Author Description

Recognizing that a strong commitment to advanced technical and management education serves to maintain the capabilities and strength of the USAF (Van Scotter, 1993), the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) Graduate School of Engineering and Management (GSEM) offers a range of full-time, eighteen-month, graduate-level scientific, engineering and management programs to military officers below the rank of Colonel (O-6) and Department of Defense (DoD) civilian employees. AFIT focuses on the USAF, the DoD, and the civilian research and development environment, striving to prepare students to "serve their country to the greatest degree possible" (AFIT GSEM Graduate Catalog, Academic Year 2001-2002, p. 3). Within the GSEM, the Graduate Engineering and Environmental Management (GEEM) program focuses on graduating civil engineering officers and civilians that can "integrate engineering, science, and policy issues into a decision-making framework for optimum management of facility operations and environmental programs" (AFIT GSEM Graduate Catalog, Academic Year 2001-2002, p. 170). The USAF determines the size of entering GEEM classes according to the need for civil engineers and the availability of annual funds to finance the GEEM program. Upon graduation, GEEM students are assigned to civil engineering organizations across the Air Force.