Two students enrolled in the System Engineering Technology (SET) program at Calhoun Community College (CCC) are on their way to applying their newly acquired skills as interns on Boeing’s (NYSE: BA) Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) program. These students hired and placed as interns by Victory Solutions, a Huntsville based engineering solutions company, will help bridge the workforce gap in the high-demand field of Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE). SET interns and graduates will provide critical modeling skills to enhance government and industry efforts to transition from a “paper” to a “digitally” based product development life cycle.
Developed by the Institute for Digital Enterprise Advancement (IDEA) and derived from CCC’s 2-year Computer Information System Associate of Applied Science degree, SET includes a focus on work-based learning that complements associated academic classes. The SET Internship provides students the opportunity to gain relevant modeling and database integration work experience, an employer sponsored security clearance (if needed), and skills that typically take a minimum of 6 years to obtain in academia/industry today. SET Internships also allow employers to best determine the most efficient way to incorporate this new skill set into their system engineering organizations, while providing feedback to improve IDEA/CCC curriculum as it continues to evolve.
Not only do the SET students receive exceptional academic course instruction at CCC, but they also have opportunities to meet and interact with potential employers. One such opportunity was an IDEA-hosted Speed Networking event held in December of 2021 at CCC’s Huntsville campus featuring twelve potential employers. The 15 SET students had 8-10 minutes to interview and interact with each of the participating companies and government organizations. The two interns hired by Victory Solutions are a direct result of the networking event. The Victory Solutions SET interns will work either full or part-time over the next six months, depending on their class load and technical work requirements.
Ron Porter, IDEA Vice President, stated, “We are pleased with the initial group of modelers coming out of the SET program and would like to thank Victory Solutions and Boeing as well as the other employers who are actively seeking to employ the SET interns. The firsthand, work and learn experience is a crucial step for the students in their education. We are pleased to partner with CCC to offer this new skillset.”