Defense Civilian Training Corps develops workforce through specialized internships

Sangmuk Kang spent his summer gaining first-hand knowledge about how the Department of Defense develops intelligence-gathering technologies. 

“It was such a different experience than what you get in a classroom,” said Kang, who interned in the U.S. Army Program Executive Office – Intelligence, Electronic Warfare, and Sensors. “We had a group of people from different universities and in different majors, and we had to come together to solve a problem and work around obstacles as they came up.”

A senior studying business information technology with a focus in cybersecurity, Kang was one of 28 Virginia Tech students who were a part of the first summer of internships provided by the Defense Civilian Training Corps (DCTC).

“The DCTC program as a whole, but especially my internship really opened my eyes to all the opportunities within the Department of Defense,” said Kang who is also in the Citizen-Leader Track of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets. “Basically any field you’re interested in, they have some group that deals with that.”

Launched last fall, the interdisciplinary program is designed to attract students with an interest in national defense careers related to acquisition, digital technologies, critical technologies, science, engineering, and finance. Virginia Tech was one of four universities selected by the Department of Defense‘s Acquisition Innovation Research Center to pilot the program, which now includes 66 Virginia Tech students in two cohorts.

“My favorite part about being in this program is all of the opportunities,” said April Sayers, a senior studying biological systems engineering. “I’ve made friends who I never would have met, traveled to cool places, and my internship this summer is just another example.”

Applications to join the next cohort will be accepted through Oct. 18.

Co-led by the Hume Center for National Security and Technology, part of the Virginia Tech National Security Institute, and the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets, the program provides students with full tuition and fees, a $2,000 monthly stipend, and internship and job placement opportunities within the Department of Defense.

Like the other students in the senior-year cohort of the program, Sayers spent the summer doing an internship, hers with the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center.

“I was mostly working in the 3D Food Printing Lab,” Sayers said. “I already had a background and interest in 3D printing, so it was cool to use my skills in physics, statics, and coding, and apply it to a career field that I was interested in.”