REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. (Feb. 10, 2015) -- Four West Point Military Academy Cadets interns are gaining valuable hands-on experience working with professional scientists, researchers and engineers.
The Pilot Engineering Immersion Program developed jointly with Aviation Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center, and the United States Military Academy, allows cadets to work on actual Army projects as part-time engineers.
Cadets Matthew Loza, Zachary Sostak, and Owen Bailey and John Geiger work with engineers, leading programs such as the Grey Eagle Unmanned Aerial Vehicle system, the UH-60V Blackhawk program, Small Unmanned Aerial Systems, and the Multi Mission Launcher Air Defense platform. They get a better understanding of the complexities of working acquisition, development, integration, verification, qualification and sustainment activities.
"From a West Point perspective, this program is really important because the Army needs future leaders who know how to solve complex problems, and a lot of those problems involve technology," said Col. Rob Kewley, Professor and Head, West Point Department of Systems Engineering.
"Working with ARMDEC will give them an opportunity to learn from some of the best and we really appreciate the enthusiasm that the engineers at Redstone Arsenal have for working with cadets. They see this as way for their future customers to understand more about the challenging work and dedication that go into developing and fielding aerospace systems, he said."
"This unique pilot program will be evaluated by ARMDEC and West Point for potential continuation and growth in the following years. We will be particularly interested in how this program contributes to their overall leader development."
For one semester of their junior year the cadets conduct their academic studies at the University of Alabama Huntsville. During their stay the cadets keep up with their studies by taking three 3-hour courses at UAH. They maintain their military training through the nearby Alabama Agriculture and Mechanical University ROTC Program. The cadets also work 20-25 hours work per week at AMRDEC, under the technical advisement and coordination of their AMRDEC mentors.
"As the technical lead of the AMRDEC/USMA Engineering Immersion Program, it has been extremely gratifying to me to see the tremendous degree to which the project leads have fully embraced the program by integrating their cadets into what they're doing and making them real and important contributing members of their project team," said Kerry Wagner, AMRDEC Software Engineering Directorate Systems Engineer. "I'm extremely honored to be part of such a great program. It's also been such a great thing to see the cooperation between AMRDEC, USMA, UAH, and the programmatic and administrative excellence of all involved."
Cadets are assigned a technical mentor from AMRDEC who reviews working assignments on programs and works with the cadets to assure the quality of the learning experience. The mentors are also responsible for eliminating risk to the program on which the cadet is assigned.
"The Engineering Immersion Internship Program is an extraordinary opportunity for cadets to learn about real world engineering and apply the skills they learned in class to actual problems our Soldiers face in theater," said John Geiger, a participant in the emersion program.
"(We) are all developing militarily, academically and professionally through our interaction with our counterparts in the Huntsville ROTC program, the instructors at the University of Alabama Huntsville and especially the experience personnel at AMRDEC. This is a unique experience and I am grateful the opportunity to be here and work with the best in the business," he said.
The purpose of the internship is to give cadets a better understanding of engineering practice and inspire engagement with their discipline. Their functional duties include project planning and management, software and hardware development, system design, formal verification and interoperability testing of Army portfolio elements.
These internship opportunities prepare them for the variety of missions they may face in a military and gain invaluable knowledge and insight into the government, industry, Department of Defense and academia environment.
The cadets will complete their semester at AMRDEC in May. This is a pilot program between AMRDEC and USMA.
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AMRDEC is part of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, which has the mission to develop technology and engineering solutions for America's Soldiers.
RDECOM is a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Materiel Command. AMC is the Army's premier provider of materiel readiness -- technology, acquisition support, materiel development, logistics power projection, and sustainment -- to the total force, across the spectrum of joint military operations. If a Soldier shoots it, drives it, flies it, wears it, eats it or communicates with it, AMC provides it.
Visit www.amrdec.army.mil or www.facebook.com/rdecom.amrdec for more information on AMRDEC.
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