strengthen civic engagement. Together, five interns from Virginia universities contributed their skills in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, software development, and digital design to help these organizations drive innovation and impact across Virginia.
AMC Technology: Powering the Future of Customer Engagement
This summer, Lexus Wilkinson and Besufekad Desta, both from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), took on the challenge of innovating within AMC Technology’s DaVinci platform, a contact center orchestration system designed to streamline communication between enterprises and their customers.
After completing an intensive boot camp covering tools such as REST APIs, TypeScript, JavaScript, and Agile development, the interns began working on a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server integrated with Anthropic’s Claude to autonomously trigger workflows in Salesforce’s AgentForce Agentic AI platform.
“The experience was great,” said Besufekad. “After an initial boot camp, my partner and I began working on an MCP server to explore brand-new AI integration concepts. It was exciting to contribute to technology that’s still emerging in the field.”s really nice and I’m constantly learning new things.”
Lexus reflected, “I learned so much, especially in areas I didn’t have a background in. The boot camp really helped lay the foundation for our projects. The highlight was seeing our work come to life, it became more practical and impactful every day.”nd against those threats.”
Rajbans Joshi, AMC Technology’s representative, commended their work and initiative:
“Our internship program isn’t for the faint of heart, we give interns unexplored use cases that even our senior engineers haven’t tackled yet. Lexus and Besufekad did an outstanding job exploring new AI applications, and their work was so valuable that some of it has since been published in Salesforce’s Agent Exchange platform.”
Their impact didn’t end with the summer, Lexus continues with AMC as a Fall 2025 intern, expanding on the projects she helped develop and furthering her hands-on experience in AI and enterprise software.
Mandate Democracy Foundation: Advancing Technology in Civic Engagement
At the Mandate Democracy Foundation, three CVN interns, Alen Panachickal (VCU), Jaiden Myers (Virginia State University), and Neil Patel (University of Virginia), contributed their skills to advance the organization’s mission of strengthening democracy through secure and transparent technology.
Alen served as the Lead Graphic Designer, enhancing the organization’s digital presence.
“It has been a great experience working with my team,” Alen shared. “I honed my design skills while developing UI updates for the Mandate Democracy website and ballot app, and gained hands-on experience with web plug-ins and basic cybersecurity practices.” that has strengthened both my technical knowledge and my understanding of the industry.”
Jaiden took the lead as a Front-End Developer, revamping the Mandate Democracy website to improve accessibility and usability.
“I had been learning about collaborative software and project management,” Jaiden said. “Working across time zones was a challenge, but it helped me develop strong communication and coordination skills.”
Meanwhile, Neil Patel contributed as a Cybersecurity Intern, developing a referendum voting app designed to help Virginia transition to a paperless voting system.
“I was excited to work on something so impactful for my community,” Neil reflected. “Through this experience, I gained valuable insights into project management and collaboration.”
Lester Fettig, founder and supervisor at Mandate Democracy Foundation, praised the interns’ performance and impact:
“The CVN partnership has been transformative. Our interns became integral members of our technology group, leading real projects that promote cybersecurity, privacy, and civic empowerment. We want them to see technology not as a threat to democracy, but as a tool to strengthen it.”
Their work contributed directly to Mandate Democracy’s goal of launching AI-driven issue and budget ballots across Virginia, an initiative that empowers citizens to securely voice their opinions on community priorities.
Driving Cyber Workforce Growth for a Smarter, Stronger Virginia
The CVN 2025 Intern Impact Series continues to showcase how collaboration between academia and industry drives innovation across the Commonwealth. From AI-driven customer engagement at AMC Technology to secure digital democracy initiatives at Mandate Democracy Foundation, these internships exemplify how Virginia’s students are shaping the future of cybersecurity and civic technology.
