ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. -- For many college students, the end of the spring semester represents a time to recharge before classes resume in the fall.
Others, however, seek to get a taste of what lies ahead, using the summer months to apply what they’ve learned from their lectures and studies in professional work environments related to the majors they are pursuing.
New faces can be seen across the Arnold Air Force Base campus each summer, as the Air Force and multiple contractors at the installation welcome interns from universities throughout the country.
This summer, 21 interns were assigned to offices and facilities throughout Arnold. The Air Force is hosting four of these interns, as is the Technical and Management Advisory Services contractor. The remaining 13 are hosted by the Test Operations and Sustainment contractor.
Recognizing that a number of this year’s interns traveled some distance to spend their summer at Arnold and aware of how difficult it can be to meet people in a new area, Mike Dent, who serves as the site manager for the Test Resource Management Center-sponsored interns at Arnold, and other intern program managers on base invited all of the Arnold interns to an “icebreaker” event that took place June 11 at the One22West restaurant in Tullahoma.
Similar to speed dating, pairs of interns were seated across the table from another. The two were given three minutes to socialize and discuss their assigned duties at Arnold. At the end of the three-minutes, one intern would rotate his or her seat to pair up with a different intern, initiating another three-minute period. This continued until all interns present had the opportunity to speak with one another.
“It was for them to meet and network and just establish some social ties,” Dent said. “We just want to make this experience a positive one for them. They get a lot of that from their peers.”
Included in the group were Arnold Engineering Development Complex Commander Col. Grant Mizell and Col. Aaron Stevenson, deputy director of the Space Systems Command Commercial Space Office. Mizell welcomed each to Arnold AFB, headquarters of AEDC, and gained insights into their backgrounds and the responsibilities assigned to them during their time on base. Likewise, the interns had an opportunity to learn about AEDC and serving one’s country.
This year’s group of interns have participated in other events, including orientations, base tours led by their respective organizations and an AEDC Leadership Panel Discussion on July 18.
The relationship between the interns and the various employers at Arnold is symbiotic. The students contribute to the AEDC mission as they receive real-world job experience in their chosen fields, while the organizations on base can put the interns’ eyes on Arnold as a potential career destination and assess whether each student would be a good long-term fit at Arnold following graduation.
Air Force
The quartet of Air Force interns arrived at Arnold in early June and will remain on base for around 10 weeks. Universities the students came from this year include the University of Virginia, the Ohio State University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida. Three are pursuing majors in engineering fields, while one is pursuing a degree in computer science.
All Air Force interns at Arnold this year are sponsored by the Department of Defense Test Resource Management Center. According to its website, the TRMC is dedicated to ensuring DOD components have the right test and evaluation infrastructure to accomplish the T&E mission.
The TRMC Internship Program is competitive. Dent said the program received around 600 applications this year from students across the country. Approximately 10% were selected to intern at DOD test and evaluation ranges, which include Air Force, Army and Navy sites.
AEDC is among the ranges within the TRMC purview.
“There’s a very rigorous selection process for the TRMC interns, so we usually get the cream of the crop,” Dent said.
Students assigned to Arnold generally have completed their junior year in college.
Interns are primed before arriving at the TRMC range where they will spend a significant portion of the summer.
“There are several briefings about what they can expect prior to them showing up in terms of what the mission is, what the dress code should be, what the area is like, how to conduct yourself, so they get them prepared pretty well before they even show up,” Dent said.
Each intern is assigned a mentor employed at Arnold. They also are assigned a project to manage during their time on base.
“They can get help from other folks to a degree, but it’s one that they’re responsible for,” Dent said. “Every two weeks, they provide a status update to their leadership at TRMC, and then there’s a final report that they give to our leadership and their mentors.”
Dent said the work performed by the interns benefits Arnold.
“They contribute to the mission while they’re here,” Dent said. “They are applying what they’ve learned in college. They’ve got usually one more year left, so they’re very well prepared and contribute significantly to the mission.
“We are able to give them a realistic impression of what it is like to work in this area. We also give them the opportunity to understand what our mission is here at Arnold and how unique it is.
“At the conclusion of this, if things go well like they always do, it’s like a recruiting program on steroids,” Dent said. “We already know at that point, ‘Yeah, we would like to hire this person,’ or not. There’s a lot of unknowns that are taken away. We learn a lot about these students.”
The Arnold intern program has a successful track record. Three of the five who interned on base during the summer of 2021, the first year Arnold hosted TRMC interns, are currently employed full-time at the installation.
For their part, the interns bring enthusiasm to the workplace and a fresh perspective to the work assigned to them, Dent said.
“Honestly, I think, too, when they leave here, they have a sense for what it’s like to work for the government,” he said. “That’s not always something you would think young people would drift toward. I’ve not met one who didn’t leave here understanding the importance of what we do and feeling fortunate to have been part of that.”
Technical and Management Advisory Services
Interns hosted by the TMAS contractor follow much the same schedule as the Air Force interns, arriving in early June and remaining on base through mid-August. This year’s TMAS interns came to Arnold from Tennessee Technological University and the University of Tennessee – Knoxville and are pursuing majors in aerospace, civil and mechanical engineering.
While not a hard and fast rule, TMAS interns are typically in their final two years of college. Shelby Moorman who, along with Rylan Cox, manages the TMAS internship program at Arnold, likened the yearly process of selecting TMAS interns to that of seeking a job. Openings for internships are advertised in advance and interested students may apply. Candidates are chosen from the group of applicants interviewed.
TMAS interns are also assigned mentors and specific tasks suited to their backgrounds and fields of study. Moorman echoed Dent’s sentiment that the interns bring enthusiasm and a new perspective.
“We hope that it benefits the interns by giving them invaluable experience, but it also benefits Arnold as it gives an opportunity to find good talent coming out of college as well as resources to use in the immediate mission,” Moorman said.
Recruiting is also a significant component of the TMAS program. Moorman said the program gives students a glimpse of what engineering is like outside of the classroom and hopefully boosts their interests in pursuing careers at Arnold after earning their degrees.
“That is the ultimate goal – to find great talent that is an excellent fit to help Arnold and its mission moving forward,” Moorman said.
Moorman added he would like to see the success of the program and the benefits it provides to all involved continue for years to come.
“I am excited about the intern program, and I hope we are able to keep it going in future years,” he said.
Test Operations and Sustainment
The TOS interns arrived in May and, similar to those hosted by the Air Force, will remain on base for 10 to 12 weeks. The universities students came from this year include the University of Tennessee – Knoxville, University of Tennessee – Chattanooga, University of Alabama – Birmingham, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Tennessee Technological University. Majors being pursued by the students include mechanical, electrical, aerospace and industrial engineering, and computer science.
Those seeking an internship with the TOS contractor must submit an application. Arnold personnel involved with the TOS intern program typically recruit and hire each intern class during the fall prior, meaning the summer 2026 interns will be hired during the 2025 fall semester.
The TOS internship program policy stipulates that internship candidates must have completed at least one year of university prior to the start of the internship.
Those over the TOS internship program approach intern assignments in two ways. In one, some interns are assigned to groups on base that have identified work for them in advance. This work will fill the duration of their internships and generally targets students who have a strong idea of the area in which they wish to focus. In the other, intern supervisors solicit tasks from members of the full-time TOS technical workforce prior to the interns’ arrival.
“Our goal is to assign a variety of work to each intern based on a few factors including interest, variety of work assigned both in task and mission area, hours projected to complete, and complexity,” said Laurie Winton, supervisor for the TOS engineering and technical interns. “This provides students an opportunity to see the variety of work we do and helps them identify what they may or may not be interested in. It also allows us to ensure students have enough work to keep them active and productive throughout their time with us.”
TOS interns also have project mentors for each of the tasks they are assigned. A variety of experienced engineers are pulled in throughout the summer to provide mentorship and technical reviews of the interns’ work.
Several current full-time TOS employees were once interns in the contractor program.
“A large number of AEDC engineers have come through the intern program over the years, and it remains a strong source of recruiting for us to find good quality engineers who bring the aptitude and attributes we look for in our engineering staff,” Winton said.
Winton said those who oversee the TOS intern program want the students during their time at Arnold to be provided with meaningful challenges to grow their knowledge and develop their skills.
“Hopefully, the experience here helps them determine aspects of engineering they enjoy and maybe identify what they don’t like as well,” she said. “Ideally, we hope to find at least a few that are committed to the mission of AEDC and demonstrate the drive, aptitude and curiosity we look for to help us in protecting the warfighter.”