WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:02.917 (soft piano music) 00:08.977 --> 00:12.223 - [Woman] I don't think there's anything that compares 00:12.223 --> 00:14.390 to what we get to do here. 00:15.502 --> 00:18.254 - [Man] GEM is kind of an open book and you get to... 00:18.254 --> 00:21.097 You get to write whatever you want. 00:21.097 --> 00:23.124 - [ Male Student] I just look back on the last 18 months 00:23.124 --> 00:25.469 and I know that because of the resources, 00:25.469 --> 00:27.186 because of the people, this has been 00:27.186 --> 00:30.186 a very successful experience for me. 00:30.186 --> 00:32.591 - I had several mentors when I was a young lieutenant 00:32.591 --> 00:34.807 who went through AFIT, through the GEM program. 00:34.807 --> 00:36.167 They said this would be the best fit 00:36.167 --> 00:38.394 for what I was looking for and they were not wrong. 00:38.394 --> 00:39.332 - I highly recommend 00:39.332 --> 00:41.483 the AFIT Graduate Engineering Management Program 00:41.483 --> 00:43.290 to any civil engineer officer that wants 00:43.290 --> 00:45.805 to pursue a technical master's degree, 00:45.805 --> 00:48.770 especially early in a career, like right after a first 00:48.770 --> 00:49.908 or second duty station. 00:49.908 --> 00:52.937 - A master's program on my own, or after hours 00:52.937 --> 00:56.033 was not very attractive to me, but getting 00:56.033 --> 00:58.802 paid to go full time was a unique opportunity. 00:58.802 --> 01:01.989 - You are a student at AFIT for your entire time 01:01.989 --> 01:04.548 and you have no other work responsibilities. 01:04.548 --> 01:05.875 You are very much autonomous. 01:05.875 --> 01:07.940 - You will never have as much freedom in the Air Force 01:07.940 --> 01:10.044 as you have when you're in the graduate program. 01:10.044 --> 01:12.133 So you dictate your own schedule, 01:12.133 --> 01:13.814 you have your own classes, sometimes there's students 01:13.814 --> 01:14.721 who don't even have class, 01:14.721 --> 01:16.603 they just are working on research. 01:16.603 --> 01:19.405 They have the opportunity to have some family time. 01:19.405 --> 01:22.263 - The people in GEM become your best friends at Wright-Pat. 01:22.263 --> 01:25.252 Growing your family's together, the spouses have really 01:25.252 --> 01:26.422 close community with each other, 01:26.422 --> 01:29.292 and the kids growing up together is really awesome, it is. 01:29.292 --> 01:30.405 - You're here as a graduate student, 01:30.405 --> 01:31.677 but you're still an Air Force officer. 01:31.677 --> 01:33.713 You're surrounded by potential mentors, 01:33.713 --> 01:35.466 senior officers who've been where you are 01:35.466 --> 01:36.902 who are your instructors, senior officers who may 01:36.902 --> 01:38.325 be in your class with you. 01:38.325 --> 01:41.700 - My classmates defined my experience when I was at AFIT 01:41.700 --> 01:44.298 and I think that it's because we're not necessarily 01:44.298 --> 01:45.729 struggling with the classes, 01:45.729 --> 01:48.006 but that we're living the struggle together. 01:48.006 --> 01:50.180 - It really wasn't just my success in the program, 01:50.180 --> 01:51.614 but our success in the program. 01:51.614 --> 01:53.417 We were able to build upon each other's strengths 01:53.417 --> 01:55.713 and weaknesses so that we could all collectively succeed 01:55.713 --> 01:57.394 as a flight in the program. 01:57.394 --> 01:59.420 - Each group of students that come through 01:59.420 --> 02:00.663 is more and more like a family, 02:00.663 --> 02:03.828 they collaborate together, they do things outside 02:03.828 --> 02:05.347 of campus with each other. 02:05.347 --> 02:06.547 - I think the culture is pretty strong, 02:06.547 --> 02:08.596 it actually goes back 47 years ago 02:08.596 --> 02:10.415 when the Air Force community decided we need to have 02:10.415 --> 02:12.985 a graduate program, specifically for Air Force 02:12.985 --> 02:13.832 Civil Engineers. 02:13.832 --> 02:16.406 - It takes it a step further from undergraduate 02:16.406 --> 02:18.697 education and how those technical tasks fits 02:18.697 --> 02:22.065 into an overall vision or mission for the Air Force. 02:22.065 --> 02:24.719 - They give us real projects that have succeeded 02:24.719 --> 02:26.626 or failed and we need to figure out 02:26.626 --> 02:28.578 what went wrong, what went right 02:28.578 --> 02:30.308 and then we actually directly brief 02:30.308 --> 02:31.592 the Air Force Civil Engineer Center. 02:31.592 --> 02:33.740 - My faculty and staff work very closely 02:33.740 --> 02:35.774 with the AFIT graduate students to ensure 02:35.774 --> 02:38.412 that their research is done in a vital, relevant, 02:38.412 --> 02:41.348 and connected manner with the civil engineering community. 02:41.348 --> 02:43.901 - The very first people that you meet are your instructors. 02:43.901 --> 02:45.960 They really provide you a lot good guidance 02:45.960 --> 02:48.556 and helping you define a research topic. 02:48.556 --> 02:50.711 - Most of our theses are things that we've noticed 02:50.711 --> 02:52.817 in our own assignments that we've been through 02:52.817 --> 02:55.261 as well as getting some ideas from AFCEC 02:55.261 --> 02:56.879 and folks at the Pentagon. 02:56.879 --> 02:58.738 - My thesis research effort investigated 02:58.738 --> 03:00.279 the effect of a non-pathogenic virus 03:00.279 --> 03:02.888 on activated sludge and the activated sludge's 03:02.888 --> 03:05.399 ability to degrade organic waste. 03:05.399 --> 03:07.710 - I actually analyzed cross-cultural competencies 03:07.710 --> 03:11.401 and cultural training, how do our foreign partners 03:11.401 --> 03:14.000 affect our construction overseas. 03:14.000 --> 03:16.897 - My thesis is studying the permafrost degradation 03:16.897 --> 03:18.836 in the Arctic and that's affecting us 03:18.836 --> 03:20.140 from an engineering standpoint 03:20.140 --> 03:22.201 as well as from an environmental standpoint. 03:22.201 --> 03:24.276 - We're collocated with the Air Force Research Lab 03:24.276 --> 03:26.933 and the Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine 03:26.933 --> 03:28.882 and they have wonderful facilities that we're able 03:28.882 --> 03:29.985 to take advantage of. 03:29.985 --> 03:33.239 - An exciting opportunity to apply hands-on science 03:33.239 --> 03:36.294 and to work with professionals that are investigating 03:36.294 --> 03:37.547 real world issues. 03:37.547 --> 03:40.255 - The Air Force invests a lot time and money 03:40.255 --> 03:42.279 for students to come through the GEM program 03:42.279 --> 03:44.460 and that's taken into account for their next assignment. 03:44.460 --> 03:46.203 - The development team works very hard 03:46.203 --> 03:48.095 to ensure that our graduates are placed 03:48.095 --> 03:50.452 into key positions across our Air Force, 03:50.452 --> 03:52.155 to include staffing positions 03:52.155 --> 03:54.223 in the Air Force Civil Engineers Center 03:54.223 --> 03:55.563 or match can re-train staff, 03:55.563 --> 03:58.194 get selected to be operational flight commanders 03:58.194 --> 04:01.404 and even key leadership positions in RED HORSE units. 04:01.404 --> 04:03.135 - Everything that I learned at the GEM program 04:03.135 --> 04:05.933 absolutely plays a vital role in what I do day-to-day. 04:05.933 --> 04:07.943 - It's just that ability to dissect a problem, 04:07.943 --> 04:09.201 break it down into small parts, 04:09.201 --> 04:11.316 get the background research done and articulate 04:11.316 --> 04:13.948 your answers in a way that other people can understand. 04:13.948 --> 04:15.519 - Just the fact that I'm coming out of here 04:15.519 --> 04:17.973 a technical expert in a particular subject, 04:17.973 --> 04:20.634 gives me some credential to my gaining unit 04:20.634 --> 04:24.025 that says, "Hey, this guy can solve problems." 04:24.025 --> 04:25.819 - It was a challenging experience, 04:25.819 --> 04:28.002 but one that I look back on and I'm proud of. 04:28.002 --> 04:31.034 - And we hear often, of grads that still have friends 04:31.034 --> 04:33.387 back from 15-20 years before, 04:33.387 --> 04:36.209 where people that they can reach out to, connect with, 04:36.209 --> 04:37.459 and learn from. 04:38.063 --> 04:39.301 - I've been on deployments where I've worked 04:39.301 --> 04:41.545 with fellow GEM grads, either from my class 04:41.545 --> 04:43.563 or other years, and having that shared background 04:43.563 --> 04:46.882 and experience of this education has been a big benefit. 04:46.882 --> 04:48.608 - Everybody in this program's gonna be someone 04:48.608 --> 04:51.556 that I can reach out to later on in my career. 04:51.556 --> 04:53.883 That's worth its weight in gold. 04:53.883 --> 04:56.300 (soft music)