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Demand for techies remains high in government and defense
Agencies and contractors look for new grads; some offer specialized training
By Monique Rizer
Contributing Editor
 From ship design to undercover operations, opportunities are plentiful for techies in government and defense. Government agencies and their contractors both need engineers and scientists in many disciplines. Programs
have been specifically designed to develop next-generation specialists.
Hiring is extremely active at some contractors. About 1,000 new employees will join Raytheon (Waltham, MA) in the coming year, according to Jeff Goodman, university programs manager. The defense and aerospace systems supplier needs EE, CS and computer engineering grads. “Diversity is a very large component of our selection criteria,” he notes.
Hamsavali Bhate is a systems engineer at Raytheon
Hamsavali Bhate works in Raytheon’s integrated defense systems (IDS) business unit in Woburn, MA as a systems  engineer. “A lot of what we do is used in a war zone to defend our country,” she says.
One of Bhate’s recent projects involves analysis to help the government estimate repair costs for a defense radar system. Her task is to determine the threshold for ordering the repair. “Signaling a soldier about the optimal time for repair will avoid unnecessary disruption in service and potential failure when the radar system is critically needed,” she explains.
Bhate has a 2007 BS in electrical and computer engineering and a BA in arts and dance from Cornell University (Ithaca, NY). Her father was an EE and she was raised to study the sciences. “I added the arts degree to satisfy my desire for a creative outlet,” she notes.
A campus career fair led Bhate to a Raytheon recruiter during the fall of her senior year. She was asked to apply online and interviewed with six area leaders within IDS. As is customary
at Raytheon, she didn’t know the specific position she was being considered for during the interview process.
Bhate describes her perseverance during her job hunt. “I would sit in the career services offices every morning and wait for someone to come out so I could talk to them.” This strategy got her twenty-seven interviews.
For Bhate transitioning from college to career wasn’t as difficult as going from high school to college. Home schooled from second through twelfth grade, the only tests she’d taken were
the annual standardized tests. “At college there were no little bubbles to fill in,” she says with
a smile.
In the first couple of weeks at Raytheon she worried that she might not know all that was expected of her, but she relaxed after her first big presentation. “I found that if I didn’t know something, they would help me learn it,” she says.
High technology and diversity
Rockwell Collins (Cedar Rapids, IA) has openings for hardware, software
and systems engineers in its government business line. “We want team players with strong communication skills and a good work ethic,” says Tracy Scieszinski, manager of professional staffing.
Diversity director Karen Brown notes that diversity is critical to Rockwell Collins’s continued business success. She explains that all employees share the company’s vision of building the most trusted source of communication and aviation electronic solutions. “But it’s through our continued commitment to diversity and inclusion that we are making this vision a reality.”
Pavla Pletková: a unique position at Rockwell Collins
Pavla Pletková works in the hardware engineering group at the Sterling, VA simulation and training solutions division of Rockwell Collins. She’s working
on a B-1 aircraft visual system upgrade.
A promotional drawing at a 2007 NSBE national conference led her to Rockwell Collins. Pletková got more than an iPod when she went to the company’s booth to claim her prize. She met with several engineering managers and HR representatives from the Richardson, TX and Sterling, VA facilities and was eventually offered a job. “I built very good relationships with the engineering managers and the HR representatives at both locations,” she says.
But Pletková initially turned down the job offer to follow her dream. After earning her 2007 BSEE at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW, Fort Wayne, IN), she was offered an opportunity she just couldn’t refuse: a slot on a professional basketball team based in Germany.
Pletková kept in touch with Sterling HR coordinator Karen Hackley and asked her about temporary off-season work. Hackley responded with an even better offer: work full time in the off seasons and take a leave of absence during basketball season.
“I signed on without question,” Pletková says with a smile. She’s grateful for the company’s accommodation, but she’s even more delighted to be working with a great staff on an interesting project. She also liked the combination of commercial and defense opportunities at Rockwell Collins. Best of all, Sterling is near her family home in northern Virginia.
Pletková chose engineering because she wanted to apply math and science to the real world. She describes herself as a builder, fixer, problem-solving kind of kid. “It was fitting for me to go into a profession where we solve problems for a living,” she says.
Pletková’s parents both have PhDs, so school was always taken seriously. Her mother is Ghanian and her father Czech. She remembers her father waking her up at 4:00 am when she was twelve to complete an unfinished paper due that day. He handed her a Coke and said get to work. She wasn’t too happy then, but appreciates the support today. “My dad wanted to ensure that I always finished what I had to do,” she says.
During college Pletková served as an executive board member for her school’s NSBE chapter. “Engineering organizations play an important role in the growth and development of young students,” she says.
Diversity at CIA
“Technical skills are in high demand at the Central Intelligence Agency,” says John Guyant, deputy chief of the recruitment and retention center (RRC) for the CIA (McLean, VA). In response to a 2004 presidential directive to increase its technical workforce, the agency set a goal to boost the number of its scientists and engineers by 50 percent.
Technology touches all four of the CIA’s directorates: intelligence (DI), science and technology (DS&T), support (DS), and the national clandestine service (NCS). The agency seeks candidates with CS, computer engineering and EE degrees.
CIA tech jobs involve innovative use of IT to support NCS officers. “We are the brokers and creators of technology,” says the RRC’s technical hiring division deputy director, who cannot reveal her name for security reasons. “Our job is to rip technology apart and find creative ways to use and protect it. You really need that hands-on understanding.”
Thirty-two percent of the CIA’s new hires for 2008 are minorities, up from 26 percent in 2007. Each recruiter works closely with a minority technical society like NSBE or SHPE. The agency has recently increased efforts to reach out to the Arab community. “Diversity is critical to innovation,” Guyant explains. “It’s that mix of experiences that allows us to approach problems differently.”
CIA officer creates technology for intelligence gathering
National Clandestine Service (NCS) officers are the cinematic face of the CIA. Rarely featured are the technical staff members who support their missions.
Recruiting director John Guyant explains that NCS officers depend heavily on technology.
The tech staff that helps gather intelligence must know the technology inside and out. “This is especially critical when an operative’s life is on the line,” Guyant says.
One NCS technical operations officer, whose work and identity must remain anonymous, was recruited for the CIA in high school. A counselor encouraged him and nineteen other African American students to apply to the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program. Two applied, but he was the only one accepted.
LSAMP is an NSF-sponsored multi-disciplinary program designed to increase the quality and quantity of students receiving baccalaureate degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. The program’s ultimate goal is to increase the number of minorities contributing to advanced STEM research and education.
The CIA officer enjoyed math growing up. His brother was serving in U.S. Army communications and encouraged him to pursue a computer science degree. Around that time he also received a brochure in the mail from an HBCU that turned out to be a top engineering school. “I decided to go there and major in computer science,” he says.
While in college he worked at CIA headquarters during summers and breaks, earning pay, leave and benefits. After graduation he joined the agency full time as a technical operations officer. “I’ve traveled to five continents in the past few years,” he says.
Even though he’d been a part-time CIA employee for four years, transitioning to full-time work was challenging. He was suddenly on a regular schedule, working and learning at the same time. “Unfortunately,” he laughs, “in the real world, you have to be in at eight and stay until you get the job done.”
He says that CIA tech officers need more than technical skills. The agency looks for grads with people skills and high integrity, someone well rounded and teachable.
The tech officer’s operative has to trust him. “The operatives’ lives are on the line. If what we give them doesn’t work, they could die,” he says. People skills are required not just to explain how to use the technology, but to win that trust.
This officer developed these traits as captain of his high school football team and as a choir member and bible study leader.
He encourages students to study technology they enjoy. “Then figure out the best way to use
it to develop your career,” he advises.
Self starters have an edge
At the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA, Fort Belvoir, VA) R&D, IT and intelligence safeguard America and its allies from weapons of mass destruction. “We hire individuals with scientific or engineering backgrounds in chemical, biological and nuclear fields,” says Nancy Nachreiner, human capital office chief.
The DTRA is also looking for systems and structural engineers for its R&D, business and operations enterprises. The current IT emphasis is on candidates with expertise
in enterprise architecture.
“Engineering and science coursework may get a candidate in the door,” Nachreiner notes,
“but our managers try to identify self-starters during the interview process.”
Diversity plays a key role in DTRA’s recruiting efforts. “DTRA is here to support the war fighters,” Nachreiner explains. “It’s important to have that diverse perspective so we can respond to the diverse war fighter force.”
Some government agencies train specialists
The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB, Washington, DC) is responsible for overseeing the defense nuclear weapons complex run by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). “It’s the DOE’s job to maintain the readiness of the nuclear arsenal, dismantle surplus nuclear weapons, dispose of excess radioactive materials, and construct new facilities,” explains HR director Delores Everett. “It’s our job to be sure it’s done safely.”
Scientists and engineers make up most of the Board’s 100-person staff. To develop the next generation of nuclear safety engineers, several promising new grads are recruited annually for a professional development program (PDP).
Candidates must have a 3.5 GPA or better and must be science or engineering majors. During the three-year program, PDP participants learn about the history and mission of the organization, earn a graduate degree and undertake a developmental field assignment. In exchange for receiving full salary and benefits, plus grad school tuition, the Board requires an additional three-year service commitment.
Everett has worked for the Federal government for more than twenty years. She’s seen new grads work on projects of national importance very early in their government careers. “When they read about it in the newspaper they can proudly say, ‘I was a part of that,’” she notes.
Rebecca Raabe works at ORNL for DNFSB
Rebecca Raabe is in her third year as a general engineer in the DNFSB’s PDP. Raabe is on assignment with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN) at the Radiochemical Engineering Development Center and the Center for Biokinetic and Dosimetric Research in Washington, DC.
She’s responsible for demonstrating advanced technology used to recycle spent nuclear fuel in an environmentally friendly way. She’s also involved with internal dosimetry, which studies the rate at which the human body absorbs ionizing radiation. Her work incorporates current knowledge of absorption rates with DOE guidelines that protect the public and environment.
Raabe has a BS in radiological health engineering from Texas A&M University (College Station, TX). She’s one of only seven who earned that degree at Texas A&M in 2005.
A chance meeting at a campus career fair led to two summer internships with the Board. A recruiter noticed that Raabe had interned at an operating nuclear reactor the summer before. “My first internship at the Board resulted in a publication and presentation to the Health Physics Society,” she states proudly.
The Health Physics Society is a scientific and professional organization whose members specialize in occupational and environmental radiation safety. The primary purpose of the Society is to support its members in the practice of their profession.
Raabe earned her 2007 MS in nuclear science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (Cambridge, MA) as a PDP participant.
She is excited about working in DC. “After my first three months, my supervisors joked that I had caught Potomac fever,” says the Texas native. In this program Raabe’s also lived in New England and Tennessee, places she never thought she’d call home. “The work and educational opportunities are great,” she says.
Raabe’s father is an agricultural engineer and a fellow “Aggie.” He encouraged his daughter to pursue engineering, but it was her uncle that introduced her to health physics. Also an engineer and A&M alum, he works on the Texas Radiation Advisory Board (Austin, TX).
Raabe says she has always been “pretty driven,” but she appreciates her parents’ support. “I still like hearing them say I’m doing a good job,” she says.
Two U.S. Navy commands need engineers
“If you want to do real engineering work and get involved in hands-on construction, this is
the place to be,” says Yvonne Williams, civilian personnel director at Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC, Washington, DC). NAVFAC builds and supports U.S. Navy facilities worldwide.
NAVFAC leadership is primarily military personnel but most of its 18,000 employees are civilians. Of the wide range of engineers at NAVFAC, civil and mechanical engineers are currently in greatest demand.
NAVFAC actively seeks diverse individuals and works with HBCUs and Hispanic-serving institutions. It also provides internships for people with disabilities. The command looks for candidates at career fairs and conferences, but many students apply online. “We make sure
we have an organization that is inclusive and represents the makeup of our country,” says equal employment specialist Russell Lowe.
HR director Bill McCafferty says the outlook for new hires at Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA, Washington Navy Yard, DC) is excellent. NAVSEA engineers build and maintain
the U.S. Navy’s ships, submarines and combat systems. “We’re still involved in the global
war on terror and we stand directly behind the fleet, allowing them to do their mission,” he declares proudly.
Naval architects, EEs, MEs and nuclear engineers are all in demand right now. Jobs are available at warfare centers across the country. “Our engineers and scientists can make
a difference and demonstrate their talents early in their careers,” McCafferty says.
Cyrus Lawyer designs ships for NAVSEA
Cyrus Lawyer recently completed a naval acquisition intern program (NAIP) with NAVSEA at the Coronado Naval Amphibious Base (San Diego, CA). NAIP offers participants the opportunity to acquire skills to meet the professional challenges of a career with the U.S. Navy.
Over the past two years Lawyer has worked as a full-time employee in Washington, DC and at the office of the Navy’s supervisor of shipbuilding in Bath, ME and Mobile, AL. These rotations gave him exposure to ship design, construction, activation and decomissioning.
He recently took this experience to the surface ship and force architecture concepts division
at NAVSEA’s headquarters in Washington, DC as a concept manager. He’s working with a team that designs the initial architecture of the U.S. Navy’s surface ships.
Lawyer connected with NAVSEA at a seminar hosted by his school, and joined NAIP in July 2006. He describes his rotation in San Diego as the closest land-based organization to the surface combat fleet. “I wasn’t on a ship turning a wrench, but I made sure maintenance was happening on time, and that ships were ready to meet operational commitments,” he said.
This experience is helping Lawyer in his current job. “I have a much better idea of what sailors deal with and how to make better logistics and design,” he says.
Lawyer has a 2006 BS from the Webb Institute (Glen Cove, NY). Webb is a specialized private engineering college that has only one program: the study of naval architecture and marine engineering. “It’s an intensive program that helped land my job at NAVSEA,” Lawyer says.
Webb students get real life experience as part of the program. Freshmen work in a shipyard, sophomores get exposure on a ship, and juniors and seniors intern at engineering offices. “I didn’t have as much fun as other students during summer and winter breaks, but it definitely helped me move toward a successful career,” Lawyer says. It also eased his transition from the classroom to an office.
Lawyer’s father is a physician, “but I love boating,” Lawyer says with a smile. “Everything I’ve learned has an application to ship-building.”
NAVFAC’s Edward Carter is a construction facilities manager
Edward Carter is in his first NAIP rotation at NAVFAC. As a construction facilities manager Carter oversees four projects at Henderson Hall in Arlington, VA and the Washington Navy Yard and Marine Barracks in Washington, DC. NAVFAC interns work at several locations over a two-year period to learn the various aspects of the command.
Carter earned his 2008 BSME at Howard University with a concentration in energy. He discovered NAVFAC at a campus career fair during his junior year. He landed a summer internship that was extended into the fall semester and joined NAIP after graduation. “I really liked the people and the work I was doing as an intern,” he says.
Engineering has enabled Carter to combine his skills in math and science. His EE father encouraged him to go for an EE, but Carter got his degree in ME. “We used to argue over which field was more difficult. It’s definitely mechanical,” he deadpans.
Carter was born in California and raised in New Jersey. His high-school summer academic programs convinced him of the value of college internships. He interned at Bergen County Utilities Authority (Little Ferry, NJ) as a freshman and later at Anheuser-Busch (St. Louis, MO) as group manager of a production line and warehouse. “Internships helped get me into NAVFAC,” he says.
Carter balanced work with sports and club memberships while at college. He was vice president and captain of Howard’s lacrosse team and is still a member of NSBE and ASME.
Even with his interning experience, starting full time at NAVFAC was a big change for Carter. “You either sink or swim. If you swim, you’re going to be really good at what you do,” he says.
Andrew Rubio is a NAVFAC energy conservation engineer
Andrew Rubio is in his second year of NAVFAC’s two-year internship program. He’s working on energy conservation projects at NAVFAC Southeast in Jacksonville, FL. His role is to offer energy conservation recommendations while continuing to serve the interests of the Navy and the government. “It’s my job to ensure that the work will be supported after the cost saving measures have been implemented,” he says.
Rubio earned his 2007 BS in industrial and systems engineering at University of Florida-Gainesville. He started off in chemical engineering because he had excelled in high school chemistry, but switched to industrial engineering because he felt it offered more career options.
When asked to explain what he does, Rubio chuckles. “My family’s been asking me that question for years,” he says. The typical industrial and systems engineer works to promote efficiency, cutting costs in manufacturing by analyzing people’s movements, the use of machinery and the structure of production lines. “I apply that concept to energy conservation,” he says.
During college Rubio interned at a nuclear power plant in Jackson, MS. He credits that experience with helping him get into NAVFAC. “I had posted my resume with the school’s online career center and a recruiter contacted me about the internship program,” he says.
Rubio enjoys the public service aspect of his job, in part because his father served in the Army for twenty years. “I’m really proud of his service,” he says. “I always wanted to serve but wasn’t sure how.”
D/C
Monique Rizer is a freelance writer living in Alexandria, VA.
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