Jobs are available at defense contractors for new college grads. The improved job scene is the result of increased federal funding for many agencies, especially those involved in defense and homeland security work.
At defense contractor Raytheon (Waltham, MA), for example, college hiring has been "robust" and will continue to increase in 2004, says John Malanowski, VP of talent acquisition and corporate human resources.
"As the economy picks up, we will see an increasing need for talented engineers at all levels," Malanowski says. He even predicts a shortage of engineers within five years. "We could face a serious shortfall in the next three to five years if the technology demands continue to change and program demands get increasingly complex," Malanowski believes. "In some respects, recruiting is the easy part, especially in this economy. Keeping talented engineers is the real challenge." Many companies and government agencies focus on retaining talent by offering support programs for employees of diverse backgrounds.
Rewards and security
New grad engineers and IT professionals agree that the government sector offers tech challenges they enjoy while providing an opportunity for public service.
"My major job decision was whether to pursue a career in private industry or the government. Because government jobs offer many benefits, clear promotion opportunities and job security, I decided to join the government workforce," says Fung Chan, a structural engineer in the Minerals Management Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Malanowski says his time with Raytheon has convinced him that defense and government work is a wide-open field for young engineers and IT professionals.
"If we could tell engineers about the classified work we do, they would be knocking down our doors to get into Raytheon. The technology we develop is mind-boggling, and so are the opportunities to build meaningful and rewarding careers."
NAVAIR is committed to diversity
Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR, Patuxent River, MD) recruits engineering and science grads at schools with diverse student bodies. The organization estimates about 200 job openings for 2004, say Tania Dawson, program administrator of the professional recruitment program, and Elise White, affirmative employment program manager in NAVAIR's equal employment opportunity office.
NAVAIR supports Navy and Marine Corps readiness and combat missions. It handles weapons, sensors, aircraft, launch and recovery, training and communications. It recruits BS and MS grads in aerospace, electrical, industrial, materials, chemical, mechanical, civil, general and computer engineering. It also seeks math majors and physicists for its operation research analysis division. Jobs may be in Patuxent River, MD; Lakehurst, NJ; China Lake, CA or one of five other locations.
Once hired, new grads may enter an entry-level engineer and scientist development program, says White, where they will find structured career planning, on-the-job training, rotational assignments and mentoring. All employees can access a mentoring database through the career development office. "Special emphasis" networking and recruitment programs target African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans, women and people with disabilities.
NAVAIR's Erin L. Steagall gets aircraft flying again
Erin L. Steagall is an ME for NAVAIR, supporting aircraft repair. She has worked at the Naval Air Depot in Cherry Point, NC since graduating from Ohio University (Athens, OH) in 2003.
"The depot takes a damaged aircraft apart, reworks it and sends it back to the fleet," Steagall says. Her group is responsible for the support equipment needed to rework aircraft - tooling, slings, dollies, workbenches and the like. A sling can hold millions of dollars worth of aircraft or components, she says.
Steagall enjoys mechanical engineering for its hands-on aspects, she says. As a child, she and her dad worked on projects in their home garage in Amherst, OH. "I always wanted to do something hands-on that also required a lot of mathematics," she says, adding that her dad, an engineer in the steel industry, encouraged her to become an engineer. "As my sister and I were growing up, his friends would ask him if he wished he had a son. He would say, "Absolutely not! "My girls can do anything a boy can do," she remembers.
In college, Steagall did co-ops with Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America in Princeton, IN and Erlanger, KY, and two ten-week summer internships at NASA Glenn Research Center (Cleveland, OH), researching compressors for an unmanned combat aerial spy vehicle. "The goal was to make the jet engine compressor more efficient," she says. "The results did show design improvements."
At her current job, Steagall says she enjoys learning about aircraft and multitasking on her production work. "I am the lead point of contact for slings and also handle production tasks, called work stoppages. If a piece of support equipment breaks, you have to drop everything and fix the problem. Otherwise the shop artisans can't do their work," she says.
Steagall likes NAVAIR because she is treated like everyone else even though she is a woman. "Not being looked at differently is important to me, and NAVAIR handles that well," she says.
NAVAIR, Steagall says, combines the best of her Toyota and NASA experiences. "It's like a research setting because of the R&D, but it's fast paced because of the production support. And it supports Naval war fighters. After September 11, I take great pride in my work knowing I'm doing my part."
Crystal Evans, civilian with the USAF
Crystal Evans is an intern in the headquarters-level civilian intern program of the U.S. Air Force, based at Randolph AFB, TX.
The Air Force employs more than 15,000 civilian scientists and engineers. They do everything from inventing state-of-the-art technology in world-class laboratories to designing and maintaining sophisticated aircraft and weapons systems.
The program accepts people with BS degrees in engineering or science, specializing in aerospace, electronics, electrical and mechanical engineering as well as computer science and operations research. Participants get three years of training. During the second year, they do graduate work. The Air Force pays salary, tuition, books and some moving expenses that year. During the first and third years they work full time for the Air Force. Applicants with MS degrees are considered for a two-year experience at a higher salary.
The Air Force provides a sign-on bonus at 25 percent of the annual salary. It repays student loans of $6,000 per year, up to $40,000. And it offers full salary, fees and books for graduate school and tuition assistance for part time grad students, including those in doctoral courses.
Evans graduated from the University of Oklahoma (Norman, OK) in 2003 with a BS in aerospace engineering. She applied to the program on the recommendation of a friend and was accepted in June 2003.
She's still in her first assignment, at Eglin AFB, FL, running analyses on an aerodynamic model for the F-16 aircraft. Her analyses determine whether limited cycle oscillations might occur and how that would affect pilot safety. "I look through the results to see what needs to be flight tested and what's a safe configuration. It's a lot of pressure when you're setting limits for a person's safety," Evans says.
"I learn something new every day - things not covered in my undergrad courses. I'm always saying, "I'm sorry you have to train me,' but they've been wonderful and patient," Evans says.
Fung Chan of MMS: "Help wherever I turn"
Fung Chan is a structural engineer for the U.S. Department of the Interior/Minerals Management Service (MMS/New Orleans, LA). She is learning about the structural design of offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. She recently spent a week on an offshore derrick barge observing a platform installation. "My job is fun and really exciting and adventurous," she says.
Chan, who became a U.S. citizen in 2002, came from rural China at age nine with her family. She graduated in 2003 from the University of New Orleans (LA) with a BS in civil and environmental engineering. She discovered the world of engineering during a "Math-Science Upward Bound" summer camp in high school. The federal government funded the program to encourage an interest in math and science in teens from minority and low-income families, she says.
Chan interned as a structural engineer at a private consulting firm, the Engineering Development Group (New Orleans, LA) during her junior year in college. But after graduation, she chose a government job because of the benefits, promotion opportunities and job security.
At MMS, Chan works in the office of structural and technical support, which has eight staff members. When she first came on board, her department was gathering data about structural damage to oil industry platforms during Hurricane Lili in 2002.
One of Chan's current duties is to verify the accuracy of her department's info in an MMS database. She also helps senior engineers review company applications to install structures in the Gulf. Chan reviews applications for small, temporary projects. "They drill the well looking for oil. If it looks promising, they put up a permanent platform," she says.
Chan says that even though the offshore industry is traditionally male-dominated, she feels welcome at her job and is grateful for the training she is getting. "There is help wherever I turn, and I am learning the unique aspects of offshore structures and the oil and gas industry," she says.
Alison Greenwald: public policy and programming at the FCC
Alison Greenwald enjoys helping to shape public policy at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC, Washington, DC). She researches copy protection technologies for cable and broadcast systems.
"I provide the technical details to lawyers drafting rules and policy. I sometimes write a sentence or a paragraph that winds up in the rule," Greenwald says.
Television needs to protect its programming from turning up on the Internet and to prevent situations similar to the music industry's battle with Napster, Greenwald says. "They want to keep control of valuable content while making sure that people can still record a program to watch later," she says.
Greenwald graduated from Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA) in 2001 with a degree in electrical and computer engineering. Her interest in computers started at age four, when her father bought a computer for her older sisters.
During college, Greenwald did three internships. She worked in computer support at a government database contractor, then for Seagate Technology (Scotts Valley, CA), supporting office systems in Pittsburgh. She also did firmware engineering for Adtranz, a transportation company now owned by Bombardier (Montreal, QC, Canada) in Pittsburgh.
Her first job after college was also in firmware, with Ericsson (Rockville, MD), a large telecommunications company. But she wanted more contact with people, so in August 2002, she went to the FCC.
"I'm interested in policy, not just programming. FCC lets me combine those interests," Greenwald says.
She is one of nine engineers in the Media Bureau engineering division. She reads pending rule makings from other bureaus to see if they impact broadcasters. She also reviews requests from broadcasters. "I sort through details," she says.
Her advice to new grads: if you don't like your first job, keep looking until you're happy. "In the end, I decided to work for the government. The salary may be a little lower, but it's more interesting and it's what I wanted to do," she says.
At NIST, programs support diversity
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST, Gaithersburg, MD) has a number of support programs for people of diverse backgrounds, says Sol del Ande Eaton, manager for the diversity program.
NIST has a formal mentoring program that's open to all employees, Eaton says. It also opened a career center last year that offers counseling on professional development.
NIST also sponsors affinity groups including the Association of NIST Asian Pacific Americans; the Association of NIST Hispanic Americans; the NIST Committee for Women; the NIST Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual Employees; the NIST Association of African American Staff and NIST Employees Concerned with Disabilities (NECD). It also has a support group for guest researchers who come from other countries to do research at NIST, as well as an employee benefits association.
NIST's Ana Ivelisse Aviles does statistical metrology
Dr. Ana Ivelisse Aviles has been legally blind all her life, but she notes, "I've always been great with numbers, even though I couldn't see them."
Aviles is a mathematical studies statistician for NIST. She helps the agency strengthen its statistical research and experimental designs. Aviles works in NIST's statistical engineering division, doing statistical research and collaborating with the agency's scientists. She has been at the agency since 2001.
"Every day is different. Some of my projects involve computer forensics - ways to obtain files from terrorists' computers, for example. We develop tests to ensure that the tools used in solving computer crimes are accurate and dependable," she says.
She also gives presentations to scientists, engineers and students about her field. "Basically, my work involves teaching, collaborating with scientists and engineers and doing statistical research," she says.
Aviles, a native of Puerto Rico, graduated from the University of Puerto Rico (Mayaguez) with a BS in industrial engineering in 1997. In 1993, she was one of the first students to participate in NIST's Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship program (SURF), which provides students with hands-on research experiences. "I fell in love with research," she says. Her SURF research involved a lens design for a vacuum radiometer.
Between 1995 and 1996, she did a twelve-month co-op at McNeil Consumer Products Co (Las Piedras, PR), a division of Johnson & Johnson that produces Tylenol. "It gave me a good idea of what would happen if I went straight into industry and what statistical tools engineers need," she says. From 1996 to 1997, she did a co-op at LifeScan Inc (Cabo Rojo, PR), another division of Johnson & Johnson.
She received her masters in industrial engineering and management sciences from Northwestern University (Evanston, IL) in 1999, and her PhD in 2001.
Aviles says the support she gets from NIST helps her do her job. "NECD brought in more equipment than I would ever use. They have given me the flexibility I need to do what I have to do," she says.
Entry-level jobs at SSA
The Social Security Administration (SSA, Washington, DC) will hire thirty-five to forty-five new graduates in 2004, and possibly more if the new Medicare law requires extra staff, says Merrily Davis, systems IT recruitment manager.
Generally, 25 to 30 percent of new hires are entry level, Davis says. The administration shares its job announcements with fifty colleges in a five-state area. It targets its recruitment activities at ten local schools with a strong IT curriculum and also attends and conducts job interviews at fifteen job fairs per year. The administration hires all majors for "the full gamut of IT work," Davis says. SSA looks for skills in systems analysis, systems design and development, programming, systems architecture, database management and networking.
SSA has one of the largest data-bases in the world and has more than 65,000 workstations to access its giant mainframes. "We hire the best to make sure SSA stays the best," Davis says.
New employees work with a mentor for the first three years. They also work on an individual development plan that takes them through training, development-level assignments and obtaining the skills they need to get the next promotion. SSA supports its new employees with a network of advisory groups representative of its diverse employee population. "A student might be interested in the Hispanic group, for example, and we let the councils know who they are," Davis says.
The administration brings in entry-level employees through a range of federal programs and, like nearly all government agencies, posts job opps on the USA JOBS website (www.usajobs.opm.gov).
SSA's Joseph Winns: a good mentoring program
The Social Security Administration (SSA, Baltimore, MD) has taken steps to accommodate information technology specialist Joseph Winns, who uses a wheelchair. He was injured playing football at age sixteen. Winns has some use of his arms, and types using his thumbs. He learned programming during rehab.
Winns writes code, updates the administration's Internet website, tests commercial software and resolves problems with the administration's computer service.
"They modified a restroom and expanded my work cubicle," Winns says. SSA also widened doors to certain conference rooms to accommodate his wheelchair.
Winns, who works in a department of thirty, has been working at SSA since 2000 when he graduated from the University of Baltimore with a degree in CIS.
While in college, he found out about job opportunities by participating in the Outstanding Scholars Program, one of five authorities used by the federal government for recruitment. He had to maintain a GPA of 3.45 to be in the program.
He became an SSA employee through a Schedule A appointment, used to hire employees with disabilities and to access federal funds to make facilities accessible. Winns has completed the administration's three-year training program and has already had his first promotion.
At SSA, Winns has a group of friends who are disabled. He meets monthly with an advisory panel that focuses on the needs of disabled employees. "They had a good mentoring program when I first started. They showed me what I needed to know, because the facility is large and can be overwhelming," he notes.
One of his most recent achievements is getting his driver's license for a specially equipped van. SSA modified his work schedule so that he could learn to drive.
"I got encouragement from other folks with disabilities who were driving. I figured, if they can do it, so can I," Winns says.
Raytheon: active hiring and a commitment to diversity
Raytheon (Waltham, MA) anticipates 750 openings for new college grads during 2004, more than double the year before. Ninety percent are engineering positions, says John Malanowski, VP of talent acquisition and corporate human resources.
In addition to engineers, "We also hire math and physics and some material sciences majors," Malanowski says. Internship experience "helps out tremendously if it's relevant to our industry and the job they want."
Raytheon maintains a recruiting presence at 170 schools nationwide. The company holds information sessions, interviews on campus and also works closely with student networks like NSBE, SWE and SHPE.
"Raytheon is deeply committed to building a diverse workforce," Malanowski says.
Raytheon has active employee support group networks representing major diversity groups. They hold career development workshops and activities. Each business unit within Raytheon has its own mentoring program for women and minorities, Malanowski says.
Raytheon's Jocelyn F. Hicks-Garner: keeping satellites clean
Dr Jocelyn F. Hicks-Garner, a contamination control engineer at Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems (El Segundo, CA), is concerned with keeping satellites free of contamination.
"A satellite is supposed to perform for ten or fifteen years, so it should be free of contaminants that interfere with its functioning," Hicks-Garner says. "That doesn't sound like a big deal, but when you think about sending something into space, a lot is involved!"
Hicks-Garner joined the defense contractor in July 2003, after a year as a research chemist at DuPont (Wilmington, DE). She earned a BS in chemistry from Spelman College (Atlanta, GA) in 1997. She studied concurrently for her masters and PhD in analytical chemistry at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill, NC), and received both degrees in 2002.
When Hicks-Garner interviewed at Raytheon, she noticed that staff were supportive of each other. "Raytheon makes all employees feel welcome, and the company is diverse by race, age and gender. It creates an environment where people feel their contributions are valued, important and very appreciated," Hicks-Garner says.
Hicks-Garner's specialty is the prevention of on-orbit out-gassing in satellite materials. "Out-gassing is the release of molecular contamination that can redeposit itself on a satellite sensor and affect its performance. If this happens in space, there is no way to clean it. So we have to use materials that don't out-gas," Hicks-Garner says. "The engineers identify the materials they'll use, where they will assemble the satellite and if it needs to be pre-treated."
Her biggest challenge is to identify potential problems before they happen. "So many things can influence contamination. Every day you solve a piece of the puzzle."
Government and defense contractors are serious about supporting their new grad hires from diverse backgrounds. They provide mentors, ongoing training, professional development, affinity groups and other benefits aimed at helping them succeed."
New grads are reaping the rewards. "I'm doing something I enjoy a lot," says Crystal Evans of the Air Force. "I feel very fortunate."
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