Some professors take serving the country to a new level.
Auburn University is partnered with Tuskegee University and Mississippi State University for a project known as the Digital Forensics Retraining Program for America's Veterans.
The program, funded by the National Science Foundation, provides training in digital forensics, or retrieving information from electronic devices, for wounded veterans seeking a job after they return home.
"If you're a soldier and you've been severely wounded, you can't continue being a soldier," said Drew Hamilton, professor of computer science and software engineering and the program's principal investigator. "So we have people who are in their 20s and 30s and 40s who have 10 years invested in their career, and so now they're looking for another job."
The idea for the project was originally conceived by Hamilton, who is retired from the United States Army.
The program has been in existence for more than two years now.
"During the first Gulf War, I was stationed at Fort Gordon, Ga., and Eisenhower Army Medical Center is on that base, and I got a chance to meet some of the wounded soldiers who came back from the first Gulf
War," Hamilton said. "And the issue is, 'What am I going to do next, what's my next job going to be?' They were more worried about that than their medical injuries. And I mean if you're 35, you're not ready to just chuck it in and do nothing."
The program addresses this problem by sending participating professors and graduate students to military bases around the country to provide the training.
Courses have been offered at bases as close as Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville and as far as Fort Lewis, Wash.
The course is free for all participants and provides 40 hours of training.
Everyone who completes the course receives certification for their training done.
Hamilton said he has never heard of a soldier who did not complete the course after starting it.
"There are no grades in this class," Hamilton said."We want a maximum outcome for each soldier ... and it's very common for us to work with a soldier over the lunch hour, you know to catch him up."
The courses typically take between one and two weeks to complete, said Eric Imsand, assistant professor of computer science and software engineering and program instructor.
"A lot of times these guys have appointments that they have to go to, so we can't just lock them in a room for eight hours a day because they have to go to physical therapy and things like that," Imsand said. "So depending on their medical needs, the course may be one week, the course may be two weeks. It depends on how long it takes us to get through the material."
Imsand said the idea of working in digital forensics is usually well-received by participants in the course.
"These are guys who are pretty well cut out for that job. These are people who are already sort of in the mode of serving their country," Imsand said. "So convincing them to serve their country in law enforcement versus the army is an easier sell than it is for most people. So it sort of is, you know, we have people who need jobs, we have jobs that need to be done. All that we need to do is teach the people how to do them."
Hamilton said although the Veteran's Association offers services and assistance for unemployed veterans, the digital forensics program helps fix the problem of unemployment before it occurs.
"Our idea is that we don't want someone to be unemployed," Hamilton said.
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