July 9, 2024

By Karen Thornton, AIRC Fellow

The Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) is one 13 DCTC Strategic Partners. This summer, the DEVCOM Ground Combat Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC) is hosting DCTC Scholars for an 8-week project-based internship, which serves as a pathway to employment as a DoD civilian. GVSC’s mission is to accelerate delivery and sustainment of ground system capabilities to ensure overmatch for the warfighter.

Steve Schultz and James Ealy, who serve as leaders in the GVSC Software Engineering Directorate and project leaders to three DCTC scholars, specially designed a project for the multidisciplinary team, which includes a business major, a software engineering major, and a graphics technology major. Each summer, GVSC hosts over 50 local interns and SMART interns, who typically get inserted into ongoing efforts. DCTC’s multidisciplinary, cohort-based model created an opportunity for Steve and James to think differently about how they work with interns because the scholars arrived at GVSC as a team after completing four-credits of coursework related to DoD critical skills.

Steve and James crafted a project for the scholars to look at the long term technical and business implications of digital engineering, including how technology manuals are developed and maintained and what engineering and business processes may evolve to in the future. They further tailored the problem as they got to know the DCTC scholars’ interests and academic backgrounds. Steve and James observed that GVSC is very interested in ensuring their employees meet DoD’s critical skills, but at the end of the day, the goal is to bring on good people motivated by the right purpose.

Tamara Daye, a business management major at North Carolina, A&T, observed that the team she and her fellow DCTC scholars were assigned to, has made all the difference, “The internship project isn’t just about developing and presenting ideas; it’s about personal growth and embracing a new work culture. It has shown me why classroom learning is crucial and what an internship should truly embody, and helped me recognize my importance in every project, no matter how minuscule.  I can see the positive in every situation. It’s all about perspective.”

Shannon Marold, Assistant Chief of Staff for Organizational Development, runs the GVSC leadership development program and has ensured each DCTC scholar has a mentor outside the project and gets to participate in a range of development activities. The DCTC scholars, along with dozens of other summer hires, will visit the Selfridge experimentation site and participate in a 3-day design project exercise. These activities will also allow for the DCTC interns to engage with the GVSC Young Professionals group.

Christopher Karceski, a software engineering major from the University of Arizona, described some of the exciting opportunities the GVSC strategic partners have created for the DCTC scholar team, “On top of our multidisciplinary project, our supervisor has been emphasizing the importance of learning how the Detroit Arsenal operates and what the GVSC has to offer. This has entailed meeting with the base’s senior leadership including Director Mike Cadieux, with whom we had an hour-long discussion about the DCTC program as well as what it means to be a leader. We also had the opportunity to shake hands with General Camilla White, who assumed the position of PEO at the arsenal this week.”