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Employment for Physics Students and Graduates (Including Computer Science) John Sohl, WSU Physics And Team Hill: Joyce Peters Kasey Thompson Larry Smith Slide 2 Overview National Physics Job Data WSU Physics Job Data Hill Air Force Base Jobs How to Prepare Now Class Choices Projects Research Experience: Internships, Jobs What Next Slide 3 Stepping back for a moment: What one thing do all reviewers of applications (grad schools or employers) have in common? They want the best! Slide 4 What are Your 3 Options? Strive to be the best that you can. Work hard, it will pay off. Hope that the best apply somewhere else. Ski or beach bum. Slide 5 In Todays Standard Examiner Slide 6 How to Prepare Now Reference Letters Mirror What You Do Now Class Choices & Performance Projects Flashing LED ornament or warp drive? Research Be aggressively involved Present your work every chance you can Attend all seminars Internships Slide 7 Graduate Study in Other Fields is mostly engineering. (39% of Other Fields group) Slide 8 Slide 9 55% Slide 10 Slide 11 Major Physics Employers Department of Defense (Civilian) DoD Military Branches Military Industrial Complex Aerospace High Schools Colleges & Universities Federal and State Agencies Slide 12 Utah Employers 2006-08 (Partial List) of New Physics Bachelors Air Force Civil Service Black Diamond Equipment, Ltd BlueHost, Inc. DHI Computing Services General Electric K-tec L-3 Communications Nate Coan Enterprises Simco Electronics Sohl Source Consulting Sylarus Technologies U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground University of Utah Hospital and Clinics Wasatch Front Regional MLS Wasatch Photonics Watson Pharmaceuticals Source: AIP Statistical Research Center, Initial Employment Surveys, 2006-2008 Slide 13 WSU Physics Alumni Job Data Examples of Actual Positions Corporate President Engineer Consultants -- self employed with own consulting firms Design Engineers Systems Engineers Programmers Research and Development Managers Civil Engineers Test Engineers Teachers Statisticians Source: Lisa Largent, WSU Development Office Slide 14 WSU Physics Alumni Job Data Sample of Employers JR Simplot Bureau of Reclamation KempTriel L3 Communications ATK Thiokol Boeing Olson Peterson Northrup Grumman Autoliv InfoCore, Inc Ball Aerospace Source: Lisa Largent, WSU Development Office Slide 15 Slide 16 16 World Class Capability Software Maintenance Group The 309th Software Maintenance Group (309 SMXG) at Hill AFB is a recognized world leader in cradle-to-grave systems support, encompassing software engineering, hardware engineering, program management, data management, consulting, and more BE AMERICAS BEST Slide 17 17 Present Workloads F-16 Operational Flight Program (OFP) Avionics Embedded Software Weapon Systems Mission Planning Automatic Test Systems (ATS) Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) BE AMERICAS BEST Slide 18 18 Present Workloads (Cont.) Human Engineering Development Station (HEDS) Common Modular Environment (COMET) Common Aircraft Portable Reprogramming Equipment (CAPRE) Software Control Center BE AMERICAS BEST Slide 19 19 Present Workloads (Cont.) Milstar Space Communication and Warning System Ground Theater Air Control System (GTACS) Range Support Software Technology Support Center (STSC) BE AMERICAS BEST Slide 20 20 Future Workloads New F-16 and A-10 OFP Workloads Future Automatic Test Systems F-22 and F-35 Systems Software Space and C4 ISR Workloads Air Force Battle Control System (BCS) Theater Battle Management Core System (TBMCS) Command and Control System-Consolidated (CCS-C) Expanded EFV Embedded Software Workload BE AMERICAS BEST Slide 21 21 Areas of Excellence BE AMERICAS BEST Software Engineering Systems Engineering Web-based Applications Configuration Management Slide 22 22 Areas of Excellence (Cont.) BE AMERICAS BEST Hardware Engineering Modeling, Simulation and Emulation Technology Upgrades Slide 23 23 Consulting and CrossTalk The Journal of Defense Software Engineering BE AMERICAS BEST Software Engineering Consulting Services CrossTalk, the Journal of Defense Software Engineering DoD-approved, Bi-monthly, Peer-review Journal Published by STSC for 21 Years Over 22,000 hard copy subscribers 415,000 electronic monthly readers reach us at: http://www.stsc.hill.af.mil/crosstalk Slide 24 24 850+ Employees High Growth Outstanding Work Software Maintenance Group Demographics BE AMERICAS BEST Slide 25 25 Needed Skill Sets Software Architecture Database Driven Applications Web Centric Application Development Command Languages Web Languages Gaming Application Development Sense & Avoidance Software Virtualization VMware Modeling, Simulation and Emulation Artificial Intelligence Robotics & Intelligent Systems Printed Circuit Board Design Software Assurance Quality Assurance & Testing Software Security Certification & Accreditation Software Configuration BE AMERICAS BEST Slide 26 26 BE AMERICAS BEST F-16 Block 40/50 OFP: 100 new hires A-10 OFP: 85 new hires TBMCS: 85 new hires Other additional workloads: 45 new hires Attrition backfills: 35 new hires TOTAL SMXG NEEDS:355 new hires next 12 months Hiring Projections Next 6-12 Months NOTE: These are conservative estimates Slide 27 27 BE AMERICAS BEST Software Engineering Workforce Challenges Insufficient candidate pool of engineers Cannot hire enough engineers Mindset that Only an engineer will do Need to restructure many engineer positions to create computer scientist positions Need to focus on necessary skills sets and not just engineering degrees Lack of business, acquisition and leadership skills Technical excellence is not the only competency needed in Software Engineering Slide 28 28 BE AMERICAS BEST Software Engineering Workforce Challenges (Cont.) Federal qualification and hiring rules Control who and how quickly we can hire Control pay and benefits that can be offered Citizenship and security clearance requirements Significant increases in workload Need to hire large numbers of personnel quickly Aging workforce soon eligible to retire Over 275 of Hills Software Engineering professionals will be eligible to retire by 2015 Slide 29 29 BE AMERICAS BEST Aging Electronics Engineer & Computer Scientist Workforce Electronics Engrs & Computer Scientists Eligible to Retire Slide 30 30 BE AMERICAS BEST Qualification Requirements For Computer Scientists Bachelors degree in computer science OR Bachelors degree with 30 semester hours in a combination of mathematics, statistics, and computer science. At least 15 of the 30 semester hours must have included any combination of statistics and mathematics that included differential and integral calculus All academic degrees and course work must be from accredited or pre-accredited institutions Slide 31 31 BE AMERICAS BEST SMXG Work Environment SMXG is considered best place to work on base Ranks highest in Hill work culture assessments Professional work environment Very high retention rate Worldwide career opportunities Workload variety Continuous training Quality of life services Fitness time Work schedule flexibility Slide 32 32 Student Career Experience Program (SCEP) Paid internship with health insurance options No tuition, no guarantee of permanent job Must be half time student (Physics, CS) Contact Greg Nielsen or Karen Doutre (WSU) for details Awesome experience Slide 33 NOW WHAT? Physics Majors Minor in CS, take the new Computational Physics Track CS Majors Minor in Physics Take statistics class from Math Dept. Get involved in HARBOR Select GREAT projects and research tasks Excel in everything you do.