Our 10 November meeting on the topic of “Aerospace Internship Opportunities and Experiences” at the Bill Moore Student Success Center on the Georgia Tech Campus was successful. About 35 students at various levels in their education — including some first-semester freshmen — attended the group forum. Many thanks to Student Chapter Chair Elizabeth Balga for arranging this event, including reserving a convenient meeting place on the Georgia Tech campus.
Section Chair Edward M. Hutchins began the meeting by presenting the 2015 J. Leland Atwood award to Dr. Narayanan Komerath (see photo). The award is jointly sponsored by ASEE and AIAA and presented to recognize a recent outstanding educational achievement and to encourage innovative improvement in aerospace education.
Guests who spoke about internship opportunities included Maureen Myrie, President/CEO of Engineering for Kids, and Jamie W. Cook, Workforce Development Branch Chief from Warner Robins. Engineering for Kids is a non-profit group interacting with children from ages 4 to about 14. Their programs encourage interest in math and science with a long-term goal of nurturing children to become young people pursing degrees in engineering.
Warner Robins is the largest industrial area in the state of Georgia, as it provides major maintenance, modification, overhaul and repair (MMRO) for the aircraft used by our armed services. Internship and job opportunities at Warner Robins can be found at usajobs.gov (put “Warner Robins, Georgia” in the location box in the search engine). In addition to opportunities on base, there are many contractors nearby.
Council member Steve Justice of Georgia Center for Innovation for Aerospace spoke in general about how to find jobs in aerospace, reminding us that Georgia has over 500 aerospace companies. Many of these are smaller companies whose job openings provide the opportunity to gain experience in a wide variety of activities. These wide-ranging activities can be especially helpful to young professionals beginning a career. They gain experiences that can open a variety of career paths in the future as well as discovering for themselves what areas of aerospace excite them the most.
Council member Bob Greene reminded us that Northrop Grumman will be recruiting on the Georgia Tech campus on Tuesday 19 January 2016.
Section Chair Edward Hutchins concluded presentations with a review of Lockheed Martin opportunities and transitioned to a discussion on internships and co-ops: eligibility, opportunities, past experience, how to apply, and why you should.