In December 2017, the 70th class of the Air Force Institute of Technology’s Education with Industry Program gathered in Orlando, Florida, to share their company experiences with SAF/AQH, AFIT, and Air Force Personnel Center leadership as part of a Department of Defense-mandated mid-tour review. 

AFIT’s EWI program is a SAF/AQ sponsored career development program designed to improve the leadership abilities and professional competencies of Air Force students by partnering with industry to fully examine industry policies and processes, as well as how industry addresses issues.  In doing so, students acquire the ability to interpret the needs of the Air Force in industry terms.

By studying the best practices of industry, students are able to bring first?person insight into the philosophy, procedures, and practices of back to the Air Force.

Among the program’s most robust industry partners, Loews Hotels has hosted the EWI mid-tour review for the past 15 years.  This year the 42 EWI Fellows traveled from 18 different states to share their experiences.  The class is comprised of 15 different career fields ranging from cyberspace to program management, and the fellows are working at 29 different companies.

Participating companies have included: Amazon, Boeing, Coca?Cola, FedEx, General Motors, Intel, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Northrup Grumman, Orbital ATK, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, RAND, Raytheon, Space X, United Launch Alliance, and UPS.

Highlights of student research presented at the review include:

• Capt. Hayden Poe is working at La Quinta Inns & Suites on cybersecurity vulnerability mitigation where he has implemented cybersecurity phishing campaigns to educate employees on common security threats in the industry. 
• Capt. Richard King and Capt. Kevin Slaughter are studying Amazon’s human resources process, including cutting-edge interview software which performs facial analytics during interviews to help ID best talent.
• Capt. Arthur Downs is working at Delta and researching Delta’s preventative maintenance reliability centered maintenance process. Delta’s RCM analytics have taken the airliner from incurring a maintenance cancellation every day in 2007 to only one maintenance cancellation in 2017.
• Capt. Nate Greiner is working at Oak Ridge National Lab researching carbon foam to see how the highly conductive foam can be used to absorb extreme heats and prevent overheating on Air Force unmanned aircraft systems.

Since 1947, there have been 6,281 graduates from the program.  During the last 20 years the program has averaged 37 students; however, in recent years senior leaders have embraced the value the program brings to the students and the Air Force.  Consequently, the EWI class size is steadily growing and is projected to have as many as 66 students in 2019.

For more information on the EWI program, contact Capt. Katie Hansen, EWI program manager, at katherine.hansen@afit.edu