- Major: Aerospace Engineering
- Company: Department of Defense/Combat Capabilities Development Command/S3I
- Graduation Year: May 2022
- E-mail: mtrainer@vols.utk.edu
Profile
Nashville, TN
I did my co-op assignment with the Department of Defense's Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) at their Aviation and Missile Center (AvMC) on Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. I served in the role of Student Engineer for a year and a half, some full-time in-person, some full-time remote, and some part-time remote. CCDC - AvMC is the U.S. Army's aviation research and development command, dealing primarily with missile defense, Army helicopters, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). I worked under the Software, Simulation, Systems Engineering and Integration (S3I) Directorate. My team, the Aircraft Survivability Enhancement group, worked to create simulated environments and threats to pass to on-board threat warning systems in order to study how those systems react to different incoming threats.
I decided to do a co-op because I wanted to see how my education and on-campus experience would translate to the actual work force. I also wanted to gain some directly-applicable experience before graduating so that I had a better idea of what I would be walking into when entering the work force after graduation.
I began my co-op assignment in January of 2020. In March of 2020, the world went into lock-down for the rising concern around COVID-19. Working from home proved to be difficult for me, at first. Keeping myself focused and on task was a challenge, but within just about a month of working from home, I found myself being even more efficient than I was while in the office. This obviously taught me a lot about self-sufficiency, but I also noticed an increase in my efficiency once I was back to working in-person, as well. Participating in a co-op required me to be around many very experienced engineers, allowing me to learn from them what types of attitudes and traits make a successful and effective engineer. Picking up good habits from experienced coworkers of mine was a goal I had going into my work, and I feel that is part of what helped me thrive in my role. The experience gained over the course of a co-op is unmatched. Internships are, of course, also very valuable. However, the length of a co-op allows you to get comfortable enough in your role that you can become an entirely independent employee. While this is true for some internships, those are rather rare. A co-op allows you to get experience more similar to what a full-time job roll will look like after graduation.
I love being outdoors, on the water, and traveling the world. I also really enjoy watching and playing basketball.
Pro Tip: I know finding internship and co-op opportunities - especially in aerospace - can be challenging and intimidating. If you put forth the right amount of effort, however, it is very achievable! Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions, or just want to meet up and chat about finding an opportunity for you!
