DOD Mission is a Natural Fit for Impactful Technology Professionals, Officials Say

The Defense Department's critical mission and focus on the warfighter continues to serve as a key draw for technology professionals, a senior Pentagon official said yesterday.

Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Heidi Shyu said that in her engagements with college students and young professionals, she has found that a career in public service continues to provide a compelling opportunity for those entering the workforce.

Shyu offered that insight during a fireside chat alongside Arati Prabhakar, the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, at the National Defense Industrial Association's Emerging Technology for Defense Conference in Washington.

The reason why young people are drawn to public service is evident, Shyu said, as she reinforced the daily impact DOD employees have on the mission while visiting with a group of Harvard undergraduates who were recently at the Pentagon.

"I said, 'Hey, you can spend your time working in a commercial company and make a lot more money or you can come to DOD [where] something you work on could have life-and-death implications for a service member. You could save their lives based what you're working on,'" Shyu said.

She emphasized the commitment among service members and the noble mission that DOD employees carry out.

The message, she said, was well received.

Attracting top talent, especially in rapidly advancing science and technology fields, is a key component of government leaders' strategy for maintaining the United States' edge well into the future.

Prabhakar said attracting technology talent to the government is especially critical "in a time when many of the same technologies that we need for national security and for all kinds of public purposes are the same technologies that have dazzling commercial prospects."

She said the rapid emergence of artificial intelligence is a prime example of such technology and has led to a whole-of-government push to attract AI talent into public service.

Shyu highlighted DOD's program to develop early interest among college students in solving challenging technology problem sets that impact U.S. national security through the Virtual Institutes for Cyber and Electromagnetic Spectrum Research and Employ program.

VICEROY offers experiential learning opportunities to augment college curricula in partnership with universities across the U.S.

Program participants also have an opportunity to complete in an 8-week internship.

Shyu said she met with several VICEROY participants recently at the Pentagon.

"They heard about the program from their professors," Shyu said. "They joined and never thought of working with DOD, and now they're really excited."

Prabhakar said a career in public service is a natural fit for technology professionals who want to make a significant impact.

"You know, there are amazing people out there who really want to do big things," she said. "They want to serve their country. The single most attractive thing we can do is to be doing work that is so dazzling and so impactful that people actually want to run into these public service jobs."