REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. (August 26, 2024) – Growing up in Hazel Green, Jeffrey Bolan always wanted to be an architect.
It was a solid plan -- he had always wanted to live in a two-story house, and he was going to design it himself. There was only one problem.
“I got to high school and took a drafting module in a career class, and I realized I hated it,” Bolan said with a laugh. “I thought, ‘Maybe I should look at other things.’”
Knowing that he had always loved planes – and solving problems, Bolan pivoted to studying aerospace engineering at Auburn University. While there he interned with the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center as a summer hire. Upon returning to school, Bolan learned that he had been awarded a SMART Scholarship which is a service for tuition program for students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. It would bring him back to the Center and set him on his career path.
“I don’t think I would have been able to get a master’s degree if it wasn’t for the SMART Scholarship,” Bolan said.
Today, Bolan works for the fuzing systems branch of the Systems and Warheads Technology division under the Technology Development Directorate. It is more software engineering than aerospace, but Bolan credits his supervisors at the Center for having confidence in his abilities and urging him to branch out of his comfort zone. In the process, he said that he has been able to do more hands-on engineering than he thought as a civil servant.
“It is really interesting work,” he said. “When I talk to my friends, I can truly say that I love my job. No job is perfect, but what has set it apart for me is that I love the hands-on technical work. One of my favorite things about our work designing proximity sensors for fuzing is that we get to be involved from the very beginning to the very end of the development process. So, we start with requirements and create initial concepts before going into the design phase where I develop the sensor software and algorithms while working closely with coworkers on the electronics design. We actually build custom circuit boards and hardware, assemble prototypes in our lab, and then go test them.
“After that, if everything goes smoothly, we integrate our sensor onto an actual missile, an actual flight platform, and see it flown out in the desert during a live fire test. It's been rewarding for me to see decisions we made on sensors that we designed pay off several years later.”
What he also appreciates about his role at the Center is the flexibility of a hybrid position. Bolan said that while certain aspects of his job can only be performed on-site, having the opportunity to telework when possible has helped establish a healthy work/life balance. Bolan is also active in the Young Professionals group, which was created during his time at the Center. He said that the group contributed to his decision to plan a long-term career at AvMC.
“I wish we had this group when I was an intern,” he said. “AvMC has a lot of senior people with lots of experience, but early on it was difficult connecting with and finding other people in the same stage of life as me.
“One of the strengths of the Young Professionals group is that you have those bonds between people your age, that you'll be seeing in the hallways over the next however many years. And that's very cool.”
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The DEVCOM Aviation & Missile Center, headquartered at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the Army’s research and development focal point for advanced technology in aviation and missile systems. It is part of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM), a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Futures Command. AvMC is responsible for delivering collaborative and innovative aviation and missile capabilities for responsive and cost-effective research, development and life cycle engineering solutions, as required by the Army’s strategic priorities and support to its Cross-Functional Teams.
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