By Norine Rowe
Public Affairs Department

NAVAIR PATUXENT RIVER, MD—It’s been all work and no pay at NAVAIR’s Acoustic Sensors Division for a pair of summer interns taking part in George Washington University’s Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program.

For high school seniors Dan Tanner of Great Mills High School and Bob Prior of the Calverton School, their summer “paycheck” is actually a $1,500 academic award from GWU, which places students in apprenticeships under the guidance of professional scientists and engineers.

“This is my first real job,” said Tanner, who excels in science and math and was encouraged to take part in the summer apprenticeship program by his physics teacher at Great Mills High School.

Also new to the working world is Prior, equally talented in math and science, who had a different motivation for enrolling in the apprenticeship program.

“My mom decided I had to get a summer job,” Prior said.

Taking the two interns under wing this summer is Jack McFadden, head of NAVAIR’s Acoustic Sensors Development branch, who selected the students for summer positions with his group. Despite their lack of work experience, McFadden saw potential in the young interns. In addition to their outstanding academic records and high level of school involvement, both expressed a keen interest in science and engineering.

“Our objective is to have the interns do something productive for us over the summer while learning about the science and engineering field,” McFadden said, explaining that the students would organize, trouble-shoot and complete a project of their own during their eight-week summer internship.

For their project, the interns are creating a user-friendly interface to simplify the data-input process for a software program used in sonobuoy monitoring. The students will switch a DOS-based software program to a Windows environment, simplifying the computational analysis process for sonobuoy performance. And while McFadden provides daily guidance, the students are expected to work on their own, be resourceful, and seek out help when they need it. Prior brings some basic programming knowledge to the task, but this is the first programming that Tanner has ever done. Together, the two are learning as they go, using a computer programming textbook as their guide. Only when they get “desperate” do they seek out McFadden or another NAVAIR professional for guidance.

That desperate moment occurred recently when the students found themselves stuck in a data loop with seemingly no way out. They double-checked their formulas and couldn’t find any errors, so they went to a NAVAIR programmer for assistance. Following his advice, they revised their equations, and the program worked.

“One of the hardest things [to learn] is that machine logic isn’t the same as human logic. We’re learning by experience, and we’re learning that there’s a big difference between textbook knowledge and putting that knowledge to work on the job.”

The interns are also learning what it’s like to get up before dawn every day to make it to the office on time, what it’s like to work in a professional office environment, and how to troubleshoot a project of their own.

Photo by Norine Rowe
Jack McFadden, head of NAVAIR’s Acoustic Sensors Development branch, assists Dan Tanner, left, of Great Mills High School and Bob Prior of the Calverton School as they examine hydrophones in a 37,000-gallon sonobuoy testing tank here. The students are upgrading a software program used to input data on sonobuoy performance while serving as summer interns in the Science and Engineering Apprenticeship program.

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