Maj. Mark Boyer, F-35 pilot and Air Force Institute of Technology Civilian Institution doctoral student at Colorado University believes mentoring is an important part of his role at CU.  Pictured is Maj. Boyer (right) accepting an award as a token of thanks for mentoring more than sixty cadets in CU’s ROTC Detachment 105.  [University of Colorado Boulder contributed photo]

Maj. Mark Boyer, F-35 pilot and Air Force Institute of Technology Civilian Institution Program doctoral student at Colorado University believes an important part of his role at CU is more than just for personal gain, it’s to mentor the next generation. 

Boyer is pursuing a doctoral degree in aeronautical engineering, and despite his demanding schedule, he designed four “Flight Test 101” extracurricular lectures and mentored more than sixty cadets in CU’s ROTC Detachment 105.

“CU and the Detachment are filled with a lot of bright, motivated, technically-savvy students, who aspire to become test pilots and engineers but they don’t know where to begin or aren’t aware of what test pilots actually do.

Fifteen years ago, I was a cadet like them but was fortunate enough to have some great mentors along the way that helped me get to where I wanted to be.  So I feel it’s important to continue mentoring cadets just starting out in their careers and to encourage them to pursue careers that are the heart of the United States Air Force’s mission,” said Boyer.

Boyer is pursuing a doctoral degree to assist the USAF with autonomy and Artificial Intelligence in critical areas such as defense and aviation.  His research is focused on evaluating human-autonomy teams in dynamic, high-stress environments such as a fighter pilot with an autonomous wingman.

“It’s been a lot of fun learning from my much younger peers, and teaching them as well, and I hope to bring my experience as a test pilot to prepare the USAF for how we will develop and test these human-autonomy teams to perform at the highest levels when needed,” said Boyer.

Senior leadership have praised Boyer’s efforts and remarked that Boyer is “truly an example of how AFIT students are giving back to Detachment 105,” said Col. Rebecca Lange, commander, Air Force ROTC Detachment 105.

AFIT CI is responsible for placing selected Air Force officers, enlisted members, and civilians at accredited civilian universities, hospitals and leading industries to pursue advanced degrees and programs. For more information, please contact: AFIT.CIWorkflow@us.af.mil or visit www.afit.edu/CIP

AFIT is located at Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, Ohio.  AFIT’s mission is to educate defense professionals to innovatively accomplish the deterrence and warfighting missions of the USAF and USSF.  AFIT’s vision is to lead defense-focused education, research and consultation to accelerate military superiority across all domains and is accomplished through operationally relevant advanced academic education, research, and professional continuing education.  For more information, please visit the AFIT webpage https://www.afit.edu/