The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center (AFNWC) is seeking highly-motivated new graduates for part-time graduate assistant positions at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) in Dayton, Ohio. Upon completion of the graduate degree program, participants will be offered full-time employment at one of the three locations shown above.

AFNWC delivers the nuclear capabilities that warfighters use every day to deter and assure. To accomplish this mission and execute the modernization of Air Force nuclear systems, AFNWC needs a highly-technical, multi-disciplinary workforce that understands the complex political, acquisition, and technical environment for nuclear deterrence operations.   

AFIT provides unique defense-focused, research-enabled, multi-disciplinary advanced academic education that enables the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force to innovatively accomplish their deterrence and warfighting missions. AFIT’s Nuclear Expertise for Advancing Technologies (NEAT) Center, within the Graduate School of Engineering and Management, provides strong technical expertise to develop the workforce required for current and future nuclear modernization and deterrence operations. Through coursework, research, teaching, and targeted professional development, NEAT graduate assistants will gain nuclear enterprise acculturation.

After this 19-month funded graduate program in Dayton, participants will be assigned to a permanent, full-time Air Force civilian (i.e., non-military) position in either the Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications (NC3) Integration Directorate at Hanscom Air Force Base; the Air Force EMP Test Team at Kirtland Air Force Base; the Minuteman III Sustainment Directorate at Hill Air Force Base; or the GBSD Program Office at Hill Air Force Base.

Candidates must be U.S. citizens. New hires must be eligible to obtain a Top Secret security clearance.

This is an incredible opportunity for a funded graduate assistantship to perform advanced research and help modernize Air Force capabilities while pursuing a top-notch graduate degree at AFIT. 

 

 

April--May 2023: Sponsoring AFNWC organization and AFIT finalize candidate selections.

July--August 2023: Specific types of research, program of study for each selected candidate are finalized.

September 2023: Selectee is hired as a part-time AFIT graduate assistant and begins orientation classes.

October 2023: AFIT fall quarter classes begin, and student works part-time as a graduate assistant.

Summer 2024: Student participates in a paid, two-week “internship” at their post-graduate placement location to meet the team.

March 2025: Student graduates and moves to selected AFNWC location (UT, NM, MA, OK) to begin a full-time position with extensive employee benefits and planned career promotions (permanent relocation costs are paid). 

 

The AFNWC/NC Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications (NC3) Integration Directorate is seeking students interested in pursuing study in nuclear weapons-related fields such as communications, electromagnetics, networking, and nuclear effects. Specialty focus areas include RF, satellite, and quantum communications; cryptography; software defined networks, mesh networks, and network optimization; and electromagnetic pulse and radiation effects mitigation.

AFNWC/NTX, the Nuclear Mission Assurance Division within the Nuclear Technology & Integration Directorate, is seeking students interested in pursuing a Master’s in nuclear engineering at AFIT where they would have the opportunity to conduct research into the effects of nuclear weapons on Air Force systems, with an emphasis on the effects of nuclear weapon generated electromagnetic pulse (EMP) on nuclear weapon delivery and nuclear mission support aircraft subsystems.

AFNWC/NM, the Minuteman III Sustainment Directorate, is seeking students interested in pursuing study in nuclear weapons-related fields such as metallic, composite, and polymer material development, composite repair on reentry vehicles, effects of electromagnetic interference on flight vehicles, and the effects of corrosion on sustainability of systems. Other opportunities may be available in the fields of 2D and 3D carbon-carbon material development, reentry dynamics including boundary layer transition, missile propulsion studies, and missile fuzing technologies.

AFNWC/NX, the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) Program Office, is seeking students interested in pursuing nuclear weapons-related study in fields such as radiation transport, reentry weather and plasma environments, and nuclear effects on materials and microelectronics. Other opportunities may be available in the fields of reentry vehicle heat shield design, reentry boundary layer transition, missile propulsion studies, missile guidance technologies, Scientific Test and Analytical Techniques (STAT), operations research, and cost estimation.

 

To learn more, check out the AFNWC website and follow along with NEAT and AFNWC on LinkedIn