ETI Internship Program prepares future defense industry workforce

By Faith Hatton, posted Jul 3, 2023 on BizFayetteville.com

From left to right: Current ETI Interns for the summer of 2023: Caleb Locklear, Jonathan Gabino, Antonio Ball and Seth Lowery Photo provided by: ETI

The Emerging Technology Institute is doing their part to train the future of the tech industry and help strengthen the future U.S. Department of Defense workforce.

On June 12 the DoD announced a new milestone in its commitment to modernizing the acquisition workforce with the launch of the Defense Civilian Training Corps. The initiative aims to prepare competitively selected students for public service in vital DoD acquisition-related occupations and improve talent readiness in DoD critical skill areas.

While the first official cohort will begin in August 2023 in educational institutions including North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Purdue University and the University of Arizona, ETI is also among the list of organizations that have come on board as a prime contractor in the effort.

Currently four interns have joined ETI for their six month 2023 Summer internship program allowing them to gain experience in the technology field: Jonathan Gabino, Antonio Ball, Seth Lowery and Caleb Locklear.

Interns all come from various educational backgrounds, levels and focuses which they are able to use during the internship while also gaining valuable work experience that will make them more attractive to potential employers while they also continue or complete their higher education.
“Being part of the internship, I’m allowed to build rockets. They want to see a rocket being launched soon and maybe, as we get that launched, we can adjust it to where we can basically guide it to a certain destination, or deploy a drone while at its highest maximum feet or altitude,” shared Caleb Locklear. “Sometimes I get to work with some of the other guys at ETI to help on their projects since I work with 3D printing so much and designing on any type of AutoCAD or in Autodesk.”

First time intern Seth Lowery shared that this is his first internship ever, and experience is providing some valuable first hand knowledge and exposure to the industry.

Interns work separately and together on assignments and projects. Photo provided by: ETI

“I'm getting to see the top defense contractors, see how they work and the type of jobs that they offer to civilians, or somebody that doesn't have a military background, and it's also showing me how they kind of work as a team and how they roll,” shared Lowery. “I'm also learning with drones, mostly in construction and deconstruction. If we have a broken one, I'll take it and scrap it for the good parts and then I also deal with the facilities manager too.”

Some plan to use what they’ve learned and the work experience gained to work for the Department of Defense or other government jobs post college. Johnathan Gabino said he would be open to a position with the DoD, but would also like to see the internship program continue to grow.

“I feel like ETI is at a good spot and then it also benefits the community and benefits students like me where they may or may not have the opportunity. They don't want to go into the army but they still want to work on developing tech for the military,” shared Gabino. “It's been a blessing. I get to see a lot of things, I get to meet people from different places from Special Operations to engineers, and people that are experts in their fields. The team is very diverse. I'm kind of the one with robotics knowledge and my background’s a little different than theirs. I just feel like Mr. James has done a really good job of making us feel welcomed and collaborating with each other and being like, ‘Hey, here's a suggestion’ and they'll take it. They're really really good guys. I enjoy working with them and the leadership team is really good.”

Other interns, like Antonio Ball have different career plans, but he shared that he is using his specialized knowledge during the internship to align a little more closely with his own career goals and get the most out of the experience.

“The Department of Defense is one of the places that I wouldn't mind working for, in fact, I almost got an internship there at one point. Due to relocation that one couldn’t happen at that time. But my main goal is actually more for NASA,” shared Ball. “I am learning more of the engineering side of things. With the drones, I'm learning a little bit about how airspace reacts to things that are programmed and more outside factors. My previous experiences [had] me more inside so I didn't have to worry about things like wind speed, or signal interference. It's also given me the chance to go to get my own Part 107 license, which is the drone license.”

Even ETI employees can testify to the benefits of the internship program with Director of Communications and Special Operations Veteran Andrew Donnan also being a graduate of the program in the early 2020s.

“ETI has been such a blessing for not just myself, but all of my other buddies and all the local students to get over there because as you've seen with all of these events that we've been doing, we're getting all of the top defense contractors out there, Lockheed Martin L3Harris, all the big key players have been out to ETI and have taken the time to talk with and work with all of our interns and employees,” said Donnan.

The ETI Internship Program allows students to work on a number of tech based projects including drone construction. Photo provided by: ETI

Donnan shared that future plans for the program include opening up 20 slots for Veterans who are transitioning out of the Special Operations community that want to come learn more about careers in STEM, and opportunities with the Defense Civilian Training Corps.

“The Defense Civilian Training Corps was set up to give local students and veterans that are getting out of the military and opportunity to get to work, get their hands dirty at one of these defense contractors, and really start to figure out what they want to do and gain some work experience and exposure with all of these big defense contractors,” said Donnan.

ETI will also continue to recruit fresh talent through their Stem Innovation Sessions, a partnership program across North Carolina that allows ETI to connect with students across all grades and educate them on the world of careers in the STEM field.

“We're looking for highly motivated juniors and seniors that are also taking some college courses. So, we're looking for students that are going above and beyond and are really ready to take that next step into getting some exposure and working with defense contractors,” said Donnan.

While this summer's internship program is coming to a close, more information on future programs and the application process will be available on the ETI website here.

More information on the Defense Civilian Training Corps can be found online here.

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